Dude that is a bummer, I really thought after all we have been through, that it would be solved so we can sleep at night.
Do you have a backup interface in mind?
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My New Studio Build (perhaps overly detailed)
- Thread starter silky smoove
- Start date
Do you have a backup interface in mind?
I already have a backup on-hand with my tiny little Presonus 24c. If you meant "replacement" interface I'll likely go with the Focusrite Clarrett 8PreX and then in a few years jump up to something swanky like Metric Halo.
Yes I did mean replacement.
I had to look that Halo one up, seems you can get it now for the low price of 3195 USD (the ULN8 3D). Maybe get 2 just in case
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It would be interesting to get the 8PreX and sonically A/B the units while you still have the Apogee.
I would need 2 since 8 inputs won’t cut it!I had to look that Halo one up, seems you can get it now for the low price of 3195 USD (the ULN8 3D). Maybe get 2 just in case
That’s exactly how it would happen since I can’t be without interfaces. I’d buy the Clarretts and then sell-off the Apogees later.
They went through it extensively and can’t find anything wrong with it. They think it’s something on my system that’s causing the problem. I was hoping they’d replace the units as a further test, but that doesn’t appear to be in the cards.
You are from US, you can sue them to get a replacement
(jokes...)I hope the claretts end up working, specially if you have customers who are actually paying you.
As far as Apogee is concerned I have two fully functional interfaces and a hardware remote, all of which have tested without issue. What's their incentive to refund my money? I haven't asked specifically, but I can assume what the answer would be.
is it possible to buy the same mic preamps separately and bypass the pre's on a cheaper unit? Seems like a pain in the ass, but if you like the audio quality of the Apogee that much more than the alternative, seems like that's your only avenue at this point. If the stock interfaces ain't gonna work, they ain't gonna work.
I wonder if they tested running them together at the same time or just ran tests on the individual units separately. Seems the only explanation is a “bug” with Apogee running dual interfaces and/or Mac OS...
Apogee doesn't sell a dedicated preamp or set of preamps. Regardless, their are tons of excellent preamps around so it doesn't need to be theirs.
I'll never opt for that avenue due to space and cost limitations. I've got a maximum of five rack spaces I can allocate to interfaces currently and can't put in a larger rack without needing to relocate the rack which I don't want to do. With that in mind I need 16 channels of simultaneous input and can't justify spending more than $2,500 until the studio starts making money on a regular basis. If the inputs are rear-mounted then I also have to factor in a 16-channel snake box as well. Sticking with USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 my options appear to be limited to Apogee Element and Focusrite Clarrett. There are some Presonus, MOTU and Zoom options that would technically work but I don't like their preamps or their DA as much based on the ones I've tried in the past. None of them have integration with Logic that's as seamless as Apogee.
Unless they will. They're still under warranty and I'm actively working on it with Apogee. If we end up at the point of "they ain't gonna work" then so be it, but I'm not ready to accept that eventuality at this point. Maybe that's blind optimism on my part.
They ran them together and separately without being able to register a single dropout using the same version of OSX that I'm running.
Being in Tacoma, and having read through this entire thread (yes, all 171 pages of it) I feel like I already know you @silky smoove ! But I must ask, you coming to the GTG next month?
US: West - 2018 Emeral City Bass Convention - September 9th
US: West - 2018 Emeral City Bass Convention - September 9th
I’m going to try and be there. I might have a corporate gig booking that day, but for now I’m a tentative yes.
I've spent my free time over the past two days reading through this entire thread, and I have one thing to say. Silky, it's one heck of journey you're on my friend, and it was quite enjoyable to 'binge watch' the entire process. Thanks for sharing, and I wish you good luck in your remaining tasks!
Thanks! Fortunately the only tasks left at this point are to resolve the audio dropouts occurring with my interfaces. No more construction for me!
I added some new functionality to the studio that I initially didn't think I would need in as small of a studio space as I have. A talkback mic!
The first part is the mic itself, which is a cheap Nady boundary microphone (also sometimes called a PZM or Pressure Zone Microphone). I wanted something low profile that wouldn't be in my way. Initially I considered a gooseneck that would sit behind my keyboard, but I didn't want it poking up in front of my screen in a distracting way. These types of mics are what get used in large office conference rooms, so it'll be fine for my purposes.
From the microphone the signal travels down to this Whirlwind Micmute PT, which constantly mutes the mic signal until you depress the momentary, non-latching footswitch. That unmutes the signal, effectively engaging the talkback mic which I have living on channel 16. I typically only need around 12 channels for large mic setups so having it monopolize a channel won't be a big deal, but if I do need all 16 I can just remove it for that session. The software mixer for the interfaces allows me to dial in how much of it goes to the performer's mix. The Micmute passes phantom power so it all works very well.
For being such a cheap microphone it sounds about like all the talkback mics I've heard built into consoles, which is admittedly not pristine, but it gets the job done. The hardware remote for my interfaces allows one of the buttons to be programmed as a dim function to reduce the level of the playback but not the input if you want to communicate with a performer in the middle of a take. I suspect I'll rarely do that, but it's a nice option if you need to communicate something to the performer while they're in a non-performing portion of a take, like a lead vocal sitting out during a solo.
The big deal for this is that if I need to tell a performer "let's try that again" or something similar, I won't have to take off my isolating headphones, have them take off their isolating headphones, give them some instruction, have both of us put our headphones back on and then resume working. It will be much smoother and faster this way.
The first part is the mic itself, which is a cheap Nady boundary microphone (also sometimes called a PZM or Pressure Zone Microphone). I wanted something low profile that wouldn't be in my way. Initially I considered a gooseneck that would sit behind my keyboard, but I didn't want it poking up in front of my screen in a distracting way. These types of mics are what get used in large office conference rooms, so it'll be fine for my purposes.
From the microphone the signal travels down to this Whirlwind Micmute PT, which constantly mutes the mic signal until you depress the momentary, non-latching footswitch. That unmutes the signal, effectively engaging the talkback mic which I have living on channel 16. I typically only need around 12 channels for large mic setups so having it monopolize a channel won't be a big deal, but if I do need all 16 I can just remove it for that session. The software mixer for the interfaces allows me to dial in how much of it goes to the performer's mix. The Micmute passes phantom power so it all works very well.
For being such a cheap microphone it sounds about like all the talkback mics I've heard built into consoles, which is admittedly not pristine, but it gets the job done. The hardware remote for my interfaces allows one of the buttons to be programmed as a dim function to reduce the level of the playback but not the input if you want to communicate with a performer in the middle of a take. I suspect I'll rarely do that, but it's a nice option if you need to communicate something to the performer while they're in a non-performing portion of a take, like a lead vocal sitting out during a solo.
The big deal for this is that if I need to tell a performer "let's try that again" or something similar, I won't have to take off my isolating headphones, have them take off their isolating headphones, give them some instruction, have both of us put our headphones back on and then resume working. It will be much smoother and faster this way.
It’s scary when you consider all the potential mac related issues for this particular product.
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I've gone through all of that and it hasn't made a difference. Those are all just potential things that could cause issues. My issues are identical whether I'm using the system default settings or using Apogee's preferred. Also, to Apogee's credit, I've spoken about those settings with the folks at Focusrite and they said that they would also recommend doing all of these things as well.
