UA Apollo First Look (user review)

[tsvisser]

Any chance of lifting off the top cover and snapping a photo of the board layout?

[cowboycoalminer]

AMS Neve 1081 outboard pre on this one, EQ engaged. This will give you a good Idea of the quality of the convertors. I think they give an excellent sound field, nice and deep. I tracked these vocals about 12 to 14 inches away from the mic to see how deep they could go and this box really picked up the air of the room. Nice! I'll get back to the onboard pre's soon. Wanted to see what the convertors had with some slutty stuff first.

[ProducerBoy]

Thanks for sending all these samples our way!

[cowboycoalminer]

Originally Posted by ProducerBoy

Thanks for sending all these samples our way!

[cavern]

Yeah,this is very interesting so thanks for taking the time.
I currently love the UFX right now but nothing is etched in stone.

Also,enjoying those songs.

[Avening]

Thanks for posting these up. Looking forward to receiving mine some time next week.

Any hiccups with the software yet? Crashing, dropouts, ect.? And how are you finding the stability of the system at lower buffer settings while tracking (64 samples, ect...)? Any issues with latency?

Thanks again.

[cowboycoalminer]

Originally Posted by Avening

Thanks for posting these up. Looking forward to receiving mine some time next week.

Any hiccups with the software yet? Crashing, dropouts, ect.? And how are you finding the stability of the system at lower buffer settings while tracking (64 samples, ect...)? Any issues with latency?

Thanks again.

I have found one major glitch in the console. I has happened twice. As I placed the plugs on the strip, one in particular, Real Verb Pro causes the console to crash. You have to force quit and start over. It doesn't happen every time though and I found a way to work around it by saving a template. Very unusual for a Mac. I suspect this might have been one reason for the late release? I'm sure they will issue an update. Installation was solid and a breeze. I'm not too concerned about this as all software is buggy at first. Wouldn't want to be tracking a big money session with it though at this point. One thing I DON'T like is I can't move plugs around in their order on the strip. If you can, I haven't figured out how yet.

[craigbeckta]

I am not a big Country Music fan but...

That song sounds great.

Awesome stuff.

[cowboycoalminer]

Had to share this. I demo the Studer plug and get this. This is the same exact tune and bounce as above except I added the Studer on the first insert of the buss strip. You can hear for yourself but, wow. I've used the waves kramer version but this is miles apart.

[Glaucocoma]

Hi cowboy.

I suggest you to not use the demos, unless you have a good money to spend.
In a few days you will post here "well, i had to buy studer"
Same will happen with most os demos you try...
Believe me

[cowboycoalminer]

Originally Posted by Glaucocoma

Hi cowboy.

I suggest you to not use the demos, unless you have a good money to spend.
In a few days you will post here "well, i had to buy studer"
Same will happen with most os demos you try...
Believe me

Know what you mean. It honestly sounds like I ran it through my outboard. Can't believe how good that plug is.

[cowboycoalminer]

Mobile rig.

[Quint]

Originally Posted by cowboycoalminer

AMS Neve 1081 outboard pre on this one, EQ engaged. This will give you a good Idea of the quality of the convertors. I think they give an excellent sound field, nice and deep. I tracked these vocals about 12 to 14 inches away from the mic to see how deep they could go and this box really picked up the air of the room. Nice! I'll get back to the onboard pre's soon. Wanted to see what the convertors had with some slutty stuff first.

Okay, can you help clear something up for me. I'm not understanding what it is that you tracked here. This song is a couple of years old already. Did you have access to the song, sans vocals, and add your own vocal track? Otherwise I don't see how it was tracked on the Apollo.

[Quint]

Originally Posted by cowboycoalminer

Had to share this. I demo the Studer plug and get this. This is the same exact tune and bounce as above except I added the Studer on the first insert of the buss strip. You can hear for yourself but, wow. I've used the waves kramer version but this is miles apart.

You added the Studer on the master bus or added it to every individual track?

[cowboycoalminer]

Originally Posted by Quint

You added the Studer on the master bus or added it to every individual track?

Just the master buss. One instance.

[cowboycoalminer]

Originally Posted by Quint

Okay, can you help clear something up for me. I'm not understanding what it is that you tracked here. This song is a couple of years old already. Did you have access to the song, sans vocals, and add your own vocal track? Otherwise I don't see how it was tracked on the Apollo.

