Antelope Audio Orion Studio Synergy Core Professional Digital Audio Interface w/ 12 Preamps & 50 Real-Time Plugins — Thunderbolt 3 Music Recording Studio Interface w/DSP Processing for Mac/Windows

Coming from a Behringer U-Phoria UMC1820 this Orion Studio is simply incredible sounding. I record all instruments myself so I've tried it on drums, guitars, acoustic instruments, vocals, and all manner of aux percussion and it just blows me away every time. Zero latency on my Windows 11 laptop over USB, and tracking at 44.1 khz I really can't believe how excellent my recordings sound now. My only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner.

This interface sounds incredible, the I/O is fantastic, and the flexibility is unparalleled. I switched from an Apollo 8P interface and the upgrade in pres (mic and high impedance), outputs, and clock are significant (not to mention the routing).I'm using it via Thunderbolt in Windows (with Voicemeeter where necessary). For recording and general use, I have latency set to 32 samples (48k) without issue. I set it higher for mixing purposes to facilitate PC effects processing and the routing into and from the Antelope effects through my DAW.Of note is that USB must be connected to update the device.If I am fortunate enough to expand in the future, I'll be adding a second one of these.

Great hardware. Abysmal corporate philosophy. A quick google search or reddit dive would have prevented the mistake of making this purchase. But when I bought into this ecosystem the word was not out yet. The issue with these interfaces as far as I know pertain to if you use the USB-C/Thunderbolt with Apple Silicon MacBooks. The drivers are terrible. It is the very worst kind of problem to have: an intermittent issue. Sometimes, my Mac won't even see the device. I would try everything in the book and fill out a support ticket, only to have it start working. Then the next day have it not connect. I figured I would record a live band session by verifying it connected prior to leaving and you already know what happened. Big mistake. If I was doing that professionally it would have really damaged my reputation. The original workaround they came up with originally was to go into the Mac equivalent of the pre-start bios and disable certain security features. But after each apple update the device would become invisible on Thunderbolt3/4 connection and only be visible on USB (found out only after recording session mentioned above). This is an issue because the sample rates available are lower over USB. Tech support is helpful but the problems keep returning.They seem like they prioritize security a little too much. For example, they sell mics that won't work unless you register with them and use their device. In exchange for the ability to use your mic however you need, you get cheap emulations which are only cheesy EQ presents. You are always having to re-enter passwords. iLock installs. etc.In reality it is extraction they are into. The company wants you to not own even the physical hardware you buy without their meddling. They don't want you to be able to use it unless it is verified you are a registered into the rest of the extraction architecture. They keep information on your use and purchases and have targeted sales for their overpriced VST plugins which only can be used on their hardware.Check out RME 12c

I have had the interface for just about 2 years. It worked normally for about 8 months and then developed an odd restarting problem and would disconnect from thunderbolt. Not withstanding the AFX2DAW plugin is garbage and freezes Ableton Live even when the interface is running. At that point I discovered how awful the support is which generally consists of golden booting and restoring the firmware every 2 or 3 driver releases. To do this you have to be able to pull the DC power to do a full reset, so I haven't been able to keep it in a rack since, since I constantly have to pull the power. It runs very very hot also even un racked and sitting on a desk. At 1 year 1 month thunderbolt ceased to be able to connect at all and I had to pay an exorbitant sum to have the hardware repaired out of warranty which took about 45 days. This allowed thunderbolt to connect again but basically every month or so I get "CRITICAL ERROR! failure.c L:204 E:0 BusFault_Handler" and the device hard locks. I have never experienced audio hardware errors and driver issues so frequently as I have with this interface. Things 1/10th the cost perform better. It has turned out to be the worst value in audio hardware I've ever experienced in 25 years as well.

Antelope Audio's drivers are the absolute worst. Get ready for endless nightmares of crackling, dropouts and third party software for workarounds. I will never trust Antelope Audio again.