I’ve had the zen q for about a month and it’s a game changer. Great for guitarists! Amps and cabs sound great, the bundle plugin deals are good. Recommend for Mac users. Follow instructions. I had to reinstall twice before I hit it right. That thunderbolt driver install lol, pay attention on that one.
@@circusreturn2397 All works fine 👍 The only thing you’d need is the proper Thunderbolt cable (the one with lightning bolts on both plugs). Ps. I have not tried ADAT input yet. Cheers 👋
Very educational. I ordered one of these last week direct from Antelope. Not sure when it will arrive, but nonetheless, I am glad you pointed out the ability to monitor with reverb. No one else that I have seen so far mentioned that little snippet. I am hoping, of course, that can be done with near zero latency. As powerful as computers are these days, they still have that little bit when monitoring through the software. I can live with it, but I have one vocalist that is someone critical; so, as of now they just get a straight dry monitor mix through the current hardware's direct monitor button. Thanks again.
Awesome! Can you cover more in how to use with GarageBand. It seems I’m confused when I try to use ZenQ effects since the GarageBand Daw has also effects. So sometimes I can’t record the ZenQ effects to the mix. Please advice.
Are does the 37 plug-in works on DAW after flat record ondemand or only work it on input into of Zen Q when you capture the sound? can you record separately signal, Processed and Unprocessed?
On outputs 3 & 4 did u have to use the voicemeeter to get the computer play to come thru or is your asio thunderbolt actually showing in your sound settings in windows 10?
Hi, thanks for review, I bought one Zen Q but. I am agree, to install it is necessary the help of the support. Now I have a big bug on the embedded plugins At power on all plugins go with maximum gain... it is necessary to re-setup one by one... trmendous! I am waiting a feedback form the support, but is incredible such bug was not yet tested. I think this card is not yet ready for the market.
Hi just got a USB version of the Zen Q Synergy Core . Will any of the steps getting everything going with the software change if I am using the Zen Q Synergy Core USB version on a 2019 MacBook Pro with AFX2DAW and Logic Pro as my DAW? Thanks !
great review. regarding the product itself, or rather the company behind it - pc users should be super cautious and purchase only with money back guarantee options. i had nothing but problems with the first synergy core interface, installation and support was a nightmare, headphone outs underpowered plus the inability to use onboard fx in your daw. maybe it works better nowadays, just keep that in mind
Sorry to hear that. Certainly I can vouch that the headphone outs on this are adequate (and very clean). I cant really say about previous interfaces - as this is my first with Antelope. I have heard however, that things improved a lot from previous years. Thanks for your feedback!
Have to agree with you. You definitely want to make sure that you have the option to return unit. My Zen Tour hp amps are underpowered but an external hp amp is a frustrating costly work around. As for plugins use in DAW, they have released a bridging plugin but it's unclear if you have to pay an additional €200 for the privelage. It should be included sans the very suspicious marketing and bundling. This unit model seems to have simplified the ridiculously tedious routing script. While I believe that the Zen Tour is a better unit, there are certainly reasons to be very careful buying Antelope products. Some features are just painful, others are brilliant. I can 100% vouch for their customer service, if the hardware software can be made to work, they will get it going for you. Very nice people who know what they're doing. It's a matter of whether one can be bothered with workarounds and wrapping your head around the routing. It is a shame that this boxes aren't consistently awesome and easy to use. I for one don't want to have to bugger around with an interface, I just want to do the job and stay out of the way. If I have the extra time to set up a job, I will try the Antelope but if I'm in a hurry, my Apollo is just too easy to use, which is a shame. The Antelope is way more feature packed but definitely not always efficient. Ymmv, hopefully.
Great review. I was always very interested to buy antilope audio interface but was very hesitated from what I have heard regarding their support. @ creative sauce: can you make a video about the pc you use, thunderbolt card and the setup process? I use both mac and pc and need to make sure that there is no compatibility issues. I was very interested in the Orion32 and MP32 but they don’t sell the MP32 anymore. Now I am very interested in the Orion studio but due to the price, maybe the Discrete 8 nay be an option. I would like to see a comparison between Antilope, UAD and Focusrite.