Vocals only.

[Quint]

Originally Posted by cowboycoalminer

Just the master buss. One instance.

Well I'd have to agree. The Studer definitely made a positive difference.

[Quint]

Originally Posted by cowboycoalminer

Vocals only.

So those are brand new vocals you recorded? I ask because they sound just like the same performance on the original track that came out a couple of years ago. Just fyi, I'm not trying to insinuate anything here. I'm just confused about what was actually done in your sample track. Can you clarify this?

Are you the original engineer for this track and got the original performer to come in and retrack the vocal? Or, are you actually the performer themself and just retracked your own vocal to show what the Apollo can do? Sorry, I'm just confused about your test samples.

[cowboycoalminer]

Originally Posted by Quint

So those are brand new vocals you recorded? I ask because they sound just like the same performance on the original track that came out a couple of years ago. Just fyi, I'm not trying to insinuate anything here. I'm just confused about what was actually done in your sample track. Can you clarify this?

They are mine. I did them this morning. Can you tell a difference? I think they sound a tad more open. Be good to get your opinion.

[jonathan.osborne]

I think you should also get a demo for the Massive Passive and mix some tracks with that.

[jonathan.osborne]

The Studer made the track sound more open and also gave it a more punchy rock sound than the original. Awesome clip!

[cowboycoalminer]

Originally Posted by Quint

Well I'd have to agree. The Studer definitely made a positive difference.

Yeah, and all I did was move the other plugs down on the strip to make room and turned it on and chose a preset. Whamo. Didn't touch a comp, limiter, nothing. Same mix other than that. It's hard to believe. I usually hate bouncing to disk but this thing has me thinking.

[Quint]

Originally Posted by cowboycoalminer

They are mine. I did them this morning. Can you tell a difference? I think they sound a tad more open. Be good to get your opinion.

Well I'm not into this kind of music so I wouldn't be able to point out any differences between this and the original track as I've only heard the original song played by people I happened to be around so I'm not intimately familiar with the song. I'm assuming you recorded the original song for whomever the artist is and just laid your version of the vocals down on top of the backing tracks? Is that correct?

[Quint]

Originally Posted by cowboycoalminer

Yeah, and all I did was move the other plugs down on the strip to make room and turned it on and chose a preset. Whamo. Didn't touch a comp, limiter, nothing. Same mix other than that. It's hard to believe. I usually hate bouncing to disk but this thing has me thinking.

I'd agree. That's an impressive improvement. It sounds more "alive". Now you should try the Studer on every channel to achieve a real difference in sound.

[Category 5]

Originally Posted by tsvisser

Any chance of lifting off the top cover and snapping a photo of the board layout?

+1 the more megapixels the better. The geek in me has to know!

[Jimmy kiddo]

Originally Posted by cowboycoalminer

It appears you would have to assign an I/O, say channel 8? as an FX loop. Not a problem per say, but it will take a channel.

I see ! Thanks for the input !

[RightOnRome]

any chance you can mic a kit with the internal pres.. k,s,and overs

[kreeper_6]

Originally Posted by cowboycoalminer

Know what you mean. It honestly sounds like I ran it through my outboard. Can't believe how good that plug is.

Wait till you start putting the ATR-102 on the bus.

[lllubi]

anybody ready to support the files for nms´s thread ?
The Ultimate Converter DA/AD Loopback Shootout Thread!

[Beaver Tim]

Originally Posted by cowboycoalminer

Another. This one I recorded with 2 mics mono, vocal and acoustic simultaneously. All effects were printed didn't think I'd ever say that! Ha. But it's basically what the thing would sound like live, so I did it. Not going to make a habit of it though. He. Chain is 1176, Pultec, Real Verb Pro on vox and Real Verb pro on acoustic, one shot take and full of mistakes(didn't have much time) but you'll get the idea. This thing is an excellent tool. By the way, this song was written by a friend of mine, Chris Stapleton so if you like it, please buy it instead of using this demo MP3. It's on a Tim McGraw record and is easy to find. Thanks.

Hey guys
First of all, thanks a lot cowboycoalminer for the input, I'm happy with what I hear from you here.

May I ask if you guys happy Apollo owners would post unprocessed takes? Just Apollo pres. Thats it.
(I think that was your purpose with that one but FXs were printed..right?)