ChrisW wrote:Apollo user and big fan of outboard here.
On the downside I think Apollo is expensive, and with the TB card now released at $500, even more so.
The box itself is superb. Very good sound. I've had absolutely no technical issues in the several months I've owned it.
I was previously an Aurora user, and Apollo has many more i/o options. Apollo has two quality headphone feeds, Aurora has none. The mic/pres are excellent, and I've put them up against my Q8 and API's.
The only slight negative I have is a rather confused way of configuring the i/o. Apollo outs 3&4 actually appear at jack sockets 5&6 for example.
Features-wise, Apollo seems very similar to the Prism Orpheus, but maybe Orpheus sounds better, I haven't compared them. Orpheus is certainly more expensive again.
I prefer Apollo to my Aurora.
I've teamed Apollo with a new 27" iMac with Thunderbolt. I'm already using a TB HD (Lacie) and will add the TB card for Apollo over the next couple of months.
Plug-ins: Yes, I have started using the UAD plug-ins latency free on input. Just a bit of mild compression.
The basic UAD plugs are expensive, but as good as anything else out there (Waves etc). I'm not a big fan of plug-ins, but the delay and reverb fx UAD offer sound good and feel extremely realistic to me. I love the EMT 140 plate. It's the kind of thing I'm unlikely ever to own in hardware.
UAD also routinely offer discounts and vouchers towards their plug-ins, which just brings them into line with the native pricing.
I am really glad you popped up on this Chris, as I knew you had one, and was wondering how it was working out for you.
The thing, that made me very interested in the Apollo, hence me watching videos... 8) ...
Was the ability of really low latency whilst tracking with plug ins.
Never having used protools HD, Its one of those things, I would like to try (best without shelling out a fortune to try it) Tracking, through plug ins, whilst still having the ability to change it (not printed compresssion for e.g.)
Example. I am tracking a vocal, through all outboard, mic pre, EQ , Comp, into my Audio interface (RME UCX)
I monitor off the UCX using its Total Mix feature (getting near zero latency) sounds great, and immediate. I have the track fader pulled down all the way in logic, and have reverb and delays etc, set up in logic as pre fader sends. Any latency now caused by Logic functions essentially as a pre delay for the delay and verb.
This also means, that say I am getting close to the end of the song production, and track a new vocal take, I can copy all the automation to a new track in logic, and when I record the new vocal take, all my automated effects I will hear as I am tracking the vocal, this is awesome.
As a one man show, I have to come up with tricky ways to do things sometimes, that you would never have to do, if you had an engineer on the controls for you.
One of the bug bears, is setting up of outboard EQ and Compression, being the only dude.
I do this by setting up the mic and mic preamp, and do a "levels pass". Check the gain staging. Is the mic position right?
Then setting up a hardware insert in logic, and making sure its all at unity gain in and out, pass it through the hardware chain I want. Say API550 B and JLM FC500 comp.
Now using the rough I just recorded, I physically set the EQ and compression for that take, just like I would if it was someone else singing, and perhaps err a little on the side of caution as far as compression goes.
Then I repatch everything, so that the mic pre feeds the EQ and COMP now, prior to A to D.
And then do my vocal Takes.
Its a system that works for me, but it is a little time consuming (not too much) but, my thinking was... if I got the apollo, I could track using plugs inserted in the console(but not recording them). Have copies of those plugs in Logic, running, with the volume on the track fader pulled down, then when I want to hear the take back, I just raise the fader volume up. Bingo, same sound. But not committed to compression or EQ.
I like the idea of doing this for everything I track (as I said one man show) Drums, Bass, Acoustic Guitar etc
As often I might even end up , overdubbing the drums at the near end of the production, I might end up doing 10 different vocal takes at varying stages of the song, as the song develops etc...
If , and this is the big if, its all dependant on the sound coming out of the Apollo console, as far as latency concerned.
Even, with my UCX running 32 sample buffer in Logic, I dont like tracking vocals using software monitoring. But I am happy tracking with hearing my voice straight out of Total mix. I dont really notice it on anything else, drums, bass , guitar or keys, but I do notice it enough on my vocal that it effects my performance.
Long winded I know, sorry.
I just wish, I could try out the Apollo, see if it would work for me, but its too significant an investment to find out, nah.
cheers
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:38 pm