# 5.1 surround controlled by Apollo 8 bad?



## FrankIV (Dec 15, 2016)

i'm upgrading my audio interface and considered this: An Apollo 8 duo has 6 monitor outputs, so what would be the difference between just using it to control a 5.1 setup, instead of buying a 5.1 controller? (which seem to be quit a lot of money for a good one)

i don't have a 5.1 speaker setup yet, but if I've researched it correctly, its just one speaker center front, the two usual speakers about 60 degrees to the sides, two more angled behind the person, and a sub woofer, correct?

so if anyone could please explain the differences of why i need a 5.1 controller instead of an Apollo 8 that would be awesome.






PS. im aspiring to compose film scores, i desperately wanted a Focusrite Red4 but unfortunately there is still no windows support for their thunderbolt2 connection. So thats why im either getting an Apollo twin thunderbolt or Apollo 8 thunderbolt2 instead (they support windows now through TB3). psps. i dont care about the apollo's on board dsp, i already have an octo-satellite so its a non factor.


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## jiten (Dec 16, 2016)

As long as your audio interface has 3 independent/discrete stereo outputs or 6 mono outputs, that's all you really need to run a 5.1 setup, so the Apollo 8 works. You will probably want some way to control the levels of all 6 channels with one knob and mute/solo individual channels which is where the surround controller comes in because I don't think the Apollo 8 can do any of that with just the hardware.

In other words, a surround controller is something you would buy in addition to the Apollo 8 as more of a convenience, not something that will replace it. It will basically give you easy volume control over all 6 channels and easy hardware control over muting/soloing just L, C, R, Ls, Rs, Lfe. A lot of them also allow switching different sets of monitors or inputs if you need that functionality. It's an expensive solution though for a controller + all the extra cabling so you would need to decide if it's worth it to you.

It's possible to use a software solution instead with proper routing in your DAW + a standard midi controller. I have mine set up with an Artist Mix in Cubase and it works great. I can control each individual channel, mute/solo etc. or the entire group of channels through the Mix. It wouldn't be hard to set up something similar with any midi controller. Just make sure you have some way to cut the sound immediately on all speakers if your DAW crashes and outputs something nasty (you should be able to just cut power to the Apollo).


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Dec 16, 2016)

You don't really need a separate monitor controller. In my case I never change the volume aside from setting different presets on my RME TotalMix. The TotalMix is great because it allows you to link channels and control them all from the knob. I'm not sure if the Apollo can do that as well. I do, however, still have a stereo monitor controller for my L/R (which when it's at 100% is calibrated to the rest of the speakers). I do this for the convenience of having it on my desk as opposed to as having the RME in my rack when listening to music and for safety in case I need to turn it down due to a loud noise coming through. I've never had a situation where the RME malfunctioned so it would be fine to use it directly as a volume knob instead of having this analog redundancy. The only reason I wouldn't suggest doing with a software only solution is in case you need to quickly turn it down. It can take quite some time to go to the right window and click on the right knob. So even if the Apollo can't link the outputs to the knob, I think it would be fine to use directly for 5.1 as long as you have the knob to your stereo mains on it within reach (since if something does blast through it'll be on your mains 99% of the time). If the outputs don't link (so that you're essentially stuck at 1 level without manually adjusting multiple faders) I'd make sure that you can create different presets for different applications (e.g. Netflix is much louder than DVDs).


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## iMovieShout (Jan 28, 2022)

Ok, I'm really really scratching my head on this one.
I want to playback a 5.1 mix (output from Nuendo) on my PC which is connected to a UAD Apollo x8 and is setup in 5.1. 
So, Windows only offers up a stereo output device. 
How do I go about setting up Windows so that I can playback 5.1 through the Apolo x8 ?

I'm running Windows10Pro and trying to playback a 5.1 track for which I have tried Davinci Studio 17 (only offers stereo), PowerDVD and Windows Media Player.

It appears that Windows only has a WDM device and not an ASIO which is needed for surround sound etc.

I've tried installing ASIO4ALL but that doesn't show up anywhere, including Device Manager.


Thanks all


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## fakemaxwell (Jan 28, 2022)

I don't know how to do it for the Apollo specifically, but generally you need to tell the device to declare multiple WDM outputs for Windows to be able to output surround. You wouldn't be using ASIO or ASIO4ALL for system audio.

If you're trying to do this out of your DAW, you would use ASIO, and do all the routing through your device. Is there a reason you're specifically trying to get playback out of other applications? Would use VLC if that's the case.


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## iMovieShout (Jan 28, 2022)

fakemaxwell said:


> I don't know how to do it for the Apollo specifically, but generally you need to tell the device to declare multiple WDM outputs for Windows to be able to output surround. You wouldn't be using ASIO or ASIO4ALL for system audio.
> 
> If you're trying to do this out of your DAW, you would use ASIO, and do all the routing through your device. Is there a reason you're specifically trying to get playback out of other applications? Would use VLC if that's the case.


Thanks for your speedy help  

So, I've managed to figure it out using Davinci Studio, and have now managed to route it using Blackmagic's ASIO driver. Its fiddly but I've managed to get 3 stereo pairs (front, rear, LFE and center) routed to 5.1 and then out to the UAD Apollo x8. I have also managed use WAVE's UM225 plugin to carve out individual channels and route accordingly - so another method there if needs be.

How to do it natively within Windows I'm still not sure though several others have now chimed in from a UAD help page, with a 'its not possible' because UAD still haven't provided this feature for Windows users. But it should be possible on a Mac.
Apparently its been requested many times since the UAD2 products came out a few years ago.

So, I think that is the solution, but will definitely revert back to here if I need any further help.
VI-Control to the rescue once again!!!!


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