Ethernet Switch or Router?

[simonjewel]

Hey Everyone,

I have until now had my Artist Mix & Control connected directly into the two ethernet ports on my mac. A recent change of room means that I will no longer be able to do this. Can you please share your thoughts on whether a router or switch is better and how you actually set up your mix/control using either or? I read the manual, but I'm afraid networking is as clear as mud to me

Any help would be much appreciated ...
Many thanks.

Simon

[robertg]

This seems to come up frequently.. There is never any need for a router if you already have one. Usually your internet attaches to that (external/WAN).. The artist series run on the internal (LAN) side.. A switch only has one side, so all you need is a switch.

[Southsidemusic]

Originally Posted by robertg

This seems to come up frequently.. There is never any need for a router if you already have one. Usually your internet attaches to that (external/WAN).. The artist series run on the internal (LAN) side.. A switch only has one side, so all you need is a switch.

+1

[simonjewel]

Originally Posted by robertg

This seems to come up frequently.. There is never any need for a router if you already have one. Usually your internet attaches to that (external/WAN).. The artist series run on the internal (LAN) side.. A switch only has one side, so all you need is a switch.

Thanks for that Robert, here's the thing, please excuse my ignorance of all things computer networking, I have no router in my new room and no way of connecting to the router as it is too far away from the computer and the studio is not wired for networking. Does that mean I will have to buy a router and a switch or just the switch or the router?

Many thanks

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by simonjewel

Thanks for that Robert, here's the thing, please excuse my ignorance of all things computer networking, I have no router in my new room and no way of connecting to the router as it is too far away from the computer and the studio is not wired for networking. Does that mean I will have to buy a router and a switch or just the switch or the router?

Many thanks

I am not following you here.

If you had the surfaced directly connected before, why can't you do that again?

Directly connected usually means with a direct cross-over Ethernet cable, no hub, switch or router involved.

Are you only tryign to connect a surface or do you also need to connect to a LAN for say file serving/NAS/backups or do you also need to connect to a WAN/Internet?

So if that is all you have to connect to your workstation, and it has dual Ethernet ports, there may be no need for any separate network box.

Networking 101:

Ethernet Hub: just connects Ethernet devices to the same physical network. Provides physical link receivers/drivers and performs the "cross-over" function between devices. (just say no and always get a switch).

Ethernet switch: like a hub but filters Ethernet traffic so only traffic to that end-point node flows to in. (always look for one with nice status/traffic lights so you can see what is happening).

Ethernet Router: spans separate networks. Most commonly seen today in consumer applications a a device that connects to an ISP/cable provider WAN on one side and your local Ethernet LAN on the other side. On larger corporate/business networks there will be routers and gateways to separate physical networks as well. That is unlikely to apply here .. or you'd just be asking your network support guy.

Many consumer routers will also include an Ethernet switch or hub on the LAN side.

If you have an isolated computer and want to connect local Ethernet peripherals to it, all you need at most is a small Ethernet switch.

If you need to connect that to a larger Ethernet network in say a small/medium size studio at most what you would normally want is to run a long twisted-pair cable from a main Ethernet switch to your local setup, either a port on the computer or a local Ethernet switch. Anything more than that and you'll gave a network/IT guy to ask.

If you have more questions abotu network boxes etc. what exact make/model box(es) do you have?

[mesaone]

I have mine all hooked up to a switch. Router, computer, 3 artist controllers. Artist controllers work just fine with this setup. My computer is still able to connect to the internet, and also to a printer that is downstream.

The artist series still work fine if you take the router out of that equation.

I'm about 95% positive that my model is a NetGear GS105NA, but I'll have to double check.

[Shatzer]

Quick reply: use a switch, no need for router.

You hook up all artist series to switch then switch to computer, done.
Not sure about Mac, but on PC its best to power on artist series first, then computer.

If you want to incorporate wifi into it to use Pro Tools Control on an iPad later down the road, then you can use a wireless router and a wifi USB stick when that time comes. I only suggest that because that's what I use and it works perfectly for me. 4 artist mix and an iPad.

[hainam134567d1]

Originally Posted by simonjewel

Hey Everyone, I have until now had my Artist Mix & Control connected directly into the two ethernet ports on my mac. A recent change of room means that I will no longer be able to do this. Can you please share your thoughts on whether a router or switch is better and how you actually set up your mix/control using either or? I read the manual, but I'm afraid networking is as clear as mud to me Any help would be much appreciated ... Many thanks. Simon

lên là lên

[simonjewel]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

I am not following you here.

If you had the surfaced directly connected before, why can't you do that again?

Directly connected usually means with a direct cross-over Ethernet cable, no hub, switch or router involved.

Are you only tryign to connect a surface or do you also need to connect to a LAN for say file serving/NAS/backups or do you also need to connect to a WAN/Internet?

So if that is all you have to connect to your workstation, and it has dual Ethernet ports, there may be no need for any separate network box.

I originally had my Artist Mix and Control hooked up to the 2 inbuilt ethernet ports on my mac. I now need to add LAN for backup and file storage so I know i'm going to have to connect my surfaces differently now. I do not need internet so no worries there ...

Thank you
Simon :)

[simonjewel]

Originally Posted by mesaone

I have mine all hooked up to a switch. Router, computer, 3 artist controllers. Artist controllers work just fine with this setup. My computer is still able to connect to the internet, and also to a printer that is downstream.

The artist series still work fine if you take the router out of that equation.

I'm about 95% positive that my model is a NetGear GS105NA, but I'll have to double check.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated!! :)