Thunderbolt audio interfaces....talk to me!

simeon

simeon

Axe-Master
ok, so i've been a motu user since day one...started with an old firewire 828 mk1 back in 2000 or so and i've been using a secondhand motu ultrlite for a couple of years, which sits at the end of a firewire chain with an fw800 hard drive and a fw400 hard drive

i have a thunderbolt port sitting empty here, so i think it might be time to upgrade. i don't needs load of channels...just two balanced ins for the axe fx and one or two nice mic inputs for recording acoustic guitar. my budget is about 400 new british pounds

i checked out the new focusrite clarett 2 pre, but the inputs are on the front, which is a no go for me, but the universal audio apollo twin solo looks just the ticket. nice form factor, nice mic pre's and i could retire my old mic preamp and record acoustics with a compression plugin in the interface

never used universal audio stuff, but they look (and sound) great

anybody have any other recommendations that i should be looking at, or shall i just go for it? i don't really see that many other options, apart from zoom (no) and resident audio (never heard of them)
 
I love my
apollo twin, but I would advise to get the Duo version, if you are planning to use UA plugins, as they are very processor-hungry. Also be advised that there are only three
analog ins, the Hi-z in the front and two balanced pres in the rear, and only two at a time can be used, and the the digital in is Toslink, so you would need a coaxial to toslink adaptor
to connect AxeFx digitally to Apollo.
 
i would only plan on using the two balanced in's at once...or the mic in on the front....never all three at once. and the only plugin i would plan on using is a little compression when recording acoustic guitar or vocals....so it should be fine, yes? i can use both balanced ins at the same time to record in stereo?
 
Not sure if you want Thunderbolt connectivity because of a preference or it's just you don't want Firewire due to reducing your chain. If you're open for an idea you might consider an RME Babyface which is USB protocol. I've got about 4 other audio interfaces but this Babyface is so handy and portable and I easily switch between PC and iMac and MacBook.
 
all usb ports used, unfortunately. i'll continue to use the motu with my macbook, as it's relatively portable, but i'll probably want to replace it with something smaller at some point, so i'll give that one a look
 
I hear ya'. I use my MacBook for backing tracks and a MIDI based light show and USB audio interface so I ate up my USB ports in a hurry. I mounted a real cheap powered 4 port USB hub in my rack rig so now I just use 2 of the MacBooks USB ports. 1 for the hub and 1 for a 'real' mouse (can't take track pads...lol).
 
yes, if it was FW800...but it's FW400. it's also very old and the screen is almost unreadable, it's so dim. time for an upgrade! i bought an apollo twin solo and i'm just waiting for it to arrive in the mail. :)
 
Congrats, I look forward to the music you will make with it, as a fellow with your skills will use it well, I'm sure.
 
I'm a Apollo Twin User as well and i love it.

I hope the Solo Version fits your needs, i would recommend testing like hell in the first two weeks to see if you should switch to the Duo version.

Test as much plugins as you can in the free testphase to see what's your fav ones ...
 
like i said before...the plugins aren't really my main focus with this interface. for live tracking, i'll only use a compressor and eq for acoustic guitars and vocals. i won't use anything when tracking electric guitar, which will be 90% of what i'm doing. all other processing will be in the daw.
 
I have a UAD Apollo Duo and think it is awesome. Recorded our Album using it with Cubase 6.5 on a Macbook Pro Retina (with 27" Thunderbolt display)...
 
I love my apollo quad
I'm also a douchbag meaning- I have the thunderbold version, and use a Windows PC
 
Because of the zero latency monitoring and the high quality of the plugs, you might consider the Duo even though you don't think you need it now.

Their plugs are glorious for tracking even if you don't print all the efx.
 
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