Ive heard antelopes orion in a studio for myself and it had very clear, pristine audio but finally settled on the. In a high end gear perspective id prefer having aes. Ua apollo vs rme ufx blind test gearslutz pro audio community. Universal audio apollo 8 vs apogee ensemble avid pro audio. If youre mainly after mic pres, check out motus 8pre interface. Apogee element 24, 46 and 88 are thunderbolt audio io boxes for mac. Adda converter and pre specwise, this is true as apogee specs out better than ua. If youre not, just go with one that doesnt have all the dsp bells and whistles that youre paying for. Learn more about apogee defining the art of digital audio since 1985 about apogee defining the art of digital audio since 1985 since 1985, apogee has produced innovative, awardwinning technology that powers many of the worlds. Audio interface and adat preamp comparison apogee ensemble 2014 vs. Apollo 8 is an elegant update to one of the worlds most popular professional audio interfaces delivering enhanced sound with the tone, feel, and flow of analog recording. Apollos core audio and windows drivers ensure compatibility with all major daws, including pro tools, logic pro, cubase, live, and more. The best selling interface in its price range, the universal audio apollo has an undeniably.
Apogee quartet is the ultimate desktop audio interface and studio control center for professional recording. If youre a windows user and ready to step up to an interface and dsp powered plugin system, or if youre a uad user still lingering in the firewire world, the. However, the newer apollo apollo 8 get the conversion updated. Universal audio apollo twin mkii is the premium solution for tracking and mixing. Ua apollo thunderbolt 2 interface interview youtube. Sound quality equal to apogee ensemble thunderbolt. The apollo 8p is a logical addition to the apollo lineup.
The bestselling interface in its price range, the universal audio apollo has an undeniably. When universal audio introduced their apollo line of combined audio interfaces and dsp accelerators back in 2012, the default mode of connection was by firewire, with thunderbolt support available through an. Presonus audiobox, focusrite clarett, saffire 2i2, 2i4, 6i6, 18i8 and more. The price is steep, but i can do it if it makes a difference. What are the best 1u audio interfaces with a minimum of 8 analog. Universal audio apollo x8 18x24 thunderbolt 3 audio. On the plus side, this gave me a first chance to check out how uas drivers. Apollo 8 offers 18 x 24 simultaneous inputsoutputs, with two builtin thunderbolt ports. Finally, select the universal audio apollo driver as both your input. Adda converter and pre specwise, this is true as apogee specs out better than ua apollo twin or focusrite clarett. That said, rme is known for the most reliable driver structure on the market plus very useful additional software, like totalmix, or the indespensable digicheck suite, great sound and copious featuresets for their interfaces in any price range. Im not an apollo owner although, i hope to pick one up in the future. I know ensemble has very good adda conversion, but previous apollo has a very good conversion too.
Apogee quartet vs apollo quad from people that owned or used. Apollo does have dual adat port for smux but thats only interesting if youre going to use it. Do you mean the upsampling that the apollo does via the uad plugins. I looked hard at antelopes discrete 8 and apogee ensemble. To be honest its a bit like working in a chocolate factory, the novelty soon wears off and in fact it can have the opposite effect and leave one cynical and unmoved by most new offerings. Im putting together a small home recording room, so i can get into recording. Im considering switching to uad apollo 8 thunderbolt with all uad plugins and a new thunderbolt imac. Universal audio is back with updated versions of their wellregarded apollo line of.
You use logic pro x or any other daw but dont have an apogee thunderbolt interface. Aesthetically, i find both the apollo rack and twin units to be beautifully designed. Nextgeneration audio conversion with classic analog sound. When universal audio introduced their apollo line of combined audio interfaces and dsp accelerators back in 2012, the default mode of connection was by firewire, with thunderbolt support available through an optional addon card. Apollo 8 would be a key factor in selecting the 2nd gen over the 1st gen. Apollo twin mkii is a groundup redesign of the hugely popular professional desktop recording interface for mac and windows delivering enhanced audio conversion with the tone, feel, and flow of analog recording. Well, not exactly switched, i still use the ensemble as a second 8 channel adda. Apogee ensemble th vs universal audio apollo 8p hi, i am putting together a little home studio and i am trying to decide between the apogee ensemble th. Made for the musician, producer and engineer that wants the ultimate sound quality and studio control in a compact desktop form factor, quartet features legendary apogee adda conversion, 4 worldclass microphone preamps, usb midi io. Record with the apollo firewire for classic analog sound, uad2 quad core processing, and. Blocks need to be imported into the designer software using palette manager. Universal audio apollo 8 vs apogee ensemble avid pro. May 25, 2016 you are going from saffire 40 to a quartet or apollo quad i went from a saffire 56. I was comparing an apollo quad to older recently at the time discontinued protools hd hardware heres my thought on apogee they are very mac focused.
