Hey All,

I am currently looking to expand the I/O on my system. I produce mainly electronic music - synths, drum machines, sequencers, guitars, pedals/fx, etc.

I will be upgrading to a Mac Studio Ultra and would like to take advantage of the faster processing speeds, etc, and am looking to “future proof” my setup with a solid TB interface and better conversion. I currently have an Apollo 8P BF with TB2, but I am not tied to the Apollo setup. I do not end up using the UA plugins as much as I anticipated when purchasing the device in early 2016. High quality converters with extremely low latency is of the utmost importance, since there will be a lot of live-playing and parallel processing going on.

I am toying with the idea of just going all-in and switching to a Lynx Aurora N (either 24ch or 16ch and then expanding with maybe an old Aurora, or just biting the bullet and going full 32-channel Aurora N). I am also considering expanding my current setup by just adding an Apollo x16 and staying within the UA family. I am also curious about any viable and cheaper options, such using 8/16 Channel interfaces/line inputs and linking via ADAT, AES, etc.

My current setup - and things that I would like plugged in 100% of the time is:

Prophet Rev2 (2 outputs or 4 outputs)
Access Virus (2 outputs)
Roland TR8s (8 outputs)
Digitakt (1 or 2 outputs 1 input)
Moog Minitaur (1 output)
Nord Drum 3p (2 outputs)
Pedals as Reamp/FX sends 4xStereo (8 output 8 inputs)
Kemper (4 outputs - could be reduced to 2 outputs, 1 send)
ERM Multiclock (1 send)

These leaves my total inputs around ~31, and the numbers of outputs needed at a minimum of 12. I can increase the number of outputs/sends needed if I decide to feed any of my synths or computer audio into the Audio In on my synths/drums machines. I would like the most flexible routing with minimal latency in order to be able to send anything across my setup.

I’m open to the idea of cutting the number of inputs needed by using USB Audio on the Roland and Digitakt, or daisy chaining my FX into 2-channel, but I’d really like to avoid the aggregate device setup in this hybrid workflow, especially since ill be dropping $$$ to upgrade. Maintaining the most flexible and modular setup with super low latency is very important. I have the ERM Multiclock to get bang on Sync between my devices, computer audio and Ableton / playback.

Really curious to get your thoughts on some possible setups here. I am sure there are some things I am overlooking.

Thanks!

RME Digiface USB, 4 Behringer ADA8200 units and 8 TOSLINK cables will get you there.

The ADAT on your Apollo only supports one extra set of channels IIRR even though there are two sets of ADAT ports (the send set are mirror sends)

A MOTU 16A (16 line in out) or a step further a MOTU A24I and 24O combined will give you all the line channels you'll need and plenty spare - you could keep your Apollo over ADAT just for for mic channels although that would be a bit of a waste! The other option would be to go for a more conventional MOTU interface with AVB to give you 8ish line/mic and outs plus a 24I to give you tonnes of lineins for all your kit. Price per channel and expandability it's hard to compete with MOTU.