[musicalnyc]

Still rocking an Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt here in 2023. I think it's the best interface Apogee has ever made and the best all-around audio interface ever. (I also have two Symphony mk2s.) The ensemble sounds really nice but also has some unique features:

1. DualPath Direct monitoring. Essentially the same workflow as Carbon has in Pro Tools, the Ensemble TB has for Logic Pro. When the direct button is on, latency on that channel is 0.35ms RTL at 96kHz!

The main differences to Carbon being, the plugins are limited to Apogees own DualPath plugins, although sends on the direct channel remain active which works great for things like reverbs. And the Ensemble's thunderbolt native latency is incredibly low ~1.1ms roundtrip at 96khz, which is great for virtual instruments.


2. Remote control from Logic Pro and hardware desktop remote via USB.

3. Works great in Pro Tools too! as the native latency is very low, and you can choose to monitor directly through the AAX FX Rack plug in for the even lower latency tracking including through Apogee's limited but very fine sounding collection of plugins.

It's officially discontinued but still working quite well here, though I am admittedly concerned by the number of known issues in the latest version of macOS, so I fear it's end-of-life.

I also hope Apogee doesn't abandon DualPath and direct monitoring but that too has not appeared on the latest Apogee interfaces. I wish Apogee would upgrade the mk2 chassis with all these features.

It seems like the public is not really aware of how nicely this works and seamlessly integrates with Logic (but also offers unique direct monitoring in every DAW!)