Apogee Duet 2 - Mac and Logic Users - Opinions ?

[K-Com Productions]

Duet 2 is set to release later this month (April, 2011) for $595.00.

Google "Apogee duet 2" and go to apogee's website to read more about the Duet 2 and view pictures. Here is a quick headline about the product via apogee's site:

"Apogee's Duet is the most respected portable audio interface ever. Along with receiving many industry awards, Duet has also been instrumental in the creation of numerous GRAMMY winning records. While others have been trying to emulate its sound quality, ease of use and innovative design, we have been busy making an even better Duet. Duet 2 builds on the incredible success of its predecessor by incorporating customer feedback, adding advanced new features and delivering even better sound quality than the original"



Any Logic users considering selling their Duet to get a Duet 2?
Do you think you'll stick with the original Duet and possibly wait for the release of an apogee interface that has "Thunderbolt" connectivity for the newest line of MacBook Pros?


Duet = Firewire 400 connectivity
Duet 2 = USB 2.0 connectivity


What's your take on the Duet 2 judging by the specs? Do you think you'll be buying one?



Feel free to discuss and leave your opinion.

[Inverted314]

The "thunderbolt" idea is interesting on paper, although I have yet to see anyone do anything with it yet.

The switch to USB was a good idea. Firewire is better but with USB it will work on any Mac and I could use it with a Macbook Air.... dope.
See... I have the aluminum Unibody Macbook (the first macbook they made WITHOUT firewire) and I'm kinda addicted into switching up for a Macbook Air; but that's another convo.

Apogee will sell a ton of these because it says APOGEE on it, and it's made for Mac.
It looks great, and I'm sure it sounds great. The new graphic interface looks nice; but most importantly they added balanced outs and upgraded the breakout cable. The breakout box option is a cool idea.

I'm not a Logic user, because I mostly do vocals and don't need all that; but I'm going to go to Logic Express soon.
Will I be buying one? - Maybe.

The only complaint I have with it is the price is a bit... outrageous. I thought the original was overpriced so adding on the extra $100 is really ehhh to me. Similar offerings from Presonus, Focusrite, and Motu offer more features at around half the price. Also the new Mbox comes in at $549 with Pro Tools LE and uses the same Apogee converters. The preamps are supposed to be nice too. However, for $150 more you can get a RME Babyface, which although is not as pretty it is expandable via ADAT or SPDIF and has midi; the SPDIF expansion is HUGE. You can have your mobile interface with your laptop rig to say, record just a singer; and when you get back to the studio you can use SPDIF and add as many preamps as you need and record a whole band. Well worth the extra $150.

I'm actually hoping they will update the "One" I only record one source at a time anyways, it's half the price, and it's been on my wishlist for a minute; but it's kinda cheesy with the plastic enclosure and I've heard the breakout cable breaks easily.

Apple is supposedly updating the Macbook Air in June, and if that's the case I'll be selling my Macbook and upgrading, getting Logic Express, and then getting a new interface; but I'm gonna stick it out for a little bit and see what else comes around from Apogee. I'm actually really interested in their new usb mic the "Mic" I've heard really good stuff with the tiny little mic in the Apogee one, so I expect this to be pretty great. Plus I could use it with an iPad. I also thought about selling my macbook for an ipad so I'll stop being on the computer so much lol.

I have a USB mic now and I swore I would never buy another but coming from Apogee their new mic might be perfect for scratchpad ideas like I record. Anything serious I would rather go to a real studio where someone else already spend thousands on gear and actually knows how to use it lol.

[K-Com Productions]

Sounds like you have a good grasp on your next gear upgrade man. I've been using an M-Audio Fast Track Pro for the past couple of years and am about ready to upgrade to a higher end audio interface. I think I will probably end up getting the Duet 2 because the latency is actually better than the Duet (on paper) - even though Firewire is supposed to be superior to USB most of the time. I will only be recording one instrument at a time so I don't think a USB interface made by Apogee will choke on me.. My Fast Track Pro rarely does. I was looking into the new MBox a couple of months ago but opted against it because I assumed a hundred bucks of that price was for the Pro Tools disc, which I wouldn't use because I have completely converted to Logic

[Yayo_Beatz]

So between the mbox 3 and the apogge duet 2 which one do yall think is the better unit period as far as preamps sound quality and converters and functionality??

[K-Com Productions]

Overall, I think the Duet 2 will be a better unit. The MBox Pro has more mic and I/O options but as far as the mic pres and sound quality... I think Duet will have the upper hand. And if you need midi you can always just buy a USB to midi cable for 20 or 30 bucks.

[Inverted314]

Sounds like you have a good grasp on your next gear upgrade man. I've been using an M-Audio Fast Track Pro for the past couple of years and am about ready to upgrade to a higher end audio interface. I think I will probably end up getting the Duet 2 because the latency is actually better than the Duet (on paper) - even though Firewire is supposed to be superior to USB most of the time. I will only be recording one instrument at a time so I don't think a USB interface made by Apogee will choke on me.. My Fast Track Pro rarely does. I was looking into the new MBox a couple of months ago but opted against it because I assumed a hundred bucks of that price was for the Pro Tools disc, which I wouldn't use because I have completely converted to Logic

Haha yeah man, I've been working on such little equipment I've been trying to figure everything out because I'm ready to upgrade soon.

