Audient’s Horizon 8P puts eight console preamps in a tracking interface

Audient has launched Horizon, a new flagship Thunderbolt interface range, and the model most likely to interest anyone recording sound for video is the Horizon 8P. It’s a 24-in/32-out tracking interface built around eight of Audient’s console mic preamps, and the reason it matters beyond the music studio is simple: good video needs good audio, and this is a serious front end for capturing it. Details are on Audient’s site.

Eight console preamps is the story

The heart of the 8P is eight genuine Audient console mic preamps, the same discrete Class-A design taken from the company’s flagship ASP8024-HE recording console, delivering up to 75dB of clean, quiet gain each.

For a filmmaker or a studio recording interviews, voiceover, podcasts or live performance, eight high-quality preamps in a single rack unit is a genuinely capable proposition. It means you can record a multi-person panel, a band, or a room of microphones simultaneously, each on its own channel, without daisy-chaining budget preamps that add noise at every stage. Audient’s preamps have long been a studio staple precisely because they’re quiet and clean, which is exactly what you want when the audio is going to sit under picture.

ORBIT Control and the technical side

The feature Audient is making most noise about is ORBIT Control, which reshapes each preamp’s input impedance in the analogue domain, with three selectable voicings, High (2.8kΩ), Mid (1.2kΩ) and Low (220Ω). In plain terms, it lets you tune how the preamp responds to different microphones, ribbon, dynamic or condenser, at the source, rather than fixing it in software afterwards. For anyone chasing a particular character from a voice or an instrument, that’s real control at the point of capture.

Elsewhere it’s thoroughly specified: ESS 32-bit conversion with up to 133dB of dynamic range, operation to 192kHz, eight line inputs and outputs over DB25 for connecting outboard gear, dual ADAT for up to 16 channels of digital expansion, two JFET instrument inputs, two independent headphone outputs and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity for low-latency performance. Digital recall saves gain, routing and monitoring settings with your session.

Where it fits, and the honest caveat

This is professional studio kit, and it’s priced and specified accordingly. For a solo creator recording a single voiceover, it’s far more interface than you need, a two-channel unit would do the job. Where the 8P earns its place is multi-microphone work: documentary interviews with several participants, live music capture, a podcast studio with a full table of guests, or a video production house that records audio properly rather than relying on a camera’s built-in sound.

It’s also worth noting Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, which delivers the low latency but does require a compatible Mac or PC. And as the top of a three-interface range, this is the tracking-focused model; Audient’s larger Horizon 32 targets big hybrid facilities working with outboard racks.

For the growing number of photographers and filmmakers who’ve realised that audiences forgive imperfect footage but switch off bad sound, an interface of this calibre is the sort of investment that quietly lifts everything you produce.

Audient Horizon 8P: Specifications

Type: Thunderbolt 3 audio interface.
I/O: 24 inputs / 32 outputs.
Preamps: 8 Audient console mic preamps (ASP8024-HE derived), up to 75dB gain each, with digital recall.
ORBIT Control: relay-controlled variable input impedance, three voicings, High 2.8kΩ / Mid 1.2kΩ / Low 220Ω.
Conversion: ESS 32-bit AD/DA, up to 133dB dynamic range, up to 192kHz.
Inputs: 8 XLR/TRS combo (mic/line), 8 line inputs via DB25, 2 JFET instrument inputs.
Outputs: 8 line outputs via DB25, 4 additional line outputs on TRS, 2 stereo monitor outputs, 2 independent headphone outputs.
Digital: 16 channels ADAT I/O.
Form factor: 1U rack.
Software: Horizon Control for monitoring and routing.
Range: part of the Horizon flagship series, alongside the larger Horizon 32.

Audient Horizon 8P: Price and availability

Audient announced the Horizon range on 14 September 2026. UK pricing varies by retailer — check current listings before purchase.