Apollo FireWire
Customer Reviews
Apollo FireWire
Only registered users can write reviews. Please, log in or create an account.
M. Pace
Excellence at its finest!
I've always been a massive digi003 fan for a long time. When I first started using UAD plugins back in 2010, I then realized that was the way to go within a need to have analog processors within the mixing process.
All analog hardware became less of use for me personally having work with different genre's of sounds, the UAD software library was more than capable to deliver.
Examples of works can be found here:
www.slightlyleftofcentre.com
You can download my entire album FREE directly from the above link.
Having waited so long for an interface that could support 800 and have real-time processor effects on-board an audio interface sold me on the idea straight away.
I strongly advise for any Windows users out there to buy Sonnet FWPCI-E
Q. Michael
Excellente carte !
Malgré une sortie des drivers qui a trainée en longueur (pour windows) , je ne suis pas déçu d'avoir attendu ! Cette carte est excellente , super finition , le son est incroyable , hyper précis , dynamique avec une très bonne stéréo , (bien au dessus des rme fireface 800 , babyface et echo audiofire 12 que j'avais avant)..
Egalement un bon point pour les DSP et les plugs UAD (mais si on achète cette carte c'est aussi également pour ça !) .
Petit bémole quand même sur la stabilité des drivers , mais ils sont encore tout jeunots ... C'est excusable . J'espère aussi une amélioration des routages de la console ! Très content de mon achat !
S. Schmidt
Love my new Apollo
A great piece of gear ... top notch converters, great sound, no perceivable latency, GREATGREATGREAT plugins, totally straightforward installation and perfect integration with Win7 and Cubase7, rugged build and finally a really cool technical and optical design. (You see, I'm a bit enthusiastic about it, but I think it is really that good.)
J. Condiotti
Another Winner
What an awesome piece of gear. UA know how to do it right!
J. Larkan
Apollo Quad Review
The Apollo is my first good quality audio interface. So far I can say it works great and sounds great. I have a good selection of the UAD plugs which are all awesome. The Apollo on thunderbolt combined with a UAD Satellite Quad seems like I am unlikely to run out of DSP space in the near future. I plan to use the Apollo for live shows as well which so far also seems like it is going to work beautifully for. : )
S. Barnes
Excellent DSP and I/O all in one box
I vacillated for a while on upgrading my interface and finally went with the Apollo for its available Thunderbolt integration, as my studio is centered around a Macbook Pro. I have to say, I have zero regrets; the interface sounds dramatically better than the Focusrite I upgraded from, a very pleasant surprise from the first time I started using it. On top of that, I also now have access to UAD's great line of plugins without having to connect yet another firewire box to what had previously been an overtaxed bus. The ability to chain displays and recording drives without having to worry about balancing throughput anymore has made me a very happy camper. Not to mention that my desk is a lot cleaner now that everything is over one cable.
M. Gustafson
Changed everything for me.
at home or on the go this has been a game changer for me. my work flow has become faster and sonically better. I am able to do more easier and quicker. It is intelligent as well. knowing when you are using the hiZ input or line. One thing that you don't hear as much about is the design. it is not only beautiful with the volume lights and easy on the eyes display, but is is built well. You can feel the quality ion the knobs and switches. I have had many clients stunned at what "I" did with their mixing when all I've done is taken what was recorded with another interface and played it back out to a summing mixer and back to the Apollo. I have referred it to many colleagues and will purchasing another for myself. Maybe a Quad this next time.
W. Cato
Apollo Rocks!
I love my Apollo. I use it in conjunction with my 4 710d interface. The Apollo allows me to get not only the extra inputs via ADAT with the 4 710d but it also gives me the ability to use my analog pres with the balanced inputs on both the Apollo and the $ 710d. I know what I'm talking about too. I used to use the Ensemble from Apogee, but the software for the Ensemble gave me problems. Now I have no issues and all my gear runs without a hitch. Apollo gives me the quality of a go to interface. I can get 18 channels in and with the added plug ins from UA, I have access to the greatest mic pres, compressors, etc. This is the way to go. You get the quality of a big time analog studio for a fraction of the cost with all its quality.
S. Endrigkeit
Lots of pros and one big con...
Got the interface about a month ago and I am mostly happy with it. The sound is great, the integration with the DAW and with my 3 other UAD cards works perfect. The thing I don´t like is: with the Apollo console you only have the choice between one main monitor mix and two headphone mixes- which would be fine, if you could simply sent the stereo-out from the DAW to the headphone mixes- but you can´t. You have to do it by using the sends of your DAW, what makes it IMHO rather complicated! E.g. when I want to record a singer and have him hear the same mix as me, but do not want to hear the talkback mic that I ran through the Apollo console in the control room- it is not possible- I have to spent time to make him a monitor mix!
