Combining design elements from the company's other products, the Ensemble Thunderbolt Audio Interface from Apogee builds upon their reputation for high-gain preamplifier design and improves upon their transparent analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion with the addition of an ultra-low latency 1.1 ms (96 kHz/32 buffer) 32-bit playback Thunderbolt signal path.

For inputs, the 1U rackmountable interface features eight microphone preamps with up to 75 dB of available gain using the company's Advanced Stepped Gain Circuitry - four rear panel XLR-3F connectors and four rear panel ¼" TRS/XLR-3F combo connectors. The preamps include line level Input channels 1 and 2 also included 1/4" Send and return loops.

The inputs include FET-based Soft-Limiting which can be enabled in the Apogee Maestro software and prevent digital clipping by instantaneously rounding off transient peaks before hitting the analog-to-digital converter. This allows several more decibels of apparent level to be recorded while also subtly proving an analog-tape-like warmth to the sound. Inputs can be selected using the front panel's grid of soft LED illuminated buttons. Pressing and holding the input select buttons will adjust parameters such as input type, +48v phantom power, Soft Limit, grouping, polarity invert, and hi-pass filtering.