Antelope Audio Zen

[Horizon 1982]

What do you guys think of this?

[Horizon 1982]

Great!

I was considering this box as my first pro audio interface. How can I expand this via adat? Any good adat breakout boxes to plug in?

I have a lot of synths I need more than the default 12 in...

Thanks!

[Horizon 1982]

As an eclipse user I can't really say I was very happen when I saw the Zen and also the price, it seems to me that they are giving away a lot of their technology very cheap in this box. Of course it is good for all others though.

Shit, you paid 5k for the eclipse box... I would be pissed 

[Julio Di Benedetto]

To me its seems to be a really good product......12 mic/line pre amps. Nice.  Some of the best conversion and clocking all at a reasonable price.

My issue with it is that it cannot be racked.....I understand it is design for mobile recording and as such the big red handle is perfect.  In a studio situation?  I would look to Prism or Metric Halo and pay more money for their units.  Metric Halo have always be designed around mobile recording but their gear can be racked.

The Audio Zen seems an excellent box but I would not want it in the middle of the studio with all its possible interconnectivity run everywhere.....if this isnt an issue for you then it would be a good solution.

 

[LNerell]

Not rack mountable would be a deal breaker for me as well.

[Horizon 1982]

Maybe you can detach the handle and use something like this:

[Julio Di Benedetto]

That might work if you could get the handle off and dont mind not having access to the Adat on the side....I feel it is really a questionable design philosophy. How big is the mobile market? Rack it and their sales could / will double, triple etc.

With their current products I would of thought they could give Prism, Metric Halo, and UAD's Apollo some serious competition instead of coming out with this brilliant but not very practical concept for most.

Perhaps consider this....



and with this  connected you would get 10 mic pres for less than the Audio Zen...just a thought



P.S.....these guys build some very nice large format console....perhaps not as star studded as Solid State Logic but nevertheless....

[Julio Di Benedetto]

I would vote against the Audient, I think Antelope is higher level stuff, it is a non brainer if you ask me... for this price there is no competition..

I did not know this was an election......gear & politics, dangerous combination.

[LNerell]

One thing good about having the Zen studio at the desk is easy and fast access to the volume knob.
I think it is important to have fast access if you get very loud volumes in your DAW by misstake for instance..

I have a Presonus central station for that in the studio. Live I use a mixer so it wouldn't be a big sales point for me.

[Horizon 1982]

I'm going to invest in a RME ufx, drivers seem more reliable, usb recording, more solid construction.

[Horizon 1982]

The RME is a better product overall. I especially like it could be used as stand alone without any computer, or with an ipad. I think these interfaces are good enough, the technology reached a pretty good standard.

Anyway, first interface. Wish me luck

[Scott M2]

I haven't done any serious comparisons but I thought I'd drop in and note that I've been using an RME Fireface UCX for the last couple of years and I've been very happy with the sound quality and the way it locks up reliably with outside clocks or serves as master. Jamie & I always have our systems linked together in dreamSTATE concerts and now we can send high quality audio back and forth through ADAT lightpipes as well as our MIDI links. We also appreciate the compact size to fit our live systems. (I did immediately hear an audio improvement from our previous PreSonus units.)

[Horizon 1982]

Hi Scott,

Can you describe a bit your workflow? Do you record plenty of outboard synths/instuments?

Thanks

[Scott M2]

Hi Scott,

Can you describe a bit your workflow? Do you record plenty of outboard synths/instuments?

Thanks

I go back and forth between doing everything with VSTs in Bidule to using outboard synths like my Moog or beloved JD-990s (and now-beloved iPads) with occasional guitar or doodads to build tracks. I like the flexibility of a hybrid approach and the RME gives me a lot of flex with Firewire, Light pipe, SPDIF and quality analog ins and outs.

When working with Jamie (the other half of dreamSTATE), I have 4 stereo pairs streaming to him through light pipe for live 32-bit recording (in his Bidule setup which seems to like 32-bit recording the best when recording a dozen or so stereo pairs plus playing all of Jamie's synths) from various sections of my portable rig (synth and iPad inputs, VSTs, sequences & FX) which has been great for capturing live and improv flows which can be edited later. I usually have an in/out pair going to my Kaoss Pad3. The two sets of MIDI i/o are very handy for connecting our two rigs together for sequencer syncing plus MIDI i/o to my iPad.

