Apogee GiO Guitar Interface
Product Information
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Overview
GiO is a revolutionary guitar interface featuring the award-winning sound quality that made Apogee Electronics famous. Designed to work easily with GarageBand, Logic, Final Cut or any Core Audio compliant application, GiO is the perfect addition to your guitar or bass.
Take full control
Designed to work with the new Logic Studio 9 and MainStage 2, GiO allows you to control recording functions, preset changes and plug-ins like Amp Designer and Pedalboard, along with new Playback and Loopback features in MainStage. With GarageBand, GiO is truly plug-and-play. It lets you quickly connect your guitar, select and control built-in Amps and stompboxes, and record.
Truly accurate sound
The 1/4-inch instrument input features Apogee's world-class instrument preamp and converters. Hear and record your guitar's true tone straight into GarageBand, Logic and MainStage without compromise. GiO is optimised for all pickup configurations.
Input for pedal control
On-board Expression control pedal input allows access to traditional effects like wah-wah and volume. You can also control effects parameters like the length of a delay or the speed of a tremolo. (Expression Control Pedal not included.)
Convenient USB power
GiO is fully powered by the USB connection to your Mac, eliminating the need for an external power source. Simply plug into an available USB port on any Mac and you're ready to go.
Superb quality output
Hear your guitar and recording like never before thanks to GiO's 24-bit audio at sample rates of 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz for pristine, better than CD sound quality. Just connect your headphones, powered monitors or instrument amplifier to Apogee converters via GiO's 1/4-inch stereo output.
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Highlights
- Unbalanced 1/4-inch high impedance instrument input
- 1/4-inch MIDI Expression pedal input
- Line-level, 1/4-inch stereo output for headphones, powered monitors or an instrument amplifier
- Five Stompbox buttons, dynamically colour coded to match software effects
- Five transport control buttons, dynamically lit when engaged
- Two "Previous/Next" preset selection buttons
- Control built into GarageBand '09, Logic Pro 9 and MainStage 2 software
- Compatible with any Core Audio compliant audio application
- Plug-and-play ease with GarageBand and Logic—no setup required
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Did you notice?
Revolutionary design offers complete control of all presets, effects and a transport control - all at the tips of your feet. And your instrument will sound recording studio perfect. -
Apple Recommends For
Incredibly easy to use with GarageBand, Logic and virtually all Mac compatible software, this one device gives you professional-quality instrument input, stereo output, expression pedal input all with dynamically lit transport control buttons and more. -
What's in the Box?
- Apogee GiO
- USB cable (16.4 ft./5 m)
- 1/4-in. Stereo to left/right RCA cable (9.8 ft./3 m)
- Apogee software and documentation CD
- Quick start guide
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Tech Specs
- Height : 2.5 in./6.4 cm
- Width : 7.0 in./17.8 cm
- Weight : 6.5 lb./2.95 kg
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System Requirements
Mac
- Mac OS X v.10.5.7 or later
- Mac PowerPC G5 or Intel processor
- 2 GB RAM
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Manufacturer Information
Part Number
- UPC or EAN No. : 805676300801
Non-Apple Branded products / Third Party Products
- Note : Apple's One Year Limited Warranty does not apply to products that are not Apple-branded, even if packaged or sold with Apple products. Non-Apple branded products may have the benefit of a manufacturer's warranty provided by the product manufacturer - Please see your product box and literature for details. Rights under the product manufacturer's warranty are in addition, and not instead of, any rights that you have under consumer protection laws.
- Non-Apple Branded products / Third Party Products : One year warranty
Ratings & Reviews
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Perfect for Logic recording
I'm a songwriter and I compose on guitar as well as keyboard and bass. When I first saw Gio I thought it would be a great way to r ecord and get to the guitar sounds in Logic but had no idea it would change my entire workflow. Actually it made it just flow.. no work!
Gio eliminates tons of mouse clicking and trips between the computer and the instrument. Truly hands free recording as advertised. It's totally intuitive to guitarists especially if you’ve used a pedal board... a great extension to bring the virtual power of Logic’s amps and pedals back into the musician’s world. I even had it tucked under my synth to use the transport... didn’t have to turn around to the computer.
It just all works when you plug it in and the sound output is absolutely pristine.
Even my acoustic sounds delish through it. This is obviously because of Apogee conversion and pre. The led’s are totally useful to associate with what’s on the screen. Next/Previous buttons work contextually to step through different setups or tracks... Ingenious. It’s also beautiful to look at. Almost too beautiful to step on.
Seems like there are endless possibilities to assign the buttons to be useful for other things. Computing with your feet... awesome! Makes me wish it worked with iTunes, Photoshop and other programs I use. …- Written by Chris V from Marina del Rey
111 of 118 people found this useful
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It works and it doesn't.
It's a very good product. I have used it about 2 months now. It works great with Logic and Garageband, but not at all with Mains tage. After spending about 45 minutes on the phone with an Apogee tech support person and another 20 minutes with an apple tech, they just couldn't figure out why it didn't work with Mainstage. I removed and re-installed Mainstage, re-installed the drivers for the Gio and still, it just didn't work. Like I said, though, it works like a charm in Logic and Garageband. Biggest adjustment I've had to make is to keep my hands off the computer and use the Gio for what it's made for. Which is to c control the software. Very rugged construction. All in all, I can live with it not working on Mainstage since I'm much more comfortable working with Logic. It may work for you, I just happened to get one that didn't. …
- Written by Jeffery J from Murrieta
47 of 58 people found this useful
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Fantastic!
