Post by Cams on Jun 26, 2016 19:32:33 GMT
After lots and lots of research and sending back an Allen & Heath Zedi10 FX, I got an Apollo Twin Duo from Universal Audio. This device is perhaps one of the best things I've ever bought, certainly since I got my MindPrint Di-Port back in 2004 when I made my first CD.
I had my first go at recording and mixing today and am reasonably pleased with the results. I understand that I have a LOT to learn and that it's a never-ending process, but I'm enjoying it and am looking forward to putting together a CD for our bluegrass band.
The Apollo Twin takes care of the processing and allows you to use plug-ins and monitoring with negligible latency. I was first made aware of Universal Audio when I watched a video interview with Pierre Bensusan - he uses a Firewire Apollo and his MacBook Pro for live mixing and it was that that got me interested in the products. Its primary market is for studio, but it works well for live too. I took it out for the first time to a gig last night and put my friend's clarsach into channel two (after her Headway EDB-1) and my guitar straight into channel 1 (Hi-Z input) then from Apollo to mixing desk and we had a wonderful time playing around with reverb, EQ and compression.
The biggest selling feature of UA products is probably their plug-ins. The downside is that they're tied to the hardware AND they're so good that you're going to run out of processing power quite quickly and have to add more with other UA devices. But for using live, you'd be unlikely to hit the processing ceiling and you'd have much more control than any DI box I've ever used. I don't know if I'll keep using it for live mixing - my Venue DI and Baggs PADI give me decent enough sound, but the reverb and EQ might just be enough to have me start bringing the Apollo Twin. For solo gigs it would be a no brainer; for band, maybe not so much. You can actually dial in your sound on the laptop and then the Twin will hold those settings, but then you'd be stuck with those settings when you got to your gig which would be in a different room, so the laptop would really have to tag along too.
I spent much of today figuring out how to get a basic bluegrass song recorded into Cubase - rhythm guitar, lead guitar, vocals and harmony. I don't normally sing harmony on this one so that's why I'm hitting the top of my range! And I know after listening on my wife's iMac that the harmony vocal is too loud in mix.
Here's the song...
https%3A//soundcloud.com/cams-campbell/little-girl-of-mine-in-tennessee
I'm only at the beginning of learning what I can do with my Apollo Twin but I can already whole-heartedly recommend it. There is a learning curve, but it's not as steep as I had expected!
I had my first go at recording and mixing today and am reasonably pleased with the results. I understand that I have a LOT to learn and that it's a never-ending process, but I'm enjoying it and am looking forward to putting together a CD for our bluegrass band.
The Apollo Twin takes care of the processing and allows you to use plug-ins and monitoring with negligible latency. I was first made aware of Universal Audio when I watched a video interview with Pierre Bensusan - he uses a Firewire Apollo and his MacBook Pro for live mixing and it was that that got me interested in the products. Its primary market is for studio, but it works well for live too. I took it out for the first time to a gig last night and put my friend's clarsach into channel two (after her Headway EDB-1) and my guitar straight into channel 1 (Hi-Z input) then from Apollo to mixing desk and we had a wonderful time playing around with reverb, EQ and compression.
The biggest selling feature of UA products is probably their plug-ins. The downside is that they're tied to the hardware AND they're so good that you're going to run out of processing power quite quickly and have to add more with other UA devices. But for using live, you'd be unlikely to hit the processing ceiling and you'd have much more control than any DI box I've ever used. I don't know if I'll keep using it for live mixing - my Venue DI and Baggs PADI give me decent enough sound, but the reverb and EQ might just be enough to have me start bringing the Apollo Twin. For solo gigs it would be a no brainer; for band, maybe not so much. You can actually dial in your sound on the laptop and then the Twin will hold those settings, but then you'd be stuck with those settings when you got to your gig which would be in a different room, so the laptop would really have to tag along too.
I spent much of today figuring out how to get a basic bluegrass song recorded into Cubase - rhythm guitar, lead guitar, vocals and harmony. I don't normally sing harmony on this one so that's why I'm hitting the top of my range! And I know after listening on my wife's iMac that the harmony vocal is too loud in mix.
Here's the song...
https%3A//soundcloud.com/cams-campbell/little-girl-of-mine-in-tennessee
I'm only at the beginning of learning what I can do with my Apollo Twin but I can already whole-heartedly recommend it. There is a learning curve, but it's not as steep as I had expected!