Apparently, people have been asking for this for years. It’s unclear to me why they haven’t added this yet; especially since it can apparently be done with softube’s console 1.
I really hope it’s not because of some weird licensing limitation in their agreements with the hardware brands their plugins emulate.
been asking for this for years for sure! they haven’t even commented on it, which is really frustrating.
I own an Apollo 8 Quad and love it. Also own most of the UAD plugins (been buying bit by bit around Christmas for years, discounts are deep that time of the year). I have my Elektron boxes, kawai mp11, two dreadboxes and a few mics running through the Apollo. That all works great, however if I want to mess about with the effects in Apollo’s Console, I have to be connected to a computer AND I have to use my mouse to do so…just imagine how well that works workflow wise while eg manipulating a Digitakt.
There is of course Softube‘s Console One, which now comes with Apollo Central which allows control of the Console as well as plugins…however, the Console One has a particular design that actually isn’t laid out for the Console, no faders, etc…it‘s cool but it I wouldn’t say it’s a perfect solution and also the console 1 costs 400€…
what I want to do now is route all my hardware through a physical mixer, then run the mixer’s Aux Sends through the Apollo’s ins and use it as an effects unit effectively, where I can place different effects on the different ins and then control how much of the signal is processed by turning the respectuce AUX send knobs on the mixer - hence regain tactility and immediacy in at least determining how wet the signal is.
So in a nutshell, the Apollo interfaces are really awesome and soundwise the UAD plugins are amongst the very best (did anyone say AKG BX20…wow, what a spring reverb! :)), but for live use and hands on manipulation of effects (as you would do with eg a pedal), unfortunately the lack of midi implementation let’s the whole platform down massively.
I love the Arrow I just bought so far. It might actually replace my bass amp for practice. Anyone running effects pedals into it? How have your results been?
Nice. I just got mine a few days ago and have been working ever since. I’ve been busy getting my new computer setup, so I haven’t had time to experiment much. I did use all the coupons they gave me to get the Tweed amp. I love Fender tweeds and my real amp is an old 70s silver face champ with an old spring reverb tank.
I figured my Strymon El Cap and Flint would sound great in front of the Arrow, but I wasn’t sure about dirt boxes. I have a few fuzz pedals I’d like to try with it though.
I have a great little bass practice amp that I love (Phil Jones Double Four). I’m more of a guitar player than a bass player though, so this setup might end up spur me to sell it (which would just about pay for the Arrow). The Arrow is also replacing my Yamaha THR amp, which was my go to for night time playing.
Got an Apollo 16 and within a few months had sold my ex-broadcast Studer-clone desk. Have it going out to two Samson patchbays via DB25->1/4 inch snake cables.
The plug-ins are incredible, especially the verbs.
For someone that is new to UAD plugins, what would you say are the standouts, particularly ones that don’t take up too much processing power since I am on the Arrow?
hm, I could give you a best of list as such, the dsp limitation qualifier makes it a bit trickier.
in terms of unison preamp plugins, the neve preamp and century channel strip were made with the arrow in mind as far as I know. they both sound good, worthwhile especially now on sale.
reverb wise, I run a whole bunch of EMT140s on my Apollo 8 Quad, so it can’t be very taxing…and it sounds beautiful! It’s on sale right now, 99€.
delay wise, the Galaxy Space sounds good and is not so resource intensive.
i think the analog classic bundle which usually comes with the interface has a bunch of compressors that aren’t resource intensive, I like the Teletronix LA2-A on my vocal chains.
I wouldn’t bother with EQs unless you want to print your signal with the effects and even then…save the dsp and sculpt with an EQ after.
I also love the Manley Vari-Mu Compressor on the 2-Bus, but that one is a resource hog. Same with the Culture-Vulture, just hits the spot for me
One word of advice: never buy their plugins at full price. they have a sale on every quarter, christmas being the best and most extensive one, closely followed by their summer sales. and stay subscribed to their mailing list, even if it’s a bit of a pain, but they do occaisonally send through coupons on there. With every purchase you make you usually get a 25€ coupon towards your next purchase (they are time sensitive though), last year they even gave out 2x 25€ per purchase around black friday…so I went on a shopping spree then and bought all the cheap plugs to amass coupons, then went for the heavy hitters lol. In any case, enjoy, UAD’s stuff is awesome!
To me UAD stuff is just an ultra expensive copy protection. I dont Need that poor DSP power, I can run compressors and eqs en masse with my regular processor (there are enough good guality emulations of old hardware). Decent Audio interface with multiple ins are much cheaper from other manufacturers.
there’s some truth to that for sure, but their plugins are amazing and still a notch above most of the rest. And their interfaces are very high quality AND allow real time tracking with high quality effects which to my knowledge no native solutions do to the same quality. price wise they are def premium-priced devices, but aren’t horrendously overpriced in comparison to other devices in their class.
I dont completely understand the reason getting UAD anymore. My RME Interface has the lowest latency possible and my computer can run as many instances of plugin effects as I want. There are enough good plugins that sound as good or even better than UAD stuff. ValhallaReverbs (for vintage reverbs), Soundtoys collection (for everything), dub machines (for tape delay), U-He (for budget bridge delay and soon spring reverb), etc.
There are only a few cases where I think UAD stuff sounds better (mainly compressor, EQs, etc) but I also still have to investigate more time to find good plugins for that.
With a fast computer and good interface, i run much cheaper
But still an order of magnitude more latency than running UAD plugins directly on the interface. This is really noticeable when you’re playing or recording (bass) guitar with a simulated amp or when you’re recording vocals.
If you don’t want or need this, then yeah, there are cheaper options (but not even that cheaper; I can’t really think of anything 2-in/4-out that delivers the same quality and low latency as the Arrow).
Yeah probably. For me doing electronic music, mostly techno the latency isn’t really an issue.
Regarding low latency stuff: RME is considered the lowest latency of all audio interface. There was somewhere a test with over 30 audio Interfaces compared.
They released the Digiface USB where you can connect upto 4 ADAT Interfaces for 32x in + 32 out. The Digiface costs 400.
This of course doesn’t solve any issues with potential plugin latency.
For me. It’s all about tracking. And being in time with what’s in and out of the computer.
Not to be hyperbolic, but the UAD stuff changed my workflow and sound.
Check out the older stuff (pre-November) to new stuff (post-November). Direct result of upgrading from my MOTU. Being able to track my Rytm through plugs like the Kulture Vulture and Galaxy with no latency changed everything for me. Good stuff.
I still use Ableton, Sountoys, Isotope stuff when I’m in the box. But getting everything in, the way I want it, with out messing up my flow, it’s awesome.
You make solid stuff. But what exactly is the difference if you monitor/record normal audio ins with a compressor vst on the audio track? Most DAWs have some Kind of latency compensation.
Latency aside, I guess it’s about a workflow where you commit to a sound before you record and then go with it while editing afterwards vs. recording everything dry and clean and then tweaking afterwards.
UAD has no noticeable latency when applying effects on hardware instruments plugged into their Apollo interfaces.
The flip side to that is if you then want to use their dsp plugins within your daw you will notice increased latency over native plugins due to the round trip to/from the UAD device the signal must make