Just got the Zen Q. The mic only comes out of one side, even with pan in the center. Also, the volume is all the way down and the signal still passes directly to the speaker. Is there some sort of way to correct this. Mic should be mono through both speakers and react to the volume slider, but not the case? Thanks for any help.
can you do re amping with this, plug a guitar into it, then plug it back into the guitar amp from the interface ? This saves the need for studio monitors in my situation, I can just listen to the track through my amp. I like this idea of listening through my amp, so I can make adjustments directly to the sound or EQ.
Nice work! I’m curious.. about the preamp quality of this unit vs black lion revolution 2x2 and the UAD solo. Also; the latency on the unit vs the other two I spoke about. And noise floor. Cheers!
Thanks for the review. I bought this interface back in April. My 1st unit had a bad monitor output but Antelope was very good about getting me a new unit. I do have 1 other issue but I don't think it's Antelope's fault (not 100% sure). Cakewalk won't record when using the ADAT clock - at least for me. I have an audient ASP800 with ADAT out. Cakewalk works fine when using the Antelope Internal clock but I can only get the 4 on board channels. Reaper works in both cases. Antelope support wasn't able to help me. It seems they use Reaper for development and that works. I'm not sure about other DAW's. I've asked Cakewalk support about this and they seem to be looking into it. I'm wondering if you have tried ADAT input with this unit??
Hey man. Could you email me about this at creative.sauce.tube@gmail.com . I also have an ASP800, maybe I can replicate your tests and trouble shoot with you.
Nice interface, but have you measured the latency before that time and so after that time with Zen Q by comparing the waves in terms of ms delay? Fast (average) computer can be up to 10ms latency and I also have to buy a thunderbold card :) But very handy in a studio for feeling when you are LIVE I think Greetzz MiKa
Just bought this. Currently the cabs plugins are unusable, at least on PC, they are distorted. Antelope support have said there's a fix coming out this week. I've also had some latency issues with Cubase as well as the afx2daw plugin crashing Cubase occasionally. Up until now I've been using the Emu 1616m which has been working flawlessly, and considering its age I was expecting the Zen Q to be a bit more plug and play, but so far it's been a bit of a buggy experience. Could be the thunderbolt driver still needs some love, but overall it's not been the best transition. On a positive it does sound great when it's not bugging out on me.
all plugins are still affected from this issue. At power on the gain goes to maximum. I am worry because your comment is 4 weeks ago and support tells me they are testing.........
@@MarcoFanton Yeah afx2daw needs some work. For me as soon as that's added to a project it introduces quite a bit of latency while tracking. You also need to make sure you don't already have the control panel open before launching the project because if you have afx2daw inserts the project will open another instance of the control panel, and this has caused my project to crash and sometimes corrupt the project. You then need to disable 3rd party plugins before launching, remove afx2daw then save the project, then you can reopen and try again.
@@markleyland2661 I think to return back the card before expiring the time the seller refund 100% It is a pity, big potential with big bugs. Not yet ready for the market unfortunately.
@@MarcoFanton Seems to work OK when using the FX directly on the control panel and not inserted in the DAW via afx2daw, otherwise you need to crank up the buffer size which is no good when you are tracking. I did have issues with the cabs creating serious distortion but they fixed that in the recent bundle firmware update. The preamps and their plugins though are great. The other issue I had was that my headphones 2 volume, mute & dim were being controlled by the line out controls in both the control panel and the device. I've been in touch with Antelope support who jumped on an online session and confirmed my device was faulty, so they are sending a replacement. Support have been very good despite some comments to the contrary, but should I be experiencing this after paying out a lot of money for this device, definitely not. They should concentrate their efforts on UAT testing and Quality Control.
