UAD Apollo gear use [spinoff topic]

I honestly don’t know. I tried that and beats seem out of step. With the UAD everything sounds tighter.

Plus. The Rytm by itself (with no FX) is pretty uninspiring to me. It’s pretty uninspiring for me to record the kick, then the snare, then the hats all dry. When I add the FX, and commit to them, I’m stoked to keep building more parts. I make small tweaks to the Kulture Vulture or reverb on each part. It gives each part something cool.

I’m just not that inspired to do all that after the fact

In any event, I’m committed to the UAD workflow for now so…:blush:

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Cheers for the info. I lucked out and got the Neve preamp for free as part of a deal for buying and registering a device during the holiday sale season.

The EMT140 is definitely on my list, as is the EP-34. The only thing is that I have a Strymon Flint and El Capistan, which also run on SHARC processors. I’m thinking it might be better to run those in front of the Arrow to save processing power.

I read good things about the SSL E channel strip collection. Is that pretty processor intensive?

One advantage of the Arrow for me is that it’s the only Thunderbolt 3 interface out now. I track things one at a time so I don’t need loads of inputs and I love just needing to connect it with a single cable and no power supply. I also want to use it for bass and guitar, so the lack of latency is a big bonus as well. It definitely ticked all of the right boxes and the plugins are almost a bonus. Haha.

love my apollo mk2 8 quad - huge game changer for me
after a few years of regular use here are my 2 cents about using an apollo with the elektrons

some pros:
-multitracking with realtime uad plugs (even the analog classic bundle that comes for free with the unit) sound amazing esp while jamming/improvising and wanting a nice polished sound
-routing is superb, the mixer software is very easy to setup. I sum 4 elektrons through the apollo mixer and output through a 500 series lunchbox hooked up to a burl b2 adc.
-you can apply realtime plugins even on signals coming from an external ADC (tape plugin on the masterbus oxide/studer/ampex :ok_hand:t5:)
-very easy to expand your system and deal with clocking, all clocking/data signals are sent over single thunderbolt cable between units
-the D.I inputs on the front are great for processing modular/synths with guitar pedal plugins / unison preamps

cons:
-lack of midi support for the apollo console software is disappointing, but softube console 1 hardware works with the apollo now
-no midi i/o
-running the unit at higher sampling rates reduces the number of line outputs that can be used simultaneously
-plugins are locked to each unit and the good ones cost too much money imo
-can’t use the interface without a computer

I would jump on a mk2 apollo 8 unit since they’re pretty discounted due to the apollo X (mk3) units being released. I don’t really run out of DSP but i have a hardware stereo comp and eq. If you don’t need that many inputs but need the DSP for mixing etc the x6 is a nice choice (and matches the mk2 elektrons :sunglasses:)

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Just out of curiosity, have people tried the Galaxy Tape Echo? I’m toying with the option of scaling down even more by selling my El Cap and Flint and picking up the Galaxy and the EMT140 since they are listed on UAD’s chart as needing very little processing power (meaning I could combine them with the Fender Tweed emulation).

https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/215262223-UAD-2-DSP-Chart?mobile_site=true

I have an actual spring reverb tank and a nice analog delay pedal that I can stick in front of my a real tube amp. The Strymons have mostly been used on a mixer recently, and since the Arrow is taking over recording duties it would be possible to streaming’s even further.

I was at gc the other day, and brandon (my favorite employee) told me you can get adapters for apollo 16 in. I believe you can have up to 8 inputs!

It’s called an apollo 16 cause it has 16 analog in/out

Great!!! The Neve Preamp is a great start :slight_smile:

The EMT140 is also worth your money and DSP, it‘s great!

I LOVE feeding the EP34 into the EMT140 on the AUX, especially for guitar, but the EP34 is a resource hog so forget about that one with the Arrow.

The Galaxy Space Echo is cool also, it‘s a replica of the Roland RE-201, Roland just withdrew the licensing rights at one point, so now it‘s called as it is called. That one going into the EMT also sounds phenomenal.

I can‘t tell you if you should sell your pedals, I think the Strymon stuff is really good, but if you can live without that exact Strymon sound, you should be fine going UAD (UAD plugs are almost all high quality anyway). That said, do not underestimate the convenience of turning physical knobs right in front of you to modify the effect…this is a bit of an achilles heel of the UAD platform, no Midi support for Console except with Softube’s Console 1 Mk2.

Man I could go on and on, lol, which other plugs interest you? :slight_smile:

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Yeah I have had mk1 and mk2 and both have been good to me

Great info. I’ll let you know if I have any questions about any of the other plugins.

