We have recently acquired a 2-port ArtNet node at work. While getting acquainted with it I noticed an issue - its output will stop about every 3-5 minutes for around 20 seconds, before coming back to life. Running Onyx on an HP AIO PC with an NX Wing.
Now, I have had this issue previously with nodes that we have rented in for shows, however, because it didn’t affect the show, I didn’t dive into it too much.
I have tried multiple network adaptors, switches, turning Artnet Sync on and off, nothing seems to make a difference. I have noticed that in the ‘Devices’ tab in the EtherDMX menu of Onyx, that the device will dim to grey then come back to white around every 20-30 seconds. I have also noticed this happening when we have rented nodes in in the past. The current node in question is a DMXKing eDMX2-Max.
Long story short, what would be causing this dropout to occur? What settings should I be looking to change on my network interface or on the switch? Is this why I see a lot of people preferring to use sACN where possible?
Welcome to the forum. Thank you for your description of the issue.
Please could you confirm which version of ONYX you are running? This can be verified in Menu > About > About.
Please connect the DMXKing eDMX2 Max directly to your PC’s Ethernet port, and power the eDMX2-Max via USB-C. If this resolves the issue, we’ll need to investigate why adding a network switch is causing the problem.
Please could you confirm the IP addresses and subnet masks you are using?
If the DMXKing eDMX2-Max is going grey in Menu > EtherDMX > Devices, this means the DMXKing eDMX2-Max has stopped responding to ONYX. If ONYX continues to see no response from the device, it will stop sending ArtDMX, until the device comes back online.
You could potentially workaround this by enabling Art-Net Broadcast in ONYX. This means ONYX will output ArtDMX, even if no devices are responding. If this does resolve the issue, we ideally need to understand why the DMXKing eDMX2-Max stops responding to ONYX, or ONYX stops hearing from the DMXKing eDMX2-Max
There are lots of opinions regarding sACN vs Art-Net, and many of them stem from misinformation.
When using ONYX, it boils down to some simple questions:
Will you need to perform RDM discovery/monitoring from ONYX? If so, you must use Art-Net.
Will there be multiple controllers on the network? If so, sACN is best, as it features prioritisation.
Are a large number of devices all wanting to receive the same universes? If so, sACN is more efficient, IF, and only IF, your network switches are configured correctly.
IP address is in the 2.x.x.x range - auto generated artnet address. Subnet 255.0.0.0
In previous testing I have done, enabling broadcast appears to resolve the issue, however, this seems to defeat the purpose of unicast. It does seem interesting though, that other eDMX nodes I have used in the past have also had the same issue with going grey in the devices screen and dropping out.
I will re-test with a direct ethernet connection tomorrow and report back.
