The 896mk3 is a FireWire-based digital audio hard disk recording system for Mac OS and Windows.

The 896mk3 provides 28 inputs and 32 outputs in a two rack-space. All I/O is routed to a new on-board 16-bus digital mixer driven by hardware-based DSP with 32-bit floating point precision. The mixer allows users to apply no-latency effects processing to inputs, outputs or busses directly in the 896mk3 hardware, independent of the computer. Effects can even be applied when the 896mk3 is operating stand-alone (without a computer) as a complete rack-mounted mixer. Input signals to the computer can be recorded wet, dry, or dry with a wet monitor mix (for musicians during recording, for example).

Effects include reverb, parametric EQ and compression/limiting. The 896mk3's Classic Reverb™ provides five different room types, three frequency shelves with adjustable crossover points, shelf filtering and reverb lengths up to 60-seconds. Two forms of compression are supplied: a standard compressor with conventional threshold/ratio/attack/release/gain controls and the Leveler™, an accurate model of the legendary LA-2A optical compressor, which provides vintage, musical automatic gain control. Finally, the EQ section provides 7-band parametric EQ modeled after British analog console EQs, featuring 4 filter styles (gain/Q profiles) to effectively cover a wide range of audio material. LP and HP filters are also supplied with slopes that range from 6 to 36 dB.

An individual trim knob, 20 dB pad switch and 48V phantom power switch is supplied on the front panel for each of eight mic/guitar combo jacks on the rear panel, all eight of which are equipped with preamps and V-Limit™, a hardware limiter that helps prevent digital clipping from overloaded input signals. With V-Limit enabled, signals can go above zero dB (where limiting kicks in) to as high as +12 dB above zero with no distortion due to digital clipping.

In addition to the eight mic/guitar preamp inputs, the 896mk3 provides two independent headphone jacks with independent volume knobs, one of which also controls the XLR main outs on the rear panel. This "master vol" knob can also be programmed to control any combination of outputs (analog and/or digital). For example, it can control monitor output for an entire 5.1 or 7.1 surround mix. Two optical banks provide 16 channels of ADAT optical at 48 kHz, 8 channels of S/MUX optical I/O at 96 kHz or two banks of stereo TOSLink at rates up to 96 kHz. The banks operate independently, allowing users to mix and match any optical formats. AES/EBU and RCA S/PDIF connectors also supply independent sets of stereo digital I/O.

All of the settings in the 896mk3 are accessible from the programmable front-panel backlit LCD. Users can also launch the CueMix FX control software for Mac OS X, Windows XP and Windows Vista. CueMix FX is a completely new software front-end with attractive graphic mixing, graphic editing of parametric EQ and a convenient tabbed interface for quick access to all features in one window. Three separate tabs show inputs, mix busses (eight stereo busses) and outputs. Users click a "Focus" button on any channel or bus to edit its settings in another area on the right-hand side, which provides separate tabs for graphic editing of parametric EQ, compression and other effects. Each channel displays a graphic thumbnail of EQ curves, compressor settings and other channel specific parameters. There is also a section for talkback and listenback. 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.

As with other MOTU FireWire interfaces, the 896mk3 supplies two FireWire jacks so it can be daisy-chained with additional MOTU FireWire audio interfaces or other devices. The 896mk3 is also fully compatible with the 8pre, a single rack MOTU interface that adds 8 mic preamp inputs to the 896mk3. Because the 8pre connects to the 896mk3 via ADAT optical, its mic inputs are fully integrated into the 896mk3's on-board CueMix FX digital mixer.

The 896mk3 provides CueMix FX and drivers for Mac (OS X) and Windows (XP and Vista) for cross-platform compatibility with virtually all audio software via WDM/ASIO/Core Audio drivers. The included AudioDesk® workstation software for Mac provides 24-bit recording/editing and 32-bit mixing/processing/mastering.