LIO-8/4p mkIV

It’s All About the Sound…

A complete, modular, expandable Recording & Mixing Console with world-class converters, a studio full of outboard gear and a professional Atmos capable analog monitor controller. 

Integrated with a future-proof computer interface.

LIO-8/4p mkIV Key Hardware Features

Whether you are on location, in the studio or the mastering room, the LIO-8/4p mkIV has what it takes for you to get the job done.

LIO-8/3p mkIV is built on Metric Halo’s core 3d Technology, so it interoperates seamlessly with all existing MH 3d interfaces.

Since it is amazingly flexible, expandable and future-proof by design, your system always scales to meet your needs. Each unit includes these hardware features:

• Metric Halo’s unique 3d Core Digital Engine with MHLink
• 8 channels A/D with Analog Trim
• 8 channels D/A with Analog Gain
• Stereo Headphone 
  • Dedicated HP D/A and Analog Gain
• Ultra-low converter latency
  • Converter latency reduced by 85% compared with previous generation
  • Round-trip through Converters + Mixer + DSP + Monitor:
      ≈ 0.9ms @ 44.1k
      ≈ 0.2ms @ 192k
• 4 channels MH ULN-R preamps
• 2 channels Guitar/Bass DI inputs
• 8 channels AES Output
• 8 channels AES Input
• SMPTE LTC I/O
• MIDI I/O
• 128 Channel x 64 bus mixer
• Integrated DSP
• Full support for 192k
• Detailed Front panel metering
• FP control with dedicated gain knobs
• IR Remote Control support
• MH EdgeBus Card slot
• MHLink Gigabit Ethernet connectivity
• USB-C connectivity
• Low power, cool-running design with no fans

The mkIV excels in these key areas:

• Tracking

• Mixing

• Mastering

• Live

• Monitors

• Production

• Remote Mic Pre

• A/D/A

• Active Analog Split

• Digital Snake

• DSP Processing

• Format Conversion

• Headphone Amp

• DI

• Meter Bridge

• Monitor Control

• Cue Playback

• Session

• IR Remote

• Tactile Control

• Wireless Control

Integration for the Win

By implementing all the functions of a complete end-to-end signal chain solution in a single package, the LIO-8/4p mkIV is able to provide unprecedented capability and quality in a lightweight, low-power, single rack space unit. This integration has significant benefits in the form of reduced setup time and greater reliability, reduced cabling, weight, power consumption and cost, even as it provides unprecedented flexibility and performance.

The MHLink routing and transport architecture allows you to build a system with units distributed up to 100 meters apart with no added latency.

MHLink's auto-configuration and hardware aggregation make it so the entire system appears to the host computer as a single unified interface. Audio, command and clock transport with up to 256 channels of audio (at 192k) is accomplished with light-weight, inexpensive, readily available Cat 5e cabling.

The new mkIV design is eco-friendly and uses very little energy to provide its incredible performance and power. Even when every mic channel is powering a 48v phantom mic, the LIO-8/4p mkIV only consumes 25 watts, and without phantom uses less than 21 watts.

This low-power design allows the mkIV to run cool and stable. No noisy fans required.

Metric Halo Sound

The sound of an audio product is more than the the sum of its parts. You can’t simply look at the components used and determine how something is going to sound. Excellent audio requires careful attention to detail and the tuning of every element of the entire system; this includes the analog stages, the power system, the clock and the converter itself. As all of these interact with each other in nonlinear ways, it is the system that determines the performance, and not any of the individual parts.

The A/D/A converters in the LIO-8/4p mkIV are DC-coupled to the analog I/O stages so they introduce extremely low phase distortion. The D/A has no low-frequency filtering. The A/D converters have an extremely low frequency DC blocking filter that calibrates the input path and removes DC offset with minimal phase shift.

Every element of the design combines to give you a warm, open 3-dimensional sound that is highly revealing and yet totally natural. Metric Halo mkIV sets a new standard.

It’s digital with soul.

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:

• USB Audio Class 2
• USB MIDI Class
• MIO Control Class

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.

To use a USB port as an SCP port, simply connect the device to one of the USB ports on one of the units in your MHLink chain. Then on the device, select the USB interface of the connected 3d unit as the audio interface for the device, signal processing software or DAW.

It’s as simple as that.