Universal Audio Apollo Next Generation?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ส.ค. 2024
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UA giving away Townsend Sphere with new Apollos recently was a clear sign that new products are coming next year.
appreciate you Barry! Great insight!
Barry, good points. In my case I was going to buy an apollo 8xp to add more dsp and tracks on my Apollo Twin x and its Console, but I learned from Drew at UA that the Twin’s Dsp is not used in combination with the 8xp. In addition, I also considered getting an Octo satellite. But after much research, and hearing your views, I purchased a Mac Studio with Apple M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine 64GB unified memory 4TB SSD. That being said I really like all the UA products. See you at NAMM April 2023. So I hope that UA does well for a long long time.
Same, dished out alotttt for my mixing rig and studio, I took the Octo route for my Quad Twin, using a new MacBook with the M1 chip and my gosh, night and day so far from my old 2014".
RIP Live Rack
I will never give up hope for a new useful live sound integration with MADI/AVB/AES connectivity
I love Universal Audio. My favourite brand that I support by far. My only worry is that they're focusing on too many things at once and hope they have the appropriate teams to focus on each area. They now have their hardware, guitar FX pedals, microphones, pro line interfaces, budget interfaces, LUNA and Spark. I still think Spark is growing at a snails pace with some of their biggest hitters still not on the subscription and the value compared to other subscriptions is still not worth the price. LUNA has also slowed in development and hasn't seen any major updates or new cool features for over a year. Their DSP plugin prices are still super bloated and we can tell that they're struggling to sell plugins due to some of their biggest and never seen before sales ever at the moment. I feel like they could fall into the same pit that the Steven Slate companies fell into and had to sell their plugin company to another investor because I think they started focusing on too many things at once.
That’s why when I buy interfaces I try to go with companies focused on components and not plugins. Metric Halo, Merging technologies, RME focus on interface only rather than selling plugins. He’s it costs more than UA stuff but you are paying for software support on your interface in the long term
@@LocaliLLocano Literally the 3 best companies, I use them all together in one system ha
@ Joshua Riley! Corrections LUNA have not slowed down in updates. UA are working very hard to make LUNA to be competitive and to be the best DAW at the end. You just have to have patience my friend
@@PrinceTimNortey they're gonna have to try harder with the new Studio One 6.... cough cough
@@LocaliLLocano how the fuk does one even buy merging products when there’s no link to even buy anything
Hey Barry, love the channel. Also have to admit you're on a roll as of lately. I think it's going to be really interesting to see what UA does. I absolutely hate the subscription model, BUT I understand why they had to do it. I have been thinking for several months about investing in an apollo quad, but I keep talking myself out of it. For me, I love the look and functions of the desktop units. It's just the whole DSP thing and also I'm not sure how much I'd like switching between console and my DAW. Decisions, decisions. Really been enjoying the channel.
Ayyyyye! Barry’s back!!! The fact that UA if has dropped the Apollo Twin down to $999 instead of $1199, and that they are giving away free Townsend mic with a purchase is a giveaway for me.
I would LOVE for UA to release a Dante/AES67 card for the rack mount Apollos
I’m hoping to see more use of A.I in plugins and DAWs. Native processing is not the future but the new era. The next generation of DSP based work flow is the last we will see. The new CPU architectures have increased memory bandwidths and capacity for both cache and RAM which improves latency and buffer settings.
Thanks Barry, I’ve been looking at the x6 for some time. I might hold off just a little longer after seeing this video. Cheers mate. 👍
It would be great if UA would offer internal upgrade for existing Apollo interfaces.
There's no money in that for them to do that.
@@TuMalditaMadre not initially, but it would be in the longer term for UA. If you were sitting on the fence about what product to invest in, I know that I would swing to the “upgradable” product. Who wouldn’t want to invest in future proof.
🤞
Would be prohibitive.
Ive never seen that offered except rarely on synths
Barry don't miss. I'll be back for this one.
This is a great prediction and is definitely the reason I am holding out for a new home studio interface. I am hoping for this to happen. But I want to see a full lineup. I also do not want them to try and place a “pro” tag on any interface as every unit is used in “pro” situations. In/outs should be the only thing different.
I had Black Lion put a freakin Hemi in my X6. XB sub-pico clock, complete signal path overhaul, etc. not cheap, but my God.. Nothing I’ve heard sans-Burl can even touch it.
