UAD Apollo Quad

[Peace Cee]

My 003 is starting to bug out a bit. Plus, I know that it will be unsupported when PT 11 arrives. I'm thinking about the UAD Apollo Quad.
1st, Is the Quad necessary as opposed to the Duo? I have a home studio, and I use an iMac. I rarely record more than three at people/instruments once. I love my Waves plug-ins, and I rarely track with a plug because I have some adequate pre's.
2nd, What has been your experience with it?
3rd, Is the sound quality that much better than the 003? (final mix/master) I know that the plug-ins are great, but what about the built-in pre's. I had the UAD Satelillite, but the Firewire input and my iMac with Daisy chained Gyphs did not play well together.
4, Did it sync with Pro Tools without a hitch?

 

[ddnidd1]

You might get more response for UAD products, etc. on the Gearslutz forum.

It's dedicated to recording, whereas TB tends to be more for the recording hobbyist.

 

[Peace Cee]

Yeah, I was hoping to get the TB'er POV. They seem to be "brothers of the same mind unblind". I did check there though. Thanks for the tip.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

I have a quad,
early adopter here, first run. I have the first run of thunderbolt card too.
This is the best piece of hybrid gear i've ever owned.
I've been die hard analog and learned on tape before digital was available, and had to sell off some very nice analog gear to make it happen.
Quad? I would do it- the plug ins are very processor intensive,
i've hit the wall on the quad (granted I was using 30 plugs or so).
The plugs are unmatched, imho.
The new amp room for bass they just came out with is truly amazing as well.
Also the lowest latency for live use i've had, utilizing the virtual mixer. It is a true 1.5 ms.
My last interface was RME, and i've used digi interfaces.
The apollo has a character to it- next to the rme, it was, dare I say, warmer? I didn't have a digi to put it next to.
The rme does offer a far more extensive virtual mixer(more sub mixing available) while the apollo work flow is more of a simple analog desk (2 specific to monitor mixes, dedicated main out).
I have not used pro tools with it yet, but have used ableton, logic, reaktor, and have had no problem with recognition or performance as audio card for any of the video programs i've used.
I've used the apollo in my studio, as well as for mobile recording and have had no crashes. I have had the graphics do a few odd things when hot swapping other peripherals but they are updating the os (64 bit mac soon, it's out for pc now) and there has been no audio issues.
I'm using my apollo quad live on a 10 date tour from the 8-17th For ableton live and bass processing, i'll report back on how it handles it.
My chain will be bass>floor fx>walkabout head(cab optional)> apollo>1176ln>pultec pro> little lab vog. The output is mixed with my ableton out, a stereo feed (bass is mono).
I'm going to mess with amp room a bit and see if it's do-able, might try it for the tour.
here's a gratuitous pic of the rig set up with the apollo at the heart:

 

[silky smoove]

The Apollo is the way to go if you want an interface and want to use UA plugs. If you're not into UA plugs, I would look elsewhere. Great interface if you fit into that one caveat.

 

[Biggbass]

Wow...good timing on your inquiry.

I came out of an 002 into Apollo Quad Thunderbolt in Dec. My old Mac G5 also had two UAD1 cards to process the several UA plug ins I was using. From being a UA plug in user for several years I had grown to really like them. I also have Waves Gold=RenMax, Kramer Collection, and several other Waves plug ins, as well as the Digi plug ins, and several new digi plug ins that come with PT10.
With the Quad I also updated my computer to a MacBook Pro Retina with 16g ram and
solid state drive. It boots up almost instantly. I'm still using my old Glyph firewire drives for audio processing and storage but will update those to a Thunderbolt drive this year and shelf the firewire drives for permanent storage of old sessions.

As for comparison between the Apollo Quad and the 002 the Apollo wins it. The Mic Pre's in the Apollo sound great, although I still use my Focusrite Red 7 and Avalon 737 for specific things. The Apollo processes real time plug in effects without latency, which is cool if you want to add anything to the front end of your recording. I went for the quad obvious reasons of having more power at my disposal and the extra cost was worth it.

