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Post by Henry_Berg on Jun 11, 2019 11:11:00 GMT -6
Hello everyone. I’ve been away from the audio world for many years, and want to get a new rig, for personal projects and to help a church (choral). I got rid of most everything except for instruments and some old MBP, Duet etc. Got an initial budget of €10k.
I really want an Apollo x8 but it’s €3,200 (€2.5k plus €700 for 6+2 plugins). For the same amount I can get an Apollo Twin mkII Quad+4plugins, PLUS a pair of FOCAL Shape Twin monitors. Considering how short lived interfaces are, I’m wary of investing $$$ on interfaces again.
UAD is offering 4 FREE plugins with the Twin Mk2, of which I want 3 (Voxbox, ATTune, PPlate). I also got a PROMO code from pureMix for the Analog Classics (1176, LA2a, Pultecs, 660) if I buy ANY Interface, so I’d only require the 3+1 Pack to get the additional 1073, Lex224, Lex 480 and DFC . (I’d have to buy the 6+2 Pack with the x8)
QUESTIONS:
1) Does it make sense to buy the Twin Mk2 QUAD for now (and upgrade to the x8 next year)? By the current offer, looks like the Twin MKII will be replaced with the “TWIN x6” very soon. And will I be *disappointed* with he sound of the *old* Twin Mk2? I remember people saying it sounded worse (BF apollos) than everyone else (apogee, AVID, RME, Claretts, MOTUs)
2) UAD/pureMix promo says to buy from a recommended online dealer, but I’d prefer to buy from THOMANN.de. So won’t I get the pureMix Promo Plugins if I buy from Thomann?
Thx in advance
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kcatthedog
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Post by kcatthedog on Jun 11, 2019 13:48:48 GMT -6
I’d get the X, why invest now in an older design?
The plug in deals are significant contact puremix and see what they do for europeon clients ?
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Post by Blackdawg on Jun 11, 2019 14:17:25 GMT -6
I don't have a dog in the race with UAD stuff..
But for converters...wouldn't beat yourself up over them. I'd buy the older one and have fun and start making music. That thing probably has better converters that a lot of older ones that made some incredible recordings.
Save your money. Get the monitors and go for it!
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Post by sirthought on Jun 11, 2019 14:35:02 GMT -6
Twins sound good. It's all personal preference, but professionals who know how to mix use them successfully. Some people hate UA, some love it.
You're eventually going to want either 1) more DSP for in the box, or 2) more expandability for out of the box. Both routes are pro audio rabbit holes.
A Twin and the Analog Classics can do anything you need for most mixes. DSP management will always come into play but there are ways to manage with four chips. Six is way better, especially if you're tracking and want to print plugins on the way in for more than two tracks.
With limited DSP I'd focus on good EQs and compressors over the DSP hungry reverbs. UA has some great reverbs but they suck up DSP and you rarely track with them, so it is a task you could turn to a native plugin to handle during mixing. UA's free RealVerb works fine for putting on AUX while tracking.
If down the road you want to send out multiple headphone mixes, send a mix out to a summing mixer or outboard processing, or add analog processing on to your master bus for hybrid mixing...all of that will require more analog and/or digital outputs than the Twin can give you. Even the x6 and x8 are somewhat challenged at that compared to things like the excellent MOTU 16a, but if you don't care about those things then the Twin should be fine.