Avid customers are used to spending big $ for a DSP solution. However, Avid, from the very start has quantified that DSP in terms of instantiations per unit of hardware DSP. I have never seen this sort of specification for Antelope’s DSP products. I am on the verge of purchasing either a Galaxy or Goliath interface and I can’t imagine writing that check without having some clear indication of DSP capacitiy in real world use. Terms like ‘huge’ and ‘enormous’ are insufficient. Actual specs should be available pre-sale in your equipment’s online downloads. Please?
@@CreativeSauce is it much better than my focusright scarlet 2i2? Why would I want it over something much cheaper I don't see anything wrong with the one I have
I am seriously considering this unit but am not sold just yet. I use Studio One and have UAD-2 hardware so the plugins with this unit are not of interest to me, other than the microphone modeling software.
18:55 Forgive my French, but any company with the gall to place contingencies on the use of hardware I just purchased can properly kiss my ass. Requiring registration is an outrageous effrontery and represents the kind of consumer-hostile behaviour that must be stopped, not promoted.
I chose this over Apollo and I'm wondering why you say the Twin X is much more powerful. Assuming both work as claimed the Antelope seems to have more for the same $$ but I'm open to being mistaken. Robust is a different issue. I have issues with this interface and Cakewalk using ADAT although it works fine in Reaper. I suspect somebody is missing something in the driver spec. Other than that it works very well. Both companies have some weird plugin policies so it's hard to compare.
@@Siberguy2008 hey man! There are many reasons why I have said this. I'll just list 2. UA's software is much more powerful. Antelope software is quite basic in comparison. Second, Expandibility.
@Super Cal I never uttered " Plug-ins " I said software which is the sophisticated Apollo Console Interface which is excellent. The plug-ins on the other hand are also great and PERFECT if you love tinkering with old analog gear as most of thier plug-ins are based on old emulations. Maybe I might prefer Antelope's plug-ins but I have not had a chance to try them or have the need either because Universal Audio are a superior company.
@@soundsofurbanlondonmediaci5696 Sound is subjective. What might sound good to you, may sound bad to another. But they definitely sound similar. Having said that I think the Apollo has the overall edge.
02:26 "The discrete preamps assure a really high quality going in... and you've got (you have) enough gain there to run things like my Shure SM7b without having to use a cloud lifter"... Mike, why don't you just say, "If you don't understand what I'm saying, I'm sorry you decided to skip career-day in highschool. Good luck with your new career path at McDonalds."?
@@CreativeSauce Ahhhhh, I assumed both were in the same american currency. My mistake mate! 👍 ..This is definitely well priced. Having said that, it is my opinion that audio interfaces are SLOWLY but SURELY becoming cheaper in general. This is great for musicians who don't make much or any money at all 👍
I’ve had the zen q for about a month and it’s a game changer. Great for guitarists! Amps and cabs sound great, the bundle plugin deals are good. Recommend for Mac users. Follow instructions. I had to reinstall twice before I hit it right. That thunderbolt driver install lol, pay attention on that one.
True! I recommend to add some external stompboxes and use with these guitar sims, especially the cleaner ones like Tweed or Darkface. Cheers!
heyy! how has the zen q been working out for you? i’m a mac user as well, and really interested in the zen q too! any dropouts or error?
@@circusreturn2397 All works fine 👍 The only thing you’d need is the proper Thunderbolt cable (the one with lightning bolts on both plugs). Ps. I have not tried ADAT input yet. Cheers 👋
@@humbuckercafe I am also use pedal !)
@@humbuckercafe Why? do built-in instrumental inputs lack something?
Very educational. I ordered one of these last week direct from Antelope. Not sure when it will arrive, but nonetheless, I am glad you pointed out the ability to monitor with reverb. No one else that I have seen so far mentioned that little snippet. I am hoping, of course, that can be done with near zero latency. As powerful as computers are these days, they still have that little bit when monitoring through the software. I can live with it, but I have one vocalist that is someone critical; so, as of now they just get a straight dry monitor mix through the current hardware's direct monitor button. Thanks again.
Steinberg Yamaha have it in their UR series and the axr4
How does the USB version for Windows compare to this one?
Just ordered mine today. Looking forward to trying it.
