 I have tried and tested many quality audio interfaces over the last few years, however I use this one every day. But why? Hi folks, I'm Mike and I hope you're well. Some gear is at the heart of your studio and if you're lucky it should be high quality, have all the capabilities you need and I think it should be enjoyable as well. For almost a year now the Antelope Audio Discrete 8 Synergy Core has played that role for me. I was so excited when they asked me to try out the new Discrete 8 Pro Synergy Core. Honestly, this is so jam-packed with features, I don't know where to start, so let's start with the specs. The Discrete 8 Pro Synergy Core is a 26-in 32-out USB and Thunderbolt 3 interface with 8 console-grade discrete preamps on board and sample rates up to 192 kHz. It comes with 37 real-time low-latency effects, an incredibly versatile mixer and new for this model a virtual patch bay. On the front we see two XLR quarter-inch combo inputs, these are mic, line and high Z-level, so perfect for all things including electric guitars. Moving along we see 8 gain knobs, one for each preamp, quick and easy. Then we see the display which has been upgraded to colour for this version and three function buttons, more on these later. We then see our main rotary knob and a talk back button, by the way this unit has a built-in talk back mic, but we can also assign any other mic to talk with our artists. Finally we also see two knobs, one for each headphone output. At the rear we see the remaining six connections for our preamps, alongside our two main outputs and two reamping outputs, which can also be assigned to alternate speakers. The eight outputs are available via a DSub 25 connector, which saves space being used in the unit with many connectors that may not often be used, but they could be used for additional headphone mixes, effects loops or additional monitors. Above this we can see that the unit can connect to a PC or a Mac via a USB or Thunderbolt 3 connection, giving added flexibility. Next are four ADAT and two SPDIF connections, a watt pump us up to 26 inns and 32 outs. We also see a connection for a foot switch here to activate talk back. Finally we have our four word clock connections and our power connector. Word clock becomes important when we connect several digital devices together, ensuring they keep in sync and avoid artefacts. The new colour display combined with the various buttons and knobs gives us a lot of direct control from the interface itself. By default it displays level indicators for our preamps, but we can see for example that while adjusting a gain knob, it displays information for that preamp. The same is true for our main rotary control, talk back and headphone controls. Pushing our main rotary mutes our monitors, with the top and bottom function buttons doing the same for our headphones. The middle function button gives us some system info and a long press on the bottom function button gives us access to various settings. This interface is Thunderbolt 3 which can really help with latency, but for me it's the onboard real time effects which really make latency a thing of the past. Sure other interfaces will have something called direct monitoring to help with latency, but the payoff is you have to listen to a dry signal, not very inspiring. Also when I want to record electric guitars with an amp and cabinet sim, the lack of latency here is an absolute dream. Now the good news is not only does it have this capability, but you get 37 really useful real time effects for free. So the selection of effects included is really useful in my opinion, starting off with some vintage EQs which are modelled on classic hardware, a handy parametric EQ, a nice selection of compressors and limiters, some mic preamps, a gate and expander, some modulation effects and a tuner. These can all be applied to any source, most commonly a preamp, but it could also be for example an ADAT channel or even a channel coming back from your door. There's also an onboard reverb which is not a plug in, but is useful as a little bit of comfort reverb on the way in. Additional effects can be purchased on the Antelope site and I have to say compared to other companies doing this kind of thing, these are very competitively priced. So this is where the synergy core part of the model name comes in. Antelope Audio's highly efficient onboard effects processing when you're recording means that there isn't that extra load on your computer, but you do get the benefit of real time effects. But what about mixing? This is where something called AFX to door comes in. This is a plug in that gets inserted in your door and it gives you access to your Antelope Audio real time effects, but they're still being processed on the audio interface itself. So you don't get that extra load on your CPU. That means you can have bigger, more efficient sessions. This really is a sort of a game changer for me to be honest with you. Now, there's a couple of things that I do want you to understand about AFX to door. At the time of making this video, it isn't quite available for this unit yet, but who knows? By the time you actually watch this video, it could well be available. Check the link out in the description down below to go to Antelope Audio's website and make sure of that if you really think you want it at the time of purchase. Now, the other thing I want to mention is this is an additional purchase. OK, but again, check out that link in the description because once in a while there may be some specials. The routing on my previous discreet 8 was already incredibly useful, but Antelope Audio have taken it to a new level with this one, offering you some different options when it comes to routing. But let's start off by looking at the method that we use with the old model as well. Whilst the control panel may look similar to those you've seen with other interfaces, we soon find out it's a little different and very powerful. We actually have four virtual mixes available and each one of these can be used by our main outputs. In other words, some outputs could share a mix