1 Topic by jweisbin (edited by jweisbin 2012-10-08 19:20:33)

  • Registered: 2007-10-30
  • Posts: 9

Topic: trying to interface an apogee ensemble via ADAT, problems

One of my users has been using an Apogee Ensemble (driver version 4.2 on Lion 10.7.4 with Logic 9.1.7) and having lots of problems. After about an hour, even on very light projects, he starts to get crackles, pops, and dropouts. We tried everything but no solution.

So I hooked up my Fireface 400 (version 3.1.2) and problem solved. But he would like to be able to still use the pre's in the Apogee, because the FF only has 2 mic pre's. So we hooked up the Apogee to the FF via ADAT in and out, and clocked the FF from the Apogee via WC (and set the termination button on the FF). We left the Apogee plugged in via firewire in order to configure it. We set the analog ins to go out the ADATs via the output routing section on the Apogee control panel. Then we set the RME Totalmix matrix to send all those out to the main outs to hear them. We can see the signal coming into the RME and hear them, but they never get into Logic.

Then we set the Apogee to "standalone" output mode (it's an either/or thing), same thing - the signal is coming into the RME but Logic doesn't see it.

Then we unhooked the Apogee firewire cable and voila, signal now comes up in Logic. So I can't figure out if this is an Apogee issue (called them and they said it should work even if not in standalone mode), or an RME issue, or a Logic issue, or some combination of those.

Now, someone might say, if it works in standalone mode with the firewire cable disconnected, then why not use it that way? Well, in that mode, it's difficult to set things like phantom power, gain, etc on the Apogee's pre's.

So any help would be appreciated.

  • Registered: 2012-03-23
  • Posts: 35

Re: trying to interface an apogee ensemble via ADAT, problems

Not sure I have the answer but I have an apogee ensemble that I'm using via ADAT with my UCX for the preamps and the converters as they sound great.  I tend to just set it up with the firewire cable and then unplug it and use it in standalone mode.  I leave the phantom power on even if I'm plugging in an SM58/57 and it seems to work ok although I guess not suitable for all situations.  I also just set the Apogee to 96khz and then plugged into the ADAT on the UCX which was also using 96k and it works fine without word clock.  I just make sure that I only use the Apogee for 96k recording.

I'm pretty sure I connected it to the firewire and it worked fine although I connected the ensemble to a laptop with an older firewire 400 connector and my UCX is connected to my main audio workstation. 

I have always found the Apogee drivers/software to be a real pain which was a major reason for moving to RME.