Universal Audio Apollo interface

[smoovemode]

Ok, black, red white...can you give me an example of the "name brand" converters each color compares too?

[oceantracks]

"UA have created a brilliant scenario where they offer high end converters with a twist NO ONE else can offer "

Why do you say "high end converters" ?

UA has already stated, in so many words, that they did the best they could based on the price point, and when asked, wouldn't give details.

I don't why this unit wouldn't sound good, but it isn't going to be an Avid IO or Symphony.

TH

[Avening]

Originally Posted by oceantracks

"UA have created a brilliant scenario where they offer high end converters with a twist NO ONE else can offer "

Why do you say "high end converters" ?

UA has already stated, in so many words, that they did the best they could based on the price point, and when asked, wouldn't give details.

I don't why this unit wouldn't sound good, but it isn't going to be an Avid IO or Symphony.

TH

Well, the Apollo DOES spec better than a Prism Orpheus on paper. Not that that's saying anything, but it does count. Converters chips are cheap, so I don't think the price point had anything to do with anything. It's all in how the circuit was designed. UA have done a good job in the past with designing an analog front/back end to conversion before with the 2192, so I don't see why they couldn't do it again in 2012. It's no Symphony IO, or HDI/O, but then again, neither is the Orpheus. Have you looked at the spec sheets of a Symphony or HD I/O? It's nuts!

The thing I DO like about this Apollo is that UA has not designed this thing to sit in the middle of a product line. This is their only interface/convertor. Meaning they have built it up to a standard, not dumbed it down to one. Nothing like a design that could have been great if it wasn't stepping on the heels of the next highest in the product line. There isn't any competition in UA's product lineup, so the Apollo has free rein of technology and pricepoint. Christ, I'd bet if the Orpheus sold for $2000, Prism would still make money on it. However, if the rest of their 8-Channel converters sell for $10K and the Orpheus sold for $2K, who would take it seriously? Wouldn't make business sense. Trust me, I'm in merchandising for a living. I see this stuff every day.

This might be a really good box. But I don't think price has much to do with anything right now. Plus, anything we say is pure speculation anyways.

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by San01

Maybe BLA will consider doing an Apollo mod

They will..

[Jason Rabbit]

Originally Posted by DR Music

They will..

Really?
Will they gimme the 10% idea fee from them?
caz im the inventor (^u^)


by the way,
if i were UA, I would've made Apollo as this; UAD+Audio IF with additionability of AD/DA cards.
UAD+AudioIF has only Digital IN/OUT at default.
AD/DA cards can be supplied by not only UA, but also other brands(can be Apogee, Aurora Audio, Lavry, etc).
We can plug-in(slot-in) to the UAD+Audio IF devise.
UAD+Audio IF =$2,000.-
AD/DA cards =$500 to $1,000
Everybody's gonna buy the basis because we can choose the AD/DA sound from many brands.

[lllubi]

looks like there is no way to deliver more than 2 headphone mixes in Fabs video

5 headphones and only 2 HP mixes

[Mazrak]

When are these going to be available? I see them listed on Sweetwater and Vintage King.

[grooveminister]

Originally Posted by lllubi

looks like there is no way to deliver more than 2 headphone mixes in Fabs video

5 headphones and only 2 HP mixes

If you think the apollo would be the only tool required for tracking rhythm sections live (this is what I do very often) - then you´re expectations might be a bit too high.
The apollo looks like a fantastic tool for most ambitious users - but it´s neigther got the inputs, nor the busses or headphone outs to do what a mixer / monitor mixer / headphone matrix can do when tracking bands live.

For the things most people do - tracking instruments one by one AND mixing the songs later - the apollo has to offer way more than I would have expected.
In my wildest phantasies I would NEVER have thought of being able to load some EMT 140, EMT 250 or Lexicon 224s up and using them in a realtime setup - live on stage or in the studio as a 4x (2in - 2out) monster-verb unit.

[Wheelomatic]

When are these going to be available? I see them listed on Sweetwater and Vintage King.

The estimated arrival is March. You need to reserve your unit at VK with a 10 percent. Not sure about Sweetwater but I'm pretty certain no one's gonna be stockin these bad boys before then.
Wheels

[bigbone]

Originally Posted by Traintrack

Read the thread



Mark me a down as a Hater.

How can you hate something that you never see or hear........

[Avening]

Originally Posted by bigbone

How can you hate something that you never see or hear........

