Looking for an accessible audio interface

Apogee ensemble. Apogee ensemble.You will need sided help setting it up, but after that, you can use you will need cited help setting it up, but after that, you can use front panel controls, or you can use in iOS app. You will need sided help setting it up, but after that, you can use front panel controls, or you can use in iOS app.You can also use logic Pro X, if that is the you can also use logic Pro X, if that is the You can also use logic Pro X, if that is the app you are using. App you are using.

Hi Scott,

I used to have a Focusrite 4-pre, which worked great but did not meet my needs when I switched to mixing surround sound, which is why I bought the Apogee Ensemble. The Ensemble is a high end interface for someone with a home studio, and it's about as good as a blind guy can operate, based on my research.

The Ensemble does use core audio but you can turn that off. It is also a thunderbolt 3 interface (no latency issues so far), and you can piggyback additional Apogee interfaces on top of it if you need to expand your system. You should check out the Ensemble specs before you go any farther, though. Just for example, it has 10 monitor outputs. I use 8 of them for a 7.1 surround monitoring set up.

The front panel controls. on the Ensemble are analog. I don't really use them except from time to time. I have a hardware remote right next to my keyboard that gives me everything I need -- 8 programmable on/off controls, 3 function buttons, a volume knob which, when depressed, is the mute.

Apogee products require using their Apogee Control app on your Mac. Unfortunately, that app is not accessible enough to be useful. However, it must be used to program what sort of snapshot or presets you want for your system. You can have as many snapshots/presets as you want, e.g., one for stereo, one for quad, one for 5.1 surround, one for live, one for anything. For getting your snapshots set up, you will need sighted assistance. The tech support people at Apogee are helpful but hard to reach, so I recommend that if you buy any Apogee interface (the Element series is very nice, too -- I used to have an Element 88), buy it from Sweetwater. They've helped me a great deal with my inaccessible purchases. Once they finished with a product, I went happily on my way, using whatever it was I'd bought from them. Sweetwater's tech support is very good.

Back to the Ensemble front panel, yes, you can use it to control in and out levels, phantom power, dim, mute, and about anything else, but it's very much easier to simply use their Apogee IOS app. The thing I like most about their IOS app is that the app indicates the exact setting you're choosing. Want gain at minus 3 db? Not a problem. You can set it on minus 3 db. Want plus 6? Same answer. Want to change routing? Can do. Want to turn off one input and turn another on and then switch phantom power on? Easy.

I hope this answers all your questions. Good luck, and happy recording!

Bruce

Did you try this? is it accessible?

I'm using the compact mixer as my patch bay and audio interface. It has knobs for everything, enough inputs that I don't need to do any cable swapping, has a usable FX engine, and it does stereo in and out over USB. I run Reaper with JAWS on my computer. So far, it's been a good solution for me.

Hello. Check out the Evo 4 or Evo 8. Those are good. Also the MOTU M 2 or M4.