Apogee One Feedback Anyone ?!

[djarsalan2006]

hey guys
i was thinking of buying the Apogee one to use with Ableton / Logic ..
what do you guys think ? how is the quality ?

[nylarch]

I was wondering the same. For what its worth the renowned production magazine TapeOp gave it an absolutely stellar review this month. The reviewer basically said using the built in mic and built in convertors gave him results at least in the ballpark of his high end mic and convertors and way above the usual budget gear results.

[purplesnet]

I've used one for a few months and I have been pretty happy. Sound quality is great as far as I can hear,
I did not notice any difference to duet which I had before. The internal mic is fun and produces
good recordings. It's not directional so you'll be getting any and all background noise in the recordings
too, so some care needs to be taken when recording.

Software-wise, the only problem is that sometimes the popup which shows the volume and selected input/output
stops working. It's annoying but does not actually make any difference to using the device (except for
the visual feedback aspect ofcourse).

This thing uses apples own usb-audio drivers (with customized settings) so they keep up-to-date
with OS updates.

I'm using a 2.4GHz Macbook Pro (first unibody version). Latency is set at 128 with Live, no dropouts with the
usage simulator at max.

[slirak]

I'm using a 2.4GHz Macbook Pro (first unibody version). Latency is set at 128 with Live, no dropouts with the
usage simulator at max.

I actually track at 64 samples, with the same model MBP (w/4GB RAM). Yes, with OS X 10.5x and a 64 samples buffer, the CPU usage simulator would give me crackles from about 72 % (80 is max). But with OS X 10.64 I only get the occasional soft click even at 80 %. Nice. I usually have to up the latency when I add more f/x to the mix. Still very, very good for a USB interface.

The internal mic is surprisingly good but it's no Neumann or even sE.

The connections for USB and the break-out cable is mechanically a weak spot and the little negative criticism the interface's got is mostly about that.

It's only a single mono in and a single stereo out though, so make sure that's enough for you. I.e. you can't have your speakers and headphones connected at the same time, which can be annoying. (You can solve that with an external audio switch or mixer, but doing so obviously makes the interface a bit less portable.)

[shazbot79]

It really is a great interface, No brainer to be honest.

I have owned, RME, Presonus, Motu, Focusrite and M-Audio interface plus the duet.

I had to sell my mac so the One had to go as well. Build quality is ok, a bit plastic like. USB cable is a bit wibbly-wobbly
at the back also. Just be careful with it. The Duet is the opposite, it is like a little tank.

I honestly could not get over the quality of the pre at that price. I am back to a PC laptop now and I would love to have the One for it, but it's Mac only as you know.

One last thing do not lose the USB cable, not cheap to replace. It looks the exact same as the Blackberry bold usb cable, but it doesn't work as I tried.

But all in all great pre, great dac and if you are tracking one at a time.

[Tarekith]

A guitarist friend of mine has one, works great I was pretty impressed with the integration with Logic and OSX too.

[nylarch]

I'm sold especially since they're going for $199 on Ebay. My old FA-66 crackles at anything under 512 samples

Is there any creative ways to get a cue mix for my very occasional DJ gigs? Through a small mixer? Maybe through IAC bus and the laptop headphone out?

[gosinisha]

here runs FA-66 on the lowest setup available without any problem. on vista64 i get lowest setup 6,5ms output latency, TI chipset.

[djarsalan2006]

wow
awesome, thanks guys.
cant wait to get mine, just ordered one from sweetwater

[Tarekith]

I'm sold especially since they're going for $199 on Ebay. My old FA-66 crackles at anything under 512 samples

Is there any creative ways to get a cue mix for my very occasional DJ gigs? Through a small mixer? Maybe through IAC bus and the laptop headphone out?

You can always got the aggregate audio device route, but I'd be hesitant of that in a live situation. IF you need cue out, you're better off getting a card with two stereo outs.

[jake noise]

I'm sold especially since they're going for $199 on Ebay. My old FA-66 crackles at anything under 512 samples

Is there any creative ways to get a cue mix for my very occasional DJ gigs? Through a small mixer? Maybe through IAC bus and the laptop headphone out?

You can always got the aggregate audio device route, but I'd be hesitant of that in a live situation. IF you need cue out, you're better off getting a card with two stereo outs.

For what its worth I used to use aggregate audio device to incorporate using a mini kaoss pad as an external effects box while djing and still get two pairs of stereo outs from my crappy m-audio fast track pro and never had any stability problems in a good year or so of using this set up live at least once a week often more as well as at home inbetween gigs.

One caveat though, if you do use aggregate audio devices and then you decide that just for today you don't need all the outs (say for instance relying on just the built in output because you haven't got access to two stereo channels on the house mixer) then make sure you deselect the aggregate device in lives audio preferences and just select the individual device required. If you try to use aggregate devices without all of them plugged in you will get crashes (at least in live 7, still haven't upgraded to 8 due to cash and until recently stability concerns), and as this is such a rare usage case it isn't something thats easy to find much info about.

Hope that helps.

[Tarekith]

Also worth mentioning that with aggregate devices the latency for both will dependant on the slowest of the two. Probably not an issue for DJing, but I still think you'd just be better off getting something like one of the NI cards for cheaper and not even has to mess with all that.