AARGH! UA Why cant you make a UAD-2 that works with PCI-X!

[John_McEnroe]

I was hoping we would see an announcement for a UAD-2 at the AES show (wishful thinking I know) I would happily drop $2000 on a powerful firewire UAD card if it worked properly with my PCI-X G5 2.0. Im sure im not the only one, maybe if we all post about it UA will listen and make our wishes come true! I LOVE the UA plugins, but I just cant justify buying something that is never going to properly work in my computer, and im sure if I DID decide to get a card and just live with it, a newer one would come out the next month and I would be up the creek.


Ok thanks for letting me rant, but really, UA, there must be a TON of people with these \"afflicted\" G5's that are chomping at the bit for some kind of solution to this problem.

 

[Ninja]

It would make absoluetly no sense for UA to support PCI-X now.

The pci-x standard is pretty much dead allready. I guarantee you that the next generation of Apple computers will not have PCI-X ports.

PCI express on the other hand...

 

[UAJames]

I just wanted to point out that the UAD-1 does not have a problem with PCI-X. The problem is in the particular PCI-X chipset that Apple chose to use in their PCI-X model G5s. We have done tests with machines (PCs) that do not use the 8131 chipset and they perform extremely well.

Ninja also makes a valid point. We also want to make sure we don't rush into developing for a protocol that may be dropped in the near future.

 

[John_McEnroe]

Actually what I would really like ot see is a firewire version that could be used with a laptop, or even the ethernet sort of thing like Waves just released.

 

[Ninja]

I don't understand what's so wrong with eg. a Magma chassis. It's a working sollution that works today.

 

[UAJames]

Firewire unfortunately is not as robust a protocol to have a lot of plugins running (especially if you have a FW audio interface on the same bus, even less if you add a FW drive on top of that). Gigabit ethernet comes close but still can't offer the speed PCI or Cardbus can and not all laptops have Gb ethernet. We are investigating into possible portable solutions though.

FW 400/800 = 50/100MB/s
Gb Ethernet = 125MB/s
PCI = 133MB/s

 

[Giles117 DP]

Magma is totally viable for me. Works in my PCI-X G5 with up to 93% Processor load.

 

[UAJames]

What's really cool too is if you also buy the cardbus connector you can use it with the desktop and the laptop* (without having to purchase additional licenses).

*Cardbus only works with the 1, 2, and 4 slot chassis models.

 

[John_McEnroe]

well the magma chassis is over $1000...



Anyway James, Im glad to hear you guys are working on it and I really cant wait. Have you ever thought of releasing native versions of your plugs? I dont really need the extra processing power, its just the plugins that I want, maybe with an ilok key or something? Im sure im not alone...

Anyway keep it up!

 

[F5D]

iLok is not good enough for bullet proof protection. All iLok protected plugins have been cracked for pc users. Sad. Hardware which runs the plugins is the only good protection.

 

[UAJames]

Aside from having to invest/deal with the 3rd party copy protection schemes, the plugins take *a lot* of CPU power. Most of the bigger ones (1176LN, Farichild, Plate) would eat up all that's available in only a couple instances. And I'm talking dual 2.x G5 too, not an old G4. Part of the reason these plugins sound so good is we go far beyond where most plugin vendors would stop in terms of algorithms and CPU usage since we don't have to worry about that as a limitation.

I don't know if you have craigslist listings for your area, but I was able to pickup my 4 slot chassis (with cardbus and PCI connectors) from a guy for $650. http://www.craigslist.org The 7 and 13 slot ones (which are PCI only, so they won't work with a laptop) go for as little as $200.

 

[Ninja]

I would never have any of the UA plugins if they were native and protected with anything other than a serialcode.

I've made one exception in my life and that is Logic Audio.

I have no issues with the \"copy protection\" UA have because I actually benefit from the extra power the pci cards provide. Makes perfect sense. Heck, I wouldn't change a thing with the whole registration process they use. I'm very happy to support such a cool company.

