Related Manuals for Lynx Studio Technology Mesa
Summary of Contents for Lynx Studio Technology Mesa
- Page 1 Desktop Audio Interface SD Card Recorder AD/DA Converter User Manual Lynx Studio Technology, Inc. www.lynxstudio.com support@lynxstudio.com Updated: May 27, 2025...
- Page 2 Purchase Date: _____________________________________________________ Dealer Name: _____________________________________________________ Dealer Telephone: _____________________________________________________ Mesa Serial Number: _____________________________________________________ Mesa User Manual Copyright © 1998-2025, Lynx Studio Technology Inc. Page 2...
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Page 3: Table Of Contents
Initial Setup ........................7 Computer Set Up ......................7 2.6.1 Driver Installation for Windows 10/11 ..................7 2.6.2 Mesa Driver Devices – Windows Operating Systems ..............7 2.6.3 Driver Installation for macOS ..................... 9 3 Using Mesa ..........................11 On Power Up ......................... 11 3.1.1 All I/O Meters page ........................ - Page 4 Telephone Support ......................42 Registering your Mesa ....................42 Return Policy ......................... 42 7 Troubleshooting & User Tips ....................43 8 Specifications ..........................44 9 Certifications ..........................46 FCC DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY ..............46 CE EMI / EMC DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY ..........46 CE SAFETY DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY ...........
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Page 5: Introduction
Introduction Mesa is a departure from the rest of the Lynx line, but also a continuation of the tradition of uncompromising quality. A departure because it is a small footprint desktop piece, well suited for travel, with a fixed feature set. Most external Lynx devices are modular, and expandable. -
Page 6: In The Box
1.5.1 Audio Equipment Requirements Mesa features a wide variety of audio I/O formats. Compatibility with these formats are, of course, only important for I/O ports that you intend to use. • 2 Headphone jacks: The two headphone jacks (PHONES) are suitable for driving stereo headphones through a ¼”... -
Page 7: Computer Requirements
88.2 kHz and 96 kHz. • Word Clock I/O: Use Mesa as a clock master, or slave, to other digital devices in your studio. As a clock slave, Lynx proprietary SynchroLock 2 technology ensures exemplary clock performance no matter what the source might be. -
Page 8: Getting Started
Getting Started Mesa was designed to be a product that is so easy to use that this section of the manual would scarcely be necessary. However, it is quicker to learn how the device works in one go, then to spend precious minutes figuring things out by randomly pressing buttons. -
Page 9: Back Panel
Mic level sources (with or without phantom power), Hi-Z Instrument level, or Line Level. ¼” source will automatically be switched to Hi-Z. XLR sources can be set to Mic or Line on the Mesa front panel, or in the Mesa Remote software. -
Page 10: Front Panel
2.4 Front Panel The front of Mesa is what you will be interacting with. The touchscreen allows you a deep level of control with a minimal footprint. We will explore the touchscreen navigation system in Section 3. Here we just want to look at each element. -
Page 11: Initial Setup
2.5 Initial Setup It is important to set up Mesa in the proper order to avoid any speaker damage. Follow these steps for the best results: • Connect the AC power supply to Mesa and to a quality, surge-protected AC power source. Check the Power and Safety section of this manual for additional information. - Page 12 (Speakers) Mesa. That driver device defaults to streaming to both the Monitor and Phones outputs. Mesa’s play devices are labeled as Mesa Speakers (this is equivalent to Main Out), Mesa Play 3+4, and the record devices as Mesa Record 1+2, Mesa Record 3+4, etc. These are pre-configured to connect to appropriate hardware I/O on the Mesa by default, although this can be user altered in Mesa Outputs page or from the Mesa Remote software.
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Page 13: Driver Installation For Macos
Latency can be manipulated by changing the size of the buffers used to transfer data to and from Mesa. The higher the buffer size, the less work the computer has to do to stream audio to the hardware. However, a higher buffer results in more latency. - Page 14 Latency can be manipulated by changing the size of the buffers used to transfer data to and from Mesa. The higher the buffer size, the less work the computer has to do to stream audio to the hardware. However, a higher buffer results in more latency.
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Page 15: Using Mesa
3.1 On Power Up Let’s start by exploring the screen you will see when you first power up the Mesa. Detailing what you will see here is a good start to understanding the User Interface conventions in the Mesa. -
Page 16: Input Meters
Current Page: Shows the current page name. Press to switch to the Main menu (same as pressing the dedicated Menu button on the front panel). Analog Input State: These icons represent the 4 analog inputs on the Mesa. The status will be a blue circle for Mic, ... - Page 17 The Rotary Encoder also has a click function when you press down on the knob. Be default, this activates the Dim function, which attenuates the selected output by 20dB. From the Rotary Encoder Settings page, you can change that to Mute, or Output advance, where you can toggle through volume control for multiple outputs.
