Apollo FireWire

With this unit I am able to make better mixing decisions. I love the sound to the point that I don't believe I need to purchase a summing box. The only issue is I have to bypass the headphones 1 & 2 because I get a scratchy sound when I adjust the volume on both HP jacks. I've, tried it in different outlets, different headphones (3 different) but the scratch is still there when adjusting the volume knob. I've even returned the unit and got another unit and same thing. I thought I was going crazy so I let other people listen to see if they've heard and they've also heard the sound. UA is awsome and offered to fix the issue. I appreciate that but I just can't ship my unit out and wait a week to get it back. too busy.

sound good but i have problem when run apollo in 96k ,,,it have no sound out and in at all restart many time but still same nothing......i use drivers 6.2 newest please advice

There is nothing much to say. UAD Apollo offers the best of everything.
Although a MIDI port would have been an added advantage.

Great packaging. Easy install tho software version 6.1.1 should be available on the website for those who want to still use UAD1 cards. Setup was painless. Replaced an RME Fireface 800 and tho this is supposedly such a great, purist piece of gear, Apollo simply kicks its ass in every respect: sound, user interface, associated software and most significantly user-friendliness. Build quality and feel is off the charts, every button and switch feels military grade. Sound as audio interface is crystal clear and not hyped in any way. Can pop when you switch it on and off so take appropriate precautions in your power up and down sequencing. Plugging a FireWire 800 drive into the same Mac generated firewire bandwidth warnings.

When I set out looking for a new audio interface I wanted something that had mic pres, top notch converters, thunderbolt compatibility, two sets of headphones and the incredible UAD processing. The Apollo is all of these things and more. Its effortlessly easy to use and sounds absolutely incredible. I would have liked it to have midi I/O as well as a dim switch on the unit itself, but these are minor things. One thing I didn't know until I got the unit however, is that the ADAT ports are not two separate ports. At 44.1 and 48 kHz port 2 mirrors port 1, at high sample rates using both ports allows more channels. Apart from that it was everything UA says it is. All in all its a fantastic box that lives up to the UA name, and I'm very pleased.

The Apollo is pretty much what I wanted. I mainly record acoustic instruments and vocals, but need the flexibility to do drum kits from time to time. The Mic preamps do what I want - provide incredible fidelity of the boosted signal so all the richness of an acoustic guitar remains after the considerable gain increase. Monitoring live with an 1176, a 1073 and an EMT Plate is wonderful. As a player it really gives you confidence to play expressively. I don't like to commit to a sound on recording so I love the flexibility of just monitoring with the plug-ins and fine tuning from within Logic later. All the analogue warmth (of which I'm a massive fan) can be added with the plug-ins and they do this very well indeed.

Finally I can run all my UAD-1 plugs again AND have a real great interface!
Tracking a singer with the EMT 140 and a bit of Neve EQ with NO latency is just amazing and a bonus, no other interface delivers!

Moreover the preamps sound fantastic! I'd say clean but take out the 'harshness' of certain mics.

We use the Apollo on a daily base and didn't have a single issue with dropouts or crashes or anything like that.

Two words: Just great!

Awesome!

Having said that, just a few slight criticisms:

The Word Clock connectors are too close to the MON outputs, making it difficult to attach a BNC T-connector. It can be done but it's a bit of a PITA. BTW the manual says that WC in is echoed out with a slight delay (40 ns I think), so a T-connector is recommended. I'm clocking from an Apogee Rosetta 800.

Would have been nice to put at least one pair of XLR mic connectors on the front panel.

The decision to have two separate headphone busses also seems a bit odd to to me. I would have been happier with, say, 10 pairs of inputs and only 9 pairs of outputs (analog 1-8 and one headphone bus). It would be the same number of AD/DA's and roughly same cost I think.

This new Apollo is Outstanding ! I upgraded from an Apogee Duet, the sound quality is just amazing, and with the UAD's plug-ins is a whole new level in my home studio. It work great with Logic Pro and Reasons 6. Initially the plug-in did not open in Logic Pro DAW, I email Customer Service and within 1 hours they resolve my problem. Please ensure that you first OPEN Logic Pro in 32 Bits mode so the plug in will install into Logic, then you can go back to 64 bits mode.
I also try the Duet as a stand alone mixer into Apollo line IN 5-6, giving me a total of 6 Mic Preamp or 4 Hi-Z if need it. The sound quality was great. Conclusion, Amazing Sound, more creativity with Plug In, great interface, it expensive but its a great investment

Great preamps! Fantastic software interface. Precise controls.
SPDIF mirroring "Monitor L-R" is a great idea.
One defect: The UAD plugins are not 64bit. I work with Apple Logic Pro 64bit. I need adapters to work with the UAD plugins in 32bit directly into DAW.

