Mix magazine roundup of audio interfaces for DAW-based recording in May 2012 Mix magazine gear product feature

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16/05/12 10.16

Audio Interfaces | The Bridge to Your DAW

May 1, 2012 9:00 AM, By Mike Levine NEW CONNECTIVITY, SMALLER UNITS HIGHLIGHT THE LATEST CROP OF AUDIO INTERFACES Universal Audio Apollo
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The amount of outboard gear in a typical studio has dropped precipitously in this era of DAW-based recording, but theres one piece of hardware that cant be replaced in the box: the audio interface. Quality interfaces give you more than connectivity with your DAW and A/D and D/A conversion; they often have capable mic pres, line and hi-Z inputs, plentiful outputs, mixing and routing software, low-latency hardware monitoring, internal mixers for routingoften controlled by software that you can edit from your computerand some degree of built-in DSP. Based on the features, build-quality, and component quality, interfaces truly run the gamut price-wise. You can spend under $100 for a no-frills USB 1.1 model with one or two inexpensive mic pres, or close to $6,000 for a top-of-the-line, pro audio quality FireWire 800 unit with pristine converters, high-end pres, and numerous and varied I/O options. In the audio interface field, like in other areas, advances in technology are sparking design changes, and this is impacting the products being released. The goal here is to spotlight some of the intriguing new audio interfaces that have hit the market, to see how they fit in those trends, and to try to discern where the market is headed in terms of product design, connectivity standards and more. Dual Role One of the most talked about recording products at this years NAMM show was the Universal Audio Apollo. More than just a high-quality interface, Apollo also has the equivalent of a UAD-2 Duo or Quad card built in, depending whether you buy the Apollo Duo ($1,999) or Apollo Quad ($2,499) model. As mentioned, DSP is relatively common in audio interfaces. MOTU, RME, Metric
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Mix magazine roundup of audio interfaces for DAW-based recording in May 2012 Mix magazine gear product feature article

16/05/12 10.16

Halo, Steinberg, Focusrite and PreSonus are among the manufacturers who have interfaces that include onboard processing of some sort, but the Apollo takes the concept into new territory by combining the power and flexibility of its hardware accelerator cards with the functionality and features of an interface. Both Apollo models come loaded with the Classic Analog Processors Bundle, which comprises five UAD2 plug-ins, including several classic plug-in emulations, a reverb and a channel strip. You have to purchase the others separately, but you have Universal Audios entire plug-in lineup to choose from (you do get a $100 voucher toward your first plug-in purchase). You can track or monitor through these effects, and also access them from your DAW during mixdown, just like you would with a standard UAD-2 card. Because the processing happens within Apollo, using its effects will have no impact on your resident CPU and offers low latency, down to a promised 2 ms, which is short enough not to be a distraction to musicians or singers who are recording. The interface portion of this single-rackspace unit offers 18 inputs and 24 outputs, including analog and various forms of digital I/O, and can handle up to 24-bit, 192kHz audio. On its rear panel are four high-quality mic pres. Unlike UAs outboard pres, such as the 2-610 or 4-710d, the pres on the Apollo are not made to impart a sound.

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Mix magazine roundup of audio interfaces for DAW-based recording in May 2012 Mix magazine gear product feature article

16/05/12 10.16

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