Replace QU-32 with Apollo 8 quad.

[ramonetl]

Hi all I am looking for some opinions on a potential change to my home studio. I always for 10+ years used a TAC Scorpion console with a pair of echo 12 firewire units to hook into at the time my PT9 session (had hw alesis hd system prior). When my console burned up I decided it was time to go fully digital and I ended up buying a Allen and Heath QU-32 which has worked very nicely. But i find a lot of the time I am not really mixing much and most of the level changes im doing within my PT12 environment. I came across the Apollo 8 videos and realized that I probably dont in my situation even need an external console since I am doing everything on my mac and I could virtualize this and free up a lot of floor space and consolidate further my footprint. I run on average 16-24 tracks playback and rarely record more than 4 mics though if I use a drum program I am recording 8 individual tracks but that is all in PT. So I am trying to determine if it would be a good decision to sell my QU-32 and buy the apollo 8 quad (it would pretty much pay for it). Im not sure if the duo is the better option saving $500 but I assume with processing I might want it later so if anyone has experience with the duo and if it came up short please advise. Currently there is also a special where they are giving away a free UAD-2 Satellite QUAD DSP Accelerator. So I need to make a decision now on if I want to make the jump.

My HW setup:
Macbook Pro early 2013 quad w 16gb ram
Dual Dell 27" via Display Port
Belkon TB Dock
Miktek dual preamp
Joe Meek Twin qcs pream
Torpedo Live Load Box
TC G-System
Allen Heath QU-32 Console
M-Audio M6 Powered Monitors

Questions I have:

1. Is it worth it to get the duo with the free accelerator and save the $500. After all isnt that accelerator doing the processing I would have done with the quad if running a lot of plugins.

2. I have 2 TB outs. I run one into a Belkin dock and the second to a Display port for a second monitor. Can I daisy chain from the apollo to get my second monitor since I dont have many TB ports? I am going to eventually upgrade and may do a mac pro but til they refresh it, thats not really a good value. If they do that, these should drop in price or I just get the new one with TB3. Alternatively if price drops and 32gb ram is offered I may consider a new macbook pro.

3. I read about bottleneck IO issues. I track mainly directly to my SSD and the copy externally for backups. Should I expect any issues? My next mac will have at least 1tb ssd and maybe 2 if the price drops.

4. Am I doing this all wrong and am I totally confused. I gotta wonder if I am doing the right thing.

4. Sweetwater has a discount for the UA plugins at time of purchase if you buy a bundle. Not cheap but I hear great things. Is this worth it or better to buy later perhaps on black friday sales etc. or just as needed individually?

Thanks all! Peter

[albee1952]

Question #1-maybe. The question(and UAD users will need to answer this) is; how much latency is caused by the round trip to the external box and back. Running plugins on my UAD Quad card, every plugin shows over 1100 samples of latency, making it impossible to track with UAD plugins. The Quad Apollo allows you to run plugins with zero(or near zero) latency. Score 1 for the Quad Apollo.

I'll leave the other questions to Apollo users Re needing or not needing a console; I have been running with no console for 8 years now. I recently added an Artist Mix and Transport, and have a Presonus Faderport(very handy for transport buttons, has a footswitch jack for quick-punch and buttons to swap between MIX and EDIT windows) and find I am slow to actually using the Artist Mix(IOW, I agree that you don't need a console). Maybe all you really need is a handy control surface(so check out the new Faderport8 from Presonus)

[Drew Mazurek]

Apollos (Twin, 8, 8P, and 16) are for live tracking using their DSP, the Satellites are mix only due to latency.

[davemartone]

Originally Posted by ramonetl

Hi all I am looking for some opinions on a potential change to my home studio. I always for 10+ years used a TAC Scorpion console with a pair of echo 12 firewire units to hook into at the time my PT9 session (had hw alesis hd system prior). When my console burned up I decided it was time to go fully digital and I ended up buying a Allen and Heath QU-32 which has worked very nicely. But i find a lot of the time I am not really mixing much and most of the level changes im doing within my PT12 environment. I came across the Apollo 8 videos and realized that I probably dont in my situation even need an external console since I am doing everything on my mac and I could virtualize this and free up a lot of floor space and consolidate further my footprint. I run on average 16-24 tracks playback and rarely record more than 4 mics though if I use a drum program I am recording 8 individual tracks but that is all in PT. So I am trying to determine if it would be a good decision to sell my QU-32 and buy the apollo 8 quad (it would pretty much pay for it). Im not sure if the duo is the better option saving $500 but I assume with processing I might want it later so if anyone has experience with the duo and if it came up short please advise. Currently there is also a special where they are giving away a free UAD-2 Satellite QUAD DSP Accelerator. So I need to make a decision now on if I want to make the jump.

My HW setup:
Macbook Pro early 2013 quad w 16gb ram
Dual Dell 27" via Display Port
Belkon TB Dock
Miktek dual preamp
Joe Meek Twin qcs pream
Torpedo Live Load Box
TC G-System
Allen Heath QU-32 Console
M-Audio M6 Powered Monitors

Questions I have:

1. Is it worth it to get the duo with the free accelerator and save the $500. After all isnt that accelerator doing the processing I would have done with the quad if running a lot of plugins.

2. I have 2 TB outs. I run one into a Belkin dock and the second to a Display port for a second monitor. Can I daisy chain from the apollo to get my second monitor since I dont have many TB ports? I am going to eventually upgrade and may do a mac pro but til they refresh it, thats not really a good value. If they do that, these should drop in price or I just get the new one with TB3. Alternatively if price drops and 32gb ram is offered I may consider a new macbook pro.

