MOTM

"Yamaha's mLAN (music Local Area Network) system may well supercede MIDI in 
the near future, carrying audio, MIDI and synchronisation signals down a 
single cable. 100 audio channels, 256 MIDI channels and 16 other channels can 
be handled, and the mLAN8P is Yamaha's first Yamaha mLAN interface. "


FireWire audio: The Promised mLAN
By David Leishman

Yamaha is tentatively scheduled to announce its rollout strategy for the 
first generation of IEEE 1394-based digital audio recording and production 
equipment in its mLAN series at the Audio Engineering Society convention, 
September 22-25 in Los Angeles. mLAN is a communication standard that uses an 
audio and music data transmission protocol in conjunction with IEEE 1394, 
allowing audio and MIDI to be simultaneously transmitted and received over a 
single cable. Product specifications are not final at this time, but Yoshi 
Sawada, Yamaha's Manager of 1394 R&D, shared the planned details with 
MacWEEK. 

Yamaha refers to the IEEE-1394 interface by its generic name, rather than 
"FireWire," which is Apple's brand name. 

Three to go 

The first group of products will consist of three units: the mLAN-8P 
interface/breakout box and two interface modules, the mLAN-8E and CD8-mLAN. 
They will operate 200Mbps, and are capable of 16- or 24-bit depths and 
sampling rates of 44.1 or 48 KHz, per user specification. Sawada declined at 
this time to speculate about supporting 1394's maximum throughput of 400Mbps. 
Theoretically, up to 100 channels of audio data or 256 ports of MIDI data can 
be transmitted and received at 200 Mbps, and up to 63 devices can be 
daisy-chained and hot-swapped. 

The mLAN-8P interconnects conventional audio/MIDI and mLAN, and has an 
internal mixing capability with digital effect processing. It is capable of 
eight simultaneous audio ins/outs, and can mix 12 channels. Connectors 
include: three 1394 ports; stereo quarter-inch analog in and outs; and stereo 
S/PDIF in and out, for coaxial and TOSLink optical connections (S/PDIF is a 
digital audio transmission standard). It also includes a stereo headphone 
jack; a one-in, two-out MIDI interface; two auxiliary sends (one stereo) for 
external sound effects, and two master outputs (one stereo). 

The mLAN-8E interface module supports Yamaha keyboards and tone generators, 
including the Yamaha S-80, CS6X, CS6R, A4000 and A5000; Yamaha will announce 
compatibility for future products as they are introduced. The unit also has 
internal mixing capability for 16 inputs, but doesn't support digital effect 
processing. Connectors include three 1394 ports that support eight channels of
 audio in and out--subject to the restrictions of instruments mLAN-8E is 
installed on--and MIDI in/out. 

The CD8-mLAN is an interface for compatible Yamaha digital mixing consoles, 
including the O2R and O3D. It has two 1394 ports with eight channels of audio 
in and out, and MIDI in/out. To interface MIDI, the user needs to connect the 
CD8-mLAN and the console externally via a serial interface. 

All of the products will ship with mLAN Patch Bay connection management 
software, a mixer control application, and mLAN Mac drivers for compatibility 
with the ASIO and OMS standards. 

Mac compatibility 

Sawada said that Yamaha will announce a list of compatible Mac models at a 
later date, and that Yamaha is working with Apple to address some issues on 
PowerBook FireWire. He also noted that the Windows driver will not be 
available at the time of the product introduction, and that the Windows 
versions of the mixer control and mLAN Patch Bay applications will work 
through serial interface instead of 1394 for the present. 

Yamaha is performing research and development on ten units in a studio in 
Tokyo. Production in Japan is slated to begin in October, with no production 
scheduled in the U.S. Products will be released at the same time in both 
countries. 

The company demonstrated mLAN at the January Macworld Expo in San Francisco, 
winning a "Best of Show" award. Yamaha did not have a booth at Macworld Expo 
New York, but did attend the concurrent National Association of Musical 
Manufacturers (NAMM) show in Nashville, where it focused on signing licensees 
for the technology. Synthesizer manufacturer Korg was the first third party 
to offer an mLAN-enabled product at NAMM, with an mLAN Interface Board option 
for its newly-announced Triton Rack workstation/sampler.