C
Could be a great interface
I ordered mine in the beginning of June. It came with hardware bug, which Antelope agreed to be the whole revision problem. I was planning to return it to Thomann, but I've ordered it to Russia, so I paid quite a sum for customs and shipping and of course with returning it to Thomann, this expenses wouldn't be refunded. Antelope's managers suggested to replace it via another dealer in Russia with no expenses from my side, ensuring that there would be no problems with another revision. So agreed and everything was settled. That was my fault to agree with those conditions. The device came and with an additional gift from a company, Edge Solo mic and everything was perfect from the first glance. But there appeared other problems with the replacement device. I filed several tickets to Antelope's support. They suggested to replace the device again. After several arguments we settled down to replace the device with mic to a model higher, but they didn't even bother to organise it properly. They never give the insight on what is happening. They keep saying that next week it will definitely be there. And they never call you back to say that the next week nothing going to happen. You have to dig it out by yourself if you're lucky to be answered. Now they just stopped answering my calls and messages. I want a working device, I paid money for it! I don't need any gifts or upgrades from them either. Now I just want my money back, as it took already half a year! But as soon as I told that I want my money back, they disappeared. Very professional, innit? :-) I wish I just sent it back to Thomann when the 1st buggy unit came at 1st place. Thomann can't replace it now, since it was already replaced by Antelope Audio and Thomann knows nothing about this replacement.
Pity that they have such problems with testing devices and software, before releasing them. And I, as a customer had to go through all these to convince all those managers that I even don't need their gifts or upgrades to any device of a higher rank, I just want my device to work, as it fits my studio needs.
The sound from my monitors and the headphones is really great though. The guitar sounds fuller, connected to the back-ins only, cause when you connect to the front-ins you get the huge feedback as if you are sitting by a fully cranked tube amplifier. This is actually is resetable by their "golden boot", but then it returns back w/o doing anything extraordinary, just organising the ins&outs in the control panel the way I wanted them to be organised, and there it goes again, a feedback from the front-ins.
The back-ins are working correctly though. You just switch the mode to hi-z there and that's it. The mic sounds awesome when connected into them. No problems with switching back and forth the modes (mic, line, hi-z).
There's a problem though with the switching the modes for the front-ins in the Control Panel. By default it's hi-z, but when you switch it to line mode the levels become cranked up to the max according to the meter and the level of the pot. When you switch it back to hi-z mode, it switches back to your previously selected levels for hi-z which is around 17db for me, but the actual levels are cranked up according to the meter as if you're still in line mode.
All these software and hardware issues you come across with, while operating with the device are negating all the goods the device has.
Those higher sensitivity front-ins, those cranked levels. Even wheel button is sticking in pressed position. All these is negating all the goods the device has. And I'm a Mac user. Mostly people are writing about the troubles with their software being Windows users.
Never mess with them, if you don't want to be left alone with all the troubles with their buggy devices. Don't be fooled by all those numerous vids they are sponsoring now here and on the other platforms! If you still think of getting some of their products, give them at least a year to solve all the issues.
It is my worst experience ever in purchasing the device of such a high price from such acclaimed company!
Pity that they have such problems with testing devices and software, before releasing them. And I, as a customer had to go through all these to convince all those managers that I even don't need their gifts or upgrades to any device of a higher rank, I just want my device to work, as it fits my studio needs.
The sound from my monitors and the headphones is really great though. The guitar sounds fuller, connected to the back-ins only, cause when you connect to the front-ins you get the huge feedback as if you are sitting by a fully cranked tube amplifier. This is actually is resetable by their "golden boot", but then it returns back w/o doing anything extraordinary, just organising the ins&outs in the control panel the way I wanted them to be organised, and there it goes again, a feedback from the front-ins.
The back-ins are working correctly though. You just switch the mode to hi-z there and that's it. The mic sounds awesome when connected into them. No problems with switching back and forth the modes (mic, line, hi-z).
