Recording - March 2016 - 20

...where we bring you follow-up articles
with application hints and upgrade news
about gear already reviewed in Recording

Universal Audio Apollo 8p
Refinements to audio quality and system
flexibility highlight the new Apollo generation
by Paul Vnuk Jr.

In 2012 Universal Audio launched the
Apollo series of recording interfaces.
The Apollos merged the company's longstanding history of microphone preamps, digital converter design, and their
DSP-based UAD-2 plug-in technology
into one box. Reviewer Darwin Grosse
looked at the original Apollo in our
January 2013 issue; next came the
Apollo 16 later in 2013, followed by
the desktop Apollo Twin, which I
reviewed in August 2014.
Unison
As a part of the Apollo Twin release,
UA unveiled the Unison preamps. This
cutting edge modeling technology combines UA's detailed circuit modeling with
a microphone preamp with a variable
gain stage and impedance matching.
This greatly improves the realism of the
models, by mimicking critical input circuit properties in actual hardware.
Current Unison mic preamp emulations available for the Apollo include
UA's own vintage 610-A, the modern
610-B (both reviewed in August 2014),
API's Vision Channel Strip (reviewed July
2015), the Neve 88RS Channel Strip,
and the Neve 1073 Preamp and EQ
Collection (reviewed in April 2015).
Unison technology also works with
Apollo's Hi-Z inputs. UA has a steadily
growing collection of guitar amp and
pedal models; you can check out our
July 2015 issue for more details, and in
a future issue we're looking forward to
bringing you an in-depth article on the

RECORDING March 2016

subject: guitarist Alex Hawley's take on
playing guitar and doing fully amp-free
production through Unison.
The new breed of Apollo
The next generation of Apollo consists
of three new/updated units. The original
Apollo is now the Apollo 8, there is an
updated Apollo 16, and a third new unit
joins the line-the Apollo 8p. Each one
comes in a matte black finish vs. the
original silver, and while they are similar
to the originals, there are some notable
changes and additions.
All analog and digital conversion in the
Apollo line has been redesigned to offer
more dynamic range and lower Total
Harmonic Distortion + Noise. The 8/8p
specs are: dynamic range of 120 dBA
(A/D) and 121 dBA (D/A), -110 dBFS
THD + Noise, and -128.7 dB Equivalent
Input Noise (EIN).
The original Apollo units made use of
FireWire 800 with an optional
Thunderbolt expansion card. On the
new models, FireWire has been retired
and Thunderbolt 2 is the standard. All
Thunderbolt models are Mac only, but
there are still options in the Apollo line
for PC use: The original Apollo unit is
now sold as the Apollo FireWire, and
there is a USB-equipped Apollo Twin.
Thanks to a new protocol called
Apollo Expanded, all Thunderboltequipped Apollo units (new and old)
can work together as part of a larger
stacked input system. With Apollo
Expanded you can connect any four

Thunderbolt Apollo interfaces as well as
up to six Thunderbolt UAD-2 Satellite
devices together. The new updated
mixer software scales itself appropriately
and offers control and configuration of
all connected units seamlessly. Also,
when using an Apollo Twin along with
its larger rack-mount brethren, it can act
as a master desktop level controller!
Apollo 8p: back to front
We were sent the new Apollo 8p, which
is visually and functionally similar to the
new Apollo 8. The Apollo 8 is an 18 x 24
interface with 8 analog inputs (4 mic/
instrument preamps with Unison plus 4 line
inputs) and 14 analog outputs plus 8-channel optical ADAT and stereo coaxial
S/PDIF. The 8p is a 16 x 20 interface with
two fewer analog outs and no coaxial
I/O, but has 8 rather than 4 Unisonequipped microphone preamps, hence the
"p" in the name. The Apollo 8p is only
sold in a QUAD configuration with four
DSP chips on board; the Apollo 8 is available in DUO or QUAD configurations.
On the back of the unit are 8 Neutrik
XLR-1/4" Combo inputs, 8 balanced 1/4"
TRS outputs, BNC word clock I/O, and
4 ADAT/SMUX ports (also used for
S/PDIF). There are also 2 parallel
Thunderbolt 2 ports and a 4-pin XLR style
power socket for connection to the large
external power supply.
The front panel offers a pair of 1/4" selfswitching instrument inputs that, unlike those
on the original silver Apollos, also make
use of the Unison impedance matching.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - March 2016