Updates from UA - November

UniversalAudio · Nov 12, 2015

Hi all,

In the spirit of keeping you informed and following up from October, I wanted to give you a couple of status updates.

We are still working on Apollo Twin USB and it’s going to be delayed until early in Q1, 2016.

We are breaking new ground and working directly with Microsoft, but suffice it to say that it’s taking longer than we had originally projected. It’s as much a disappointment to us as it is to you, but we are definitely getting close.

However, because of this we are also forced to delay the release of Console 2.0 for Mac FW and Windows. You have our assurance it will get done, but we will need more time. I can’t give you an estimate at this time, but will update you again as we get closer to completion.

Best regards and thank you for your continued patience.

-GK
Gannon Kashiwa

Farm0 · Nov 12, 2015

Ugh... I'm glad to hear of the collaboration with Microsoft, especially if they can keep their commitment to bring thunderbolt support to windows 10. I also think it is extremely important to bring FireWire users up to date with console 2.0. However I am dismayed that UA will be saddled with maintaining as many as 6 discrete builds of the console software and drivers for the Apollo line. It doesn't bode well for future updates such as midi learn which I so desperately crave, as it will have to be developed and tested on 3 different connections across 2 different operating systems.

billybk1 · Nov 12, 2015

UniversalAudio said:
We are breaking new ground and working directly with Microsoft, but suffice it to say that it’s taking longer than we had originally projected.

This MS/UA collaboration does sound promising. Can't wait to see what you collectively cook up. A few more months is not the end of the world. Especially if it means a more reliable and productive Apollo ecosystem going forward. Worst thing to do is rush out an unready product just to meet some unrealistic deadline and then have to deal with the public firestorm and sullied reputation afterward.

Thanks for the update,

Billy Buck

DanButsu · Nov 12, 2015

Thanks for sharing Gannon. It's like when you're on the Tarmac and they announce that the flight will be delayed; I'm like hell yeah, make it safe to fly first, then let's take off. Baffles me why people get upset at delays! Best have the product released when it's solid and all parties involved are happy with it

djstyleee · Nov 12, 2015

billybk1 said:
This MS/UA collaboration does sound promising. Can't wait to see what you collectively cook up. A few more months is not the end of the world. Especially if it means a more reliable and productive Apollo ecosystem going forward. Worst thing to do is rush out an unready product just to meet some unrealistic deadline and then have to deal with the public firestorm and sullied reputation afterward.

Thanks for the update,

Billy Buck

Wise words

Soniko · Nov 12, 2015

hummm

Hoenerbr · Nov 12, 2015

No news is not good news but....

UniversalAudio said:
Hi all,

In the spirit of keeping you informed and following up from October, I wanted to give you a couple of status updates.

We are still working on Apollo Twin USB and it’s going to be delayed until early in Q1, 2016.

We are breaking new ground and working directly with Microsoft, but suffice it to say that it’s taking longer than we had originally projected. It’s as much a disappointment to us as it is to you, but we are definitely getting close.

However, because of this we are also forced to delay the release of Console 2.0 for Mac FW and Windows. You have our assurance it will get done, but we will need more time. I can’t give you an estimate at this time, but will update you again as we get closer to completion.

Best regards and thank you for your continued patience.

-GK
Gannon Kashiwa

Thanks for the update Gannon. I have a Twin USB on Pre Order. I don't mind waiting until a solid product is ready for Prime Time but it would be nice to know what to expect. Could you elaborate a little bit on how the USB Version will work / or not work with the rest of the UAD / Apollo family?
Thanks for all your hard work!

Quint · Nov 13, 2015

Hoenerbr said:
Thanks for the update Gannon. I have a Twin USB on Pre Order. I don't mind waiting until a solid product is ready for Prime Time but it would be nice to know what to expect. Could you elaborate a little bit on how the USB Version will work / or not work with the rest of the UAD / Apollo family?
Thanks for all your hard work!

I suspect recent developments in Intel and Windows land have contributed to this delay. But that's likely a good thing. These new developments may finally allow for one big happy UAD environment on the Windows platform so it's better to delay things and make all of this happen rather than release the USB Twin as it was and then miss out on the possibilities that these new developments might afford as far as connection protocols go.

UniversalAudio · Nov 13, 2015

Hoenerbr said:
Thanks for the update Gannon. I have a Twin USB on Pre Order. I don't mind waiting until a solid product is ready for Prime Time but it would be nice to know what to expect. Could you elaborate a little bit on how the USB Version will work / or not work with the rest of the UAD / Apollo family?
Thanks for all your hard work!

Hi Hoenerbr,

I saw that you have a Twin USB on pre-order, so thanks for your patience!

