MOTUs 8pre-es
is a network-ready audio interface, which is equipped with high-quality converters and very practical functions on the front panel - such as high-resolution displays, pad and phantom power switches, bank switch, headphone outs, etc. - was equipped. Equipped with 8 microphone inputs it is used where many microphones are needed, for example for drum recordings.
The key features of the 8pre-es are the high-resolution dual color display, a built-in talkback mic with key on the front panel and the fast switching function for comparison listening for two pairs of monitors. The volume of several speakers (up to surround 7.1) can be adjusted simultaneously with the large rotary control. In addition, a renowned ESS Sabre32 DAC chipset with a dynamic range of up to 123dB at the analogue outputs is located under the MOTU-typical robust housing.
In total, the MOTU 8pre-es has 24 separate inputs and 28 separate outputs. A highlight here are the eight combo jacks (XLR/jack) for microphone/line/guitars, while additionally 8 balanced jack outputs, two optical banks, word clock I/O and two independent headphone outputs are available on the front panel.
MOTU AVB typical functions, such as the integrated 32-bit floating point DSP for mixing and effects, control via the mobile web app and a flexible matrix for splitting and routing are also on board. The interface connects via USB, Thunderbolt or AVB/TSN Ethernet to Mac and PC or via adapter (not included) to iOS devices like iPads.
Proven and reliable MOTU drivers impress with extremely low round-trip latency performance of up to 1.6ms at 96kHz via Thunderbolt with all common and powerful audio hosts. All live inputs allow recording, mixing and controlling and are equipped with effects that work without latency and do not burden the computer's processor. Thanks to extensive routing functions, all inputs can be patched to all outputs, or inputs can be split to multiple targets. And with the powerful DSP, you can mix in the style of a large shell console with 48 channels, 12 stereo busses and 32-bit floating point effect processing. Effects include a classic reverb with reverb times of up to 60 seconds, a 4-band parametric EQ modeled exactly after the mixing console EQ of famous British analog consoles. In addition to the compressor, the interface provides advanced diagnostic tools such as a full-screen real-time FFT display, a spectrogram waterfall display, a fully functional oscilloscope, an X-Y diagram and a linear/polar phase diagram and rounding to give the already impressive overall picture.