Featuring top-notch converters, real-time UAD DSP processing, and innovative new features like Monitor Correction powered by Sonarworks, Assistive Auto-Gain, and Subwoofer Bass Management.
Features
- Monitor Correction powered by Sonarworks* - Apollo X users can now import Sonarworks SoundID correction profiles directly to ApolloDSP to precisely calibrate their monitors, headphones, and room in real-time for consistent mixes and masters. Available Q4 2024 for Apollo X Gen 1 and Gen 2.
- Assistive Auto-Gain - Fast, one-click level setting across all input channels, including Unison mic preamp emulations from API, Neve, and SSL.
- Subwoofer Bass Management - Add a subwoofer for full-range stereo and surround monitoring, featuring trim, mute, solo, and crossover controls per speaker.
- Alt Monitoring for Surround Modes - New modes for alternate monitoring allow immersive users to easily switch between immersive and stereo monitoring setups.
- Plug-In Scenes - Perfect for using Apollo onstage, Apollo users can instantly change plug-in settings across multiple UAD Console channels manually or via MIDI.
- Gen 2 Thunderbolt rackmount and desktop audio interfaces with HEXA, QUAD, DUO Core DSP plug-in processing
- Elite-class Apollo X | Gen 2 converters with 24-bit / 192 kHz resolution
- Enhanced D/A for critical monitoring and playback with the widest dynamic range and lowest distortion of any Apollo
- Unison mic preamps, Hi-Z instrument inputs, optical Toslink I/O (ADAT or S/PDIF), AESI/O and Dante I/O on select models
- Updated UAD Console app featuring Monitor Correction powered by Sonarworks,*Assistive Auto-Gain, Subwoofer Bass Management, Plug-in Scenes, and more
- Fully-featured monitor controller with alternate speaker switching and integrated talkback for easy communication with talent
- ALT monitoring support in all monitor modes (2 x ALT mon for stereo, 1 x ALT mon for immersive)
- Onboard DSP supports over 200 UAD plug-ins via VST, AU, and AAX 64 formats in all major DAWs
- Includes up to 100+ UAD plug-ins with Essentials+, Studio+ or Ultimate+ Editions
- Compatible with LUNA, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Cubase, Ableton Live, and more
- Expandable with Thunderbolt Apollo interfaces or select models over Dante
- Free industry-leading technical support from knowledgeable audio engineers
For more information, please visit uaudio.com.
"We believe that the very best audio tools can 'disappear,' and feel like they are simply a part of the creative process," said Bill Putnam, UA founder and CEO. "The new Apollo X interfaces are about pushing that concept further ā bringing the best of analog and digital sounds together in a way that's both inspiring and seamless, to let your music take center stage."
After decades of 250 road dates a year, Tab Benoit has earned a reputation for high-energy performances at clubs and festivals around the world.
On his new I Hear Thunder, Benoit still proudly plays the Fender Thinline Telecaster he purchased for $400 when he was making his debut album in Texas, 1992ās Nice & Warm. After that heralded release, his eclectic guitar workāwhich often echoes between classic blues-rock rumble-and-howl, the street-sweetened funk of New Orleans, and Memphis-fueled soulāhelped Benoit win a long-term deal with Justice Records. But when the company folded in the late ā90s, his contract and catalog bounced from label to label.
Tab Benoit - "I Hear Thunder"
This bucked against Benoitās strong desire to fully control his musicāone reason he settled on the trio format early in his career. And although his 2011 album, Medicine, won three Blues Music Awardsāthe genreās equivalent of Grammysāhe stopped recording as a leader because he was bound by the stipulations of a record deal, now over, that he deemed untenable.
āI wanted to make records that reflected exactly how I sounded live and that were done as though we were playing a live concert,ā Benoit says. āSo, I formed my own label [Whiskey Bayou Records, with partner Reuben Williams] and signed artists whose music was, to me, the real deal, honest and straightforward. I couldnāt do anything on my own, but I could still continue putting out music that had a positive impact on the audience.ā
Benoitās new album, which includes Anders Osborne and George Porter Jr., was recorded in the studio at the guitaristās home near the bayou in Houma, Louisiana.
Those artists include fellow rootsers Eric McFadden, Damon Fowler, Eric Johanson, Jeff McCarty, and Dash Rip Rock. Benoit also spent plenty of time pursuing his other passion: advocating for issues affecting Louisianaās wetlands, including those around his native Houma. His 2004 album was titled Wetlands, and shortly after it was issued he founded the Voice of the Wetlands non-profit organization, and later assembled an all-star band that featured New Orleans-music MVPs Cyril Neville, Anders Osborne, George Porter Jr., Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Johnny Vidacovich, Johnny Sansone, and Waylon Thibodeaux. This ensemble, the Voice of the Wetlands All-Stars, has released multiple CDs and toured.
