User's Manual

Apollo Solo Manual Device Drivers 239
Device Drivers
The Apollo Solo device drivers are low-level system software files that instruct the
computer’s operating system about how to communicate with the Apollo Solo hardware.
Apollo Solo’s drivers control Apollo Solo’s audio interface, Console, and UAD-2
functionality.
The drivers are loaded during computer system startup so that whenever Apollo
Solo is connected, the device is ready to accept instructions from the OS and audio
applications.
Core Audio & ASIO
Apollo Solo’s audio drivers use the Core Audio (Mac) and ASIO (Windows) APIs. Apollo
Solo’s normal (non-DSP) audio interface features are simply seen as a Core Audio / ASIO
device; therefore any Core Audio / ASIO compliant software can use Apollo Solo for audio
I/O.
UAD Mixer Engine
The Console application and Console Recall plug-in don’t actually communicate directly
with Apollo Solo. Instead, they communicate with the UAD Mixer Engine, which is
the central software hub for all Console and Console Recall functionality. The UAD
Mixer Engine behaves as a server for Apollo Solo’s internal DSP mixer that runs in the
background, so Console does not have to be open for Apollo Solo to function.
The UAD Mixer Engine is a system-level application that is automatically launched
during system startup and is always running during normal operation. The UAD System
Menu is it’s only interface, which can be accessed from the Menu Bar (Mac), or the
Windows System Tray (Windows).
Driver I/O Complement
The specific inputs and outputs that are available to the DAW depends on the active
configuration. The I/O complement changes at high sample rates and when multi-unit
cascading. The specific I/O complements can be customized in the I/O Matrix Panel.
Default I/O values are listed in the Driver I/O Table in this chapter.
Driver Names and Numbers
Apollo Solo’s drivers describe all I/O channels by name and number, but what is actually
displayed in the DAW’s I/O assignment lists depends on each particular DAW. Names
are not displayed by all DAWs (e.g., Ableton Live), or the driver name display mode may
need to be changed in the DAW (e.g., Apple Logic Pro).
Virtual I/O
Apollo Solo’s device drivers carry various virtual (software only) input and output
channels in addition to those directly associated with the hardware inputs and outputs.
The virtual channels consist of all of Console’s mix bus outputs (the main monitor mix,
HP mix, and AUX mixes) and Console’s virtual inputs. Virtual I/O facilitates highly flexible
signal routing via the DAW. See Virtual I/O for details about this feature.