Apollo synced with Pro Tools 10 without a hiccup.

I am also using the Avid Artist Mix and Artist Transport in my chain which replaced my 002 controller, and my system is 100% Thunderbolt now.

My review of Apollo Quad Thunderbolt is ... it rocks.

My old 002 Factory controller is boxed and ready to find a new home.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

Silky hit the nail on the head; it's not ideal unless you are using the uad plugs it was designed for, but that should be a given.
There actually is latency (there is no such thing as zero latency processing), but this has pretty much the lowest implemented i've used, much better than any other mentioned systems can boast.
One other thing worth mentioning: when the resolution doubles to 64bit you will want the extra processing power. They've come out with the octo core now, wish they had it for the apollo.. I would have gone for it.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

Just got back from 10 days of shows in a row, the apollo is a monster and absolutely stable under extreme stress conditions!
And the bass amp room is the best bass amp sim i've come across to boot, the di/ mic blend feature with filtering on the di side plus automatic phase alignment is brilliant.
My only complaint at this point has nothing to do with the apollo- I wish the thunderbolt connection on the computer end was a bit more tight or had a locking clip-in feature, but that is a bit nit-picky and presented no issues whatsoever in live performance (I always use a little gaff on my connections anyway).
-just wanted to add that I did indeed leave the walkabout at home, and run purely through the apollo without a single issue.

 

[fokof]

Just got one of these Apollo Quad.

Man , I does sound really good !!!

Very tempting to use "live" with bass ....

 

[seamonkey]

That would be a killer live rig!
Realtime tracking is a definite win for these interfaces.

 

[Biggbass]

My 003 is starting to bug out a bit. Plus, I know that it will be unsupported when PT 11 arrives. I'm thinking about the UAD Apollo Quad.
1st, Is the Quad necessary as opposed to the Duo? I have a home studio, and I use an iMac. I rarely record more than three at people/instruments once. I love my Waves plug-ins, and I rarely track with a plug because I have some adequate pre's.
2nd, What has been your experience with it?
3rd, Is the sound quality that much better than the 003? (final mix/master) I know that the plug-ins are great, but what about the built-in pre's. I had the UAD Satelillite, but the Firewire input and my iMac with Daisy chained Gyphs did not play well together.
4, Did it sync with Pro Tools without a hitch?

I replaced my 002 with Apollo Quad Thunderbolt last December. I love it.

1) I went with quad because the extra processing really makes for seamless plug in use.
2) it is totally glitch free
3) Yes, the sound quality is great...and the mic pre's are much better than the digi 00 series pre's.
4) syncs up without a hiccup every time.

My project studio is Pro Tools 10 processed thru a MacBook Pro Retina 15 (gigged and rammed out) with SS Drive and two external Glyph Drives. My connection chain is Thunderbolt from the Mac to the Apollo to two Thunderbolt displays, the Glyphs are both firewire 800. I also have the Avid Artist Mix and Transport units.

I've been using UA plug ins for several years and came out of a dual UAD card set up in a G5. So I didn't want to give up my UA plug ins when retiring the old 002 rig.

One very cool thing about the Apollo is that you can write your plug in effect to the track as you record, if you prefer, as it processes with near zero latency, similar to a Digi TDM system.

Bottom line: I use mine to make my living doing voice work and find that the built in mic Pre's sound great, in fact, a little better than the Focusrite Red 7 I've been using. If the Apollo somehow needed to be replaced I'd replace it without hesitation.

 

[fokof]

7.1 update really adds a lot of audio routing feature , at last !

Now, we can use the Apollo as "live" mixing board.
Can you imagine using these EQ & comps in a live setting ? -drooling icon here-

Got the new amp sims plug and they are very good.

