Intro:

This guide will show you how I have my UI24r and had my previous UI16 connected to an external router
for wifi and wired connections. I have clocked over 1,000 hours with this setup and have had zero issues
when on wired Ethernet, and extremely few issues when on wifi. I only use wired Ethernet when I’m in a
bad wifi environment or when I’m using my router to do many things besides controlling the UI24r.

My background: I studied I.T. in college, but decided not to go into I.T. professionally… at the time.
However, since then I have worked in I.T. in different capacities for 14 years. Currently, I manage
approximately 8-12 different networks in different organizations depending on how you count. On the
side, I work in pro-audio in various capacities, primarily as an FOH Engineer, but also as a live-stream
engineer.

What I will show you: I will walk through step by step in as much detail as I can think of to take the
absolute beginner from nada to setting up a network that mirrors the one that I use most often in the
audio world. You can even use the same IP addresses and SSIDs that I use if you like. I will give you
reasoning behind a lot of the settings and parameters that I use, so that you have knowledge of what
you are doing rather than just a set of steps to follow.

Gear I will use: I will be working with a Soundcraft UI24r Mixing Console and a Netgear WNDR3800 dual
band router. This router is nothing special; I picked it up used for $20 (current price on Amazon is about
$130). It ticked 3 boxes for me to choose it: 1) 2.4 GHz radio, 2) 5 GHz radio, 3) Gigabit Ethernet. The one
thing it doesn’t do that I wish it did was allow for the use of external antennae.

For connected devices, I have all windows or android based machines. I use Macs sometimes in pro-
audio, but do not own any and therefore, will not be getting into any specifics about them. However,
the concepts I talk about will carry over to Macs, even though the steps will be different. Maybe
someone else can make a Mac addendum to this.

Router Configuration: (All screenshots at the end)

Before we do anything with the UI, we need to setup the router. Start by plugging you computer into
the router via Ethernet cable. Be sure you use one of the LAN ports and not the single unique WAN port
for this and all connections to the router. The WAN, or Wide Area Network, port is used for connecting
your router to the internet. For what we’re doing, no internet connection is used. Additionally, if you’re
thinking that you can plug this WAN port into some venue’s internet ports, don’t. This would be putting
2 routers on the same network, and that will not work.

Your router will have a default IP address. Think of IP addresses as phone numbers for devices on the
network. Each device connected will have its own unique IP address, and that’s how one device calls
another device on the network. My router’s default IP address is 192.168.1.1. Yours may be different.
So, on my computer I will open an internet browser and type in that IP address into the address bar. (*a
side note here* since we are using an Ethernet cable right now, you will want to turn off your
computer’s WiFi radio. Running on wired and wireless networking at the same time can confuse your
computer).

When you hit enter on that IP address, you will get to a login page for your router. If this is a brand new
router, the documentation with the router will tell you the default username and password. From here,
different router brands are going to vary as to how they’ve arranged their setup pages, but there are a
few main things we need to setup for our UI24r network.

Admin Password:

The first thing you should do is change the default password on the router so that you are the only one
who can get in and change settings from here on out. You will likely see a “processing” screen of some
kind and it may not ever “finish”. After about a minute, you’ll want to refresh the webpage by pressing
F5 on your keyboard. At that point, you should get a new login prompt, where you can enter the new
password and get access to your router’s management page again. Please note that this is not your WiFi
password, but your administrator password to manage the router settings.

DHCP: (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)

What does it mean? If you are using DHCP, your router will assign an IP address to each device you
connect to it (whether that is by wire or wifi) and will do so each time the device connects. The router
chooses IP addresses to assign based on its internal algorithm, but chooses from within a range that you
specify. Your device connecting in this manner *may* end up with the same IP address each time, but it
may not. With that knowledge, now you can start to imagine why I will later recommend using a ‘static’
IP address for server type devices, such as the UI24r, UI16, a computer being used to manage other
devices via HiQnet, a computer that is also connected to the UI24r’s USB port being used for recording
or plugin inserts. When the IP is static (stationary), it is the same…all the time… every time. When that is
the case, you can access those devices by simply typing the IP address into the appropriate client side
software. In the case of the UI24r interface, that client side software is a web browser. In the case of the
stageside computer running HiQnet, that might be some kind of remote desktop software.

