Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

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Steve Steele
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Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

Post by Steve Steele »

In the $2000 range I'm looking at the 2x6 Apogee Symphony to replace my beloved but aging 896HD (Black Lion modded with micro clock).

I might add the Thunderbolt bridge if I get a new MacPro. I really want to lower that latency and I only need two inputs.

Anyone recommend any other interfaces in that ballpark? I've been looking at them all, but don't have a way of actually hearing any of them.

Please enlighten me.

Mac Studio M1 Ultra, 128GBs Unified memory, 4TB SSD.
Interfaces: MOTU M2 and 8A (2.1 and 5.1 setups).
DAWs: Digital Performer 11, Logic Pro, Cubase 12 Pro, Studio One Pro.
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HCMarkus
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Re: Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

Post by HCMarkus »

I'm liking the new MOTU interfaces, but I need more inputs than you. Still, with conversion very similar to the Symphony line, powerful mixing and routing, Thunderbolt, USB and Ethernet all standard in a single rack space with a very nice price, they look like winners no matter what the application.
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Re: Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

Post by Steve Steele »

HCMarkus wrote:with conversion very similar to the Symphony line,
I need to look at the specs but I wonder if MOTU's convertors and preamp chips are of the same quality as the Apogee. Just from what I know about my 896HD, that was one area were they fell a little short. I believe the Texas Instruments chips they used in mine was considered average to above average.
powerful mixing and routing, Thunderbolt, USB and Ethernet all standard in a single rack space with a very nice price, they look like winners no matter what the application.
No doubt about the CueMix features. I like that a lot. Not sure how much I'd actually end up using some of the built in effects, but yeah, I like the CueMix features for sure. The mixer is handy.

What's most important for me is the quality of the convertors and PCI/TB low latency for a two input, 8 output device. I'd prefer a 4 input device actually, but two will probably always work for me.

Mac Studio M1 Ultra, 128GBs Unified memory, 4TB SSD.
Interfaces: MOTU M2 and 8A (2.1 and 5.1 setups).
DAWs: Digital Performer 11, Logic Pro, Cubase 12 Pro, Studio One Pro.
Sample Libraries: Primary - VSL (all), Spitfire, (mostly all), and many others.
External Controllers: Metagrid Pro and Studio Logic SL|MIXFACE
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HCMarkus
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Re: Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

Post by HCMarkus »

Lots of discussion here:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-c ... t=motu+avb

With input from MOTU's Mr. Miller. Discussion of converters, latency, et al. Post #605 may be of particular interest to you. (yes, TONS of interest in this line of products!)
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Re: Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

Post by mhschmieder »

Well, not being a fan of Apogee (all their stuff sounds coloured to me), and given that price, I just can't see any advantages vs. the RME Fireface line -- especially the newer models, which use top-of-line mic pre's and better D/A converters (the A/D converters are similar quality to before, which is way above average but certainly not super-high end).

The UFX has the gigantic advantage of recording 24+ tracks in standalone mode on a USB memory stick. This is now how I do ALL of my initial drum tracking, as it spares the pain of having to drag a full computer setup to the drum session (unless the drums are recorded AFTER the guitar, in which case I go direct to DP and sometimes have to use a snake).

The new MOTU units look like quite a step up from their earlier budget-minded gear, which was always great bang-for-buck but not really step-up quality like their i24 and a couple of other units that have very specific integration configurations. I get the impression their newest units are true step-up gear closer to the quality of an RME the device.

RME has rock solid drivers and top performance (due to proprietary vs. industry stock chips/drivers). MOTU has always been similarly stable for me on Macs; not sure if they are yet considered as good/reliable on Windows as I haven't followed those trends in recent years.
Last edited by mhschmieder on Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
iMac 27" 2017 Quad-Core Intel i5 (3.8 GHz, 64 GB), OSX 13.6.1, MOTU DP 11.31, iZotope RX 10
RME Babyface Pro FS, Radial JDV Mk5, Hammond XK-4, Moog Voyager

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Re: Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

Post by Phil O »

What about the Lynx Aurora? I've heard good things about them but I have yet to actually hear one.