Awesome! Can you cover more in how to use with GarageBand. It seems I’m confused when I try to use ZenQ effects since the GarageBand Daw has also effects. So sometimes I can’t record the ZenQ effects to the mix.
Please advice.
Are does the 37 plug-in works on DAW after flat record ondemand or only work it on input into of Zen Q when you capture the sound? can you record separately signal, Processed and Unprocessed?
On outputs 3 & 4 did u have to use the voicemeeter to get the computer play to come thru or is your asio thunderbolt actually showing in your sound settings in windows 10?
Hi, thanks for review, I bought one Zen Q but. I am agree, to install it is necessary the help of the support.
Now I have a big bug on the embedded plugins
At power on all plugins go with maximum gain... it is necessary to re-setup one by one... trmendous!
I am waiting a feedback form the support, but is incredible such bug was not yet tested.
I think this card is not yet ready for the market.
Very good review, but very complex, as you said. I hope I can manage to set this up for my DAW Logic Pro when I get the Zen Q Next week.
Hi just got a USB version of the Zen Q Synergy Core . Will any of the steps getting everything going with the software change if I am using the Zen Q Synergy Core USB version on a 2019 MacBook Pro with AFX2DAW and Logic Pro as my DAW? Thanks !
great review. regarding the product itself, or rather the company behind it - pc users should be super cautious and purchase only with money back guarantee options. i had nothing but problems with the first synergy core interface, installation and support was a nightmare, headphone outs underpowered plus the inability to use onboard fx in your daw. maybe it works better nowadays, just keep that in mind
Sorry to hear that. Certainly I can vouch that the headphone outs on this are adequate (and very clean). I cant really say about previous interfaces - as this is my first with Antelope. I have heard however, that things improved a lot from previous years.
Thanks for your feedback!
1> Is there no support for firmware updates?
2> Or are there no driver updates ?
3> If the helpdesk does not work it will stop.
Keep digging :)
Have to agree with you. You definitely want to make sure that you have the option to return unit. My Zen Tour hp amps are underpowered but an external hp amp is a frustrating costly work around. As for plugins use in DAW, they have released a bridging plugin but it's unclear if you have to pay an additional €200 for the privelage. It should be included sans the very suspicious marketing and bundling. This unit model seems to have simplified the ridiculously tedious routing script. While I believe that the Zen Tour is a better unit, there are certainly reasons to be very careful buying Antelope products. Some features are just painful, others are brilliant. I can 100% vouch for their customer service, if the hardware software can be made to work, they will get it going for you. Very nice people who know what they're doing. It's a matter of whether one can be bothered with workarounds and wrapping your head around the routing. It is a shame that this boxes aren't consistently awesome and easy to use. I for one don't want to have to bugger around with an interface, I just want to do the job and stay out of the way. If I have the extra time to set up a job, I will try the Antelope but if I'm in a hurry, my Apollo is just too easy to use, which is a shame. The Antelope is way more feature packed but definitely not always efficient. Ymmv, hopefully.
Great review. I was always very interested to buy antilope audio interface but was very hesitated from what I have heard regarding their support.
@ creative sauce: can you make a video about the pc you use, thunderbolt card and the setup process? I use both mac and pc and need to make sure that there is no compatibility issues.
I was very interested in the Orion32 and MP32 but they don’t sell the MP32 anymore.
Now I am very interested in the Orion studio but due to the price, maybe the Discrete 8 nay be an option.
I would like to see a comparison between Antilope, UAD and Focusrite.
checked the Zen GO HP amp on my channel ! Dang that thing is clean and detailed!!!
Thanks for the review. I have a Quantum 2 that gets
Just got the Zen Q. The mic only comes out of one side, even with pan in the center. Also, the volume is all the way down and the signal still passes directly to the speaker. Is there some sort of way to correct this. Mic should be mono through both speakers and react to the volume slider, but not the case? Thanks for any help.
Even with the channel strip set to input 2, input 1 still comes through the left speaker.
hello! 6 months later , and I can not record effects from ZenQ on my GarageBand. Any ideas? PLEASE!
