UNIVERSAL AUDIO APOLLO X8 Audio Interface
Universal Audio launched its first silver Apollo units in early 2012. What was at that time an interesting new competitor in the crowded field of audio interfaces has since become an industry-leading behemoth with tens of thousands of units seeing use every day in both home studios and professional facilities. Key to the original Apollo’s success was its utilisation of advanced hardware modelling UAD plug-in software via built-in SHARC processing cores. While other companies were working along similar lines, the depth and sonic authenticity of the UAD reverbs, compressors and EQs was a real step up from the majority of plug-ins available at the time and the word quickly spread throughout the audio world.
2015 saw the first major hardware revision with the launch of MkII blackface units featuring improved specs and a slightly tweaked front panel layout. At the same time plug-in processing was upgraded to UAD-2 and the Unison preamp modelling software (dormant at the time of the original release) started to really come into its own with realistic emulations of classic Neve, API and UA preamp models giving users diverse tracking options from the same 1U box.
Fast-forward to 2018 and UA has upped the stakes again with the release of the Apollo X range. The Apollo
