Looking for experience using UAD Apollo, over FW, with Windows

Hi Gang,

Anyone out there using an Apollo Quad, over Firewire, with a Windows PC? I'm pretty sure there must be, as I've seen threads, but they are all a bit dusty.

I need a new PC for the studio, upgrading from an Intel Q6600 based system, not so much for CPU speed as for access to a larger memory pool, my current mobo is limited to 8GB.

The downside, and the thing that has kept me from upgrading till now, is that my audio and MIDI interface is a PCI card pair - Frontier Design Dakota/Montana. And modern mobos have limited to no support for PCI.

My initial plan was to pick up a UAD Quad PCIe card for effects (currently using a pair of Solo cards) and an RME RayDat for audio I/O using my existing Tango converters. I'll also need a couple 8x8 MIDI interfaces (prolly MOTU) but that's a different kettle.

It appears that for not a whole lot more money I could get an Apollo Quad instead of the RayDat and PCIe Quad card. So I'm looking for experiences, and specifically comments on stability and effective latency using the Apollo Quad for both recording and processing.

Thanks!

mike_mccue
I'd imagine RME is as fast as it gets, but I'd check to see what the real life round trip latency of the RayDAT card will give you.

 

mike_mccueOn my next I/O set up I am going to avoid ADAT. I don't like the idea that I bought a 24bit appliance but the ADAT standard only uses 20 bits of it. I know some of the light pipe interconnection stuff uses 24 bit, but I want to move past having to think about that stuff.

 
Lightpipe itself is not limited to 20 bits, it is, however, limited to 48 kHz without using multiplexing tricks. Some of the very early implementations (before the WaveFront chips were available) were limited to 20 or even 16 bits, but that has not been an issue for a very long time. If you are not getting the full 24 bits then either your converters are not generating them or you have hardware that was very poorly designed.
 
Case in point - I have both the 20 bit and 24 bit versions of the Frontier Design Tango. When I select 24 bit operation both provide a 24 bit signal, but the 20 bit model has the last 4 bits zeroed out.
 

mike_mccueOn my MOTU gear the light pipe is labeled as 24 bit but it digi-clips 3db lower when comparing with the same input levels on the analog to digital converters in the same box... <snippity>

 
That is really odd! If I understand correctly, when you use an analog input on your MOTU box you clip at some specific level (e.g. -12 dBFS) but when you connect some other A/D converter to the MOTU box via the Lightpipe input you clip at some lower level - in this case -15 dBFS. Is that correct? And where are you measuring the level- in Sonar or in the MOTU box? Is the clipping audible? Could it be inter-sample errors?

Gotta say, I am curious!
 

mike_mccueGood luck shopping. 

Thanks, I expect I'll need some luck - maybe a winning lottery ticket<G>.


But it is going to come down to an Apollo Quad connected via FW or my existing Tango converters connected to the RayDat with a UAD2/Quad PCIe card. The Apollo solution is a little more expensive, and limits me to 18 inputs, but I am fascinated by the idea behind their Unison preamplifiers<G>!