Thunderbolt Option Card
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Details
Key Features
- Enables Thunderbolt technology for Apollo DUO and QUAD Audio Interfaces on Thunderbolt-equipped Macs
- Provides greater UAD plug-in instances, improved performance at higher sample rates, and reduced plug-in latency versus FireWire
- 2 Thunderbolt ports supply bus power for convenient daisy-chaining of peripherals
- Easy user installation – tool and instructions included
- Requires Apollo audio interface available from authorized dealers worldwide
- Thunderbolt cable sold separately
A Bandwidth and Connectivity Boost for your Apollo Audio Interface.
The Thunderbolt™ Option Card for the Apollo and Apollo 16 audio interfaces provides greater UAD plug-in instances, improved performance at higher sample rates, and reduced UAD plug-in latency versus Apollo’s standard FireWire connection. Compatible with Intel’s new Thunderbolt technology on the latest generation of iMacs® , MacBook® Pros, MacBook Airs®, and Mac minis, the Thunderbolt Option Card offers unrivaled bandwidth and next-generation connectivity for the Apollo interface.
The user-installable Thunderbolt Option Card includes two Thunderbolt ports, and easily slides into the expansion bay of the Apollo. Bus power is provided to all downstream Thunderbolt devices, allowing music producers to connect peripherals in series with the Apollo interface — including hard drives, processors, and computer displays.
* For compatibility and system requirements, please visit the Thunderbolt support page.
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Customer Reviews
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July 8, 2017
Once you go thunderbolt you never go firewire
I used to have a ton of nightmarish issues with firewire. Always getting dropped out of sessions in Protools. Then rebooting over and over again. Also the good old days of the snap,...
Read MoreT. Murfee
July 25, 2014
This is a must for low Buffer Size Recording
The Thunderbolt Option Card may be the most excited I've ever gotten over an accessory! I was having an issue using the firewire port with the Apollo Quad recording at a Buffer size of 64...
Read MoreC. Alexander
April 18, 2014
Finally my problems with UAD plugs went away
Well the reviews are not great, but man has my system been stable since receiving the thunderboltcard. I had errors all day long with the stock firewire connection, but ever since I god the...
Read More -
Customer Reviews
Thunderbolt Option Card
.
Once you go thunderbolt you never go firewire
I used to have a ton of nightmarish issues with firewire. Always getting dropped out of sessions in Protools. Then rebooting over and over again. Also the good old days of the snap, crackle, pop latency issues are long gone.
I am not really not sure what all the negative reviews here are all about but I have seriously seen a major difference in speed and performance gains. Then again I have a pretty powerful custom computer I built with an 10 core i7, 64gb of ram, solid state hard drives and a Nvidia 1080ti graphics card. I think it might be enough to make even a mac a little jealous ;)P. Napper
Thunderbolt cable?
For the money it would be nice if they could throw in a thunderbolt cable.
T. Murfee
This is a must for low Buffer Size Recording
The Thunderbolt Option Card may be the most excited I've ever gotten over an accessory! I was having an issue using the firewire port with the Apollo Quad recording at a Buffer size of 64 in Ableton Live. For some reason the firewire port would kick my cpu to 70% with just one LA-2A Silver. My computer is very powerful with an i7 and 16 gbs of ram and a solild state drive so the issue wasn't the speed or strength of my computer. When I installed the thunderbolt port, my cpu was at 13% with just one LA-2A Silver.
Good news, all new Apollos you buy ship with this now.C. Alexander
Finally my problems with UAD plugs went away
Well the reviews are not great, but man has my system been stable since receiving the thunderboltcard. I had errors all day long with the stock firewire connection, but ever since I god the thunderbolt card, I have not had ONE SINGLE DROPOUT!
So I am guessing this the Apollo soon will come with the thunderbolt as stock, because it will really save UA a lot of hours on technichal support :)P. Cowan
a little pricy
i like this interface but in truth i have realized no real gains from my old saffire pro26i/o and there is a latency issue. i am a drummer and things like that bother me so when i record real audio i move it over so it is in time . a pain in the ass but some of the ua plug ins are nice
E. Leiser
You've Gotta Be Joking!!!!
Here it is, I bought the thunderbolt option card thinking I'm in for a ride. I have had this unit for a while now and using it to record my guitar. Keyboard players are telling me how it seems like I am lagging on my playing. Time and time again I simply couldn't put my finger on it and there it is. Firewire 800 is running at 7.5ms and the caption card is running at 6.1ms. Read this
....http://www.elvenminstrel.com/recording/ptle002latency.htm
I was wondering why my 003 seemed a little bit better.
If I could get my money back, I would in a heart beat!
What ever.M. Johnson
Pretty Disapointed...
I was there at AES during the launch of the Apollo and I talked to several UA staff members about the Apollo and the capabilities of the Thunderbolt option. I was also one of the first people to buy a Apollo for my home project studio that I consider to be very professional. I bought the Thunderbolt card and within 3 days I ended up returning it after doing extensive test and seeing no performance improvement. I was told so many different things from several different UA staff members that when I really put the card through its paces it did not help with anything I was told. This biggest disappointment is that the Thunderbolt card does not handle any of the audio i/o. I was told at AES that this would compete against Avid's HDX PCI-e cards
R. Amarell
Thunderbolt option card?
Right name for this card: "UAD-PlugIn section Thunderbolt Option Card". The audio I/O is still at FW800 speeds even with this card installed. On the UA homepage there is' nowhere a clearly reference on that fact. (only clever circumscribed)
When I buy a "Thunderbolt option card" I expect a Thunderbolt connection for the whole interface. If this is' not so this fact needs to be mentioned!
I wrote to the support if there is' any chance to solve this issue with an update. The answer: "Can you let me know exactly what isn't working with the Apollo?" Exactly: my apollo is' still a FireWire interface after an extra 500 Euro invest!
If audio I/O could reach TB speeds with an update: 5 stars. If not it's too expensive and not honestly advertised.