Hey there nice channel! I disagree on one aspect only and that's the UNISON technology which actually relies on variable impedance in order to reproduce in the most "accurate" way the signal flow through their plugin emulations. That gives you significant standards while tracking with an "analog" mindset in the digital domain. But that's just my opinion.
If I could integrate an Apollo into a Dante studio environment, I'd pull the trigger.
I hope UA implements MADI and AVB in their new Apollo interfaces.
Dante!
I think you’re totally right
Great discussion, I tend to agree with you.
A DIY 5000 series AMD cpu is dirt cheap with the recent release of their new AM5 chipset and Black Friday deals.
BUT, at the same time simple quality of life scenarios such as tracking with preamp saturation, dynamics, basic EQ and or tape emulation (my favourite) it’s really nice to have these options recorded straight to the disc without having to , easily, route it through a send and bounce it live in your DAW.
But I agree , upgrade your PC! DSP, as you put it, I feel like it’s all technically DSP, but I digress, I think DSP is targeted towards laptop “producers” .
hey barry...have a happy and safe thanksgiving and so you and your viewers know i just noticed you can get the spark deal...99 cents for three months !! im gonna try it out.
I have been on UAD train seance they came out. Appolos were a game changer for me. I do agree with you and makes seance and hope you're right. I have two appolos x8 amd x16 for summing. Love the set up but would love love to see what you're predicting. I would have no issue with an upgrade. I would be all in.
Would really like to see an interface with 32x32 i/o and better converters!
I can’t wait for more GPU options!
Your Right
The DPS issue is a huge one. Computers and tech is so far advanced now compared the power of each DSP core. The price ratio to DPS is absurd. I bought a new Mac studio ultra for sound and video and cannot fathom the cost of a satellite OCTO and how limited the DSP still is AU2000$. I'm super happy about the subscription model and the fact I'll be able to use my purchased plugins for free natively.
The internal DSP delivers near zero latency, I just bought a M1 16 gb and it still produces latency, so you need to have an extremely powerful and very expensive computer to make it up to that
"IF" you want to use Unison plug ins, then the apollo DSP is kinda needed and required.. I picked up a Apollo Twin Specifically for getting the unison pre's everything else you can pretty much get somewhere else or through spark. but those pre emulations are too good.
Together with your suggestions, l would hope they partner with sonarworks/arc 3 or have their own room correction on the interface together with superior conversion.
Fwiw, I sold all of my UA dsp hardware several months ago. I've been fairly "loud" on YT, reddit(!), etc discouraging people from buying UA dsp hardware, suggesting investing in a Mac Studio as having far better ROI. When / if UA releases high performance dsp hardware that reflects technology of 2022, I would strongly consider buying it and recommending it. I think 2023 almost has to be the year UA releases new hardware with very significant upgrades. So, Barry, I agree with your crystal ball 100%.
I still have a silver face Apollo quad with thunderbolt card and as much I love using it, I find my self using the DSP less and less for two main reasons.
1. The UAD plugins are way too expensive and other manufacturers have caught up.
2. I can't use the plugins without being tethered to the hardware, I like to mix on the go with my MBP, but find UAD plugins counter productive here.
Really would love solid backwards compatibility regardless of where UA goes with their stuff! Either way love the brand.
This is my situation exactly. I bought in at UAD1 (and 2) with the thought that this was hardware that I now owned and could keep using for its original purpose for a lifetime; I don't want it to go the way of macs that can't load the most basic apps, not because they aren't powerful enough, but because the manufacturer made a marketing decision to name them "end-of-life."
The thing I really wish UA would do is license the dual path IP from Apogee. To me, that is a no brainer and Apogee would be smart to license it to all their competitors for a healthy fee. It is doubtful that the processors on the Apollo units will get more powerful, unless they somehow move to Intel chips, but offering the ability to completely bypass the need to interact with the Console app altogether when tracking (which is what Apogee’s dual path allows for) would be incredibly appealing. I’m a little surprised that aspect of Apogee’s product line isn’t more well known and that more of their competitors aren’t taking a page from that strategy.
I work at Long&McQuades and follow UAD trainings, and I assure you, you're 100% right about Townsend and the future of DSP.
Unison plug-ins are still the unique thing of uad! So fantastic to use
Thing of the past acoustica is every modern mix and mastering engineer dream
Unison isn’t for mixing or mastering, you have it wrong. Unison enables tracking and creating with near undetectable latency.
