Apollo FireWire
Customer Reviews
Apollo FireWire
Only registered users can write reviews. Please, log in or create an account.
.
UAD a greedy company
As soon as i bought the damn thing UAD want me to buy more of their stuff (like expensive plugins because there aren´t many in the box) and other stuff. Its like buying an expensive car and as soon as you leave the store they inform one about you could only drive 30 miles/hour, unless you buy a lot of other stuff.
And to make things worse they don´t put the free plugins first in the plugin list, so you have to scroll A LOT to find the one´s you can use.
Stupid!!
/Micke in Uppsala Sweden
L. SCHARK
Good sound, but unable to use the UAD Plugins
The sound is excellent, to be honest.
However I constantly get the same error messages saying that the plugs have been disable (I automatically click on "Send report").
Basically I can't enjoy the full product due to this issue.
I'm have a Win 7 (32bit) with Firewire PCi (compatible) hell of a desktop (i7, 32Gb Ram).
S. Kaan
Super Stable!!!
All in all, this is hands down the best you can get for music production. Software and hardware are very stable. [Thank you engineers of UA!!!!]
3 things I would really like to see:
1) Sooner release of console 2.0 for FW800 users.
2) New volume knob hardware for control of master volume and other hardware features (I had a hard time leaving my T.C. Electronic Studio Konnekt 48 w/ remote for this...) Yes, I know that the Apollo Twin will work as a controller knob for the Apollo rack-mount but I'm limited to FW800 and the Twin only can connect to the Apollo with Thunderbolt.
3) Access to all inputs at once (I didn't like that I had to split between mic inputs and line inputs). Unfortunately this is probably a HW limitation.
That's all.
.
REALLY?
Yes. REALLY. You can't possibly understand just how AMAZING the Apollo Quad makes everything sound.
I'll make it simple. It's the most delicious piece of gear I've ever heard, throw your cash at Universal Audio. This box is like a heavy brick of sonic gold. How the heck did they do it? I cried when I heard my microphones. I cried again when I heard the plugins. I actually felt scared because I knew I would have to bring my game to another level. Am I a good enough musician for the Apollo?
Thunderbolt not supported on PC, a shame, but really not UA's fault.
HOLY $*** , I can't believe how awesome it makes everything sound! THIS THING IS ALIVE!!!!!! You will appreciate your life more when you use the Apollo. No kidding. It's a miracle.
A. Spraggon
Apollo UAD Quad
After my Digi002 and Apogee Mini Me setup started giving me daily grief I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade. I tried a few different options before settling on the Apollo UAD Quad. I have to say its the most impressive piece of kit I've worked with in some time. Sessions have improved as I dont have to constantly work around latency issues.
The plugins sound great and the user interface is clean and practical.
My gripes: The knobs on the front panel feel plastic and cheap. They seem to control the volume at increments of 3-4 db each increase/decrease. I also get glitches in both the audio and visual when stopping and starting tracks sometimes. Not sure if this will be addressed in the next version upgrade.
A. Spraggon
Apollo UAD Quad
After my Digi002 and Apogee Mini Me setup started giving me daily grief I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade. I tried a few different options before settling on the Apollo UAD Quad. I have to say its the most impressive piece of kit I've worked with in some time. Sessions have improved as I dont have to constantly work around latency issues.
The plugins sound great and the user interface is clean and practical.
My gripes: The knobs on the front panel feel plastic and cheap. They seem to control the volume at increments of 3-4 db each increase/decrease. I also get glitches in both the audio and visual when stopping and starting tracks sometimes. Not sure if this will be addressed in the next version upgrade.
A. Johnson
Welcome to the Future
I'm a long-time, die-hard analog junkie. My studio is crammed with rare vintage boxes. Which require a steady and substantial maintenance budget, as well as extra time in every session to patch, set, integrate, and print.
Having tried many plugins, only UAD plugins really make me believe. I can mix with UAD plugins and gain all the benefits of digital, and I don't feel like I've lost anything. So I was especially excited to try Apollo.
I have to say: it is everything I expected and hoped it would be. The marriage of the UAD hardware pre and software modeling WORKS. There is less difference between "real" vs. modeled, than between two copies of the same vintage hardware. In other words, any difference simply is not important.
APOLLO WINS!
P. Aarup
Very good preamp
After I sold my Motu and get the Apollo everything become more clear, I can hear every detail, and the ver. 8,0 console it's like having a mixer in front of you. I love my Apollo, the routing to and from Logic is easy and everything works very well. The best interface I have heard in my 30 years in music.
T. Kprazeon
UAD IS THE BEST
I had always used digidesign and steinberg interfaces, but after switching to Apollo about 3 weeks ago I can tell u its the way to. great sounding converters, smooth and transparent pre-amps and the plugins are state of the art. For those of you who do not have any Apollo interfaces, just give it a try
L. Karczewski
that's it
I used to use an ancient MONA by EchoDigitalAudio for 12 years perhaps. Finally Echo decided to stop manufacturing audio interfaces. So I decided to upgrade my project studio with brand-new gear. Apollo Quad has been chosen due to its integration with previously bought UAD-2 Quad card although it has been rather substantial spending (and check the value of Polish zloty :D).
