Universal Audio Apollo Twin USB Interface

Reviews | Universal Audio Apollo Twin USB Interface
98
U
niversal Audio’s Apollo Twin
fi rst landed at NAMM 2014
and everyone fl ipped at the
prospect of having ‘UAD-2
plug-in power’ in a small, convenient
but still very powerful package. Well,
everyone except the poor old Windows
PC user that is. Announced last autumn
was the news all PC owners (this
reviewer included) wanted to hear, with
UA releasing the Apollo Twin USB.
Nowt taken out
Straight out of the box and the
aluminium and highly perforated steel
chassis is reassuringly sturdy; everything
here is the same as the Thunderbolt
version. The unit features the same two
in, six out confi guration. On the rear
panel you have two mic/line combo
input ports; next to them is the Monitor
out left and right and two further Line
out 1/4 inch sockets. The rest of the
rear panel is taken up by power switch
and socket, USB 3 type-B port and
Optical In for an additional eight inputs.
Around the front of the box and the I/O
is further complemented by the Hi-Z
input and headphone output. The top
panel remains unchanged with
switchable monitoring and preamp
functions all guided by the large rotary.
Inside the unit and the only discernible
difference is that only the Duo (two
SHARC processing chips) is on offer,
with no Solo version available.
So far and there is very little to
separate the USB and its Thunderbolted
cousin, bar one seemingly insignifi cant
and yet extremely welcome thing. The
USB cable is included in the box! How
many of you out there have purchased a
Thunderbolt product only to fi nd that
the Thunderbolt cable isn’t included?
The original version does have one
up on this edition and that is the ability
to chain up to four Apollo units together.
It seems USB 3 protocol does not allow
for this, but is that really much of a
problem? Not being able to chain
several units together isn’t a game
changer here; that’s not what the Twin
is all about. If you’re in the market for
just a two-input interface, you know that
is all you’ll need; having the option of
the optical input for eight extra
channels is just pure bonus.
On the money
The Apollo comes with the hugely
improved Console 2 software, which
allows you to track and monitor with
real-time plug-in processing with
near-zero latency, access Apollo’s
features and settings remotely and set
up routing with your DAW. Also included
is the Realtime Analog Classics plug-in
bundle and, although it’s not fi lled with
the latest plug-ins available on the
UAD-2 platform, there are some real
classics in the form of the 1176LN and
SE models and you will use them, a lot.
There’s plenty of dynamic processing
here to keep you sated for a while, but it
won’t take long before you are wanting
more from the huge, tempting catalogue
of plug-ins on offer. For instance, the
bundled free Softube amp emulation
plug-ins are okay, but not the most
characterful. Both UA and Softube have
released far better emulations in the
last couple of years. At the time of
writing UA state that Windows 7 or 8.1
is required to run the plug-ins, but we
tested it on Windows 10 with no issues.
Apollo’s Console 2 software means
you are still able to get the same near
zero-latency as the Thunderbolt edition.
However, remember that this is still a
Duo, not a Quad or Octo, so you may be
running out of DSP pretty soon. It’s
possible to calculate the max number of
plug-ins the Twin can handle though;
UA have a useful chart for precisely that
purpose (http://bit.ly/UADchart).
At this price the Apollo Twin is the
cleanest and one of the best-sounding
desktop interfaces available, in part
thanks to the 24-bit/192 kHz resolution
and Unison technology, which imitates
the characteristics of tube and
solid-state hardware. Best of all though
is that it is now available for Windows,
and on behalf of all the PC users out
there, thank you UA.
Universal Audio Apollo Twin
USB Interface | £689
Universal Audio’s desktop interface has fi nally made its way to Windows.
Simon Arblaster fi nds out if it has all been worth the wait
WHAT IS IT?
2 in, 6 out audio interface
CONTACT
Who: Universal Audio
Tel: [phone]
Web: www.uaudio.com
HIGHLIGHTS
1 Long-awaited move
to Windows
2 Real-time processing and
near-zero latency
3 Two great-sounding
preamps deliver up to
24-bit/192kHz resolution
SPECS
Microsoft Windows 7, 8, or
10, 64-bit Edition
USB 3 SuperSpeed port
(PCI-e to USB adaptors not
tested)
Intel Core i3, Core i5, Core
i7, or Xeon processor
Compatible VST, RTAS, or
AAX 64 plug-in host DAW
software
VERDICT
BUILD
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
VALUE
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
EASE OF USE
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
VERSATILITY
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
RESULTS
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
Apollo Twin with real-time plug-in
processing and Unison technology
has come to Windows. Hallelujah!
FMU305.rev_ua.indd 98 21/04/2016 10:05