Antelope Discrete 8 Oryx Synergy Core

I have had this unit about three weeks now and i'm completely blown away with the sounds i have recorded via this to Pro tools so far. Very clean high quality.
When i first set it up it took me a while to get used to the routing, but then i had an hour long video call with Georgi from Antelope Audio and he talked me through the functionality and helped me set up a session to work from. He was very thorough and extremely helpful, as well as patient!
I can now see how incredibly flexible the routing can be.
All in all a 10/10.

I have now had the Discrete 8 Oryx Synergy Core for about 3-4 months.
It is used in my home studio with a Smile. The recordings are made with joy, as the results turn out incredibly well, primarily the clarity and sharpness of the sound image when mixing.
Even though it is a USB interface, I do not experience any latency during recording, as the Oryx processes in real time.
I have read some negative reviews from users of older products from Antelope Audio, but I don't quite agree based on my own preferences for using the Oryx. I use Logic Pro 12 with the latest MacOS. Although full compatibility with Tahoe is lacking, I have not experienced any issues. The control panel is easy to overview.
What I do find challenging is the powerful capability of routing the signal paths. I knew when I bought it that this would require a slightly longer learning curve on my part. Those who work with music production on a daily basis should have no problem achieving a smooth workflow in their creative process.

I’ve been using the Antelope Discrete 8 Oryx Synergy Core for a month now and I’m very satisfied with the purchase. The sound is clean, detailed, and spacious, especially noticeable when recording vocals and mixing. The preamps are high quality, monitoring is latency-free, and the DSP effects pleasantly surprised me with their sound quality.

At first, the interface and routing seemed complicated, but after a couple of days everything became clear. There are a lot of possibilities — it’s convenient to set up separate outputs, headphone mixes, and external hardware.

After a month of use, the device has proven to be stable. An excellent option for both home and professional studios if you need truly high-quality sound and flexibility in your workflow.

I’m a hobby musician, and I use this interface in my home studio with a Windows PC. I was a little suspicious about this interface before I got my hands on it, mainly because it offers such a great feature set at this price point, and the general feedback on its software side is quite mixed.

When I got it, it took me one or two days to create the setup I needed. I understand the confusion other users had, because it’s quite a complex system. But I think it is very logical, and once you figure it out, you can easily make the changes you want. Honestly, I don’t think this level of complexity could be implemented in a much simpler way.

What I really like about this interface:
- I have 16 inputs (expanded with an ASP800 via ADAT). I use a few parallel channels for some instruments with real-time effects enabled, and I record 24 channels at 96 kHz simultaneously.
- It has four headphone outputs. I use one for mixing and a different mix for two headphones for tracking while recording and practicing.
- The interface is bundled with native DAW plugins and real-time effects that can run without latency on the device. What I like is that after I’ve mixed my recording in a DAW using the native plugins, I can apply most of those plugins to my tracking and practicing mixes. This way, what I hear in the headphones while playing is very close to the final mix. These real-time effects run on the interface, so the PC can be turned off—I only need to turn it on when I want to record.
- Another feature I really like is presets. I can save all the settings in one preset, or I can save different parts of the setup separately. For example, I can save different routings or FX chains as separate presets, and when I load them, they only apply those specific settings.

Overall, I’m very happy with this interface so far, and I hope it will last for many years.