If it were me, I would master the Symphony and slave the Apollo. The clock is probably a bit more stable in the Symphony and would in theory improve the ADDA in the Apollo. If you clocked it opposite, you might as well buy another Apollo for more DSP power.

not to really get into this thing in this thread because it's a vast topic on it's own.. but clocking externally pretty much never improves an interface, usually the opposite,
so the way I see it is that the unit being clocked externally will be the one taking the hit quality wise.

Since the symphony might have better conversion anyway, I'd agree it's best to make it the master.

I'm happy with the conversion on Apollo, my plan is to wait and see how UA address the use of multiple Apollos before deciding on the next set of 8 ADDA i get.

You can't use the Apollo pres with an external converter. You could get say an Aurora and some external pres, or you could get a pre/converter combo and go straight digital from that into the adat ports.

I'm quite sure the Apollo pre will be more of a bottleneck than the converters will though, so don't sweat it.

If you don't need very many channels at once you can get a Great River ME-1NV or something and it will blow your mind. Use it for your money tracks. A ME-2NV would be suitable for stereo but more money.

I just ordered an Apollo Quad. Now I will sit back and twiddle my thumbs until it's back in stock. Jogged over to the Apple Store, picked up a 2.8 MBP. I'm psyched and at the same time am already bored of waiting. Has the UA Thunderbolt interface price been announced yet?

I have two Helios Type 69's and a Heritage 1073...nothing wrong with the Apollo pres at all...

[QUOTE=Dor;7826180]Hey, I ordered my Apollo Duo yesterday and wish I didn't opt for the free shipping as it won't be here until next Thursday! This gives me plenty of time to read the manual and the reviews.



Where did you order an Apollo yesterday and expect it next Thursday. I ordered one and am not expecting it until July. Does someone have them in stock?

Numbers Schnumbers, All I know is I would be thrilled to get the kind of sound your getting cowboy. You've really inspired me. First to get an Apollo, then to get writing and make some music! Got a lot more than I bargained for when I joined this forum and I just wanted to say Thank you!
77

I was studying for next weeks math final when I decided to take a break and check the forum. Mcruff seems to have started a battle of numbers (what he's calling objective truth) vs our ears (what he's calling subjective truth).

I'm so tempted to talk about this but really it's just because I don't want to study anymore.

Did you know that pythagoreans theorem doesn't always work?! Actually it never works in spherical space! And that's a fundamental difference between Euclidean and Spherical Geometry!

I brought this up because it illustrates how concepts that are discussed in numbers can be confusing. You see, you might know a mathematical way of modeling reality with numbers, (such a useful practice that makes our post modern lives available to us) but what is a quite important or highly significant is to know what and when these models of reality are appropriate means of understanding subject and object, as well as at what point they break down or what limitations they have in modeling stuff!

(did I mention I have a philosophy degree. I should shut up and go back to my math test studying)

Anyway the point is people on this forum clearly aren't averse to numbers. One thing we like to do is play with music, and music is filled to the brims with numbers but numbers aren't the end of music. They aren't even the beginning of music. Numbers can be used properly or improperly as maps of sound and can bring joy to humans everywhere. But numbers without inspiration aren't very useful.

I am inspired by our love of music.
Okay enough ranting, time to sleep.

Making music is what this is all about. Glad you are inspired, that's when the music plays best!

That's how I got here, the tracks posted using the Apollo sounded so good, I was inspired to get one. I realize I don't have the technical references to speak with an informed voice regarding converter quality when compared to other brands, but for me, the Apollo was a perfect solution to my home recording dilemmas.

MJR

Exactly its a recording tool: a very good one at the price point !

Purchase your plugs and away you go.

If you wish , desire , have resources to afford can augment with highend gear later.

Class compliant , sounds great, plays nice with my mac: lets me focus on music and improving my recording skills: everything i wanted.

I see little point in criticisms for what it isn't lets celebrate what Apollo is : i am really looking forward to Cowboy dropping his first bluegrass rap song recorded on Apollo !

Kcat

ain't happening. Can't rap can't dance.

Wow. Haven't gotten the Apollo yet but got a quad satellite and using Slate's VCC with the Studer and mixing down to the Ampex is downright unreal! I honestly can not believe how far plugins have come. I say get the Apollo over the Symphony and save the money for the processing. I am ruined now unless I buy both tape plugs!

HI Guys

Sorry to be a pain with this, but just want to make sure I understand it, don't want to damage my new Apollo :-)

Dump the Monitor Outs.

1. Unplug my active monitors from the apollo's main outs.
2. Patch the Monitor outs back into the apollo inputs, lets say inputs 5&6.
3. Set up Pro Tools to record a new stereo track.
4. Record inputs 5&6.
5. Reconnect my active monitors back into apollo's main outs.

If anyone can tell me if this is correct i would be most great full.

Thanx

"ain't happening. Can't rap can't dance.".

Me neither! I tried a few dance lessons once. My girl at the time wanted me to. I figured, hell, I'm a musician, i got rhythm, I can keep time, how hard could it be? Then some little bald chubby guy did a Fred Astaire next to me while I nearly tripped over my two left feet. I found a good excuse not to go there again.

In a day or two, I'm gonna go for the Superior Drummer. tell me if I'm following the signal path correctly. I cobble together a drum pattern, send it to Logic. ( two tracks or 8 tracks?), then, add Apollo processing in the mixdown?

Correct. Remember before you record the track to crank the monitor outs wide open = +4 or line level. Then remember as soon as your finished recording to trim the level back to a normal listening level before reconnecting your monitors.

Thank you Cowboy. Gonna need a patchbay I think, any recommendations.

Thanx again.

John

voodoostudio.org.uk

Samson has a great one for $119.00 USD

Hmm so one would be doing this to reconvert the final stereo mix to impart that sheen ?

Just wondering if we are flirting with how to master using the apollo ? So if one buys a suitable patchbay would it be better to set up this final pass as your mastering session with it saved with appropriate plugs pre loaded as a mastering session ?

Comments? Discussion ?

Kcat

So i was wondering about these plugs and in what sequence:

Mix bus ssl or neve
Ampex
Precision mastering
Multi band compressor
Eq precision or Massive Passive
Maximizer
Limiter

All of course run on apollo !

Kcat

I wish i hadn't looked at the UA sale.

Ah well, at least i can get all of the plugins that i was looking at for almost half price, apart from the new 1176 collection, which use too much DSP for my needs, although they sound just amazing.

Managed to get a decent deal on a UAD 2 Solo Flexi pak. I know the Solo is really quite underpowered, but im only using it for a few reverbs and such, or just for some studer tracks etc. The $500 voucher is great though.

That seems very long winded. The monitor outs are listed as a virtual input in your DAW. You can just create a new stereo track, select MON L/R as your virtual input and record away.

No extra AD step, so in theory better quality than physically routing it out and back in.

Can i PM you ? Friend selling brand new satallite unopened ?

Thx kcat

Interesting!! Thanx for that.

J

still not confirmed if this gives the same "sound" as cowboy's method of printing the physical mon outs… but i'd sure like to know if it gives the same results or not….

Seems that would be a direct digital pass through which wouldn't be any different than rendering offline. The purpose of patching the outputs to the inputs for mixdown is to impart the sonic characteristic of the DA stage, which would be absent if you do an internal loopback.

Not saying it won't work, but it defeats the purpose of what they're trying to do here.

Unless there's a built in patch bay in the unit (which would be a ridiculous cost addition in a device of this type) I'd say it's impossible the results would be the same.

In the UK?

If so, please do.

Exactly right. Might as well bounce to disk if your going this route. Which doesn't do bad, just no mojo.