Hardware notes
- The rack ears are not removable. This means if you intend to place the Apollo on your desk or somewhere other than a rack, it will take up an extra 15% of surface space, and have nice sharp edges for you to potentially cut your fingers on should you reach for something nearby quickly.. like your headphones.. like I did. Rack ears should be optional. Stop forcing me to conform to your studio configuration ideas.
- The headphone knobs are positioned too close to one another, which makes twisting either of them more difficult than it should be.
- The preamp and monitor indicator lights around the knobs are nifty, but the leading edge is blurred so one can only approximate visually where the level actually is. The light should show exactly where the indicator is.
- The front display has a big, bright, neon Universal Audio logo shining like a beacon, brighter than anything else in my studio, and there is no way to dim it. Really poor design choice. Try some subtlety perhaps?
- The entire unit is vented via hundreds of small holes in the steel casing. Nice for ventilation, terrible for dust for those who will not have the unit racked (which is the majority of users). I will need to disconnect the unit , take it out in the garage, and blow it out every several months to keep it clean. Major inconvenience.Bad design.
- There are not enough inputs due to the way the front and back 1/2 inputs are linked .
Software notes
- The text and buttons on the console are too small and there are not enough custom view options. MANY users will not need to see half of the things on the screen. There should be a "simple view" option for basic users.
- All of the company's plugins are shown in the plugin menu, even those not purchased. Bad design. Never conflate marketing with workflow this way. Yes, I know I purchased plugins can be removed, but they should not be listed by default , ONLY the plugins I own should be listed by default.
- Input latency is higher than average (10ms at 128 buffer size)
- Mixing down/exporting audio to MP3 in a DAW with any UAD plugins in use (even one) takes three to four times longer (3.5 minutes for a 2 min song) than with native only.
- Text and buttons in plugins are TINY and the UI cannot be zoomed. Bad design.
Product notes
- Thunderbolt should be included at this price point. $599 for a thunderbolt expansion card is criminal.
- Plugin cost is way too high at this price point. Apollo owners should get 50% off all plugins .. Or more
- It's insulting that the only plugins included out of the box are the legacy plugins the company is no longer even selling. This is what they think of their elite customers ? Sad. Bad executive decision.