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Post by MorEQsThanAnswers on Jun 11, 2019 14:39:30 GMT -6
I’m wary of investing $$$ on interfaces again. QUESTIONS: 1) Does it make sense to buy the Twin Mk2 QUAD for now (and upgrade to the x8 next year)? By the current offer, looks like the Twin MKII will be replaced with the “TWIN x6” very soon. And will I be *disappointed* with he sound of the *old* Twin Mk2? I remember people saying it sounded worse (BF apollos) than everyone else (apogee, AVID, RME, Claretts, MOTUs) 2) UAD/pureMix promo says to buy from a recommended online dealer, but I’d prefer to buy from THOMANN.de. So won’t I get the pureMix Promo Plugins if I buy from Thomann? Are you only mixing? I might want more I/O than the Twin offers if you plan to record anything at the church. 2 inputs might actually tie your hands for a little bit. Also, I wouldn't weigh this so heavily on the plug-ins. UAD is great and I have a ton, but lack of I/O is way more limiting than having to choose a Slate/Waves 1176 over a UAD version. Personally, I'd take that money and go with an Antelope Zen Studio. You'd get 24 I/Os, 12 mic pres (makes church recording easier), arguably better conversion, a ton of plugins, and an extra $1000 to spend on plugins/speakers/UAD Satellite/hardware/etc. Just my .02! Happy shopping!
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Post by Henry_Berg on Jun 11, 2019 19:26:03 GMT -6
Many thx for your replies. I've been involved with music and studios since the 80s, but got away from it several years ago. I guess you can never leave at all. I've spent A LOT of $$ on interfaces through the years, over and over, and I'm not comfortable spending over €3k on an Apollo x8 right NOW (but I might eventually next year), I'd rather invest on monitors, mics, and some more instruments at this time. Interfaces/digital have such short lifespans; I remember once got offered a Sony 3324 for FREE, If I moved it myself. I can mix a project with nothing but Logic plugins. My friends with REAL (6 figures €€) Studios are very fond of UAD plugins, very often not bothering using the hardware they already own, they're so good. I'd follow the same path (UAD). I'm not GEAR obsessed anymore, I do care more for the SONG. BTW I also have some Native plugs, like CLA MixHub, H3000 and such, running on a new MacBook Pro. When tracking for the (very small) female church choir, I always ended using only the two main mics, so I will be fine for now with just two inputs, same with POP/INDIE projects. My doubt is wether I'd regret getting the Twin MkII Quad in terms of SOUND QUALITY, compared to the new X series. My line of thought right now is that a Twin II Quad + free plugins+ 4 paid plugins will cost me just €1,600. If I'd sell the Twin next year for €800 and buy the x8, the final amount will be €3,300 (1,600-800+2,500). That's pretty much the same as buying the Apollo x8 plus the same 6+2 paid plugins, €3,200 (2,500+700) with current offers. So I thought putting the difference on a Yamaha MODX8 or FOCALs or AC30 or whatever for now, and maybe upgrade later to the X series, as long as the Twin sounds good enough, like an Apogee ensemble/Duet or similar What do you think?
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Post by BenjaminAshlin on Jun 11, 2019 22:44:14 GMT -6
I don't think there is anything inherently special about UAD plugins (I have owned quite a few in the passed). The real benefit to them is during the tracking stage. If you are mixing with them you run out of DSP fast.
If it was me, I wouldn't buy the previous series new only to sell it a year later. I would buy something on the used market where the value has already dropped. You will be lucky to get 800euro on ebay for a secondhand Twin now. When the Twin X comes out market value will be less again.(I sold my BF last month because I think the value will continue to drop with the X series being out.)
I will say, UA do make really good drivers. I never had any issues on MacOS or Windows 10 with my Apollo and by all accounts the X conversion is top notch. None of the UA interfaces will stop you doing good work though.
