Does UA have an upgrade policy on cards?

[danickstr]

I was wondering that if i get a UA card and then in the winter they come out with a better card, will i just be stuck with these cards or do they give me a trade-in for like 500.00 credit or something? I only ask this because it seems like they have had the same card for awhile and it is gaining in popularity. so logic dictates that i will see a new card from them in about 6-9 months. it is also apparently optimized for a G4 which is not going to appeal to new mac owners wanting to throw down the big bucks on a G5.

oh, and could they delete this post if i was somehow psychically correct but they don't want anyone to know about it? lol

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

it is also apparently optimized for a G4 which is not going to appeal to new mac owners wanting to throw down the big bucks on a G5.

I don't see how any company would just offer to trade in used equipment for a sizeable credit just because technology advances. And to clarify, it is not really that the UAD-1 card is optimized for the G4, it is that Apple's choice to use an AMD chip on the G5 motherboard to control the PCI bus does not play well with the UAD-1 communicating information back and forth. It has nothing to do with the G5 chip per say. It has to do with the motherboard. If Apple used a different motherboard (like on the low end G5 computers), the problem would probably not exist.

 

[mersisblue]

I don't see how any company would just offer to trade in used equipment for a sizeable credit just because technology advances..

Digi design does

so its not unheard of

 

[akisd28]

I don't see how any company would just offer to trade in used equipment for a sizeable credit just because technology advances..

Digi design does

so its not unheard of

Also, TC does it now with the Powercore PCI mkII upgrade for original Powercore PCI owners.

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

I know it is not \"completely\" unheard of, but giving a proposed $500 credit for a card that costs roughly $500 is a bit of a stretch. :roll:

Also, the digidesign cards are different in my opinion because the new version of the software (HD) and MAC things like OSX, etc...depend on the new hardware. Digi is forcing the switch due to compatibility reasons. It is not just an upgrade for new features. And those mix cards cost users thousands of dollars. No where near the cost of a single UAD-1 card.

Digi does not want to support the old hardware and is not writing updates for it. There is nothing wrong with the UAD-1 card in operating in OSX...or in its ability to run the plug-ins made specifically for it. Its DSP power is increased by the addition of more cards in a system.

If they want to come out with a sers so they can increase their user base from the start. But hundrenew card with a more powerful DSP chip...fine. Maybe offer a discount to loyal UAD-1 uds of dollars credit? ..I don't think so.

 

[mersisblue]

I know it is not "completely" unheard of, but giving a proposed $500 credit for a card that costs roughly $500 is a bit of a stretch. :roll:

Also, the digidesign cards are different in my opinion because the new version of the software (HD) and MAC things like OSX, etc...depend on the new hardware. Digi is forcing the switch due to compatibility reasons. It is not just an upgrade for new features. And those mix cards cost users thousands of dollars. No where near the cost of a single UAD-1 card.

Digi does not want to support the old hardware and is not writing updates for it. There is nothing wrong with the UAD-1 card in operating in OSX...or in its ability to run the plug-ins made specifically for it. Its DSP power is increased by the addition of more cards in a system.

If they want to come out with a sers so they can increase their user base from the start. But hundrenew card with a more powerful DSP chip...fine. Maybe offer a discount to loyal UAD-1 uds of dollars credit? ..I don't think so.

digidesigns upgrades are not limited to the DSP cards

I dont think support is digis motive but rather money ( even with the discount there is a profit or they wouldnt / couldnt do it )

I agree there is nothing wrong with the UAD in OSX , but thats Off topic

I cant respond to your last line because of the typos I didnt pick up what you were saying

and I agree that 500 credit is too high
But credit doesnt have to be in dollars ......maybe a free plugin or two

or at least the transfer of our old plugins to a newer card

 

[mersisblue]

I know it is not "completely" unheard of, but giving a proposed $500 credit for a card that costs roughly $500 is a bit of a stretch. :roll:

Also, the digidesign cards are different in my opinion because the new version of the software (HD) and MAC things like OSX, etc...depend on the new hardware. Digi is forcing the switch due to compatibility reasons. It is not just an upgrade for new features. And those mix cards cost users thousands of dollars. No where near the cost of a single UAD-1 card.

Digi does not want to support the old hardware and is not writing updates for it. There is nothing wrong with the UAD-1 card in operating in OSX...or in its ability to run the plug-ins made specifically for it. Its DSP power is increased by the addition of more cards in a system.

