Apollo Solo
Customer Reviews
Apollo Solo
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B. ŠURGOT
Unstable installation
The advantage is quality A/D converters, thunderbolt connection with MacOs - very fast communication and power supply.
The disadvantage is the relatively complex installation in MacOS vz.Sonoma 14.5, I was bothered by the need to change the system security and also the need to install all UAD plugins, when the volume of downloaded data, including the operating system, reached almost 10 Gb. After putting my MacBook Pro M2 Max to sleep, the Apollo solo stops recording, input doesn't work, only output, so I have to restart the Mac. So far, I'm solving it by disconnecting the thunderbolt cable before waking up the Mac, then reconnecting it after waking up the Mac. It heats up very quickly.
In my opinion, the audio interface should work immediately after plugging in - plug and play and downloading related/accompanying software/plugins should be left to the user's choice. I prefer hardware over software plugins for recording and I'm used to working in Logic Pro. So I don't need the installed software, including the UAD plugins, it takes up space on the HDD unnecessarily.
M. Sengelman
I really like it.
I've been using Solo for a couple of weeks now. Great for vocal tracking. I really like it.
R. Butler
Blown Away
I got reeled into UA via a free native Teletronix plugin. After a few hoops, I installed in on an old laptop that had an old session and plugged it in... and wow! The bass guitar track exploded. I was immediately hooked. Without doing any research and not knowing much about UA at this point, I proceeded to buy a UAD plugins bundle and not native. Then I realized I needed to buy the hardware to run the plugins, after shopping around I bought the Apollo Solo. I downloaded LUNA and put together my first microphone recordings with the UNISON option using CONSOLE and my microphones have never sounded so good. The preamps are stunning. And many unique ones to choose from. I am really satisfied but the UA stuff is addicting. I recently purchased a UAD-2 QUAD for an older computer that I use for multitrack recordings and I'm amazed with the workload that it can handle. I've got my eyes on some APOLLO 8 devices but resisting is difficult. To have these UA UNISON preamps on 4 or 8 input channels would be mind blowing.
M. Santos
Game Changer For Me
I was looking for an upgrade in my home studio that brings more joy and fun on my productions. The Apollo Solo interface with all it's universe of plugins it's bringing me that joy again to make music, it's a new world with new colors to me.
Z. Peschos
Good enough for amateurs
Nice interface and very user friendly but a bit temperamental with startup - especially coming back from sleep mode will not always fire up. Gets pretty hot too.
J. Marroquin
Sounds great
I use this as my travel interface. I love that it’s bus powered but it has some issues connecting at first so I have to reboot my MacBook Pro M1 Max a lot sometimes. It’s a pain when I’m doing sessions with clients because it wastes a lot of time just trying to turn on. But once it’s on it’s pretty solid and sounds great. Converters are decent too. It does get pretty hot after about 15 mins of use tho. Doesn’t come with a cable either which is disappointing.
B. Crowley
Exactly what I wanted, but make sure you know what you're buying
I recently purchased the Sphere DLX modeling microphone from UA, and it blew my mind so much I had to buy an Apollo Solo when I found out about all the preamp models that work with their Unison preamps in the Apollo Solo. I have also just plain been wanting a bus-powered interface with amazing preamp emulation forever, and I am more than thrilled that the Apollo Solo both exists and has a reasonable enough price to justify upgrading to it. The sound quality is next level, and from what I understand you won't get better sound quality in the higher end units, just more IO and more powerful DSP chips built-in. The headphone amp is particularly good, which is nice since some of my headphones are very low volume on other audio interfaces I own. The plug-ins that come with this thing, especially during promos, are very plentiful and absolutely top notch. I have yet to use a Universal Audio product that doesn't feel like it's been as perfected as possible.