3. I read about bottleneck IO issues. I track mainly directly to my SSD and the copy externally for backups. Should I expect any issues? My next mac will have at least 1tb ssd and maybe 2 if the price drops.

4. Am I doing this all wrong and am I totally confused. I gotta wonder if I am doing the right thing.

4. Sweetwater has a discount for the UA plugins at time of purchase if you buy a bundle. Not cheap but I hear great things. Is this worth it or better to buy later perhaps on black friday sales etc. or just as needed individually?

Thanks all! Peter

UAD Apollo 8 Quad and Satellite owner here. Its awesome

1. Get the Quad. The Satellite is only for mixing, not tracking
2. Yes you can daisy chain. I have one thunderbolt feeding the apollo which feeds the Satellite which feeds my external monitor. The 2nd thunderbolt feeds a Thunderbolt dock with my sample and Backup drives

3. NO issues. I track right to SSD as well.

4. If you mix in the box you will love it. UAD comes with CONSOLE 2.0 Great virtual mixer

5. They give you a $399 deal at the beginning. Sales do happen so watch for them.

I suggest it.

I am running it all on a Mac Mini, i7 3.0 Gig 16 gigs of ram 1TB SSD

[ramonetl]

Thanks guys. I decided to go for the quad. Since sweetwater has a 30 day window and a killer 4 year no interest its a no brainer to try it. Worst case I just return it for the cost of shipping. Ill package up the qu-32 and put it on the market if I decide to keep the apollo which from what I am seeing is likely. Has anyone setup the UA console with a touchscreen display? I have seen a few in videos and not sure if that is specialized but that would be kind of cool. I also decided to buy the 6 plugin bundle. I figure I will save those for the pricey ones like Manley voxbox etc as it comes out to like 119 I think. Individual and cheaper ones Ill just buy as I need and watch for specials as mentioned. Thanks for the input. I think my studio will completely rearrange since I will no longer have to accomodate a mixing console. Thanks. Peter

[Southsidemusic]

Yes we use 4 of the new black Apollo 8 quad and Apollo 16 (2 of each) and two Satellite Quad black series aswell a s use that setup on two Slate Raven monitors which is touch screens and have 10 multi touch points at once which is awesome.

We went 100% UA after selling off 2 HDX systems and couldn't be happier. The UNISON mode is soo great I have a hard time distinguishing from our real hardware with the UAD-2 plugin equivalent so you will probably NOT return that box

UA plugins works great on those monitors with touch.

And thank GOD you got the quad as the UAD-2 plugins take a lot of power from the Apollo Dsp and a DUO is quite a bit underpowered

[davemartone]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

Yes we use 4 of the new black Apollo 8 quad and Apollo 16 (2 of each) and two Satellite Quad black series aswell a s use that setup on two Slate Raven monitors which is touch screens and have 10 multi touch points at once which is awesome.

We went 100% UA after selling off 2 HDX systems and couldn't be happier. The UNISON mode is soo great I have a hard time distinguishing from our real hardware with the UAD-2 plugin equivalent so you will probably NOT return that box

UA plugins works great on those monitors with touch.

And thank GOD you got the quad as the UAD-2 plugins take a lot of power from the Apollo Dsp and a DUO is quite a bit underpowered

+1

[ramonetl]

Originally Posted by Southsidemusic

Yes we use 4 of the new black Apollo 8 quad and Apollo 16 (2 of each) and two Satellite Quad black series aswell a s use that setup on two Slate Raven monitors which is touch screens and have 10 multi touch points at once which is awesome.

We went 100% UA after selling off 2 HDX systems and couldn't be happier. The UNISON mode is soo great I have a hard time distinguishing from our real hardware with the UAD-2 plugin equivalent so you will probably NOT return that box

UA plugins works great on those monitors with touch.

And thank GOD you got the quad as the UAD-2 plugins take a lot of power from the Apollo Dsp and a DUO is quite a bit underpowered

Ok glad I got your seal of approval. Have you seen the Acer 27" touchscreen with the much higher resolution? Saw someone in a pic using it with the UA console. 2560x1440 resolution vs 1080P is a lot more space to work with. :) https://www.amazon.com/Acer-T272HUL-...27+touchscreen

[Southsidemusic]

Hey

I haven't used any other screens with touch other than the Slate Ravens since thats the first ones for Mac computers but windows users have surely used a larger selection of screens so if others could chime in that would be great

IMO the Acer screen looks super sweet and you would probably be happy with it.

Just remember that all the touch screens will only let you do one command at a time (only one touch point) so moving more than one fader or one parameter won't work. Just so you have that in mind and don't get disappointed if you get one. So of you never need to do more than one action at a time then why not.

However as the Ravens are under 1K USD and you will have 10 simultanious touch points and the Slate Batch Commander with 1000's of quick actions i would look at those if a normal screen is only $175 less.

Again thats just in my opinion of course.

[Tiboy]

Go for the Quad. It's amazing. Unison is an overwhelming feature. Tracking and mixing here every day with a macbook pro 2014 i7 quad and 1 TB SSD.
Never had Problems. And all the UA plugs are really really good and it makes so much fun to use, especially while tracking with this amazing quality. I think a Duo is definitely not enough with all the DSP-hungry Plug Ins. Depends on your daily workflow, for sure