I purchased a Symphony MK2 a few months ago to use along with my MKI. I thought maybe it was a crazy thing to do as it wasn't cheap, but you only live once. So far, I've been very impressed. In my experience the Apogee software can be a little flakey if you don't follow a certain order when starting up and I worry about future compatibility, but it sounds amazing. It's even better than I expected, especially monitoring, which I think has helped me make more accurate mixes.

Nice! how are you using MK2 and MK1 together? I didn't know apogee maestro can recognize both thunderbridge (for MK1) and direct thunderbolt connection(Mk2) together or am I misunderstanding something?

Thx

How about the Hilo for both AD/DA + monitoring software (simultaneous outs), etc.?

Hey there. I have an 8 channel card in both the MKI and MKII where they are connected via ADAT. The MKI is in stand alone mode. In the Maestro software for the MKII the MKI shows as digital in and out. You can run the MKI maestro software (connected via USB) to make any adjustments to it (like reference level). Make sense?

Problem is its only 2 channels, I go out the DA into a summing mixer, so need at least 8 analog outs.

What are you using to accommodate the ADAT connection?

The ADAT is simply connecting the MK1 to the MK2. This way the ins and out from the MK1 become digital ins/outs in the MK2 Maestro software that then connect to analog db25 pins on the MK1.

I almost pulled the trigger on some new mkii’s but got gun shy after I couldn’t get tech support on the phone at all. what happened to old fashion support

Apogee tech support chat is great - it's right on their homepage

It's new fashioned!

Who still wants to talk on the phone?

I ll tell you who wants to talk on the phone...Anyone that doesn’t want to sit and type back and forth and would rather talk to a normal human being... plus they don’t offer tech support over chat for the previous mk1 symphonys that i spent 14k on 8 yrs ago. I think it’s a bad move and won’t be giving them any more money. Glad you like to text chat for your support though... perhaps you like automated answering services too..... just not my bag.

I totally understand your preference. Just to be clear - it's absolutely chat with a human being.

O I had a “real person” text me we don’t support your apogee symphony mk1 by text either... SOL

Hi Guys,

I’ve got a MkI with two 8x8 analogue I/O cards.

One of the cards went belly up and stopped the whole unit passing sound previously. I didn’t know what was up with it so I took it to the UK distributor who discovered it was a card and removed it. They told me I’d need to send the faulty card to Germany for repair and I have been using it since without issues with 8 I/O.

Before I sent it off I wanted to rule out an issue with the chassis or ribbon cable. So after testing a ribbon cable switch which showed that’s not the problem, I removed the good card and put in the bad card. Didn’t pass audio with the single ‘bad card’ in it so I isolated the problem to a faulty card.

My strange issue now is that after putting the good card back in (only), all is well except input channels 2 & 4 are about 6dB low! I tried to reseat and swap the ribbon cable to no avail and made sure it’s not an issue elsewhere in my set up.

Sad to read above I can’t get chat support on their site as I have a MkI so I was hoping someone here has any idea wtf is going on

[EDIT]: All working now. Had another tinker making sure all the ribbon connectors etc. we’re secure and the 8 channels are working fine now. Thanks anyway.

I don’t suppose UK people here have experience with repairs? Sound Tech (the UK distro) advised I send the faulty card to Sound-Service in Germany, who told me over email that they may end up sending it to the US anyway. Anyone has experience shipping something for repair directly to Apogee in the US from here?

I’d definitely be wary buying new apogee mk2 as you don’t know when there gonna shut off support for their expensive converters. Mk3 could be around the corner and poof mk2 is now legacy.

My mk1 UA twin is still supported. That’s how it’s done if any appgee executives are reading this and taking notes.

Hello Arichlsss,

Sorry to hear about that. Going back a few years, we switched over from phone support to chat/email support since we needed to start sending files (screenshots, audio, data, etc.) back and forth. Still, we offered phone service whenever our support team had the capacity. However, since the pandemic, the requests have skyrocketed, and we're just barely able to respond to chat/email requests, so phone support is unavailable.

Symphony I/O MKI is a bit harder for us to do on Live Chat. As it's an older Legacy unit we may need to look things up or check with co-workers and get back to you. So we generally don't provide Live Chat support for products that are considered Legacy. Support team might ask a few quick questions first and see if it's something easy or more complicated that needs to go to ticket.

That being said, we still do support MkI units and offer help to their owners. If you are still having issues with Symphony system, please email me directly at [email protected], and I'll be more than happy to help as much as possible!

Apogee symphony io mk1 was released on 2010... thats over a decade ago. Apollo twin mk1 was released on 2014. That being said I partially agree, as I cant use my flagship symphony mk2 on my apple M1 chip laptop, as its taking them forever to update compatibility.

Apogee id also like your attention on this. We have an m1 laptop which i cant use with the flagship product.

With all do respect I was discussing Apollo twin mk1 that is still supported by UA and runs great.