I personally am very sensitive to the latency issue. Working with analog based hardware studio for years and years, Apollo has enabled a pretty
Decent hybrid workflow for me personally. My 2 cents
Agreed Barry
I hope you’re right!! But the X4 is a fairly new addition, the solo is new, the spark stuff going native, the new microphone lineup etc, I hope they’ve had time to completely redesign the Apollo lineup, but I don’t see it coming in as a 1 for 1 replacement, if they do they’ll probably keep their current lineup available and have an up charge on the new Apollos with more modern features
They did that with the current line up so I bet you’re right
I think you nailed it, feels like that is the ultimate direction.
Question: do you think the same principles apply when using this for a live performance?
**MBP M1 Max 64G- I've been using Ableton for my backing tracks which I route to Console's virtual input and use a loaded up guitar input channel and a Unison vocal mic preamp, vx chain, AT etc on my Apollo Twin Duo. I've had my apollo for 5 years and the no latency thing has been a night and day difference as far my creative expression goes when it comes to writing and performing.
Today being Cyber monday, I got the Apollo X4 in the cart. Bases loaded. Safety off. What say you, Barry Johns?
I love my Antelope Zen Tour Synergy Core simply because I don't have to turn on my computer to make music. That said, other customers might want more tech.
Acustica audio makes the best plugins available today.
This music thing is like crack, you always want more of something. I remember wanting an Apollo for the Apollo and introduction into their plugins. Instead I got a Motu and a Control Surface. Now I have sub to UA Spark and LOVE my Motu. Lol. Patience is a virtue! The future is bright to be in music!
I Love Universal Audio, I personally have the Apollo X4 and I Love It.
Something like a UA daw controller would be amazing 😅 … Logic compatible, of course
I thought his but then got a console one and fader. You can load their plugs in it too.
Hopefully they can start by upgrading the Apollo preamps. They're good, but hoping for something closer to quality to those of external preamps.
It would be hard though with the unison, as they would be limited to the digitally controlled type preamps. oh well, just hoping for an improved preamp/unison technology.
UAD dont have to copy Avid carbon work flow by disabling dsp plugin when not in record mode. UAD and Luna started this way. ARM mode in luna does exactly that.
There is a huge But, people don’t want to be tied to any DAW. Especially if buying expensive interfaces. If it were Luna only, I like most would never consider it. Nothing against Luna, but it’s still in its infancy.
That however is only part, it’s bad enough that you have to use ProTools for any Avid DSP systems, but ProTools is a much more powerful DAW than Luna today. In the future I’m confident that will change, it’s the same growing pains Studio One went through, which is great today!
I picked up and still run
X6 daisy chained
Best bang for the Buck as it has the same 6 dsp’ HEXA as the more expensive racks
I/O solutions are a pretty easy logistical chore these days so having the same horse power as the big brothers was an easy sell for me
Running the last gen iMac 5k intel maxed in every category
no silicone m1 for me yet, still waiting for more than a year to see if they don’t implode, explode, de-load or erode with time
I’ve not had any processing problems with Protools, logic, studio one or Ableton with only the occasional PTs errors we all get a love regardless of choice of machine
Old timers have our work arounds and always have
So it would take something pretty amazing at namm from UA to get more hardware $$ out of me
Just got some of the stomps for stage use
I think you're right Barry... UA forgot so long about the OX Box. Maybe this is another indication for a new Apollo line.
What I would like to see is: 1. LUNA without a Apollo 2. New Apollo line with NO SHARCS in it. 3. New OX
That would be a happy day.
Completely agree with Carbon playbook. I think this has been the game plan from the moment LUNA came out. You can tell watching office hours that they want LUNA to have similar shortcuts to PT, and the actual concept with its deep Apollo integration is very Carbon-like.
Edit: would be great if they took over as the industry standard from PT.
What's office hours?
@@DaMixWizard they had a weekly show where they demonstrated various LUNA features.
