Antelope Audio have just announced two new interfaces in their rapidly expanding Synergy Core series. The Discrete 8 Pro Synergy Core and Discrete 4 Pro Synergy Core build on their earlier Discrete 8 and Discrete 4 (non-Pro) models by adding DSP capable of hosting their acclaimed Synergy Core platform, and by improving the specs of their A-D and D-A conversion — with dynamic range increases of 1dB and 6dB respectively.
Also new to the Pro models is a virtual patchbay, allowing you to patch any analogue, digital or software input to any output, and vice versa.
In terms of I/O, these new interfaces maintain the same generous offerings of their non-Pro predecessors. That means a total of 26 inputs and 32 outs on the Discrete 8 Pro, and 14 inputs and 20 outputs on the Discrete 4 Pro. The preamps on both models are discrete Class-A designs and offer a generous 65dB of microphone gain.
The additional DSP mentioned earlier yields a massive increase in the number of processing channels, from two on the basic Discrete 8 model to 16 on the new Discrete 8 Pro Synergy Core. Each channel strip is capable of hosting up to eight Synergy Core processors each, and those all benefit from Antelope's afx2daw hybrid native/DSP workflow, which allows you to use the Synergy Core effects directly in your DAW.
The new Discrete Pro Synergy Core interfaces connect to computers via Thunderbolt 3 for minimal latency, but can also hook up via USB 2.0, for use in legacy systems.
Antelope's Discrete 8 Pro Synergy Core is available now, and priced at €1995. The smaller Discrete 4 Pro Synergy Core is due to be released later this year.