The MOTU 848 Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Audio Interface is designed for professional studios requiring uncompromising audio performance, flexible connectivity, and powerful routing and mixing. Built on decades of MOTU engineering expertise, it incorporates ESS Sabre32 DAC technology that achieves 125 dB dynamic range with extremely low distortion, ensuring pristine analogue quality.
Connectivity is a key feature of the MOTU 848, with Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 compatibility supporting up to 40 Gbps bandwidth through the supplied 2 metre cable. The MOTU 848 offers backward compatibility with Thunderbolt 3, USB 3 and USB 2, providing seamless integration across modern and legacy systems. With up to 256 channels of host I/O at 96 kHz, it is capable of handling the most demanding projects.
The MOTU 848 interface supports 60 simultaneous channels with 28 inputs and 32 outputs available at once. This allows users to connect microphones, guitars, synths, drum machines, processors, and monitoring systems without compromise. The high performance driver ensures ultra low round trip latency of around 1.8 ms at 96 kHz with a 32 sample buffer.
The MOTU 848’s four transparent microphone preamps deliver -114 dB THD+N, 118 dB dynamic range and -129 dBu EIN, with pad, phantom power, and gain control. Inputs 3 and 4 include inserts for hardware processing, or they can serve as additional balanced line inputs. Monitoring options include a control group managing up to twelve outputs, A/B/C speaker selection, and integrated talkback.
The internal 64 channel mixer provides 32 bit floating point precision with 26 aux buses, plus main, reverb, monitor and solo buses. All channels of the MOTU 848 include parametric EQ, compression, high pass filter, and gating. Routing is handled through an intuitive patchbay and a matrix style routing grid that allows clear visualisation of complex workflows.
The MOTU 848 incorporates AVB networking with dual Gigabit ports for expansion and ultra low latency audio distribution across multiple devices. Up to 128 channels can be streamed at 96 kHz, with AVB guaranteeing stable, low latency performance even over long runs. CueMix Pro software provides complete control over mixing, routing and effects from macOS, Windows or iOS devices, with wireless operation supported.
Additional highlights of the MOTU 848 include optical I/O with ADAT, S/MUX and TOSLink support, dual headphone outputs with independent mixes, loopback capability for streaming and podcasting, DC coupled outputs for modular synthesis, and bundled Performer Lite software with instruments and loops to get started immediately.
Features
- ESS Sabre32 DAC delivering 125 dB dynamic range and low distortion
- Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 up to 40 Gbps with backward compatibility
- 256 channels of host I/O at 96 kHz
- 60 simultaneous audio channels with 28 inputs and 32 outputs
- Ultra low round trip latency of 1.8 ms at 96 kHz, 32 sample buffer
- Four mic/Hi Z inputs with pad, phantom power and remote gain control
- Channel 3 and 4 inserts for external processors or additional line inputs
- Monitor group with up to 12 analogue outputs, A/B/C select and talkback
- 64 channel mixer with 32 bit floating point precision and full processing
- Virtual patchbay and routing grid for advanced signal management
- Dual AVB Ethernet ports supporting 128 channels at 96 kHz
- CueMix Pro software control from macOS, Windows and iOS
- Optical I/O with ADAT, S/MUX and optional TOSLink
- Two independent headphone outputs with selectable mixes
- Loopback for podcasting and streaming
- DC coupled outputs for modular synth control voltage
- Bundled Performer Lite DAW with virtual instruments and loops