Ive read great things about the universal audio apollo twin, so i was considering picking one up. With the apollos flexible driver system, i can actually have those inputs appear next to each other in my operating system. Apogee, lynx, and focusrite have managed to get below 1ms latency with their thunderbolt and pcie in the case of lynx interfaces. Using external digital gear with your apollo digital clocking primer. Breakthrough unison mic preamp modeling gives you the character and color of classic mic preamps, including legendary designs from neve, api, manley, helios, and. Would appreciate comments suggestions or alternatives. Ive also got an apollo audio converter from ua that has digital io with 8 in and 8 out running on my mac pro 2012. That is just where it starts because the preamps sound fantastic and the roundtriplatency is so low only a native.
Universal audio apollo x8 18x24 thunderbolt 3 audio interface. The new apogee ensemble includes 8 advanced stepped gain mic. Universal audios apollo x6 is a prolevel audio interface promising an. The apollo 8p is an improvement both sonically and ergonomically to an already fantastic interface. I wanted live effects on my synths, and the alternative was getting a mixer and a bunch of outboard reverbsdelays. Presently firewire imac, good mics and recording studio. Built upon uas 60year heritage of audio craftsmanship, apollo twin mkii starts with two unisonenabled mic preamps and stellar. Made for the musician, producer and engineer that wants the ultimate sound quality and studio control in a compact desktop form factor, quartet features legendary apogee adda conversion, 4 worldclass microphone preamps, usb midi io, ess sabre32 dac technology and monitor controls. Apogee ensemble th vs universal audio apollo 8p gearslutz. This compact audio interface allows you to record up to 8 channels. So, what makes the apogee ensemble thunderbolt so special.
Im upgrading my studio focusrite 18i20 to either of these. If converters are very important to you than maybe you should do a test of the units yourself inperson. But in the everescalating audio interface arms race, ua has upped the game once again with. Uas new apollo 8p boasts eight channels of the companys unisonpowered preamps. Its my favorite product in our lineup and a fantastic choice hence the reason weve sold out so quickly and are struggling to build more fast enough. A big advantage to the ua is the awesome collection of plugins.
Also, i believe the ua uses the much faster thunderbolt rather than the usb 2 that the scarlett uses. Dec 22, 2016 apogee element vs focusrite clarett what do you see as the pros and cons of both the apogee element and focusrite clarett. With the announcement of the universal audio apollo x, the brand is once again pushing their flagship interface forward and providing significant upgrades in power, conversion and monitoring. Ensemble thunderbolt is the latest technology from apogee with amazing mic preamps, fantastic converters and some of the lowest latency of any audio interface in history. The new ensemble, or if you can swing it, one of the symphony models are great choices for mac users. Apogees ensemble thunderbolt audio interface is aimed at a similar market to uas apollo range. Apogee quartet vs apollo quad from people that owned or.
The entry level into the 1u 8 mic pre interface category comes in from tascam. These thunderbolt audio interfaces from apogee are mac only and come in three flavours. This 2x6 usb 3 audio interface for windowsbased machines windows 7 and 8 combines the impeccable 24192 khz audio conversion of universal audios acclaimed apollo series with onboard realtime uad processing and unison technology a breakthrough in classic mic preamp emulation. Apr 03, 2019 audio interface and adat preamp comparison apogee ensemble 2014 vs. Mar 24, 2020 apollo twin software downloads the latest uad powered plugins software installer, which includes all drivers and files necessary to use the apollo twin, is available here. That means they actually have less latency with native plugins than the apollo has with uad plugins. I havent used or even seen the apollo, so i cant make a comparison between the two. The apollo x8p is the latest and greatest interface by universal audio offering a. Oct 10, 2017 ensemble thunderbolt is the latest technology from apogee with amazing mic preamps, fantastic converters and some of the lowest latency of any audio interface in history. As the name suggests, it comes with 8 console mic discreet preamps with classic.
One feature that sets uads apollo range apart from the others, is their. So if i were using pc i wouldnt touch it and i dont even think it works with pc even via usbidk so. Apogee have been close partners with apple for many years now, and their original firewire ensemble has become a firm favourite with mac users seeking excellent audio quality and plenty of io in a compact device. A guide of the best usb, firewire, and thunderbolt audio interfaces including. Apollo twin software downloads the latest uad powered plugins software installer, which includes all drivers and files necessary to use the apollo twin, is available here. Stay with firewire apogee ensembleavalon 737 or go all uad.
