RME Babyface Pro or UAD Apollo Twin USB for Windows?

[reasonperson]

Is it possible to use the UAD Apollo Twin USB for Windows with Reason 11 Suite? I think you can run the plugins off the UAD Apollo Twin USB's DSP in Reason 11 Suite? If not, will the RME Babyface Pro FS 24-channel USB Audio Interface work with Reason 11 Suite? I never used or owned these two products. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[jetpilot00]

Both of these audio interfaces work with any DAW. UAD’s plug-ins will use the Apollo’s DSP when you use them in Reason.

I’ve used both interfaces in Reason for years.

-JP

[reasonperson]

Hi jetpilot00, Which interface do you prefer? I would like to use either use Apollo's DSP to run Antares tech's Auto-Tune Unlimited or RME Babyface Pro FS 24-channel USB Audio Interface DSP for the same reason. Can this actually be done? Thanks

[jetpilot00]

Well, let me say that both interfaces are awesome and sound fantastic. That said, if I had to do it again, I would buy the RME over the Apollo Twin. If you would have said the Apollo 4x, I would say the Apollo.

The reason is that the best purpose for the UAD interfaces is tracking real time for instruments and vocals. With the 4 chips in the Twin, you simply can’t add many plug ins to handle both channels at once if you choose certain plug ins. Also, there is the slightest latency issue with the USB Apollo Twin. It’s not that big of a deal but when I compared tracking guitar through the UAD and the RME, the RME drivers gave me very near zero latency and that helped with the “feel”

Modern computer chips can handle so much that your won’t have any significant issues with either unless tracking live or needing a large plug in count while tracking.

RME’s drivers are just better. Now this is the Apollo Twin USB I’m talking about. The Thunderbolt Apollo Twin for Windows may have better performance but I haven’t used that.

Also, the version of Auto-Tune you mentioned isn’t native to UAD platform so your computer would be running it, not the Apollo. In that instance, both units should perform nearly identical.

-JP

[PeterP]

I bought the UAD Apollo Twin USB when it was released a few years ago and have used it with several DAWs including Reason.

I really liked it in the beginning but I regret that purchase now.

Pros:
- The hardware feels very robust.
- The pre-amp is great sounding.
- The included plugins sound excellent.
- UA have a library of great plugins that you won't be able to run elsewhere.
- Running the plugins when monitoring can be a great if you run a heavy session with lots of latency.

Cons:
- It's not low latency for anything else. I could run lower latency without "crackling" with my older audio interfaces like MAudio and Properllerhead Balance when using Arturia VST for example. I use 128 samples with the Apollo, anything lower isn't usable. I have an Intel i9 9900k CPU.
- The "DSP offloading" factor is just an illusion. Today's (and even yesterdays) CPUs are so powerful that it just feels like a hardware dongle that artificially limits how many plugins you can run.
- They always install their massive suite of plugins with every driver update with no way to remove the ones you don't own. I find this really frustrating, especially in DAWs that don't have a plugin manager where it's easy to hide them.
- Their plugins are stuck with VST2 and very old low resolution bitmap GUIs.
- I have instability issues with BSODs that was caused by their drivers. Most of these got resolved with the help of their support and bumping up a USB safety buffer limit. I probably got unlucky with my particular motherboard and this probably won't affect you.

I have not tried RME, but when I upgrade my interface in the future that's on the shortlist for me.