UA Apollo twin mkII not recognized

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Last Alternative
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14 Sep 2022

See my signature for computer specs. My Apollo has a thunderbolt 1&2 plug. My new MacBook Pro has thunderbolt 3&4/USBc. I got the Apple adapter yesterday. Downloaded UA software. It powers on but won’t talk to my computer at all. Waiting to hear back from UA support. Any ideas?
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selig
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14 Sep 2022

Last Alternative wrote:
14 Sep 2022
See my signature for computer specs. My Apollo has a thunderbolt 1&2 plug. My new MacBook Pro has thunderbolt 3&4/USBc. I got the Apple adapter yesterday. Downloaded UA software. It powers on but won’t talk to my computer at all. Waiting to hear back from UA support. Any ideas?
Are you using a thunderbolt cable? That was my initial confusion with my Apollo interface, although I had the opposite issue (older computer with firewire, newer Apollo with thunderbolt). The cable must have a lightning bolt on each end, but otherwise looks EXACTLY like a USB-C cable (learned THAT the hard way).

Otherwise I got nothing, other than to ask if you’ve had a chance to give LUNA a test run yet?
Selig Audio, LLC

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Last Alternative
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14 Sep 2022

Original thunderbolt cable that came with the Apollo, plugged into the old-to-new thunderbolt shape adapter, plugged into MacBook Pro.

Haven’t tried Luna yet. Plan on it soon tho as I branch out from Reason with Logic as well.
https://lastalternative.bandcamp.com
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selig
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15 Sep 2022

Last Alternative wrote:
14 Sep 2022
Original thunderbolt cable that came with the Apollo, plugged into the old-to-new thunderbolt shape adapter, plugged into MacBook Pro.

Haven’t tried Luna yet. Plan on it soon tho as I branch out from Reason with Logic as well.
That's what I did but connected the opposite since it was my iMac that had the old connector. Just make sure there is the lightning bolt logo on the connectors…
Selig Audio, LLC

MuttReason
Posts: 339
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15 Sep 2022

IME those Apple TB2 to TB3 adaptors are hit or miss. Don’t know why. I went through 3 of them trying to connect several different TB2 external hard drives to a TB3 port on a MacBook Pro.

Might be worth trying a third party adaptor like a Belkin if it’s not working at all.

I tried to love Luna but… nope. Great UI and concept but there were too many shortcomings for me, and also a lot of bugs in the early releases. It just didn’t feel that intuitive for me, going back to Reason and Live was a relief by comparison.

I also loathe iLok with a passion - I think it is malware masquerading as copy protection - so the use of iLok for all UAD native plugins was a dealbreaker.

But, hey, YMMV and it is completely free, so nothing to lose by giving it a go.

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selig
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16 Sep 2022

MuttReason wrote:
15 Sep 2022
IME those Apple TB2 to TB3 adaptors are hit or miss. Don’t know why. I went through 3 of them trying to connect several different TB2 external hard drives to a TB3 port on a MacBook Pro.

Might be worth trying a third party adaptor like a Belkin if it’s not working at all.

I tried to love Luna but… nope. Great UI and concept but there were too many shortcomings for me, and also a lot of bugs in the early releases. It just didn’t feel that intuitive for me, going back to Reason and Live was a relief by comparison.

I also loathe iLok with a passion - I think it is malware masquerading as copy protection - so the use of iLok for all UAD native plugins was a dealbreaker.

But, hey, YMMV and it is completely free, so nothing to lose by giving it a go.
I think you may need to have been a Pro Tools (or analog console/tape) user to ‘get’ LUNA. It basically has ALL the features I feel are missing from Reason so I’m over the moon with the ease and speed I can work on it. If Reason added the LUNA audio workflow I’d be in production heaven!
Even MIDI editing in LUNA is a breeze, mainly because of the smart tool and no need to ever switch tools. So many fewer key strokes with all the basic editing tasks I routinely do, but I also record a TON of audio tracks so things like edit groups and group quantize, slip editing, and superior crossfading, simple as they may be, are a huge workflow improvement for my work.
I totally realize we all have different needs, so not expecting others to get as excited as I am…;)
Selig Audio, LLC

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Last Alternative
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17 Sep 2022

So UA got back to me. It was a security setting I had to change in Max Recovery and it’s working now thank Gosh! I gotta say I’ve tried a few different audio interfaces and nothing sounds as pro as the Apollo.

