Okay so I have tried all the following:
1. Decoupled instances - no change in speed of connection
2. Direct connection between Master and Slave eliminating Switch - no change in speed
3. Created a smaller template using just one slave with just 9 instances - no change in speed
All scenarios use 2 Audio In/Out and 16 Midi channels max on 1 port. No firewalls on.
I have checked connections are 1Gb/s and swapped cables, have tried booting slaves and loading first etc.
I am almost 100% sure when I first set this up it was much speedier to connect.
1. Is there a comprehensive guide somewhere on network settings?
2. Is there a bug in the latest version? Anyone else have the same problems?
I timed the full template and it takes 5 minutes to connect, even though all samples/instances are loaded.