Universal Audio: API 500, Softube Amp Room, LA-2A Classic Leveler, Apollo

Lots of news from one of my favorite pro audio companies today at NAMM.

API 500

Designed by API’s Saul Walker in the late 60’s, the 550A and 560 modular EQs featured Walker’s signature 2520 op-amp and proportional Q circuitry. For the API 500 Series EQ Plug-In Collection, UA’s industry-leading circuit modeling team expertly captured the filter shapes, band interactions, and unique filter amplifier clipping behaviors of vintage API 550A and 560 units to exacting detail. The result is tight, low-frequency imaging that gives users that legendary API punch.

Softube Amp Room

With the addition of renowned Softube Amp Room plug-ins to the UAD platform, owners of UAD-2 DSP Accelerator hardware now have industry-leading guitar and bass amp modeling at their fingertips. And, when used with the award-winning Apollo Audio Interface, the Softube Amp Room plug-ins allow musicians and producers to jam, write, and record through stunning guitar or bass sounds with near-zero latency.

LA-2A Classic Leveler

The original LA-2A hardware — still hand-built at UA headquarters in Scotts Valley, California — is an audio industry icon, bringing smooth, warm compression to anything it touches, especially vocals. With the new LA-2A Classic Leveler Plug-In Collection, Universal Audio modeled the entire electronic path of three highly coveted hardware units — “Silver,” “Gray,” and the original LA-2 model — providing the most authentic plug-in emulations available of this iconic compressor.

Apollo enhancements

Among the new Apollo interface features slated for delivery in the first half of 2013 is multi-unit cascading, which combines two Apollo interfaces into a single elegant system via FireWire or Thunderbolt. Multi-unit cascading provides simultaneous use of 16 analog inputs / outputs, including eight Apollo mic preamps, plus 12 digital inputs and outputs — perfect for tracking a full band.