H. Bjornsson
Difficult choice
It was a difficult choice for me... I was looking at all the competition but somehow ended up buying the Apollo. The day after I bought it I felt a little remorse....because of the prize... but the moment I started using it that feeling vanished... I just love to be able to record without latency... that doesn't happen these days with that prize... not to speak of the double amount of UAD plugin power. My session guys are loving it...and so am I. I'm in DAW heaven!
I haven't tested the converters yet... but to me the pre's sound great.
G. Perrin
Apollo Rocks!
I have successfully tested and run my Apollo QUAD on the following configurations:
1) MacBook 3.1 - 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (FW400) running OSX 10.6.8
2) HP Elitebook 8540W (16GB RAM) on both the native FW400 and the recommended (for MacBook) StarTech.com 2 Port FireWire 800 ExpressCard (EC1394B2)
3) Win7 SP1 64-bit Desktop (Intel MB DX58SO2) Intel Core i7 CPU x990 3.47GHz 6 Cores 12 Logical Processors, 24 GB RAM, with recommended PCIe FW800 card (Sonnet Allegro FW800 PCIe 3-Port FireWire 800 Card). Note: the native motherboard FW400 port _did_not_work_.
Brilliant! I now have an 18 Channel Neve 88RS desk :-). Throw in an 1176LN, LA-2A, "special K" processing and the Shadow Hills compressor - heaven at last.
R. Noriega
APOLLO QUAD
The eagle has landed. Finally, I get a unit that lessens the load on my Mac Pro setup; finally I can upgrade to plugins that are more musically inclined. I use Pro Tools 10 with the Complete Production Kit 2, and I can honestly say that my little home studio is coming into its own. The APOLLO has taken me several notches up with the sound and audio quality. The 4 mic-pres are way better than my DIGI003. Its easy to see why AVID is no longer continuing the 003 line. And upgrading to a HDX system is pretty expensive. APOLLO fills the bill without a huge impact on my wallet. Now, when PRO TOOLS goes 64 bits, once again, I will be launched into new and exciting aural hemispheres!!!
C. Ewald
Amazing
The apollo is a beautiful thing. Every part of screams quality, right down to knobs. It's clear to me that a lot of love went to the design of this unit.
Only thing that could be better would be more flexible routing via the console app. You get 2 stereo buses which is fine for most, but making the routing more flexible would open up a ton of possibilities for using it live.
K. Handson
Apollo-The geek god of music
Amazing! Worth the wait. I recieved my Apollo duo in the first uk shipment and patiently waited for the Windows 7 drivers stoked by the excellent demos and user reviews on the mega gearslutzforum below
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/712858-ua-apollo-first-look-user-review.html
Installation of the software was a breeze and i fired up the Apollo with relish.
Massively impressed and demoing the plug ins confirms i made the correct decision buying this wonder box.
Now if only more plug ins could be included as standard UAD?
D. Myhr
Worth waiting for.
I got my Apollo around the time it was released. But since I'm a PC-user I had to wait quite a while as some of you might know.
But when the drivers finally arrived and I got it all to work.....I was totally happy.
It runs smoothly without any problems (and this is in Windows 8).
The only problem I have is that I use some outdated drivers for an outdated card that Windows 8 no longer support so I have to re-boot and disable Driver Verification.
But if you are looking for THE S**T.......this is it!
V. Andreev
I very complacent my Apollo
I very complacent my Apollo. The Sound has exceed all my waiting. The Suitable interface, correct work Plugins. The Command U. A. has done get prettier work! Before Apollo I used R.M.E., now I do not want this hears. Hope U. A. us shall not lead hereinafter and will please the new possibility!
T. Urban
Refreshing
I moved over from an apogee ensemble and love the clarity, ease of use, and of course the plug ins!!! I was concerned about the front knobs, but they are very sturdy. Though I am against external power supplies, the one provided is solid and should not cause problems. I've now started switching to UA preamps after being so impressed!!!
M. Van
Great stuff!
Impressed by the audio interface and UAD plugins i tried through the demos.
R. Tirado
Apolloooooooooo.......
Fantastic Audio Interface! Love the work flow it provides, and fairly easy to set up. Low latency even with 3-4 plug ins. Very good conversion.
C. Ruck
Good product with some drawbacks
I must say at first, i like hardware and software from UA that i was able to work with in general. I got the Apollo because i liked the thought of 0 latency tracking and having it all in one piece of gear.
The Apollo brings you some innovative advantages like trying and tracking with UA plugins in real time. However to me, it had some drawbacks that were basically the reason for me to return the unit.
Coming from a 4,2ms latency system, Apollo took 13,2ms on the same system for a DAW roundtrip. Since i am using software instruments like PodFarm that didnt go so well for me.
The Console mixer took 11% from my DSP power, without any plugin loaded. In my eyes that is too much.
Other than that i was quite satisfied ;)