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Post by MorEQsThanAnswers on Jun 12, 2019 11:30:43 GMT -6
My doubt is wether I'd regret getting the Twin MkII Quad in terms of SOUND QUALITY, compared to the new X series. My line of thought right now is that a Twin II Quad + free plugins+ 4 paid plugins will cost me just €1,600. If I'd sell the Twin next year for €800 and buy the x8, the final amount will be €3,300 (1,600-800+2,500). That's pretty much the same as buying the Apollo x8 plus the same 6+2 paid plugins, €3,200 (2,500+700) with current offers. So I thought putting the difference on a Yamaha MODX8 or FOCALs or AC30 or whatever for now, and maybe upgrade later to the X series, as long as the Twin sounds good enough, like an Apogee ensemble/Duet or similar What do you think? If sound quality is your main concern, I might look into Antelope or Apogee. Nothing against UA but I personally am not impressed with my Twin's preamps and IME feel that the Symphony I/O kills it on conversion. When my girlfriend was looking for a 2-channel interface, I pointed her at the Focusrite Clarett for the sake of the preamps. She looked at the Twin and, owning one, I advised against it. Since she wasn't gonna use the plugin's, we compared the hardware at face-value and went with the Focusrite. Those preamps are great! I love UA and, repeat, have nothing against them BUT I think they are kind of the "kleenex" of interfaces right now. My mentor, who owns a million dollar studio, shot out every interface you could think of when building the place. He was inviting world-class engineers to help him and they landed on the Gen 2 Orion 32+. This was for the DAW Outs into the console. They all said "what came in was what came out." Also, I wouldn't try predicting the price you'll sell the Twin for because things fluctuate when new models get released. If a version with better conversion comes out and replaces the MkII, the value will drop significantly. Look at what happened to Antelope interfaces after the Gen3... I'd be damn sour if I bought a Gen 2 last year!
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Post by Guitar on Jun 13, 2019 8:51:36 GMT -6
I've owned a silver Apollo 8 Duo and a silver Apollo Twin Duo. I currently own a Satellite Quad firewire and about $1,400 worth of plugins.
I do think the plugins are special, I like all of the ones I own against even the best native competition. You do run out of DSP way too quickly. When you factor in the price of the DSP plus the price of the plugins, they are actually very expensive to own and use. Native stuff like Waves, Plugin Alliance, and Eventide offer a much better value for money, and are often just as impressive sounding.
I don't recommend getting into the Apollo game really. To me the analogy is it's like some kind of fancy sports car with all the options, tricked out, and you pay dearly for it. When in reality a lot of people are better off with a pickup truck that's half the price and more useful.
Regarding the Focal speakers, I say go for it ASAP. I own some Aria 906. These speakers are quite possibly the best thing I have ever purchased, in terms of studio gear. Sort of life changing coming from the sub $800 range of speakers. I live with them day in and day out, I rely on them. They bring me comfort and joy and my mixes are better than they have ever been.
Regarding recording interfaces, I use Presonus Quantum and DP88, and Focusrite Clarett / Octopre. Those are the more utilitarian interfaces that hang with the "big boys" for me.
Obviously you have dozens of options. Apollos are fine but I don't like them, personally speaking. If you just pretend that the interface is a black box, and you look at the music coming out the other end, the Apollo is going to be 100% adequate. But if you open the black box and start looking at user experience, price and value, features, workflow, etc, that's where I start to nitpick the Apollo experience.
I prefer stuff that gets out of the way and stays more like the black box. My interfaces now, I just turn them on and record, then turn them off again. They are calibrated to be mindlessly operated, and I love that. I don't even have to touch the panel other than the power switch. Or the software other than the occasional buffer tweak. The Presonus Quantum excels as being a sleek minimal interface and that's what I love about it. All of my routing and cueing happens inside Cubase.
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Post by Guitar on Jun 13, 2019 9:39:28 GMT -6
Also got an AC30HW head this year, it's one of the best amps I've owned, and the most expensive as well.
