Apogee duet 2

[DEUCE SLUICE]

Originally Posted by GnS

No buspowered operation like in the DUET1? Sorry, that's a dealbreaker...

"Connection and Power: USB, powered by any available USB port on the computer (DC power optional)"

[Clawson]

The reasons we chose USB for Duet 2 are as follows:
1. USB is available on the every Mac.
2. Latency performance is better.
With the Duet FireWire, we measured 4.6ms at 96k 32 buffer and 7.2ms at 44.1, 64 buffer.
With Duet 2 USB we measured 3.6ms at 96k 32 buffer and 5.8ms at 44.1, 64 buffer.

Chris Lawson
Apogee Electronics

[Reborn]

Boy This thread seem to be full of people thinking with 2008 minds. USB 2 is very stable for Audio at this point when done right. Performance on my Fireface UFX is actually better on the USB side than the Firewire. People are quick to bash things on gearslutz, sometimes without even knowing what they are talking about. BTW not one person has paid attention to the fact that this is the first new release since thay updated there flagship convertor technology. The new Duet is benefiting from that! Also the price point is competitive to the original units ( Duet 1)entry price and they have fixed several things that people asked for. Balanced outs. Seperate headphone and monitor paths, those are all things people asked for in a upgraded Duet. Come on people stop bitchin

Jazztone

[zephonic]

Yup, FW is dead. Too bad.

But I'm willing to bet the Ensemble 2 will sport TBolt.

[GnS]

Originally Posted by DEUCE SLUICE

"Connection and Power: USB, powered by any available USB port on the computer (DC power optional)"

That REALLY surprised me! Does this need one of this sucking Y-Cables? Or did Apogee manage it making this whole Box run at 5V and 0,5A??

I saw now the HP Mix is independant. Finally. Woohooo.

[mixerguy]

Originally Posted by Reborn

Boy This thread seem to be full of people thinking with 2008 minds. USB 2 is very stable for Audio at this point when done right. Performance on my Fireface UFX is actually better on the USB side than the Firewire. People are quick to bash things on gearslutz, sometimes without even knowing what they are talking about. BTW not one person has paid attention to the fact that this is the first new release since thay updated there flagship convertor technology. The new Duet is benefiting from that! Also the price point is competitive to the original units ( Duet 1)entry price and they have fixed several things that people asked for. Balanced outs. Seperate headphone and monitor paths, those are all things people asked for in a upgraded Duet. Come on people stop bitchin

Jazztone

+ 1

thumbsup

[daesuk]

Originally Posted by contrattore

yeah, latency is a big concern, but it's not the point.
data loss if your computer is busy is.

whatever. so the big in&out difference is the now outputs and headphones are on 2 separate DACS?
this is not for me.

i'm a tad bit disappointed by apogee, they seems more toys-oriented now.
this is far far far away from the spirit that brought the original duet to us.

Looking at it, they are two separate DACs but you have an option to listen to the same or from different source. I'd love to have that flexibility.

[wretch]

Originally Posted by Clawson

The reasons we chose USB for Duet 2 are as follows:
1. USB is available on the every Mac.
2. Latency performance is better.
With the Duet FireWire, we measured 4.6ms at 96k 32 buffer and 7.2ms at 44.1, 64 buffer.
With Duet 2 USB we measured 3.6ms at 96k 32 buffer and 5.8ms at 44.1, 64 buffer.

Chris Lawson
Apogee Electronics

Care to comment on the DAC on the 2 vs. the orig. Duet? How soon will they be shipping in volume to stores?

[DEUCE SLUICE]

So, the additional outputs means outboard gear is now usable with the Duet?

[SoundUniverse]

I wonder if the Ensemble is next for a face lift?

[work2do]

Originally Posted by wretch

Care to comment on the DAC on the 2 vs. the orig. Duet? How soon will they be shipping in volume to stores?

Better sound quality.
A difference you will hear.
Using the very latest technology and drawing upon the experience of developing Apogee’s new flagship audio interface, Symphony I/O, Apogee engineers rebuilt Duet to achieve a difference you can hear.

Duet/Duet 2 Comparison Chart

[oceantracks]

Originally Posted by EvanBrass

I'm surprised that it doesn't have a thunderbolt port.
and only usb 2.0, is that wierd, or am I on crack?

No that is weird, yes.

TH

[alternative4]

Originally Posted by Clawson

The reasons we chose USB for Duet 2 are as follows:
1. USB is available on the every Mac.
2. Latency performance is better.
With the Duet FireWire, we measured 4.6ms at 96k 32 buffer and 7.2ms at 44.1, 64 buffer.
With Duet 2 USB we measured 3.6ms at 96k 32 buffer and 5.8ms at 44.1, 64 buffer.