or they could each have their own individual mix. By the way, we're looking at the default view here, which shows eight channels, but we can also switch to the compact view and see all 32 channels at once. Now, at the top, we can see our controls for our eight preamps where we can set levels, change the input type and switch phantom power. But it's crucial to understand that unlike other control panels, these preamps are not hardwired to the first eight mixer channels. In fact, not only can any of the preamps be assigned to any of the mixer channels, but we can, for example, also assign ADAT inputs or computer outputs. This routing concept comes into play for me often when recording with real-time effects. If we go over to the AFX script, I can assign, for example, preamp 1 to both channels 1 and 2. I could then go ahead and apply real-time effects to just one of these and not the other. Now, importantly, in my DAW, these will be seen as two separate inputs, which means I can record both my wet signal and my dry signal separately, or perhaps apply separate effects to the left and right channels, with only a mono input. In other words, you're no longer constrained to only selecting fixed preamps in your DAW. This is one of those things where once you get used to it, it's hard to go back. New for this version of the interface are some alternate routing workflows. Here we have our from sources and two destinations, and we can drag between the two. For example, if I wanted to connect my ADAT input 1 to mixer channel 1, I can drag it from the top to its destination at the bottom. They're color coded and numbered by default, but we can rename them to make it easier to see what we're selecting. Clicking on them also reveals the routing in the middle. We can also make multiple selections and drag them to destinations. By the way, all of these changes are reflected in the main control panel and vice versa. Changes from the control panel are reflected here. You choose the workflow which works best for you. We also have access to the routing matrix view. For example, I'm selecting my ADAT inputs and assigning them to individual and multiple mixer channels. The flexibility of both routing and choices of methods here is just astounding. So as I said earlier, this model is USB and Thunderbolt 3, which is double the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 2, which was used in the previous model. Now I've been using this successfully with my PC, which actually has a Thunderbolt 4 port and my Mac, which has a Thunderbolt 3 port, but I do see people having issues with Thunderbolt from all of the manufacturers to be honest with you. Over the past year I used the Discrete 8 Synergy Core every single day and I have to tell you, I had zero downtime and I think that's because I did carefully follow the instructions. Now I think that's important because in my experience Thunderbolt behaves just a little bit differently to USB and that's what most of us will be coming from. So I've put together a few tips about using Thunderbolt so you can avoid some of the pitfalls. So the first two points I want to make are to do with cables. Thunderbolt 3 cables use a USB-C type connection, but that doesn't mean all USB-C cables are Thunderbolt compatible. So do make sure when you purchase your cable that you are getting a Thunderbolt 3 compatible cable. The next thing you want to consider is the speed of the cable because not all cables are going to give you that maximum speed. It depends on whether they're passive or active and also the length of the cable. Now that's going to be a consideration for you depending on how far away your audio interface is from your computer. Now the final thing that I really found out is very very useful is to have your Thunderbolt audio interface switched on before you switch your PC on. I find that when I do that as I say with all audio interfaces from the different manufacturers I've tried I find that they are consistently discovered by my computer which is not and normally I'm using a PC if I have the device switched on before I switch the PC on. I've been so happy with my previous discrete 8 synergy core that continuing on with this new Pro version is a no-brainer for me and if I could summarize in just one word well I would but I can't because it's the way that this unit so comprehensively solves so many problems which makes it impressive. I mean we're talking about eight console grade discrete preamps. Two ADAT in and outs. SPDIF in and outs giving us a total of 26 inns and 32 out. Two headphone outputs with unique mixes. The choice of using either Thunderbolt 3 or USB. Multiple word clock connections. Internal or assignable talk back with a foot switch control. Advanced routing with multiple workflows. 37 included real-time effects with the option to buy more. All the switches knobs and casing a premium quality and an interactive color display but with all these bells and whistles to tell you the truth it's actually the quality of the preamps in fact all of the IO which impresses me most on a daily basis so must be expensive right. So let's not pretend this sells at some kind of a budget price I mean why would it and how could it at some point you do have to pay for quality and features but I reckon at $1995 US this is really competitive especially when you consider the IO and those onboard real-time effects. Now you do of course as I said earlier have to pay for AFX to door however when you consider the whole ecosystem I still reckon this works out much cheaper because the cost of those additional effects is so much cheaper than the competition. Now I'd recommend checking the link in the description down below to get the current pricing for the time that you're watching this video and also leave me a comment down below to let me know what you think about this unit. Are you tempted by give me your thoughts I'd love to hear them. Now if this is outside of your pricing then I recommend you check out this review here of the ZenQ Synergy Core an awesome unit also from Antelope Audio with some great features enjoy.