I bought my symphony mk1 brand new in 2014 or 2015 so it’s not really that old .

Hey Greg, I appreciate the reply here. I moved on but glad y’all are taking notice of support shortcomings.

Also invested thousands on a MK1 in 2013!!!

Going with the new Prism when its avail!!!

Can't trust the MK2 will keep up!!!

And as much as the investment is an issue the actual

uninstalling and re-installing is the systems is no joke!!!!

Sorry i had a typo. I was talking about the MKI in fact
-Twin MKI was released in 2014 (here is the press release https://www.uaudio.com/press/release...D%20Processing.)
-Apogee symphony MKI in 2010 (here iis the press release https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/arch...es-symphony-io)
-Apogee Symphony MKII is 2016, thus more comparable to the Twin MKI. In terms of release data... not sonically as MKII is way better :D

You just happened to purchase yours at the end of its lifecycle. The year before it was replaced by the MK2. That being said, I also thiink Apogee however, could be quicker at updating their software. They are still missing support for M1 chipset, in their MK2.

But I guess the question here is how long is reasonable to support a product, particularly past the last production date ?

Cutting support as soon as production ends would seem pretty unprofessional to me (if that where the actual case).

I agree, but i had no problem till I sold my MK1 in 2018. I however did have a problem updating around that time. I think i had a post about this, where it would not let me make updates in catalina or something....

I think I bought Symphony Mk1 in 2015 or 2016, and I would be very disappointed if Apogee stop supporting this high end converter just after 6 years of discontinuance. No more driver update for M1 processor?

AD16x/DA16x user here… finally upgrading to Symphony Mkii hopefully this week. Just my 2 cents from comments above, Apogee has definitely taken tons of time to help me with my older converter questions, so I have full confidence in their support, they’re fast and knowledgeable.

I've been thinking lately about getting a mkII with the 2x6 card, but also thinking about the possibility that they might release an updated chassis with TB3 at some point, sooner than later, it's been a while since mkII came out.

What do you think?

I had a very similar situation a few years back.

I bought a MK1 Symphony with a 16x16 card so I could run everything through my 500 series EQs into my mixing desk.

For a while it felt like I had literally cracked the old tech/new tech conundrum.

Everything sounded clean when I wanted. Like a lot of us I make Library/Production music but I could also go old school for my own songs and other retro projects and mix one instrument per track through my (mostly Heritage 73Jr) Eqs. It was studio heaven!!

Then for some reason my whole Apogee rig went down.

Like you I went on a wild goose chase sending it first to the UK for repair who sent it back and then to Germany. Eventually I was told that the 16x16 card was dead and it was uneconomical to repair it and (basically) tough luck!

At the time my two kids were quite little and my wife and I were super busy looking after them, splitting the duties 50/50 as we both work from home.

I just needed to get back to work so I sold the Mk1 chassis at a big loss (ouch!) and ponied up for a Mk2 chassis with an 8 in 8 out card.

Now my kids are a little older and I have time to get back to my own projects....I'm looking at trying to get back to having 16 analogue outs again but I can't help but feel burned by the situation and another 8x8 card is another huge outlay which could end up being another super expensive piece of landfill!

I know these things happen but when it happens to you it sucks.




Hi Greg,

I wonder if we could talk regarding my situation above?

Can I email you on this link?

Hello,

Yes, please email me at [email protected]

Seems like everything is the "Special Edition" version now. Pretty weird there's no 8X8 SE. It goes from 2x6 then it jumps all the way to 16x16 (and above). I feel like they can't figure out the pricing if they were to release an 8x8 SE. You get the 2x6 SE for $4,475.00 but you can get 14 more inputs and 10 more outputs for $1,000 more? I don't know, their pricing is all over the place. I like their products, pricing is highly questionable, but I'd grab an 8x8 SE in a heartbeat if they dropped one (not holding my breath though).

There's a business term for this type of product offering, where the small one is too small for the customer sweet spot, but you can buy a way too big one to get what you need, but of course for lot's more cash (but hey think about all the added value you're getting!)

They know most ME's only need two I/O on their pitch and catch converters and must tracking/mixing guys want buckets of 8.

Hello all
This is a great thread.
I would love your advice.
I have a MK1 24i/o system which is great but my 2012 Mac Pro is limiting with its OSX and I am looking to get a Mac Studio with Thunderbolt. Therefore, I gathered I would perhaps upgrade my Chassis to MK2 but retain my two (16 & 8) MK1 modules for now. It saves me some money for now, while I make my AD/DA system compatible with the new Mac with Sonoma.
I would love to know your thoughts. Apogee (who I truly respect as a company) responded saying they will work fine.
I’m curious to know if anyone else has done this. Also, I currently have each module in a separate Chassis (2010 MK1 fan issues made me by 2 chassis). So I’m a tad concerned about sticking both Cards in one new MK2 chassis. Any thoughts on MK2 chassis fan noise levels?
Would love to hear from anyone who went this route.
Thanks so much!