MOTU UltraLite-mk5 USB Audio Interface

The MOTU UltraLite-mk5 is a compact USB audio interface with analogue and digital connections for recording, playback and monitor mixing. It provides two microphone, line or instrument combo inputs plus six balanced quarter-inch TRS line inputs. The advertised 18-input and 22-output totals include digital channels at standard sample rates; they do not mean eighteen microphone preamps or eighteen analogue inputs.

MOTU specifies ten balanced TRS analogue outputs, a headphone output, optical digital I/O and S/PDIF connections. Available channel counts reduce at higher sample rates, so the full 18-in/22-out configuration should not be assumed at every recording setting. MIDI input and output connect compatible external MIDI equipment.

The built-in DSP mixer provides EQ, compression and reverb for monitor mixes. Computer recording and playback still require a compatible system and software; the mixer is not a promise that every plug-in can run inside the interface. The unit uses its external power supply rather than relying on USB bus power. This is the mk5 model, not an earlier UltraLite generation. Microphones, instruments, loudspeakers and their signal cables are separate requirements, and the photographs show the interface itself rather than a complete studio.