I’m a musician and originally used this interface with my midi keyboard and laptop music rig, playing virtual instruments. I set up a separate mix for the headphone output for my in-ear monitors; as John said, this box is unusal in that the headphone output is a separate stream, making this probably the only compact interface I could use. I got a mix from the monitor board through the XLR input and plugged a stereo electret condenser mic into the “line in 3-4” minijack – this for an ambience or “stage” mic. I then programmed my music software (Plogue Bidule) with the OSC commands to control the CueMix FX mixer, and linked those controls to knobs on my midi keyboard. This allowed me to control my in-ears mix as I played. I was so proud of myself for finally getting this to work; it was quite a bear getting OSC communication working! Then the MBIIc disconnects from my laptop in the middle of a show! Now I use my MacBook Pro’s stock headphone output and a standalone box (Rolls PM55P) to work my in-ears.

Anyway, sorry for this long post. I have to say that in August of 2020 I am not aware of any audio interface this compact that offers this many inputs & outputs, along with a built-in DSP mixer with EQ and dynamics. Maybe I’m wrong but I think this little guy is still one-of-a-kind. I hope my issues were just related to my OS version and I can go back to using it!

To answer your question, sorry to say but I have no new info regarding using the MBIIc standalone. My guess is the answer is still no. The latest driver I see for Mac is dated July 2017.

I’m cautiously testing my MBIIc to see if my issues were software-related or just a bum unit. I’m not sure I’ve tried using the inteface since I updated my MacOS from 10.11 (El Capitan) directly to 10.14 (Mojave).

If you can’t use the MBIIc standalone, maybe connecting it to an old iPod or iPhone would make a workable setup for you, since it’s class-compliant. You’d probably need to find an app that will patch the input through to an output.

I know it's over three years after this review, but in the off chance than anyone comes upon it searching for Microbook IIc info like I did (the "c" is the latest model), I thought I'd add this small caveat. Based on the quote above, which is from this review, I brought my MBIIc to rehearsal hoping to use it as a stand-alone headphone amp for my in-ears (I plugged a stereo mic into its line 3-4 input). I set up a configuration at home, using CueMix, where it was working fine – essentially just directly connecting the line 3-4 input to the headphone output in the CueMix mixer. As soon as I disconnected from the computer, my in-ears went silent. The config was not retained. I communicated with MOTU about this and they replied: "The MicroBook IIc does not feature any true 'standalone' capabilities. It can operate in class-compliant mode, which means that audio signal to or from a software client (Garageband, iTunes, etc.) can be transmitted through the unit to a non-Mac or -Windows device. For example, connecting the MicroBook IIc's micro USB jack to a power supply enables you to record to/play back from an iPad, iPhone, or other tablet that doesn't support ASIO function."

I initially bought the Microbook II as a backup system for my Track16, used live to run stereo backing & click tracks (3 channel output simultaneously) & then in my home studio. Now the Track16 is the center of my home studio & the Microbook II is my go to for live performance. Powerful little box (I wish it could be powered by my iPad 3 but O well).

My next goal is to set a live mastering chain up through cue mix so I can take a little weight off of mastering plugins when performing with my DAW live. I like to leave things in multitrack mode so I can adjust elements for the room that I’m in.

Anyone else using this box this way?