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Yeah I try to keep my topics somewhat updated though to be fair the changes are quite minor in the grand scheme of things. My original video from about a year ago still holds true, it’s a great mixing tool but it’s not so great for tracking and editing. The new bounce menu is quite nice, it’s a lot easier to bounce multi tracks although to be fair I rarely bounce those out of LUNA. I have also added an e-GPU since this latest video and that has definitely alleviated some of the performance issues. It’s GPU VRAM that’s causing the issue, so if you’re on windows and you struggle with the performance meter on the bottom left I’d probably get the cheapest high vram GPU I can find, something like a first series intel arc. On Mac you’re basically SoL unless you’re still running on intel like me, then you’re still restricted by what works which in my case is a Radeon 580 which at least was cheap. I really hope you enjoy LUNA though, it’s really great to switch from the boring bleak DAWs to something that looks cool and is really smooth to interact with.

Well I’ve never set up anything like that but Luna uses AU not VST. I’m not familiar with RipChord VST, but if it isn’t available as an AU plugin you could try using Blue Cat Audio Patchworks, which supposedly helps, but I’ve never tried this myself

If you are referring to the auto gain feature no they are not available for auto gain, or at least they weren’t at the time of making the video

Thanks! I prefer the understated looks over the more “pompous” hummingbird. For me it’s the best playing guitar I have, although to be fair it’s also been the one I’ve owned the longest in my professional life, so it might just be that I’ve gotten used to it. It certainly has a very distinct neck profile that neither hummingbirds nor any other of the current Gibson lineup quite cover. I clean the guitar but I rarely (if ever) polish it, I don’t mind the fogging and my tech checked it out and said it’s purely cosmetic so I honestly don’t really care

I hope in a good way

They’re gonna ride this lineup till the bitter end I presume

Usually the serial number is set up like this YDDDYRRR So 1 means it was done in the 2010s but that was obvious the 5th digit will tell you the exact year

Do you mean USB interfaces because the new gen 2 work just fine with windows if the system supports thunderbolt

I like tracking

Well it depends TBH. If there’s something you’re struggling with, you’re lacking channels or something of that sort, sure, although I’d personally try to get a gen 1. Otherwise a mk2 is still a really solid unit

Thanks!

I’m glad it works for you! As I stated in the video I’ve not been hands on with the unit but honestly I can’t see a technical reason for improved sound quality, sure converters are marginally improved but I’m dubious about audible improvements on account of that. That being said, I don’t want to dog on your purchase, they’re great interfaces just as the gen 1s were!

Thanks, yeah I love the look!

I tried Harrison as well, didn’t like it much, it’s the same concept with many of the same issues but the integrated plugins aren’t really my cup of tea. Still a very solid DAW though

I absolutely get that, they are kinda tricky to find.

I hope so! Thanks

I don’t quite understand what you mean?

Thank you!

It’s an amazing guitar, I have quite a few but this one feels like coming home each time I grab it. If the price is reasonable go for it!

@ Great to know! Some reviews say that the action is a bit high out of factory and was wondering on that.. Thanks again!

Mine wasn’t factory when I got it so I honestly can’t tell you, I’ve had it set up for me and it plays like a dream. The neck profile is like nothing else I own, it felt weird at first but now nothing else even comes close.

I’ve never used studio one but I’ve seen plenty written about it. I’d be interested what made the switch worth it to you, I love Luna for the analoge work style personally

Absolutely valid, I think a DSP upgrade would have been great. I was hoping for a single unit to accommodate more than 16 channels, I need at least 24 and it’s impractical/too expensive to link 2 units plus various adat expansions or DB25 breakout etc.

I mean to be fair it’s been 6 years and they haven’t exactly rocked the boat with this new version. I do think you should always stick with what works for as long as possible, upgrades really aren’t necessary particularly with current interfaces, but they shouldn’t have marketed these ones as revolutionary.

@@vincentkleinmusic I respect your point, Vincent. Six years isn't too soon I suppose with these types of products. Thanks for reminding me. My apology. My comment was cause I done a whole heap of research before I bought my current audio interface. As I had and used an Motu for about 13 years, never any trouble. But upgraded for better and more modern conversion, sound-wise. I chose RME fireface ufx III. Expensive, but re- known for reliability and supporting their products for very long times.

I’m also running the UFX 3 in my studio. The broadcaster I do some work at is still running UFX+ RME is simply rock solid

@@vincentkleinmusic Hi, Vincent. I did officially want and was about to purchase the UFX+. The UFX III replaced it. So it came just at the right time, with the extra features. Best wishes, Man.

Honestly all over the place. I’m German but I’ve spent a while in the UK and have contacts in the US, so it’s a little bit of this a little bit of that

That’s a pitty but I get it. Playing expensive guitars and even taking them out on the road was nerve wrecking for me the first few months, but I’ve gotten used to it and the patina on mine is amazing. It looks just a little road worn now, the finish has been matted in places I usually put my hands and it feels like my “custom” hummingbird if you get what I mean. Thank you, I appreciate the compliment greatly!

