mLAN History — Yamaha

mLAN

mLAN, short forMusic Local Area Network, is a protocol for synchronized transmission and management of multi-channel digital audio, video, control signals and multi-portMIDIover a network. The mLAN protocol was originally developed byYamaha Corporation, and publicly introduced in January 2000.It was available under a royalty-free license to anyone interested in utilizing the technology.

OverviewYamaha's mLAN, introduced in 2000, was a FireWire-based digital audio and MIDI networking protocol. This technology allowed multiple Yamaha devices to transmit audio and MIDI over standard FireWire cables, simplifying studio connectivity.
mLAN enabled networked audio systems where multiple devices could share audio streams without traditional audio cabling. The protocol supported up to 16 channels of 24-bit/96kHz audio per connection.
While mLAN was eventually discontinued, it represented an innovative approach to studio connectivity that influenced subsequent audio networking standards.