Guitar Center Product Reviews: Universal Audio Apollo Twin
by Zach Bauer
By far one of the most exciting new pieces of gear to come of the 2014 NAMM is the Universal Audio Apollo Twin. The newest edition in UA’s popular Apollo line, The Twin, boasts a very sleek portable even beautiful desktop design, giving more IO than most other portable desktop audio interfaces available. The form factor does not feel cheap and from the moment you pick it up, you can tell it is quality made. How many Ins and outs you ask? We’ll take a closer look.
So for input we have:
Two channels of analog-to-digital conversion at up to 24bit/192khz via:
○ Two balanced mic/line inputs
○ One Hi-Z instrument input
- Up to eight channels of digital inputs via:
○ Eight channels ADAT optical with S/MUX for high sample rates, or
○ Two channels S/PDIF optical with sample rate conversion
And output:
- Six channels of digital-to-analog conversion at up to 24bit/192khz via:
○ Digitally-controlled stereo monitor outputs
○ Stereo headphone outputs
○ Line outputs 3-4
All without having to use any breakout cables. And it doesn’t end there; not only does the Twin use thunderbolt as its means of connecting to your computer, but it has some pretty amazing onboard digital signal processing. You have the choice of One (SOLO) or two (DUO) SHARC DSP processors that give you real-time processing on all analog and digital inputs using the UAD2 plugin line.
So let’s back up. That means that portably, using your laptop, you can track, TO DISK, using the sound of Studer Tape Machine, MXR flanger, Never Compressors and EQs, API, MANLEY and many, many more. You don’t even have to pull up the software plugins after you have recorded if you don’t want to, since you can record through the included console app directly through your daw and onto disk. This means you can get the sound very sought-after pieces of gear that would otherwise be too cost prohibitive for a small to medium sized budget. New UA Twin owners will also receive the very exciting new 610B mic preamp and eq emulations that feature Unison™ technology offering stunning models of classic tube and transformer-based mic preamps. I didn’t even mention the quality of the pre-amps on board. Lets just say the will not disappoint even the most discerning and critical of ears with their pristine clean sound and their ability to give up to +65db of gain. With the Twin(solo) starting at 699.99 its plenty affordable. I’d argue you can’t afford not to get this gem. The only question is, will you want to shell out another $200 for double the processing power? With more and more new plugins coming out all the time it certainly couldn’t hurt!
Pick up the Universal Audio Apollo Twin at the Guitar Center Arvada location.
Online: stores.guitarcenter.com/arvada
Category: Product Reviews
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