apogee ensemble

[brendandwyer]

does anyone know if you can use multiple apogee ensembles to gain more I/O?

thanks

[cusebassman]

I do not own one of these, and as such, my post is pretty useless, but I felt bad seeing your post go unnoticed

I don't think most homerec'rs own items this good, but it also doesn't seem like the sort of thing you'd find in a pro studio... I honestly don't know what is done in most professional settings in terms of large numbers of converters, but it would seem counterintuitive to have racks upon racks of 2-channel converter units... guess I am asking a different question in your thread... sorry

[brendandwyer]

Originally Posted by cusebassman

I do not own one of these, and as such, my post is pretty useless, but I felt bad seeing your post go unnoticed

I don't think most homerec'rs own items this good, but it also doesn't seem like the sort of thing you'd find in a pro studio... I honestly don't know what is done in most professional settings in terms of large numbers of converters, but it would seem counterintuitive to have racks upon racks of 2-channel converter units... guess I am asking a different question in your thread... sorry

i'd agree, but the ensemble is an 8 channel analog I/O, 8 ch adat, 2 ch spdif. So for our shop, having 3 or 4 of these connected to the logic setup, mixing through the 32 channel desk would be nice.

I just can't seem to find a clear explanation of the ensemble's scalability.

[cusebassman]

Ooh, got that unit confused with another, it has a number more channels than I thought Still couldn't tell ya if you can use multiple, although somehow I doubt it would be a problem... not that you should go off of my uneducated guess when looking to spend 8 grand on converters

[brendandwyer]

thanks anyway.

quality converters are too damned expensive.....

[SouthSIDE Glen]

brendan,

Have you looked in the user's guide for that unit? Apogee has it available in PDF at

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/ensemble.php

G.

[Trell Blaze]

In my research of the unit - I want one terribly bad - I have yet to find anything confirmative of either answer, though it seems to me that it is not linkable.

Interesting, though, it now has a "Stand Alone" mode which allows it to operate without firewire connection. It can now be used as a converter/preamp for a seperate interface...

[brendandwyer]

Originally Posted by SouthSIDE Glen

brendan,

Have you looked in the user's guide for that unit? Apogee has it available in PDF at

http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/ensemble.php

G.

hey! thanks glen! i didn't see the link on their site for the users manual.

seems you can use multiple ensembles.

The standalone feature is rad as well.

nice!

[brendandwyer]

Originally Posted by Trell Blaze

In my research of the unit - I want one terribly bad - I have yet to find anything confirmative of either answer, though it seems to me that it is not linkable.

Interesting, though, it now has a "Stand Alone" mode which allows it to operate without firewire connection. It can now be used as a converter/preamp for a seperate interface...

i think it's a cool unit too.

We need to outfit our commercial side of the business next year.

I'm thinking we're going to go with the Mac Pro, logic 8, and the ensemble. We use it for commercial and radio work, training cd's and such. Not so much for band recordings (which seem few and far between these days).

it's between that and a used radar 24. Unfortunately, as much as i want the radar, the mac pro will support the side of the biz that actually makes money. Seems hard to find bands with budgets these days.

any other recommendations for converters?

[edit - anyone have any experience with RME Hammerfall line? Specifically the HDSP 9652?]

[Scott Signal]

I just wanted to chime in that recent developments by Apple clearly show they're going for Digidesign's jugular. This is essentially a higher audio quality competitor to the 002 though designed with Logic in mind....which just expanded it's applications to encompass live and post situations at half the price it was before. Interesting developments

[Mr.TTT]

Originally Posted by brendandwyer

any other recommendations for converters?

[edit - anyone have any experience with RME Hammerfall line? Specifically the HDSP 9652?]

Technically, one is supposed to be able to connect and run up to 3 Ensembles simultaneously, but the drivers/software haven't quite been up to snuff since the release, and I've only heard of a few using 2 Ensembles simultaneously, and a few trying unsuccessfully (to be fair, some cases could also be user error...never underestimate that ).

I owned an Ensemble a bit ago, and while nice I opted for something I find better and less expensive.

I can't comment on RME, but that's something I would suggest looking at, as their drivers are very stable and people really seem to dig them. You can get a used 9652 for under $300, and then choose any converters you'd like, many decent units around $2K. Not sure how many preamps you'll be needing...

Metric Halo is something else to look at, and their stuff is reportedly very stable.

[brendandwyer]

Originally Posted by Mr.TTT

Technically, one is supposed to be able to connect and run up to 3 Ensembles simultaneously, but the drivers/software haven't quite been up to snuff since the release, and I've only heard of a few using 2 Ensembles simultaneously, and a few trying unsuccessfully (to be fair, some cases could also be user error...never underestimate that ).

I owned an Ensemble a bit ago, and while nice I opted for something I find better and less expensive.

I can't comment on RME, but that's something I would suggest looking at, as their drivers are very stable and people really seem to dig them. You can get a used 9652 for under $300, and then choose any converters you'd like, many decent units around $2K. Not sure how many preamps you'll be needing...

Metric Halo is something else to look at, and their stuff is reportedly very stable.

thanks man....it's really down to the RME or the ensemble.

i appreciate your comments.

[cusebassman]

There is another thread in the other gear forum talking about this, and there are some negative comments. Apparently there is also some useful info over at grearslutz - just a heads up