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Post by BenjaminAshlin on Jun 13, 2019 15:07:25 GMT -6
I've owned a silver Apollo 8 Duo and a silver Apollo Twin Duo. I currently own a Satellite Quad firewire and about $1,400 worth of plugins. I do think the plugins are special, I like all of the ones I own against even the best native competition. You do run out of DSP way too quickly. When you factor in the price of the DSP plus the price of the plugins, they are actually very expensive to own and use. Native stuff like Waves, Plugin Alliance, and Eventide offer a much better value for money, and are often just as impressive sounding. I don't recommend getting into the Apollo game really. To me the analogy is it's like some kind of fancy sports car with all the options, tricked out, and you pay dearly for it. When in reality a lot of people are better off with a pickup truck that's half the price and more useful. Regarding the Focal speakers, I say go for it ASAP. I own some Aria 906. These speakers are quite possibly the best thing I have ever purchased, in terms of studio gear. Sort of life changing coming from the sub $800 range of speakers. I live with them day in and day out, I rely on them. They bring me comfort and joy and my mixes are better than they have ever been. Regarding recording interfaces, I use Presonus Quantum and DP88, and Focusrite Clarett / Octopre. Those are the more utilitarian interfaces that hang with the "big boys" for me. Obviously you have dozens of options. Apollos are fine but I don't like them, personally speaking. If you just pretend that the interface is a black box, and you look at the music coming out the other end, the Apollo is going to be 100% adequate. But if you open the black box and start looking at user experience, price and value, features, workflow, etc, that's where I start to nitpick the Apollo experience. I prefer stuff that gets out of the way and stays more like the black box. My interfaces now, I just turn them on and record, then turn them off again. They are calibrated to be mindlessly operated, and I love that. I don't even have to touch the panel other than the power switch. Or the software other than the occasional buffer tweak. The Presonus Quantum excels as being a sleek minimal interface and that's what I love about it. All of my routing and cueing happens inside Cubase. I should clarify that I do think they very good plugins and were best in class. But, there are more and more top tier plugins on the market that can compete with them. Question: I know the Quantum don't have DSP routing. Are you still able to to do direct monitoring?
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Post by Guitar on Jun 13, 2019 15:41:39 GMT -6
I've owned a silver Apollo 8 Duo and a silver Apollo Twin Duo. I currently own a Satellite Quad firewire and about $1,400 worth of plugins. I do think the plugins are special, I like all of the ones I own against even the best native competition. You do run out of DSP way too quickly. When you factor in the price of the DSP plus the price of the plugins, they are actually very expensive to own and use. Native stuff like Waves, Plugin Alliance, and Eventide offer a much better value for money, and are often just as impressive sounding. I don't recommend getting into the Apollo game really. To me the analogy is it's like some kind of fancy sports car with all the options, tricked out, and you pay dearly for it. When in reality a lot of people are better off with a pickup truck that's half the price and more useful. Regarding the Focal speakers, I say go for it ASAP. I own some Aria 906. These speakers are quite possibly the best thing I have ever purchased, in terms of studio gear. Sort of life changing coming from the sub $800 range of speakers. I live with them day in and day out, I rely on them. They bring me comfort and joy and my mixes are better than they have ever been. Regarding recording interfaces, I use Presonus Quantum and DP88, and Focusrite Clarett / Octopre. Those are the more utilitarian interfaces that hang with the "big boys" for me. Obviously you have dozens of options. Apollos are fine but I don't like them, personally speaking. If you just pretend that the interface is a black box, and you look at the music coming out the other end, the Apollo is going to be 100% adequate. But if you open the black box and start looking at user experience, price and value, features, workflow, etc, that's where I start to nitpick the Apollo experience. I prefer stuff that gets out of the way and stays more like the black box. My interfaces now, I just turn them on and record, then turn them off again. They are calibrated to be mindlessly operated, and I love that. I don't even have to touch the panel other than the power switch. Or the software other than the occasional buffer tweak. The Presonus Quantum excels as being a sleek minimal interface and that's what I love about it. All of my routing and cueing happens inside Cubase. I should clarify that I do think they very good plugins and were best in class. But, there are more and more top tier plugins on the market that can compete with them. Question: I know the Quantum don't have DSP routing. Are you still able to to do direct monitoring? No there is no direct monitoring. For stuff like virtual guitar amps, synthesizers, drum pad playing, this actually works in my favor. It's a "pseudo UAD" experience but it's 100% native. The latency is low enough that it "actually works" like this. Funny enough my UAD plugins have so much latency that they don't work in this way. You can go one way, or the other way, there is not much room between the two system types. When I'm tracking bass I just play to the DI signal, and add the UAD Ampeg bass amps after playing. If it's a song that needs an amp sound. Sometimes I just go with the DI sound. the only one I've had a problem with is vocals. The 3-5 ms of latency or whatever it is affects the tone of the voice in the headphones, vs the natural body/head voice and there can be some phase problems between the headphones and the body/bone conducted voice with my main microphone. I don't monitor vocals anyway, I just sing with open back headphones and no monitoring. I have worked this way for years apparently and have gotten used to it. When I used to use closed back headphones there would be one ear off. Setting up a hardware true 0 latency path would be as simple as running one cable from my patchbay to my monitoring mixer (Midas DM16). This would be even better than monitoring through any interface, including Apollo. I just haven't bothered to do it yet.