Essentially, Benoit comes from the bayous, and when itās time to record, he goes back to them, and to the studio he has in Houma, which he refers to as āthe camp.ā Thatās where I Hear Thunder came to life. āGeorge and Anders came to me and said, āLetās go make some music,ā Benoit offers. āSo, we went out to the camp. They had some songsāand George and Anders and I go back so many years it was really a treat to put everything together. It only took us a couple of days to do everything we needed to do.ā
āGeorge Porter and Anders Osborne and I saw this alligator sitting around the boat where we were writing the entire time. I guess he really liked the song.ā
I Hear Thunder has become his first number one on Billboardās blues chart. Besides the fiery-yet-tight and disciplined guitar work of Benoit and Osborne, the latter also an esteemed songwriter, the album features his longtime rhythm section of bassist Corey Duplechin and drummer Terence Higgins. Bass legend Porter appears on two tracks, āLittle Queenieā and āIām a Write That Down.ā Throughout the album, Benoit sings and plays with soul and tremendous energy, plus he handled engineering, mixing, and production.
Once again, that ascribed to his aesthetic. āMy main reason for taking on those extra duties was I wanted to make sure that this recording gives the audience kind of a preview of how weāre going to sound live,ā he declares. āThatās one of the things that I truly donāt like about a lot of current recordings. I listen to them and then see those guys live and itās like, āHey, that doesn't sound like what was on the album.ā Play it once or twice and letās run with it. Donāt overdo it to the point you kill the honesty. All the guys that I loveāLightninā Hopkins, Albert Kingāthey played it once, and you better have the tape machine running because theyāre only going to give it to you that one time. Thatās the spontaneity that you want and need.
āOne of the reasons I donāt use a lot of pedals and effects is because I hate gimmicks,ā he continues. ā Iām playing for the audience the way that I feel, and my attitude is āLetās plug into the guitar and let it rip. If I make a mistake, so be it. Iām not using Auto-Tune to try and get somebodyās vocal to seem perfect. You think John Lee Hooker cared about Auto-Tune? Youāre cheating the audience when you do that stuff.ā
Tab Benoitās Gear
Benoit in 2024 with his trusty 1972 Fender Thinline Telecaster, purchased in 1992 for $400. Note that Benoit is a fingerstyle player.
Photo by Doug Hardesty
Guitar
- 1972 FenderĀ Telecaster Thinline
Amp
- Category 5 Tab Benoit 50-watt combo
Strings
- GHS Boomers (.011ā.050)
The I Hear Thunder songs that particularly resonate include the explosive title track, the soulful āWhy, Whyā and the rollicking āWatching the Gators Roll In,ā a song that directly reflected the albumās writing experience and environment. āGeorge and Anders and I saw this alligator sitting around the boat where we were writing the entire time. I guess he really liked the song. Heād be swimming along and responding. That gave it some added punch.ā As does Benoit and Osborneās consistently dynamic guitar work. āIām not one of these people who want to just run off a string of notes or do a lot of fast playing,ā Benoit says. āIt has to fit the song, the pace, and most of all, really express what Iām feeling at that particular moment. I think when the audience comes to a show and you play the songs off that album, youāve got to make it real and make it honest.ā
When asked whether he ever tires of touring, Benoit laughs and says, āAbsolutely not. At every stop now I see a great mix of people whoāve been with us since the beginning, and then their children or sometimes even their grandchildren. When people come up to you and say how much they enjoy your music, it really does make you feel great. Iāve always seen the live concerts as a way of bringing some joy and happiness to people over a period of time, of helping them forget about whatever problems or issues they might have had coming in, and just to enjoy themselves. At the same time, I get a real thrill and joy from playing for them, and itās something that I always want the bandās music to doāhelp bring some happiness and joy to everyone who hears our music.ā
YouTube It
Hear Tab Benoit practice the art of slow, soulful, simmering blues on his new I Hear Thunder song āOverdue,ā also featuring his well-worn 1972 Telecaster Thinline.
Carlos Santanaās career arc has been a journey. From blowing minds at the far edges of psychedelia at Woodstock to incendiary jazz experimentalism with the likes of John McLaughlin and Alice Coltrane to later becoming a chart-topping star with some of the biggest collaborators in pop and rock, his guitar playing has covered a lot of ground.
On this episode of 100 Guitarists, weāre covering everything about Santanaās playing we can fit in one neat package: How did Santanaās sound evolve? Has any other rock star mentioned John Coltraneās A Love Supreme on morning network television? Was Supernatural his ultimate gift to the world?
In our new current listening segment, weāre talking about a Bruce Hornsby live record and a recent release from guitarist Stash Wyslouch.
This episode is sponsored by PRS Guitars.
Learn more: https://prsguitars.com.
Supro Montauk 15-watt 1 x 10-inch Tube Combo Amplifier - Blue Rhino Hide Tolex with Silver Grille
