In this video I'm going to show you how to set up and get started with the Universal Audio Apollo Solo and Twin
interfaces. we'll go through initial setup using the software Universal Audio plugins
and some of the coolest features these interfaces have to offer. i'll also help you understand how
Universal Audio plugins work differently from your typical VST plugins. this video is great if you're
learning how to use the Apollo Solo or Twin but it's also useful if you're thinking about buying
one of these. this video will give you a quick overview of the most important features. i'll also
give you some helpful tips on recording and of course let you hear some audio samples during the
video. i'll cover some of the differences between the Twin and Solo models. if you're interested in
buying one of these interfaces i'll add links to the best prices in the video description
below. if you're new around here i'm Sanjay C i make music production tutorials and gear
reviews on my channel. consider subscribing i post a music gear news report every Saturday in which
i highlight the latest in the music gear world and find you FREE plugins and samples. alright!
let's get started! i'm sure you've already got your Solo or Twin out of the box so let's get to the
good stuff first. visit the Universal Audio website and download the software. this actually installs
the Universal Audio console software and all their plugins. next, connect your interface to
your computer and the software will walk you through the registration process and licensing.
the plugins is included by the way. you connect your Apollo interface by either thunderbolt or usbc
cable depending on if you're on a Mac or Windows depending on which interface you have. you may
need to connect to power as well. now i wish these interfaces came with a thunderbolt cable for mac
but they don't. i'll put a link to the cable i have in the video description. i'm going to be demoing
using the Mac but all the concepts are similar on Windows. connect your speakers using the outputs on
the back and your headphones in the front. that's enough for now. all right you're gonna be up and
running pretty quickly. let's get moving fast i'm gonna demo the features using Ableton Live
but of course this works with other DAWs as well. Logic, Cubase pretty much any DAW out there. Apollo
interfaces also include Universal Audio's Luna software which is Mac only. i'll talk about that
later in the video. in your DAW's audio preferences select the Apollo interface as your input and
output device. once you do this you'll be ready to play and record from your DAW. a note about latency
because it's a bit different on UA interfaces, audio buffer settings only matter with other
plugins not the Universal Audio plugins so i'd keep this setting at 128 when you're recording to
minimize latency caused by other non-UA plug-ins. okay so now you can connect a mic or a guitar to
your interface. select the input in your DAW and hit record! let's do that. next connect your mic.
i'm using a condenser mic so i'll need Phantom power the knob on the Apollo interfaces lets you
adjust different things. press the monitor button to control your studio speaker's volume and press
it again to switch to headphone volume press the preamp button to switch to controlling your input
gain setting while you're in the preamp mode you can also switch to the other channel you're
controlling turn on phantom power pad etc. right now we're just going to turn on phantom power and
adjust our gain a bit. you can monitor your input signal right away. all right we're ready to record.
that sounds good but let's make things a little more interesting
i'm going to use one of the included Universal Audio plugins with my mic recording to emulate
some classic hardware. now things are going to get good. all right let's load up the UA 610B
preamp in the Apollo console software. you get this free with your interfaces.
Apollo uses something they call Unison technology which changes the way your mic
works with the interface to record as if you're using that original hardware. the Unison technology
also works on guitar and bass amp plugins even the ones included FREE with these interfaces this is
especially useful for recording guitar with an app sound with no latency. this is a big reason
people like the Universal Audio interfaces. all right let's check out the recording.
let's pause here for a second
because i want to make sure you understand something special about these interfaces and
how they work with Universal Audio plug-ins universal audio plug-ins are different from
your DAWS plugins or other third-party plugins you use other plugins use your computer's processing
power. Universal Audio plugins use the computing power built into the interface itself so when you
load up a Universal Audio plug-in it isn't eating up your computer's processing power like other
plug-ins. there is of course a caveat UA interfaces have their processing limits as well. so there's
always a chance that you'll run into limits of how many UA plug-ins you can run simultaneously. you
can maximize the number of UA plugins you use by either recording with the plugin or record using
a Unison preamp that way you can remove those plugins that you don't need after you record. you
can also insert UA plugins on sends or returns so that you're using one ua plugin on multiple tracks.
so back to the plugins. whatever plugin you load in the console application insert section you'll
have the option of recording it or just monitoring with it sometimes. it's nice to just have an effect
in your headphones while you record but you may not want to record it and commit it in your DAW.
if you just want to hear the effect when you're recording in your headphones you can select mon
or monitor. if you want to commit that effect to your recording then select record. you can also
add effects to the auxiliary channel and monitor that as well. now i usually use UA plugins right
in my DAW. i don't use them on console that much. record your vocals or guitars and then
add effects compression whatever you want later and you can always change it. so you've seen me use
Universal Audio console apply effects in console and also in Ableton. what about Luna?
Luna is a free DAW recording software included with all Apollo interfaces, well all
Mac Apollo interfaces because Luna is Mac only for now. it is a full featured DAW so if you don't
already have another DAW give it a try. it's got some nice features and the instrument sounds are
really top notch. i actually have a walkthrough video of a song i created completely in Luna- you
can watch that video HERE. hey if you're recording songs at home you should be releasing them
yourself. DistroKid the sponsor of today's video makes that really easy. you can upload your music
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first year of membership. okay i want to talk about some key differences between the Apollo Solo and
the Twin or Twin X. the first major difference is the processing power. the Apollo Solo has one sharc
DSP chip which really means you have a lower limit of the number of Universal Audio plugins you can
run simultaneously. by the way i can't really tell you how many plugins you can run at the same time
because different UA plugins use different amounts of processing power. the Apollo Twin interfaces
have either duo core or quad core chips in them which lets you run more plug-ins simultaneously.
if you plan to record small projects at home or if you don't mind being a bit conservative with
the number of plugins you run at once the Apollo Solo should be fine. you still get the same awesome
preamps excellent software and access to all the Universal login plugins. i have found myself maxing
out on the Solo but i wasn't really trying to be careful at all with the number of plugins i was
using in my project. the next difference is the ability to route your sound to external hardware
on the Twin. now if you don't have external gear this may not be that interesting to you, but it
does open up some options in the future. if you do decide to get outboard gear like a preamp
compressor or external effects honestly i have this compatibility on my Apollo 8 but i don't
use it that much. the Universal Audio plugins and plugins from other companies are more
than enough for most people. another interesting feature on the Twin is the optical connectivity.
i've used this to connect other gear like other interfaces to the Apollo which has increased the
number of inputs i have. it's pretty useful but if you're using Thunderbolt you can connect more than
one Apollo interface together to increase inputs and use them all together anyway. yeah that's more
money but i've been using this setup for a while and it's really nice i have to say. that's it!
I hope you found this video useful if you have any questions leave them in the comments below
Keep Making The Music You Love and i'll see you on saturday for my music gear news reports !
hey if you're just getting started with music production check out one of these videos next - Thank you! :)