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Post by sirthought on Jun 13, 2019 16:01:33 GMT -6
Hey Guitar, on your UAD plugins when tracking, have you tried clicking the mic icon for LiveTrack Mode? It helps to lower latency when not tracking with an Apollo. I had not picked up on what that feature was for the first year of owning the gear, as I normally track through my Apollo. I agree the Universal Audio is a bit of a rabbit hole and if I had to do it all over again I might have chosen a different path. I have no regrets about the quality of what it has offered me, but it ultimately is a really expensive path and you hit walls that don't seem so apparent when you are starting out. I learned to record on a Roland VS2480, so the UA stuff seemed like a real step up when I started taking some classes in studio with one. Kind of lead me from there. But again, I've been pleased with the sound, and especially like the unison preamp choices.
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Post by Guitar on Jun 13, 2019 16:04:14 GMT -6
Hey Guitar , on your UAD plugins when tracking, have you tried clicking the mic icon for LiveTrack Mode? It helps to lower latency when not tracking with an Apollo. I had not picked up on what that feature was for the first year of owning the gear, as I normally track through my Apollo. I agree the Universal Audio is a bit of a rabbit hole and if I had to do it all over again I might have chosen a different path. I have no regrets about the quality of what it has offered me, but it ultimately is a really expensive path and you hit walls that don't seem so apparent when you are starting out. I learned to record on a Roland VS2480, so the UA stuff seemed like a real step up when I started taking some classes in studio with one. Kind of lead me from there. But again, I've been pleased with the sound, and especially like the unison preamp choices. I really liked tracking drums with the Neve 1073 unison preamp, it was quite a good solution. About "live track" with the Satellite. It doesn't work with the firewire satellites! That would be a very smart reason to sell my firewire quad and move up to a thunderbolt OCTO. Something I am now thinking about doing.
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Post by BenjaminAshlin on Jun 13, 2019 16:50:52 GMT -6
I should clarify that I do think they very good plugins and were best in class. But, there are more and more top tier plugins on the market that can compete with them. Question: I know the Quantum don't have DSP routing. Are you still able to to do direct monitoring? No there is no direct monitoring. For stuff like virtual guitar amps, synthesizers, drum pad playing, this actually works in my favor. It's a "pseudo UAD" experience but it's 100% native. The latency is low enough that it "actually works" like this. Funny enough my UAD plugins have so much latency that they don't work in this way. You can go one way, or the other way, there is not much room between the two system types. When I'm tracking bass I just play to the DI signal, and add the UAD Ampeg bass amps after playing. If it's a song that needs an amp sound. Sometimes I just go with the DI sound. the only one I've had a problem with is vocals. The 3-5 ms of latency or whatever it is affects the tone of the voice in the headphones, vs the natural body/head voice and there can be some phase problems between the headphones and the body/bone conducted voice with my main microphone. I don't monitor vocals anyway, I just sing with open back headphones and no monitoring. I have worked this way for years apparently and have gotten used to it. When I used to use closed back headphones there would be one ear off. Setting up a hardware true 0 latency path would be as simple as running one cable from my patchbay to my monitoring mixer (Midas DM16). This would be even better than monitoring through any interface, including Apollo. I just haven't bothered to do it yet. Thanks, Just asking because I have most tracking chains setup OTB and just monitor back directly.
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Post by Henry_Berg on Jun 13, 2019 17:29:17 GMT -6
THX for you comments, I really appreciate them.