With Dynamic IP addresses (DHCP), each device *may* get the same IP address from one session to
another, but it may not. For client side devices (the computers, tablets and phones used to control the
other devices), this usually doesn’t matter.

You can, and I do, configure for a mixed mode where some devices get a Dynamic IP and some devices
get a Static IP. Stay tuned.

I configure my DHCP on the router to be in the range of 192.168.1.12 to 192.168.1.21. This gives me up
to 10 dynamically assigned IPs which I use for client side devices. It’s no coincidence that I have 10 slots
for client side devices, as that is how many the UI can support. I can always expand this to more if
needed for some reason, but I’ve yet to encounter the scenario where I need to. I think it is a good idea
to keep the possible number of Dynamic IPs limited, as somewhat of a security measure.
Static IPs:

There are two ways to configure static IP addresses. The first way is to reserve an IP address in the DHCP
server. This works by the router identifying the device that has connected and then assigning it the pre-
determined IP address. The router will not assign that particular IP address to any device besides the
one it is reserved for, and the router uses the devices MAC address to determine which device is which.

The second way is for the device connecting to the router to specify its own IP address, and thus tell the
router what IP address it is going to use.

There are pros and cons to each method, but generally, IP address reservation on the router is the
‘safer’ way. In my case, I do both for different scenarios. So, for those keeping count, that is 3 different
ways that IP addresses will be assigned on my network.

I use the IP address reservation for static IPs of server devices on my network other than the UI24r. I use
the UI24r to specify its own IP address on the network for the simple reason that my router and UI24r
are both connected to the same power conditioner. When I power up the conditioner, the UI24r finishes
booting long before my router does. Because of that sequence, the UI24r would be sitting there waiting
for the router to assign it an IP address until the router finishes booting. I have found that the UI24r
doesn’t like that. Therefore, I set the IP address of the UI24r manually on the mixer so that it already
knows what its IP address is even before the router is finished booting. The risk to doing it this way is
that since the router is not assigning that IP address, it could potentially assign that IP address to a
different device or I might accidentally configure 2 devices to have the same IP address. The first is why I
chose an IP address for the UI24r that is outside of the DHCP range. My UI24r is 192.168.1.10. Similarly,
when I want to run my UI16 in tandem with the UI24r, its IP address is 192.168.1.11, and it is manually
assigned as well.

WiFi Settings:

There are a few things to consider with WiFi setup. There are a lot of folks on this page who advocate for
using the 5GHz band over the 2.4GHz. The rationale for this is that the 5GHz band is less crowded and is
therefore subject to less interference. That is true, but there are other drawbacks to 5GHz. Because it is
higher frequency radio waves, 5GHz is also able to transmit data faster than 2.4GHz. However, because
it is higher frequency, it is also much less able to penetrate through objects, and has a shorter effective
range even when you do have line-of-sight to the router.

2.4GHz is more crowded with devices and is subject to more interference, but it is also able to penetrate
objects much better, and there are some things we can do to make it less affected by interference.

The advantage of a dual band router is that it can do both frequency ranges simultaneously, giving you
the ability to choose the best option at any given venue and, even switch between them during a show if
needed.
2.4GHz Setup:

First think of a name for your network, or steal mine. I call my WiFi “avnet”. Enter this name into the
SSID for the 2.4GHz. While you’re there, also select channel 1, 6, or 11. Do not choose any channel other
than those, and do not leave your channel setting on “auto”.

With regard to channels, the reason you should only choose 1, 6, or 11 is because these are the only
three channels that do not overlap. Overlapping is bad because it exposes your network to more
interference than if you choose one that does not overlap. Additionally, leaving the router to choose
automatically will cause connection problems with the UI24r. When your router decides it’s time to
change channels, you will lose connection momentarily. Sometimes that causes a bigger connection
problem with the UI.

I recommend the use of a wifi scanner app on your phone to determine which of the three channels is
least crowded in the venue where you will be working.

Please setup security on your wifi… WPA2-PSK [AES] is the easiest, most secure option for most
scenarios. Put in a password. This is the password you will use to get on to the WiFi. This should be
something that is not obvious, but is easy enough to remember if you will be giving other people access
to this network.

Some people recommend hiding the SSID or not broadcasting it. Whether this makes any difference for
reliability/interference is debatable. I do not hide it, and I’ve not had any problems with that.

