- Antelope Audio Zen Tour Synergy Core Audio Interface - 18 X 26 Desktop Thunderbolt 3 & USB Interface w/Onboard FX DSP Audio Processor - Portable Studio Audio Mixer for Recording Music, Podcast & More

I have owned my Zen Tour Synergy Core for a little over six months now. I did, literally, months of research before deciding on Antelope and the Zen Tour in particular. I had been riding a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 for a decade and I was ready for an upgrade. I looked into Focusrite first since I have no complaints about my experience with the brand but the moment I crossed to the Thunderbolt product category, I was right out of my price range. So I looked elsewhere. The pricing was consistent across brands except for a couple, one of which was flat out cheap but you get what you pay for. I have to confess that I did get lured by the bargain, pulled the wrong trigger and ended up having to return the unit after weeks of frustration and disappointment. Once I was down to my top three legitimate options, I went deep into each. The more I dove into Antelope, the more clear it became that this was an opportunity for me to take a leap right onto the big leagues with no compromises at a price I could afford. The pro pedigree and the strong reviews by professionals was hard to dismiss. The specs on the Zen Core, and all of their units, really, are just superb and the ability to run effects off the interface's core processors is a game changer. The Zen Tour Sinergy Core boasts every bit the level of performance (or better) you get with similar but more expensive brands. Their routing software is second to none and the unit comes with a respectable set of pro-quality classic-inspired analog emulation effects right out of the box plus you can add effects later and their library is always growing. They run sales through the year and I take advantage of those often. I am also looking forward to expanding my recording capabilities with Antelope's microphone emulations. That opens an entire world of possibilities I am excited to tap into next. If you are serious about your sound and don't have a fortune to spend, look no further. If you do have the means, look into their Orion series. A bunch of professional studios rely on those.

Still not sure how I feel about this. The afx2daw only works via thunderbolt which is dumb. They figured out how to make it work for the go but not for the q and not for the tour. I haven't been able to record anything because each time I open it I have to figure out how to get sound from it. There is no manual, the routing matrix is complicated. It might make sense if you are already familiar with routing hardware effects but I'm not. I came from a focusrite scarlett which just works ya know. Tech support is iffy they get back to you days later and are recommending an outdated driver to fix the issue that with my pc everything I start it I have to reconfigure the soundboard driver. I bought this thing in November and have recorded nothing I can't even figure out how to monitor effects. All we want is afx2daw via USB as well as thunderbolt why is that such a big deal antelope?

Pros: Well this thing sounds great. That's about all the pros I can think of. Cons: I need to factory reset the device about once per week on average, due to the fact that something stops working. Most recently, the inputs stop working. Each time the firmware is updated, I need to un-register and re-register the device via the control panel in order for it to produce any sound. The support forms on the Antelope Audio website are broken, and I had to monkey around for a while in order to submit a ticket. Customer support sometimes responds (It's just one person, from what I can tell) and they usually just tell me to factory reset the device. The included plugins are pretty much garbage, and they want even more money from you to unlock most of them. The modeling mic they include with the purchase doesn't sound great either. I've asked customer support if they have any intention of fixing these issues, or allowing me to return the hardware. No response, so I assume they don't care about their customers or their product. Conclusion: Save your money and get a Scarlett Focusrite. You can get one of those and a great microphone and end up paying $1000 less. And the Focusrite actually works without breaking every week.

I've had this for about 2 years and the only issues have been user error. Their software can be a little confusing, but it's partially due to the amount of routing possibilities available. This version is designed to a professional interface and the complexity of the software is appreciated in many situations, but you need to spend time learning it. The inputs are incredibly clean with tons of headroom, using the AFX plugins will make a difference especially if you plug a guitar or bass direct. Having a reamp option is fantastic and the compact DSUB outputs, while it's annoying to get a snake, is actually really helpful if you use this live in any capacity. Plus the outputs are DC-coupled, meaning you can send CV to synths, pedals, or other devices, which is a very nice option. The only downside is that there's no MIDI built in, but that's not a huge deal. I would strongly consider this over UA interfaces