If I have my laptop/RME-UCX then I don't use a mixer, just the UCX as the hardware ins and outs with a very nice vst mixer Jamie assembled being controlled from my Doepfer Drehbank for spontaneous adjustments. We're very live oriented but in the studio I can plug in whatever I need quickly into the front jacks and the RME Totalmix software, while sometimes headscratchy to figure routings, is very good.

Sooo no, not a lot of recording of bowls, bells and acoustic instruments that you might be interested in my opinion about the preamps for. I can just state that the RME sounded immediately better to me than my PreSonus and that the clocking has been reliable (and switches smoothly and automatically between different master/slave configurations). It sounds good and robust with external electronic instruments and quality VSTs. I hope this is some help.

[LNerell]

if you do not use the monitor controller maybe it is better to buy another product.

Their are very few things on the market that can do what my current MOTU system does (allow 40+ inputs and 20 outputs in various formats at the same time). And most of those would be very expensive. So I am currently not in the market for a new sound card for my studio. For live use maybe, but only if I had some upcoming shows which I don't have at the moment.

[Horizon 1982]

Hi Scott,

Can you describe a bit your workflow? Do you record plenty of outboard synths/instuments?

Thanks

I go back and forth between doing everything with VSTs in Bidule to using outboard synths like my Moog or beloved JD-990s (and now-beloved iPads) with occasional guitar or doodads to build tracks. I like the flexibility of a hybrid approach and the RME gives me a lot of flex with Firewire, Light pipe, SPDIF and quality analog ins and outs.

When working with Jamie (the other half of dreamSTATE), I have 4 stereo pairs streaming to him through light pipe for live 32-bit recording (in his Bidule setup which seems to like 32-bit recording the best when recording a dozen or so stereo pairs plus playing all of Jamie's synths) from various sections of my portable rig (synth and iPad inputs, VSTs, sequences & FX) which has been great for capturing live and improv flows which can be edited later. I usually have an in/out pair going to my Kaoss Pad3. The two sets of MIDI i/o are very handy for connecting our two rigs together for sequencer syncing plus MIDI i/o to my iPad.

If I have my laptop/RME-UCX then I don't use a mixer, just the UCX as the hardware ins and outs with a very nice vst mixer Jamie assembled being controlled from my Doepfer Drehbank for spontaneous adjustments. We're very live oriented but in the studio I can plug in whatever I need quickly into the front jacks and the RME Totalmix software, while sometimes headscratchy to figure routings, is very good.

Sooo no, not a lot of recording of bowls, bells and acoustic instruments that you might be interested in my opinion about the preamps for. I can just state that the RME sounded immediately better to me than my PreSonus and that the clocking has been reliable (and switches smoothly and automatically between different master/slave configurations). It sounds good and robust with external electronic instruments and quality VSTs. I hope this is some help.

Thanks for the input.

What device are you using your hand on?

[Scott M2]

I'm guessing you mean the Alesis Air FX on my left and Air Synth on my right. I use them at selected concerts because it adds an extra visual element.

The Air FX is mainly an effect unit but has a few synth programs too. There's a really solid C drone synth with vector control over volume and the filter which was perfect for this show - the first concert in our Drone Cycle 2012 and rooted in C. (A 3rd vector is for pitch but I find it unplayable except for octave swoops and drones at the extremes of the range.) I usually run each unit through an Alesis ModFX unit (Phlngr or Bitrman) for additional sound manipulation plus verb/echo inside my laptop to float them a bit. The Air Synth is all synths and percussion and is more playable pitchwise, though still tricky. I have affinity for about 10 of the presets and can twist them up in the ModFX.

BTW - This show was about 3 months before I switched from ProSonus Firebox to RME UCX, though I doubt the audible difference would be noticeable on YouTube in a full mix.

[Horizon 1982]

The Alesis air fx seems really wicked, kinda reminds me my v-synth D Beam. Thanks for sharing.