If they want to come out with a sers so they can increase their user base from the start. But hundrenew card with a more powerful DSP chip...fine. Maybe offer a discount to loyal UAD-1 uds of dollars credit? ..I don't think so.

digidesigns upgrades are not limited to the DSP cards

I dont think support is digis motive but rather money ( even with the discount there is a profit or they wouldnt / couldnt do it )

I agree there is nothing wrong with the UAD in OSX , but thats Off topic

I cant respond to your last line because of the typos I didnt pick up what you were saying

and I agree that 500 credit is too high
But credit doesnt have to be in dollars ......maybe a free plugin or two

or at least the transfer of our old plugins to a newer card

 

[Brian W. Ralston]

I agree that the motivation of digi is money. But that includes the support issue. It costs a lot more money to support older hardware especially when older cards (and their inherent compatability problems) do not play well with newer computers.

I have absolutely no idea why my words were completely messed up in that last post. It was not that way when I typed them. There are literally multiple lines missing...they're not typos created by me.

I was saying if UA wants to come out with a newer version of the card with more DSP power, that is fine. But offering $500 dollars of credit for a card that only costs about $500 dollars is unrealistic. It is one thing to offer a small discount or incentive to increase the user base at the launch of a new product, but hundreds of dollars???

 

[pouncey]

i'm probably gonna just keep my current uad1 card and add another one, maybe it would be a new revision by the time i'm ready to do so.

at this point i'd rather have another uad1 card than a poco. the uad1 plug ins are more compelling for me.

 

[MPC]

I'm sure they'll come up with something. All of these companies making these DSP based cards are motivated by money and keeping their customers at least somewhat happy about their purchases only makes sense.

Digi may not be the best comparison, but tc electronic is, and they are having a what seems to be, a fairly reasonable upgrade path. Come on, can you imagine the noise on this forum alone if they don't...\"why does tc offer an upgrade path and UA doesn't?!?!\" It's safe to say the UA will do something.

UA has offered discount \"coupons\" for multiple card users additional purchases of cards and other promotions. So, I guess if we look at the evidence of UA's past behavior there should be a good chance that some sort of consideration will be made for UAD 1 users in regards to upgrading........no new card yet, so only time will tell.

 

[giles117]

where can I get inof about this upgrade?????

For Powercore????

 

[danickstr]

the best price i had seen was 899.00 so with tax that is almost 1000.00 that is why i was asking. if you know where to get them for 500.00 please enlighten me. the othert advantage to UA doing the upgrade is that then they get all the money, and their distributors only get new purchases, which is fair to me.

griztit buggaloo is another reason. and gomper halliwog is something that no one should argue, right? oops, looks like more random word rewrites.

 

[giles117]

The price difference in the UAD pricing model is not a better or different card like the Powercore firewire/compact/mkII but in the plugins.

so if they improve the card that will not invalidate all your plugins that you own. (this is speculative) so there would be no major benefit to offering some major cash credit for moving to a new card. once again IMO.

Cua all you are doing is replacing your hardware.

it is no different than the DAW model of today. you want more speed, you buy a faster computer.

You only upgrade your software when you desire all the latest and greatest features they decide to add.

 

[akisd28]

Giles, here you go: http://powercore.noheaven.com/viewtopic.php?t=932

http://www.thomann.de/thoiw2_artikel-180439.html (This is a german store, you'll obviously find it in the US stores, too)

danickstr, it depends on the UAD version you're looking for. The Project Pak costs usually less than $399.

 

[Trace]

UA is a smart company and if it makes fiscal sense to give some sort of trade in discount they'd do it. I don't really see them doing anything but a discount for current owners. They probably wouldn't want the DSP cards back, tho maybe they would if they could resell them to those who would be interested in a ultra low cost DSP.

TRACE

 

[giles117]

ok ruffly 650 US. not bad if i didnt have an element card

they place their emphasis on the card not the plugis

 

[akisd28]

I think they do it as a kind of compensation for the PCI users, who paid about 1000 euros (~$1300) for their cards, including myself.

 

[giles117]

Oh well I guess I'll stick to 100Mhz DSP Chips for now. LOL

they need an Element mkII

 

[MPC]

I think some sort of upgrade deal will be offered to Element owners (at least that's what a dealer told me a rep told him) as well, only not as good. I sure hope so, I've got an Element too. Just got the VSS3 reverb for PCore, pretty freakin' great!!

 

[danickstr]

good point about the plug-ins. i guess as long as i dont have to pay for both plug and card updates on an annual basis, that would seem fair. although i have to admit that only as a first time buyer whose card was suddenly obsolete in 3 months would I feel pissed off. an upgrade a year for 650 and my plugs are there is not a bad deal.