Universal Audio Apollo interface

[Retinal]

DSP's CPU power will get old very soon, not the smarter move to pay for it..
But I'm sure UA is gonna get a lot of "impulse purchases" with this one

[BodyByStarbucks]

the future is now. think about it. be happy.

[clonewar]

Wow... $1500 for a UAD-2 Quad, or $2500 for an Quad Apollo. The pricing makes it a no brainer if you were going to get a UAD-2 card anyway. Given the amount of I/O included it'll be very interesting to see how the sonics compare to other interfaces in that price range.

And... Anyone who has or has had a UAD system knows how hard it is to resist buying new plugins. I forsee the sale of UAD plugins going up, very smart move by UA.

The one thing I don't understand is the Sonnox announcement. I just don't get why someone would buy plugins for UAD that are available in native format. I could understand if they were half price, or if they ceased native development, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[alkor]

Originally Posted by clonewar

The one thing I don't understand is the Sonnox announcement. I just don't get why someone would buy plugins for UAD that are available in native format. I could understand if they were half price, or if they ceased native development, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

i think they aim @ developers that lost money with ilok...
im sure there will be ua exclusive plugs

[barryjohns]

Originally Posted by miscend

Defeats the whole purpose of plug-ins i.e. they are meant to be non-destructive.

You can do either/or. You can print to tape, or just track through them.

Wow, seems amazing that so many people don't realize how things were recorded just 10 years ago, when especially compression was almost always printed to tape.

[ionian]

I wonder if the plug-ins are before the converter circuit or after - meaning if you really drive the input of the converter the UAD compressor can brickwall it before it clips the converter, like tracking with a real compressor before the converter would. Or if this is simply to track with plug-ins but offer no real "protection" before clipping.

Regards,
Frank

[trock]

Been a long time since my UAD 1 card. have had a yamaha n12 for years now.

thinking this and a dangerous dbox

hmmmmm

[dankin]

I want one now! My only concern is that they support multiple interfaces. It says they will in the future but it wouldn't the first time a company announced a feature then never implemented it. Personally I'm of the mind set that I get the sound pretty close to what I want before going to the DAW and considering how good UA's plugins sound I wouldn't have any issues with tracking through some of them. I already use my Metric Halo eq's when tracking but having UA Neve 1073's and the tape plugin while tracking would be amazing. The plus side is then your not wasting DSP power at mix time for something that could have been done in tracking. Thus freeing the UAD for things that more mix oriented.

[Cody]

I wonder if the plug-ins are before the converter circuit or after - meaning if you really drive the input of the converter the UAD compressor can brickwall it before it clips the converter, like tracking with a real compressor before the converter would. Or if this is simply to track with plug-ins but offer no real "protection" before clipping.

I'm guessing after... just makes sense to me, audio needs to be converted before it can be processed by the plugin. But, I can't confirm this.

--

But, if you can print the plugin during tracking... that would be awesome to get your clean signal in, drive the plugin, then trim it either in the plugin or the console w/the console fader before it is recorded. I'm guessing this is how it works, but for me this would be awesome.

-- ^^ then I read the post above and realize it's saying more or less the same thing.

[Lovestreet]

Hey I just saw the new audio interface of Universal Audio. It looks interesting. maybe something to compete with the RME UFX? Thoughts on this?
Apollo High-Resolution Interface with Realtime UAD Processing

[spiral]

Originally Posted by barryjohns

tape.

Is that a plugin?

[Osis]

Looks much better than the RME. Two more line outs at first glance, plus the onboard DSP. It also probably has better conversion and Pres too.

[MJivxx]

I'm waiting to here how these pre amps and converters stack up to others in their price range, RME, Metric Halo, Apogee ect. Im looking for a new interface and this has jumped right in my face as a front runner due to the included UAD-2 QUAD DSP power included ( which I was thinking of adding anyway)
Please someone buy one and do some comparisons?!
The other interface I was considering is MH ULN-2 or RME FF400 or 800. Can't wait to hear what experienced engineers with great rooms think.

[broadscotch]

Originally Posted by Lovestreet

Hey I just saw the new audio interface of Universal Audio. It looks interesting. maybe something to compete with the RME UFX? Thoughts on this?
Apollo High-Resolution Interface with Realtime UAD Processing

Mobile rig is getting an upgrade! Goodbye Ensemble...

This looks absolutely fantastic. Has a soon-to-come Thunderbolt card too. My laptop just got a huge b0ner...

Really impressed with the price for both the duo and the quad. SOLD.

[miscend]

Originally Posted by ionian

I wonder if the plug-ins are before the converter circuit or after - meaning if you really drive the input of the converter the UAD compressor can brickwall it before it clips the converter, like tracking with a real compressor before the converter would. Or if this is simply to track with plug-ins but offer no real "protection" before clipping.

Regards,
Frank

The plugins being digital. It has to be after conversion from analogue.