Ilok is potentially the worst thing that ever happened in the whole industry. I just pray that not more companies follow. It makes absoluetly *no sense* to demand that the users who pay for the products should have to deal with dongles, when the users who don't pay doesn't have to.

 

[Akis]

Ilok is potentially the worst thing that ever happened in the whole industry. I just pray that not more companies follow. It makes absoluetly *no sense* to demand that the users who pay for the products should have to deal with dongles, when the users who don't pay doesn't have to.

I, on the other hand, find it the most convenient copy protection scheme; I hate challenge/response and I'm always anxious of losing my serials. Sure, DSP cards are the best form of copy protection, but I've already run out of PCI slots!

 

[John_McEnroe]

well sure, I would much prefer a pci card with extra juice as well. Unfortunately it doesnt work in my computer and im not about to sell my $3200 G5 (at least thats what it cost when I bought it.) just so I can use some plugins. Im also not going to buy a huge expansion chassis that takes up tons of room and costs as much as the card itself just to use the plugins either.

 

[TheHopiWay]

John,
No offense intended but if your willing to \" happily drop $2000 on a powerful firewire UAD card \" that would take up room in your studio why the aversion to the cheaper solution of a magma?

http://cgi.ebay.com/MAGMA-7-SLOT-PCI-EX ... dZViewItem

 

[GvdB]

Does the Magma expansion chassis completely solve the PCI-X problem with the G5? Will the card run as good and powerfull as on a G4 or PC?

I also am delaying the purchase of an UAD-1 because of the issues with a G5.

Geert

 

[thewitt]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

The problem with the G5 chipset simply give you a lower plug in count, so why would you wait to buy a UAD-1? It still works and it will work for you later in 'whatever' machine you might have (I know I change every 1.5 years or so).

That's like saying; \"I'm holding off on buying a Ferrari until they raise the speed limit around here\".

Of course, the we all hope the Intel Macs cure the G5's problems (FW bus, chipset). But don't let that stop you from enjoying the wonderful UA plugs.

 

[Trace]

Its really silly to wait. I have a G5 with PCI-X and a Magma Chassis with 4 UAD's inside. As far a practical use, I never experience a problem. If you want to run high # of instances then you will hit the wall of the 8131 PCI-X Tunnel. I think my system hits the wall at aroung 60 to 75 instances, depending upon what plugs are used. I'm waiting until the Intel Macs get nice and stable and then make a decision on whether to get a new machine. For right now everything is working perfectly. In fact since I'm really only using the most powerful plugs, i'm basically getting full functionality from my UAD cards. This is something that isn't mentioned much, but you really can go pretty far when using the bigger plugs. The 8131 PCI-X problem is more about instances than available DSP.

 

[Giles117 DP]

I am getting quite a few instances with my magma UAD G5DP/PCI-x config.

And am acheiving 95% useage.

 

[GvdB]

So the Magma only allows to use more UAD-1's? Since I don't use any PCI cards anyway, I won't need the magma in the first place.

Offcourse I want as many instances as possible. The more powerful plugins require more DSP power, logical, but more instances is also appreciated. Quality is indeed more important than quantity, but I don't aquire a DSP card if I can't use all of it's power. Purchasing a more powerful computer seems more logical to me then. Even if the plugin quality of the UAD exceeds the native ones. And then I would even have the option of the URS eq's (in a while also the comps), and another option would be the Powercore together with the Oxford bundle.

I don't need a lot of plugins, just a quality EQ, compressor and maybe reverb. Offcourse different flavours are appreciated, but you can't have all.

Offcourse there's a lot to be said about the quality of the UAudio plugs. They seem great to me and it's not completely their fault that the card doesn't run on full spec with most G5's, but it seems to me Apple isn't completely to blame either. MOTU had an upgrade program when their first release of the PCI424 wasn't working in the G5's. Why can't Uaudio find a solution and update the card?

The concept Uaudio is using is still great. The card doesn't look very expensive to manufacture, it sells quite cheap, if you need more power just buy new cards.

I think I'll just have to wait till the UAD gets updated, which I am sure, will happen in the future. Only not at this time, pity...