@@yikelu oh ok 👍🏽
Interesting. I am an UAD User since years, when the computer power was much lower than today. Maybe i would change to another system. But i don´t know which. For me a big reason to use UAD is the ability of having a very good mic pre simulation in the first row of the single chain. Where are the alternatives in your opinion? Thanks and greetz. Awesome channel here. *subscribed* ✌🏼
I bought a Burl Mothership running on Dante and haven’t looked back. I’m getting great results. UA Apollo’s we’re great when they first came out, but they haven’t aged well. The tone I get from the Burl is outstanding. I loved my Apollo, but Burl is where it’s at. I will never forget where I came from, Tascam Midi Studio and 4 Tracks, then my first DAW (nTrack), then moved to a ProjectMix I/O and Pro-Tools in 2006 where I stayed until I bought the Apollo Quad in 2010, and in 2022 I moved to a Mac Studio with Reaper and Burl. I still use my Apollo and play around with LUNA, but I’d love to see a high end transformer based interface running on Dante from Universal Audio. I love the Burl because the inputs are all transformer based and the BX5 circuit is amazing for Mixdown/Mastering.
I have a Burl Audio B2 Bomber and it’s fantastic. I am going to be moving to a Mothership going forward. I’m on 3 Avid 16x16IO currently, so maxing out the Mothership is going to be costly. I use a lot of hardware inserts.
@@frequincyrecording4286 It’s worth it. We’re running two Mothership B80s and they’re spectacular.
the point will be if they increase the dsp power to handle a few more plugins
An Apollo X12P would be a winner!
I hope your right.
been waiting for years.
I'm waiting to upgrade my interface, but I will wait for UA to make something with 768khz like the RME ADI, but I want it with 64 bit and 32 channels. something that will have the converters of a LYNX, clocking like the Antelope and great mic pres, that is what I want from my next interface.
$$$$$
It would be great if the improve the converters
New Apollo will have network audio and updated conversion. New version of console more customizable and let’s hope Luna for windows.
As some one who loves the DSP concept with two 8ps and two satellites. What I would love to see is ua announce the ability to run any AU pluggin on a shark. Like for instance running Steven state drums 5 Au or a Logic Pro x synth while tracking at the highest buffer and minimal latency. This would be the only (game changer) I can think of. You can already use plugs natively while using UA there is no reason to add a feature that already exists. But process 3rd party’s that’s a real game changer. It would make my life a heck of a lot easier. I would never have to touch the buffer and that would be epic! That coupled with maybe a more powerful processor. Maybe I need a new computer lol but I’m running an i7 with 32gb or ram on a retina. Unless the apple silicon is like 8 times faster? If I’m adding a midi intrument 50 -100 tracks in, I don’t want to mess with the buffer and I only see shark native 3rd party support doing that. Currently I’ll decrease to the lowest buffer and deal with the horrific audio while tracking midi notes.
I mean you know you want Slate drums, kemper and line size helix on the the shark. You know you dooo haha.
I’m going to hold out to buy a rack mount until NAMM 2023. I have a solo write now and would like something to work with outboard gear. RME fire face ucx ii is pretty compelling, for 1600, but I would like to stick with UA. I really hope UA puts at least 70 db gain range in the new preamps. 55 db is not enough for my sm7b.
I ended up just purchasing a Cloudlifter for it.
I believe if UA make “quality” the focal point on “all” their products, they’ll win.
For one thing, their converters! If a company offered the best converters on everything, then you wouldn’t be concerned about some of your high end gear being compromised. Everyone is chasing, (and selling), “world class!” I’ve been a professional musician for 43 years, and only recently started my own studio and like a lot of people, bought a Apollo twin mk11 quad, and as I’m learning more, Im personally looking for the best signal chain, period. If the Apollo 16 has superior converters, then my twin is a compromise.
I’d rather it be me as the weakest link.
I'm betting on that as well.
I'm hoping for improved convertors, and higher quality preamps.
I unfortunately discovered this year, after a weekend recording session that the sound you hear live off the interface is not the same quality as what gets recorded.
I started noticing that the very open, hi res and 3D sound you hear out of the Apollo headphones or monitors doesn't get fully captured in the recording. And yes, console was set to rec. I was really quite disappointed.
I hope there is a way to change that.
This is a problem with all audio interfaces. The only way to solve is record in 96K or higher.
the record arm enabled dsp seems like maybe a Luna feature...idk if that would be possible on other daws....how would the plugins communicate with the record button? idk my 2 cents.
you might be right😀
What I would like to see is LUNA being able to run on any audio interface
There’s no incentive for UA to do that.
@@DesignsbyBlanc what did you say, Terry? 😉😉
@@robertdornmusic I guess you can never say never. Still, I'm hard-pressed to think that UA would waste the money on R&D to get LUNA to work on other Audio interfaces when they can focus on existing customers or people already considering UA to buy in on their ecosystem.