Twin USB is completely compatible with UAD-2 PCIe cards and Satellite FireWire.

However, it is not compatible with Apollo (FW or Thunderbolt) and can't be combined with other Apollos in an expanded system.

Thanks again for your patience and I hope that helps!

-GK
Gannon Kashiwa

sadkin · Nov 13, 2015

Thanks Gannon,

Good luck!

I know the Twin USB is the immediate focus, but I hope "the new ground" being broken in working directly with MS inherently helps with advancing a protocol for Windows/Apollo 8 solution thereby making the delay of the Twin and console 2 for FW more of a coup come January!

...a guy can hope.

Seriously, best to you guys!

bladelaw · Nov 13, 2015

This sucks.

I sold my UAD2 pci card & desktop because the USB Twin was said to be out in October. Now I have a new laptop with no firewire ports, and no access to my UAD plugins until Q1. Thanks UA. For this spirit of keeping us informed, you should have announced this product would be delayed sooner.

Does anyone have experience using an Apollo Firewire with a firewire to USB adapter cable? Would it work?

Moses · Nov 15, 2015

Hi Gannon,

Do you know if the premium plugin promotion of purchasing Apollo Twin will extend until the release of the Apollo USB ?

Thanks,
Moses

Lulu German · Nov 15, 2015

A nice discount on TB optional card would be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.

UniversalAudio · Nov 17, 2015

Moses said:
Hi Gannon,

Do you know if the premium plugin promotion of purchasing Apollo Twin will extend until the release of the Apollo USB ?

Thanks,
Moses

Hi Moses,

Yes - thanks for asking.

If you have pre-ordered your Apollo Twin USB, you will receive your 3 free plug-ins (UA610A, EMT140, and Bermuda Triangle) when you register your Twin USB once you receive it in early 2016.

Cheers!

-GK
Gannon Kashiwa

Serenity · Nov 17, 2015

bladelaw said:
I sold my UAD2 pci card & desktop because the USB Twin was said to be out in October. Now I have a new laptop with no firewire ports, and no access to my UAD plugins until Q1. Thanks UA. For this spirit of keeping us informed, you should have announced this product would be delayed sooner.

I understand your pain. However, let it be a lesson not to sell your existing gear for something that has not even been released. At least if you depend on it.
Release dates often change for various reasons, especially when computers are involved. I think UA went public with it as soon as they realised that they couldn't make it. What more could they have done?

bladelaw said:
Does anyone have experience using an Apollo Firewire with a firewire to USB adapter cable? Would it work?

I highly doubt it. Pretty much no equipment works with that.

ravejanitor · Nov 17, 2015

UniversalAudio said:
Hi Moses,

Yes - thanks for asking.

If you have pre-ordered your Apollo Twin USB, you will receive your 3 free plug-ins (UA610A, EMT140, and Bermuda Triangle) when you register your Twin USB once you receive it in early 2016.

Cheers!

-GK
Gannon Kashiwa

But I recall that the fine print says "must be redeemed by January 15, 2016"

Any other assurances? I would pre-order for the plug-ins, rather than wait and see how it performs on PC.

Moses · Nov 18, 2015

Well that is a shame, I think I'll pass...
I don't see any reason to pre-order any equipment at $1,250 (yeah, that's the price in my area) when I don't know the release date and the quality of the product, might be buggy as hell when it will release.
I must say that I have never ranted before on UAD (at all) on their MAC vs PC marketing, but this is very disappointing. Why a MAC person that is in my position with pcie card with more than $2K plugins, can buy an Apollo with promotion, while us PC, the promotion will end just two months before the release of PC version, that is two years later than the MAC release.

Just feel bad...

UAD2 · Nov 23, 2015

UniversalAudio said:
Hi Moses,

Yes - thanks for asking.

If you have pre-ordered your Apollo Twin USB, you will receive your 3 free plug-ins (UA610A, EMT140, and Bermuda Triangle) when you register your Twin USB once you receive it in early 2016.

Cheers!

-GK
Gannon Kashiwa

Hello Gannon!

It's been awhile since I've been on here, but I pre-ordered an Apollo Twin USB several weeks ago and was notified by my sales rep today that it won't be available until 2016. Since I already own two of the three plug-ins offered with the Twin USB's December 2015 promo, I was wondering if Universal Audio would consider issuing coupon vouchers to Twin USB pre-order customers that would expire after the 2016 Half-Yearly Sale or the 2016 Holiday Sale, or to increase the value of the voucher to compensate for non-sale months at the UAD store, or to allow pre-order customers to preselect plugins at the 2015 Holiday Sale prices, or to move up the 2016 Half-Yearly Sale to coincide with the Twin USB product release?

