Should I upgrade my Apogee Rosetta 800?

[the keester]

Is there a converter with more i/o's than my Rosetta 800 with the same or better quality around $2k?

[the keester]

Anyone anyone?

[j2dafo]

Try Apogee AD16 and DA16.

When you say switching cables, do you mean on the back of the unit?

[jweisbin]

The Rosetta 800 and the DA16X and AD16X series are discontinued models. They are now selling the Symphony I/O to which you can add modules. You can you get the equivalent of one AD16X and one DA16X by buying the appropriate two modules.

Having said that, I've had one Symphony I/O fail on me already, and it has a fan which is extremely annoying and not suitable for a studio environment, unless you can afford to put it into an iso box or get it into another room or closet.

I've had a Rosetta 800 for 4 years and it's rock solid. I think the converters are the same as the newer modules, just a different box. You could just add another if you can find a used one, however the Rosetta series does not give you the ability to get all 8 channels of analog in/out and digital in/out at the same time, whereas the DA/AD series does, as do the newer modules.

Every AD16X/DA16X pair we've had (currently 4 pairs in different rooms) have had the front "standby" button fail after about one year. There is a workaround - you can jumper out the button inside - but that is a PITA because you need to kill the power and hold down the "up" button to get them in "advanced routing" mode if your standby button doesn't work. They should fix these for free but they won't.

I have become dissatisfied with Apogee's customer support. I think they used to make great gear but now are gearing more towards the prosumer market.

You mentioned you are using with a Macbook pro, so you are not really getting the performance level you would with a Symphony PCIe card - I assume you are using firewire? I'm not sure you can daisy chain these on FW, not even sure if FW can handle that many channels. I would start looking around for a thunderbolt connected interface which is going to be the future for your type of setup. Avid just announced one, the UA Apollo is rocking, and I'm sure there are or will be others soon.

[jeremycox]

I went from a Rosetta 800 to a pair of lynx auroras and am satisfied. They sound very similar to my ears... Rosetta still holds its own against current products.

[NandoOg7]

Question: I currently interface an aurora 16 through a lynx AES16e card. Can I get two rosettas 800 and interface them through that? Excuse my ignorance, fellow slutz...

[zguy3n]

Originally Posted by NandoOg7

Question: I currently interface an aurora 16 through a lynx AES16e card. Can I get two rosettas 800 and interface them through that? Excuse my ignorance, fellow slutz...

Yes. use cable 1605

[NandoOg7]

Originally Posted by zguy3n

Yes. use cable 1605

Thank you!!!

[the keester]

Thanks. So I guess I should stick with the rosetta. Is FireWire not considered a good way to interface the MacBook pro? How can I use the thunderbolt?

[thetalkinghead]

save money and get a symphony io. it sounds awesome. upgraded from the ensemble and it sounds noticeably better. very versatile too with the cards

[jweisbin]

Originally Posted by the keester

Thanks. So I guess I should stick with the rosetta. Is FireWire not considered a good way to interface the MacBook pro? How can I use the thunderbolt?

FW is OK for 8 channels, maybe 16 channels, I'm not sure. I'm also not sure how well two Rosetta's would work if daisy chained off the MBP's single FW port. There is no thunderbolt option for Apogee currently. What I'm saying is you could get a thunderbolt interface from some other brand, say UA or Avid, and then connect your Rosetta to that with light pipe (ADAT) to get a total of 16 or more in and out.

[the keester]

Originally Posted by jweisbin

FW is OK for 8 channels, maybe 16 channels, I'm not sure. I'm also not sure how well two Rosetta's would work if daisy chained off the MBP's single FW port. There is no thunderbolt option for Apogee currently. What I'm saying is you could get a thunderbolt interface from some other brand, say UA or Avid, and then connect your Rosetta to that with light pipe (ADAT) to get a total of 16 or more in and out.

Really would that work? That would be great.

[funkynuts]

Using RME UFX with apogee Rosetta 800 connected via ADAT and quite happy with that.

So thats presently 20 ins and 16 outs at 44.1 KHZ

If i wanted more conversion and stayed at 44.1 I would grab another Rosetta

Or If I decided to go all 88.2 would do the same and still have 12 ins and 8 outs via RME and 8 ins and outs via 2 Rosettas.