Do those AFX come with the interface for free?
can you do re amping with this, plug a guitar into it, then plug it back into the guitar amp from the interface ?
This saves the need for studio monitors in my situation, I can just listen to the track through my amp. I like this idea of listening through my amp, so I can make adjustments directly to the sound or EQ.
Great review. Thanks
Thanks for watching!
Nice work! I’m curious.. about the preamp quality of this unit vs black lion revolution 2x2 and the UAD solo. Also; the latency on the unit vs the other two I spoke about. And noise floor.
Cheers!
Preamps are pristine
Good review. I feel it needs a few more dedicated and detailed videos on some specifics.
Thanks for the review. I bought this interface back in April. My 1st unit had a bad monitor output but Antelope was very good about getting me a new unit. I do have 1 other issue but I don't think it's Antelope's fault (not 100% sure). Cakewalk won't record when using the ADAT clock - at least for me. I have an audient ASP800 with ADAT out. Cakewalk works fine when using the Antelope Internal clock but I can only get the 4 on board channels. Reaper works in both cases. Antelope support wasn't able to help me. It seems they use Reaper for development and that works. I'm not sure about other DAW's. I've asked Cakewalk support about this and they seem to be looking into it. I'm wondering if you have tried ADAT input with this unit??
Hey man. Could you email me about this at creative.sauce.tube@gmail.com . I also have an ASP800, maybe I can replicate your tests and trouble shoot with you.
can we see one of your mixes where you are using the fx with the zen q?
Amazing 🙌
Thank you 🙌
Great vid, Mike!
Cheers my old friend:)
@@CreativeSauce You're welcome. Congrats btw on 86k subs
Hello good evening I'm here watching you
Thanks for coming
Nice interface, but have you measured the latency before that time and so after that time with Zen Q by comparing the waves in terms of ms delay?
Fast (average) computer can be up to 10ms latency and I also have to buy a thunderbold card :)
But very handy in a studio for feeling when you are LIVE I think
Greetzz MiKa
I'm currently planning to do some latency testing with many interfaces - this will be in the mix.
Just bought this. Currently the cabs plugins are unusable, at least on PC, they are distorted. Antelope support have said there's a fix coming out this week. I've also had some latency issues with Cubase as well as the afx2daw plugin crashing Cubase occasionally. Up until now I've been using the Emu 1616m which has been working flawlessly, and considering its age I was expecting the Zen Q to be a bit more plug and play, but so far it's been a bit of a buggy experience. Could be the thunderbolt driver still needs some love, but overall it's not been the best transition. On a positive it does sound great when it's not bugging out on me.
all plugins are still affected from this issue. At power on the gain goes to maximum.
I am worry because your comment is 4 weeks ago and support tells me they are testing.........
@@MarcoFanton Yeah afx2daw needs some work. For me as soon as that's added to a project it introduces quite a bit of latency while tracking. You also need to make sure you don't already have the control panel open before launching the project because if you have afx2daw inserts the project will open another instance of the control panel, and this has caused my project to crash and sometimes corrupt the project. You then need to disable 3rd party plugins before launching, remove afx2daw then save the project, then you can reopen and try again.
@@markleyland2661 I think to return back the card before expiring the time the seller refund 100%
It is a pity, big potential with big bugs. Not yet ready for the market unfortunately.
@@MarcoFanton Seems to work OK when using the FX directly on the control panel and not inserted in the DAW via afx2daw, otherwise you need to crank up the buffer size which is no good when you are tracking. I did have issues with the cabs creating serious distortion but they fixed that in the recent bundle firmware update. The preamps and their plugins though are great. The other issue I had was that my headphones 2 volume, mute & dim were being controlled by the line out controls in both the control panel and the device. I've been in touch with Antelope support who jumped on an online session and confirmed my device was faulty, so they are sending a replacement. Support have been very good despite some comments to the contrary, but should I be experiencing this after paying out a lot of money for this device, definitely not. They should concentrate their efforts on UAT testing and Quality Control.