The only reason why I pre-ordered a first production run device was because it coincided with the 2015 Holiday Sale. If the Twin USB's incentive voucher remains at the $447 value come March 2016, then it is a huge loss in value when compared to having it available for use during the December 2015 Holiday Sale. Frankly I wouldn't purchase this device if the sweetener were just a $447 voucher that expired in 30 days and were only available for use in March/April 2016 (typically the worst time to buy plug-ins at the UA Store, IMO).

What I'm asking here is if UA's marketing department has considered the potential "bait/switch" of this Twin USB promo by delaying the product release until Q1 of 2016 instead of Q4 of 2015, and how they might resolve it for fairness to pre-order customers? Is it at all possible for pre-order customers to pre-select $447 worth of plug-ins at the Holiday 2015 sale prices and to receive them when the Twin USB delivers? Since the Twin USB is nearly two years behind the Twin Thunderbolt, I think the danger of not having a good plug-in incentive is that the device may just as well be obsolete by the time it hits market. I personally wouldn't buy the Twin USB in its current configuration (i.e. original model SHARC chips) without some serious incentive to balance out the risk of early obsolescence.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and I look forward to your response!

Hoenerbr · Nov 23, 2015

UAD2 said:
Hello Gannon!

It's been awhile since I've been on here, but I pre-ordered an Apollo Twin USB several weeks ago and was notified by my sales rep today that it won't be available until 2016. Since I already own two of the three plug-ins offered with the Twin USB's December 2015 promo, I was wondering if Universal Audio would consider issuing coupon vouchers to Twin USB pre-order customers that would expire after the 2016 Half-Yearly Sale or the 2016 Holiday Sale, or to increase the value of the voucher to compensate for non-sale months at the UAD store, or to allow pre-order customers to preselect plugins at the 2015 Holiday Sale prices, or to move up the 2016 Half-Yearly Sale to coincide with the Twin USB product release?

The only reason why I pre-ordered a first production run device was because it coincided with the 2015 Holiday Sale. If the Twin USB's incentive voucher remains at the $447 value come March 2016, then it is a huge loss in value when compared to having it available for use during the December 2015 Holiday Sale. Frankly I wouldn't purchase this device if the sweetener were just a $447 voucher that expired in 30 days and were only available for use in March/April 2016 (typically the worst time to buy plug-ins at the UA Store, IMO).

What I'm asking here is if UA's marketing department has considered the potential "bait/switch" of this Twin USB promo by delaying the product release until Q1 of 2016 instead of Q4 of 2015, and how they might resolve it for fairness to pre-order customers? Is it at all possible for pre-order customers to pre-select $447 worth of plug-ins at the Holiday 2015 sale prices and to receive them when the Twin USB delivers? Since the Twin USB is nearly two years behind the Twin Thunderbolt, I think the danger of not having a good plug-in incentive is that the device may just as well be obsolete by the time it hits market. I personally wouldn't buy the Twin USB in its current configuration (i.e. original model SHARC chips) without some serious incentive to balance out the risk of early obsolescence.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and I look forward to your response!

That makes two of us. And thank you for wording this so well. I knew UA would Honor the $447 in plugins but never really thought that there would be a way to Pre-Order the Plugins during the Holiday and Black friday sales. I don't think UA is the type of company to hold back just to make a few bucks. I'm sure the delays are real. But your right, it really shouldn't be any skin off their nose to allow a Pre-Order during the Holiday sales.
What say you Gannon??

UAD2 · Nov 23, 2015

Hoenerbr said:
That makes two of us. And thank you for wording this so well. I knew UA would Honor the $447 in plugins but never really thought that there would be a way to Pre-Order the Plugins during the Holiday and Black friday sales. I don't think UA is the type of company to hold back just to make a few bucks. I'm sure the delays are real. But your right, it really shouldn't be any skin off their nose to allow a Pre-Order during the Holiday sales.
What say you Gannon??

While I absolutely agree that the delay wasn't intentional on UA's part, it is a consequence of their lack of expertise with the Windows platform. This was sorely apparent several years back when their Windows AAX64 wrapper missed several expected release dates and was eventually released a full year after Pro Tools 11 hit the shelves.:roll:

Although I was initially excited about the Twin USB announcement a few months back, the current technical glitch has me growing very weary of DSP-powered plug-in solutions. I'm not even sure if I'm interested in the Twin USB anymore unless it gets redesigned with next-gen SHARC chips. The timing of UA's problems with the Twin USB is very unfortunate for them, and perhaps a blessing to those of us who pre-ordered this product. UA should seriously consider investing more in Windows developers.:idea:

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