Universal Audio Apollo Software User Manual
Page 89
Apollo Software Manual
Chapter 6: Working With Apollo
89
DAW Processing Method
When UAD Powered Plug-Ins are used within compatible VST, RTAS, AAX 64, or Audio
Units host DAW applications, I/O buffering is used for plug-in processing because the
data must be shuttled back and forth between the DAW and Apollo. In this scenario, the
UAD-2 DSP inside Apollo behaves exactly like other UAD-2 devices such as UAD-2 Sat-
ellite and UAD-2 PCIe cards for UAD plug-in processing.
Hardware I/O buffering with a DAW adds latency that is compensated by the host DAW’s
automatic delay compensation during mixing (i.e., all tracks remain time-aligned). How-
ever, at larger buffer sizes this latency makes software monitoring via the DAW mixer
while tracking with UAD Powered Plug-Ins less practical.
Using Apollo Concurrently with
eliminates this latency during tracking because software monitoring
is not used — the DSP mixer inside Apollo is used for “hardware” monitoring instead.
Note: See
“Chapter 8: Latency & Apollo” on page 110
for detailed information
about latency.
Latency is not an issue during mixdown in a DAW; realtime processing is not necessary
because the performances are already captured. The benefits of using Apollo’s integrated
DSP acceleration during mixing include the off-loading of plug-in processing from the
host computer’s CPU and the sonic rewards of UAD Powered Plug-Ins, which run exclu-
sively on UAD-2 and Apollo platforms.
Concurrent use of UAD Plug-Ins in Console and a DAW
UAD Powered Plug-Ins can be used within Console and a DAW simultaneously. In this
scenario, Apollo’s DSP resources are shared between the two applications. Realtime UAD
Processing is available via Console, and I/O buffered (non-realtime) UAD processing is
available via VST, RTAS, AAX 64, or Audio Units plug-ins in the DAW. See
for
complete details.
Note: Apollo, like other UAD devices, can only load UAD Powered Plug-Ins which
are specifically designed to run on UAD DSP accelerators. Host-based “native”
plug-ins cannot run on the UAD DSP.