The first-ever Thomann Live Days brought together manufacturers, engineers, rental companies, theaters, and audio professionals for two days fully dedicated to Pro Audio, Networking, and Lighting.
As part of the network track, JOYNED hosted a Milan workshop focused on one important idea:
Professional audio networking can be powerful without becoming overly complex.
And judging by the discussions, questions, and hands-on sessions throughout the event, that message clearly resonated.
Understanding the Bigger Picture
One of the goals of the workshop was not only to demonstrate Milan systems in practice, but also to help attendees understand the ecosystem behind modern networked audio technologies.
The sessions covered the relationship between:
- IEEE standards
- AVB and TSN technologies
- Avnu certification
- Milan interoperability
Instead of diving into overly technical protocol details, the focus was on understanding the core principles on an abstract and practical level.
Topics included:
- How audio network packets are structured
- How Ethernet switches process and prioritize traffic
- Why deterministic transport matters for professional audio
- How synchronization works inside modern audio networks
This approach allowed both newcomers and experienced users to better understand why Milan behaves differently from many other networked audio systems.
Why Timing Matters
A particularly interesting part of the workshop focused on synchronization and timing.
Using practical demonstrations, attendees could experience how different PTP (Precision Time Protocol) profiles affect audio performance and system behavior. The sessions highlighted how Milan’s tightly defined timing requirements contribute to predictable synchronization and reliable operation across multi-vendor environments.
Rather than discussing timing only theoretically, the workshop demonstrated the audible and operational impact synchronization can have in real-world setups.
Managing Latency in Milan Networks
Another key topic was latency management.
One of Milan’s biggest advantages is that latency handling is predictable and deterministic. The workshop explored how streams are reserved and transported through the network infrastructure, how switches participate in traffic scheduling, and why this creates highly reliable low-latency operation even across more complex setups.
Again, the focus was not on “nerdy” implementation details, but on building an intuitive understanding of how the system behaves and why that matters for live sound applications.
Hands-On Milan Demonstrations
Theory quickly transitioned into practice with a fully operational demo environment featuring infrastructure and endpoints from multiple manufacturers.
The setup included:
- Netgear and Luminex network infrastructure
- JOYNED Dash, Milan Control Software
- JOYNED MU16, Milan USB Interface
- PreSonus mixers
- HK Audio loudspeakers
Attendees could follow the complete workflow from stream discovery and Milan routing through to manufacturer-specific configuration steps required to establish fully working audio paths.
This hands-on aspect proved especially valuable because it showed that interoperable Milan systems are no longer theoretical concepts — they are practical tools that can be deployed today.
Beyond Milan: Advanced Networking Workflows
What made the Thomann Live Days particularly exciting was the opportunity to demonstrate more advanced workflows beyond basic audio transport.
Together with other presenters and partners, discussions included:
- Video workflows with Matrox
- AES67 and RAVENNA integration
- Format conversion between technologies
- Advanced switch configuration strategies
- Scalable network architecture concepts
These sessions highlighted an increasingly important reality in the AV industry:
Modern productions often combine multiple standards and ecosystems within the same infrastructure.
A Collaborative Industry Event
The network track featured contributions and presentations from:
- Thomann
- Matrox
- Netgear
- Luminex
- JOYNED
Between sessions, attendees had plenty of opportunity for direct discussions, networking, and knowledge exchange. The atmosphere throughout the event was highly collaborative and reflected the growing interest in open standards and interoperable AV networking.
Looking Forward
For a first edition, the Thomann Live Days created an impressive platform for education, collaboration, and hands-on technology demonstrations.
The strong interest in Milan, AVB/TSN, and interoperable networking clearly showed how rapidly the professional AV industry is evolving toward standardized and deterministic network infrastructures.
For JOYNED, it was a pleasure to contribute to these conversations and help make complex networking topics more approachable for a broader audience.
And judging by the energy throughout the event:
This was definitely not the last Thomann Live Days.
