Apollo Twin USB Flashing Green Light and No Sound: How to Turn Off Dim

The Apollo’s ring was flashing green. It was Dim, on an interface with no Dim button.

A client got in touch about his Universal Audio Apollo Twin USB. The ring around the volume knob had started flashing green, which he’d never seen before, and he could barely hear anything. His is the first-generation, silver-faced Apollo Twin USB, not the newer Twin X. That turns out to matter.

What the green light means

We spoke on WhatsApp first. He described what he was seeing, and I did some research. On these units a flashing green ring means Dim is on. Dim is a feature borrowed from mixing desks: it drops the monitor level by a set amount, here 20dB. He was already listening fairly quietly, so 20dB down was as good as silence.

The odd part

His model has no Dim button. There’s nothing on the front panel for it, and as far as I could find there’s no double press or long press on the knob that turns it on. A single press is mute.

On this model, the only way to switch Dim on or off is in UA’s Console software.

The fix

Dim is in Console’s monitor section, on the right-hand side. He never uses Console, so I connected to his computer remotely, opened Console and switched Dim off. His volume was straight back.

So he’s up and running, and he knows where the switch is if it happens again. How it got turned on in the first place, I can’t tell you. There’s no physical control he could have knocked. This is the only time I’ve seen it, so I’m not calling it a known fault. I’m recording it in case it helps someone else.

If your Apollo’s ring is flashing green and everything has gone quiet, open Console and look for Dim before you assume the interface is faulty.

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What the green light means

The odd part

The fix

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