£860, uaudio.com

In addition to its coveted Apollo family of high-end audio interfaces, Universal Audio also makes the Volt series, a key difference being that the Apollo has onboard DSP for running UAD’s plugins with zero latency, whereas the Volt does not. Instead, it relies upon analogue circuitry to add character to your recordings.

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There are seven members of the Volt family, six of which are portable. The 876 is the newest and largest, a 1U rack mount module with 24 ins and 28 outs that, like its siblings, uses USB-C for audio, but requires mains power. At £860, it costs significantly less than the larger Apollo units, which start at £2,200, but it aims to cover all the basic recording needs of a modest studio.

You will need to register the hardware online and download the UA Connect app from where you manage all your UAD hardware and software licenses. It’s compatible with Pads and iPhones and while it’s not clear how many people would be hooking their phone up to a device like this, there are serious DAWs like Cubasis and Logic Pro for iPad, so that’s a more likely use case. Sadly, though, there’s no Console app for iOS. The setup process is pretty straightforward, though the UA Connect app could make things a little clearer by separating your bundled plugins and software from those available in the shop. At present, you have to hunt around to find things sometimes.

Your purchase gets you several software downloads, including LUNA, UA’s own DAW, which does have some features specific to Volt 876, such as Assistive Auto Gain for listening and optimising input levels, and full session recall with the UA Console app, which lets you control and manage the interface from your computer. You also get the UAD Producer Suite of plugins — 12 quality mix processors, including the Teletronix LA-2A Tube Compressor, UA 1176 Classic FET Compressor, and Pultec Passive EQ Collection, as well as the PolyMAX Synth. The plugs that UA throws in are excellent workhorse mix tools that we found ourselves using regularly; the fact they run inside your computer make things more flexible when working on the move, away from the interface.

There are eight physical combo mic/line XLR inputs – two on the front for quick access and six on the rear. Also around back are six line outs, a stereo monitor out with the flexibility to hook up two pairs of speakers for main and alt monitoring, word clock I/O and full-size 5-pin DIN MIDI I/O. Additionally, two separate ADAT optical in/outs add 16 channels of digital audio to or from another audio device and this feature also enables you to chain up to three 876s together or to add the unit’s preamp channels to another interface by connecting them together using standalone ADAT mode. The interface uses 32-bit, 192 kHz converters, and the sample rate can be switched from either the Console app or the hardware front panel. It feels like UA has really thought about the I/O selection here, covering the needs of users from a small home recording setup to a more comprehensive setup with, for example, two pairs of monitors and extra channels coming in over ADAT.

Eight-channel select buttons let you choose your channel, then for each one you can activate phantom power, set gain, invert polarity for multi-mic phase alignment, toggle high-impedance instrument input mode and activate the compressor. To the right, you can activate direct monitoring via the two separate headphone outputs, talkback through the built-in microphone, switch between two pairs of speakers, main and alt, choose clock mode, and monitor levels via the level meters. It’s nice to be able to access the vast majority of these things from the hardware as well as the software control panel, giving you the choice to be more hands-on with your gear or alternatively more attached to your computer. For all its flexibility, the unit manages to be easy to understand.

The 876 is so named because its eight analogue input channels each contain a vintage preamp and a compressor inspired by UA’s iconic 610 tube channel strip and 1176 limiter. Introducing these effects at the recording stage means they are glued onto the sound rather than applied virtually and are more akin to a traditional way of recording through hardware. Integrating them into the circuitry of the interface means it’s an incredibly efficient way to add character to your takes, should you wish.

Vintage mode, when active, adds an analogue tube preamp emulation inspired by UA’s own 610 console, and this creates a subtle richness in anything you pass through it. The 76 compressor, on the other hand, based on the 1176 FET limiting amplifier, has different modes for Vocals, Guitar and Fast, which are all approximately a 6:1 ratio, fixed threshold compressors, with varying attack and release times for each mode.

It seems almost superfluous to say that the recordings I make with the 876 sound good – you’d expect nothing less from UA. I instantly appreciate the subtle yet noticeable character that the vintage and compressor stages add to my sounds, and decide to leave them switched on pretty much all the time. The ‘clean’ takes sound crystal clear, of course, but I particularly like what the processors bring to the table. The colouration is subtle, of course — we’re not talking crazy effects here — but they add a sense of coherence and warmth to recordings in a way that I had hoped they would before I started my tests.

As far as usability is concerned, once you’ve looked around a bit, the UAD system swiftly becomes familiar. If the unit is close at hand, it’s as easy to make settings on the front panel as it is using the software control panel – this will just depend on how your studio is set up. The LUNA DAW, which is included, is a solid system with some handy features specific to UAD’s hardware. In our review, we gave LUNA an 8/10, praising its forward-thinking features. The Console app also features the auto gain capability if you happen to be using a different DAW.

The Volt 876 is an excellent centrepiece for your recording setup. With sufficient physical channels for small to medium-sized studios, it can add more via its dual optical channels, sync via word clock and connect your MIDI gear. Dual sets of headphone and speaker outs mean flexible monitoring options, with easy control of everything from the front panel. The cost is higher than the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, for example, available at £649 with slightly fewer ins and outs, and the Volt 867 adds UAD’s plugins and unique compressor and preamp models. Its design feels broadly better suited to recording bands and instruments than, say, a bunch of synths – taking advantage of the way its processors shape real instruments and vocals. That said, it will cope with more or less whatever you throw at it.

The built-in vintage and compressor tools add a welcome punch and clarity to your recordings, while the bundled plugins expand your toolset with some genuinely useful processors.

Despite the wealth of features, UAD has kept the workflow manageable and the system easy to learn and use. Clearly, it’s designed to live in a studio — the other Volts are portable if that’s what you need — and though it lacks the DSP of the Apollo family, it’s also significantly more affordable.

For many producers, the 876 will cover all your recording needs without breaking the bank.

Key features

• 24 in / 28 out USB audio interface
• 8 mic/line inputs (with instrument option on Inputs 1-2)
• 8 line outs
• 2 stereo headphone amplifiers
• 32-bit / 192 kHz conversion
• Vintage 610 mic preamp mode on every channel
• UA 76 analogue FET compressor on every channel
• Digitally-controlled mic preamps with Assistive Auto-Gain
• Dual ADAT I/O ports for digital expansion or linking of up to three Volt 876 interfaces
• Onboard talkback mic
• Zero-latency direct monitoring
• UAD Producer Suite software bundle

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