Agreed. I own an RME UFX and am totally open to the fact that the Apollo might be a better overall interface. But who knows? It's all just speculation!

[lllubi]

Originally Posted by grooveminister

If you think the apollo would be the only tool required for tracking rhythm sections live (this is what I do very often) - then you´re expectations might be a bit too high.
The apollo looks like a fantastic tool for most ambitious users - but it´s neigther got the inputs, nor the busses or headphone outs to do what a mixer / monitor mixer / headphone matrix can do when tracking bands live.

For the things most people do - tracking instruments one by one AND mixing the songs later - the apollo has to offer way more than I would have expected.
In my wildest phantasies I would NEVER have thought of being able to load some EMT 140, EMT 250 or Lexicon 224s up and using them in a realtime setup - live on stage or in the studio as a 4x (2in - 2out) monster-verb unit.

i was saying that it looks like Fab was not able to deliver individual HP mixes
for the artists
cant imagine that he didnt know how to open more auxes and send them individually to HP mixers

[bigbone]

Originally Posted by Avening

Agreed. I own an RME UFX and am totally open to the fact that the Apollo might be a better overall interface. But who knows? It's all just speculation!

I'm about to buy a UFX, how do you like it, Converter wise ?
and do the preamp are ok ?


Thank you

[Big_Bang]

I think that a company with such a legacy, they would never risk a move like this without being 100% certain they'd leave a dent in the market.

Converters are crap without properly designed analog paths. I just recently saw a talk with Tony Andrews from Funktion One (audio engineering guru, if there ever where such a thing) and the Red Bull Academy thing (via web, wash´t there myself)... and he spoke for quite a while about converters. I was shocked when he said that one of the best sounding converters he's ever heard in his life was either a little DJ audio interface by either NI or Serato or another, I am not sure. Basically, he put a 150€ interface far above some dedicated mastering units.

Let me see if I can find it...

What about the pre-amps? I am surprised they're aren't being discussed at all!!

What's the pedigree on them? (maybe I missed it, but found no mention)

PS: Found it ! The only thing I hate about Vimeo is you can't f*****g forward without being buffered.

[Avening]

Originally Posted by bigbone

I'm about to buy a UFX, how do you like it, Converter wise ?
and do the preamp are ok ?


Thank you

The UFX is a fantastic interface and I love it (I have two). Converters are on par with my old 192 I/O's, drivers and software are bulletproof, and the preamps are very usable and transparent. Would recommend it tenfold.

Sorry to go off topic. Back to the Apollo.

[bigbone]

Originally Posted by Avening

The UFX is a fantastic interface and I love it (I have two). Converters are on par with my old 192 I/O's, drivers and software are bulletproof, and the preamps are very usable and transparent. Would recommend it tenfold.

Sorry to go off topic. Back to the Apollo.

Thank's.......... Back to the Apollo now...:P

[MrJaneFinch]

Originally Posted by Avening

The UFX is a fantastic interface and I love it (I have two). Converters are on par with my old 192 I/O's, drivers and software are bulletproof, and the preamps are very usable and transparent. Would recommend it tenfold.

Sorry to go off topic. Back to the Apollo.

I'm trading my UFX in for an Apollo.

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by MrJaneFinch

I'm trading my UFX in for an Apollo.

Very BRAVE!!!!
:(

[Category 5]

Originally Posted by Big_Bang

I think that a company with such a legacy, they would never risk a move like this without being 100% certain they'd leave a dent in the market.

Converters are crap without properly designed analog paths. I just recently saw a talk with Tony Andrews from Funktion One (audio engineering guru, if there ever where such a thing) and the Red Bull Academy thing (via web, wash´t there myself)... and he spoke for quite a while about converters. I was shocked when he said that one of the best sounding converters he's ever heard in his life was either a little DJ audio interface by either NI or Serato or another, I am not sure. Basically, he put a 150€ interface far above some dedicated mastering units.

Let me see if I can find it...

What about the pre-amps? I am surprised they're aren't being discussed at all!!

What's the pedigree on them? (maybe I missed it, but found no mention)

PS: Found it ! The only thing I hate about Vimeo is you can't f*****g forward without being buffered.

Wow. Someone should teach these experts about proper gain staging. Stuck on a macbook it is just frustratingly painful to try and deuce any information from that interview. It's like my wife whispering to me from the other room. lol

[bigbone]

Originally Posted by MrJaneFinch

I'm trading my UFX in for an Apollo.

