Universal Audio Apollo ⚡️ Unison Preamp Comparison / Shootout

[@patrickanthony3572]

The V76 has such clean, yet warm and nostalgically familiar tone for me. This was my clear favourite.

[@shayeasy]

the Helios has been my go-to for years, the sound is very up front and thick but still transparent and not wooly or muddy. with other preamps I am often cutting low mids but the Helios just sounds right down there. the 610A sounds really good in this demo, too - very lively and dimensional.

[@healeydavid3080]

Amazing video. I’ve had all these preamps for years but never listened to the, back to back on multiple sources like this. Really eye opening. Thanks for doing this!!

[@ToddUrban]

Thanks! 🙏🏻

[@JonManness]

Excellent shootout! I have most of these, but the V76 seemed to shine the most for a mostly clean tone.

[@ToddUrban]

Yes! I was pleasantly surprised by the V76. Thank you for watching. 😊

[@joeydego2]

With the Nord, there was minuscule difference, more with the basses. The vocal mic had clear differences although there were volume differences.

[@ToddUrban]

Yes. I tried to level match as close as possible. But depending on speakers, the differences in frequencies from preamp to preamp create very different apparent levels. Yes….the mics are where you start to both hear and feel the differences more!

[@MarcellJjr]

just a video I was looking for

[@ToddUrban]

Great. Glad it helped!

[@andreasiaj]

Great job. Thanks for all your time invested. Actually singing would be the final touch to make the voice examples useful.

[@ToddUrban]

Yeah, and really pushing them to distort is where you hear the big differences. But I also didn’t want to push them so far that we couldn’t hear usable sources.

[@AnthonyStudio]

Excellent video. I sincerely appreciate the amount of effort and time that went into making this. Thank you!

[@ToddUrban]

Thank you for that comment. I’m happy to hear it helped. Thanks for supporting the channel too. 🤓

[@WIALLIFE]

API DAM NEAR WON EVERYTHING, THE MANLEY WAS PROBABLY 2ND 4 ME & I LIKED THE AVALON ON VOCALS. PLUS ALMOST ALL OF THEM SOUNDED PRETTY GREAT ON THE ELECTRIC GUITAR...MY LIL 2 CENTS..

[@DanPerezSax]

Nice, Todd. Gonna watch this later. I never did really shoot these out. Tried the 1084 and decided I liked it so it's my goto.

[@ToddUrban]

The Neve pre I use is the same preamp as the 1084. So you’ll hear that side by side! Thanks for watching! 😊

[@joeydego2]

Helios was my favorite on the electric guitar.

[@Particle67]

This and the V76

[@Tomtamo1]

I really like what the API pre did for the low end of the P/J bass.

[@ToddUrban]

Definitely. I have the 500 hardware API preamps and love them on my Snares and DI bass!

[@Tomtamo1]

@@ToddUrbanThe UAD API Vision is my go-to on drums. Love it!!!

[@extramedium3920]

would love to see native vs UAD DSP Unison on an interface like the Antelope Orion Studio

[@bartes101]

sorry, but to me there's virtually no difference to any of these (apart from the Manley being over eager), at the "plain" input setting, all of these channels are trying to give the cleanest, most accurate representation of the source sounds.... Surely it would be far more interesting to do this comparison with the channel strips running "hot", doing the stuff they are best known for, be it saturation, hard eq etc. (No compression etc as it's a mostly pre amps, not full strips), but emphasising the character they can add when properly dialled in ? ..

[@ToddUrban]

You make a good point. My comparison here was to show realistic settings for most people (which is not to over distort the signal). Therefore, the differences are subtle. However, an interesting comparison is what happens when you start to clip these. That’s when the distortion characteristics start to change. However, with the exception of certain genres, most people do not clip them that hard. But that would be a great followup!

[@agork]

He gained it too much which caused everything to sound distorted. It would very likely have shown more difference if he gained it a lot lower and let the plugin do what it was designed to do.

[@ToddUrban]

Well, actually, the comment from the other person was accurate. The reason we don’t hear a ton of differences is that it is not actually distorting much. If you hit these preamps harder with more gain, that’s actually when you will hear the most difference. It is actually very similar to their analog counterparts.

[@CarstenGoeke]

Interesting comparison. Thanks for sharing. Would be nice to hear a comparison to the real outboard gear. Greetz ✌🏼

[@ToddUrban]

Funny enough, I plan to do something similar as soon as I get the time! Stay tuned!

[@CarstenGoeke]

@@ToddUrban Cool. Thanks ✌🏼

[@billesposito2112]

Hellos I think takes it overall.

[@eyesonly4451]

I'm a very newcomer to the sound recording world. But I do have years of experience in the photography world. They are much the same, as photography has the clean, linear response of digital, versus the not so linear response of analog film. Like audio clipping, photos "clip" when the dynamic range of the scene is beyond the dynamic range of the sensor/film. But film, unlike a digital sensor, approaches its saturation point in an s-curved fashion rather than a straight line. I feel it's much the same with audio circuits that have non-linear components (i.e. tubes) vs those that are highly linear in their responses. So any comparison in the middle of their respective response curves should be almost identical. It would seem to me that the differences reside at the edges, in the non-linear parts of their response curves or at gain levels where induced harmonics become more prominent.

