Chapter 9: device drivers, Apollo drivers overview – Universal Audio Apollo Software User Manual
Page 117
Apollo Software Manual
Chapter 9: Device Drivers
117
Chapter 9: Device Drivers
Apollo Drivers Overview
The Apollo device drivers are the low-level software files that instruct the computer’s operating
system on how to communicate with the Apollo hardware. The drivers are loaded during system
startup so that whenever Apollo is connected, the device is ready to accept instructions from
the OS. Apollo’s drivers control Apollo’s audio interface, Console Mixer, and UAD-2 functional-
ity.
Core Audio and ASIO
Apollo’s audio drivers use the Core Audio (Mac) and ASIO (Windows)
. Apollo’s normal
(non-DSP) audio interface features are simply seen as Core Audio or ASIO device; therefore any
Core Audio/ASIO-compliant software can use Apollo for audio I/O.
UAD Mixer Engine
The Console application and Console Recall plug-in don’t actually communicate directly with
Apollo. Instead, they communicate with the UAD Mixer Engine, which is the central software
hub for all Console and Console Recall functionality. The UAD Mixer Engine behaves as a server
for Apollo’s internal DSP mixer that runs in the background, so Console does not have to be
open for Apollo to function.
The UAD Mixer Engine is a system-level application that is automatically launched during sys-
tem startup and is always running during normal operation. The UAD System Menu is it’s only
interface, which can be accessed from the OS X Menu Bar (Mac), or the Windows System Tray
(Windows).
Driver I/O Complement
The specific inputs and outputs that are available to the DAW depends on the active configura-
tion. The I/O complement changes when PT Mode is enabled, at high sample rates, and when
multi-unit cascading. The specific I/O complements are listed in the
in this
chapter.
Driver Names and Numbers
Apollo’s drivers describe all I/O channels by name and number, but what is actually displayed in
the DAW’s I/O assignment lists depends on each particular DAW. Names are not displayed by all
DAWs (e.g., Ableton Live), or the driver name display mode may need to be changed in the DAW
(e.g., Apple Logic Pro).
Virtual I/O
Apollo’s device drivers carry various virtual (software only) input and output channels in addition
to those directly associated with the hardware inputs and outputs. The virtual channels consist
of all of Apollo’s bus outputs (the main monitor mix and all channel send mixes) and Console’s
virtual inputs.
Virtual I/O facilitates highly flexible signal routing via the DAW. See