Installation and Registration
186
The MHLink (Gigabit Ethernet) connection
MHLink supports up to 128ch I/O (128 channels in and 128 channels out) at up to 192kHz/32bits (integer)
resolution. The driver defaults to 32 channels of I/O.
MIOConsole3d provides a menu bar pull-down (appropriately called “I/O”) to control the number of chan-
nels provided by the driver. Currently you must have MIOConsole3d running in order for your I/O channel
preference to be re-asserted if you disconnect and reconnect your hardware.
When using MHLink as the connection to the computer, you can chain multiple boxes using any Gigabit
Ethernet-qualified (Cat 5e or better) connection cables up to 100 meters in length. The MHLink driver
will automatically recognize the chained boxes and aggregate their resources to appear as a single audio
device to the computer, and as a domain in MIOConsole3d.
MHLink / Gigabit Ethernet considerations
The MHLink Driver will discover 3d devices connected to the computer over Gigabit Ethernet. Currently
the driver, console and firmware do not provide any support for arbitrating or sharing the 3d hardware
between multiple computers.
Only run one copy of MIOConsole3d at a time if multiple computers can
see the same 3d hardware via the network or a USB connection.
MHLink cannot heal the audio clock across the packet buffering stages in an ethernet switch. This means
there is no way to synchronize multiple 3d units directly connected to an IP network switch. Each box
would appear as its own MHLink clock domain, and as separate devices to the Host operating system (as
depicted in red in the graphic below).
Host Computer
MH box
MHLink box 1
MHLink box 2
MHLink box 3
MHLink box 4
more boxes
MHLink box 1
MHLink box 2
LAN / WAN
to
The Outside World
Gigabit Ethernet Switch
Shared
Media
Servers
USB
This is a domain (OK)
This is a domain (Best)
Shared Ethernet
(Probably Fine)
This is a another domain
Dedicated
Ethernet
Figure 9.8: MIOConsole3d Domain configurations
To have an unified, aggregated system, 3d boxes must be daisy-chained via the MHLink ports, with one
end of the chain connected from the 3d device directly to the computer (preferable) or the IP network.
Do not create Ethernet loops.