But my intuition has done great job! Apollo Quad sounds perfect and delivers an analog feel with two clever encoders. To sum up:
+
1. Great preamps; combined Unison technology offers purely analog imperfections and unlinearity in digital domain
2. Great plug-ins and gentle intergration with UAD-2 Quad
3. Great support of Thunderbolt interface
-
1. Lack of MIDI
B. Migliari
Great Piece of Gear
I was craving the Apollo for so long that I had a dangerous expectation build-up… I'm glad it not only delivered as expected, but even surpassed my expectations in many ways . Definitely an upgrade to my studio.
M. Sedlacek
A bit disapointed
I like a loot of stuff on the apollo but what really disapointed me is the CPU usage with empty UAD console...to be honest it is really bad!!!!
It looks like UAD do not know optimize their own software where for device nearly for £2000 is not acceptable!!!!
p. baudry
++++ Best interface in the World With best plugs in ++++
Really a great interface , one of the best , i sell my 2 aurora 16 and my avid protools hdx for buying more apollos ( one apollo 16 and perhaps another apollo quad ) with the new software....
Great plugs in .... TOP converters....great sounding .....
The universal audio staff are very kind and quick for resolving problems not like other brand like AVID or SSL very bad services,bad communications ........
UAD are top products ,
i own hardware from uad like 2 - 610 S preamps......top sounding.....
Long life to Universal Audio...
C. Shepherd
Truthfully Honest Audio
After doing mixes on my Mackie Onyx 1640i console/interface and being very satisfied , I then decided to get the Apollo as an upgrade to my studio. I was completely blown away on how unforgivable it's monitoring system is! Listening to mixes I did on my Onyx, I realized that I wasn't getting the true sound from my recordings. I would recommend this to anyone who is serious about getting a true sound out of there monitors!
R. Baptist
From ProFire 2626 to Apollo
This was a step up. All of the sound, configuration, and plug INs worked as advertised. The console is a little unstable. The meters and controls start flashing erratically when sound starts going through. This is kind of annoying. Hopefully there will be an update to address this. Overall, I'm still satisfied with this unit, as I researched quite a few others before making my decision to get this one.
A. Nguyen
Great
I was looking for a new interface, and this is it! Superb DA/AD conversion, UAD Plugins, Preamps and Firewire and runs great on Windows 8.1. Preamps are very clean, little to no latency for recording and came with a Thunderbolt 2 Option Card. I originally purchased this to complement my new PC with Thunderbolt 2 on my motherboard but it seems that no drivers exist yet for the Thunderbolt 2 Option Card. I hope someday that UA will make those drivers available for all Windows users. This is a remarkable interface but please UA, support your Windows/PC users more.
M. Chennells
Outstanding !
When I plugged in Apollo the difference in audio quality compared to the Steinberg MR816 was astonishing. The Apollo sounded warm, transparent and detailed. The Console application works very well with Cubase Pro 8. The unison pre amp plugins add another dimension to Apollo. Using the UAD plugins while tracking is also very good. This is the best audio interface I have heard by far.
Well worth the money!
J. chaney
UAD V 8.0 no new console for firewire users until November ??
No new console for firewire users until November ?? WHO DOES THAT TO THEIR LOYAL CUSTOMERS ?? You left me for a younger man ?? Haha. why don't you go ahead and and just start a special thunderbolt VIP page and only advertise SOFTWARE ( i mean it is software right ? ) releases for the elite thunderbolts. we'll be ok just leave the rest of us waiting inline to get on the club. or wait i could get a vip ticket if only i buy a new computer, get a chassis for my pic cards ( thousands$$ ) and finally get the expansion card for my apollo. maybe i should go out in a mid life crisis blaze of glory, spend the money on a red corvette convertible instead, drive down PCH and work on tanning up my bald spots. hahaha. maybe you'll come back to me.
J. Pierre
Simply Amazing!!!
I just brought the apollo.....now I truly know what it is to have a "Pro" sound...Ive missed so much for so long ...everything else was childs play before this....this is all subjective of course but this is by for the best audio card I've ever owned .great job Uad
B. Lord
Exactly what I've been looking for
I work with a lot of professional studios and always struggled and jumped through hoops to my tracks to sound "up to par". A losing battle without spending well over 10 g's. This changed the game, I feel I can easily slide my tracks in and out of sessions done by the big dogs now without noticing a difference. And..the plug ins sound amazing. I'm still getting used to everything, but am quite happy so far.
I thought I might hate the extra mix window to work thru but its painless and makes a lot of sense and offers more versatility.
All in all, I'm pissed I waited so long to go this route