I just fired up an old MacBookPro with the apogee Duet FW (can't use it on my new MBP) and plugged some condensers to sing thru. When I monitored through an old Soundcraft small console pumping out the outs, (this was essential) I liked what I heard on the cans. I was on Logic. Direct monitoring on the Duet plus attenuated DAW playback returns. I also had a logic reverb on the input chs, which were not directed to any outputs, so I could not hear the latency, just the sends to the reverb back into the can, with 7ms latency, but it's a reverb, no problem.
I'm starting to consider I could buy ANY decent new interface (Audient, Clarett, Quantum, MOTU, Apogee), and work it out with some selected Native plugins, like Valhalla, CLA MixHub, Softube...., and save €€€€. But then again I'm also considering two things:
-Tracking trough Good plugins direct to headphones, it DOES makes a difference. A Bass DI into B15+LA2A, Or a Voice into 1073+1176+EMT plate. It transforms the performance, for the better -Looking back at how much a SINGLE FX unit cost, like $3k for a PCM-81, or $20k for a 480L, and I can have ALL that IN REALTIME, plus a dozen chs of AMS DFC, and some Voxbox, Ampeg, 1073, 1176, CL1B (close enough sounding once in the mix), for so *little*....
I'm now considering, rather than the TWIN, the Apollo x8, plus 6+2 plugins (plus free Puremix 5 Classic Pro) all for €3.2k.
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Post by Guitar on Jun 14, 2019 6:23:08 GMT -6
No there is no direct monitoring. For stuff like virtual guitar amps, synthesizers, drum pad playing, this actually works in my favor. It's a "pseudo UAD" experience but it's 100% native. The latency is low enough that it "actually works" like this. Funny enough my UAD plugins have so much latency that they don't work in this way. You can go one way, or the other way, there is not much room between the two system types. When I'm tracking bass I just play to the DI signal, and add the UAD Ampeg bass amps after playing. If it's a song that needs an amp sound. Sometimes I just go with the DI sound. the only one I've had a problem with is vocals. The 3-5 ms of latency or whatever it is affects the tone of the voice in the headphones, vs the natural body/head voice and there can be some phase problems between the headphones and the body/bone conducted voice with my main microphone. I don't monitor vocals anyway, I just sing with open back headphones and no monitoring. I have worked this way for years apparently and have gotten used to it. When I used to use closed back headphones there would be one ear off. Setting up a hardware true 0 latency path would be as simple as running one cable from my patchbay to my monitoring mixer (Midas DM16). This would be even better than monitoring through any interface, including Apollo. I just haven't bothered to do it yet. Thanks, Just asking because I have most tracking chains setup OTB and just monitor back directly. In Cubase, you just push the channel listen button. It will play back the input with or without any plugins that are on the channel inserts. You get the round trip latency of the DAW/interface, so it's not considered direct monitoring for that reason. With a speedy interface like the Quantum it's not really audible at low buffer settings.
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Post by mjheck on Jun 14, 2019 8:01:54 GMT -6
I'm now considering, rather than the TWIN, the Apollo x8, plus 6+2 plugins (plus free Puremix 5 Classic Pro) all for €3.2k. Hi! Thinking about your decision, the sweet spot might actually be the Apollo X 6 - it is $500 USD less than the 8, has the six processors but only two preamps, which appears to be acceptable for your situation. I've owned a ton of UA stuff as well as Apogee, Burl, Prism, Antelope and even some M Audio when I started. It cn be a frustrating chase. My favorite AD convertor remains the UA 2192, but as I have moved to a streamlined mobile solution, I have moved to a UAD Twin - the original model, but BLA modded. I found it translated best for me, and really liked what I got coming in once the Unison 1073 came out. Two processors is really not enough, so I do run an old Satellite Quad to bring my processors up to six, which is sufficient (but requires some planning and/or bussing). All of that being said, you won't feel confident until you try it for yourself. Maybe used is a good way to try? There's tons of supply out there. Can you survive without UAD? Of course. Do they have great stuff? Of course. I surely mangled a few things when first tracking through UAD back when the Apollo first came out (usually too much compression in loud parts) but eventually found my flow with it and, like you said, it can be inspiring to hear great sounds on the way in. Best of luck - know this is what the financial world likes to call a "high quality problem." MJH
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Post by donr on Jun 14, 2019 8:53:06 GMT -6
Just a reminder, with UAD you can always add more DSP independent of your interface. I've got a Mk I Twin Duo and a T-bolt Octo Satellite to handle my UAD plugin processing, even as I mainly use Metric Halo interfaces for my I/O. The DSP works even if it's not the primary I/O of your DAW.
