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Universal Audio, Inc. 

1700 Green Hills Road 

Scotts Valley, CA 95066-4983 USA 

Customer Service & Technical Support: 

+1-877-MY-UAUDIO (+1-877-698-2834) 

International: +1-831-440-1176 

www.uaudio.com 

 

Summary of Contents for Apollo

Page 1: ...UA Part Number 65 40424 Revision A Customer Service Technical Support 1 877 MY UAUDIO 1 877 698 2834 International 1 831 440 1176 www uaudio com H I G H R E S O L U T I O N I N T E R FA C E with Realtime UAD Processing ...

Page 2: ... performance serves as the foundation This is just the start however as Apollo is the only audio interface that allows you to run UAD plug ins in realtime allowing you to track and monitor using any of our plug ins Want to monitor yourself through a Neve console channel strip while tracking your bass through a Fairchild or LA 2A compressor Or how about tracking vocals through an SSL Channel Strip ...

Page 3: ...ation 17 Registration Authorization 18 Device Driver Setup 19 Console Settings Window 19 Global Interface Settings 19 DAW Settings 20 Interconnections 21 Installation Notes 21 Basic Setup 21 Typical Setup 22 Advanced Setup 23 FireWire Basics 24 Mixing FireWire Speeds 26 Recommended Mixed Speed Setup 26 Digital Clocking Basics 27 Specifications 29 Hardware Block Diagram 33 Troubleshooting 34 Additi...

Page 4: ...re The Thunderbolt Option Card can be easily installed in Apollo s option card slot allowing Apollo to connect with Thunderbolt enabled computers To fully realize the low latency potential of Apollo the Console application is included and provides a familiar analog mixing console interface where you can load your favorite combination of Realtime UAD plug ins Setting up two custom headphone mixes i...

Page 5: ... device drivers Microphone Preamplifiers Four high resolution ultra transparent digitally controlled analog mic preamps Front panel and software control of all preamp parameters Switchable low cut filter 48V phantom power 20 dB pad polarity inversion and stereo linking Monitoring Stereo monitor outputs independent of eight line outputs Digitally controlled analog monitor outputs maintains highest ...

Page 6: ... 1U rack mountable form factor One year warranty includes parts and labor Hardware System Requirements The host computer must meet the hardware system requirements below to use Apollo For software system requirements refer to the Apollo Software Manual see page 7 Basic audio interface I O functionality Available FireWire 800 or Thunderbolt expansion port Thunderbolt connections require the Thunder...

Page 7: ...ctive I O assignments signal routings and monitor settings are saved to internal firmware when Apollo is powered down and recalled when power is re applied Therefore the last used settings are always available even when a host computer is not used Note that UAD 2 Powered Plug In instantiations are not retained on power down because the plug in files reside in the host computer However if UAD 2 plu...

Page 8: ...st DAW application has its own particular methods for configuring audio interfaces and using plug ins Refer to the host DAW documentation for specific instructions about using audio interface and plug in features within the DAW Support Pages The latest technical information about Apollo is posted on the Universal Audio support website Our support pages may contain updated late breaking information...

Page 9: ... disconnected 2 Preamp Gain Channel Select Knob This endless rotary encoder with integrated pushbutton serves two functions Rotating the knob adjusts the preamp gain for the selected input channel and pushing the knob selects which preamp channel 1 4 is affected by the front panel preamp controls Preamp Gain The preamp gain of analog inputs 1 4 is adjusted with this control The channel to be adjus...

Page 10: ...nate rumble and other unwanted low frequencies from the input signal 6 Phantom Power 48V When enabled 48 volts of phantom power is supplied to the channel s rear panel Mic input Most modern condenser microphones require 48V phantom power to operate This option can only be activated when the Mic Line switch 4 is set to Mic Note Depending on the current configuration of the hardware and software the...

Page 11: ...o The Universal Audio logo illuminates when the external power supply is properly connected to the AC outlet and the power input on the rear of the unit and the Power switch 22 is in the up position Clock LEDs The Internal INT and External EXT Clock LEDs indicate the source and status of the system master clock The clock source is specified in the Interface panel of the Settings window within the ...

Page 12: ... the analog domain after D A conversion digitally controlled analog volume This method provides the utmost monitoring fidelity in contrast to digital volume controls that reduce levels by truncating the word length dropping bits Monitor Mute Pushing the Monitor knob toggles the mute state of the signals at monitor outputs 1 2 on the rear panel When the monitor outs are muted the Monitor Level Indi...

Page 13: ...nfigured in the Interface panel of the Settings window in the Console application 3 Line Inputs 1 8 The individually addressable line level analog inputs use balanced TRS phone jacks Unbalanced TS cables can also be used The Hi Z inputs override the Line Inputs on channels 1 2 Line Inputs 5 8 can be configured in adjacent pairs to use 10 dBV or 4 dBu reference levels This function is configured on...

