MOTU OctaLite — a USB audio interface and optical expander

MOTU has announced a compact multichannel audio interface in a half-rack format, offering 16 inputs and 12 outputs. The new model suits both mobile recording and ADAT expansion of existing studio setups.

Photo: official website motu

The device has a sturdy steel half-rack enclosure, low-noise Burr-Brown operational amplifiers and ESS Sabre32 converters using the ES9026PRO chip. Its main feature is eight full XLR/TRS combo microphone, line and instrument inputs in a portable enclosure: two on the front and six on the rear. There is also a TRS headphone output with an independent level control, a pair of TRS monitor outputs, USB-C and three optical ports: ADAT or TOSLink input/output and an SMUX 5–8 output. Each channel has +48 V phantom power and a -20 dB pad. The preamplifiers offer up to +74 dB gain and an equivalent input noise of -129 dBu.

Photo: official website motu

MOTU OctaLite specifications

• Dynamic range: 115 dB (microphone input), 125 dB (line output), 118 dB (headphone output);
• THD+N: -114 dB (0.0002%);
• Round-trip latency (RTL): 2 ms (32-sample buffer at 96 kHz);
• Weight: 1.36 kg.

Other features include a built-in DSP mixer and audio effects, three virtual mixer buses and dedicated loopback channels for streaming and podcasts. A bright OLED display shows signal levels clearly. CueMix 5 software provides remote control of all routing settings.

Photo: official website motu

The interface comes with an external 15 V power supply, MOTU Performer Lite and Ableton Live Lite licences, and a 6 GB sample pack from developers including Big Fish Audio, LucidSamples and Loopmasters. It supports class-compliant operation with macOS, Windows and iOS. The Coupler Kit allows two OctaLite units, or an OctaLite together with UltraLite-mk5 , to sit side by side in one standard 19-inch rack unit (1U), providing 16 microphone channels.

Photo: official website motu

MOTU OctaLite will be available for $850.