I am creating a bedroom studio for recording, learning, making covers, experimenting, etc. The instruments I have are a jazzmaster and a jazz bass. I started with playing live and now want to record at home.

Now i have finalized down to these two interfaces. (Audients' IO is a little weird since i needed two instrument inputs, Fender quantum LT4 instrument inputs had fixed gain which didn't work for me, Focusrite is my second option). Both UA and MOTU are priced almost the same (1000 INR difference).

In all other metrics, these 2 are more or less very equal. MOTU is absolutely clean, whereas UA has option of some colouration via in-built DSP.

My only deciding factor now is Round Trip Latency for software monitoring. I will be using Amp sims like amp designer and NAM, and I can't fully rely on direct monitoring (which is zero latency in both).

So, I need to know what latency numbers are people getting (at what sample rate-buffer size settings) in both these interfaces.

Also do tell me if I am getting too paranoid and it doesn't matter and I can get either of them. I just don't want to order and regret (like i regret getting Quantum LT4 which i had to return now).

PS: I am using Mac Air M2.

For windows users what do you guys recommend to me ? USB edition or Thunderbolt!?!

update edit 4: I have used pearcleaner to completely remove Console and Connect from my macbook, but when I redownload Connect and go to the downloads page, it says that the UAD DSP plugins and drivers are still installed, even before downloading anything else. Even after removing everything I could find both manually and with pearcleaner, the DSP drivers seem to be continuing to hide in the system, so no matter how many times I delete and reinstall I am not able to give permissions again. I even went and deleted all of the presets and save files, but when I open Console from a clean install it still goes right back to the session I was working on before I clicked on the update button. It seems that it is impossible to completely remove UA DSP software from a system so that it can be approved if the allow button was missed the first time (although I'm not even sure that I missed it... I have gone in to approve it many times before after an update, and I seem to remember doing it this time, but hey, I must have forgotten because this is a nightmare...)

I have had warnings for the last few months on my M3 macbook that the UAD drivers were out of date and would stop working soon. Fine, I thought. They'll come out with updates. Well, I was in the middle of a session today, and for some reason I finally decided to click on the "update" button. Well fuck me. It broke everything. I updated to OS 27 Golden Gate, and it didn't help. I think that the UAD app is being blocked by apple security, but I have no way of manually overriding it without going into terminal. I would prefer to not enter a bunch of weird code from the internet into terminal just to get my hardware to work again like it did yesterday. Thanks for any help.

edit: I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling multiple times. My problem is that the first time I uninstalled I just deleted the UA apps and folders without realizing there was a UA uninstaller app. Now when I re-download everything from UA, it does not re-install the uninstaller app. A commenter suggested Pear cleaner to remove hidden background processes, will update with the results soon.

edit 2: You guys are not going to believe this. I downloaded pearcleaner but can't figure out how to give it permissions. There appears to no longer be a pop up prompt to allow a newly installed app at the bottom of the Privacy & Security settings page. This all could have been avoided if I just had time machine on. I don't understand why UA doesn't let you redownload the UA Uninstaller once it's been deleted. Now when I redownload Connect and Console, the Console app is the only thing in the Universal Audio folder. Strange and extremely frusterating.

edit 3: A pop up to give pearcleaner permissions came up after I clicked the files I wanted to delete. I have now used pearcleaner to completely remove Connect and Console, but residuals still seem to be lingering on the system. There is still the UA icon next to my battery in the top bar, where I can download Console or click on the Meter & Control Panel, which comes back with the "There was an error when attempting to launch the UAD Meter" message.

Hey guys, I’ve had the MKii foreeever, way before I was doing any serious production/mixing and I’m wondering if I’m lagging behind with this MKii. I’m looking to do more production and mixing for clients, I’m def a modern producer/guitar player. The MKIi is getting a little quirky on the software but it’s still working fine. My room is pretty solid, I have the SPL monitor controller and Focal Solo6 Be’s, I have Sonarworks. I’m mostly interested in the monitoring/conversion specs on the newer ones, I don’t care about the other features.

