MOTU’s latest audio interface manages to pack a generous amount of connectivity into a compact portable enclosure, and in fact, is said to be the only half-rack interface on the market to come equipped with eight onboard mic pres. 

The OctaLite is a 16-in, 12-out interface that operates via USB 2.0, and will deliver latency figures as low as 2ms when using MOTU’s optimised drivers — it’ll also work as a class-compliant device with no driver install required. It includes an onboard DSP engine that offers built-in reverb, four-band EQ, compression and gating, and conversion is handled by 32-bit ESS Pro Sabre devices. 

Its eight mic inputs all benefit from individually switched phantom power, a -20 dB pad, polarity inversion and a pre/post FX option that allows dry or DSP-processed input signals to be routed to the host DAW; the preamps deliver 74dB of gain and are said to offer a clean, quiet and neutral performance, boasting an EIN measurement of -129dB. The first two inputs are equipped with front-panel combo sockets that’ll accept high-impedance instrument signals. 

As for outputs, the OctaLite features a main stereo monitor pair on quarter-inch TRS sockets and a front-panel headphone output. Its analogue connectivity is complemented by ADAT I/O, which offers an additional eight channels in either direction as well as allowing the mic pres to be routed to the digital outputs in order for the unit to function as an eight-channel expander. 

The OctaLite is available now, priced at $849.95.

motu.com/en-us/products/octalite