New Universal Audio portable interface

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by EGS

Help me understand the difference. It seems they use the same cable, but are different in operation and speed. So, if a computer has a USB-C port, it cannot run this Apollo I/O. It MUST be a Thunderbolt 3 port. Is that correct? Here's some info: https://thunderbolttechnology.net/bl...-thunderbolt-3

On the Mac side it's easy.... you see a USB-C port, it's both USB-C and TB3.

On the PC side, it's possible to have USB-C ports, but no TB3 chipset on the motherboard (not talking cards), and hence no TB3. Confusing. To make things worse, the cables are different too. For it to be TB3, it must have the "lightening bolt" on it.

So they share a common connector (which is good) but are different protocols requiring different cables and chipsets.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

On the Mac side it's easy.... you see a USB-C port, it's both USB-C and TB3.

On the PC side, it's possible to have USB-C ports, but no TB3 chipset on the motherboard (not talking cards), and hence no TB3. Confusing. To make things worse, the cables are different too. For it to be TB3, it must have the "lightening bolt" on it.

So they share a common connector (which is good) but are different protocols requiring different cables and chipsets.

Thanks. I just did a little research, and it seems more and more PC's (and motherboard vendors) will offer TB3. Some do now.

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by EGS

Thanks. I just did a little research, and it seems more and more PC's (and motherboard vendors) will offer TB3. Some do now.

yeah, by the end of 2018, hopefully everyone will be on the same page.

[VRW]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

The converters are NOT taken from the Apollo interfaces, they are "derived" from them which is again not the same as "taken from"

Thanks for putting it right.

So, they are finally derived from the Apollos...

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

VRW / Do you own one as your post looks like you have tried this box with statements like super Stable and great sound etc?

I own an Apollo Thunderbolt Gen 1 which, I hope to be right this time, uses the same software/drivers 9.x like the new Arrow.
And this UA software/drivers have been the best and most stable ones I have ever used. No other manufacturer provided such reliable stuff
from my personal experience. Not Digidesign/Avid, not Apogee, not Focusrite etc. Never have experienced such a stable and issue free
performance with any other interface before. That's why I have become an UA fan. The plug ins are nice but there are other nice ones on the market too.

That's how I understood UA´s description at least.

But I'm sure you will set it right again if this should not be correct. Feel free.

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

My opinion is it sounds Good but not like the Apollo MK2 interfaces at all. Not the same headroom or crisp high and low end like the Twin MK2 or the Apollo MK2 Interfaces but still really good for the price and what you get.

Well, fact is the whole MK2 series sounds incredibly well. Amazing indeed.

I set up a small but high class home recording suite for a friend last summer which included a MBP 2016 i7 Quad and an Apollo Twin Mk2
and I was blown away by the audio quality of the Twin MK2.

By the way it was you, South, who drew me into the whole UA stuff once. Remember? Good decision that I allowed you to do that then.
Have not looked back finally.

I still think the UA Arrow is very nice for the price and an alternative option to the Claretts which may sound nice too but suffer from driver
issues from time to time as well as from low preamp gain etc. I have never had any single driver/or any other issue since using the UA stuff...

All the best everybody.


Thanks again, Drew!

[Southsidemusic]

VRW - I soo agree with you that the Arrow is a great interface for the price and I doubt we find something with the same feature set and sound quality for less money or evenfor a bit more, just wanted to be 100% clear if any new guys here want to buy one thinkingthey will sound like the Apollo MK2 interfaces but well worth the $499 price no brainer there. If someoneis looking for a touring unit or just a good unit for location recording small one or two input stuff this is a good interface.

I am happy to hear you are happy with the UA gear, we have 6 units now :

2X Apollo 8P MK2
1X Apollo 16 MK2
1X Apollo Twin Quad MK2
2X Satellite Quad

And 1 Octo on the way we got free as we bought the second 8P Thats a great deal as we saved like 850-900 dollars since we needed more firepower and were gonna buy the octo anyway so free is never a bad thing hehe

I will admit we are probably getting an Arrow so i can use a few UAD-2 plugins on the road or on vacation and just bring the MBP, a mic and be done

All depends on the final street price here in sweden if it willbe worth it or just use the Twin Quad when portability is needed.

Off topic - I wonderif UA are bringing out something new in terms of rack units with T3 connectionsthis Namm or next AES convention ... ? The Arrow might just be the start of some new line of interfaces but maybe I am dreaming this up hehe

The current Apollo line-up is amazing and I have a hard time seeing how much better the converters can get rightnow although as Drew said, the T3 connections opens up for extreme low latency and I think its impossibel to hear 4ms on the units we have now and with the T3 it will be like ~2ms which is crazy low ...

VRW - Sorry if I sounded combative / Was not meant to sound like that,just wanted to be clear for people who use the forum (like me) to make decisions on what to buy after reading all of our recommendations
As you said we have never had one singl crash that was caused by UA or any errors either since day one using their awesome products. The ONLY nighle I have and its IMNSHO is the fact we can't sell any single plugin or sell all of them without selling hardware together. Some plugins might never be used and it would have been great to be able to sell off those we never use and put that money toward new plugins we actually need and /or want from UA as their plugins are EXTREMELY pricey (yes they are probably the best emulations of today) but still pretty costly and the fact we can't sell individual plugins make them worthless if not used on a frequent basis.

[VRW]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

VRW - I soo agree with you that the Arrow is a great interface for the price and I doubt we find something with the same feature set and sound quality for less money or evenfor a bit more, just wanted to be 100% clear if any new guys here want to buy one thinkingthey will sound like the Apollo MK2 interfaces but well worth the $499 price no brainer there. If someoneis looking for a touring unit or just a good unit for location recording small one or two input stuff this is a good interface.

I am happy to hear you are happy with the UA gear, we have 6 units now :

2X Apollo 8P MK2
1X Apollo 16 MK2
1X Apollo Twin Quad MK2
2X Satellite Quad

And 1 Octo on the way we got free as we bought the second 8P Thats a great deal as we saved like 850-900 dollars since we needed more firepower and were gonna buy the octo anyway so free is never a bad thing hehe

I will admit we are probably getting an Arrow so i can use a few UAD-2 plugins on the road or on vacation and just bring the MBP, a mic and be done

All depends on the final street price here in sweden if it willbe worth it or just use the Twin Quad when portability is needed.

Off topic - I wonderif UA are bringing out something new in terms of rack units with T3 connectionsthis Namm or next AES convention ... ? The Arrow might just be the start of some new line of interfaces but maybe I am dreaming this up hehe

The current Apollo line-up is amazing and I have a hard time seeing how much better the converters can get rightnow although as Drew said, the T3 connections opens up for extreme low latency and I think its impossibel to hear 4ms on the units we have now and with the T3 it will be like ~2ms which is crazy low ...

VRW - Sorry if I sounded combative / Was not meant to sound like that,just wanted to be clear for people who use the forum (like me) to make decisions on what to buy after reading all of our recommendations
As you said we have never had one singl crash that was caused by UA or any errors either since day one using their awesome products. The ONLY nighle I have and its IMNSHO is the fact we can't sell any single plugin or sell all of them without selling hardware together. Some plugins might never be used and it would have been great to be able to sell off those we never use and put that money toward new plugins we actually need and /or want from UA as their plugins are EXTREMELY pricey (yes they are probably the best emulations of today) but still pretty costly and the fact we can't sell individual plugins make them worthless if not used on a frequent basis.

Tack tack!

...lovely set up you got...and you never can have enough of these Octos indeed...

Cheers.