Apogee Boom is small & tough - designed to travel around with you wherever you want to go. The chassis is solid metal, with sleek end panels. At first glance you’ll notice the distinctive purple colour, a big nod towards their Apogee colour scheme. Boom sits comfortably on a desktop, and fits in your backpack. Perhaps not as small as the Apogee MiC / Jam series, but it’s definitely got a few more features onboard.
Under the surface, Boom features Apogee converter technology - some of the best converter tech in the business. That means the audio from your mics, instruments and other sound devices is going to be digitised at the best possible quality in its class.
Excellent conversion is nothing without a decent set of preamps. Boom has 2 inputs – 1 combi input with fully featured mic preamp and 1 line input with hi-z switch for instruments such as guitar.
Boom also has a set of professional level outputs. 2x Line level outputs for studio monitors, and a high quality headphone port. The headphone section of Boom uses Apogee’s ‘Zero Ohm’ headphone amp. Essentially, it automatically detects the optimal output for any headphones you plug in, so you’ll always get the best possible performance, whatever headphones you use!
Boom is compatible with MacOS, iPad Pro and Windows. It’s also iOS ready, requiring the optional lightning cable (sold separately.) All you need to do is download and install the Apogee Control 2 software for their USB interfaces. This software allows you full remote access to Booms preamp gains, output levels, and onboard DSP processing – which we’ll take a look at next...
One of Boom's more unique features is it’s onboard DSP, something you don’t often see in this class of interface. But what does this mean for you?
Apogee Boom can run signal processing plugins directly from the interface, putting less strain on your computer’s CPU whilst also giving you ultra low latency performance. When we say signal processing, we mean functions like EQ, saturation, compression – specifically from software like the ECS Channelstrip. Boom includes the hardware DSP version of this plugin, so you can record through it in real time.
Through the Apogee Control 2 software, you can control ‘Print FX’ plugins on the input, and directly monitor with almost no latency. If you tried to do the same thing with a plugin, you would still be at the mercy of your computers ‘round-trip latency’ - the time it takes for audio to pass through your computer, get processed by the plugin, and then come back out again to reach your ears.
In simple terms, all you need to know is low latency = better tracking and therefore better performance captured.
It’s no secret that the small interface market is hotly contested, with a lot of great options to choose from. So what makes Boom stand out from the rest? Here's a quick list of our top features on Boom:
What more could you ask for in a portable interface? Apogee Boom has it all!
"Boom"... *mic drop*
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This new blog is presented by the team at Sound Technology Ltd, a leading distributor of musical instruments and pro audio equipment in the UK and ROI.
