The MIOConsole3d Application
228
I/O
Menu
The
I/O Menu
provides two separate functions critical to the operation of MHLink. The first manages the
bandwidth between the Root box and your Host computer, and the second optimizes MHLink data flow
between the Root box and the daisy-chain for large-scale MHLink domains.
for 3d USB ports configuration.
Figure 10.56: I/O Menu
•
MHLink Host channel allocation:
Selecting ‘2’ through ‘128’ determines the number of bi-directional
channels presented to the Host computer over MHLink Gigabit Ethernet.
Setting the I/O to to ‘64’ means your Host computer (and therefore your DAW) will see 64 channels
in and out of the MHLink Core Audio device. The default is 32 channels in and 32 channels back out
to the Host, which is a pretty easy load to bear, even at 192kHz sample rate.
The '2 channel' I/O option is available for compatibility with mono/stereo-only internet audio/video
conferencing applications.
The thing to remember here is, higher channel counts and higher sample rates combine to make
for a heavier load on your Host computer. Most computers suitable for DAW use can handle 128
channels of I/O at up to 96kHz without too much trouble, but if you don’t really need 128 channels,
64 is easier to manage anyway and any Host DAW can always use a little more cpu headroom.
Note:
If you can not dedicate a Gigabit Ethernet port exclusively to MHLink, and need
to run MHLink over your regular IP network in a business or corporate environment, you
might find 64 or 32 channels of I/O strikes a better balance between network response
and audio bandwidth than the full load of 128 channels. The same might be true if you
routinely run hi-res video from a local server alongside your audio streams. When perfor-
mance issues on a shared network arise, try reducing your I/O channel count and see if
that helps.
•
Tunnel Routing
is enabled by default; it is what allows MHLink to route audio between boxes without
introducing additional latency. Due to the bandwidth reservation required to make Tunnel routing
work, if you will be using more than 6 boxes in an MHLink chain @ 4x sample rates you will need
to turn Tunnel routing off.
In some future release of the software, MIOConsole3d will manage this automatically and this menu
item will be removed.
