miguel_angelo's Electronic Studio Setup

This device marked my transition to digital guitar rig's, I just couldn't properly enjoy my amps in my apartment and I also wanted something I could take with me to a hotel bedroom when out for work for long periods of time. I was blown away with the results, it gave me the best tones I ever had and helped me manage my GAS. The convenience of plugging headphones and play silently with awesome quality and the portability factor have totally converted me. My girlfriend also enjoyed the extra space my amp's left in our apartment.

High quality converters and preamp, amazing headphone amp (using DT770's, 80ohms, loud and clear), internal DSP and Unison tech makes this a very appealing interface for the guitarist on the go, very simple operation, just plug and play using Console. I eventually grew tired of the limited guitar oriented plugins available from UAD. But I can say the Fender Tweed and Marshall Plexi sounded phenomenal with no latency and amazing response to boost pedals and interaction with the volume of the guitar.

Positive points:

• Gain staging is a breeze, the main controller knob cycles between preamp level, another preamp/tone control, and master level;
• Plug and play with only a thunderbolt cable, the unit and console automatically recall your last settings. I didn't even have to open any software, just turned on the computer, plugged apollo in, waited no longer than 5 seconds, and bam!
• Internal DSP means your computer is really just a controller, so no load on your cpu and absolutely no perceivable latency (only with DSP driven UAD plugins of course).
• Beautiful and robust design, simple yet powerful interface, amazing sound quality. Very inspiring unit indeed.

Negative points:

• Doesn't include a thunderbolt cable (and those are quite expensive)
• No tuner included. Not even possible to buy a Tuner plugin.
• Guitar Amp Sims take up a LOT of DSP power. Using Fender Tweed I could only throw in either a Chorus or a Reverb, not the two.
• Not possible to manually adjust the instrument input impedance, which is a shame since it can actually do that, but only automated depending on the plugin you're using on the Unison slot. But would like to mess around with that.

Although this is a high quality device I think guitarists that simply plug Direct in instrument input are better of using something like a physical amp modelling unit (Helix, Iridium, etc) or if they have a capable computer just a regular audio interface with good dynamic range on the instrument input and use VST's (Amplitube, Bias FX, etc).

But to record your own amps and microphones this is a really outstanding unit that doesn't get in the way of your creative process.

I was mostly decided on going to Genelecs 8010's, but after reading so many great reviews I had to give these one a try and see what the fuss was about, I would return them. Indeed they live to their reputation!

• Excelent price
• TINY speaker pair - great for a tight bedroom studio and travelling in it's small soft case.
• Provides full and detailed near field soundscape that's great for playing, mixing and listening to music
• Bass reflex wizardry make them sound way bigger then they actually are
• Plastic shell but overall robust construction with metal grills for the speakers and tweeters
• Bluetooth! So your girlfriend can also enjoy them!
• They don't rattle or make weird noises

I had the smallest Roland Jazz Chorus combo amp that had two 6.5 inch speakers in them, and I can confidently say these 3 inchers pack a SERIOUS punch and provide more than enough power to fill a small bedroom.

I bought them to play my guitar through my UAD Apollo Solo interface, using the Fender Tweed Amp or Marshall in the unison slot (for near zero latency) really give me the best sound and feel I ever had in my bedroom!

The advantage of such small speakers - besides their portability - is that you can get a very hi-fi and loud near field soundscape (like 1,5m away from you) and not cause the sound to propagate to much into your ceiling/floor/walls/neighbours house like a bigger speaker would.

Pretty happy with this M1. Runs DSP heavy VST's with ease. Some bugs using Amplitube, but Guitar Rig 6 is super well implemented and stable. Also there are no drivers whatsoever for any device you plug in, every operation is straight forward taken care of by opening Audio Midi Setup. For new players Macbook comes with Garageband, which is pretty incredible for a first DAW. Also, since it has the magic touchbar, there is this unique and free synth app called Samplr Touchbar, any user MUST try this app! Also I've seen some folks integrate it for various commands and customisable controls for various softwares.