@@DesignsbyBlanc Check out LUNA v 1.4 , released more than a week ago now, it can run on ANY audio interface not just apollos :)
@@robertdorn media.tenor.com/WrbE2wl1WW4AAAAC/hat-tip.gif
You might be right about Townsend labs it’s the same thing I predict, but I hope you’re wrong about the Apollo, I just bought an X4 🙃
Not sure if you are gonna be right but I hope so. I just pumped a crapload of money into them with x6 two octos and ultimate in 2020 right before the m1 generation. I love it and don’t complain cause I it’s still so good. And I bought an M1 Max as well. Won’t be able to afford it anyway.
Is the m1 that much faster? I thought it was just more efficient and would do the same as a maxed out Intell with ram but without getting hot ext. Unless the code has changed making it more efficient ext. Back when it came out, I watched a lot of rendering shootouts but it didn’t look like the m1 dominated in speed, but the intels hyper threading would have to slow to keep cool.. a simple code change could perhaps change that though over time.
Apollo sounds great i go back to the silver face, and it sounds great. The problem I had was apollo 8, I did an ab comparison of the flatness. And the silver face was better than the 8 series, When X series came out I did a A B comparison with the original source, I could not tell the difference between the original source and the recorded copy The problem with avid is the support, and the units are expensive and expensive. My concern is will we see a carbon in 10 years . I still have great support with my 10 year old silver face.
I would like to see more DSP on the next Apollo with much better converters.
I would like to see UAD stop giving users on older AMD platforms the cold shoulder and release a USB3.2 version
They like apple 🍏 maybe in the future 10 years from now
More DSP sure, but aren't their converters already better than you'd ever need, with a dynamic range of 130dB?
@@soundmattersuk we could always use better.
133db of Dynamic range doesn't mean better. Hell The finest converters in the world from Apogee, Lynx, Lavry.. doesn't even have specs like that. The Hell Dynamic range is really a marketing gimmick that doesn't tell you the whole story of how a converter sounds, infact it has very little to do with how a converter sounds. It's the analog circuitry, power supply design, cross talk interference, clocking and the quality of electronic components used that gives its sound. Dynamic Ranage is simply measurment of Signal to Noise Ratio of how loud a signal can be with out digital distortion or how quite the noise floor is. The Lynx Aurora n is one of the world's finest Mastering Grade converters based off the Halo design used in Mastering studio's that has a Dynamic range far less than the Apollo but yet you don't see apollos being used for Mastering.
Hope there will be a good one for Windows 11. USB
If I’m not mistaken, LUNA can do this now. ARM can be enabled for any channel. In fact, AVID copied LUNA (kinda) with the Carbon’s ability to have the DSP dedicated for a channel and then go back to Native.
That's true. The only difference is that not all the plugins are Native yet. So if you track through a Neve 1073 LUNA will use the DSP version and then you can use the native. However if you track through a distressor for example, you still have to use the DSP version on your session as they don't have them available in Native yet.
True. Hopefully at NAMM UAD will merge uadx and uad dsp plugins and also release their full library to uad spark. 🤔
I hope they come out with a new Apollo twin x4 but with more processing power, and native ability. I just need a small interface but want access to their plugins.
Also allow USB 3.2, jerks.
Invest in a New Mac next year and use stock plugins, that's the way it will be for most home studios. As you say, there is no need to invest in DSP processors atm. UAD will need to show that this isn't the case at NAMM or lose a substantial market. I'll be interested to see what happens next.
I think they will keep developing until they can ditch softube and brainworx, then gradually move over to the new concept until all the UA plugins have 2 versions. NAMM I would agree with you, because they can use their older sharc processors for their pedals and have to keep being in peoples minds for one more year.
These dudes at UA have board meetings and play your videos to decide what to do next.
I’m hoping for Dante, and Atmos 7.1.4 monitoring. I’d like them to tripple their DSP
I think thats what they are gonna do, i believe atmos is here to stay and UAD is behind as of now
I'd like the solo, twin and x4 to have the same clock as the x6, x8, x8p. That way when you use them as your controller, there is no theoretical loss in quality.
Why doesn’t UAD also partner with a room adjustment company like SONARWORKS so that you can get a bit of flattening a room as we work more remotely?!?!?? Ugh!!!!
