Best Universal Audio Apollo x16D Essentials Alternatives

Based on 23 reviews

I've had this unit for a month or so, and I'm liking it so far. Here are my thoughts on it. PROS 1) Sounds great. 2) The buttons on the hardware are well laid out, the user experience is good. 3) No Duet-style breakout-cable. 3) The whole ecosystem (hardware, console, plug-ins, unison) seems good. 4) Haven't had any issues so far, seems very stable. CONS 1) The price is quite high, and one could get by on a cheaper audio interface. 2) The UAD plug-ins can be quite heavy on resources. 3) The plug-ins are expensive when there isn't a campaign going on/you don't have discount vouchers. The pros far outweigh the cons, so I can only recommend getting this if you've been thinking about it. It costs a bit more than many other audio interfaces, but you are not going to regret investing in...

Based on 10 reviews

Never in my life have my recordings and song arrangements sound so good at the recording stage The quality of the apollo unison pre-amps and emulations and also the UAD plugins make arranging songs much easier. In the past I would probably have to record a hundred different instrument parts in order to have an interesting layer of sound, now only one part has enough character to support the song on its own. The interface is really well built and it's really easy to operate. The console control in the computer can seem daunting at first, but once you get around to it, there's nothing difficult there. Be careful if you spend a lot of time mixing and moving around because the UAD plugins need the interface DSP chips to work. All in all, moving to the UAD ecosystem can have its pros and...

Based on 5 reviews

I upgraded to the Zen Tour after my Audient gave up on me. I'm currently using the Zen Tour Synergy Core via Thunderbolt 3 on a Windows 10 laptop, replacing the Audient as the centerpiece of my studio. It was hard to look for a replacement for my Audient iD44, because it was hard to find an interface that had a significant upgrade in sound while having the Audient's flexibility. I use it to record vocals, acoustic/electric guitar, bass, analog synths, and I also send a stereo signal to my outboard effects and record them. I stumbled across the Zen Tour, and decided to give it a chance, despite previous negative reviews about driver issues. After using it for a while, I'd say everything about the Zen Tour sounds pristine, definitely a class above my Audient iD44 in all aspects. All the...

Based on 4 reviews

I use it as my main audio interface for mixing, but I bought it for occasional recordings, with the intention to record through the UA unison plugins. The console application gives great flexibility. The only thing that left me wishing is that it has 6 DSPs: It might be enough to record, but in my opinion this unit should have had 8 DSPs. I always end up running out of processing. For that I had to buy a UAD satellite. Agreed, price-wise the interface is not on the cheap side, plus adding DSP power requires to shell out for even more. But then consider this: every now and again, I use other brands of plugins, and invariably when I replace that with a UA plugin it just works better 99% of time. So if you only need inputs to record, I reckon you have options with other products. But if you...

Based on 1 reviews

Its like i got new speakers. You can really feel the difference. Its very expensive. but will probably last you very long with very high quality. It decreased my latency by a good margin(256 buffer size). I was using a apollo FW before. If you computer can handle 128 buffer size or less you probably will not feel latency at all. Touch screen display is pretty much useless for me. Maybe if you use it standalone it will become handy. I got it with an extra expansion card. Now the bad; Controller software seems to be in very early stages.I have to restart the mac every now and then to keep it working. I dont know if it was because of this (was the only recent change i did) but live freezes much more often. Did not feel customer service was that nice. Be carefull assembling 2 cards inside. If...

Based on 35 reviews

Hello! I'm a music producer and guitarist and this is the love of my life . Of course you need to take one second and think :" is this the investment that I want to ?" This just change your sound from cheap to Professional . I'm not just talking about the amazing pre-amp but you have a good bundle of plugin for a Crazy price . If you are guitarist or bass player trust me this is your brother . But now I'll tell you one sad point you don't have enough input but they are enough for an home studio . Otherwise I suggest to you to take the one with more inputs and outputs . Have fun you will never forget it . It's like the first love or the first sex.

Based on 8 reviews

Fully portable, 24bit, mixing console with comprehensive library of switchable preamps, compressors, amps and dynamic, eq, reverb, and other processing plugins and emulators. First off - I upgraded from an Arrow after approx 4 months. Not because it was not amazing but because of the quality of the UA plugins. I cannot afford (or store) rack mounted units. I have only used them in other peoples studios so I cannot speak for how accurate these emulations are. I can say though that I have yet to use ANYTHING that works as well as any of the UA line of plugins. Imagine doing your takes while fully mixed with imperceptive latency. And that same mix is recored direct to audio into your DAW if you choose. Secondly, the Unit itself - At the momnet this is the top tier of their desktop versions....

Based on 6 reviews

I amazed very much as I checked Apollo X8 heritage edition first time after registering it.it hardware & software quality and integration is outstanding.with a lot of strong features gorgeous hardware display and connections... It's plugins are no.1 plugins in the world like these were never offered with any world class any audio interface...I think it compete the great brands....I think only one audio interface is it's hard competitor or may be better in sound quality in some case in a little amount but it not came such a great plugins and software collection as Apollo X series came and that is Prism audio

Based on 13 reviews

This is a great device! sound quality is phenomenal and it looks great, the controls are well thought out and it’s small size and bus-powered capability make it easy to take with you. Even without the plugins, the Apollo Solo USB is an absolutely professional sounding interface and the plugins sounds amazing , the UAD versions of plugins are one of the best on the market that I've found. and the interface has a good sensitive preamp. Would recommend to anyone involved in mixing and music production in general.

Based on 9 reviews

Bought this unit to pair with new pc build that makes use of the thunderbolt 3 protocol. This unit seems to be one of the few thunderbolt 3 interfaces available with this amount of I/O, most others seen to have fewer built in mic pres and are considerably more expensive. For what I wanted to achieve this unit fits the bill nicely ( recording band practice and other small mixing projects). Construction. Seems to be reasonably well constructed and quite small for the amount of I/O compared to my last interface, the focusrite pro 40, it's quite small which is great for mobile recording. If I had to be critical I would have liked my power button on the front. Sound I've had the chance record a full band and I'm quite pleased with the sound especially for this price range. Overall it's...