The ART S8 can be used to split eight balanced low impedance microphone signals into sixteen balanced low impedance microphone signals (eight pairs).

Each channel of the S8 provides one direct output and one transformer isolated output from a single microphone. Applications include sending the direct outputs to the main or Front-of-House mixer, and the second isolated outputs being sent to a monitor or recording mixer. The direct outputs pass phantom power from the main mixer to the microphones for use with condenser microphones.

The S8 includes a ground-lift switch on each isolated output to reduce noise due to ground loops between connected equipment. For versatility the S8 also features an attenuator pad switch on each input that can be used to connect preamplified signals to the two microphone-level outputs on each channel. Typical preamplified signals would originate from instrument preamplifiers, mixers, keyboards, et cetera.