I mean honestly it depends on what you’re looking for, I am a UA user after all, Apogee come with their own issues so there’s that. The question is always what you need, I think if you’re interested in UA simply get a discounted Gen 1 unit, they got all the relevant updates anyway. Apogee has only updated their USB lineup as far as I’m aware and expandablity on those units is pretty poor. Otherwise there’s really no need to upgrade if your current setup works for you.

Yeah they’re rivaling Apple for vagueness. The thing is I’d probably get an Apollo in a heartbeat if they offered a 24-30 channel interface, give me something RME Fireface style, 4 mic pres in the front and 24 more line/adat inputs, it’s not like there’s 2 adat inputs in the back of the rackmounts…

Thing is you’ll have the more relevant ones anyway. I think if you want to get into the UAD ecosystem, now is a great time to do so, just with gen 1.

Honestly I’m not sure converters are enough of a deal on their own these days. It’s not like the early days of digital

@@vincentkleinmusic if the converters are Apogee Symphony mkii SE quality or Lynx Hilo quality .. then I think this update is DEFINITELY worth it .. however I dont think the converters would be of this mastering grade quality as UAD haven't really made a big deal about the converters

I had read all of Drew‘s responses as of recording the video, but as I’ve stated in the video UA has to be upfront about these things, not burry everything in forum posts. Also even Drew acknowledges „same preamps“ but other reports suggest updates there too, it’s a very confused product launch. Official marketing only mentions D/A and I’ve not found any official numbers for A/D or anything else. As for swapping the plugins, that’s the first I’ve heard of this, what exactly does that mean, do you get a refund on the plugins? Because otherwise it’s still not the same as offering a version of the unit without plugins. I’m also not saying they are a bad product, I just don’t see the value as opposed to gen 1 interfaces, but that’s for everyone to decide for themselves.

@@JoaoRelego how can you love ua when they are clearly not loving you back lol

I like UA products but that doesn’t mean I can’t criticize them when they aren’t living up to expectations. I agree you don’t need the new models to make great music and you may well not care about these new models but people that are in the market for an interface should check specs and decide on the best value for them, and currently to my mind that’s still gen 1

focus on music, not specs. but if you want a couple of plugins you need to buy a satellite expansion.

I‘m not saying it doesn’t, just that gen 1 is the better value to my mind.

It's not worth it

Thanks for sharing your experience! So how did the plugin thing work? Because their offer has a full list of plugins included, I’m guessing you owned those?

@@vincentkleinmusic When you pick out the one free plug in, it’s from a limited list. It’s not their entire catalog.

Ok very interesting and weird. As I understood it you got a whole package of plugins and if you had those already you were sol, this is even worse then…

Very cool to hear from someone that has used one! As I said in the video, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad product, just badly marketed and too expensive for the improvements made. I personally think you might have been just as happy with a gen 1 given the minimal differences.

Honestly this one was very heat of the moment, I had to write the script, record and edit everything down between projects so that might have rubbed off. Thanks for the feedback! Always appreciated

Well ACTUALLY I did acknowledge that the 2799€ price was discounted which is why I only put it in writing and said 2999€. The reason I chose that price is that it’s been pretty consistently what they’ve gone with for the last several years. Otherwise I agree with most of what you are saying and I think said as much in the video. DSP is in an ok place, they could have done more but it was ok before and there are some quality of life improvements. But once again like I said the marketing combined with the price increase which is 779, as like you said the unit has only been marginally improved (plus it’s a forced plugin bundle) is why I do not think UAD did well here, not because the product isn’t good. (To be clear I don’t have one and can therefore not make any judgement on that) As for sonarworks. I think what he meant is that having to pay 50-80 bucks on top of your sonarworks price is kinda steep which is why it’s a gimmick. Also the bass management is separate and does not cost money.

@@vincentkleinmusic In terms of Sonicworks they're 2 separate pieces of software, and like i said regardless if you're trying to do any sort of compensation you're going to have to spend money, and hardware solution is going to cost more than using a software like sonar works or even IK's Arc, and when u call something gimmicky your insinuating its a something that's cool to have but doesn't have any practical use, which i can guarantee thousands of studios/producers are using sonarworks to curb the expense of paying hundreds or thousands to treat a room. In terms of the cost of the Gen2 Apollo x8p, there's a $100 price difference not a $799, you cannot compare a discounted price to MSRP because its disingenuous to the actual fact that the Gen1 is $3399 and the Gen2 is $3499, the discount shown is likely so that distributors can clear out stock of the old to make room for the new. Mind you also this going to be a unit aimed at new users, and users who have not yet upgraded, most people are going to be fine not getting an Gen2, I just bought my Gen x4 this year, but I am in need of a multi-channel rack unit so I will be getting the gen2 in the near future, and I feel as though many people will also be making that consideration once Gen1 ends up becoming discontinued.

To be clear, I was not saying sonarworks is a gimmick, but the difference isn’t that huge vs running it on your PC. There are advantages though and I’ve acknowledged as much in the video, I don’t think I criticized that feature one bit. As for the cost, there may be a Europe vs US thing going on. The 3499$ version Sweetwater is offering is 3779€ over here, meanwhile the old interfaces are at price parity (2799$ and 2799€ respectively right now). Yet I’m actually basing the price increase on the pre discount price of around 3000€ (it was up to 3100 and as low as 2900 for the last few years, so clearly there was enough margin there to sell it like that). MSRP from 6 years ago shouldn’t have much bearing on this as so much has changed. Everyone is entitled to making their own purchasing decisions but if it were my money I’d probably get the discounted gen 1 models right now as that would save me nearly 1000€ on an x8p right now.

