Brand

Used MOTU audio interfaces

MOTU began in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as Mark of the Unicorn, and it's still there. Its first products, around 1980, were text editors for CP/M computers. Music came in 1984, and the Performer MIDI sequencer followed in 1985, growing into Digital Performer, which MOTU still makes. Its hardware story runs through the 828. MOTU says the first one, in 2001, was the first FireWire audio interface, and the line moved to Thunderbolt with the 828x in 2014, added AVB networking with the 828es in 2017 and went USB with a redesigned 828 in 2024. The rack AVB units we cover (1248, 828es and 8pre-es) have internal power supplies, connect over Thunderbolt or USB, and still get Mac drivers for Apple silicon. For a desk, the bus-powered M2 and M4 (2019) and the half-rack UltraLite-mk5 (2021) are class compliant on a Mac and still in MOTU's lineup.

6 models we cover.