- Messages
- 1,199
UAD | Audio Plugins | Universal Audio
UAD plug-ins give authentic analog sound to your in-the-box mixes. Create with exclusive titles from Neve,® API,® SSL,® Studer,® and more. Learn more.
UA Doing Half-Yearly Sale (Native too)
- Thread starter LeftyLoungeLizard
- Start date
Bruce
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,913
Did you see this? Thomann is blowing out octo PCie cards for 399! I paid 1200 bucks for these.
www.thomannmusic.com
Universal Audio UAD-2 Octo
PCIe DSP card With 8 SHARC processors for calculating UAD plug-ins without loading the CPU of the host computer, Operation of up to 4 cards in one system, Supported Sample Rates: 44,1 - 192 kHz, Includes Analog Classics Plus Bundle
- Messages
- 5,923
That's... that's actually pretty good.Did you see this? Thomann is blowing out octo PCie cards for 399! I paid 1200 bucks for these.
Universal Audio UAD-2 Octo
PCIe DSP card With 8 SHARC processors for calculating UAD plug-ins without loading the CPU of the host computer, Operation of up to 4 cards in one system, Supported Sample Rates: 44,1 - 192 kHz, Includes Analog Classics Plus Bundle
EOL I'm guessing... but also... are UA in trouble???
Bruce
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,913
Seems to be a sale specific to Thomann’s 70th anniversary. They’re still 999 at my usual retailers.
UA is a victim of itself. If they ever figure out the company they want to be, THAT company will be stellar. Until then they suffer from ADD and seem unable to focus on any of the many market segments they aim to serve.
MirrorProfiles
Rock Star
- Messages
- 2,965
nah, I think they’re just moving away from PCIe for those, Satellites have been around for quite a while now and I think are generally way more preferable to PCIe cards. Pretty good deal for someone who has the space and desire for DSP though!
- Messages
- 5,923
They should give up on LUNA I reckon. Absolute waste of time.
Bruce
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,913
IMO the less cables the better, but Mac still being the daw of choice, I can see this view. Unless you go with a Mac Pro or a PCI external bay, but then you are essentially just creating a TB satellite anyway.
They all swear on the sound of it. For my use at the rate of current development, it is at least 5 years away from even a consideration.
- Messages
- 5,922
You think so? I don't use any UA products but it seems like having a solid DAW platform/infrastructure would be a good longterm plan. You can create a complete musical world within that domain already, and it only seems to be getting more common. But I'm not familiar with how LUNA runs so can't say it is a great DAW now?
Bruce
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,913
No external inserts and no multi out VIs. 100% non starter.
MirrorProfiles
Rock Star
- Messages
- 2,965
Its miles off any kind of serious use, and IMO they've made a right pigs ear of whats there so far.
To make it workable it would need so much rejigging. Its kind of like a worse version of Garageband - I suppose it (finally) has windows support but its buggy as shit and I still don't know why anyone would put themselves through it.
Bruce
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,913
They’d actually get it done if they weren’t focused on everything but getting it done. They are more than servicing the pro audio market, which makes them neglect the pro audio market. If you’re cranking out 400 dollar guitar pedals, you aren’t focused on your DAW or premium interfaces. Development gets slower for everything all around.
laxu
Rock Star
- Messages
- 4,911
You're assuming it's a zero sum game where making plugins vs making pedals hinders the other. Afaik UA has something like 200 employees so even if you take out the middle management and marketing, that would still be a lot of people capable of working on various products.
I do agree that Luna does not seem like a worthwhile investment for them. I still haven't found a good argument for why you should use it over the established players. At a glance it doesn't seem to do anything better, or different enough.
UA had a locked in ecosystem with their DSP audio interfaces and good plugins that would only run on that hardware. But now that even something like a baseline Macbook Air is super powerful, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have dedicated DSP hardware for running plugins. So they've had to pivot to offering those plugins for everybody.
At the same time the plugin market is pretty saturated as is, and UA already has over 200 plugins out there, to the point that it makes me wonder who needs this many different compressor, mic pre and EQ plugins.
Glassdoor reviews for the company - though admittedly they can be skewed towards negative posts only - seem to complain about middle management as a problem going on for several years now. That seems to be coupled with worse pay than other companies but I don't know what that means in practice. Often working for a company that does something interesting with people you like is more important than having the best pay.
MirrorProfiles
Rock Star
- Messages
- 2,965
There's some parallels I see between Fractal and UAD. One big difference is UAD think they are Apple. Another is that Fractal are quite content serving their niche and not veering off a set path, whereas UAD are looking to the future and trying to grow and change the company into something different to what it was 10 years ago.
UAD's plugins are essentially the benchmark of analog modelling plugins, and they're probably the most respected company in that field - even plugins that are over 10 years old are still yet to be topped by the competition. Like Fractal, I think they've generally made other companies raise the bar. Its kind of hilarious to look at plugin manufacturers product lines and see just how they've built the company on making native versions of UAD's DSP plugins.
The issue is that SO MANY people have "good enough" equivalents for basically the entire UAD product line now, because they were too slow and stubborn to release native versions. Now that they are finally doing it, they're playing catchup by trickling products out slowly. I think even if they would have launched native plugins 5 years ago, people would be losing their shit way more than they are right now. 10 years ago, they'd probably still be selling plugins at $300 rather than $30. Much like Focusrite managed, UA are trying to pivot away from a company that caters to professionals, and more to a company that caters to a wider slice of the population. If they can cater for professionals too, then great, but I think the goal is really to use that association of being "pro" that they've built over the last 20 years to grow the company in a different direction.
I think they are VERY aware that there are big changes afoot in the next 5-10 years and the current model will basically be a thing of the past by then.
