Is UAD worth it?
 

Right now UA is running a special where you can get API, SSL and Neve plugins free with purchase.

I already have Studio Classics from Waves, but I was an early adopter of the UAD-1 and still have a couple licenses from when Mackie owned the company (I logged into my account and they're still there).

I really loved the precision mastering compressor and would love to check out the Studer A800 plug, but my question is it worth it to do so when I already have the Waves versions?

Anyone compare both?

Thoughts?

Re: Is UAD worth it?
 

I think you'll find many UA users that have had similar experiences here:

https://uadforum.com/general-discussion/

Re: Is UAD worth it?
 

I haven't used UAD much. Some great plugins for sure and I wish I had access to some of them, certainly the more unique ones.

However, I have these things against the platform.

1. The cost. The plugins cost at least twice as much as the same code I can run from say Brainworx.

2. The cost. One needs to buy the expensive UAD DSP to run the plugins on.

3. The dongle. I had enought of carry a 001, 002r and Mix rig around just to run Pro Tools.

4. The inflexibility. I rarely sell plugins but the thought I not being able to sell individual plugins seems downright inflexible, and moreover the lack of the ability to buy a used plugin.

5. The future. DSP is dying. UAD will be the last bastion.

I did get the chance to compare the UAD Pultec and the Waves Puigtec a while ago. I put the same settings and A/Bed. Now the UAD looked fantastic and the Waves GUI poor by comparison. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I quite preferred the sound of the Waves one. I'm not saying this will be the same for all UAD/Waves comparisons but the result won't be an overwhelming victory that some UAD users seem to think is a foregone conlusion.

Don't get me wrong, UAD have some amazing plugins which sound great. If and when I have plenty of spare cash I might well buy a UAD rig but right now they look overpriced to me.

Hope that helps.

Stephen

Re: Is UAD worth it?
 

I have a slightly different view, but to Stephen's #3. the dongle??? What dongle? The UAD hardware is the dongle:o

Okay, my 2 cents(and please take it that way). The plugins sound great, and in some cases, are probably the best sounding, BUT(this is where it goes a bit off the rails) what are your needs? If you want to track with UA plugins, then get an Apollo interface and go for it. Or, if you don't do tracking(and don't care about latency), then use UA plugins all you like(because they do sound great). If however, you wish to track with the plugins, but don't want to use Apollo, you're SOL because every single UA plugin reports over 1100 samples of latency, which makes it impossible to track with, on any other interface. I run a UA Quad card in my HDN rig, and find myself not getting my money's worth, and if I had it to do all over again, I would have either gone with Apollo interfaces(at the time, Thunderbolt on PC wasn't possible), or I would have skipped UA completely. As great as the plugins are, I can mix just fine with other brands:o

Re: Is UAD worth it?
 

I would be more likely to get an Apollo if it were not locked into my HD Omni.

When I had my Mackie UAD I really like it, but that was a LONG time ago (2002 or 03 IIRC).

The Apollo with Omni setup looks kind of clunky and wouldn't work with the routing I use.

Re: Is UAD worth it?
 

I own quite a bunch of UAD-Plugins and I'm using an Octo PCIe card alongside my HDX 2.

In essence I agree with Stephen Bond, although I think the audio quality of some of their plug-ins justifies putting up with the DSP nonsense, when you want to buy in, wait for Black Friday or any of the 50% off offers.

I'd add one more significant downside to using them though - the latency means I can't use UAD plug-ins before bouncing stuff into Melodyne and offline bounces will be speed limited to 2,5x instead of 10x-16x depending on your CPU. This is a really bugging me. I'm using a lot of the Plugin-Alliance stuff instead, they have a few top notch processors that are even AAX DSP.

Re: Is UAD worth it?
 

It's a tough call, and only you can make the decision. At one time UAD was head and shoulders above other companies with their emulation capabilities, but now there are lots of superb plugins emulating analog gear. And years ago additional DSP was a big help, but now, unless you spend a lot on hardware they seem very under powered. You can do a console emulation on a PC.

I own a UAD card and it gets limited use these days.

Re: Is UAD worth it?
 

Are you saying you think UAD will outlive HDX? It's possible.

Re: Is UAD worth it?
 

I'd post the question here for some alternative viewpoints.

https://uadforum.com/general-discussion/

Is UAD worth it?
 

It definitely will outlive HDX.


Yep, an Apollo is a fantastic tool, top notch in all ways. Honestly I could do just fine with one, but.....

1. I don’t like fussing with a 3rd party software program between the Apollo interface and PT.

2. PT hardware and controllers integrate so well with PT.

3. I need HD for the Icon....and HD is pretty much a waste with an Apollo (there isn’t much benefit)

4. I was pissed they didn’t bring Console 2 to the Silver FW devices sooner...(I honestly thought I had a dead duck that would not be supported in the future, I’m talking like 2 years they said they were going to make it happen and it didn’t)

4. I got a super deal on a HD Native setup ( in 2015)


Buuuut those 1176’s and LA2A’s sound ssooooo good.

The SSL Channel Strip is amazing (and I don’t even have unison)

And it’s the only option to track with Auto Tune currently.