HDX + Apollo Workflow?

[johnsongs]

Hi All,

Was watching this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rt9tDwS9TI

Which is Suzy Shinn demoing the new splice integration.

I couldn't help but notice she is working with hybrid engine -- but has an Apollo clearly getting signal in the background.

Does anyone know how this studio is set up? Are those two interfaces setup to work together?

I happen to have both a Carbon and an Apollo and a setup like this would interesting to me.

I've tried just taking the ADAT inputs from an Apollo before -- but there is an inherent delay you have to account for which makes it almost not worth the extra effort.

Anyone (maybe with knowledge of that studio) have any insight?

Thanks!

[[email protected]]

My guess is that she's using Apollo for more I/O. That's how I would do it.


In my little studio I have a Ferrofish A32 that sits in front of my Carbon.. SO all of my I/O goes to the A32 then out to the Line In and ADAT i/o on carbon to give me 24 channels at 48k. I feed all my I/O with a Heritage Super8, Cranborne 500 rack and a few other rack pre's.


Inputs:
Preamps --> A32 --> Carbon --> Computer.


Output:
Computer --> Carbon --> Heritage RAM 2k.


I track drums with Hybrid Engine... and fold back thru PT/Carbon with zero latency. I mean it's almost like recording on a console.

For example, my last session was 17 drum mics, a 2 channel stereo track and a printed click track... Everything has hybrid engine enabled.. zero latency.

I don't know if this answers your question but this setup works REALLY well for me.. and gives me tons of flexibility. To the extent that I can bypass carbon all together if I need/want too.. I also have patch setup to go directly into carbon pre's if I need them.

[tope d]

Hi there!

Might be a parallel setup, and not a fully integrated one.
Here how it's likely being used..
1. Carbon is being used for:
Main recording path

Low-latency tracking via Hybrid Engine

Direct AAX plugin monitoring

2. Apollo is likely used for:
Additional I/O (via ADAT or independently via CoreAudio for other DAWs)

Monitoring or external synths/instruments routing

Possibly Console FX or print paths outside of Pro Tools

[johnsongs]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

My guess is that she's using Apollo for more I/O. That's how I would do it.


In my little studio I have a Ferrofish A32 that sits in front of my Carbon.. SO all of my I/O goes to the A32 then out to the Line In and ADAT i/o on carbon to give me 24 channels at 48k. I feed all my I/O with a Heritage Super8, Cranborne 500 rack and a few other rack pre's.


Inputs:
Preamps --> A32 --> Carbon --> Computer.


Output:
Computer --> Carbon --> Heritage RAM 2k.


I track drums with Hybrid Engine... and fold back thru PT/Carbon with zero latency. I mean it's almost like recording on a console.

For example, my last session was 17 drum mics, a 2 channel stereo track and a printed click track... Everything has hybrid engine enabled.. zero latency.

I don't know if this answers your question but this setup works REALLY well for me.. and gives me tons of flexibility. To the extent that I can bypass carbon all together if I need/want too.. I also have patch setup to go directly into carbon pre's if I need them.

Awesome that’s good to know! How do you handle latency? By my calculation, running the Apollo and taking the ADAT inputs from it introduces about 220 samples.

[johnsongs]

Originally Posted by tope d

Hi there!

Might be a parallel setup, and not a fully integrated one.
Here how it's likely being used..
1. Carbon is being used for:
Main recording path

Low-latency tracking via Hybrid Engine

Direct AAX plugin monitoring

2. Apollo is likely used for:
Additional I/O (via ADAT or independently via CoreAudio for other DAWs)

Monitoring or external synths/instruments routing

Possibly Console FX or print paths outside of Pro Tools

Thanks for this! If I take:

Preamp -> Apollo -> ADAT OUT Apollo -> ADAT IN Carbon

And record one of those ADAT channels I seem to get about 4ms of latency, which I assume is coming from the Apollo's processing and A/D conversion. Maybe it comes from the input delay compensation on the Apollo hardware?

[[email protected]]

This is essentially my setup with A32/Carbon.. with hybrid engine latency is almost un-noticable.

If I turn off hybrid engine there is a an audible delay.. unusable

[johnsongs]

Originally Posted by [email protected]

This is essentially my setup with A32/Carbon.. with hybrid engine latency is almost un-noticable.

If I turn off hybrid engine there is a an audible delay.. unusable

Have you ever measured the latency added by adding it over ADAT? Maybe your interface is faster but without all the magic using the Apollo as the main interface the ADAT latency is kinda high…

[LDS]

~4ms sounds about right. 2.2-3ms for UAD console, 1.7ms for Carbon. It’s the worst of both worlds when you consider a modern native system with UADx plugins can do better, with less restrictions on plugin count related to DSP power.

I wouldn’t rule out the hybrid engine presence being due to a paid Pro Tools promotion. She has been a UAD user for a long time. Maybe she transitioned to HDX, but keeps the Apollo around for UAD plugins. Might not even be her studio! In either case, you’d be better off sticking with either UAD or Carbon rather than mixing them for most applications…

[dominicperry]

You can't take anything from that, it's a Promo.

One YT comment says it's Sound Factory. Looks possible to me...but I've never been there.
Could be PT doing the work through HDX or Carbon with an Apollo recording the session separately for the video. No way of knowing.

Dominic

[[email protected]]

Originally Posted by johnsongs

Have you ever measured the latency added by adding it over ADAT? Maybe your interface is faster but without all the magic using the Apollo as the main interface the ADAT latency is kinda high…

I haven't done any measurements.. I suppose I could. I was surprised at how bad the delay was when hybrid engine was turned off on my playback track.

TBH I never really spec'd out the A32 to use in this way. I've used Ferrofish stuff before for my location recording gig so I knew it was solid gear. When I was looking for a solution I wanted something that had enough I/O to run everything I have into one box.. Then I could take what I want out into Carbon. A32 has Dante as well, so I can bypass Carbon altogether without unplugging anything.