MOTU M6, new portable 6-in/4-out USB-C audio and MIDI interface

November 2, 2022 Synth Anatomy Audio & MIDI, Hardware, News 0

MOTU has expanded its M series with the new M6, a new bus-powered USB-C audio and MIDI interface with 6 inputs, 4 outputs, loopback channel…

With the M series, MOTU has tempting mobile USB-C audio/ MIDI interfaces in its portfolio. With high-quality converters, lots of connectivity, smart extras, and a sleek design at a fair price.

Today, they have expanded the M series with another bigger model, the M6 with more inputs, outputs, and some extra features.

MOTU M6

The new M6 fits in seamlessly with the already available M2 and M4 interfaces. It has the same simple but neat black design with a display that provides real-time meter level information. Unlike the M2/M4, the M6 is a 6-in/4-out USB-C audio and MIDI interface that is fully bus-powered. Alternatively, you can use a 15V DC power supply.

It uses the same 192kHz/24-bit ESS Sabre32 Ultra converters as its smaller siblings. These are also built-in significantly more expensive MOTU interfaces. So there is no saving here. The MOTU M6 features six inputs where you get four XLR 1/4¨ combo inputs with preamps that accept either mic, line, or hi-z instrument signals. There are also two 1/4¨line inputs.

Interestingly, all inputs of the M6 interface are on the back, which means MOTU probably wants to ensure more order. Not a bad design decision. You control these four channels from the front panel with dedicated buttons (48V phantom power/monitor) and knobs per channel. This is also to be seen positively since such functions on small interfaces can often only be controlled via extra software. Here you have direct access without soft detours

Then on the front panel, you also get a blend knob for dialing in the perfect balance of the input and playback signals for monitoring. There is also a button that lets you switch between two pairs of monitors.

On the output side, the MOTU M6 gives you two pairs of line outputs on the back and two headphone outputs with independent volume control on the front.

According to the developers, the first headphone output always mirrors the signal on monitor outs 1/2, and the second one can alternatively be switched to outputs 3/4. So you get an additional mix. Oh yes, there are also two 5-pin MIDI sockets giving you classic MIDI in and out connectivity.

Extras

MOTU has also built other helpful features into its new audio interface that streamers can also benefit from. The M6 offers a loopback channel that is capable to capture your desktop audio from your computer. It’s a super useful functionality that allows you to bring audio from different sources (Skype, Zoom, games, DAWs…) in the audio path.

There is another difference to the smaller brothers. The M6 is fully USB-class compliant but MOTU goes further and includes USB drivers for macOS and Windows. Once installed, MOTU promises a roundtrip latency of just 2.5 milliseconds. Moreover, the M6 is also fully compatible with iOS making it also an exciting interface for mobile musicians who only work with an iPad.