Don’t know much about iLok but if Luna has bugs and annoying apps and pushy pop ups to buy VSTs then I’ll delete it and focus on learning Logic, get R12 and use it as a plug-in.
https://lastalternative.bandcamp.com
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selig
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17 Sep 2022

Last Alternative wrote:
17 Sep 2022
So UA got back to me. It was a security setting I had to change in Max Recovery and it’s working now thank Gosh! I gotta say I’ve tried a few different audio interfaces and nothing sounds as pro as the Apollo.

Don’t know much about iLok but if Luna has bugs and annoying apps and pushy pop ups to buy VSTs then I’ll delete it and focus on learning Logic, get R12 and use it as a plug-in.
Totally agree about the sound/quality - probably the best interface I’ve ever had for my home system. Glad you got things all sorted, have no idea what Max Recovery is and would never have thought to check for stuff like that!
LUNA has bugs, but I haven’t had any issues that cause trouble, just a few very minor ‘head scratching’ moments - nothing compared to what we recently went through with Reason 12 initially but I also didn’t start using LUNA until a month or two ago (once I heard it was pretty stable. I’ve also struggled through major Pro Tools bugs many times over the course of the 20+ years I used it, well beyond version 1.0
Have no idea about apps or popups, haven’t seen either - have you heard something about this?
What is DOES do is load all the UA plugins and they appear at the end of the plugin list which I find super easy to ignore. And like Reason, adding/managing new plugins is super easy.
As for iLok, I have used it since it was introduced and still had an account despite not doing anything with it for probably over 10+ years. Got a few extra plugins that required it when I got the Apollo system and all it took was typing my name and everything synced right up - no hassles, very much like code-meter and Reason so far. As long as things are this transparent and effortless, I have no issue with either CP implementation.
And Reason runs smoothly as a plugin in LUNA, though I’ve not pushed it very far beyond just loading up a few REs (effects and instruments) so far.

IMO, it’s more about whether or not the LUNA workflow ‘works’ for you, which you will easily find out since it’s free! ;)
Selig Audio, LLC

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Overtherainbow
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17 Sep 2022

Had the apollo twin and sold that piece of garbage after two weeks, bought Clarett2Pre and couldn't be happier.

Things I hated:

1) still can't handle 192k sample rate (just as the Clarett2Pre which is much cheaper but has a pre-amp heads and shoulders above)
2) the fabled in-built SHARC DSP, which is supposedly the strongest selling point (cannot handle more than 1.5 of their own terribly dated plugins) is just a useless gimmick
3) intrusive marketing attitude - to get the bundled pieces of software that are promised, you are forced to download ALL of their crap only to be told that you have to pay for it, and the only way you can delete the demo garbage later is by manually scouring through your systems folders and deleting it 1 by 1
4) preamp is meh - something you get with any $200-300 device
5) you have to use workarounds switching it on and off and having it work correctly in your DAW and your OS simultaneously
6) price

Recap: overpriced, overhyped, low quality, technologically outdated, intrusive

I rate it with a dick out of 10.
Last edited by Overtherainbow on 17 Sep 2022, edited 3 times in total.

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Last Alternative
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17 Sep 2022

Great explanation, Selig! You made me excited to try Luna. I’m talking out of ignorance and what I’ve heard people complaining about on YouTube. Don’t knock it till you try it, right?
I meant to say Mac recovery.. hit the wrong button. So when you restart your Mac you hold the power button until you’re in recovery mode. Who knew… well I guess I should know by now that Apple security is pretty good and you gotta change at least a few settings to work for ya but I never had that issue with my iMac.
I’m pretty impressed that I paid $1,000 for my Apollo almost 5 years ago and it’s still worth 6-700 dollars!
I moved about a month ago and I’m still getting my home studio set up. Next is sound treatment. I have the foam squares. Need some acoustic window curtains, bass traps, and a cloud thing to hang above my desk.. luckily my mastering guy is helping me with advice and referrals to his music biz friends. Talk about priceless advice! He’s literally the best mastering engineer in New Mexico with awards to prove it and invites me over just to hang out in his studio and treats me like a friend.
https://lastalternative.bandcamp.com
:reason: 12.7.4 | MacBook Pro (16”, 2021), OS Sonoma, M1 Max, 4TB SSD, 64GB RAM | quality instruments & gear

