Apogee Electronics has introduced the new Ensemble – a 30 x 34 Thunderbolt 2 audio interface for home, project and professional Mac-based studios that represents a complete redesign of the original Ensemble.
The new Ensemble blends innovations from products like Symphony I/O, Duet, Quartet and JAM with additional features and the power of Thunderbolt technology for recording, editing, mixing and mastering audio on a Mac using Logic Pro, Pro Tools or any Core Audio based DAW.
At 1.1 ms, the new Ensemble offers very low round-trip latency, eight mic preamps with Apogee’s Advanced Stepped Gain circuitry, front panel Guitar I/O, built-in talkback functionality, and a comprehensive user interface. Ensemble’s proprietary Thunderbolt audio driver and full 32-bit playback path provide CPU efficiency, leveraging the capabilities of Mac to monitor through a DAW with native plug-ins, simplifying workflow.
Highlights:
—8 mic preamps with up to 75 dB of gain and Advanced Stepped Gain circuit
—2 front panel guitar I/O channels with class A JFET inputs, dual mode re-amp outputs
—16 analog outputs of premium Apogee conversion
—Proprietary Thunderbolt audio driver and ESS Sabre32 DAC offer full 32-bit playback
—Groundbreaking low latency (1.1 ms round trip at 96 kHz/32 buffer)
—Core Audio-optimized hardware DMA Engine frees your Mac CPU
—2 high-resolution OLED displays show levels and settings
—Input select buttons and controller knob for selection of parameters and settings
—4 assignable buttons to control: talkback mic (built-in or external); output settings such as loudspeaker set selection, mute, dim, sum to mono
—Complete input/output control with Apogee Maestro software
—AD/DA conversion for recording up to 24-bit/192 kHz
—Works with Logic, Pro Tools, Ableton or any Core Audio compliant app on Mac
—Designed in California, assembled in the USA
Price: $2,495; availability: October 2014.