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Page 18: Main Menu
3.2 Main menu To get into the heart of the Mesa front panel controls, let’s start by pressing the menu button. This will open the Main menu page. Below are examples of where each menu item will lead to, in the same order as the Main menu. -
Page 19: Outputs Page
Outputs Page This page is where you get a bird’s eye view of the Mesa outputs, where you can attenuate outputs, assign sources, and control other parameters. Many users will monitor input signals through their recording software, and, likely, will not need to make changes from the defaults. -
Page 20: Monitor Source (Output Source Page)
10dB, you will hear the level change and pan position through the Monitor out. But Input 1 also shows up in your computer recording software as Mesa Record 1. The attenuation here will have no impact on the record level in your software. - Page 21 Source select: As with the outputs page, here we see four pairs of input sources to select. Since Mesa has more than four inputs to choose from, pressing an input label button pops up a page to select any of the other inputs available for display.
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Page 22: Phones Source
Output dim button: Reduces the selected output by 20dB. When the rotary encoder is following the output, pressing the rotary encoder down will also activate the output dim. Note: The fader position will not change when dim is activated. Output mute button: Mutes the selected output. -
Page 23: Preamp
Preamp 48V Lockout: When selected, 48V cannot be applied to the selected input for microphones that should never have 48V phantom power applied, such as certain ribbon microphones. This setting cannot be disabled by the Mesa Remote application. Link control: Enables linking of channel pairs. When linked, controls for both channels will be changed together and level meter will show both channels instead of a single channel. -
Page 24: Settings Menu
Backlight: This page provides a slider to control the amount of backlight in the Mesa display. The default is 100%, but can be adjusted down to reduce the brightness. While the backlight page is active, the rotary encoder changes the backlight slider. - Page 25 Rotary Encoder Settings: Mesa allows a high degree of customization, so that the controls you use the most are easily accessible. This page allows control over the behavior of the rotary encoder knob on the Mesa, as well as the behavior of the Mute button on the front panel.
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Page 26: All I/O Meters
All I/O Meters The All I/O page is the ideal place to get a “wide-angle” view of where signals are coming from and going to in the Mesa system. This will reveal audio activity for all physical inputs and outputs. You can also see meters for signals to and from the computer here by selecting “All I/O Show Thunderbolt”... -
Page 27: Horizontal Meters
Horizontal Meters These meters give a much more detailed and accurate picture of the audio coming into, and going out of, the Mesa. The horizontal meters are designed to show accurate level information with Peak Hold on two input and two output sources simultaneously. -
Page 28: Clock Setup
This is an information only page. It shows the Serial number, Firmware version, Firmware date and Selected PROM. Mesa has two PROMs on its main board, as a failsafe. By default, PROM 2 is active. PROM 1 is only used in the unlikely event the firmware update is unsuccessful. -
Page 29: Sd Card Menu
Pressing the input label in the far-left column will select all the channels in that row. Auto Select allows the Mesa to choose channel count based on the number of inputs that have signal sources connected to them. If you had signal sources connected into all 4 preamp inputs, and the SPDIF coax input, then it would automatically set up for a 6-channel recording using those sources. - Page 30 It is also possible to set one of the Mesa Function buttons to quickly jump to the Scenes page, so you have a quick way to save and recall scenes. This is done from the Settings > Function Setup page. When you select a scene, its creation date and time will appear at the bottom of the display.
- Page 31 While the update is being applied, the display will indicate not to turn off the Mesa or the computer. When complete, you will be prompted to turn off the Mesa with the power switch on the back. After power cycling, the new firmware will be active.
- Page 32 Changing the repeat="false" to repeat="true" will cause the playlist to repeat playing until manually stopped. If the playlist is renamed to “AutoStart”, each time the microSD card is inserted in the Mesa and powered on, the Playlist will automatically start playing from the first track.
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Page 33: Mesa Remote
When changes are made in Mesa Remote, they will immediately be reflected on the Mesa hardware, and vice versa, In fact, it is best to think of Mesa Remote as a way to control the Mesa hardware, rather than a standalone mixing app. -
Page 34: Adapter Pane
300%. “Auto” sets to an appropriate level for your current screen resolution. 66% is the inverse of 150% and 80% is the inverse of 125%. If your operating system is enlarging text 125% and you would like to have Mesa Remote displayed without any operating system zooming artifacts, you would pick 80%. - Page 35 Sync Source is grayed out when the Mesa is in use. There are some cases when it is useful to have the capability to change the sync source while the device is in use. When this switch is set to ON, the Mesa can be streaming or being used in a DAW, and the Sync Source button will allow you to change clock source.
