Universal Audio Apollo x6? Thank You Very Muuuuch

[LLL]

Time to upgrade our circa-2004 EMU-1820m (17 years!). This product was an awesome combination of hi-quality DACs, Ins/Outs and price.

Only thing I ever had to do was get some new power caps and solder them (old ones went bad).

That being said, time to step-up big-time. This bad boy will do the job and then some... plus go great with my UA 2-610.

I'll be running my 2-610, Eventide PitchFactor and Rockman Rockmodules / dbx 31 band stereo EQ into it.

Comes with 2 Unison Mic Preamps and a "HEXA core" (6 processors for UA plugins).

https://www.uaudio.com/audio-interfaces/apollo-x6.html

 

[GuitarStv]

That's pretty sweet! Two headphone outs, 6 inputs on the back, and decent level monitoring on the front - I'd love to have one of those! Thunderbolt interfaces really seem to be the way forward for home recording. How well do the mic preamp simulations work?

 

[LLL]

It's out for delivery for later today... I'll give a run down on it.

 

[LLL]

Well, leave it to Musician's Fiend to send me an open box item when they have 28 in stock.

Sending it back for an actual new-in-box item.

Arseholes.

And the waiting resumes... again...

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Oh, that's heartbreaking! Nice upgrade, though, the Apollos are all great interfaces. I've been doing a front-end upgrade here this year, too; instead of my annual synth purchase I've been taking care of other things like a decent USB mic (Earthworks) for my podcast and reference headphones (Beyerdynamic and Neumann).

 

[LLL]

I got it. The gyrations I had to go through...

Saved over $300 off list price, too - through price matching. Through a different company.

I will never buy from Musician's Friend (Fiend) again.

I did a quick setup and fiddled with the (legacy) Marshall Plexi and some other UAD plugins... sounds great.

I'll need to mount it in my rack and re-cable everything... may even have to move my furniture around (max length for Thunderbolt 3 cable is 6.5').

Just built a new PC too... so yeah, I have my work cut out for me.

So far, it's killer.

 

[LLL]

Yeah, got suckered into buying a few UAD plugins (they're not cheap!)

Got a free Brigade Chorus (BOSS CE-1 thing).

Suhr SE-100
Ampex ATR-102
Studer A800
Sonnox Oxford Inflator

 

[Top-L]

How are the mic emulations / channel strips on this?

How is the DI input?

I was looking at an upgraded interface. The mic pres and DI input on the RME UFX I owned were fantastic. Theoretically, if you start with a pristene mic pre, it should be able to emulate color preamps and mics.

If I had 2K to drop on a new interface, it would either be this or an RME UFX 2.

 

[LLL]

UAD Plugins are stealing my money!

Got the EMT140 Plate Reverb & Marshall JMP 2203

 

[LLL]

I will post updates here from time to time.

 

[LLL]

How are the mic emulations / channel strips on this?

How is the DI input?

I was looking at an upgraded interface. The mic pres and DI input on the RME UFX I owned were fantastic. Theoretically, if you start with a pristene mic pre, it should be able to emulate color preamps and mics.

If I had 2K to drop on a new interface, it would either be this or an RME UFX 2.

The DI is great - it uses a technology called "Unison" which works with various UAD plugins (preamp channels, amps, the like) and will adjust the input impedance to be like the physical piece of gear it is modeling, the sweet spots, etc...

 

[LLL]

Oh, that's heartbreaking! Nice upgrade, though, the Apollos are all great interfaces. I've been doing a front-end upgrade here this year, too; instead of my annual synth purchase I've been taking care of other things like a decent USB mic (Earthworks) for my podcast and reference headphones (Beyerdynamic and Neumann).

If you dig portable you might want to check out the Apollo x4.

 

[LLL]

UAD plugins so far:

But first, a little info beforehand -

Not surprisingly, the software you download for the Apollo (Console, which is fantastic, drivers, etc) is rather large (~4GB IIRC). They pre-load all of their UAD plugins on your PC (or MAC) so you can activate a 14-day demo version of plugins you don't own (their entire plugin library is at your fingertips; pre-installed). If you purchase any plugin, that 14-day activation is reset for all unpurchased plugins that are in demo mode.
Pretty cool actually.

- Marshall Plexi Classic (one of the bundled plug-ins you get with an Apollo) is "meh" to "decent". You get a somewhat neutered plugin (only mic is a single SM57)
I really worked with this one (I have essentially a '68 50W Plexi) but beyond a few sounds, this one just doesn't have the mojo. And if you turn the Presence and/or Treble real high, it splats in a digital clipping distortion kinda way.

- Marshall Plexi (full version) same deal as above, but you get a number of mics. Doesn't matter cuz it doesn't help.

- Suhr SE-100. Now we're talking. A great "hot-rodded Marshall" tone. Comes with over 100 iRs (or no iR so you can use your own) with different cabs, speakers, mics and preamps (!) This plugin is by Brainworx, and they know their shit. Some great stuff on the "hidden panel" including adjustable hi-pass (get rid of the low end flub) and even delay if you need one in a pinch. Glorious, crunchy hi-gain Marshall tone, but it'll clean up great too

-Marshall JMP 2203. I demo'ed this right away but wasn't impressed enough. Came back to it and was impressed (go figure?). It's a great emulation and sounds like the real thing. Choices of mics (or no mics so you can use your own iRs) and a 4 band after-the-amp EQ

-Brigade Chorus. Emulation of the BOSS CE-1 - Sounds like the real deal and I got my Lifeson/Lerxst on.

- EMT140 Plate. The reverb found on a bazillion records. I haven't fiddled with it a ton but of what I have done, it's incredible.

- Tape (Ampex & Studer). Ampex is meant for the 2 mainly (very high processing) and Studer for individual tracks. Used some presets and they really give a nice warmth and tape EQ to tracks... analog!

- Sonnox Oxford Inflator - kind of a "cheat" plugin where if you just want to enhance a track's sound or make it easier to hear *without* compression. Cool tool.

- RAW Distortion. A RAT stompbox. Never owned a RAT, but I would after hearing this. I used this BTW on the solo in my latest Rainbow In The Dark track.

There's more but that's for later. For example you get the "Classic" (limited) versions of various other plugins like the LA-2A and 1176 compressors, Pultec etc...