There's a problem though with the switching the modes for the front-ins in the Control Panel. By default it's hi-z, but when you switch it to line mode the levels become cranked up to the max according to the meter and the level of the pot. When you switch it back to hi-z mode, it switches back to your previously selected levels for hi-z which is around 17db for me, but the actual levels are cranked up according to the meter as if you're still in line mode.
All these software and hardware issues you come across with, while operating with the device are negating all the goods the device has.
Those higher sensitivity front-ins, those cranked levels. Even wheel button is sticking in pressed position. All these is negating all the goods the device has. And I'm a Mac user. Mostly people are writing about the troubles with their software being Windows users.
Never mess with them, if you don't want to be left alone with all the troubles with their buggy devices. Don't be fooled by all those numerous vids they are sponsoring now here and on the other platforms! If you still think of getting some of their products, give them at least a year to solve all the issues.
It is my worst experience ever in purchasing the device of such a high price from such acclaimed company!
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Po
A huge number of bugs !
From the moment of purchase (2 months ago) I have been having problems using this card. Not once in ~ 20 have I been able to record without some kind of interference. The guitar might just turn off. The control panel may turn off. New drivers are not installed !!! We have to put the old version, which has even more problems! Support has a day off on Sunday. Answers waited 1-2 days. When working with headphones that are connected to a computer, the latency can spontaneously increase significantly!
At the very beginning, in order for it to function somehow, I had to start the Mac in recovery mode and enter some commands! Moreover, Antelope's support wrote me the wrong code! Because of this, I had to do this operation twice))
The sound is good. There were no problems with Logic.
To be honest, there is a great desire to bring her back. I hope it will be accepted without its own packaging.
I myself do not fully believe in what I write, but this is reality...
Macbook Pro 2019
At the very beginning, in order for it to function somehow, I had to start the Mac in recovery mode and enter some commands! Moreover, Antelope's support wrote me the wrong code! Because of this, I had to do this operation twice))
The sound is good. There were no problems with Logic.
To be honest, there is a great desire to bring her back. I hope it will be accepted without its own packaging.
I myself do not fully believe in what I write, but this is reality...
Macbook Pro 2019
6
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G
Could be good interface - if it worked
This spring I moved to a new, M1 based Mac and had to retire my trusty Motu Traveler. I decided to move to new DSP based interface and Antelope just released Zen Q.
Unfortunatelly my experioence has been pure disaster... I ordered it on May 18th and still haven't got working unit that I could review for what it is.
Firs unit that came in June had terrible clicks in monitors whenever there was activity on LCD screen and after communicating with ANtelope support team and Thomann it was diagnosed as faulty batch in production, so I had to send it back.
After a month of waiting for replacement I finally got it out and hurray(!) no clicks. But as soon as I applied guitar cabinet simulation, monitors were almost blown out by terrible crackling noise...
After week of communication Antelope support indicated that HW 5.0 revision of Zen Q has this issue. Since then they haven't been able to fix or remedy this issue and my second unit goes back to Thomann - this time for refund.
Otherwise, it sounded good, but two deffective units in row is beyond coincidence and I would advise to wait until "baby" problems are ironed out before buying this interface.
I also didn't like idea that you have reduce security settings in macOS Recovery mode indicating that, probably, drivers are not fully certified with Apple.
Unfortunatelly my experioence has been pure disaster... I ordered it on May 18th and still haven't got working unit that I could review for what it is.
Firs unit that came in June had terrible clicks in monitors whenever there was activity on LCD screen and after communicating with ANtelope support team and Thomann it was diagnosed as faulty batch in production, so I had to send it back.
After a month of waiting for replacement I finally got it out and hurray(!) no clicks. But as soon as I applied guitar cabinet simulation, monitors were almost blown out by terrible crackling noise...
After week of communication Antelope support indicated that HW 5.0 revision of Zen Q has this issue. Since then they haven't been able to fix or remedy this issue and my second unit goes back to Thomann - this time for refund.
Otherwise, it sounded good, but two deffective units in row is beyond coincidence and I would advise to wait until "baby" problems are ironed out before buying this interface.
I also didn't like idea that you have reduce security settings in macOS Recovery mode indicating that, probably, drivers are not fully certified with Apple.
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