I wish they would update Console to be able to only print certain plugins while recording. Sadly it’s all or nothing (aside from the unison preamps of course)
I would like to have better conversion and master grade headphones amp in the news apollos.
Maybe I should wait to get an interface.
If they make their new interfaces to align with the what Avid did, I wonder if the costs will reduce?
Very good perspective.
Their converters are fine but they are not really quite as good as the converters in the $200 Audient iD4.
Can u run extra plugins natively on spark if you run out of dsp from your apollo? Like use dsp and native at the same time?
The plugins with Spark only run natively.
I think you’re missing the addition of Dolby Atmos. I see an interface to compete with focusrite and the MTRX studio in the Atmos market at the top end
Good to know, that’s not something I’m knowledgeable about.
@@BarryJohns My fingers are cross for it - I'm a big fan of UA stuff and used a x8 and x8p for years but when I realized I wanted to make the jump to atmos in the next bit I sold both interfaces and moved down to using my Apollo Twin (w/ a dsp satellite) with an extra Audient ASP800 over ADAT for more I/O - at the time when I started looking into the upgrade the only option appeared to be Focusrite with a separate (and very expensive monitor controller/room correction) or two MTRX Studios to the tune of 10, 000 and getting locked in the AVID ecosystem (something I was trying to avoid as I use Ableton a lot and it seems(ed) there are compatibility issues with HDX and Ableton) - really hoping UA solves all of these issues in the coming months - I think it would be a big step forward in making it easy for people to adopt Atmos in their studios.
For my money DSP has to stay in some capacity… Tracking with unison is THE reason to buy UA. That old school workflow in a box is their USP, if they drop that, they’re just like everyone else. T
I just bought a new X6. Primarily to be able to use the outputs to do 5.1 monitoring. I was waiting to see if new Apollo's would come out, but needed the ability for 5.1 now. I got a free Sphere L22 so it was'nt all bad, but I expect Uaudio to come out with new Apollo hardware with more than 7.1 monitoring, maybe 7.1.4, or dolby atmos possibly. Cannot be done with current gen uAudio hardware (Limited to 7.1 with X8 or above)
Apollo X16
I talked to UAD yesterday they said you can still do that deal if the company like Sweetwater,etc. still have the Sphere Mic in stock. They said just tell them you want the Apollo w/ the Sphere Mic deal. So I'm thinking about scooping it up
Hey Barry when is Focal going to update their Shape line?
I predict an upgrade to console. More than 4 headphone mixes is needed and adding SPDIF to all Apollo interfaces would be great.
More hardware based advancements like the unison too. Actual impedance matching etc.
I'm waiting for any news with the L22
if you're right.. do you think it's a smart move to sell my X8P and my X4 now or in January?
No, don’t sell your interfaces, this is the prediction, no gtd I’m right.
I find it strange that UA never released any 500 series Modular hardware given how popular that format is now today.
Good point.
I recently wanted to buy an Apollo x8P, I ended up buying a Apogee Ensemble thunderbolt, same features at half the cost. I don’t care about onboard DSP, I care about the physical features of the interface. The entry price for an 8 pre UA interface is ridiculous.
I not a subscription guy… I’ll go hardware any day over subscriptions.
They did update the Apollo rack mounts from 4 to 6 cores from the black edition. One more thing. I don’t think that UA cares a wink about avid and the carbon. I don’t think avids sales are anywhere near what UA did with the apollos plus it’s only one unit. UA has several versions of the Apollo and now their volt line. If anything avid came out with the carbon to compete with the Apollo because everyone knows protools is losing sales for years and not just because of UA but because of many other interfaces and daws. The Apollo is being labeled as a industry standard in the audio world just because they are widely popular. Everyone knows about the Apollo. The carbon is like what who? One thing they UA should add is support for Dante and come out with a control surface. It would be cool to see them come out with more dsp cores but that would mean their units will get up over 4 and 5k and it won’t be that affordable for home studio users.
If they come out with a new interface, I hope they keep it at the same price & drop the price of the current ones until they run out of the current Apollo's...x6, x8, x8p, x16.
Im not sure I understand your prediction really…other than that they will “revise” their interface?
Thanks for the perspective Barry! It would make sense to follow Avid in this case like you say, it would honestly be a really good thing for UA customers and make Luna more attractive as a recording platform. Best of both worlds, DSP/Native.
