Apogee Symphony 64 PCIe Card

AES Convention, San Francisco, CA, October 2, 2008 - Today at AES, Apogee Electronics (booth #916) unveiled Symphony 64, a 64 channel, 24bit/192kHz PCI Express card made to interface Apogee’s X-Series and Rosetta Series converters directly to Apple’s Mac Pro.

Next Generation Workstation

The Symphony System excels on several levels, the award-winning sound quality of Apogee’s AD&DA Converters, the groundbreaking power of Apple’s Mac Pro, and the stability and ultra low latency performance of the Symphony 64 card. This combination provides a flexible, stable, high-end solution for customers seeking a workstation compatible with any Core Audio application. And, because Symphony utilizes the power of the Mac Pro for plug-in processing, customers are spared the expense of a high priced DSP card.

Extended Audio Routing: Symphony’s SBus and Vbus

Symphony 64 features Extended Audio Routing with VBus and SBus technology. VBus allows users to route demanding, stand-alone software instruments, directly between Core Audio based applications, instead of running them as plug-ins. Symphony’s SBus doubles the DSP power of The Symphony System by facilitating the communication of digital audio between Symphony equipped Macs with a single cable. Now it is possible to route audio to a second computer and back again for plug-in processing, sample libraries, soft-synth players, and session transfers from one Core Audio application to another.

“The combination of Symphony 64, Apogee converters and Apple’s Mac Pro marks a powerful turning point in digital audio production and is directly challenging the paradigm of the costly card-based DSP system. And, with 64 channels per card and the introduction of SBus technology, Symphony 64 has truly raised the bar for the Native audio workstation. Not only is the quality and performance of the Symphony System unprecedented, so is the value. Never have our customers had access to such an advanced solution for so little cost.” says Betty Bennett Co-Founder and CEO of Apogee.

Symphony 64 at a glance:

64 channels of 24-bit 192kHz Digital I/O per card
Up to 128 channels of I/O per Mac Pro
Near zero latency performance
Connects directly to Apogee’s X-Series and Rosetta Series converters via the X- Symphony option card
Apogee’s VBus - virtual routing within a Core Audio application or between multiple applications.
Apogee’s SBus - 32 channel, 192kHz digital audio network between two Mac computers
Apogee’s Maestro Software for advanced control and routing
Compatibility with any Core Audio application

Symphony 64 PCIe Card, Availability: October 2008

*Upgrade Program

Apogee is offering an upgrade program to customers who have purchased a Symphony 32 card 60 days prior to the release of Symphony 64 on October 3, 2008

X-Series & Rosetta Series Converters

Symphony 64 PCIe Card & X-Symphony Option Card

Apple's Mac Pro & Logic Studio

Legendary Sound Quality

Apogee Converters

Apogee’s award-winning X-Series and Rosetta Series converters are legendary for their ability to capture that instant in time when music and performance are most important. Your audio, your performance... defined by a converter that is an instrument of precision and art. Apogee technology delivers the most accurate representation of audio with all of the elusive subtleties which are so critical when mixing.

Massive Processing Power

Apple's Mac Pro

Apple’s 8-Core Intel Mac Pro is the muscle of The Symphony System and surpasses any combination of multi-DSP card-based systems in capability, affordability and value. The dynamic allocation of processor power, on an “as needed basis” means resources as and when you need them with processors and power to spare. If you are building a workstation, which will demand hundreds of plug-ins, power hungry reverbs and huge sampled instruments, The Apple “Mac Tower Of Power” is key and Symphony 64 is built to perform with the Mac Pro.

Highest Performance, Lowest Latency

Symphony 64 PCIe card

The core of the Symphony System is the Symphony 64 PCIe card. With the flexibility of up to 64 channels of input and output Symphony 64 doubles the amount of I/O previously available on one Symphony card. And, the Symphony PCIe driver design provides and elegant and rock solid connection capable of delivering incredibly low latency. The pairing of Symphony’s superior driver performance and the brute strength of Apple’s Mac Pro provides a superior foundation for any Core Audio based studio and sets the stage for advanced technologies like Symphony’s SBus and VBus.

Designed for Logic, Compatible with any Core Audio Application

Logic, the all-in-one DAW

Apple’s Logic is the creative center of The Symphony System and the provides the ultimate all-in-one DAW for music production, editing and mixing. With the included studio instruments, effects, and sound library you can create and build any sound you desire and record and edit live performances quickly and with precision. When it comes time to mix, Logic offers advanced and comprehensive tools to put the professional finish on any musical project. And even though Symphony is optimized for Logic, it's Native, so you can use Symphony with any Core Audio compliant application.

Maestro: Total Control

Conduct your Symphony System with Maestro

Maestro is an innovative and intuitive software interface that functions between OS X applications (OS 10.4 and above) and Apogee hardware. With Maestro you can control all Apogee hardware inputs and outputs connected to the computer by Symphony or Symphony Mobile. Create virtual routing paths between any Core Audio applications using VBus, send audio from Mac to Mac with SBus and adjust settings for extremely low latency performance.

Input & Output Routing

Maestro's Input and Output control panels allow for extensive routing between all Apogee hardware interfaces connected to Symphony or Symphony Mobile and Core Audio applications. This makes configuration easy and re-routing changes effortless.

VBus: Application Collaboration

Conduct your Symphony System with Maestro

Application to application routing

Maestro's VBus creates a virtual patch bay inside your Mac, allowing you to route demanding, stand-alone software instruments, directly into Logic or any Core Audio based application instead of running them as plug-ins. The result is a much more efficient use of RAM. VBus is also ideal for transferring audio from application to application. Seamlessly send sessions from DAW to DAW... right inside the box.

SBus: Multiple Towers of Power

Mac to Mac routing

Symphony’s SBus allows you to send digital audio directly between Symphony equipped Mac computers. Connect two Macs with a single cable and double the processing power of your studio. Virtual effects rack: Route audio to your second Mac Pro, process it with your favorite plug-ins and send it back to your main DAW.

Sample library & soft-synth player: Store processor intensive sample libraries and soft-synths on a second Mac Pro and play the instruments and sounds from the DAW on your main Mac Pro via SBus and MIDI over LAN.

Audio and session transfer: Effortlessly send audio or entire sessions from one Mac to another between Core Audio based applications like Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Digital Performer, Nuendo and Ableton Live.