Metric Halo : LIO-8/4p mkIV Metric Halo

Preamps

          The LIO-8/4p mkIV includes 4 channels of Metric Halo’s renowned ULN-R preamps (with space to optionally add another 4 at any time you desire). These boutique preamps are famous for their pristine, low-distortion, completely unveiled sound.

 

         The ULN-R preamp provides up to 90 dB of digitally-controlled analog gain in precisely recallable 0.5 dB steps. Each input supports independently switchable P48 phantom power.

 

         The combination of the super transparent ULN-R preamp and Metric Halo’s exclusive insertable Character Component Modeling Processing provides flexibility and sound quality that’s unavailable on any other device. You can transition from a wire-with-gain pre to a gooey tube pre or anything in between; every input can have the right Character for the sound you want.

 

        The preamp input path on the LIO-8/4p mkIV always has preamp gain control and has DC blocking for the phantom power, it also supports input levels of up to +20dBu with no fidelity reducing pads, so you can handle high SPL with sensitive mics as well as you can handle extremely low SPL with insensitive mics (like ribbon mics and low output dynamics) while maintaining ultra-low noise.

The high maximum input level of +20dBu also means that you can use the mic pre input path as an alternative line input path. This feature can be used with the monitor controller to access an additional 8 selectable analog inputs as external sources.

 

         The LIO-8/4p mkIV input path features an integrated analog send (pre A/D converter) which allows the unit to be used as remote controlled analog preamp. MHLink connectivity and control means that your preamps can be really remote (up to 100m away from your control interface) when you need them to be.

 

         The preamps also offer a send/return mode where the amplified signal from the preamp is sent to the analog send and the line input is used for the return to the A/D converter - this allows you to patch analog processing between the preamp and the converter. Finally, you can use the analog send to provide the pre-amplified signal to a backup recording or mixing system; this is a fully analog split that represents a true backup signal with no digital dependencies.

 

USB

Every mkIV unit includes an industry standard USB-C port that provides a device port featuring 3 interface endpoints:

          The Audio Class and MIDI Class endpoints support industry standard protocols and allow the mkIV to be used with the built-in drivers of any USB host that supports the standard classes.

 

          You can transport audio and MIDI to and from computers running macOS, Windows 10 & 11, or Linux without installing a custom driver.

 

         You can transport audio and MIDI to and from mobile devices (and embedded devices) that don't allow the installation of custom drivers, as long as the devices provide built-in Audio and/or MIDI class support. At present iOS devices (including iPhone and iPad), Android devices (phones and tablets) and AKAI MPC have the appropriate class drivers included.

 

MIOConsole3d also controls the unit over USB so you can connect your computer with one cable.

 

SCP

          Have you ever wanted to connect an iPad to your main studio system? How about dedicating an older computer you have laying around to running a VI or a Sampler? What about when a client or collaborator comes in with their laptop and wants to run audio into your system? With mkIV and SCP, you can just connect any of these devices right into your system without having to add another interface just for that purpose.

 

       mkIV supports explicit routing to and from the USB connector on any unit in the MHLink chain. When used in this way the USB ports are referred to as Satellite Computer Ports.

 

       This feature allows you to integrate audio from multiple USB host devices (computers, phones, tablets, MPCs, etc.) without having to purchase additional interfaces. It automatically keeps your devices synchronized with your system and provides device to device routing as well as integrated mixing and processing.

 

        You can connect a sampler running on a another computer and directly mix its outputs with the rest of your sources. You route directly between computers/devices or mult signals to multiple computers/devices - so you can set up a computer or an iPad as an effects rack or backup recorder.

 

       You can integrate the output of multiple iOS instruments into your MHLink Mixer via the direct digital link and you can record real-time performances by routing them to your main recording computer.

 

      You can use the SCP functionality to integrate multiple computers (or iOS devices) into your MHLink mixing engine. Each USB port is available for connection with a USB audio host. The SCP USB source and destination categories in the routing selector popups allow you to select explicit USB channels to route to and from.