Cambridge, MA (October 9, 2026)—For recordists who need a lot of inputs in a portable form-factor, MOTU is launching OctaLite, a compact 16×12, half-rack USB audio interface for macOS, Windows and iOS with eight mic/line/instrument inputs, DSP mixing, effects processing and more.
While it also sports optical input and output for additional digital I/O, the unit can also be used as an optical expander to add eight mic/line/instrument inputs to another ADAT optical-equipped device, underlining the “Octa” in the name Octalite.
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The interface uses USB-C 2.0 (compatible with USB 3/4 and iOS) and can be used with low latency drivers (2 ms RTL), or without a driver via USB audio class compliant operation.
Users can record at sample rates up to 192 kHz via the eight combo XLR/TRS mic/line/hi-Z guitar inputs (two on the front panel and six on the back panel). Each mic input supports individual 48V phantom power, -20 dB pad, phase invert, and pre/post FX option for sending dry or DSP-processed input signals. The quarter-inch input jacks can be used for DI guitar recording. The onboard Burr-Brown engineered Texas Instruments preamps provide +74 dB of gain (-129 dB EIN).
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The OctaLite can be installed in a standard 19-inch equipment rack with the Half-Rack Mounting Kit or Half-Rack Coupler Kit (both sold separately). The Coupler Kit allows users to join two OctaLites, or an OctaLite and MOTU’s UltraLite-mk5.
The OctaLite is available with an MSRP of $849.95.
