Products of Interest

Universal Audio Apollo Audio Interface

The Apollo, from Universal Audio, is a high-resolution 18 × 24 digital audio interface designed to deliver the sound of analog recordings (see Figure 1). The interface is available with two or four processors, which allow the audio to be recorded through UAD-2 powered plug-ins with less than 2 msec latency. The user can also mix and master using these processors, without drawing from the host computer processor. The microphone and pre-amplifiers are reported to give the lowest THD (110 dB) and highest dynamic range (118 dB, A-weighted) for an interface of this kind.

The Apollo has four microphone inputs, eight analog line inputs/outputs, two monitor outputs, a stereo SPDIF input/output, optical ports for eight channels of ADAT, a FireWire 800 port, and WordClock input/output on the back panel. Two high-impedance instrument inputs are located on the front panel, as are two dedicated headphone outputs. An extension slot for an optional Thunderbolt card is provided on the rear panel. Universal Audio indicates that this reduces the audio buffer size, lowers the latency, improves performance at high sample rates, and allows more instances of UAD plug-ins than FireWire. Sampling rates up to 192 kHz, with 24-bit resolution, are supported.

Controls are provided on the front panel of the interface for pre-amplifier gain, channel selection, microphone pad, phantom power, low cut filter, monitor level, and the headphone levels. The high-contrast metering from the company's 2192 interface is used here and can be viewed at almost any angle. The Apollo interface supports Core Audio and ASIO drivers, and is compatible with all well-known DAWs on Macintosh and Windows operating systems. A Console application and Console Recall plug-in allow the user to control and recall the settings for the interface and plug-in for individual sessions. The Apollo has a 19-in., 1U rack space chassis.

The Apollo DUO Core model is listed for US$ 1,999 and the QUAD Core model for US$ 2,499. Contact: Universal Audio, 1700 Green Hills Rd., Scotts Valley, California 95066-4926, USA; telephone (+1) 877-698-2834; fax (+1) 831-461-1550; electronic mail info@uaudio.com; Web www.uaudio.com/.

RME Fireface UCX Audio Interface

The Fireface UCX from RME is a compact, half-rack size, FireWire 400 audio interface that combines features from their Fireface UFX, UC, 400, and Babyface interfaces. It has a total of 18 input and output channels, both digital and analog, and features ports on the front and back panels (see Figure 2).

All input and output channels can be used simultaneously when recording with sample rates of 44.1 or 48 kHz. Ten of the input/output digital channels are digital and the remaining eight are analog. When the highest sample rate of 192 kHz is used, a total of twelve input and output channels are available. The front panel of the interface features two combination balanced XLR/jack inputs; two ¼-in. Hi-Z, instrument/line, balanced inputs; and a stereo headphone output. A further four channels of analog inputs and six outputs, all on balanced TRS jack ports, are located on the rear panel. The microphone pre-amplifiers are taken from the UFX interface and offer 64 dB gain and overload protection. The convertors have a low latency design, with 14- and 7- sample latency reported for the A-D and D-A convertors respectively. SPDIF (coaxial or optical), ADAT, Word Clock, and two MIDI inputs/outputs are also included. The interface has both USB 2.0 (compatible with USB 3) and FireWire ports for connection to a computer. A software application, TotalMix FX, is included with purchase and features a redesigned version of the DSP engine from the Fireface UFX interface. All effects operate at up to 192 kHz sampling rate.

Figure 1.

The Apollo audio 18 × 24 audio interface from Universal Audio.

The company's Basic Remote Control is included. It has a single large dial wheel, a store/recall button, and a programmable button for TotalMix FX. The Advanced Remote Control, with six programmable button and...