Metric Halo has announced the immediate availability of the new "future proof" 24-bit/96kHz Mobile I/O 2882 Expanded multi-channel processor and FireWire interface for recording and mixing in the studio or on the road with your Mac. The portable 18-input/20-output 2882 Expanded incorporates the new 2d Card, which provides a nearly six-fold increase in the DSP power available for processing, routing and mixing in Metric Halo's FireWire audio interfaces.

The 2882 Expanded features eight Mic/Line/Instrument analog inputs, eight mic preamps with individually switchable phantom power, eight analog outputs on balanced TRS connectors, 24-bit/96kHz converters on all channels, eight channels of ADAT I/O (switchable to TOSLINK), and AES-S/PDIF Digital I/O with selectable SRC. It also includes a headphone amp with front panel mute/dim, front panel metering, and remote level control on all channels. Newly added ADAT implementation includes optical S/PDIF support (independently switchable on both input and output) with asynchronous SRC for the optical S/PDIF input.

Version 5 of the MIO Driver and MIO Console software, included with the 2882 Expanded, provides direct access to the power of Mobile I/O and the 2d Processing Architecture. It features a brand-new customizable mixer, as well as unified control of all the mixing and processing resources of all connected Mobile I/O Expanded hardware. Metric Halo's exclusive Character processing, included in the v.5 software, selectively adds fifteen different flavors of euphonic low-order distortions, found in classic analog devices to the inputs and mix busses of the system.

The 2882 Expanded also includes a bundle of basic production plug-ins, including MIOStrip (a full featured channel strip with Gate, Compressor and six-band EQ), HaloVerb, Mid-Side Decoder, Sample Delay and Dither. The v.5 mixer also provides inserts that greatly simplify and accelerate the process of adding exceptional +DSP plug-ins to the signal path.

The integrated 2d Processing, based upon new, next-generation DSP, offers 5.5 times the available processing power of the original Metric Halo +DSP implementation, while a SIMD engine enables an additional doubling in power for certain operations, such as mixing. Metric Halo claims that the 2882 Expanded is the only unit in its class with an on-board processing engine that supports fully instantiable processing, providing full access to Metric Halo's signal processing effects without sacrificing the computer's processing power or introducing any additional latency in the monitor path.

This one-rack space audio interface, weighing only five pounds and about the size of a laptop, has the ability to run entirely from any DC power source (9V-30V), making it truly and completely mobile. Three 2882s may be chained together for 24 analog tracks of recording with processing on all channels in just three rack spaces.

Pricing & Availability

The MSRP of the 2882 Expanded is $1,895. A +DSP bundle software license, which adds hundreds of plug-ins and processors to the zero-latency 2d Processing environment, is $699.