Advanced Wireless Settings:

On my router, there is a more in-depth section where we can adjust some additional settings. Most of
these should be left as default, but the one that I recommend changing is the 20/40MHz coexistence.
Essentially, this will allow devices on the 2.4GHz network the ability to use the 40MHz bandwidth, thus
increasing the potential speed for network transmissions. We want this turned off, because in a lot of
cases, it will actually open the network up to more interference, and some routers switch back and forth
depending on what devices are active on the network at a given time. Disable 20/40MHz coexistence for
better reliability. We’re not that concerned about network speed… nothing we’re doing requires a lot of
bandwidth, but it does require the best reliability we can muster.

WPS:

If your router gives you the ability to turn off WPS, please do. WPS has security flaws and inadvertent
button pushes can cause interruptions to the network.

WMM:

Please disable WMM support unless you absolutely need it for some reason.
Other stuff:

I’ve attached screenshots of my settings for all of what I’ve discussed here and several other setup pages
for your reference.

Test Wifi:

At this time, as a general practice, I reboot the router… even if it has just rebooted to apply some of the
settings above. Then while still connected via Ethernet cable, go back into the settings pages and look
over all of the settings one more time to be sure that nothing has changed.

Once you’re confident in that, it’s time to disconnect the Ethernet cable from your computer and turn
on the wifi radio on your computer. As I mentioned, I’m a windows/android guy, so I can’t tell you how
to do this on a mac/apple device.

Even on Windows, the way to do some of the next steps have changed over the last few versions and
updates of Windows. I’m not going to run through how to do it on all the different versions, but you can
google it if you need to. First, connect your computer to your newly created wifi network. Once you
think you are connected, open a browser and try to login to your router setup pages. If you’re able to
get there, you’ll know that you are definitely connected to the router. If not, you’ll have to go back and
troubleshoot.

Once connected to your new wifi, you’ll need to get to the “manage known networks” page on your
computer (or on the latest updates of Windows 10, by command line..SMH). Google will be a useful tool
to figure out how to do this on your particular computer. From here, you can arrange the list for
connection priority, add/delete wireless networks, and change preferences for whether your computer
should connect automatically (actually in a different spot in windows 10). There is debate here over
what is the ‘best practice’, but what has worked for me is to set my ‘avnet’ WiFi as the number one
priority, and then make it the only network with the ‘connect automatically’ setting selected. This way,
no matter what environment I’m in, my computer will always default to the newly configured router.

Consider 5GHz:

Personally, I’ve always found that 2.4GHz has been a better choice for the environments I’ve worked in.
However, there may be scenarios that 5GHz works better. There are a couple of thoughts on how to
manage this. First, if you are going to run both 5GHz and 2.4GHz on the same router at the same time, I
would be sure that you give the two WiFi networks different names. If ‘avnet’ is your 2.4GHz, maybe
name your 5GHz ‘avnet5G’. You can use the same password for both network names if you want, but
don’t give them the same name.

In theory, if you did give them the same name, your computer would transition between the two
networks always picking the one with the better signal (assuming you had your computer settings set to
do so). However, when connected to the UI24r, we don’t want that happening because each time your
computer switches networks, it will have a momentary connection dropout. If you keep the networks
with different names, and turn off “connect automatically” on your computer for both networks, then
YOU will be the one making the decision if and when to switch networks.

Personally, I leave the 5GHz radio turned off on the router unless I need to use it. The reason being that
broadcasting 2 networks takes more processing power, generates more heat, and creates more wifi
interference in the area (yes, I know they’re not competing frequency ranges). If I don’t need it, why put
the wear and tear on my router?

UI24r Setup: (All screenshots at the end)

Finally, we can start setting up the UI24r! I can’t believe I’ve been writing for over 5 pages already and
am just now getting to the UI24r! If you’re still with me so far… congratulations… I’m not sure that I
would still be reading.

For those of you who’ve stuck with me, we’re getting close.

At this time, we’re going to fire up the UI24r. At this point, I’m assuming that you know how to connect
to the WiFi hotspot on the UI24r, or have setup an HDMI connected screen with a mouse and keyboard.

Once you have the UI running, head on over to the networking page. Click on the “config” button. You’ll
be prompted for your network administration password. If you haven’t changed that already, it’s printed
in the user manual, and I think it may be printed on the back of the UI. If you haven’t changed this
password from the default, I think it’s a good idea.