- Page 36 Quick Scenes: There are several ways to store user scenes with Mesa. Scenes contain parameter and channel states, and allow for easy recall of a custom configuration. Scenes can be stored on a microSD card inserted into Mesa, in Mesa Remote from the Save Scene button off of the main menu, or in this section.
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Page 37: Outputs
With the Mesa, outputs are selected first, then the routing to that output is determined. This can be a tricky concept to absorb, but once you are comfortable with how this works, it is extremely flexible and easy to use. -
Page 38: Sd Play
Above the Outputs pane is the SD Play pane. This is where tracks that have been recorded onto a microSD card can be directed to any outputs on the Mesa. By default, the SD card tracks will play through the Monitor and Phones output, but you can customize it if you wish to. -
Page 39: Play
That is not the case here. With Mesa, you have control over where these computer streams go, even if you want some playback material to go to multiple different outputs simultaneously. -
Page 40: Input
Mesa outputs. The faders do not control record levels, just the monitoring level when an input has been routed to an output. As with the play devices, in Mesa you do routing by selecting an output in the bottom row first, and then any sources you un-mute will be routed to that output. -
Page 41: Loopback
. In this state, the mute, fader and pan controls operate on a single channel independently. Input Label: This allows the user to enter a custom label for the input within Mesa Remote. This label will not appear in audio software or to the OS, it is only used when Mesa Remote is open. -
Page 42: Mesa Remote Keyboard/Mouse Conventions
DAW. If you want to reduce the level of the audio you are capturing, in Mesa Remote, attenuate the loopback output channel. - Page 43 signal from the inputs. When evaluating a take, the play signal from the DAW needs to be sent to the phones for the artists to hear. • Set Preamp 1 to Mic. Turn on 48V if applicable • Preamp 2 should have auto-set to Hi-Z when a 1/4” jack was inserted. Confirm •...
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Page 44: Firmware Updates
Thunderbolt connection. The LynxFirmware application will auto-detect the Lynx product attached, and determine if there is a firmware update available for your device. • Make sure that your computer has the Mesa drivers installed and the Mesa being recognized by the Operating System as a valid audio device. -
Page 45: Update Via Microsd Card
(this can be done using a microSD card USB adapter, or a standard SD card with microSD card adapter). Eject the microSD card from the computer and place it into the Mesa. Mesa will indicate that new firmware is available, and prompt to do the update. -
Page 46: Support
Support We are devoted to making your experience with Mesa trouble-free and productive. If the troubleshooting and operational sections of this manual did not help resolve your questions, several support options are available to you: 6.1 Lynx Website Support Resources Logging on to https://www.lynxstudio.com... -
Page 47: Troubleshooting & User Tips
(the side it is connected to). Why? A. On Mesa, go to the Monitor Source page. Make sure that the input in question is panned center. Do the same on the Phones Source page. You can also do this from Mesa Remote: select Monitor Out in bottom row, then pan the input source to the center from the top row. -
Page 48: Specifications
Specifications Line In ‐113dB @1kHz, ‐1dBFS, 20kHz filter Full scale input level +20dBu Dynamic Range 119 dB, A-weighted, -60dBFS signal method Frequency Response ± 0.010 dB, 20 – 20kHz Crosstalk -130 dB maximum @ 1kHz, -1dBFS signal Common mode rejection Greater than 80dB Input Impedance 200kΩ... - Page 49 Headphone Out THD+N ‐107dB @1kHz, ‐1dBFS, 20kHz filter, volume at max Dynamic Range 120dB, A‐weighted, ‐60dBFS signal method Frequency Response ±0.025dB, 20–20kHz Crosstalk ‐120dB maximum @ 1kHz, ‐1dBFS signal Output Level 18.4dBu maximum Output Power 68mW @ 600Ω, 135mW @ 300Ω, 383mW @ 60Ω, 212mW @ 32Ω, 100mW @ 16Ω...
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Page 50: Certifications
Certifications 9.1 FCC DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY MANUFACTURERS NAME: Lynx Studio Technology, Inc. MANUFACTURER ADDRESS: 190 McCormick Avenue Costa Mesa, CA 92626, U.S.A. TELEPHONE (714) 545-4700 TYPE OF EQUIPMENT: Professional A/D and D/A Converter MODEL NUMBER: Mesa COMPLIANCE TEST REPORT NUMBER:... -
Page 51: Warranty Information
If you purchased your product from an authorized dealer outside the United States of America or Canada, please contact your dealer or distributor for warranty service. Lynx, Lynx Studio Technology and Mesa are trademarks of Lynx Studio Technology, Inc. All other product or company names are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owner. - Page 53 User Manual Lynx Studio Technology, Inc. www.lynxstudio.com Copyright © 1998-2025, Lynx Studio Technology Inc.
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