[barryjohns]

Originally Posted by ionian

I wonder if the plug-ins are before the converter circuit or after - meaning if you really drive the input of the converter the UAD compressor can brickwall it before it clips the converter, like tracking with a real compressor before the converter would. Or if this is simply to track with plug-ins but offer no real "protection" before clipping.

Regards,
Frank

Question of the day!

[JSG]

So, if I understand all of the above posts, my Sonica Audio Labs Q6600 w/ a firewire 800 card, running Windows XP SP3 will not be compatible?

[jamwerks]

Great also for putting one of their verbs on a (low latency) headphone mix, without necessarily tracking through the plug.

[trock]

wow, anyone notice the 2 seperate Hi z inputs on the front??

this thing is insanely well laid out

[Billy Buck]

Originally Posted by JSG

So, if I understand all of the above posts, my Sonica Audio Labs Q6600 w/ a firewire 800 card, running Windows XP SP3 will not be compatible?

I think the only thing you are missing is Win7. From reading the specs, it will only support the Win7 OS on PC's and that will not be until this Summer. The rest of your rig should be fine.

Cheers,

Billy Buck

[ionian]

Originally Posted by miscend

The plugins being digital. It has to be after analogue conversion.

I would assume the same thing unless they found a way to give it a sort of "OS" that could run the plugs before the converter circuit. That would be cool. Otherwise it just sort of feels like a converter with some DSC chips tacked on. It's still cool and functional but not to the point I would like it to be.


Regards,
Frank

[clonewar]

Originally Posted by ionian

I would assume the same thing unless they found a way to give it a sort of "OS" that could run the plugs before the converter circuit. That would be cool. Otherwise it just sort of feels like a converter with some DSC chips tacked on. It's still cool and functional but not to the point I would like it to be.


Regards,
Frank

The plugins are software, so the analog signal has to pass through the AD converter and be converted to digital before it can be processed by the plugins. There's no other possible way for it to be done with digital plugins.

[an.unna.kid]

Bye bye RME...

[basmartin]

Looks good!

[Sounddesigner]

Originally Posted by clonewar

The one thing I don't understand is the Sonnox announcement. I just don't get why someone would buy plugins for UAD that are available in native format.

Not making sense was correct in the past but not so now. In the past brainworx offered their plugins for Native, SCOPE and UAD. It did not make much sense to buy the uad version cause there was a Native version but it DID make sense to buy the SCOPE version even tho the Native version existed due to the SCOPE's Mixing enviroment, tracking, live-performance. Now that Uad has its own 'Enviroment' it makes sense. It's still better to have exclusive plugins but common-place plugins still have their place IF your platform has a 'Enviroment' wich uad now has.

Also if Native developers plugins sell well on the Uad platform they may start making exclusive plugins for that platform. Copy-protection is still a HUGE advantage for uad (and other dsp platforms). As a interface and co-processor the uad does not have to have alot of processing power to please those developers and most users, just enough.


EDITED

[Solar]

I think i'm gonna wait to see what RME is going to come up or announce in this NAMM show otherwise I think I will be considering getting one. Been an RME die hard user ever since, I've used other soundcards before and RME never, simply NEVER FAILED. What I mean here is RME most respected and well known ROCK SOLID DRIVERS. So i'll wait and see what people will be reporting regarding UA Apollo drivers & will take it from there

[grooveminister]

Originally Posted by oceantracks

Why? People have tracked with hardware like the LA-2A, 3A, etc, and Neve pres using the EQ section forever....

With analogue tape this made a bit more sense, because they wanted to print hotter levels to tape
- or preEQ things to not amplify the noisefloor afterwards in the mix process...

[once a roadie]

Looks nice - good move with control room outs!

I wonder if Adat connected gear can use the dsp mixer when using say 16 inputs.

Also...

The lack of inserts would have been more justified if there were on board analog domain limiters like prism did on Orpheus.


Posted via the Gearslutz iPhone app

[clonewar]

Originally Posted by Sounddesigner

Not making sense was correct in the past but not so now. In the past brainworx offered their plugins for Native, SCOPE and UAD. It did not make much sense to buy the uad version cause there was a Native version but it DID make sense to buy the SCOPE version even tho the Native version existed due to the SCOPE's Mixing enviroment, tracking, live-performance. Now that Uad has its own 'Enviroment' it makes sense. It's still better to have exclusive plugins but common-place plugins still have their place IF your platform has a 'Enviroment' wich uad now has.

Also if Native developers plugins sell well on the Uad platform they may start making exclusive plugins for that platform. Copy-protection is still a HUGE advantage for uad (and other dsp platforms). As a interface and co-processor the uad does not have to have alot of processing power to please those developers and most users, just enough.


EDITED

That's a very good point that I didn't think about.. Now with the Apollo there's the added advantage of using UAD plugins at nearly no latency during tracking.

[tsvisser]

My one minor quibble with the unit is no insert points for the mic preamps. For those that want to use a tracking compressor, for example, can only use DSP or a post-mix-engine line output, which would be limited by the headroom and conversion performance of the unit.

I don't think I'd print any of the effects while tracking, but I sure can see utility in making cue mixes with this thing.