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DP 11.23, 2020 M1 Mac Mini [9,1] (16 Gig RAM), Mac Pro 3GHz 8 core [6,1] (16 Gig RAM), OS 14.3.1/11.6.2, Lynx Aurora (n) 8tb, MOTU 8pre-es, MOTU M6, MOTU 828, Apogee Rosetta 800, UAD-2 Satellite, a truckload of outboard gear and plug-ins, and a partridge in a pear tree.
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Re: Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

Post by mhschmieder »

The Lynx Aurora is good stuff but I'm not sure how active the company is at the moment, given some announcements that I don't believe have panned out yet. That is, I remember reading about an updated version but don't think it has arrived. It's a step up from RME, but not by as much as before. Someone linked to a chart here a while back, and the differential is now quite small. A next-rev Lynx Aurora would probably bump it back up a notch or two.
iMac 27" 2017 Quad-Core Intel i5 (3.8 GHz, 64 GB), OSX 13.6.1, MOTU DP 11.31, iZotope RX 10
RME Babyface Pro FS, Radial JDV Mk5, Hammond XK-4, Moog Voyager

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35
Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, Johhny Marr Jaguar, 57 LP, Danelectro 12
Eastman T486RB, T64/V, Ibanez PM2, D'angelico Deluxe SS Bari, EXL1
Guild Bari, 1512 12-string, M20, Martin OM28VTS, Larivee 0040MH
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Steve Steele
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Re: Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

Post by Steve Steele »

HCMarkus wrote:Lots of discussion here:

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-c ... t=motu+avb

With input from MOTU's Mr. Miller. Discussion of converters, latency, et al. Post #605 may be of particular interest to you. (yes, TONS of interest in this line of products!)
Thanks for the link!

Mac Studio M1 Ultra, 128GBs Unified memory, 4TB SSD.
Interfaces: MOTU M2 and 8A (2.1 and 5.1 setups).
DAWs: Digital Performer 11, Logic Pro, Cubase 12 Pro, Studio One Pro.
Sample Libraries: Primary - VSL (all), Spitfire, (mostly all), and many others.
External Controllers: Metagrid Pro and Studio Logic SL|MIXFACE
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Steve Steele
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Re: Apogee Symphony thoughts/suggestions

Post by Steve Steele »

mhschmieder wrote:Well, not being a fan of Apogee (all their stuff sounds coloured to me), and given that price, I just can't see any advantages vs. the RME Fireface line -- especially the newer models, which use top-of-line mic pre's and better D/A converters (the A/D converters are similar quality to before, which is way above average but certainly not super-high end).

The UFX has the gigantic advantage of recording 24+ tracks in standalone mode on a USB memory stick. This is now how I do ALL of my initial drum tracking, as it spares the pain of having to drag a full computer setup to the drum session (unless the drums are recorded AFTER the guitar, in which case I go direct to DP and sometimes have to use a snake).
Thanks for the tips. I think I said this, but I'm still using the first gen MOTU 896HD (which had the Black Lion Audio mods done a few years ago) and sounds pretty good. I don't even know how much of a sound and definition difference a new $2k-$3k I/O will make. And, yes, in my mind MOTU interfaces always meant "great features, cheap-ish but not the worst converters and preamps", which has meant a lot of sales for MOTU. Good for them on that.

I've noticed that RME and Apogee seem to be the competitive mid-level brands, but I know next to nothing about them in terms of their convertors, preamp qualities and drivers (although CoreAudio seems to make it fairly easy for drivers). I need to look up the chips used in them and figure that out. But again, thank you for the advice.
The new MOTU units look like quite a step up from their earlier budget-minded gear, which was always great bang-for-buck but not really step-up quality like their i24 and a couple of other units that have very specific integration configurations. I get the impression their newest units are true step-up gear closer to the quality of an RME the device.
What about you makes you say this? Do you know for sure that the convertors and preamps are RME quality?
RME has rock solid drivers and top performance (due to proprietary vs. industry stock chips/drivers). MOTU has always been similarly stable for me on Macs; not sure if they are yet considered as good/reliable on Windows as I haven't followed those trends in recent years.
Yeah. Hurry for MOTU Mac drivers over the last 30 years. Never ever caused me problems. Nice to know that about RME.

Mac Studio M1 Ultra, 128GBs Unified memory, 4TB SSD.
Interfaces: MOTU M2 and 8A (2.1 and 5.1 setups).
DAWs: Digital Performer 11, Logic Pro, Cubase 12 Pro, Studio One Pro.
Sample Libraries: Primary - VSL (all), Spitfire, (mostly all), and many others.
External Controllers: Metagrid Pro and Studio Logic SL|MIXFACE
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