MOTU Ships OctaLite Half-Rack USB Interface With Eight Preamps and ADAT Expansion

The $849.95 OctaLite combines eight mic/line/instrument inputs, DSP monitoring and optical expansion in a compact 16-by-12 interface.

MOTU has begun shipping the OctaLite, a 16-input, 12-output half-rack USB audio interface, according to ProSoundWeb. The publication reported an $849.95 price; Alto Music lists the same figure for model 8515, though its listing showed the unit as on order with the manufacturer rather than in stock.

The OctaLite is built around eight combo XLR/TRS mic, line and hi-Z inputs, with two on the front panel and six on the rear. MOTU says each input has individually switchable 48-volt phantom power, a -20 dB pad, phase inversion and a pre/post-effects routing option. The listed base-rate configuration supplies 16 inputs and 12 outputs at 44.1 or 48 kHz, including balanced quarter-inch monitor outputs and a quarter-inch headphone output.

Optical connectivity gives the unit a second role as an analog-to-ADAT expander for an ADAT-equipped interface or recorder. At base sample rates, the retailer specification lists one eight-channel ADAT optical bank. At 88.2 or 96 kHz, a separate SMUX optical output carries channels 5 through 8, while the optical connection can also be switched to stereo TOSLink. Listed total I/O falls to 12-in/12-out at 88.2 or 96 kHz and 8-in/4-out at 176.4 or 192 kHz, a consideration for users planning higher-rate tracking or expansion.

MOTU also positions the OctaLite as a standalone mixer, with CueMix 5 control, DSP-driven direct monitoring and separate headphone and monitor-output mixes. Reported onboard processing includes reverb, four-band parametric EQ, compression and gating. The interface uses USB-C 2.0 and is listed as class-compliant for Mac and iOS, with driver support also listed for Mac and Windows. MOTU and retailer materials cite a 2 ms Windows round-trip latency figure at a 32-sample buffer and 96 kHz, but no independent latency or audio-performance testing was supplied.

The 8.6-by-6.9-by-1.75-inch unit can be rack-mounted individually or paired with another OctaLite or an UltraLite-mk5 using separately sold mounting hardware, according to the launch report. Alto Music lists CueMix 5, MOTU Performer Lite, Ableton Live Lite and more than 6 GB of loops and sounds among the included software and content, along with a two-year factory warranty.