MOTU Inc. on Monday introduced Traveler, a bus-powered FireWire audio interface. Measuring 14.75 inches across, nine inches deep and one-and-three-quarters inches high, Traveler features a lightweight aluminum case equipped with rack ears for installing on a 19-inch mount rack. Its front panel offers 11 detented digital rotary encoders, four 48V phantom power switches, a headphone jack, a 2×16 backlit LCD, 12 five-segment meters and a bank of status lights for clock and sync options.
The rear panel features four Neutrik combo XLR/quarter-inch mic/instrument jacks, four TRS balance/unbalanced analog inputs, eight balanced/unbalanced TRS analog outputs, optical in/out for both 8-channel light pipe and 2-channel S/PDIF TOSLink formats, RCA S/PDIF in/out, XLR AES/EBU in/out, BNC word clock in/out, a 9-pin ADAT SYNC IN port for sample-accurate transfers and dual FireWire 400 ports. The right side includes MIDI in/out jacks, a 4-pin XLR battery power port, a switch for toggling bus power and a DC power input.
Six of the rotary encoders found on the front of the Traveler enable users to access mixes and settings, including 16 global presets that can be modified. They can also use the included CueMix Console software to program the unit and take it on the road for use without a computer. MOTU notes that it’s “compatible with virtually all Mac OS X audio software” — the company includes ASIO, WDM, Wave, GSI, Core Audio and Core MIDI drivers for the Mac, as well as AudioDesk, a workstation application with 24-bit recording and editing as well as 32-bit automated mixing, processing and mastering. Mac OS X v10.2.3 is required. Pricing will be US$895 when the device ships later this quarter.