The 8Pre is a mains-powered, 1U-high 19-inch rackmountable unit that follows the styling and design cues of some other well-known interfaces in MOTU's range, such as the 828MkII and 2408MkIII. Most notably, it does duty as both a Firewire audio (and MIDI) interface when attached to a computer, and as a stand-alone, 8-channel analogue-to-digital converter when it's not.
In a way, though, it's also MOTU's most specialised interface, with a feature set that seems to have been carefully chosen to provide maximum bang for the buck. MOTU's new 8Pre joins the ranks of Firewire interfaces towards the affordable end of the market - and at a recommended price of £495, it is MOTU's most affordable Firewire model. There are practical advantages too: most Firewire interfaces (and other Firewire devices) have two Firewire sockets, making it easy to daisy-chain additional interfaces, hard drives, and even powered plug-in systems like TC's Powercore or Focusrite's Liquid Mix. So why would you want a Firewire interface? Most importantly, the bandwidth of the Firewire 400 protocol (also known as IEEE 1394) is enough to support dozens of simultaneous audio channels, even at high sample rates. Now, though, while a fundamental price division between Firewire and USB remains, the actual prices of both have fallen, making Firewire an affordable proposition even for first-time interface buyers. If you didn't, then your choice was limited to USB-based models. There was a time not so long ago when Firewire audio interfaces were what you looked at only if you had a bit of money to spend. We take an in-depth look at MOTU's most affordable Firewire audio interface yet.
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