New Gear Review: Universal Audio Arrow
The Arrow by Universal Audio is designed to capture album-quality recordings from any location.
If you’re looking for a simple, sleek audio interface that you can take on the road with you, the Arrow by Universal Audio may be a good choice.
The Arrow is specifically designed for mobile use and even works off of bus power alone. It provides access to UAD’s coveted plugins while offering near-zero latency in one very compact package. By taking advantage of UA’s built-in “Unison” technology, you’re now able to achieve the sound of many carefully-modeled tube and solid state preamps in real time while on-the-go.
Universal Audio’s larger interfaces are found throughout many professional studios and have already proven their worth in those environments. Now, the Arrow has beaten out the Apollo Twin MKII as the cheapest way to enter into Universal Audio’s range of hardware and software.
With many heavy-hitting audio interfaces under their belt, let’s take a look at what UA’s smallest offering, Arrow, brings to the table.
Features
The Arrow offers 24-bit/192kHz conversion, Realtime UAD Processing, 2 mic/line preamps, 2 monitor outputs, 1 Hi-Z instrument input, and a single 1/4” stereo headphone output. It provides Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, which allows for data transfer rates of up to 40 Gbit/s. On top of this, the unit contains two digitally-controlled Unison mic preamps, as well as a low cut filter, 48V phantom power, 20dB pad, polarity inversion, and stereo linking. The Arrow has an onboard UAD-2 DSP Accelerator with a solo core, which allows for the use of UAD plugins.
The Universal Audio Console application provided with the Arrow allows you to remotely control the interface, save previous Console sessions, and create virtual ins and outs for routing DAW channels in and out of the Console application. Each channel input in the Console application allows for hardware inputs and virtual inputs; they also each host a level, pan, solo, and mute control. Additionally, each channel has two aux sends and a headphone cue send. The UA Console is also where you apply the UA plugins that you want to process your incoming signal with.
Universal Audio is able to accurately reconstruct preamps using their Unison technology, which reconfigures the Arrow’s mic preamps’ physical input impedance, gain staging response, and other parameters to match the emulated preamp’s characteristics. The multi-function encoder wheel will light up orange when the Unison technology is engaged. Unison technology is one of the Arrow’s most robust features, affording you countless high-quality recording options by allowing you to emulate a wealth of different preamps. Without applying any of UA’s preamp emulations in the Console software, the Unison preamps in the Arrow sound rich and warm, but keep in mind that you can drastically change the character of them.
The Arrow is bus powered, which further enhances its notoriety as the ultimate portable audio interface. Without having to rely on a power outlet, you’re free to set up shop wherever you like. Features like bus power are what give the Arrow a leg up on other audio interfaces that claim to be “complete portable solutions.”
In Use
Once you connect the Arrow to your computer, setting up the interface is quite simple. All you need to do is download the UAD software, register the Arrow online, and authorize the included UAD plugins.
The multi-function encoder wheel on the Arrow controls various functions, such as output monitor level, headphone output level, and preamp input level. Although there are 3 inputs on the interface, only 2 are usable at the same time; when you plug an instrument into the Hi-Z jack on the front of the unit, channel 1 switches to the Hi-Z input. The “Input” button on the interface allows you to switch between microphone and line input. If you were to plug a microphone cable into channel 2, you would be able to simultaneously record a vocalist, as well as an instrument like a guitar.
The Arrow is designed well in my opinion. All inputs (except for the Hi-Z input) are located on the rear of the unit, making cable clutter a non-issue. All of the Arrow’s features are easily accessible at the press of a button, so using it is nothing short of a cakewalk.
A view of the back panel of the ultra-streamlined Arrow.
I wanted to try and keep this review focused on the Arrow while avoiding the UAD plugins, but it would be unfair to do so. The UAD plugins are one of the Arrow’s greatest strengths, and make it a powerhouse mobile recording solution. The quality of the plugins is almost on par with the analog gear they’re meant to emulate. Being able to fit a Neve 1073 preamp, UA 1176 compressor, and MAAG EQ4 into your road bag is unheard of, but this is precisely the type of processing power that the Arrow allows you to carry around. Universal Audio has a massive suite of high-quality plugins, so your options during tracking are nearly endless.
The Arrow was not designed to allow you to run large mixing sessions using UAD plugins; this is a result of the limited processing power provided by the single SHARC processor that it uses. You can view how heavily each of Universal Audio’s plugins will tax a single SHARC processor here.
The benefit of recording with the Arrow and baking processing into your recorded signal is that you won’t need to apply as much processing when you mix. It allows you to save time mixing by recording exceptional audio at the source. Again, I want to emphasize here that the Arrow is intended for mobile use, and its features are specialized for this purpose.
To Be Critical
As a portable audio interface, the Arrow performs well, but at its steep price point of $499, is it worth the money? There’s little doubt that a million dollar sports car is going to be “good,” but the real question is whether or not its price point is backed up by its value.
When you compare the Arrow to other audio interfaces in a similar price range, it seems at first like it’s lacking features. Some of these other units like the Focusrite Clarett 4Pre USB have 18 ins, 8 outs, MIDI inputs, ADAT… the list goes on. From an I/O perspective, the Arrow doesn’t offer as much as other similarly priced audio interfaces. However, the Arrow excels far beyond its competitors when you look at what it’s capable of in mobile applications. Unison preamps, UAD plugins, bus power, and its small size ensure that it gives even slightly more expensive audio interfaces a run for their money.
It’s worth noting that the Arrow doesn’t ship with a Thunderbolt 3 cable, but if you purchase it from Sweetwater, it includes one. This is great because a Thunderbolt 3 cable will set you back about $49 if you buy it from Apple, or closer to $25 if you get one off of Amazon; this is something that you need to factor into the overall price of the unit if you don’t buy from Sweetwater.
Summing it Up
The Universal Audio Arrow is a straightforward, user-friendly audio interface that’s specialized for mobile recording situations. The value it offers musicians who are always on-the-move is worth much more than its $499 price point. Universal Audio has pinpointed a niche of people who were in need of a device that would provide them a portable, powerful recording solution, and tailored the Arrow specifically for them.
The lack of inputs and outputs makes the Arrow less than ideal for home studio applications, but its simplicity and powerful Unison technology make it an absolute beast if you’re taking it on the road with you. It’s refreshing to see Universal Audio take a different approach to the Arrow than they have with previous interfaces. Instead of creating another home studio Goliath like the Apollo x16, they’ve offered up a mobile product that is well-planned and well-executed in both its design and functionality.
Charles Hoffman is a Mixing and Mastering Engineer at Black Ghost Audio. After graduating from the University of Manitoba with an English degree, Charles completed his education at Icon Collective in Los Angeles, CA.
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