Anybody want to trade there UFX for my DIGI 003, i even put a digi carryng bag in the deal...LOL

[Quint]

To those here that are figuring the cost of a UAD quad or duo into the overall cost of the Apollo, in an attempt to come up with how much the rest of the unit is actually "worth" or what level of quality it is, I think you should consider this. Recently you could purchase the LA-610 (I think it was the 610) and get a UAD card thrown in for free.

Why would they do this? They do this because they know that the card only costs them a fraction of the selling price to make and they know that people will buy the plugins and spend way more in the end. Giving the cards away or including them in products like the Apollo is an ingenius way to drum up business on the sale of plugins. In the end, I think that the Apollo is as much about selling plugins as it is about selling the hardware itself.

In the end, we will see how the conversion on the Apollo sounds and that will be the selling point for me. However, I wouldn't have been nearly as interested or anticipatory if the ability to track with or even through UAD plugins wasn't included as a feature. Normally, I'm pretty indifferent to the quality of built in plugins on interfaces but the fact that the Apollo can use UAD plugins, especially the Studer A800, and the fact that I can track with them without depending on the computer at all is what I find intriguing.

All that being said, I think it's a bit ridiculous to say that the Quad card costs $1500 and from there conclude that the rest of the Apollo Quad is only worth $1000. UA knows what they're doing and the real "cost" of adding the Quad card to the Apollo is a mere fraction of the cost of the entire box. At the absolute most, you are only spending $500 on the Quad card (and the included Analog Classics plugin bundle). The remaining $2000 is going entirely to everything else. We don't know what the conversion sounds like yet but I can promise you that the overall quality of the conversion and preamps won't be anywhere near the $1000 level that some of you are claiming.

UA stands to make a boatload of money by opening up UAD plugins to a whole new segment of customers that previously might not have considered going the UAD route if it meant they had to purchase a UAD card, myself included. However, if someone can gain access to UAD plugins while also getting a quality interface, that's an entirely different matter and that's why there is so much interest in the Apollo. It really is a very smart move on UA's part.

[Quint]

Moving on from the speculation parade....

As I've never used UAD plugins before, I'm curious as to how many plugin instances you can run on the Apollo during tracking. I know that the bandwidth of your computer connection and sampling rate/DAW choice affect the plugin count during mixing for obvious reasons. However, since all the processing takes place entirely within the Apollo during tracking, how does this improve the number of plugin instances you can get?

For example, I've been told that with the standalone pci-e cards, 96k will cut your plugin instances in half compared to 44.1k. I know that most if not all of the UAD plugins are supposed to be internally upsampled anyway so, for tracking purposes, does the fact that I record at 96k still mean that my plugin count would be cut in half even though all of the processing would be going on entirely within the Apollo instead of having to travel out of the DAW, into and out of a UAD card and back into the DAW as it does for people that have the UAD pci-e cards?

[isma]

Originally Posted by Quint

Moving on from the speculation parade....

As I've never used UAD plugins before, I'm curious as to how many plugin instances you can run on the Apollo during tracking?

There you go (depends if it's the the duo or quad inside the apollo):
UAD Instance Chart
For exemple you can a Studer on each 12 stereo channels simultaneously with the duo!

[isma]

Originally Posted by Quint

To those here that are figuring the cost of a UAD quad or duo into the overall cost of the Apollo, in an attempt to come up with how much the rest of the unit is actually "worth" or what level of quality it is, I think you should consider this. Recently you could purchase the LA-610 (I think it was the 610) and get a UAD card thrown in for free.

Why would they do this? They do this because they know that the card only costs them a fraction of the selling price to make and they know that people will buy the plugins and spend way more in the end. Giving the cards away or including them in products like the Apollo is an ingenius way to drum up business on the sale of plugins. In the end, I think that the Apollo is as much about selling plugins as it is about selling the hardware itself.

In the end, we will see how the conversion on the Apollo sounds and that will be the selling point for me. However, I wouldn't have been nearly as interested or anticipatory if the ability to track with or even through UAD plugins wasn't included as a feature. Normally, I'm pretty indifferent to the quality of built in plugins on interfaces but the fact that the Apollo can use UAD plugins, especially the Studer A800, and the fact that I can track with them without depending on the computer at all is what I find intriguing.