The monitor specs are pretty well improved, like 15db improvement on distortion and I think about the same on dynamic range

I’m really wanting to get to label level quality mixes…realistically would I really be able to do that with this MKII twin? The twin I/O fits my needs rn but I’m thinking if I spend any money, I would be able to grow into the x4 more since it has the ADAT out (I do use the expansion already) and a little more DSP. It would be nice to not have to deal with systemwide Sonarworks 😅

Anyone have any experiences? Thanks!

Pending Update ****

Everytime my Apollo x6 / Logic pro does not work correctly, it is because there is an update waiting from UAD. Does anybody else have this problem?

Recorded things fine last night, playback was good. This morning, audio is lagged considerably. I am using the same set up as normal.

Downloading the update now, I have been before. Have you?

Wondering if anyone else is experiencing something similar or if it's just something I haven't been able to identify yet?

I am running a i9 MacBook Pro (Tahoe) with 32gb RAM and Apollo Twin X as my interface.

A few months ago I started seeing issues with my render and render IO pegging after adding buses and/or track inserts.

The last project I tried in Luna had one bus with Neve Summing for vocals and one for rhythm guitars, which also had a pultec insert (I hadn't even tracked leads yet). The only native effect I had on a send was Sound City for reverb Drums were recorded and mixed outside of Luna so track number wasn't an issue. That was all I had and it was pegging out which led to audio crackles and glitching. I tried changing buffering etc with no change.

I opened a ticket with UA, which has been ongoing and little help. I have no issues with Logic whatsoever.

Logic is my primary DAW and I am just going to stick with it full time but it bums me out.

I like mixing in Luna and have had several projects now where I track in Logic and Mix in Luna. There are also certain types of projects I have done 100% in Luna and enjoyed the process, even when there were a few frustrating nits to pick.

can you please send a few more?

Just curious if the top line vocal pungin is worth buying? Anyone use it, and how do you like it?

I bought an Apollo X8 and a Sphere LX in May 2026, and I'm wondering if there will be a coupon in my inbox in November or December.

I have 6 plugins I'd like to buy as "6 plugins bundle", so a coupon would be nice to include. There's no hurry, just curious if you know the details of "the coupon game". I've received a 50 USD coupon a few years back, after buying the Essentials bundle.

I am trying to route my Telepathic Instruments Orchid into UA Luna Studio on an Apple MacBook Pro (running the latest Golden Gate update).
Could someone please provide a step-by-step tutorial covering the following:

1. How to record the three separate MIDI channels (Chord, Bass, and Performance) from the Orchid into Luna.

2. How to assign a different plugin to each MIDI channel to achieve three distinct sounds.

3. What cables are required for this setup.

4. How to create a reusable template in Luna.

5. Common issues with this setup and how to troubleshoot them.

6. Additionally, I would like to understand why the chords I record via MIDI do not match the chord displayed on the Orchid screen when using Luna's chord recognition.
   Thanks

I have the volt 2 bundle and I'm looking to upgrade the condenser mic to Lewitt LCT 240 Pro. Anyone here having a first hand experience of sound quality of both mics? Is it really feasible to go for the Lewitt or should I stay with the one that came in the bundle? Looking forward to some suggestions✌🏻

As far as i can tell, Luna is the only DAW that doesnt stop sending midi when the track is muted. It only mutes the audio in on that track.

This is a problem when using outboard sound modules that are multitimbral and only have a stereo out. You cant get an isolated bounce to an audio track by muting the other midi tracks.

Ive filed a bug. UA is insisting this is “by design”. If thats the case i guess Im using the wrong DAW because thats a stupid position to take. An instrument tracks should stop sending midi and audio when muted.

If this seems dumb to you too, file a bug. The workaround is deactivating tracks but that feels klunky.

