Specifications

YAMAHA
mLAN
DIGITAL MIXERS
413
PHOTO - VIDEO - PRO AUDIO
ORDER & INFO. [phone] • FAX: [phone] [phone]
1-800-875-6951 • www.bhphotovideo.com
The 5 Ws of mLAN
mLAN is the enabling technology for
creating an intelligent,managed local area
music network (LAN) using Firewire.
mLAN not only carries multi channel
digital audio and MIDI over IEEE1394
Firewire, it includes the connection man-
agement so you can easily manage your
entire network.
One of the reasons for the complexity and
inflexibility of many of today’s music pro-
duction systems and studios is the sheer
number of connections involved.All the
MIDI and audio signals are routed sepa-
rately, and each MIDI cable can handle
up to 16 channels of data. Audio usually
requires a separate cable — whether ana-
log or digital — for each channel of audio
for both input and output.
Yamaha’s innovative mLAN networking
system neatly overcomes all these prob-
lems by allowing many channels of digital
audio and MIDI music data to be trans-
ferred bi–directionally via a single
Firewire cable. Extremely powerful music
systems can be quickly and easily config-
ured using mLAN-compatible musical
instruments, computer components and
interface devices.You don’t need to worry
about the order you connect the devices
in, and mLAN ports are “hot pluggable”
so you can unplug and plug in devices
without having to power-down or reset
the system.
Using the software patch bay application
provided with all mLAN products, you
can easily reconfigure your system – con-
necting and disconnecting devices as
required – without having to physically
plug, unplug, or re-route any cables at all.
Although computer control can be an
advantage in mLAN networks,mLAN
allows music and audio devices to be net-
worked without a computer. This allows
you to configure an mLAN system for live
performances systems.
The other problem that exists in today’s
market is proprietary formats. Some of
these proprietary systems use a Firewire
connector, but you can only connect
equipment from the manufacturer of the
proprietary format which severely limits
your choices of gear that you integrate
into your studio.
What is it ?
Who is it ?
mLAN was developed by Yamaha, but we
realized that for mLAN to be successful,
it needed broad participation from other
manufacturers.It is available to other
manufacturers as a royalty free (no-cost)
license. Currently there are over 40 man-
ufacturers who have signed on as mLAN
licensees and 8 manufacturers have devel-
oped first generation products. Those
with current mLAN products include
Apogee, Korg, Kurzweil, Otari, Presonus,
Swissonic, Te r ra t e c and Yamaha.
When is it?
First generation mLAN products that use
the 200 mbps PH-1 chipset are currently
available. They allow 8 channels of 48
kHz digital audio i/o and 128 2 Ports
(times 16 Channels) of MIDI.
Second generation products are now in
development and will be released using
the latest PH2 400 mbps chip set.They
will be capable of up to 16 x 64 channels
of 96 khz audio i/o (or 32 x 128 channels
at 44.1 or 48 khz) along with 256 MIDI
channels (8 ports times 16 Channels).
Where is it?
mLAN works in Windows XP and there
are both ASIO and WDM multi-client
drivers available for the PC platform.
mLAN is also included in Core Audio as
part of OSX 10.2.3 so,you will not even
need a driver for Macintosh computers.
Why is it?
So what are the advantages of mLAN
over other Firewire audio devices?
Firstly, because other devices use propri-
etary formats, you can only connect
devices from that particular maker to
your system.With mLAN,you can hook
up an Apogee converter with a Presonus
mic pre and a Yamaha synth in one intel-
ligent, well-managed networking system.
Because it uses a standard 1394 connec-
tion, you can even run video and other
data on the same Firewire cable without
affecting your mLAN network.
Second,mLAN doesn’t require a comput-
er. You can setup your mLAN system at
home using a computer and then take the
gear to a live gig and hook it together.
MLAN will remember the pre-configured
setup and re-establish the network and all
it’s connections.
Third, mLAN handles word clock arbitra-
tion so you can run different devices at
different sampling frequencies on the
same network.Anyone whose tried to
setup a digital audio studio knows how
important word clock is for a successful
studio setup.
IEEE 1394 CABLE
CONCEPTUAL
DIAGRAM
Approximately 100
conventional cables
Other cables
(digital video signals,etc.)
256 MIDI cables