Apollo FireWire

Once I'd hooked up my apollo I sat down with the intention of having a quick listen to my reference tracks before testing out the pre's/plug-ins etc. 3 hours later I was still listening with my jaw on the floor!

I've only used the apollo for one tracking session so far and I have to say that I picked up on so much more before I hit record. I re-visited some mixes yet to be sent off to master and ended up changing a lot!

I can't wait to use this more - one very happy customer. Thanks, Dave

+ nice unit powered with uad plugins
+ good monitor d-a converters
+ low latency plug in usage (only uad plugins)
+ good preamps
+ stable drivers

- no aes/ebu
- no midi
- scale of the monitor output knob by low levels
- no monitor output readout (like rme ufx)
- no dim button
- pushing the mono botton by 0dbfs masters ends with horrible overs
- slow drivers by using virtual instruments (i really hope that the thunderbolt option gives me the same performance like rme and my old motu soundcard).

I was done with the Mbox2. I was tired of being limited by it's capabilities and possibilities. When I swapped it with my new Apollo Quad I could not believe it. It was if there was a magician in my room making things sound soo much more beautifully than they had the chance to before. I honestly don't think i'll need another interface for a long time. There's no going back or anywhere else for that matter... UA and the people who work for them are and will be Top Notch forever in my book. No more waiting for hours on the phone to get a chance to ask someone some questions and get some quality help with whatever problems you may be experiencing. Awesome website with everything you need right there, easy to get to and simple to understand

«:::P:::» «:::E:::» «:::R:::» «:::F:::» «:::E:::» «:::C:::» «:::T:::»

- It sounds awesome.

- I'm having problems with the Pro-reverb plugins that comes with the unit, it crashes my Pro-tools 50% of the time.

- One thing that bugs me a lot: you can't change the name of the channel on the console which can become a pain in the ass when you record a full band...

- I'm not having any latency problem right now and I've tracked a whole band LIVE.

- The pluggins I've tried so far sound perfect.

Great addition to my studio. The ability to audition UA plugins without using a DAW is probably the best feature. Low latency monitoring when recording in ProTools and the ability to use Apollo as just a processor while running your I/O through another workstation make it a very flexible unit that can add to rather than replace current hardware. Thunderbolt capability will hopefully solve most FW issues. A hardware mixer or iPad Console App to match the Console software would be a great addition.

Hello everyone,
my system
macpro neahalem 2009
snow leopard 10;6.8
Cubase6
it works very good.
It is one of the best high-resolution computer audio interface that I was able to used.
The preamps is transparent and clear for my voice.
Converters are very good.
It is really cool to be able to use my plug-gins on my analog line inputs , I appreciate the concept (with 1,1MS Analog Round-Trip Latency )whaaouh!!
I wait a plugin voucher for the treatment of the voice(harmony,choir,double etc).
sorry for my English I'm from France.
for me this hardware can win TEC 2012-2013

its fantastic, i absolutely love it

great converters, very good conversion, plus dsp power

its the perfect workstation for me

i fully recommend it to anyone

Appearance:
The UA Team has done a great job with the overall appearance and feel of the new Apollo. The front panel is very clean and organized well.

Durability:
The 1U model is held together with steel and aluminum plates. You can toss this thing around. Guaranteed it will still hold together.

Functionality:
The unit works seamlessly with the very popular "console" app provided. The routing that can be done in the back end and integrated with your DAW is amazing.

Sound:
Whether you're running old or new mixes, or even songs from your itunes library this unit does a great job at clearing things up and making your music come to life.

Cons:
Would have loved to have seen more "Free" UAD plugins, considering the price.

Four Stars because this a groundbreaking product but could be made even better.

A complaint right away is that UA still ships this product with software that has a known bug (the Reverb aux crash). I had to find out the hard way (ie, experience the crash).

I'm looking forward to the Thunderbolt connectivity (and hoping it is reasonably priced). The Firewire interrupt detected messages can be annoying and the bandwith allocation is something I'd love never to have to worry about. Hopefully Thunderbolt will be an improvement on those fronts.

It would be nice to view the Apollo as a hard drive on the desktop that could clearly be ejected in a safe manner.

Still, an amazing machine. Lucky to have it.

You can't go wrong with this. Audio quality is amazing, set up was fast straight forward, and basic. With out the plugins this machine rocks. The vocals are clear, full and rich. This exceeded my expectations, considering everything this unit does. This is very well worth the money on sound quality alone. Adding the plugins that don't touch you cpu processing power, makes this a steal. The plugins are absolutely gorgeous. Im very hard to please when it comes to audio plugins. And Im grinning from ear to ear. Before purchasing this unit I researched every possible option there was in terms of audio interfaces. I've rented the symphony, the duet 2, the rme fire face ucx, although those are great interfaces as well, the apollo wins

this a must for any musican that wants to excel I can even put apollo to words it is incredible

up till now it is amazing what a great sound the apollo gives even without using the plug-inns.
and [VERY IMPORTANT FOR ME 'CAUS I AM A MUSICIAN]
its so easy to work with
maybe the best purchase sinds my fender stratocaster i bought 40 years ago
thank you
Bram

I have had this product for just a couple weeks now...and I absolutely love it. I run Pro Tools 10 and this unity was very easy to set up and intuitive to use. I love the low-latency monitoring and the sound quality is fantastic. Before, I would use all kind of Plug-Ins on almost every track. No the raw audio recordings sound good that I hardly have to do anything to them within my DAW.

Overall I have been very impressed with this unit. It is definitely expensive, but if you have the means and plan on doing recording for a while, it is a good investment. I'm very pleased with my purchase.

hi,
i love it and everything is perfect but there is just one little thing missing which will be easy for you to do. the possibility to save channels not only the whole mixer in the console. if you are in a recording session it's crucial to have the option if you want to check different set up's for the instruments without reloading the whole mixer. if this is done then it is a tripple a.

best
gunnar

The Apollo is completely amazing in all ways, sound quality, built quality, druvers, features. I have used it for all studionsituations and everytime it amazes me!
The recording situation feels like sitting behind a mixing deskin your dream studio filled with your favourite outboards, and you can do whatever you like with it, extremely versatile!
I have just a little wish, I would like to have a pan law option -3 and -6 in console, also on the monombutton.
And as a future request a dim and a phase button in the monitor section.
I love this beast completely and deep:-)
Uffe, mastering, recording, producing, mixing!

i decide to change my rme fireface 800 interface to universal apollo ,,cause i trust in

universal audio co...rme ff-800 it's good quality anyway . but i can get same good

sound quality from apollo plus special DSP power and thunderbolt technology.

apollo has better pre mic and sound more transparent and great idea is Stereo

monitor outputs (independent of eight line outputs) cause i can get 8 analog out to

summing mixer when i mastering and apollo console easy to use.. S/PDIF outputs can

be set to mirror the monitor outputs,, everything almost complete waiting for

thunderbolt

Just Perfect!
It sounds great,
Plugins sounds great!

Thanks UA Team!

A beuatifully made piece of kit, solid and sounds gorgeous with that indefinable quality of "air". The operating method of the apollo takes a bit of getting used to, but works seamlessly... though an amp modeller is now a real "hole" in the UAD library. Adding Mackie/Euphonix hardware control surface support would also be a major leap in creating a complete system for those of us who cant mix with a mouse

We're (www.cinephonix.com) Using it for Mastering with the Precision plugs and the awesome Massive Passive EQ. It's a great box and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a straight forward, easy to use, high quality Audio interface. The added bonus is you get to use all the UAD plugs on input with no audible latency.