I have nothing against the Duet other then price honestly. I've kinda got my eye on the Motu Express. MOTU Audio Express | Sweetwater.com

However I might just get the Mbox Mini. I really dig the duet but $600 is killing me thats half as much as the new computer I want, and probably at least another $50 for the breakout box so call it $650 for a 2 input interface...

I would go buy the PreSonus FireStudio Mobile or Focusrite Saffire if my computer had Firewire; but it doesn't; and I'm not really interested in the macbook pro as I do a lot of writing and the form factor of the macbook air is appealing to me.
Unless I go iMac + iPad instead... lol too many options.

Keep in mind if you only record one input at a time you would be fine with the Mbox mini. Since Pro Tools 9 is not hardware specific anymore you can get the Mbox Mini without hardware for $269. Something to consider. I'll probably end up going that route + Logic Express unless they come out with a new One.

Another question is what mics and preamps are you guys using? The Duet is such a great interface because it's portable and sounds great but if your not using very good mics and preamps your buying technology you won't use.

As for which one sounds better, I would assume Apogee. The more functional unit is the Mbox since its expandable and has easier access controls; not to mention if you don't have a DAW you can get into the FULL version of Pro Tools 9 for only $250.

[K-Com Productions]

The MOTU is most definitely a better interface then the one I have currently.

Yeah, the full version of LE or M-Powered. Logic Express and MBox Mini sound like a good plan. I have a mbox mini 2nd gen actually but my friend is borrowing it. I never used it much.. because at the time that bought it I didn't plan on buying monitors and hooking my keyboard up to it etc. and realized I needed more I/O options.

And since I'll be using strictly Logic as my main DAW, I can go for the Duet 2 without regretting it later. It can be used with Pro Tools too I think. On paper the mbox 3's might look pretty much the same as the Duet 2 - But in terms of sound quality I think it will be a pretty big difference in the Duet's favor.

But, I guess we'll just have to wait and see because I haven't heard any music through any of these interfaces.

I just got turned off with the whole Pro Tools and Digidesign marriage. Software being limited by hardware. Now they changed that and I bet it's great.. I just don't feel the urge to switch from Logic. I'm happy with it.

---------- Post added at 08:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:40 PM ----------

What type of music do you make ? I would go for a macbook pro over an air if you're looking to run a decent sized session with a number of plug ins and effects. The Air's aren't very powerful, are they?

[Inverted314]

Sound quality will depend more on the microphone and preamp your recording with then the interface though. What mic are you planning to use with the Duet?

And no, the Air isn't crazy powerful but it streams off SSD instead of spooling a hard drive so it's quick. I rap and songwrite and make acoustic music and don't really produce anymore which is why I want something small; and also why I just want Logic Express over Logic. I could probably get by with Garageband and just get better effects plugins though. That's why I want LE because the simple interface but better editing/effects.

Also the Air update is supposed to make it run on an i3 or i5 or something as far as I understand. My Macbook is just a Core 2 Duo with 2 gb of ram so an Air with a SSD and 4gb of ram should be perfect.

Duet 2 will be nice I imagine though. Just spendy. Again really hoping they just update the One and I'll be all over that.

Or again like I was saying earlier, I could ditch it all and just get an ipad lol. I don't know haha.

[K-Com Productions]

Oh true.. Yeah that set up makes sense then. I make beats.. I won't be using another preamp for recording... the one in the Duet 2 is nice enough for my needs. I mostly use Audio Units for making beats.. but like to lay down audio from my roland keyboard, electric guitars and vocals with a cheap mic every now and again. But I'm thinking I will invest in a nicer mic if I end up getting the Duet 2.

I have a feeling it would be pretty tough to make a full song on an iPad.. especially arrangement of song and midi programming. But if you got a keyboard and mouse to use with it then I guess that's a feasible option. And as you said.. rappin and recording acoustic instruments.. doesn't involve editing midi data so an iPod might be simple and dope for what you need it for

I'd probably go for an Air over an iPad tho =D

[Inverted314]

Oh true.. Yeah that set up makes sense then. I make beats.. I won't be using another preamp for recording... the one in the Duet 2 is nice enough for my needs. I mostly use Audio Units for making beats.. but like to lay down audio from my roland keyboard, electric guitars and vocals with a cheap mic every now and again. But I'm thinking I will invest in a nicer mic if I end up getting the Duet 2.

I have a feeling it would be pretty tough to make a full song on an iPad.. especially arrangement of song and midi programming. But if you got a keyboard and mouse to use with it then I guess that's a feasible option. And as you said.. rappin and recording acoustic instruments.. doesn't involve editing midi data so an iPod might be simple and dope for what you need it for

I'd probably go for an Air over an iPad tho =D

By all means, if you can justify the price of the Duet grab that one for sure. I would recommend the breakout box too. It's kinda misleading because it's such a sleek device but by the time you have a bunch of dangling cables it's not anymore lol. I want an electric guitar but I just sold mine cause I live in an apartment so acoustic is all I'm working with now. The main reason I want an iPad is I spend WAY to much time on the internet I should be writing songs right now or something lol; hoping the smaller screen and no keyboard would get me off haha. Only thing that sucks is you need a computer to sync with it which is kinda a buzzkill considering ipads aren't cheap. I'm just gonna wait a few months and see what new cool stuff comes out haha. I could rock this with the iPad which is kinda dope Mic by Apogee - Studio quality microphone for iPad, iPhone and Mac