8pre-es

The 8pre-es is a 52-channel Thunderbolt /USB audio interface for Mac, Windows and iOS featuring eight high-quality mic inputs in a single rack space, ESS Sabre32 DAC technology on eight balanced outputs, ultra-low latency drivers, DSP mixing/effects and a feature set closely matching MOTU's recent ground-breaking 828es.

The 8pre-es combines advanced engineering from MOTU's flagship 8M interface with ground-breaking features from the new 828es. The result is eight superb, transparent mic inputs with all the latest features you want for desktop studio production."

Each mic input delivers -129 dBu EIN, 118 dB dynamic range and remote control for individual gain/pad/48V phantom power. Renowned ESS Sabre32 DAC technology delivers 123 dB dynamic range on eight balanced, DC-coupled quarter-inch (TRS) outputs and the same proven, award-winning audio quality as MOTU's flagship 1248.

Control room features include a built-in talkback mic with front panel "Talk" button and "A/B" monitor select, mute and sum-to-mono buttons for the chosen monitor outputs.

The 8pre-es delivers ultra-low round-trip latency (RTL) performance as low as 1.6 ms at 96 kHz over Thunderbolt (and 1.9 ms over USB). Advanced features include word clock I/O, two banks of optical I/O (with one bank switchable to stereo TOSLink), two front-panel headphone jacks, USB audio class compliant firmware for connection to iOS devices (with a standard camera adapter sold separately), new Touch Console web app control from any mobile device, flexible matrix-style routing and splitting, stand alone mixing with Wi-Fi control and AVB-TSN audio networking for system expansion.

Features:

• Superb analog audio quality and high-end converters.
• Eight transparent mic inputs deliver superb 129 dBu EIN with 118 dB dynamic range. Renowned ESS Sabre32 DAC technology delivers 123 dB dynamic range and the same proven, award-winning audio quality as MOTU's flagship 1248.
• New dual-LCD design.
• Two full-color LCDs display all signal activity at a glance with detailed metering for all analog and digital I/O. Access hardware settings from a simple and convenient menu.
• Ultra-low latency and proven, high-performance MOTU drivers.
• Round-trip latency (RTL) performance as low as 1.6 ms at 96kHz over Thunderbolt with high-performance DAW hosts.
• Universal connectivity.
• Connects to your computer with Thunderbolt, hi-speed USB 2.0 or AVB/TSN Ethernet for up to 256 audio channels (128 in and 128 out). Class-compliant firmware and industry standard drivers work with any audio apps. Connects to an iPad with a standard camera connection kit (adapter).
• 52 simultaneous audio channels.
• 24 inputs and 28 outputs, including eight transparent remote-controllable mic inputs with individual gain/pad/48V, 8 TRS analog out, two banks of optical, word clock I/O and two front-panel headphone jacks.
• DSP mixing and effects processing.
• Flexible 48-input digital mixer with 7 stereo aux busses, 3 groups, access to 32 network inputs, and DSP effects, including reverb, 4-band EQ, gate and compression.
• 32-bit floating point processing.
• The 8pre-es mixing and effects DSP engine delivers virtually unlimited headroom and the utmost in sound quality.
• Modeled vintage effects processing.
• Classic reverb. Compression modeled after the legendary LA-2A compressor. EQ modeled after British analog console EQs.
• Flexible matrix routing and splitting.
• Send any input to any output, or multiple outputs. Includes routing to and from the computer, plus any devices on the AVB network.
• Control room features.
• Built-in talkback mic with front-panel "talk" button and"A/B" speaker select buttons.
• Precision Digital Trim.
• Digitally controlled analog trim on all analog inputs (mic/guitar inputs + quarter-inch TRS inputs) provides accurate adjustments in 1 dB increments.
• Stand-alone operation with wireless control.
• Connect an Apple Airport or other Wi-Fi router with a standard Ethernet cable for wireless control of device settings, powerful 48-channel mixing and DSP effects.
• New Touch Console web app control.
• Control everything from mobile-friendly web app software on any laptop, tablet and smartphone connected to your local Wi-Fi network.
• System expansion.
• Add a 2nd MOTU AVB-equipped interface with a simple CAT-5e ethernet cable. Connect up to five MOTU interfaces using a MOTU AVB Switch (sold separately).
• AVB/TSN audio networking.
• Build a network with multiple interfaces and computers using standard AVB/TSN switches and network cabling, with ultra-low network latency, even over long cable runs (100 meters point to point). Stream hundreds of audio channels among devices and computers on the network.
• Two headphone jacks.
• Each headphone output can be programmed with the same or different mixes, with independent front-panel volume control.
• Two banks of optical I/O.
• Connect outboard digital processors, digital mixers or other gear. 16 channels of ADAT at 44.1/48 kHz, 8 channels of SMUX at 88.2/96 kHz or 4 channels of TOSLink (optical S/PDIF) up to 96 kHz. Mix and match formats among in/out ports.
• Time code support.
• Converts SMPTE time code (LTC) to MIDI Time Code (MTC) and passes MTC on to any MTC-compatible host software.
• Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS).
• DSP-driven phase lock engine and internal clock source produces imperceptibly low jitter characteristics (below the noise floor), even when the 8pre-es is resolved to an external clock source via SMPTE time code.
• DC-coupled TRS outputs.
• Use the 8pre-es to manipulate and sequence voltage-controlled modular synthesizers from a host DAW.
• Instrument tuner and audio analysis tools.
• Includes an oscilloscope, real-time FFT, X-Y Plot, and graphic phase analysis.
• AudioDesk.
• Workstation software for Mac and Windows with 24-bit recording, sample-accurate editing and 32-bit mixing and mastering.