Chris Lawson
Apogee Electronics

oh.. I thought the new duet would have 4 ins 4 outs. 2 ins are always not enough for me using at home, 8 ins are too many. I also have ensemble at studio for tracking drums.
but anyway it's still great if duet 2 has lower latency, is it as stable as the FW? if yes, I will consider to upgrade mine.

[DEUCE SLUICE]

Yeah, I had initially read the release as 4-in/4-out and was immediately going for my wallet, then re-read and was disappointed.

I'm willing to pay the premium for Apogee quality, I don't need an Ensemble, but I need more than a Duet (I have one and love it, but if I'm going to upgrade I'd be upgrading for more inputs.)

[imagineaudio]

For me, having the headphone output separate from the main outs is moot point and not worth the upgrade. I have the outs from my duet run to monitor controller.

I would much rather have two insert points on ins 1+2.

Also being able to toggle the instrument ins between instrument and line would be useful.

Interesting to see how the redesigned mic pres and ADCs sound compared to the original.

dfegad

[kerouac]

Originally Posted by SoundUniverse

I wonder if the Ensemble is next for a face lift?

That's what I'm hoping for... just as long as it doesn't get more expensive too.

[sleepingbag]

Originally Posted by work2do

Better sound quality.
A difference you will hear.
Using the very latest technology and drawing upon the experience of developing Apogee’s new flagship audio interface, Symphony I/O, Apogee engineers rebuilt Duet to achieve a difference you can hear.

Duet/Duet 2 Comparison Chart

^^^
Does this actually mean anything? Made me laugh.

Had a Duet 1 and loved it, fwiw.

[PopularDemand]

If conversion is the same as the new Symphony it's a good sized jump up in quality.

[TRW]

New ensemble with better dac please!! ;-)

Duet looks good!

-T

[Companda]

Are the converters definitely upgraded?

[alleyeseeing]

How would you sync up drum machines with midi on this Duet 2?

[bobsandifer]

When I see stuff like this it concerns me that I spent a fortune on converters just to record 1 vocal at a time. What a cool little box. The 1st one was amazing so I am sure this one will kick azz.

[kerouac]

Originally Posted by alleyeseeing

How would you sync up drum machines with midi on this Duet 2?

The same way you do on the Duet 1... with an external MIDI device. dfegad

[alleyeseeing]

Originally Posted by kerouac

The same way you do on the Duet 1... with an external MIDI device. dfegad

I ask because I never had a Duet before.

[antstudio]

I would also like to have seen 4 inputs, something between Duet (which I own) and Ensemble (which I dream about). I originally looked into buying a second Duet but they can't be ganged on the same Firewire bus.

Now I'm wondering if I will be able to gang my original Duet on Firewire with the new Duet on USB2 and record 4 channels at once. Seperate busses should provide the necessary bandwidth. That would be a good compromise. I've heard rumors you can gang a Duet and a One, not sure if it's true.

..ant

[CeretoneAudio]

Thunderbolt supports USB 2.0 protocol directly, so you can attach this to a thunderbolt equipped mac with a USB to Thunderbolt adapter cable.

[AcoosticZoo]

Cool, a game changer for portable mobile recording.

This with an apple laptop with Logic Studio will allow me to travel around the world and still track with a decent set of pres/ad/da. Coupled with your fav tube condenser mic (maybe a neumann) and you're good to go in regards to tracking vocals.

Regards
Josef Horhay
Mixing Engineer
www.acoosticzoo.com

[DEUCE SLUICE]

Can a pair of Duet2's function as an aggregate device?

[zephonic]

Originally Posted by antstudio

Now I'm wondering if I will be able to gang my original Duet on Firewire with the new Duet on USB2 and record 4 channels at once.

Originally Posted by DEUCE SLUICE

Can a pair of Duet2's function as an aggregate device?

Within OSX? Of course, why not?


I love the way it looks, very sexy, very Apple. But it comes up short on features. Bummer. This would look so good with a MacbookPro.

[soypancho]

I've got one on preorder. The extra set of outs are all I really need right now to slap a hardware chain on my mix bus and with the awesome results I've been getting from the ONE, I'm really excited to see what the upgraded sonics are like. Visual feedback and the soft buttons look fantastic as I like to use Maestro as little as possible.

The only thing that irks me a bit is combo jacks. We'll see if it's enough to warrant the purchase of the breakout box.