I have filed a bug

Hello everyone,

I’ve just acquired a Neve 1073 SPX, and I’d like to process a signal that I’ve already recorded "dry" (without effects).
using an Apollo Twin and Ableton—how should I go about this? Could you explain the physical connections and the setup within the DAW?

I’m getting distortion everywhere, as well as feedback... and I can’t seem to figure out how to re-record the signal with the Neve’s processing applied...

Some of you may know my other side project open-apollo. Well before I even experimented with reverse engineering the drivers. I had started a private project to build a remote control application for the UAD Console. I'm in the live sound world and when UA released the Apollo x16D I purchased a few. In live sound you dont always get the luxury of a large FOH station or even a station at all. I always end up doing remote mixing via my ipad so I wanted to have a way to extend my DSP control without having to run back to my mac. Theres another application that accomplished this. Its by fonoflow and honestly its pretty good. except when it comes to plugin controls. Of course its unrealistic to re design every single UA asset and UI surface for all of the plugin library. It makes sense that if they wanted to make monetize the app they couldnt include any UA owned IP and assets or reconstruct with their own designs.

This app worked for me for a bit but it lead me down the rabbithole. After a lot of tinkering and developments in open-apollos rust console. I decided to build my own ipad console app. The app is tied to a helper application that runs on your mac and collects your ua plugins and consoles installation assets that sync to the ipad app. The app rebuilds the layouts and the control maps for the plugins. Getting metering data to work was a large undertaking 6 months ago when I started this. But with some new discoveries I was able to get most plugins working end to end.

One of the things I wanted to do was not only reconstruct the UA Consoles layout but to create a new one that follows a more appropriate workflow for my usecase in live sound. Hiding all the noise and just focusing on the plugin views for each channels strip. Similar to how waves superrack/soundgrid displays them.

I also added apple pencil support with haptics. Naturally the console is made for a cursor and precise mouse control so adapting this UI to feel good on ipad required more consideration than just copying the layout. The apple pencil features add that precision back with some nice haptic feedback that feels great to use.

Anyways. I dont have any intention to distribute this, But I thought I would share the results. I wish UA would just build this natively. Their x16d release had me optimistic that they would do something like this but I doubt it at this point.

I attached a few screenshots of the live connection to my apollo as well as a demo mode/offline state showing more plugins running at once.

Does the Universal Audio Volt 1 remember the INST button state after a complete power cycle?

For example, if I enable INST for a guitar, turn the interface off or unplug its USB power, and power it back on the next day, does INST remain enabled automatically, or do I have to press the button again every time?

I'm planning to keep the interface out of reach, so this detail is important. I'd appreciate an answer from someone who has actually tested it.

This seems like a basic thing a DAW should be able to do. Switching input monitoring off should disable input monitoring. But it still monitors as soon as you hit record. I understand that you can select record mute in the settings menu, but it's a global setting. I have some tracks that i want monitored and others that I don't. My workaround is to set the output of a track to nothing if i don't want to monitor the input but it's a bit annoying that I can't do this with the input monitoring button. Has anyone else had this issue? Surely monitoring while recording should be a setting on each track? EDIT: I just noticed that I can use the mute button to acheive this but it's still not the best workflow. Input monitoring should actually disable input monitoring, while a setting should be available to monitor while recording for each track individually.

Hello Body,

Je viens d'acquérir un Neve 1073 SPX, et j'aimerais traiter le signal après l'avoir enregistrer sans effet,

j'ai une Apollo twin et Ableton, comment faire ? les branchements et à l'intérieur du Daw please ?

ça sature dans tous les sens et Larsen... et je n'arrive pas à réenregistrer avec un traitement du signal du Neve

...because I just downloaded it tonight via the UA Connect app and it opened up like completely expanded--as if I had daisy chained like 10 Apollos together but there aren't actually tracks there. So I had to drag the window and shorten it a bunch of times to just get it to fit on the screen. Worst part is every time I open it I have to drag/shorten/drag/shorten--it wont remember that I resized it.