I love this pedal. I works great with GarageBand and MainStage. Currently using it with MainStage 1 which requires a bit more setu p, but works like a charm. The I/O processing in the pedal is amazing. I never had any latency issues even when I really push it. Running it off a Unibody MacBook Pro 2.53 ghz with 4 GB of RAM. Getting great tone out of MainStage and have at this point abandoned my previous amp setup. Wish it had a built in expression pedal but will be buying M-Audio Midi expression pedal soon. …
- Written by Christopher M from San Antonio
39 of 44 people found this useful
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Doesn't work
My GIO no longer controls play/record in garageband but simply turns the effects pedals on/off. It suddenly stopped working and n o matter what I do, reboot etc won’t start working. In addition to the problems (originally) described below when I try play/record it ‘bounces’ on for a second then shuts off as if the switch just cycles on /off . It will not come on and stay on, very frustrating!
Do I just have a defective Unit or are there others in the community experiencing problems with GIO?
What are the reviews on this product? Does it work ( with GarageBand ). My Unit is brand new and I have a new iMac and all the latest software.
I must send this Unit back it it’s defective!!
Please read below my initial problems with the Unit….
My GIO hangs up and no longer responds to Garageband.
Especially if I leave it plugged in. If I leave it plugged in it will jam up other apps.
Upon startup it doesn't respond if I plug it in and press OK in the 2 dialogs. I have to quit garageband and re-open garageband, this cannot be normal.
Expected behavior would be to have the GIO control and respond to garageband if they are both up and running. THis is not the case, I have to plug the GIO Unit in and out and reboot Garageband to get it working. If I leave it for awhile it loses connection as well.
My Software is all current my iMac is new but I haven't done any software updates for the GIO.
GIO Firmware = v1.00
GIO ser# = GPAP006868
GIO MIDI Driver = v1.0.1
GIO Daemon = v1.6.15
GarageBand (11) = v6.0.4(427.84)
Mac OS X i7 = v10.7.5
What can we do to get GIO to operate as it should, it's very frustrating since it's supposed to be a device that controls garageband therefore should be easy to engage and startup.
Do I need to update any software? Why does the GIO freeze up and fail to start after pressing OK on the 2 driver dialogs? …- Written by John O from Deux Montagnes
3 of 3 people found this useful
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Dissapointing
It would be good if it worked as it shall. But it does not. I get constant problems with contecting to my Mac Pro - one time it is not switching the patches, one time it is not doing anything etc. And there are permanent cracks in the sound output that are very annoying. This apparently happens to few more people as I read on the net. I ditched it. Next time I will want to waste 400 bucks I find a toilet instead ... …
- Written by Daniel H from Doha
3 of 3 people found this useful
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Excellent unit!
This, in my opinion, is a fantastic item. I bought this for use with my MacBook Pro running Mainstage 2. It works seemlessly with Mainstage, offering exactly the amount of control that I was looking for. I now have a fantastically versatile guitar rig for live performance.
Excellent build quality finishes this off brilliantly. 10/10 thus far.
It was also very simple to 'aggregate' this unit with Apogee Duet2, giving extra output possibilities. Worth every penny! …- Written by Daniel B from Bracknell
0 of 1 people found this useful
Questions & Answers
Answers from the community
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Will I be able to run other pedals with an apogee gio
- Asked by Darren W
- 04/03/2013
No answers yet
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I want to record an electric drumkit into GarageBand can i use this product?
- Asked by Jennifer B
- 30/12/2009
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If I wanted to use the GiO to gig with, could I still use my overdrive and boost pedals? Where would they go in the signal chain?
- Asked by Josh S from Pardeeville
- 04/04/2010
Answer
That's a Loaded Question on Effecting with a USB Audio Interface. Boost/Overdrive/Fuzz/Distortion P edals boost the signal output a lot to cause harmonic distortion/clipping in tube amps. It's pointless to overdrive the Guitar's signal going into the GiO where You want clear and clean resolution on Input like if You have Logic Pro 9 Mainstage for Live use like say Nine Inch Nails and Reznor as example... so You have Stereo Outs on the GiO for Amps/Monitors... You're better on an Audio Interface to put them Post-FX on the Output to Amp for best Overdrive FX to amp/sound system Live. Otherwise using those pedals going into the GiO You have to turn down output on them so You don't fry the circuits in the GiO. …
- Answered by Ricky R from Casper
- 08/04/2010
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will i be able to use my apogee GIO with the new FRETLIGHT guitar and garage band?
- Asked by Michael M from Bennington
- 19/01/2011
Answer
The Fretlight has a standard 1/4" (6.3mm) instrument interface just like any other electric guitar/b ass, so in theory it should work just as well with GiO and GarageBand as any other electric guitar/bass. As with any other electric guitar/bass, you would connect the 1/4" instrument cable to an amp, or to a computer via a DAC such as Apogee's GiO, ONE, or Duet. …
- Answered by Kenneth D from Ottawa
- 20/01/2011
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Are there any differences between the D/A converters in the apogee duet or the Gio?
- Asked by Michael M from Bennington
- 20/12/2010
Answer
I can't find the reference just now, but I believe Apogee has indicated in the past that the DACs in their "One", Duet, and GiO are all similar in output quality. One notable difference is the Duet has a sample rate of 96 kHz, while "One" and GiO are 48 kHz (all three are 24-bit).
See the "Compare Apogee Interfaces" link on the Apogee web site's main product page. …- Answered by Kenneth D from Ottawa
- 20/12/2010
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Can I use this with Pro Tools ?
- Asked by Manuel R from Calexico
- 23/10/2010