[@toddurban7025]

Absolutely and great analogy!

[@jwalker99us]

Hi Todd, Thanks for the video. While a great idea, other than the Accoustic Guitar, its hard to hear much difference at all…maybe its KZbin audio being compressed? Perhaps post the stem files for each Pre Amp to play thru logic at higher res.

[@ToddUrban]

Agreed. The differences are subtle. But the same is true many times for the actual hardware. As I mention, sometimes the selection of the proper preamp is about the sum of all the parts. Make sure to listen to specific detail on great monitors. How does the transient get affected, is the low end tight or just big, is there an openness in the detail of the top end? These are the areas I hear the differences and they can be significant in terms of how the player performs when monitoring their own performs during the recording process. Thank you for the comment and watching.

[@frolics]

I preferred either the API, Manley, or Neve on each source. I’ll have to pick up the Manley pre next time it goes on sale and I’ll have a killer trio

[@ToddUrban]

The Manley surprised me! It’s great.

[@organic10p]

V76 for me and for all takes!! thx very much :)

[@ToddUrban]

Agreed. I was surprised how much I liked the punch and saturation.

[@organic10p]

@@ToddUrban did you test the same plugins in a unison and in a non unison slot?

[@ToddUrban]

Not for this video, but I have done that in the past. There is a difference, though, typically subtle. And of course, you also hear more of a difference if you push each preamp to distortion. But that is also where the hardware and UAD versions start to differ is the amount of clipping when pushed really hard. So typically, I keep unison preamps used with very conservative levels. (While I might push my analog ones really hard)

[@AlanAstro]

Amazing videos, more people need know you 🎶🤟😃

[@ToddUrban]

Glad it helped. Thanks for watching! 😃

[@AlanAstro]

@@ToddUrban Happy new year bro! your video of the 5060 Neve is dope 🔥👌

[@ToddUrban]

Thanks!!! 🙏🏻

[@billesposito2112]

610 B is very transparent on the snare. That Royer Ribbon sounds great. I use a Mojave Ma- 300 for most of my vocals . Works great on most everything.

[@ToddUrban]

The Mojave and Royer mics are great! I have some other videos just on Royer products.

[@Particle67]

For those exemples my pref go to Helios and V76

[@ToddUrban]

I was surprised at how much I liked the punch and fullness of the V76. Only had a chance to use the hardware once before.

[@boxwes]

@@ToddUrban Same here, I think it is time to buy that guy. Punch of the API and fullness of the 610-A.

[@ToddUrban]

@@boxwes I own the APIs, never actually used a real 610-A, but have the 6176s and 2-610 racks in my studio, which to my ears are closer to the Unison 610-Bs. Really nice, but more modern and less round than the sound of the Unison As.

[@livefrom32studio75]

Hey I want a consult with you about using together the x16 of Universal Audio and the Orion Studio of Antelope that can't work?

[@ToddUrban]

Feel free to send me a message through my website. Let me know how you are currently connecting them. We can definitely setup a session and should be able to get everything running.

[@billesposito2112]

Helios and SSL on the 7B

[@sekritskworl-sekrit_studios]

Would DBX163 go before the UAD interface?

[@ToddUrban]

It doesn’t have to, but in my opinion, the compressor works best similar to a direct box. Put it before your interface and print the compression while recording.

[@sekritskworl-sekrit_studios]

Thank you @@ToddUrban

[@CarstenGoeke]

The only noticeable difference for me is with the acoustic guitar. ✌🏼

[@ToddUrban]

The differences can be extremely subtle unless you push the preamps into distortion.

[@josepe217]

the difference among them is barely noticeable to me =( ayuda

[@ToddUrban]

Yes! They can be very subtle until pushed into distortion. But they do have a different feel to them while recording.

[@MarcellJjr]

6:37 what was the point of this if you were not going to turn them on LMFAO we're just hearing the drive signal still

[@ToddUrban]

The pics used were just stock photos. The preamps were engaged for the examples, so you were hearing their processing. But I see how the photo might have appeared like the Neve was not engaged.

[@mikenoble5049]

V76, API.

[@yg.max__]

I cant hear any difference

[@ToddUrban]

The differences can be very subtle until you push them into distortion. But transient and frequency response does have a slight difference if you listen closely. There is also a slight different feel while recording.

[@manuelleivatalledo615]

Get your ears checked

[@musiclover-r9m]

Takes years to be able to hear the difference... There isn't really a shortcut here. While you're learning just stick with the simple ones: 1073 for an airy grit with a little girth at the bottom end (great for rap, pop, rock, electronic). API for a very smooth sound (great for acoustic, soft electronic/trance) SSL for a punchy sound (I hear it's good for hip hop, country, etc but I don't have much experience with this one). Over time you will be able to hear the differences especially with slightly more drive into the preamp than is demonstrated in the video...

[@ToddUrban]

@user-bo8ex4ji7n great point. And yes, more drive makes the differences more obvious. But that’s also where the plug-ins don’t hold up to their analog counterparts, hence why I was a little more conservative with the input gain.