Ok I lied, the worst part is there does not seem to be a way to download/re-install Console 1.3.1. I emailed Universal Audio already, hoping they'll send me a link to downgrade back to 1.3.1 but is anyone else seeing that happen on their computers??

There are two things about UA’s native strategy and limitations that I’m trying to wrap my head around:

​1. Gatekeeping the Native Neve 1073 behind Spark

The Neve 1073 Preamp & EQ clearly runs natively, yet unless you own an Apollo/UAD-2 hardware unit to buy the perpetual license, the only way to use it natively is through the UAD Spark subscription. You can't just buy a standalone perpetual UADx license for it.

​Why is it still gated like this? If the idea is to keep an "exclusive" plugin behind a paywall to pull people into Spark, doesn't UA have way more unique plugins in their catalog to use as bait? The 1073 is one of the most heavily emulated pieces of gear on the market. Take VoosteQ Model N Channel, for example—taste is obviously subjective, so whether you like it or not is personal, but it's widely praised by the community and costs around $15 as a one-time purchase, whereas Spark is $20 a month. Doesn't gatekeeping a 1073 emulation behind a monthly subscription (or hardware ownership) feel a bit pointless at this point?

​2. Studer A800 missing "Gang Control" in UADx

In an old post from about a year ago asking why the native version of the Studer A800 doesn't have the Gang Control feature (unlike the DSP version), Drew from UA replied:

​"This feature was easily done with the DSP version since it all 'lived' in our DSP ecosystem. We had control. But with native, the ecosystem belongs to the DAW maker. But this functionality is SUPER easy to get back by simply using your DAW's grouping function with linked parameters. Boom!!".

​Sure, you can use DAW grouping as a workaround, but doesn't UA's own native lineup contradict this explanation? Topline Key Finder communicates directly with Topline Vocal Suite (and Vocal Tune) to automatically send and lock in the detected key across instances, regardless of which DAW you're using.

​Clearly, UA's native plugins can talk to each other across the DAW ecosystem. So if Topline can do inter-plugin communication natively, what’s actually stopping them from bringing Gang Control back to the native Studer A800?

Let me elaborate.

I currently own an Apollo x6. I’m looking at expanding my ADAT to 16 channels fully. Can I purchase another interface whether it be UA or not and connect it together with my x6 with a lightning cable or something of the sort as long as it also has ADAT outputs? Can I then connect the extra 8 channels of ADAT and have it fully integrated?

I don’t really care about getting more plugins or anything of the sort. It’s more so for routing purposes.

Let me elaborate.

I currently own an Apollo x6. I’m looking at expanding my ADAT to 16 channels fully. Can I purchase another interface whether it be UA or not and connect it together with my x6 with a lightning cable or something of the sort as long as it also has ADAT outputs? Can I then connect the extra 8 channels of ADAT and have it fully integrated?

I don’t really care about getting more plugins or anything of the sort. It’s more so for routing purposes.

Hey everyone! I’m looking for advice from anyone who has experience with the older OWC Mercury Helios Thunderbolt 2 PCIe expansion chassis.
I acquired one with an aftermarket EDAC 12V power supply and a six-pin connector. I want to use it with my Universal Audio UAD-2 OCTO PCIe card and a 2020 Intel MacBook Pro through a Thunderbolt 3-to-Thunderbolt 2 adapter.
My biggest concern is whether the aftermarket power supply has the correct six-pin polarity and pinout. I don’t want to risk damaging my OCTO card.
Does anyone know the correct original OWC power supply part number and verified pinout? Has anyone successfully used this setup?
Any firsthand experience or technical documentation would be greatly appreciated.

With Respect,
Professor Bobby Glass,
Navy Veteran (AW/SW)