An affordable hybrid interface with a wealth of pro features for broadcast-ready recordings.
Thanks to MOTU’s Hybrid interface technology, the Audio Express connects to any current Mac or PC via FireWire or high-speed USB 2.0. Connect your mic, guitar, keyboard, and digital input, and you are ready to make pro-quality recordings in your personal studio. It lets you quickly glance the levels of your mic, guitar, keyboard, and a S/PDIF device, right from the front panel. Each instrument has its own volume control. Route inputs directly to any output pair, each with its own unique mix: main outs, line outs, S/PDIF out, and phones.
Simplicity by design
Connect your powered speakers. Plug in your instruments. Adjust their volumes with the front panel knobs. Double-click to install the drivers. What could be easier? The Audio Express is designed to be simple to use, so you can focus on your music and performance.
Studio-grade sound
The Audio Express delivers MOTU’s renowned, award-winning audio interface technology to your personal studio with the pristine audio quality, advanced engineering, and rock-solid performance that MOTU interfaces are known for worldwide.
Mixing
You can use the Audio Express 8-bus digital mixer on stage for live performance, in your personal studio without a computer, or together with your host audio software as a low-latency monitor mixer. It gives you immediate, hands-on control of your mix using the front-panel knobs and status LEDs. To adjust the volume of an input, just turn its knob. The Audio Express lets you control mix volume independently from the input’s trim level, so you never have to sacrifice sound quality for a balanced mix.
A separate mix for each output pair
The Audio Express mixer takes signals from its six inputs and mixes them to an output pair, such as the main outs. You control the volume of each input. Better yet, you can adjust input volumes differently for each output pair. In other words, each output pair can have its own unique mix. For example, you might create a balanced mix going to your PA via the main outs, but bring up the guitar for the mix going to your stage monitors via the line outs, so you can easily monitor your guitar sound. You get a separate mix for main outs, line outs, S/PDIF digital out, and phones.
As a live mixer
Because immediate volume adjustments are always within reach, the Audio Express serves as the perfect compact, portable live mixer, with or without a computer. Even without a computer, the Audio Express gives you complete control over all four mix busses with direct access to volume, mute and solo for each input.
As a studio mixer
Back in your personal studio, you can, of course, use the Audio Express to connect your mic, guitar, and other inputs to your computer. Sometimes, however, you just want to play your instruments without the computer. The Audio Express continues to serve as your studio mixer, even when your PC or Mac is turned off.
As a monitor mixer
When recording into your computer, host audio software can sometimes introduce a slight delay (latency) in what you hear as you track. You can use the Audio Express mixer, instead of monitoring through the software, to completely eliminate this delay.
On-screen mixing with CueMix app
CueMix FX gives you comprehensive graphic control over your mix and other settings in the Audio Express. CueMix FX can be operated side by side with any host audio software for Mac or Windows, and it can be controlled from the Mackie Control Universal Pro automated worksurface.
Hybrid Firewire/USB 2.0 connectivity
FireWire has long been recognized as a reliable, high-performance connectivity standard for professional audio interfaces. Meanwhile, high-speed USB 2.0 has also developed into a widely adopted standard for connecting audio devices to personal computers.
To fully support both formats, the Audio Express hybrid audio interface is equipped with a FireWire jack (400 Mb/sec) and a high-speed USB 2.0 jack (480 Mb/sec). This gives you maximum flexibility and compatibility when connecting to today’s ever-expanding universe of Mac and Windows computers.
If your computer doesn’t have FireWire, you can use USB. If it has both, then the choice is yours and may depend mostly on other peripherals you have.
Mic/guitar inputs
The Audio Express combo mic/guitar inputs are equipped with pristine, transparent preamps and offer individually adjustable 48V phantom power and -20dB pad. The 1/4″ guitar jack provides high-impedance load characteristics suitable for passive and active pickups alike. For even more authentic feel and response when using virtual guitar amp and cabinet plug-ins, use a ZBox guitar impedance adapter.
Digitally controlled analog trim
The Audio Express’s analog trim circuits deliver clean sound, combined with the precision of digital control. Trim is adjusted at the input, before the mixer, so it applies to all mixes. Mix levels are controlled separately from trim, so you never sacrifice sound quality for a balanced mix.
MIDI I/O
The Audio Express provides MIDI input and output featuring sample-accurate timing with supporting software. Connect a MIDI keyboard, sound module, or control surface, and you are ready to go. The FireWire or USB connection to the computer carries both MIDI and audio so you don’t need to connect an additional USB cable for MIDI.
Footswitch
Connect any standard momentary footswitch to trigger hands-free punch-ins during recording, or map the footswitch to any keystrokes you wish in your host audio software.
SMPTE time code sync
You can resolve the Audio Express directly to SMPTE time code without a dedicated synchronizer via any analog input. The Audio Express provides a DSP-driven phase-lock engine with sophisticated filtering that provides fast lockup times and sub-frame accuracy. This technology represents the very latest in extremely high-performance, yet cost-effective digital audio clocking. DDS also allows the Audio Express to maintain an extremely stable clock while resolved to incoming clock sources that have substantially more jitter than the Audio Express itself.
SMPTE Console software
The included MOTU SMPTE Console software (for Mac OS X and Windows) provides a complete set of tools to generate SMPTE for striping, regenerating, or slaving other devices to the computer. Like CueMix FX, the synchronization features are cross-platform and compatible with all audio sequencer software that supports the ASIO2 sample-accurate sync protocol.
Expansion
Add another Audio Express (or other MOTU audio interface) as your needs grow via a standard Firewire or USB 2.0 hub. The Audio Express provides driver-level support for resolving multiple interfaces with each other so that their audio streams never drift apart over time during recording or playback.
CueMix FX
The included CueMix FX software for Mac OS X and Windows gives you graphic, on-screen control of the Audio Express’s on-board audio mixer, with up to four separate stereo mixes (a separate mix for output pair). For example, you can mix all the inputs to the main outs, but also mix them to the line outs with completely different levels than the main outs. Advanced features include a tuner, oscilloscope, FFT/spectrogram, and phase analysis tools.
AudioDesk
The Audio Express includes AudioDesk, the workstation software for Mac OS X, which provides advanced recording, editing, mixing, processing, and mastering. AudioDesk delivers the power of modern digital audio workstation technology in an easy-to-use, inspiring multitrack recording experience. Together, AudioDesk and the Audio Express are a complete, professional recording studio for your computer desktop.
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