If considering a Universal Audio interface w/ Waveform ... do your homework

[rlindsey0]

In another thread, I described problems I've been having (since early January) with a UA Apollo Twin MKII DUO Thunderbolt on a Windows 10 system:

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=497666

NOTE: I'm not assuming everybody with a similar setup will have the same problem, and I don't have any idea whether these problems also arise on Macs. But I do know that at least two of us on this board are having issues.

This appears not to be something TSC can solve on their own, and they've attempted to reach out to UA. But so far the response from UA has been rather underwhelming. The person at the first level of customer service seems to be doing his best, but he's not an engineer and couldn't address the problem at the level of driver issues. Apparently all CS can do is kick the info over to the engineers, after which ... well, it looks they respond only if they feel like it, and not otherwise. This is from an e-mail I got:

We received Roland's request and it was forwarded to our Engineering team. I can't promise they will respond but if they are interested in following up on this issue they will contact him directly.

"If they are interested"? That doesn't seem especially helpful to me, having spent $900 on their hardware. I guess I'd have thought that they'd automatically want to work this out, on the grounds that the more DAWs work with their gear and plugins, the better.

I don't really want to bash UA, because I know their stuff is really good. I've got a couple friends who have their gear, and it apparently works well with Pro Tools, Reaper, Logic, and no doubt other DAWs also.

But this is a TSC/Waveform forum, so I would just suggest that any Tracktioneers considering UA tread carefully. Ask around and see if your setup looks likely to be problematic. As I say, it could well be that on Mac, everything is completely rosy. (Or not.) But it does appear that there are potential issues on Windows. Forewarned is forearmed, and all that. HTH

P.S. If this doesn't get resolved shortly, I'm likely to sell the UA and try a Focusrite Clarett instead, ideally Thunderbolt but possibly USB if their beta driver doesn't handle Thunderbolt 3 + adapter well. I'd be interested to hear if any Tracktioneers have been using that interface. A buddy of mine has been very happily using a Scarlett with T7 over USB for a couple of years now, but I don't know about the Clarett.

[Robert Randolph]

I am using a Focusrite Clarett 8preX (thunderbolt) with Waveform and it works fantastic.

[rlindsey0]

I am using a Focusrite Clarett 8preX (thunderbolt) with Waveform and it works fantastic.

Thanks, that's great to hear! Windows or Mac? I have a Windows 10 laptop with a Thunderbolt 3 port and a Startech T2-to-T3 adapter. I know Focusrite doesn't (yet?) guarantee such setups, but reports that this could work in real life would be very encouraging.

[Robert Randolph]

I am using a Focusrite Clarett 8preX (thunderbolt) with Waveform and it works fantastic.

Thanks, that's great to hear! Windows or Mac? I have a Windows 10 laptop with a Thunderbolt 3 port and a Startech T2-to-T3 adapter. I know Focusrite doesn't (yet?) guarantee such setups, but reports that this could work in real life would be very encouraging.

I've used it in Windows and macOS, but on mac hardware (3 different systems). None of my non-mac hardware has thunderbolt unfortunately.

I am not sure about the Startech adapter, but I can confirm at least that the Windows drivers are stable and work for me.

[jochicago]

I'm using the Behringer UMC404HD, under $100:
https://amzn.to/2GiktKz

I'm a fair musician but not an audiophile, so I can't tell you if it sounds legit. All I can tell you is that it works spot on for me. I use it for input/output. My M-Audio 5" studio monitors are plugged in to it and the audio is gorgeous and pristine (as far as I can judge it not having heard expensive studio monitors).

The inputs work as expected. I've plugged a dynamic mic, a condenser mic and an acoustic guitar via its own electronics. The guitar gave me some grief but that's on me struggling to set my gain right between the unit and the guitar's electronics. I still had a fair recording on my first try. The mic recordings seem perfect.

Haven't tested all I/O but I believe I'm seeing them all in Tracktion. I haven't tested the MIDI features (don't see it in Tracktion, but don't have any MIDI devices plugged in either).

Negatives:
Again, not sure if it is me for lack of settings skills, but the latency is high at around 20+ms full circle. Enough that you can't monitor a live performance as it comes back out of the PC. This means that if I have someone singing, I can't bring them into the PC to give them a bit of reverb and compression and then back out into their headphone monitors so they can hear themselves as they perform. However, the onboard monitoring is zero latency, so I can easily mix their voice into their headphones before it gets sent to the PC. Also, latency is not a problem for the DAW when recording, tracks are in sync within Tracktion.

Another issue is that the USB driver seems to disconnect every other time when I send the computer to sleep. Not a big deal but I'm used to walking away and putting the computer to sleep, so I have to unplug and plug it back in if it shuts down. 15 secs lost once a day. It adds up. To like a minute per week. You've been warned.

Win 10 Pro, 64 bits. Tested on T6, T7, W9 demo.

[rlindsey0]

On the off chance that anybody might be interested in this ....

I wasn't able to get the UA to work acceptably with Waveform on my Windows 10 Pro system. TSC reached out to UA to see if they could work out the problem, but apparently UA never responded in any useful way.

So I sold the UA and bought a PreSonus Quantum 2, which so far seems to work perfectly. Of course, it's a considerably simpler interface in a sense, not having the internal processing that the UA stuff does and not coming with all the plugins. But at least it's Thunderbolt, has very low latency, and doesn't freeze my audio engine! The Focusrite Clarett probably would have been fine too, but I wasn't sure about the state of their Windows support.

Anyway, this is just to underscore the original point: do your homework if you're considering this hardware with Waveform. Things may be different on Macs, but Windows seems problematic. HTH.

[pauljennings]

I use Clarett with tracktion ,no problems(windows 10) ,had issues with mackie big knob and some issues with both tracktion and studio one using asio with mackie
consdering buying uad 2 quad pcie.my worry is the issues people have mentioned but using the claret as the interface i am hoping the plugins will work fine, has anyone tried using the uad 2 with tracktion waveform and a seperate interface like the claret?
it is a lot of money to spend if it doesnt work
both uad and tracktion have no answers but at least tracktion have sent a request out to uad to look into it
let me know if anyone has positive use of uad and tracktion and if they have bypassed the interface
cheers paul