The main downside and thing to know is that since this is a single core model, you're not going to be able to load many plugins (like 2-3 max, depending on the plugins). Luckily this is all you need to record tracks and flatten them using the analogue preamp running on the DSP chip. The only problem with this approach is that you will pretty much NEED to flatten every track before moving onto the next, since you can't run many preamp emulations at the same time. In most cases this is totally fine, but since I also use a Sphere DLX microphone, I need to flatten the track early with the Sphere plugin first and the preamp/console plugin second, which means I can't change the microphone model later on. This isn't the case if there's a native version of the preamp/console you want to use, but many are not native yet. In any case, this is a very minor complaint for such a great audio interface, but it's definitely worth knowing before purchasing. There is a page on UA's site that lists the CPU usage for every plugin they offer, so it's worth referencing that prior to purchase to see if it will work for you.
R. Chiga
Super portable DSP
I bought this to work at home, super usefull, nice and portable. :-)
I. Gulida
Perfect
Just perfect for my use case - I love it
F. Mannan
Not fit for purpose
I got this in January 2023 for light daily use in a home studio. It stopped working with no explanation in April 2024. Prior to that, I had expressed concerns (to no avail) to both the seller and to UAD themselves that it was a defective unit: somehow the Apollo caused my brand new Mac Studio to kernel panic (crash) every time I left it unattended. If it didn't crash, it would start making strange noises and have to be reset. The software never picked up that the device was registered. It also filled my DAW with hundreds of plugins that I didn't own and were therefore unusable. It didn't work for me.
N. Winterstein
Fender twin plugin soaks recources
My idea was to use the apollo solo with 3 plugins while recording: Fender Twin, compressor LA-2a and Plate reverb. The Apollo solo will not allow that . Beside the Twin only one more plugin can be used. It would work with the Marshal amp but the sound is not suitable for a clean Jazz tone IMO. So I am quite surprized to be honest and not too happy with the purchase.
A. Lefort
Enormément décu
2eme fois que j'ai cette carte son, toujours le même problème qui persiste, la lampe a l'intérieur ne s'allume plus après 4 mois d'utilisation, alors oui certes ca envoi mais sur longévité de vie est pourri.. je suis très déçu...
Finalement c'est triste a dire mais rien ne vaut une bonne scarlette duo...
S. Kallimanis
Industry standard for a reason
I upgraded from a Steinberg interface and the workflow has made a huge difference to my inspiration and saved me valuable time. The included plugins are professional level and was an excellent bonus to my purchase.
t. becker
Pretty good but leaves some to be desired
What would make this interface really good as the word clock
The ability to use unison with external preamps
And call me crazy but this is Universal Audio. I think there should be two tubes in their interfaces
If anyone’s gonna be able to pull off a two channel tube, preamp interface, which it can also be used in the master section
Oh my God dammit should be the descendants of Bill putnam
That, and another thing, I think all audio interfaces are lacking, is the ability to hook up multiple stereo, inputs and outputs for mastering purposes, and transfer purposes
Would have liked to see them carry out this unit like they did the 2192
Which was a force to be reckoned with
A. Little
amazing quality
hands down the best audio interface in its price rang BUT I wish it was class compliant so I could use it with my iPad Pro 12.9 M2 . I know the make ones that will work but id prefer to use the apollo solo with my iPad . @uad if its possible pls make it happen
J. jorgensen
Do not buy if you have windows.
Constantly surprised at how horrible this product runs for windows. I've spent dozens of hours messing around with patches and fixes (which I have to find from thirst parties because UA just seems to not care about providing support) to get this to work moderately well.
P. Smerda
Best Audio Devices for my drummer
I buy this product for my drummer, long time write new songs and dont have best audio devices, NOW have :-) working in Luna and sending me beatifull songs for our band...
J. Max
Apollo Solo
Hello. I use the interface on stage. I can say that the equipment is really well made and works well. The quality is at the level. And real time plugins work well. Preamps are good. Software too. It's reliable, and that's good. In short, I really recommend it.
J. Max
Apollo Solo
Hello. I use the interface on stage. I can say that the equipment is really well made and works well. The quality is at the level. And real time plugins work well. Preamps are good. Software too. It's reliable, and that's good. In short, I really recommend it.
B. Darling
Sweet piece of gear
As a voice talent, my goal is not only to deliver the very best sound but to be able to let clients hear that sound during real-time, online-directed sessions. The Solo lets me do that. The included plugins made the transition from my Audient iD-4 doable.