Curious About UA Apollo

I know there has to a few Apollo users on here, and I've been looking at a lot of mic pres lately.  The Apollo has me a bit curious. I already have a UAD Octo card and lots of plugins, but if I understand correctly, the Apollo would allow me to record through a channel strip made up of UAD plugins and create my own flavor as I go, API, Neve, etc.  I guess it's the preamp side of things that has me intrigued a bit and considering replacing my existing setup with an Apollo.
 
My main questions are about the performance from a virtual instrument standpoint and the latency of playing virtual instruments.  Currently using RME FireFace 400 and it's working well for me, so I'd hate to lose anything in the performance there.  I'm thinking if the Apollo will do just about everything the RME does, plus add the DSP Pres, it might be worth selling a couple of items I have and going with the Apollo. Any thoughts?
Thanks

Cool. That was kind of my way of thinking in the past. I've just been spending too much time reading about trying to find something better than my current setup and the options are a bit overwhelming. I think I'll continue on my current path with the incoming ISA Two for clean, then sell my 4-710d and get a single channel workhorse for the color preamp.  I might even be able to keep things clean going in and use plugins for all of my color in the mix too, so I might even be able to just live without that 4-channel monster.

I am using an Apollo QUAD as my primary audio interface. It works flawlessly with SONAR Platinum. Been I longtime UAD user (have most of the plug-ins) and being able to use them in realtime (recording/monitoring) is simply a dream come true. Next best thing to using the actual hardware. The Unison technology is an added feature that allows UA to model mic pre's as accurately as possible using a software/hardware hybrid approach. So plug-ins not only sound, but behave like the hardware. The new version 2.0 Apollo Console is only available for Apple TB computers, but UA has announced that a FW version will be released in the Fall. This recent video gives you the basic Apollo concepts using the included base UAD plug-ins. Of course you can substitute and use any UAD plug-ins that you have.
I really like using the updated LA2A, Pultec, 1176 & Fairchild Collections along with my EMT 140, 250, 224 & RMX16.
Then add in some mic pre flavor (1073, API, 610's, etc) via Unison, when needed.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tKMgnkPxXY
 
Cheers,
 
Billy Buck

Genghis,
 
In general, there is no discernible latency when using Unison to record/print.   I leave my system at 1024 samples all the time now (even recording through the Apollo with effects) and cannot hear any delay.   Typically will use a pre-amp and usually some light compression for everything.  May use a guitar amp or other guitar effects for certain styles, and that also works without latency.   Do not use Input Monitoring for this process.       If you are into guitar, check out Pete Thorn's UAD videos on YouTube.  Here is the 1st one:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3_HujiPlkw
 
Of course, when you introduce certain types of plugs from any manufacturer into a Sonar track or Bus, you will introduce latency.   The UAD Precision Multiband introduces very high latency for example) I typically print everything prior to adding any high latency plugs to the project file.
 
Regards

It will depend on your system to some extent.   Since switching to the Apollo, I honestly don't even think about changing buffers or their settings, just leave it set at 1024 all the time, even when recording.   My biggest project as far as resources was a cover of Mama by Genesis. 
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Mama-Genesis-Cover-featuring-Alkie-on-vocals-Updated-Version-m3095564.aspx
 
This project had 5 instances of various Arturia Synths, 1 UVI synth, Trillian, 1 Superior Drummer, 1 EZDrummer 2 Electronic Kit,  none of them were frozen or bounced and the guitar parts were recorded last without any problems though one of the UAD Guitar Amp sims.   I count 8 virtual instruments which is a lot for me...
 
I also should note that this project was done with Thunderbolt connection to my MacBook Pro so Firewire may not have the same result.   The Apollo was also at 98% DSP utilization for this song.  
 
I see you have a Jim Roseberry system, he could probably shed some light on what kind of performance you would see on Windows 7, Firewire with an Apollo.

Regards

Thanks Jim.  That was the main point, was if it's a step backward in that area I'll keep moving forward with a decent hardware pre and use my plugins when appropriate.  The one I'm using is fine for most vocals and most other stuff, but kind of noisy for when I record classical guitar.