MOTU have announced that they are now shipping a completely redesigned version of their popular AVB-equipped audio interface. The refreshed 16A delivers 66 channels of I/O, boasts onboard 64-channel mixing and effects, includes 128 channels out AVB I/O, and now offers both Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 connectivity.
Connectivity & Control
A pair of bright 3.9-inch full-colour TFT displays occupy the centre of the front panel, providing high-resolution metering for all of the 16A’s analogue and digital I/O, with custom metering configurations available via the front-panel menu system. There’s a headphone output that has both an independent volume control and source select knob that allows users to monitor any of the inputs, outputs or audio paths in the interface’s built-in mixer. By default, source signals are chosen in stereo pairs, but users can press the Mono button to listen to an individual channel (split to left and right).
Around on the rear panel you’ll find 16 balanced analogue line-level inputs and outputs on quarter-inch TRS sockets, along with two banks of 8-channel ADAT optical I/O. The unit’s ESS Sabre32 DACs, help its outputs to deliver deliver a dynamic range of 125dB with -114 dB THD+N, with all inputs and outputs benefiting from a precise trim control that offers level adjustment in 1dB increments. Also included are BNC word clock I/O (with optional Thru), two Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Type-C ports and two AVB Ethernet ports. Helpfully, all of the analogue line-level outputs are DC-coupled, so they can be used for voltage control of modular synthesizers.
The rear panel of the newly redesigned 16A.
Converters & AVB
The interface employs ESS’ renowned Sabre32 Ultra DAC technology, and is capable of delivering roundtrip latency figures of less than 2 ms (at 96 kHz with a 32 sample host buffer). Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 connectivity mean the 16A can be connected to a Mac, PC or iOS device, and will support up to 256 channels of I/O. Thanks to a built-in AVB switch with two Gigabit Ethernet ports, it’s possible to chain up to eight A16s together and have full access to each units I/O on the host computer, and even more can be added using an external AVB switch.
Mixing, Effects & Routing
An onboard 32-bit floating point DSP engine provides 64-channel mixing of the 16A’s physical inputs, audio channels from host software, audio network streams, and even mixer outputs. Accessed via the included CueMix Pro application, the mixer is equipped with 26 aux buses along with plus main, reverb, monitor and solo buses. All mixer inputs and output buses are kitted out with a four-band parametric EQ and a compressor at all sample rates up to 96 kHz; all input channels include a high-pass filter and gate. The application also includes dedicated Talk and A/B/C buttons for engaging talkback and switching between multiple pairs of speakers.
CueMix Pro also offers some flexible routing options, with an intuitive ‘virtual patch cord’ system making quick work of routing any source signal to any destination. Sources include analogue or digital inputs on the interface, computer channels, mixer bus outputs or audio network streams from other devices on the network; destinations include interface outputs, host software inputs, mixer inputs or any other device or computer on the network. It’s also possible to split any single source (or stereo pair) to an unlimited amount of output destinations.
Software
The 16A ships with MOTU’s CueMix Pro application and low-latency Thunderbolt/USB drivers for macOS, Windows and iOS; MOTU Performer Lite workstation software for macOS and Windows; and 6GB of loops and sounds from Big Fish Audio, LucidSamples, Loopmasters and MOTU.
Pricing & Availability
The new 16A is available now, priced at $1495.
