Apollo 8p Line input and ADAT disappointment

T

thronechild

Member
I am a silverface apollo owner and I recently just purchased an apollo 8p to take advantage of the promo and hoping to add some inputs/dsp to my setup and after hooking it up, I learned that to take advantage of the line inputs through the combo jacks on the rear of the device, you would have to physically switch the cable from xlr to trs. This means no interfacing with a patch bay.

At the same time, they still limit the ADAT outputs though they give you two ports which at single speed should be able to handle 16 outputs. This one I knew about but am still disappointed.

The line input switching issue seems like a major oversight on their part for an audio interface, not to mention the logistics of reaching the rear of a rack mounted interface.

It seems to me that UA cuts some corners, more than just this issue, that I haven't experienced with other interface manufacturers like RME, MOTU and Focusrite.

The Apollo isnt my only way to route inputs, and I am committed to the plugin ecosystem, so I will deal with it, but I think its an unnecessary compromise that customers in this price bracket shouldn't have to make. I also feel its important to provide feedback to others and to UA so maybe they can learn from it.

I'm sure its a pipe dream but I hope its a software limitation and can be updated at some point.
 
tomtama

tomtama

Hall of Fame Member
I agree with you on the combo jack problem. It's the only reason I won't be upgrading my Apollo SF to this generation of Apollo. There have been a lot of complaints on this forum about the combo jacks. I hope they change the design in the next generation.
 
DanButsu

DanButsu

Administrator
Forum Admin
Moderator
Yup. I despise combo jacks on pro gear (okay for a $100 soundcard, maybe the Twin, but not a studio rack Apollo). I had the opportunity to switch my 4 yo Silverface for a brand new Blackface and did not due to the silly combo jacks!
 
tomtama

tomtama

Hall of Fame Member
The hate is related to the fact that you cannot have a cable plugged into the mic input and the line input at the same time. It has to be one or the other. On the older Apollo rack mounted units the mic input and line inputs are separate jacks. If you're using your Apollo with a patch bay (like most professionals and many home studio guys like me are), you can't use the patch bay to connect to the mic and line inputs at the same time. You can only use one or the other. This forces you to patch at the Apollo which is typically in a rack and hard to get at.

I hope that helps.
 
Matt Hepworth

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
Combo jacks have a purpose, but they're definitely a drag when it comes to rack mounted units.

Separate, switchable XLR and TRS is ideal.
 
tomtama

tomtama

Hall of Fame Member
They should have used DB-25 connectors on the BF Apollos. Using combo jacks was a bad design choice for a product intended for the professional market.
 
M

mrc

Active Member
The Audient 880 has both DB25 and XLR, it's very handy to bypass the pre's for outboard pre's as well.
 
M

mark714

Active Member
This is one reason I went with two Apollo 8 duo's. Same DSP as the 8p, same number of preamps, double the outputs, not that much more money, still only 2RU, and the kicker... double the satellite promo! You could lash those up to a patchbay and have at least 8 dedicated line inputs, and keep the combo jacks on XLR.

I'm also not a fan of the combo jacks, but for where they aim this product, I think the combo jack probably solves more problems than it creates.
 
F

Flight Feathers

New Member
I just got an 8p and was wondering how I was going to wire it into my patchbay... I still have external pre's I'd like to use the line in portion of the combo jacks, but only some of the time.

Does anyone know the unity gain setting on the mic pres? Or a way to disable the mic pre gain? This way, I can hard wire the combo jack to the patchbay with the XLR portion of the combo jack, and pass in line levels to it that way.


Looking at the manual and block diagram, the only difference between the mic pre and line level are the input impedance and input gain for the preamp.

Mic input: Default Input Impedance 5.4K Ohms (variable via Unison plug-ins)
Lint input: Input Impedance 10K Ohms
 
U

UnitedWestern

Member
I have a vague memory (Mad Cow) of reading in the manual that there is a way to bypass all of the UA preamp circuitry for using outboard preamps. Wish I could tell you how to do it...
 
Matt Hepworth

Matt Hepworth

Master of the UADiverse
Forum Admin
Moderator
UnitedWestern said:
I have a vague memory (Mad Cow) of reading in the manual that there is a way to bypass all of the UA preamp circuitry for using outboard preamps. Wish I could tell you how to do it...
Click to expand...
Use TRS and switch the gain settings to off (toggle switches in Console's back end settings).

I think it technically still passes through the op, but the gain knob adds nothing in this setting (no fully clockwise noise, etc.). It's the closest to the line only 5-8 on the Silver units.
 
lite

lite

Active Member
Same here. I did not upgrade from SF to BF because of those combo jokes. Most stupid idea to put line and mic jacks into one production cost saving combo jack when upgrading to the newer product version. Major drawback if you switch frequently.
 
DanButsu

DanButsu

Administrator
Forum Admin
Moderator
Add me to the did not upgrade list for the same reason, and I had a straight exchange possible with a forum member that needed tb1 for win!
 
G

Gitaarwerk

Venerated Member
tomtama said:
The hate is related to the fact that you cannot have a cable plugged into the mic input and the line input at the same time. It has to be one or the other. On the older Apollo rack mounted units the mic input and line inputs are separate jacks. If you're using your Apollo with a patch bay (like most professionals and many home studio guys like me are), you can't use the patch bay to connect to the mic and line inputs at the same time. You can only use one or the other. This forces you to patch at the Apollo which is typically in a rack and hard to get at.

I hope that helps.
Click to expand...
I do understand that now. I recently added an extra adat convertor, and still need more inputs. And now, I can because i can switch inputs on my silver face :) makes me a happy man.
 
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