Note, however, that the quarter‑inch sockets are unbalanced and designed for guitar use if you want to get the best from balanced line‑level sources, you’ll need to connect these to the XLR inputs. This doesn’t allow you to record more than two sources at once, but does mean you can leave mics plugged in at the same time as guitars. This mirrors the mini‑jack on the front panel so you can connect two sets of headphones at once, albeit without any control over their relative levels.Ī welcome improvement, compared with the Duet 2, is the provision of separate XLR and quarter‑inch sockets for the inputs, both on the flying lead and the Dock. Adding the Duet Dock is also the only way to get a full‑sized headphone socket. The other is to purchase the optional Duet Dock, a plastic desktop chassis that mates with the Duet, rather spoiling its elegant minimalist appearance, and breaks all of its I/O out onto dedicated connectors. One is to use the supplied flying cable, which locks securely into a compact multi‑way connector on the back of the interface. There are two ways of accessing the main inputs and outputs. Apogee describe the Duet 3 as a two‑in, four‑out interface in other words, it’s a stereo device where the headphone output can be addressed independently from the main output.Īs before, the only conventional audio connector actually built into the Duet 3 is a single mini‑jack headphone socket. It no longer comes with an external power supply instead, a second Type C socket is built in to allow powering from a dedicated USB source if your laptop can’t provide the necessary juice, or if you want to use it with an iPhone. The Duet 3 still connects to the host computer or iOS device using USB, but employs the now‑current Type C connector rather than the older Type A. The overall effect is striking and very much of a piece with recent Apple consumer products, or possibly the interior of a spaceship. The only moving part is a large rotary control, which sheds a mysterious purple glow from its nether regions. The aluminium body is topped by a sheet of obsidian‑like black toughened glass, beneath which various LEDs are invisible when not illuminated. The Duet’s positioning as a premium product has always depended in part on its attractive industrial design, and the Duet 3 has been reinvented on cutting‑edge aesthetic principles. The original Firewire version was superseded by the USB Duet 2 in 2012, and so successful has this been that it’s only now being retired in favour of a new Duet 3. Apogee overturned that perception with the Duet, a stereo interface that majored on sleek design and superior sound quality. When desktop audio interfaces first appeared, they were usually marketed as budget options for hobbyists. Apogee’s long‑serving desktop audio interface gets a thorough makeover.
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