If they can add iPad/iPhone/OSC control......

 

[D.A.R.K.]

7.1 update really adds a lot of audio routing feature , at last !

Now, we can use the Apollo as "live" mixing board.
Can you imagine using these EQ & comps in a live setting ? -drooling icon here-

Got the new amp sims plug and they are very good.

If they can add iPad/iPhone/OSC control......

I've been using it as effects and dynamics inserts for mixing live with an analog desk, it's absolutely killer... missed my space echo more than I knew! Their most recent user feedback questionnaire included desired options including possible remote control, if they can get assignable control parameters to the virtual mixer I'd be overjoyed, they just released some specific Engle guitar amp models and a plug in tuner.
Very stoked about the tuner, as superfluous as it seems...

 

[fokof]

I've been using it as effects and dynamics inserts for mixing live with an analog desk, it's absolutely killer...

Here too.
I have an M7CL at the job and use the ADAT I/O for FX insert.
I aslo use the pres for main VX or piano , big + over the Yam pre.

Their most recent user feedback questionnaire included desired options including possible remote control, if they can get assignable control parameters to the virtual mixer I'd be overjoyed,

I jumped of joy when I saw the "assignable MIDI learn" in the questionnaire !

they just released some specific Engle guitar amp models and a plug in tuner.
Very stoked about the tuner, as superfluous as it seems...

Just bought the whole Softube bundle ...... damn !

Tuner is a VERY good idea


What missing in the console : Talkback/listenback , a couple of Aux busses , a delay of some sort on outputs to align speakers , that's it.
Plugins : IF they could push their involvement with Moog and Roland and give us a kickass minimoog , Taurus, Jupiter etc....
Can you imagine having all your plugin AND soft synth need under one (Uber quality) roof ?


I'm glad I got the quad

 

[fokof]

You guys should try that Voice of God from Little lab on bass , absolute yummy !
Use with caution though , like everything else in life , too much of a good thing isn't necessarily always a good thing.

My favourite comp for bass (mine anyways) : tie between LA-3A and the 160 (I pretty much tried them all)

 

[D.A.R.K.]

A/B'ing the hardware vog and software version is pretty much what sold me on the ua platform. Just picked up the new Fairchild plug, holy crap…. the side chain allows for some incredible bandwidth control, loving this on bass guitar right now. Also got the API channel strip, the emulation of the pre amp is mind blowing.
Unfortunately i've had a couple issues with error 38 and certain plugs being disabled, fixed the issue with a reset and reinstall but the problem showed up again with the newest version 7.4 and the fairchild purchase.
It's disabling my pultecs…
waiting for support to send the uninstall and reinstall on monday.
The issue seems to be directly related to the new plugs, 7.4 was supposed to fix the issue but apparently not.
Early adopter, oh well… despite these issues i'm still in love with the thing for it's sonics.

 

[fokof]

Yeah I get those mostly when my laptop is coming back from sleep , so I put the energy saving mode to off and doesn't close the lid.

I never had that problem with the UAD card on my MacPro or when using the Apollo on the Macpro.

Oh well , you kinda force me to try that new Fairchild plug

Yes , The API strip is really amazing

 

[D.A.R.K.]

My lappie is optimized for audio, no sleep mode, repaired permissions and power up in correct order, no dice.
That's why I think it's related to authorizations with the new plugs. Only time this has happened directly correlates with the api and fairchild purchases.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

System reset today solved all my issues.
Back to it with my favorite plug ins.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

Spoke too soon.
After much frustration and tech support, I had to revert to 7.0.1, the newer os are not stable.
Bit of a pisser but I was refunded for my API, Fairchild, Pultec legacy and a few others until they come up with a stable os.
I've pounded the 7.0.1 to make sure. and it has been solid as a rock- sounds beautiful.
A shame they put out bad os and expect the buyer to be a beta tester, at least I got them to admit it and had no problems with immediate refund.