UAD's plugins are essentially the benchmark of analog modelling plugins, and they're probably the most respected company in that field - even plugins that are over 10 years old are still yet to be topped by the competition. Like Fractal, I think they've generally made other companies raise the bar. Its kind of hilarious to look at plugin manufacturers product lines and see just how they've built the company on making native versions of UAD's DSP plugins.
The issue is that SO MANY people have "good enough" equivalents for basically the entire UAD product line now, because they were too slow and stubborn to release native versions. Now that they are finally doing it, they're playing catchup by trickling products out slowly. I think even if they would have launched native plugins 5 years ago, people would be losing their shit way more than they are right now. 10 years ago, they'd probably still be selling plugins at $300 rather than $30. Much like Focusrite managed, UA are trying to pivot away from a company that caters to professionals, and more to a company that caters to a wider slice of the population. If they can cater for professionals too, then great, but I think the goal is really to use that association of being "pro" that they've built over the last 20 years to grow the company in a different direction.
I think they are VERY aware that there are big changes afoot in the next 5-10 years and the current model will basically be a thing of the past by then.
laxu
Rock Star
- Messages
- 4,911
I bought the UA Essentials plugins when they were on sale earlier this year, and I do like and use them. I've gotten a lot of use from the Century Tube Channel Strip as a straighforward comp/EQ/mic pre sim for micing my guitar cabs, and the Plate Reverb for adding a bit of space and LA-2A as a master comp.
I'm thinking of picking up the Sound City Studios plugin as that could be a cool way to explore some nicer room sounds. My "Laxu Home Office Studios" with tone shaping IKEA desks, cabinets and curtains isn't exactly word class!
With their 2 for 83 € bundle I don't know what I should pick for the other plugin though. Lexicon 224?
I'm thinking of picking up the Sound City Studios plugin as that could be a cool way to explore some nicer room sounds. My "Laxu Home Office Studios" with tone shaping IKEA desks, cabinets and curtains isn't exactly word class!
With their 2 for 83 € bundle I don't know what I should pick for the other plugin though. Lexicon 224?
MirrorProfiles
Rock Star
- Messages
- 2,965
The Lexicon 224 plugin is fantastic. My only reservation there is (as usual) another company (Arturia) has made one that is basically identical sounding, with some modern conveniences and possibly cheaper. The "modern" Arturia UI is really nice for dialling it in, plus you get a few extra features (different conversion types and filters, gate/ducking, drive, EQ/filter controls).
IMO the best native UAD offers are the bundles where you get a ton of plugins for $7 each or so. UAD don't really make any bad plugins - they're exceptionally consistent across the board, so I don't think you'll get any duds, and in each case you'll basically have an industry leading version of that particular emulation.
Of the native stuff my favourites are:
- 1176 Collection
- Capitol Chambers
- Manley Massive Passive
- Studer A800
I'm a bit torn on Sound City - when used "as intended" it can make things a bit weird. But there is so much included that it definitely has some value. The cab IR section is actually quite nice, and pretty cool in itself. The chamber is good and fun to use. Being able to compress and mangle the different sources is cool. Sometimes it can sound cool as intended but I'd recommend caution on expecting it to sound like something recorded amazingly well in a top studio.
Its worth reading the old posts on the making of the Ocean Way plugin - they had to develop some In house IR techniques to address certain challenges, and afterwards they said it was unlikely they'd do another plugin like this due to the R&D time and costs involved. I think those kinds of plugins aren't particularly suited to running on DSP and I THINK they have some sort of deeper involvement with sound city these days where maybe a few factors made it viable. Tbh the whole old webzine they used to publish with interviews from Dr. David Berners are a great read.
When UAD adds native versions of:
- Ampex 102
- EL FATSO
- AKG BX20
- SSL 4000E (and their bus compressor)
- Neve 33609/2254/31102/1081 etc
- RMX16 (unlikely due to AMS/Neve's licencing)
I'll be particularly excited. The SSL and Neve stuff has been done to death by other companies, but I still like UAD's a bit better. The others don't really have an equivalent that is QUITE as good. The Ampex for instance, can be calibrated just as you would a real tape machine.
Bruce
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,913
They want to serve too many markets. Where are the Avid guitar pedals? Or load box? Or entry level interface? How about RME? Antelope? If their 200 employees focused on the pro audio market, they wouldn’t have half the issues. It took them over 15 years to make plugins resizable, being dead last to do it. The Ox still has a useless port on the back and from what I read, has not had an update with anything new or fixes in quite some time. Meanwhile development continues with cheap guitar pedals, 400 dollar interfaces and whatever else. You cant compare FAS. They make a premium product and service the hell out if it and the client base.
HomespunEffects
Roadie
- Messages
- 818
They are still $999 in USA.Did you see this? Thomann is blowing out octo PCie cards for 399! I paid 1200 bucks for these.
Universal Audio UAD-2 Octo
PCIe DSP card With 8 SHARC processors for calculating UAD plug-ins without loading the CPU of the host computer, Operation of up to 4 cards in one system, Supported Sample Rates: 44,1 - 192 kHz, Includes Analog Classics Plus Bundle
- Messages
- 1,199
I have a bunch of UA plugins (but certainly not most or all)... what are you looking for?
They have some of the best tape sims... I have all 3 (Studer A800, Ampex ATR & Oxide).
if you don't have any (or any good) tape sims, go Studer A800.
Alternatively go for the lower mem-footprint Oxide.
laxu
Rock Star
- Messages
- 4,911
I've got what's in the UA Essentials bundle:
- Polymax Synth
- Century Tube Channel Strip
- Pultec Passive EQ collection
- LA-2A compressor/limiter
- Galaxy Echo
- Pure Plate Reverb
- Oxide