I have had a UAD Apollo for a few months now and I’ve ran into the common UAD Windows issues that you see all over the net.
After purchasing my dream interface I didn’t want to give it up due to something fixable. I decided to troubleshoot until I knew that it was nothing more that I can do before even thinking about returning it.
My PC Build
I had a Focusrite for years and knew that if I wanted to upgrade to an Apollo, I either had to get the grey USB version that is outdated or according to popularity back then get a Mac.
I didn’t want to do either, so after doing some research about how your PC needs native Thunderbolt I went on my search for the a PC motherboard that was up to the task.
I purchased a Z390 because at the time it was advertised as a good motherboard for creatives and was the most used motherboard for a making Hackintosh ( A PC with with a Mac OS installed).
I knew if you could install a whole Mac operating system on it then you could most likely use a UAD Apollo with it and I was correct.
Now days you could get whatever Motherboard has native Thunderbolt support. I recommend an Intel based motherboard because up until M1 chips were made Apple computers used Intel which has always been supported by UAD.
The Rest of My Build
I have 16GB or Ram, an Intel i9-9900K, 3 SSD’s of different sizes and. My music rig also has an Nvidia 2800 Super, video editing, graphic design, as well as do some heavy gaming.
I can do all on the same computer without ever coming close to maxing out anything or have to bounce my files out to .WAV to save on resources while creating.
You would have to spend 2 times the price on an Apple computer to come close this performance. Apple has it’s pro’s but price to performance is not one of them when compared to PC’s.
The Issues You Will Face
Since having an Apollo and a PC I’ve faced issues like video streaming sites not working, garbled and distorted audio, popping and clipping, and sometimes no audio at all.
I’ve even experienced my Apollo interface not even being detected by my PC. I almost reached the point of returning my interface all together. This would of never happened if I had a Mac.
The Fix
Most of the issues that people post are online that are about their Apollo’s having issues with their Windows PC are easily solved and most of the time explained on the UAD website.
Drivers Issues
Audio popping and clicking: First, make sure that you have the correct driver installed for your Apollo device. If the correct driver is installed then un-install and and install it again, but when you do this make sure it is completely un-installed by going into the device manager and uninstalling it there.
Before you do this next step you should “create a restore point” just in case you need to undo the steps that proceed, and export your registry, I repeat, export your registry.
Next, you can go inside your registry (if you know what you’re doing) and search for any references of UAD and delete it. Once you have completed the precautionary steps, re-install your Apollo software and check if it has fixed the issue.
Match The Bit Rate
If you are still having popping and crackling in certain software, this can be do to your UAD ASIO bitrate and the Windows WDM bitrates not being the same.
Make sure you adjust your Apollo’s Console bitrate (ASIO) before adjusting your Windows (WDM) sound settings to match. After making the bitrates match close and re-open the application that you will be using for good measure.
This same technique will help you with YouTube and other streamed audio being out of pitch.
USB Root Hub Adjustment and Power Management
Type device manager in the Windows start menu, right click and run the device manager as administrator. Once the device manager is open scroll down and expand it by left clicking “system devices”.
Under “system devices” scroll down a right click “Thunderbolt(TM) Controller”. Next select properties > power management and uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”.
YouTube Not playing! Twitch Not Playing! Help!!!!
The one thing that no one talks about, the one thing in this article that you can’t find anywhere else on the internet besides a dead forum is Nvidia graphics card drivers messing up your audio.
I uninstalled everything, updates, programs, registries in the registry editor. I opened up my firewalls and made rules to allow UAD to work, I even turned off my firewalls. Nothing worked!
I was thisclose (*this close is not a typo, I was really that close) to returning my Apollo when I decided you know what?
I’m going to re-install Windows because YouTube and Twitch worked the first day I purchased it, so this happening can’t be a coincidence.
I decided that once I re-installed Windows I would create a restore point after every single application install until I found out the issue. It didn’t matter how small the program or Windows update was, I would create a restore point until I found what was breaking my UAD interface.
Long story a little shorter, it was my Nvidia GPU audio driver. After un-installing it YouTube and every other video/audio streaming platform played smoothly. I didn’t have to return my precious.
I contacted Nvidia chat support about this and they told me that it’s UAD’s fault not theirs. I hope they work this out, since they are the two biggest and best card makers in the game for graphics and audio.
My Thoughts
Until then, I hope this information helped any Windows users experiencing issues. As someone with a strong IT background and music enthusiast, it’s hard for me to hear people not give a solution but a statement, “You should of gotten a Mac”.
This is like you taking your Ford to the shop and if the mechanic doesn’t have the answer for the fix, telling you, “You should of gotten a Chevy”.
All computers are good, and in the end they are just pieces of silicon passing 1’s and 0’s to help us do what we want. They all have their pros and cons but it’s up to the software developers to make things work, not the name of the device.