Optimizing Windows for the WheatNet-IP AoIP Driver

Optimizing Windows for the WheatNet-IP AoIP Driver

Introduction

Audio over IP (AoIP) is the transportation of digital audio via local or wide area networks using the Internet Protocol. Due to the very nature of ethernet, there are numerous obstacles to the efficient
transport of audio (and video) over networks. This guide will help you optimize Windows machines that use the Wheatnet AoIP driver to play and record audio without the need for messy audio cables and bulky sound cards that won’t even fit in many modern small-footprint computers.

First, let’s agree that no amount of optimization of the Windows OS will overcome issues that arise from ethernet switches that aren’t configured properly or just aren’t up to the task of network audio.
Wheatstone recommends Cisco core switches and edge switches for your AoIP network. These have been tested in Wheatstone’s lab and found to be suitable for transporting network audio when properly configured.

In the article linked below are the current recommendations for approved ethernet switches for WheatNet-IP and how to set each model up. Of considerable importance are the settings related to the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP). IGMP manages the multicast streams which are the heart of network audio, and the recommended settings ensure that these streams go only to the devices that need them. If all the streams went to every device, even the gigabit NICs that we recommend for all computers and that are used on our I/O blades could be flooded with too much IP data and would drop packets, resulting in pops, clicks and/or dropouts in the audio.

Always Run The Installer As Administrator

When installing the WheatNet-IP Driver, it is imperative that you right-click the application and choose "Run As Administrator."
The installer will call several routines, including those which set up the Windows Defender Firewall to let the audio packets pass through the computer properly. If the installer is not run with Administrator privileges, those routines will not work properly. In modern Windows, it is not enough for the user to be designated as an admin, you must right-click and choose Run as Administrator every time.

Network Card Settings

When installing the WNIP AoIP driver on a Windows machine, there are numerous “tweaks” that need to be made in order for the AoIP packets to be transmitted and received without loss. Many of these result from Microsoft’s efforts to “save energy” and others result from an attempt to increase security and minimize the possibility of attacks on Windows systems.

Since the computers that you use for streaming network audio are critical systems, we will need to defeat the “power saving” features, and since these computers are usually either not connected directly to the internet or are protected by a hardware firewall, we can defeat those Windows security features that have a direct negative impact on audio performance. It’s up to you to ensure the security of your network and that’s outside the purview of Wheatstone, but none of the tweaks that we suggest will put a properly-secured network at risk.

In particular, you should embark on a search-and-destroy mission for all power-saving features of Windows that apply to either USB root hubs/host controllers or network interfaces.

Check everything in Device Manager for such settings.

Windows Defender Firewall

Alert
When installing the WNIP driver, we recommend always launching the installer by right-clicking and choosing Run As Administrator, so the installer can properly set up Firewall permissions. If you didn't do this or if group policies prohibit our installer from adding permissions, read on.
We recommend disabling the Windows Defender Firewall as it blocks many of the ports used by the Wheatstone AoIP system by default. If you cannot disable the firewall, you will need to enter rules to allow inbound traffic on the following UDP ports (no need to change anything on the outbound side):

Ports used by Wheatnet System

23000 Telnet to Play Service
33333 Voxpro UDP Control Messages
50000 GUI Connect
50100 Metronome Multicast Stream
51000 Web/XML Multicast Stream
51003 New License Server
52000 Announce Channel Multicast Stream
52002 Meter Multicast Stream
55776 Automation Control Interface
60000 Surface Channel

There may be others. Alternatively, you can follow the instructions in the WNIP Driver Install Guide for setting the WNIP NIC to Private and then unbind the firewall from the NIC used for the Wheatstone network.

Windows Defender Anti-Malware (MsMpENG.exe)

The Windows Anti-Malware scanner can cause significant problems for the WheatNet-IP AoIP driver when it’s actively scanning the system for malware. This problem becomes worse the more driver
channels you have. The MsMpENG.exe process can eat up as much as 100% of your CPU cycles, causing thousand of dropped audio packets and creating pops, clicks and even dropouts in your audio. Our users report that simply excluding the driver process from the scan doesn’t seem to resolve the issue. In addition, a Windows update may remove the exclusion at any time.

The best solution is to either completely disable the anti-malware scanner or change its affinity. Changing the affinity to something like 25% rather than the default 100% may resolve the issue;
however, a Windows update may also reset the affinity at any time. If you want to use an anti-malware scanner, consider a third-party scanner that allows you more granular control over its runtime settings.

Turn Off SMB Multi-Channel At Workstations

There's a Windows feature that can cause havoc when importing large audio files on automation workstations that you will want to turn off.

Install The WNIP Network Layer Patch

Wheatstone has developed an application that you can run on your workstation that adjusts Windows for optimal networking. We call it the Network Layer Patch, and there is a link to install it on the PDF we send out with driver links. Please install this and reboot the workstation after installation is complete. The changes made by this application will persist through reboots and keep the audio playing smoothly.

Set The Sample Rate

Windows likes to set the sample rate on all sound cards to different values, like 44.1 on record and 48K on playback. This can cause the driver to play audio back too fast or too slow.
The sample rate on the driver should match the sample rate of your system, as defined on the Info tab of Navigator.
We've come across a bit of freeware that you can use to force these settings to your desired rate on boot, which is helpful because Windows will sometimes change it back to its defaults after OS updates. Read more here: Windows Update Sample Rate Switch

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