Symphony I/O: Navigating in Maestro

Navigating in Maestro

This section describes how to navigate the Maestro application, identify hardware peripherals and locate settings.   Once all hardware connections are made and the audio interface mode has been set on each hardware unit, launch Maestro software by double-clicking on the Apogee Maestro icon found in your Macʼs Applications folder. 

Devices Sidebar

When navigating in Maestro for the first time, start at the Devices sidebar, on the left hand side of the Maestro window. All the Apogee devices connected to your Mac are displayed in Maestroʼs Devices sidebar, organized by the System (such as Symphony, USB or Firewire) and the Apogee hardware peripherals that make up each system. When a Symphony System is installed, the Symphony PCI cards appear in the sidebar but arenʼt selectable. In the sidebar, click on a peripheral to display a row of settings for that device in the Main area, under the Settings tabs. Shift-click or Option-click Peripherals to display one row each for multiple hardware devices.

ID Button

To the left of each row of settings, a peripheral icon plus ID button appears. Clicking on the ID button illuminates the front panel meters of the associated peripheral, making a visual connection between the software settings row and the hardware unit. When multiple rows are displayed, the ID button helps to clarify which settings belongs to which unit.

Peripheral Prefix

By assigning a unique letter prefix to each peripheral (using the Peripheral Prefix drop down in the Device Settings tab), peripheral labels throughout Maestro and in audio software may be easily associated with the hardware unit. Itʼs recommended to assign prefixes to peripherals in the order A,B,C,D etc, but any letter may be assigned to any peripheral.  

Settings Tabs

Once a peripheral is selected in the Devices sidebar, settings for that peripheral are displayed in the Main area, under the tab selection. In the case of Symphony I/O, settings are distributed amongst the following tabs:

  • Input - settings pertaining to I/O Module analog and Digital Inputs are displayed in this tab.
  • Output - settings pertaining to I/O Module analog and Digital Outputs are displayed in this tab.
  • Device Settings - miscellaneous peripheral settings such as front panel meter assignment are displayed in this tab.
  • Routing - When Audio Interface Mode is set to Symphony, the Routing tabs display the inputs and outputs of the Symphony 64 Thunderbridge or PCIe card, where routing between hardware and software is performed. While the Input, Output and Device Settings tabs display peripheral settings, the Routing and Mixer tabs display Symphony 64 Thunderbridge or PCIe card settings. When the Routing or Mixer tabs are selected, a yellow “halo” in the Devices sidebar indicates this by encircling the Symphony 64 Thunderbridge or PCIe card and the attached peripherals.
  • System Setup - Global settings pertaining to the entire Symphony System, including the Symphony 64 Thunderbridge or PCIe card and attached peripherals, are displayed in this tab. A yellow “halo” in the Devices sidebar encircles all the devices belonging to the system. Settings found in this tab include Clock Source, Sample Rate and Global Meter characteristics.