Page 14: ...d two ADAT outputs are provided routing a total of eight channels of digital audio The channels routed by these ports depend on the current system sample rate At sample rates of 44 1 kHz and 48 kHz the original ADAT protocol is used and eight audio channels are routed on one ADAT port At higher sample rates industry standard S MUX is used to maintain high resolution transfers Important To utilize ...

Page 15: ... Clock in the Interface panel of the Settings window within the Console application page 20 connecting the external word clock s BNC connector to Apollo s word clock input and setting the external device to transmit word clock If Apollo is the last device in the clock chain the Termination switch 10 should be engaged Note Apollo can be synchronized to an external 1x clock signal only Superclock ov...

Page 16: ...Apollo is properly connected and configured the UAD Link LED 16 on front panel is solid green Apollo has two FireWire 800 ports Only one port is used to connect to the host computer the second port can be used for daisy chaining multiple FireWire devices such as hard drives or UAD 2 Satellite For more FireWire information and recommended interconnections see FireWire Basics on page 24 Note Apollo ...

Page 17: ...wer software before adding new UAD devices Software System Requirements Apollo has specific host computer software requirements in addition to the hardware requirements that are listed on page 6 Refer to the Apollo Software Manual for these requirements Software Updates The software in the retail package may not contain the latest Apollo software the latest version is recommended If the software i...

Page 18: ...t s not a separate procedure Note that the following steps require an Internet connection to the host computer To authorize from a system that is not online see the UAD System Manual which is included on disk and copied to boot drive during installation To register and authorize Apollo when connected to the Internet 1 Ensure that the Apollo software is installed and Apollo is powered up and connec...

Page 19: ... Bar Windows Interface Settings Panel The parameters below are in the Interface panel in the Console Settings window items in the Console panel are detailed in the Apollo Software Manual Unit Selection These settings are generally used when multiple Apollo units are connected to the same host computer simultaneously Unit Selection determines which Apollo is being actively controlled by the Console...

Page 20: ...order or external D A converter S PDIF Mirrors Monitor 1 2 The stereo S PDIF output mirrors the output of Monitor 1 2 when this box is checked When Mirror mode is active the Monitor Level knob will control the S PDIF output level the S PDIF output is post fader when mirrored Note When this box is checked any DAW outputs including Console aux outputs that are routed to the S PDIF ports will not be ...

Page 21: ...ther devices including Apollo are powered off Basic Setup This diagram illustrates a simple Apollo setup that might be used by an individual musician engineer for recording and mixing The example shows an electric guitar connected to the Hi Z input of channel 1 and a microphone connected to the XLR input of channel 2 so they can both be recorded simultaneously Headphones are used during tracking t...

Page 22: ...i Z inputs and microphones are connected to XLR inputs of channel 3 and 4 A stereo keyboard instrument is connected to line inputs 5 and 6 and an external FireWire hard drive is daisy chained to Apollo s second FireWire port Both headphone outputs are used during tracking and the left right monitor outputs are connected to a loudspeaker system for mixdown Key points for this example Mic Line switc...

Page 23: ...set to use external word clock and a 75 ohm BNC word clock cable is interconnected The UAD 2 Satellite is connected to Apollo for additional DSP horsepower during mixdown A digital recorder is connected to the S PDIF outputs and a tuner is connected to analog line output 7 Key points for this example Mic Line switch for channels 3 and 4 are set to Mic Four additional mic preamps from UA s 4 710d a...

Page 24: ...ssCard to FireWire adapter card Bus Power Some FireWire devices can be bus powered which means the device derives its operating electricity from the FireWire bus itself without a power supply of its own Apollo cannot be bus powered and it does not supply bus power from its FireWire ports to other devices Powering Down Powering down or disconnecting Apollo when UAD plug ins are loaded could cause s...

Page 25: ...aters and Chains FireWire devices can be connected to each other serially in a daisy chain connected to a central device such as a computer with multiple FireWire ports or a peripheral FireWire repeater or any combination of the two in a tree chain topology Apollo can function as a FireWire repeater by using the unused port on the unit to connect other FireWire devices Note that Apollo does not su...

Page 26: ...run at FireWire 400 speeds It is possible to configure a FireWire bus to run at both FireWire 400 and FireWire 800 speeds simultaneously if the host computer bus is FireWire 800 supporting maximum throughput with a mix of FireWire 400 FireWire 800 devices This is accomplished by putting any all FireWire 400 devices AFTER any all FireWire 800 devices in a daisy chain or tree chain If and only if Fi...

Page 27: ...signal and setting every other device to slave mode where it receives and synchronizes to external clock with the appropriate clock signal routed between the master and slave devices Keep in mind that any device whether it s the clock master or a slave can send or receive data once everything is synchronized correctly When doing digital conversion it s best to have the converter serve as the clock...