MuttReason
Posts: 339
Joined: 28 Jan 2021

17 Sep 2022

selig wrote:
16 Sep 2022
I think you may need to have been a Pro Tools (or analog console/tape) user to ‘get’ LUNA. It basically has ALL the features I feel are missing from Reason so I’m over the moon with the ease and speed I can work on it. If Reason added the LUNA audio workflow I’d be in production heaven!
Even MIDI editing in LUNA is a breeze, mainly because of the smart tool and no need to ever switch tools. So many fewer key strokes with all the basic editing tasks I routinely do, but I also record a TON of audio tracks so things like edit groups and group quantize, slip editing, and superior crossfading, simple as they may be, are a huge workflow improvement for my work.
I totally realize we all have different needs, so not expecting others to get as excited as I am…;)
Selig, agreed, I think this is the key point… UAD are targeting the ProTools market and have deliberately emulated a lot of PT methodology in Luna to take advantage of PT users’ muscle memory (as it were).

Thing is…. PT never gelled with me either! So that’s probably a big part of it.

I also tried Luna very early on and it was seriously unstable and hard to love at that point. I went back to it much later on, stability had improved a lot, but I still just wasn’t bonding with it.

The iLok thing is not a UAD point, it is based on my experience of iLok on a previous Mac where I got caught in an authorisation death loop… couldn’t login to iLok and couldn’t reset without authorisation which required login… and after multiple reinstalls to no good effect I removed it… and then found I had to do a manual deletion of a bunch of files all over the system, none of which were properly documented. iLok support were effectively non-existent - zero response, ever, to any ticket, and the whole thing was a gigantic PITA. After that, never again, and I won’t touch any software that relies on it.

Codemeter/Reason Companion are vastly better in every way, and the simple ‘under the hood’ online authorisation used by Ableton Live and others like it is straightforward.

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integerpoet
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14 Oct 2022

Last Alternative wrote:
17 Sep 2022
I meant to say Mac recovery.. hit the wrong button. So when you restart your Mac you hold the power button until you’re in recovery mode. Who knew… well I guess I should know by now that Apple security is pretty good and you gotta change at least a few settings to work for ya but I never had that issue with my iMac.
Wait; what? My guess is they wanted you to disable system integrity protection? I was starting to get very curious about this app, but if it requires this then I'm already done.

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selig
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14 Oct 2022

integerpoet wrote:
14 Oct 2022
Last Alternative wrote:
17 Sep 2022
I meant to say Mac recovery.. hit the wrong button. So when you restart your Mac you hold the power button until you’re in recovery mode. Who knew… well I guess I should know by now that Apple security is pretty good and you gotta change at least a few settings to work for ya but I never had that issue with my iMac.
Wait; what? My guess is they wanted you to disable system integrity protection? I was starting to get very curious about this app, but if it requires this then I'm already done.
I never had to do anything like that, LUNA runs fine on my old iMac and my new Mac Studio.
Selig Audio, LLC

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integerpoet
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14 Oct 2022

selig wrote:
14 Oct 2022
integerpoet wrote:
14 Oct 2022
Wait; what? My guess is they wanted you to disable system integrity protection? I was starting to get very curious about this app, but if it requires this then I'm already done.
I never had to do anything like that, LUNA runs fine on my old iMac and my new Mac Studio.
Let's hope the problem was that somebody else had previously required it to be disabled and it needed to be re-enabled to make LUNA work. 😀

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selig
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14 Oct 2022

Last Alternative wrote:
17 Sep 2022
Great explanation, Selig! You made me excited to try Luna. I’m talking out of ignorance and what I’ve heard people complaining about on YouTube. Don’t knock it till you try it, right?
I meant to say Mac recovery.. hit the wrong button. So when you restart your Mac you hold the power button until you’re in recovery mode. Who knew… well I guess I should know by now that Apple security is pretty good and you gotta change at least a few settings to work for ya but I never had that issue with my iMac.
I’m pretty impressed that I paid $1,000 for my Apollo almost 5 years ago and it’s still worth 6-700 dollars!
I moved about a month ago and I’m still getting my home studio set up. Next is sound treatment. I have the foam squares. Need some acoustic window curtains, bass traps, and a cloud thing to hang above my desk.. luckily my mastering guy is helping me with advice and referrals to his music biz friends. Talk about priceless advice! He’s literally the best mastering engineer in New Mexico with awards to prove it and invites me over just to hang out in his studio and treats me like a friend.
I still find it priceless to have audio friends to hang out with. I miss my old studio days because you were always running into friends and checking out what they were doing and how they were doing it.
Comparing notes and talking shop are how I continued my audio education past the initial stages - can't imagine I would have progressed as far if I was isolated.
It's priceless indeed, on many levels! :)
Selig Audio, LLC

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