The ensemble thunderbolt isnt just an update apogee have completely redesigned it, and the results are impressive. Ua audio interfaces feature allnew ad and da conversion for extremely detailed and open sound giving you the lowest noise and highest dynamic range in their respective class. But you couldnt find the right driver to make your interface work for you. Thunderbolt 2 audio interface with quad dsp processor. Apogee element is an excellent choice for logic they are logic oriented. Universal audios new apollo x range sees the company pull out all the stops to. Apollo 8 thunderbolt audio interface universal audio. It does not come with a driver disk, you will have to download the drivers, software and. Im struggling to decide between these two and hope for the guidance of logic users. I have my kicksnare plugged into inputs 1 and 2, but the drum overheads are on my 2nd apollo plugged into inputs 7 and 8. I switched from the previous generation ensemble to the apollo a couple of months ago. I tried out the new ensemble before purchasing the new duet, and my reasoning behind going with the duet was that i could track with the duet at.
I wanted live effects on my synths, and the alternative was. Im still using an apogee duet firewire 400 on my 2008 mac pro patched with mojave 10. The apogee ensemble thunderbolts software driver utilizes a direct memory access dma engine that resides on the ensemble thunderbolts hardware logic chip to efficiently read and write data directly to your macs memory. Best thunderbolt audio interfaces 2018 music matter. The apollo x8, apollo x8p and apollo x16 are direct replacements for the apollo 8. The installer file is downloaded to the disk location specified in your web browsers preferences. This could explain why you dont mention any variance in the conversation between the two. But in the everescalating audio interface arms race, ua has upped the game once again with the nextgen conversion on the new apollo range.
I had a chance to test the original apollo vs ensemble in the past and a win for ensemble. Since its initial release in 2012, the universal audio apollo series has revolutionized the world of digital audio interfaces by offering an impeccable sound at an affordable price. I am a sparse home studio logic user and that status might give the element a slight advantage. If the above is accurate, the improvement in the da of the 2nd gen. First, please connect your apollo firewire, apollo 8, or apollo 8p as you. Resources this section contains resources and blocks for you to download for the ensemble. Thanks to apollo expanded software, users of any thunderboltequipped apollo twin, apollo 8, apollo 8p, and apollo 16 audio interfaces can combine up to four apollos and six total uad2 devices adding io and dsp as your studio grows. Software driver for ultralow latency and unmatched cpu efficiency. The unique feature of the apogee fx rack is that the plugins are dualpath. Been wanting to dive into the uad waters for some time now. Im in the market for a new interface and this is a tough call at this point. Stay with firewire apogee ensembleavalon 737 or go all.
The element series takes the best of cuttingedge apogee gear like symphony io mk ii, ensemble thunderbolt and groove and puts it into simple form factors. I have an imac and im looking for an interface and mic as well that will provide excellent results. You are going from saffire 40 to a quartet or apollo quad i went from a saffire 56. Audio midi interfaces midi interface equipment allows different electronic musical instruments and computer peripherals to communicate with one another. As of now its between the duet 2, element 24, ua apollo solo, rme babyface here is a quote from a rep on gear slutz hello everyone, glad to hear youre excited for our element series.
Apogee ensemble thunderbolt 30x34 thunderbolt audio interface. The apogee ensemble thunderbolt is a feature packed 1u high 19 audio interface that features a comprehensive set of features and multiple connection options including adat. The unison technology is proven and solid, and to have the ability to utilize it on 8 analog inputs is simply wonderful. After exhaustive research, im between the apogee element 24 and the new ua apollo twin mkii quad. Universal audio apollo 8 uad2 quad thunderbolt audio interface.
In this video, i compare my top 24 channel audio interface picks. The element series is very minimalist because apogee chose to put more into the converters and pres. Apollormeapogee vs presonus for studio one interface. Or if you want the best of both worlds, get an 828mk3 and connect the 8pre or other 8 channel convertor, like. Ive always said that the only reason to go with an apollo interface is if youre going to be using ua plugins. Pro tools audio interfaces 10 you should check out pro tools. Old apogee ensemble fw, macpro no thunderbolt adding apollo. Pro tools audio interfaces 10 you should check out pro. I ended up buying apogee duet, which has the same quality signal chain as the ensemble, but with a limited io, but if i had the money, i would only buy metric halo. Apogee ensemble th vs universal audio apollo 8p hi, i am putting together a little home studio and i am trying to decide between the apogee ensemble th and universal audio apollo 8p interfaces. A dedicated audio interface and an electric piano is all youll need to crank out your own tunes.
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