I do record with the Twin on some things. No biggie to switch interfaces. Monitoring latency with UAD plugs going in is not an issue. Neither is monitoring with the Metric Halo console. Monitoring through a DAW is.
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Post by sirthought on Jun 15, 2019 3:30:13 GMT -6
Yeah, Metric Halo is one of the few brands like UA that have interfaces with onboard DSP that allow for bypassing the DAW and going pretty close to latency free. They are really one of the best options out there, although the appeal of UA is often tied to the nostalgia and brand identity of the iconic gear seen in the software. I was really interested in MH when I was shopping for an interface, but hesitated because they were so radio silent on when the 3D card was coming out...I wondered if they were going to stay in business. But that's the brand I kind of wish I had gone with, mostly because the preamps are so nice and really everything seems so well planned out and very professional. Some of the best conversion in the business. That level of service is way more expensive than a lot of UA customers are willing to start out with. But I guess if you're looking at Apollo Twin, the ULN2 might be good consideration.
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Post by drsax on Jun 15, 2019 9:51:11 GMT -6
The UAD Twin Quad Mkii is a really elegant solution for mobile recording. Just took mine to LA and ran some sessions with a very discriminating and well known artist and his manager who were blown away with the experience. One UA twin mkii, one tiny rolls headphone amp, a 414 and four headphones - I was able to create up to three different headphone mixes (one via the headphone jack, one to the alt 3/4 output and one through the main console mix through the monitor outs if needed. We utilized two separate headphone mixes and tracked with plugins. The results were outstanding. It’s amazing what can be done with this little box. I am going to throw a different perspective into this discussion as well. I previously used antelope converter’s. I found them to be a little sharp and unnatural in the highs. No matter how much I compensated with EQ, I could not get rid of the strained highs. The Twin Mkii and all of the blackface second generation UA Apollo units have proven more useful to me in recording. The sound of their conversion is much more musical to my ear. And In my studio I track with high-end converters as well including Burl and Hilo. I would not hesitate to use the twin quad for tracking important sessions. Once again, it’s incredible to have the type of flexibility, control, and features in a unit that small, especially for mobile recording.
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Post by Guitar on Jun 18, 2019 10:15:00 GMT -6
Apollo X8 from Sweetwater on sale for $2,500 right now with 4 free "choose your own" plugins that's a pretty killer deal actually.
In my mind, puts it on equal footing with something like my Presonus Quantum, and the UAD Satellite I have to use with it, in terms of what you get for the price.
For the normal $3,000 and "basic" starter plugin pack, I would pass.
I guess this is part of their big half yearly sale or whatever.