Mcdsp Apb has no dsp its analog that’s digitally controlled like Bettermaker or wesaudio

I’m not suggesting anything else in the video, at least it wasn’t the intention. The conclusion at the end says as much. I’m fine with the refresh they’ve done (although a little disappointed) but marketing it the way they did is the problem, particularly the price hike and the forced plugin bundles. I’ve been using LUNA as my main DAW and I’ve got one video already out on it, I’ve also got another one coming. That said I do not like walled garden approaches, while I am a Mac user and like I said use LUNA I do think UAD should consider each of their products as standalone first as even using all of them combined is not always viable

Here’s a decent real life review …

@@bobbyarthur-yf3yf wym?

How about latency? That is what we paid for when we got the overpriced Apollo dongles, but today we cannot run the most recent native-only plugins because DSP is not powerful enough to run them. We expected Gen 2 to allow this, but it has been a let down. They have got balls to call their freshly painted Apollos Gen 2. At best, they are Gen 1.1.

@@doetube9746 I don't understand what your question is. Native plugins run on your computer cpu not dsp. You dont even own an apollo you're just talking

I believe you misunderstood. The new Auto Gain feature (only supported on Gen 2 interfaces) only supports Neve API and SSL unison preamps, that’s all I said and as far as I’m aware that’s the case

@@vincentkleinmusic ok gotcha. I'll add that at first I thought, wow, auto-gain. But then I thought, really, who needs that? Am I that lazy that I can't set my gain? That and better conversion no one will ever hear. Yeah, I'm good with the Apollo X4 that I have. I love it.

Yeah I mean I can definitely see some situations where it might be useful, like for example when I’m recording videos by myself but then again it’s not that big a deal to set gain, particularly as it isn’t a physical knob on the interface anyway…

I’ll be honest imho anything above 192/24 is just extraneous data collection for music (in fact even that’s kinda overkill). I think it’s genuinely hard to innovate in the sector right now which is why I’m not even blaming UAD for releasing this product, it’s the how that really bugs me. Yeah better/more DSP would have been good and as you’ve said other manufacturers have stepped up their game in terms of resolution, but if they had come out and said: „look we made our great product a little better“ it would have been ok. Instead they made a huge fuss about absolutely nothing to write home about

If you have auto gain does 32 bit still have its advantages?

Thanks! Yeah I was a little disappointed that no one seemed to be covering this angle. Then again everyone is entitled to their opinions.

@@vincentkleinmusic I have a feeling, the "big" people in audio are not going to say what you said in fear of angering UAD or possible other audio companies.

@@Seraph137 they should we should all tell the truth maybe they would pull this release because it was horrible idea they will def lose money on this

I don’t have any insight to the working relationships between reviewers and manufacturers. I would hope they’d have editorial freedom but I can see how it might not be worth risking your ability to do reviews although then that kinda defeats the purpose. I’m too small to be seeded products anyway and even if I weren’t there really wouldn’t be any point to reviewing something without sharing my thoughts.

Don’t be under any illusions, no amount of backlash would ever have them pull this product and I think they’ll be making a lot of money on these. It‘s possible that enough backlash would have forced a plugin bundle free tier but even that is kinda doubtful. In the end (as you can clearly see throughout the comment section) I don’t even think the majority of UA customers agrees with me so it is what it is.

I honestly think conversion is at a level now that any improvements will simply not matter much, which is why it being a major marketing point was so disingenuous to me. Pre amp quality to my mind is also not a big weakness on the old units, particularly with unison being such a big deal. I think new DSP and an interface class for the real world would have been nice, something with 24 inputs via 2 adat streams so you don’t need to dasychain two expensive interfaces. Then again even sticking with it the way they have could have been ok, just don’t make that big a fuzz about it.

@@vincentkleinmusic To that regards, I think any big company that is coming out with a 1U unit should be thinking about Dante and Atmos future path, even if people don't have 15 speakers yet... lol... it seems the biggest "refresh" was the new color on the faceplate. Reminds me of old school 80's home audio.

That’s very fair. Everything you’ve mentioned is available on the x16 only and I’m somewhat annoyed at them always kneecapping the rest of the rackmount lineup.

I‘m glad to be of service. The great news about this release is that gen 1 is now discounted and just as good! And yes the new lineup is Thunderbolt only

@@vincentkleinmusic Update, I managed to nab an Apollo X Gen1 DUO USB for £717 pre-loved (with full warranty) through Thomann:).

Perfect, congrats on your new gear day!

Quite true

Yeah the release was overall too gimmicky for my taste. I think I’ll be going with an RME Fireface UFX as my reason for upgrading is needing a whole bunch of inputs.

@@vincentkleinmusic yeah it’s unfortunate

My feelings exactly, it’s just a minor overhaul