Cambridge, MA (September 4, 2025)—Offering both Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 connectivity, MOTU’s new 848 is a 1U rack-mounted audio interface capable of tackling 60 total channels of I/O, 64-channel mixing with effects, and 128 channels of AVB network input and output.
The 28×32 848 connects to a Mac, PC or iPad with 40 Gbps Thunderbolt 4 or USB4, USB3, and USB2, due to ESS Sabre32 Ultra DAC technology inside.
Using typical drivers to interface with audio apps, the 848 is said to deliver roundtrip latency (RTL) lower than 1.9 ms at 96 kHz with a 32 sample host buffer. A second Thunderbolt port connects additional computer peripherals, such as a second monitor, hard drive, USB hub or Thunderbolt dock.
The front panel sports a 3.9-inch full-color TFT display that shows custom meter configurations. Two headphone outputs provide independent volume control and fully-programmable source selection, including analog or digital inputs or outputs, mixer buses (with built-in reverb), host audio channels, or network channels. Individual controls for preamp gain (+74 dB), -20 dB pad, and 48V phantom power are provided for the unit’s four rear-panel mic inputs. Phase invert is also provided via included software, and all preamp settings can be controlled remotely from a computer or iOS device. Control room features include talkback with front panel “Talk” button and “A/B/C” monitor select, Mute, and (sum to) Mono buttons for the designated monitor outputs.
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The 848 rear panel provides 12 balanced TRS analog (line-level) outputs suitable for Dolby Atmos Monitoring configurations up to 7.1.4. The 848 features an integrated AVB switch with two Gigabit Ethernet ports, allowing users to daisy-chain as many as eight 848 and/or 16A units using standard network cabling. 32-bit floating point DSP delivers 64-channel mixing from any sources: the physical inputs on the 848 interface itself, audio channels from host software, audio network streams, or mixer outputs.
Accessed in the included CueMix Pro app for macOS, Windows and iOS, the mixer provides 26 aux busses, plus main, reverb, monitor, and solo buses. All mixer inputs and output buses provide 4-band parametric EQ and a compressor at all sample rates up to 96 kHz.
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The 848 also ships with MOTU Performer Lite workstation software for macOS and Windows, and 6GB of loops and sounds from Big Fish Audio, LucidSamples, Loopmasters and MOTU.
