Apogee's latest announcement is pretty roundly a shot across the bow of Universal Audio. The two companies both make excellent audio interfaces, as evidenced in our reviews, but where UA have an advantage is in the plug-in stakes — each of UA's interfaces has a built-in DSP chip or chips and a bundle of plug-ins.
Not to be outdone, Apogee have partnered up with highly-regarded plug-in makers Waves to offer plug-in bundles free with new interface purchases. Any new Apogee Duet interface bought from a dealer with now come with a license for the Waves' Silver plugin bundle (worth $600). Similarly, customers who purchase Apogee Quartet for $1495 USD or Ensemble Thunderbolt for $2595 USD can receive a license for the Waves Gold plugin bundle (an $800 value). Clearly, the Apogee/Waves offering isn't quite comparable to a UA Apollo system as there is no built-in DSP — all processing is done in the host machine — so the number of plug-in instances will only be limited by your computer's processing power, rather than the dedicated DSP chips.
Here's more information from Apogee.
Press Release: Apogee Electronics is pleased to announce that their Duet, Quartet and Ensemble audio interfaces for Mac now include Waves plugin bundles. Customers who purchase a new Apogee Duet for $649 USD from an authorized dealer on or after June 8, 2015 can register their product and receive a license for the Waves Silver plugin bundle (a $600 value). Similarly, customers who purchase Apogee Quartet for $1495 USD or Ensemble Thunderbolt for $2595 USD can receive a license for the Waves Gold plugin bundle (an $800 value). Audio professionals and artists have chosen Apogee and Waves products to make countless hit recordings. Now, Apogee Electronics and Waves have partnered to offer these three powerful packages that combine the best audio interfaces with software from the world’s leading developer of audio plugins at unprecedented prices.
Waves Silver bundle features 16 essential audio plugins for reverb, compression, equalization and more. The industry’s most popular plugin bundle, Waves Gold, includes 35 essential plugins that bring a wealth of mixing and mastering power to your studio. Waves plugins are highly CPU efficient, allowing you to harness the power of your Mac to run more plugins at lower buffer sizes while maintaining low latency monitoring through Apogee’s audio interfaces. Apogee’s measurably superior mic preamps and transparent AD/DA conversion optimize your studio to achieve the best possible quality from your Waves plugins. With an open native platform and recording software like Logic Pro X, you are free to expand your studio capabilities by adding more plugins from any manufacturer.
“We are very excited to partner with Waves,” commented Betty Bennett, CEO and co-founder of Apogee. “Waves plugins together with Apogee Duet, Quartet and Ensemble deliver incredible value to anyone building or expanding their studio.” She continued, “We know it can be difficult to compare and understand all of the options that are out there. Bundling two premium brands like Apogee and Waves makes it easy for customers to choose an audio interface and audio plugin combination that will give them professional results when recording and mixing their music.”
Mick Olesh, Waves EVP Sales & Marketing, comments:
"Waves is delighted to be working with Apogee. This partnership is another step in keeping with our commitment to allowing our customers the freedom to use their plugin products anywhere, everywhere and to simplify their workflow in order to enhance creativity."