Giving me 28 ins and 24 outs at 44.1 with 2 Rosetta

Or 20 ins and 16 outs at 88.2 with 2 Rosetta

Plus i also have 2 channels AES left to be used as well where I could add a 2 channel Master AD/DA

[RFZ DUDE]

Originally Posted by jweisbin

FW is OK for 8 channels, maybe 16 channels, I'm not sure. I'm also not sure how well two Rosetta's would work if daisy chained off the MBP's single FW port. There is no thunderbolt option for Apogee currently. What I'm saying is you could get a thunderbolt interface from some other brand, say UA or Avid, and then connect your Rosetta to that with light pipe (ADAT) to get a total of 16 or more in and out.

actually firewire is ok for a lot more than that..im running 28I/24O (Apogee converters via RME fireface 800) at the moment on my MacBook and IMAC and couldnt be happier.

[the keester]

Would using FW always limit my use of I/o's?

I'm using a hardware stereo compressor on a stereo insert and I'm already sometimes getting some issues.

Should I just wait for a legit Thunderbolt interface to be available?

ALSO Would the API A2D give me two more channels I/o plus mic pres? Would I be able to connect this to my Rosetta or use it with my MBP with my Rosetta?

[jweisbin]

I think my comments have been misunderstood, so let me clarify:

Firewire 800 can handle lots of audio channels, I'm not sure of the limit. The issue (for the original poster) is that a Macbook Pro only has one FW port. If he is using that to connect to his Rosetta (or any interface) and also using it (via daisy chain or hub) to connect to external hard drives - for sound libraries, etc - then degradation is inevitable. I have seen users not be able to even connect an Apogee Duet (just two channels!) on a FW daisy chain and have it work correctly. Optionally he could keep the Rosetta on FW and connect a thunderbolt external drive which would keep them separate, or connect via USB, but Macbook Pro (except for the Retina model) is USB 2 only, so performance not so good on that.

The other issue is to add more channels. He mentioned adding another Rosetta 800, so that would have to be daisy-chained on the same FW bus, which might not work well. Connecting one Rosetta to the other via light pipe will NOT work, because the Rosetta (unlike the AD16X/DA16X series) cannot accept input from analog and digital channels at the same time, so, if he did that, he would still only get 8 channels.

However, another audio interface - say RME, Avid, Apollo (I just got one), Focusrite, etc, that can accept 8 channels of ADAT in and still have all it's analog ins, would work well with the Rosetta connected via light pipe. This is my setup (on my desktop): Rosetta 800 via light pipe to Apollo ADAT in, the Apollo is clocked via word clock from the Rosetta 800 which (supposedly) has a better clock. This way I get the very good converters on the Rosetta plus some mic pre's on the Apollo, and of course all of the UA plugins on the Apollo.

This is not my laptop setup though. If I were shopping for that, I would want a more portable rig, like the RME Babyface.

To answer the question about the API A2D, it's output is AES or S/PDIF. As long as your interface has those inputs, it should work. One thing to bear in mind is that, when you communicate via digital (ADAT or AES or S/PDIF), you lose no quality - the original converter is what you hear. So, for example, if you connect an A2D through an RME interface, you are hearing the A2D's analog ins with no contribution in sound from the RME (except maybe some clock jitter which is generally not an issue these days).

[asiandude]

You have A good converter there and I would setup a patchbay system if rewired is the problem in your work flow. And get a stereo EQ for mix down such as A Design Hammer or Pulteq Clone from Pete is gie you more MoJo in your sound.
What you you take if I give you a Studer Analog 24 TrK or a 16 CH converter?

[jweisbin]

Originally Posted by asiandude

You have A good converter there and I would setup a patchbay system if rewired is the problem in your work flow. And get a stereo EQ for mix down such as A Design Hammer or Pulteq Clone from Pete is gie you more MoJo in your sound.
What you you take if I give you a Studer Analog 24 TrK or a 16 CH converter?

LOL

The Studer is going to require a lot more maintenance!

[DirtyMan]

Originally Posted by jweisbin

or connect via USB, but Macbook Pro (except for the Retina model) is USB 2 only, so performance not so good on that.

All the ports on both MBP's are 3.0 now

[jweisbin]

Originally Posted by DirtyMan

All the ports on both MBP's are 3.0 now

Look at the original question - the poster has a 2011 Macbook Pro. USB 2.0 only, same as mine.

[danieljz]

Originally Posted by thetalkinghead

save money and get a symphony io. it sounds awesome. upgraded from the ensemble and it sounds noticeably better. very versatile too with the cards

I agree. Once you get to know Symphony IO you will be amazed with what it can do!