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Post by Henry_Berg on Jun 18, 2019 17:52:41 GMT -6
THX you ALL for your kind replies. After a week of hard debate, I finally decided to get the x8 rather than the TwinQ. I guess the Yamaha MODX8 will have to wait. Actually, I ordered it yesterday and it arrived in less then 24 hours! I have not registered the unit yet because I can't find a damn shop with a TB3 cable for sale over here, not even online (Spain). A studio will lend me one tomorrow. I have to register before the end of the month to take advantage of the free stuff. Apollo X8 from Sweetwater on sale for $2,500 right now with 4 free "choose your own" plugins that's a pretty killer deal actually. Where is this offer, I can't find it anywhere? I hope UA does the same in Europe, as I register it! I got a CODE for the PureMix offer (free Analog Classics PRO, for buying an interface before end of June, which made me decide). Now I'm debating wether to get the €700 6+2 or the €999 10+3 after the HALF YEAR sale. This is what I'm planning if I opt for the latter: -FREE PureMIx: 1176, LA2A, 610s, Fairchilds, Pultecs -the 10+3 PACK (€999): 1073 Voxbox Fender 55 Ampeg B15 (or SVT?) Autotune Neve AMS DFC Lex 480 Lex224 EMT 140 EMT 250 Capitol Chambers ?? CL 1A / Distressor ?? SSL G Bus / VariMu / Shadow Hills?? Not sure about those with "??" I will be running Logic on a new MBP. I also bough Waves CLA Mixhub, which will be my default ch strip
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Post by Guitar on Jun 18, 2019 17:58:55 GMT -6
THX you ALL for your kind replies. After a week of hard debate, I finally decided to get the x8 rather than the TwinQ. I guess the Yamaha MODX8 will have to wait. Actually, I ordered it yesterday and it arrived in less then 24 hours! I have not registered the unit yet because I can't find a damn shop with a TB3 cable for sale over here, not even online (Spain). A studio will lend me one tomorrow. I have to register before the end of the month to take advantage of the free stuff. Apollo X8 from Sweetwater on sale for $2,500 right now with 4 free "choose your own" plugins that's a pretty killer deal actually. Where is this offer, I can't find it anywhere? I hope UA does the same in Europe, as I register it! I got a CODE for the PureMix offer (free Analog Classics PRO, for buying an interface before end of June, which made me decide). Now I'm debating wether to get the €700 6+2 or the €999 10+3 after the HALF YEAR sale. This is what I'm planning if I opt for the latter: -FREE PureMIx: 1176, LA2A, 610s, Fairchilds, Pultecs -the 10+3 PACK (€999): 1073 Voxbox Fender 55 Ampeg B15 (or SVT?) Autotune Neve AMS DFC Lex 480 Lex224 EMT 140 EMT 250 Capitol Chambers ?? CL 1A / Distressor ?? SSL G Bus / VariMu / Shadow Hills?? Not sure about those with "??" I will be running Logic on a new MBP. I also bough Waves CLA Mixhub, which will be my default ch strip I don't know if Sweetwater .com ships to Spain maybe they are a mostly american operation. I got the CLA Mix Hub too your post makes me want to use it more. The UAD SSL channel and bus compressor are some spectacular plugins as well, I would almost consider them a "must buy" with UAD. You might want them tape plugins too. Some people say to skip the lex 224 and just stick to the 480L now, I haven't tried them Ampeg amps are great, 1073 is great. Fender is "meh" to me and some other people. Distressor would be a big choice I think. Personally I also dream of the Chandler Curve Bender for mix bus or mastering. I also really like the API EQ collection for rock stuff
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Post by Henry_Berg on Jun 18, 2019 18:17:49 GMT -6
Monkeyxx, as I wrote, the x8 arrived today. Insanely fast service, to make it from Barcelona across the Mediterranean sea in just 24h!
The x8 only has 6 SHARCS. I plan to use the 1073, Voxbox, Fender and Ampeg just for tracking. I liked what I heard on the Fender 55 for cleans. I have an Orange amp, plus all apollos come with the Plexi classic as well.
For mixing, I plan to have the CLA MIXHUB as default strip (UAD's SSL is wayy too DSP hungry), and the DFC (18% per instance) for acoustic instruments and delicate tracks.
Then it's all the FXs (480 takes 60%, Capitol 70%) like 8 of them (slap, 1/4 and 1/8 delays, ambience, plate, hall, chorus, drum room), and Compressors on selected tracks, 1176, LA2, 670. Then I'm not sure to get either the distressor or the CL1A, and which one for the Stereo Bus , SSL G or Shadow Hills (SH very low DSP usage). Oh, and 1 Autotune (20% DSP) in case I need it.
I put it all on a spreadsheet to see how far I could go, this made me discard some UAD plugs, like the SSL ch strip, API and others.
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