User Manual

ManualsBrandsMotu ManualsMusical Instruments8Pre-ES - AUDIO INTERFACE 24 IN / 28 OUT THUNDERBOLT 2 / USB 2.0 / AVB WITH 8 MICROPHONE PREAMP

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8pre-es Rear Panel

1. The 8pre-es is equipped with an auto-switching interna-

tional power supply.

2. These are standard BNC word clock jacks. Use them for a

variety of applications, such as digital transfers with

devices that cannot resolve to the clock supplied by their

digital I/O connection with the 8pre-es.

3. These two banks of ADAT optical “lightpipe” connectors

each provide 8 channels of 24-bit ADAT optical digital I/O

at 1x sample rates (44.1 or 48 kHz) and 4 channels at 2x

sample rates (88.2 or 96 kHz). They are disabled at

higher sample rates. Bank A can alternately operate as

stereo TOSLink (optical S/PDIF) connectors.

Note: you can choose independent formats for Bank A IN

and OUT. For example, you could choose ADAT for the

optical A IN (for eight channels of input from your digital

mixer, for example) and stereo TOSLink for the optical A

OUT (for a set of auxiliary speakers, for example).

4. The eight analog outputs are balanced, DC-coupled

quarter-inch connectors that can also accept an unbal-

anced plug. They provide output for studio monitors,

surround monitoring, sub-mixes or any other desired

destination. The output trim can be adjusted from the

Device Tab in the MOTU Pro Audio Control web app

software. From the factory, outputs 1-2 serve as monitor

pair A for the front panel A/B monitor switching, but

monitor pair B is unassigned. See “Output assignments

for Monitor A and B” on page 63. For surround monitor-

ing, connect your surround speakers to outputs 1-6 (or

1-8) and see “Monitor volume control” on page 64.

Note: the analog outputs are not cross-coupled. There-

fore, when connecting them to an unbalanced input, use

a TRS plug with the ring disconnected. Not floating the

negative terminal will short it to the sleeve ground and

cause distortion.

5. These eight XLR/TRS combo jacks accept a mic cable or a

quarter-inch cable, balanced or unbalanced, from a

guitar or line level source. Use the front panel controls to

adjust individual preamp gain, 48V phantom power and

optional -20 dB pad for each mic input.

6. Connect the 8pre-es to the computer here via either

Thunderbolt or USB, using a standard Thunderbolt or

USB cable (one or the other, but not both). For details,

see chapter 5, “Hardware Installation” (page 35).

7. This AVB/TSN Ethernet port provides industry standard

IEEE 802.1 network connectivity to other network

devices. Examples include:

■ Another 8pre-es or any other MOTU AVB-equipped

audio interface, such as the 1248, 8M, 16A, 24Ai, 24Ao,

112D, Monitor 8, 828es, etc.

■ A standard Ethernet hub or Wi-Fi router (for internet

connection and communication with the web app

software).

■ A standard AVB Ethernet switch for high-speed, low-

latency, high-capacity audio connectivity to an AVB

audio network.

■ A recent-generation Mac (any Mac with a Thunderbolt

port) running macOS El Capitan (10.11) or later. This

allows you to operate the 8pre-es as an audio interface

over Ethernet.

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