The first thing we will do on the networking is to setup the LAN Configuration tab. First, click Enabled.
Then click Manual. In the IP box, type in 192.168.1.10. If you’ll remember from a couple of pages ago,
we setup the router’s DHCP to assign IP address starting at 192.168.1.12. So, we are setting up the UI to
specify its own IP address and we’ve chosen an address outside of that which the router will assign. This
is one way, as mentioned previously, to make sure that the UI always gets the same IP address. This
makes sure that everything works the same way every time you boot, even if the boot order of devices
is not ideal.

Next make sure that the Netmask box is 255.255.255.0, and make sure that the gateway is your router’s
IP address… if you’re following my example, 192.168.1.1

At this point, save/update the settings and POWER CYCLE THE MIXER. This is in italics at the top of this
page. You must do this. Whenever I power cycle a piece of equipment like this, I leave it off for a solid 30
seconds before firing it back up.

While the UI is turned off, go ahead and connect it to the router. You will use a standard CAT5, CAT5e,
or CAT6 Ethernet cable to connect the Ethernet 1 port on the UI24r to one of the LAN ports on the
router. You can choose any of the LAN ports, but DO NOT USE THE WAN PORT.
Power back up the UI24r, and connect back to it via the WiFi hotspot, just like you did in the previous
step. Navigate back to the network page, and now we’ll go to the ‘WiFi Configuration’ page. Set to
Disabled. Save/Update. POWER CYCLE. The WiFi Configuration would be used if you wanted to connect
your UI24r to an existing wireless network (such as the one we just created) without using the Ethernet
cable. I suppose you could do this, but if an Ethernet cable is a possibility, it will be a more reliable way
to go… that’s what we’re going for here.

Lastly, connect again, navigate to Network page, go to ‘Hotspot Configuration’. This is where we will
disable the hotspot on the UI24r. Why? Because we don’t need it, and because leaving it on will add
more WiFi interference to your environment. Disable, save/update, POWER CYCLE.

This time when you boot the UI, you will not be able to connect to it over the hotspot.

Connect your computer back to the ‘avnet’ wifi we created.

Open your favorite browser, and type into the address bar 192.168.1.10. Press Enter… viola! You’re
mixing over an external WiFi router.

If you’re using Chrome, you can save this as a favorite, or you can save the link to your desktop. Do this
by clicking on the ‘three dots’ menu upper right. Go to ‘More tools’, click ‘add to desktop’. Name your
shortcut, and check the box for “open as window”, press ‘Add’.

Close the browser. Find the link on your desktop, and right click on it. Go to properties. On the
“shortcut” tab, there is an entry labeled “Run”… select “Maximized”. Say OK.

Personally, I like to run my browser window in full screen mode when mixing. I achieve this by pressing
F11 to toggle between full screen and windowed mode.

Now every time you want to use the mixer, power on the mixer and the router. Give your router enough
time to fully boot (mine takes about 2 minutes). Then open your computer, double click the link on your
desktop, and you’re in business.

There are some other settings you may want to change on your computer:

Power: I setup a custom power profile that prevents the computer from going to sleep even if it’s on
battery power. I will allow the screen to turn off after 5 minutes, but I don’t let harddrives power down,
and I definitely don’t let windows turn off WiFi. There’s another level of setting the driver properties for
the wifi card in your computer to not allow windows to power it down. Google this along with the
version of windows you have to see how to do it. (ie. Google: Windows 10 power down wifi)

Lastly, it is important to note that now if you want/need a wired connection to the UI, you can simply
run another Ethernet line out from one of the other LAN ports on the router to your computer. If you do
this, keep 2 things in mind:

1) If you’re using Ethernet, turn off your computer’s WiFi radio. We don’t want your computer
trying to decide which connection to use… we want YOU to decide that.
 2) Ethernet should be 1 continuous cable with no splices, and should not be any longer than 100
meters (about 325 feet)
3) Bonus: You can still use the same desktop shortcut when connected via Ethernet that you use
when on WiFi.

Note: If you have more than one UI mixer, make sure you set them to have a DIFFERENT IP ADDRESS
than the one we just setup. My UI16 is setup as 192.168.1.11.

Final Note: F5 is the shortcut key to refresh your internet browser (in windows). Sometimes glitches in
the UI24r’s interface can be fixed by simply pressing F5 to refresh the browser. Always try this before
assuming you need to power cycle the router, the UI, or your computer.

Screenshots of all the different setup screens are on the following pages.