Hey Mark, how's your experience been? Any changes since this post?
Avid customers are used to spending big $ for a DSP solution. However, Avid, from the very start has quantified that DSP in terms of instantiations per unit of hardware DSP. I have never seen this sort of specification for Antelope’s DSP products. I am on the verge of purchasing either a Galaxy or Goliath interface and I can’t imagine writing that check without having some clear indication of DSP capacitiy in real world use. Terms like ‘huge’ and ‘enormous’ are insufficient. Actual specs should be available pre-sale in your equipment’s online downloads. Please?
THX@LOT👍
What’s with the meter freezes?
Good day!
This item doesn't currently ship to Australia
Looks like one of the Apollo interfaces!
Oh wow I just checked the price
LOL - in fairness, its a little cheaper than the Apollo equivalent!
@@CreativeSauce is it much better than my focusright scarlet 2i2? Why would I want it over something much cheaper I don't see anything wrong with the one I have
Hey man, if you are happy, keep going!
@@CreativeSauce would it improve sound quality if I got one?
I am seriously considering this unit but am not sold just yet. I use Studio One and have UAD-2 hardware so the plugins with this unit are not of interest to me, other than the microphone modeling software.
I was hoping to see midi on like Focusrite or Universal Audio and SSL.
Forgot to mention the Loopback function on the Zen Q.
Can I plug and use two guitars and two microphones at the same time?
18:55 Forgive my French, but any company with the gall to place contingencies on the use of hardware I just purchased can properly kiss my ass. Requiring registration is an outrageous effrontery and represents the kind of consumer-hostile behaviour that must be stopped, not promoted.
Anything is better than Presonus. Just saying.
Looks sexy but I can see that My Apollo Twin X is much more powerful and robust overall!
I chose this over Apollo and I'm wondering why you say the Twin X is much more powerful. Assuming both work as claimed the Antelope seems to have more for the same $$ but I'm open to being mistaken. Robust is a different issue. I have issues with this interface and Cakewalk using ADAT although it works fine in Reaper. I suspect somebody is missing something in the driver spec. Other than that it works very well. Both companies have some weird plugin policies so it's hard to compare.
@@Siberguy2008 hey man! There are many reasons why I have said this. I'll just list 2. UA's software is much more powerful. Antelope software is quite basic in comparison. Second, Expandibility.
I have both, the Antelope sounds better in my opinion, the preamps are superb but the software is not as good as Apollo (yet).
@Super Cal I never uttered " Plug-ins " I said software which is the sophisticated Apollo Console Interface which is excellent. The plug-ins on the other hand are also great and PERFECT if you love tinkering with old analog gear as most of thier plug-ins are based on old emulations. Maybe I might prefer Antelope's plug-ins but I have not had a chance to try them or have the need either because Universal Audio are a superior company.
@@soundsofurbanlondonmediaci5696 Sound is subjective. What might sound good to you, may sound bad to another. But they definitely sound similar. Having said that I think the Apollo has the overall edge.
02:26 "The discrete preamps assure a really high quality going in... and you've got (you have) enough gain there to run things like my Shure SM7b without having to use a cloud lifter"...
Mike, why don't you just say, "If you don't understand what I'm saying, I'm sorry you decided to skip career-day in highschool. Good luck with your new career path at McDonalds."?
Lol, fair call. Noted :)
@@CreativeSauce 😅 😂 🤣
£300 ($400~) price difference between Guitar Centre & Thomann. Very fishy marketing if you ask me!
Different markets. Not very unusual for me. Most things in AUS are like 25% more!
Actually though only $8 AUD price difference between Guitar Center and Thomann after currency conversion.
@@CreativeSauce Ahhhhh, I assumed both were in the same american currency. My mistake mate! 👍 ..This is definitely well priced. Having said that, it is my opinion that audio interfaces are SLOWLY but SURELY becoming cheaper in general. This is great for musicians who don't make much or any money at all 👍
@@CreativeSauce Perhaps, I would have never made this comment if both websites used the same curreny Mike! 😉