All that being said, I think it's a bit ridiculous to say that the Quad card costs $1500 and from there conclude that the rest of the Apollo Quad is only worth $1000. UA knows what they're doing and the real "cost" of adding the Quad card to the Apollo is a mere fraction of the cost of the entire box. At the absolute most, you are only spending $500 on the Quad card (and the included Analog Classics plugin bundle). The remaining $2000 is going entirely to everything else. We don't know what the conversion sounds like yet but I can promise you that the overall quality of the conversion and preamps won't be anywhere near the $1000 level that some of you are claiming.

UA stands to make a boatload of money by opening up UAD plugins to a whole new segment of customers that previously might not have considered going the UAD route if it meant they had to purchase a UAD card, myself included. However, if someone can gain access to UAD plugins while also getting a quality interface, that's an entirely different matter and that's why there is so much interest in the Apollo. It really is a very smart move on UA's part.

+10000

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by isma

+10000

Yup, got my Card.. Perfect for me.. free DUO along with my QUAD, and a LA-610mkll, not bad. True on the plugs. But the plugins are great sounding, that all I use now...
Didn't believe the hype, but freakishly close to my 1176 HairBall Clone.

[Basslik]

Originally Posted by grooveminister

If you think the apollo would be the only tool required for tracking rhythm sections live (this is what I do very often) - then you´re expectations might be a bit too high.
The apollo looks like a fantastic tool for most ambitious users - but it´s neigther got the inputs, nor the busses or headphone outs to do what a mixer / monitor mixer / headphone matrix can do when tracking bands live.

For the things most people do - tracking instruments one by one AND mixing the songs later - the apollo has to offer way more than I would have expected.
In my wildest phantasies I would NEVER have thought of being able to load some EMT 140, EMT 250 or Lexicon 224s up and using them in a realtime setup - live on stage or in the studio as a 4x (2in - 2out) monster-verb unit.

Couldn't you just use the 8 outputs sends on your 003 with the APOLLO to have a different headphone mixes?

[DR Music]

Originally Posted by Basslik

Couldn't you just use the 8 outputs sends on your 003 with the APOLLO to have a different headphone mixes?

Yes you can but let him think he knows it all..

[Quint]

Originally Posted by isma

There you go (depends if it's the the duo or quad inside the apollo):
UAD Instance Chart
For exemple you can a Studer on each 12 stereo channels simultaneously with the duo!

I've seen that chart before. The reason I was asking was because the Apollo works in a different manner than the pci-e cards. The pci-e cards require a signal to come out of the daw, into and out of the uad card and back to the daw. That all adds latency. Since the apollo doesn't have to do this during tracking that's what got me wondering if the plugin count would be improved on the apollo.

I'd like to be able to run 20+ (definitely at least 16) instances of the Studer A800 at 96k plus whatever other minimal number of plugins I might put on for monitoring.

[recorder2]

Gimmicky but the UA name and being early to the market with a TB connective interface will sell enough of these at the sub-2k price point to make R&D have been worthwhile.

[Iceleben]

Thank you UA for making some of my actual thoughts about upgrading a lot easier:

1. I wont upgrade my PC right now, maybe the CPU but not the mainboard, I'll wait for TB Mainboards or look if it's even worthwhile going that path but I think Firewire wont be the Future.
2. I'll sell my Duo and keep my Quad while It's worth something cause I'm using more native than before. When a lot of people bought the Apollo because of it's good price right now compared to the card prices themselves you'll drop the prices for the cards or include plug In $'s at the end of the year or sometimes later because you know that the demand will be there for upgrading all the systems with Apollos out there. Then I'll look if the final Apollo can keep up the hype and especially if the drivers are good. If not it'll be RME or whatever interface + maybe another card from you if the price is right and I'm in the demand for more UAD power.
3. I wont upgrade my interface right now and keep on making music rather then bothering about technical stuff cause my FF800 runs rock solid and sounds good to my ears but your interface offers everything i'd like to have: 2 ms while tracking your plugs sound intriguing e.g. Roland chorus,Dim D, Space Echo, Moog Filter, Studer, 140....., no midi ( have a dedicated interface for that ), 2 headphone outs with volume knobs, 1 adat ( enough for me ), meters on the unit, output knob. But I have a workaround right now and I can live with that for some time

Great marketing with just some few information and creating a hype of a unit no customer has used in real live yet - specs sound awesome while they say nothing really( e.g. specs of a jupiter 80 are also insane compared to the old jupi, but the synth itself for electronic music, well...). Let's see how the final product and the drivers come out.

My wallet really thanks you a lot at the moment. I can wait.

If anyone is interested in a Duo you can write me a PM. I live in Germany.