Awareness | Understanding how many Dante flows are needed
Learn how to calculate the optimal number of Dante Flows necessary for specific use cases.
Information
To understand how many Dante flows are needed for a system, there are a few initial points to understand about Dante flows.
Dante routing creates flows. Each flow carries one or more channels of audio. There are two types of flows, unicast and multicast.
Unicast
Unicast routing creates flows to a single receiving device. A unicast flow typically assigns space for up to four channels of audio. Unicast flows are set up when a receiver subscribes to an available channel, and are automatically removed when the receiver unsubscribes from all channels in that flow.
Multicast
Multicast routing creates flows that can be received by multiple receivers. Multicast flows are assigned IDs which enable them to be identified in Dante Controller, and to facilitate their removal. In contrast to unicast flows, multicast flows must be set up on the transmitting Dante device before receivers can subscribe to these flows.
Note
It is also necessary to understand that each Software Dante License includes a maximum number of flows. The Q-SYS Dante License's flow limitation is equal to half the number of channels of that license and cannot be exceeded.
Example
As an example, an 8x8 channel Software Dante license allows four flows. If you have four Dante devices, each transmitting a single channel, this will work as expected. However, adding a fifth device you will not allow a subscription as no more flows are available. To add the fifth device you will need to increase your Dante license.
Below are some scenarios the 8x8 Dante license can utilize:
| Device Count | CH / Device | Total CH | Flow Count |
|---|---|---|---|
1 |
8 |
8 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
8 |
2 |
3 |
2 |
6 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
8 |
4 |
Note
Some other configurations may be possible. Above are just some examples.