I’m going back and forth about the Strymons. I’ll wait a week or so and see how I feel. I definitely know what you mean about the importance of physical controls. Those Strymon pedals are particularly great. I don’t bond with the big box Strymons that have a lot menu diving.

I´m running RME fireface 802 and 2 x UAD Satelite (2 + 4 cores) since several years and it works like charm. Yes the UAD plugins sound (much) better then other plugins that I´ve testet, especially the eqs and compressors. But bear in mind, some plugins have been ported to UAD platform but they are also available as native Plugins from Plugin Alliance (see all the Brainworx stuff or Elysia or Maag eq). When it Comes to effects like phaser etc … nothing beats the Soundtoys bundle for me :wink:

To save some dsp load and also firewire bandwith, my workflow in Logic Pro X is to record every channel in mono. Use mono plugins as long as possible. So for example no need to switch eq, compressor or tape plugin to stereo mode. If you wanna make the signal stereo with a chorus or other modulation plugins, set it at the end of the effect chain. Logic has the option “mono -> stereo” when adding Plugins to the singnal chain. So basicly all the plugins above run in mono. You can run double count of mono plugins … in 96kh = 52). When using the plugins in mono they also need less dsp. Just keep the aux and master bus Plugins in stereo.

So basicly you can rund 30 - 40 UAD Plugins on a 6 core firewire System in 96khz + some native plugins from soundtoys, izotope, u-he … on a old macbook pro 2011 i5 2.3.

On friday I bought a macbookpro 2018 13,3" (quad core) and the RME + the UAD Satelites working like charm as well (thanks to 150 EUR extra for adaptors … brrrr!). Logic says RME Fireface has 4,2ms roundtrip latency with 128 buffer in 96khz :slight_smile:

The tip with the cuppons and to buy at the sales is very good! Can save you a lot of money. Back in the days the had 50 EUR cuppons … but hey. Yes in total it is expensive … but how much would you spend buying the hardware??

have fun
enjoy sound

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I sold the strymon el cap because you can´t use it as a send effect.
For plugins check Soundtoys Echoboy (Echo) and Native Instrumens Guitar Rig (Echo + Spring Verb).
I dont gel with the UAD Galaxi Echo and EP34.

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I have a potentially stupid question, but I’m new to UAD (and have been pretty much dawless for more than 15 years).

UAD recommends turning off direct monitoring in the DAW for latency free recording. I assumed that if I do this that all I will be hearing is the UAD plugins when I record and that I will therefore not be able to record with other plugins (like Guitar Rig, etc). Is that the case or am I missing something?

Correct.

Please note that you can choose between monitoring only using UAD plugins added in the Console app in which case you’ll be recording the direct signal in your DAW or between recording the UAD plugins directly to your DAW. Read up on the difference between the “UAD REC” and the “UAD MON” buttons.

Also note that any UAD plugins you add to the Unison slot are always recorded in your DAW which kinda is the whole point of the Unison stuff… :wink:

You won’t hear the sound going through them during recording, but you can keep them in your DAW and you will hear the sound going through them when you play the recorded track back.

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Does anyone use the console 1?

Is it just a glorified controller and does it warrant the cost?

Thanks

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Thanks. Basically if I want to record myself through the UAD with as low of latency as possible, I should stick to UAD plugins.

it’s definitely just a usb midi controller. i haven’t used one myself but i’ve heard great things and the layout seems much more optimal than other midi controllers for controlling compressors, eq/filter, and preamp vst plugins. You pay for the encoders, the multitude of LEDs under the surface, and the overall build quality which is a notch above most other generic midi controllers.

i would definitely get one myself but my priorities lie elsewhere at the moment :frowning:

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I wish it did MIDI; that would allow us to write a virtual controller that pretended to be one…

damn didn’t know you couldn’t use it like a generic midi controller or map it freely. seems like it would increase their sales despite potentially clashing with the markings on the front.

yes, but stick to the low dsp cost ones. not all UAD plugins are created equal from a latency perspective

many people will shit on UA for various reasons, and some have valid arguments : price, outdated chips, dongle-like functionality of hardware

stability, quality of software, and workflow are why one goes to UAD.

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Good advice. I’ll keep that in mind. I bought their Tweed 55 on like day one of getting the Arrow and I had no idea the differences in DSP requirements. It uses nearly 70% of my DSP power on its own. Lol. The good news is that even using that with other included plugins I haven’t noticed any real latency. I just can’t use much else with it.

I should have just upgraded the included Marshall to the Plexi, it has much lower requirements. Not a big deal though, I used all of the coupons they gave me so the Tweed only cost me like $25.

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