It'd be great if @UAudio would allow the USB interfaces to also work on OSX... To force USB to Windows only is TRULY price gauging! Maybe if lucky, the E.U. will force them to make USB non-specific in the same way that Apple must now adopt USB-C connector type standards on their mobile devices.
USB interface is Windows only... who in the heck would have EVER presumed that it was specific to an O.S.? USB is universal for a reason, and should not require as much research between computer platforms.
UA upgrade Shark processors please... long time fan and user.
I wish UA was a little cheaper for their "pro" interfaces lol can't afford a 3-4 Grand interface
As a long time UAD user, I have loved the platform. However I find myself wanting for more features tailored to the live sound world. I do about half and half studio and live sound work. Sometimes it's both where I'm going out on location to do live recording for a band or orchestra. I have thought about the potential that UAD has to build a console surface with their plugins running onboard. I think this could be a game changer in studio world too for small to medium format studios where you might need more than 4 units connected at distance. For example - a physical control surface running a modified version of the UAD Console software that natively connects and interacts with Luna. UAD if you're listening, here's the main points of a proposed feature set. See any flagship live console for more details.
- 24+2 or 36+2 fader control surface with modular DSP slots and digital IO card slots (fader banks of 12 or 16 preferred, extra 2 faders set to be assignable)
- Console has large touch screen, iPad app, onboard RTA, 96+ input channels, 24+ bus/matrix outs (bonus points if the DSP is software configurable to change the number of ins and outs needed)
- Modular DSP using existing UAD PCIe cards - or next-gen proprietary DSP cards.
- Add functionality to UAD Console app to be able to program an entire system without being connected to the hardware
- System can operate at different sample rates - 44.1-192k (potentially based on DSP allocation, 192 is a stretch, but full function and digital IO at 96k would be a minimum requirement)
- Release digital IO option cards for existing 8ch apollo units - Dante/Madi/AVB (Dante preferred in my case) or even a proprietary network protocol over cat6 or fiber. All 3 of these protocols support control and audio data so I dont think its too much of a stretch to swap over all of it
- Thunderbolt 4 from console to computer for recording/playback/DAW control
- Apple silicon compatible audio drivers
- 16, 32, 48, 64ch IO boxes (with enough DSP onboard for unison preamps. No need for a whole plugin chain, just one slot for unison) built like apollos, but without the ADAT, headphone and all the buttons and knobs. Use modular digital cards in the IO boxes - These also would have next-gen 32bit/192khz converters
- Bonus points if the IO boxes can operate in stand alone mode without a console control surface - for record only jobs where a computer running UAD Console app can control preamps and simple routing
- Luna implementation with transport/edit/mix functions (but please open up hardware functionality to other major DAW's via MCU or HUI)
-Double bonus points if a 64ch system can be priced around $60-70k. I think this is a realistic price point given the feature set when compared to other systems in this price range
Basically take some features of the Avid S6 and S6L - or in Yamaha world the Nuage and Rivage systems - and mix that up into a smaller format modular system with UAD inside.
It just seems to me that UAD has so may of the pieces in place already that it wouldn't take a ton of R&D to make this happen. The existing UAD hardware and software is so close to having these features, I feel like it wouldn't take a whole lot for them to put something like this together.
A system like this would be an absolute GAME CHANGER for me. I could use the same tool for every job - Studio and Live - and it would just make everything much much easier.
PS - I know Presonus and behringer make stuff with some of these features, but I want UAD quality and plugins onboard.
PLEASE UAD. If you're reading this - I'll be your first beta tester
Just hope I don’t need to sell all my Apollo’s 🤔😬.
Hey Barry, as far as plug-in quality goes, uad’s stuff sounds really good, that’s not up for debate. However, the idea that recording necessitates external DSP and seems sort of crazy to me. Coming from a Third World country, UAD‘s hardware is all but unattainable for the vast majority of persons here. that being said, engineers are using plug-ins from companies like waves and through technologies, such as core audio. 4ASAO we have been tracking vocals, with sometimes no perceived latency. I’ve personally have tracked hundreds of vocals using nothing but a Steinberger or SSL interfac with no complaints.
🙂❤️🔥🙌🙏🏼
The biggest turn off with Apollos for me is them not having a 16 channel 44/48k option for the adat like most the competitor products. Hopefully this changes with the next generation