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Configuring Mac OSX Ventura as an AVB Audio Network Endpoint

AVB is an audio networking protocol utilized by PreSonus audio hardware. It is similar to Dante, whereby all of your audio data is transmitted and received via ethernet cables rather than bulky copper audio cables.

This article talks about how to ensure that your Mac running OSX will be able to send and receive audio on the AVB network.

Problem #1: The Physical Connection

If your OSX device (MacBook Pro / Air) has a built-in Ethernet port, you should have no issues connecting to the AVB network. However, if you don't have an Ethernet port you'll need one, and it must be the right type. USB to Ethernet adapters do NOT work with AVB. They MUST be AVB compatible (i.e., they must be thunderbolt connections, not USB connections).

One way to do this is to use two dongles. One dongle converts USB-C to Thunderbolt 2, and the 2nd dongle is a Thunderbolt 2 to Ethernet port. This is excessive. Who wants two dongles piggy backed to each other. Sloppy.

The other way to do this is to ensure you have a USB-C to Ethernet Thunderbolt adapter, like the ones you can find at Sonnettech.

Once you have your physical connection made, you should be able to see the AVB devices on your network.

Problem #2: Acquire

When you use the Audio MIDI Setup utility in OSX to select the AVB network device (Audio MIDI Setup >> Window >> Show Network Device Browser) that you want to connect to, you create an exclusive connection between your Mac and your Mixer, for example, disconnecting any of your other AVB devices from your mixer, such as your stage box. This is bad.

To fix this, the goal is to make your Mac an endpoint, so it doesn't bully the rest of your devices out of the ecosystem.

How to Do It

I found various tutorials on Youtube that highlight how to make your MAC operate as an endpoint in an AVB Audio Network, but they seemed to be outdated. They all show that in the ATDECC controller settings of the AVB Audio Configuration there is an option in the Window menu that reads "Simple Virtual Audio Entity." In my experience, this option does not exist in the Window menu.

So where is it?

Steps:

  1. First, open up the AVB Audio Configuration on your Mac by running Terminal then typing avbutil --controller. This will open the AVB Audio Entity Configuration.

  2. From the Window menu, select ATDECC Controller. You'll now see a window showing all discovered network devices on the left.
    Assuming your AVB Devices are detected on the appropriate Ethernet adapter, you should see an adapter with a little arrow that can be expanded. Under that adapter you'll see a list of AVB endpoints (your mixer, stage box, etc.). But what you won't see is your computer as an endpoint, and that's what you need.

  3. In the ATDECC Controller window, click on your adapter listed in the left pane.

  4. In the right window, you should see a checkbox next to Built-in virtual audio entity. Check this box. Now, when you expand the adapter, you should see your computer as an endpoint in the list of available devices. (Note: It will not be shown as a device with a checkbox in your Audio MIDI Setup Network device list)

Next, we'll move on to configuring your endpoint to play nice nice with the rest of your AVB network.

  1. Select your computer in the list of devices in the ATDECC Controller configuration.
  2. In the right, you should see Entity: <yourcomputername>. Under that there is a dropdown for Current Configuration. Select the appropriate option. In my case, I chose 64 in, 64 out, 8 ch streams because it sounds right and I can't explain why.
  3. Now, address the Clock Source which is shown in the section Clock Domain: Clock Domain a little further down the page. If you set your Mac as the master clock, you might experience pops and clicks coming from your stage box. Your NSB stage box appears to require that it receive its clock from the Mixer, so make sure that the mixer is set to Internal, and then set the Clock Domain to Audio Input Stream 1.
  4. Next, for all of the Input and Output streams, change the Stream Format to the appropriate format. I chose IEC 61883-6 AM8-24 48kHz 8 data blocks non-blocking 8 MBLA for all of them. Again, I don't really know why, but it sounded right...and in fact, that's what the settings are on the StudioLive 32SC device in the ATDECC controller. So, why not make it the same?

At this point, you may need to go back to your mixer and re-assign your AVB Sends.

Next steps, The Connection Matrix. This is always the confusing part for me.

If you open Audio MIDI Setup on your Mac, then you select Show Network Device Browser you'll be presented with a little window that may show all of the NSB devices on your network. If you click on your Mixer here, you'll basically lock in the connection between the mac and the mixer and the stage box will stop working. You do not want this.

Instead, leave these boxes unchecked. Remember, we created a "virtual" device (your computer) above.

To get to the connection matrix, go back to the ATDECC Controller configuration and click on the Presonus Corporation item in the list on the left. You'll see a big matrix of green checkboxes, and if you've done everything correctly, you'll see all of your computer's streams on both the source and destination columns and rows. Additionally, there will be NO purple boxes. If there are purple boxes, something's not available, and that something is probably your stage box. That only happens if the StudioLive checkbox is selected in the Audio MIDI Network setup. Again, make sure this is disconnected.

  1. Make sure you've patched StudioLive 32SC:Send 41-48 to the NSB 16.8:Return 1-8. This ensures you have your connection to the 8 outputs on the stage box, etc.
  2. Make sure StudioLive 32SC:Return 1-8 is patched to NSB 16.8:Send 1-8. The same goes for 9-16. This patches your NSB stage box inputs back to the mixer.
  3. How you setup your Mac streaming is up to you, but for Gits and Shiggles, patch NSB 16.8:Send 1-8 to your Audio Input Stream 1 and do the same for the 9-16 stream. Now both the Mac, and the mixer will be receiving the signals from the 16 inputs on your stage box.
  4. Any return paths to the mixer from the Mac are up to you...for instance, if you want the computer's audio to be played through the mixer, you can patch

Enjoy.