The question is; why wouldn't you buy one of these?
High quality pre's and Duo or Quad UAD accelerator all in one package, for not much more than a Quad accelerator by itself.
It sounds great and the console and console plug-in are great.
A few tweaks in the console for easier plug-in reordering and it'll be pretty much perfect.

Love it but with two units i have headphone jack problems. At first I thought it was the grounding in my studio but A. My MOTU 828 never scratched when I adjusted the knob. B. I plugged the Apollo into multiple outlets only to get the same scratchy noise when adjusting the headphone jacks 1 & 2. Finally this is the 2nd Apollo unit I have.
I returned the first one and got another one from a totally different store. What are the odds of having the same problem occur like that. Clients get testy when they hear foreign noises. Other than that I love love love the sound. The convertors are fabulous.
Customer service has been great thus far. I can't send this one in cause i'm too busy.

The quality of the Interface and DSP processing is amazing. The ability to print the audio with UAD's inserts into Pro Tools is a " Game Changer ". The Console software is like CLASP for DSP. The console has an easy learning curve, but also a few hiccups. However it is version 1.0, and improvements and changes always happen after the first official software release is out of beta and into the consumers hands. Great Product

The unit is of very good audio quality. The combination of UAD software is one of the best available at the moment. It also takes some burden of my small macbook air (hooked up with a sonnet ted thunderbolt/firewire adapter). looking forward to the thunderbolt adapter. It is nice for recording on the go and in the field.
There are options to expand it through ADAT/SPDIF.
I use it also as a small live mixer (small band for electronic music/pop). For this usage it would be nice if the mixer app could be controlled by MIDI / OSC or an iPAD with Lemur or custom software!!
Things to improve for the second generation: As I'm on the pro side: It would be nice if it had a 8-Port AES/EBU built in instead of the ADAT ports.

I do mainly overdub recording at my home studio, and had been using MOTU hardware for years -- very reliable stuff, but then one of my clients brought over his $5000 Prism Orpheus that blew me away. I decided it was time to upgrade, but didn't want to spend that amount, so I started checking things out in the $2000 range -- Apogee Ensemble sounded very nice, but then I heard news about the Apollo, and, already being a satisfied UA customer with a 6176 and a UAD-2 Quad, I decided to wait for the Apollo to arrive at my local dealer. Long story short, I LOVE IT !! And I'm glad I waited !!

Apollo delivers as promised as far as audio quality and the near zero latency is concerned. Amazing. Great live recording and mixing infrastructure. The one difference between Apollo Quad and the UAD-2 Quad Firewire I noticed is that as it uses some resources to run that mixer it means that if you take a heavy UAD-2 quad session that hits almost 100% of its capacity you will not be able to run it on the Apollo. Something to keep in mind. You can always print a track and release those plug ins so in the end it doesn't seem like a big problem to me. If you are planning to hook up an Audio or Sample Library drive behind Apollo just as advertised AND use most of Apollo's resources you might run into the FW bandwidth limitations. Great Machine.

Excellent interface with very nice preamps.
The frontpanel controls and metering are excellent.
Very sturdy overall build quality.
Control of the console/unit by a plugin in the DAW together with Total Recall is very nice.

Even though midi would have been nice, I don't really miss it. Would still be nice to see it being added to the Thunderbolt option card if technically possible.

Only disappointing things are:
The 4 preamps can't be used simultaneous with the first 4 line inputs.
Line level selection (-10 dBV/+4dBu) always works in pairs.
The voucher for UAD plugins is only $100.

Very pleased. I upgraded from an rme ff800 and I am pleased I did. This is a great unit and sounds very nice. I welcome uad updating the routing possibilities like rme use but for version one it is more than adequate.

I LOVE IT!
Apollo is by far the best investment that I have made for my studio. It sounds AMAZING. The Console app. is very intuitive and integrates well in the DAW. Apollo is a very powerful piece of gear that I can no longer live without.
Thank You UA.

Made me become a better musician because of all the clarity you can hear all mistakes clearly. Amazing depth and clarity. I used Digi 002 for years and it felt like taking cotton out of my ears.