Page 28: ...ock is easy to generate when the converter is the clock master but quite difficult to generate correctly when the converter needs to sync to an external clock External clock typically comes from a dedicated word clock input or is extracted from the incoming digital AES EBU S PDIF or ADAT signal Word clock cannot be used by the converters until it is multiplied up to the m clock rate This requires ...

Page 29: ...es kHz 44 1 48 88 2 96 176 4 192 A D Bits Per Sample 24 Simultaneous A D conversion 8 channels Simultaneous D A conversion 14 channels Analog Round Trip Latency 1 1 milliseconds 96 kHz sample rate Analog Round Trip Latency with four serial UAD 2 plug ins via Console application 1 1 milliseconds 96 kHz sample rate ANALOG I O Analog Inputs 1 8 Frequency Response 20 Hz 20 kHz 0 1 dB Channel Separatio...

Page 30: ...10 Kilohms Gain Range 10 dB to 65 dB Maximum Input Level Min Gain 18 dBV Maximum Input Level Max Gain 37 dBV Line Inputs 5 8 Jack Type Male TRS Balanced Dynamic Range 117 dB A weighting Signal to Noise Ratio 117 dB A weighting Total Harmonic Distortion Noise 107 dB Common Mode Rejection Ratio 60 dB 10 cable Stereo Level Balance 0 05 dB Input Impedance 10 Kilohms Gain Settings 4 dBu 10 dBV selectab...

Page 31: ...Noise Ratio 113 dB A weighting Total Harmonic Distortion Noise 101 dB Channel Separation 114 dB Output Impedance 12 Ohms Output Gain Range 0 dBV to 15 dBV Maximum Output Level 80 milliwatts DIGITAL I O S PDIF Jack Type Phono RCA Format IEC958 ADAT Jack Type Optical TOSLINK JIS F05 Format ADAT Digital Lightpipe with S MUX Channel Assignments 44 1 kHz 48 kHz Port 1 Channels 1 8 Port 2 1 8 mirrored C...

Page 32: ...torage Temperature Range 40º Celsius to 80º Celsius Operating Humidity Range 10 95 Non Condensing Altitude 0 to 6000 Mechanical Dimensions Width 19 Height 1 75 1U rack space Depth Chassis Only 12 125 Depth Including Knob Jack Protrusions 13 5 Shipping Box Width x Depth x Height 24 x 17 x 8 Weight Shipping Weight with box accessories 18 pounds Weight bare unit 9 1 pounds Package Contents Apollo Aud...

Page 33: ...Apollo Hardware Manual Block Diagram 33 Hardware Block Diagram ...

Page 34: ...t s Confirm 48V phantom power is on if required by microphone Preamp controls have no affect on channel Confirm desired channel is selected for control push Preamp knob Preamp controls are available for channels 1 4 only Can only adjust input channels 1 4 Signal levels for all other inputs including digital inputs are adjusted at the device connected to those inputs Audio glitches and or dropouts ...

Page 35: ... 877 MY UAUDIO 1 877 698 2834 International 1 831 440 1176 FAX 1 831 461 1550 Online Support To request online support via email please visit our main support page at the URL below then click the Submit Support Ticket button on the right side of the loaded page to create a help ticket www uaudio com support Maintenance Apollo does not contain a fuse or other user replaceable parts The unit is inte...

Page 36: ...ble on page 34 If that doesn t help contact our technical support team using any method on page 35 customers outside the United States should contact your local distributor When calling for help please have the product serial number available and have your unit set up in front of you powered up and exhibiting the issue If your hardware is not working properly our goal here at UA is to get you up a...

Page 37: ...nd the point where they exit from the unit Never take hold of the plug or cord if your hand is wet Always grasp the plug body when connecting or disconnecting it 7 Grounding of the Plug This unit is equipped with a 3 wire grounding type plug a plug having a third grounding pin This plug will only fit into a grounding type power outlet This is a safety feature If you are unable to insert the plug i...

Page 38: ...les These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installat...

Page 39: ...master 27 28 Mic Line 10 Microphone Inputs 13 Monitor Level 12 Monitor Level Indicator 12 Monitor Mute 12 Monitor Output 20 Monitor Outputs 13 ø See Polarity Output Level Meters 12 Pad 10 Phantom Power 10 phase See Polarity Polarity 10 Power 11 37 Power Input 14 Power Switch 12 Preamp Gain 9 Preamp Gain Level 10 Preamp LEDs 11 Realtime UAD Processing 7 Rear Panel 13 Registration Authorization 18 R...

Page 40: ...Universal Audio Inc 1700 Green Hills Road Scotts Valley CA 95066 4983 USA Customer Service Technical Support 1 877 MY UAUDIO 1 877 698 2834 International 1 831 440 1176 www uaudio com ...

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