UA Triple Play

[mBlaze]

Hmmmm...this email just arrived...is this still April 1st?? Well it is here in the US but hot on the heels of the last promo...a new multicard promo ..nice for those of us not yet maxed out!! Basically getting around 10% or more in some cases of the investment cost back as an extra plug voucher. Maybe it's time to get that 3rd card afterall...

Hello UAD Fans,

We're giving you three reasons to run out and buy UAD DSP cards, right now. Are you ready? The reasons are: $50, $100, and $150!

That's right! If you purchase and register a UAD DSP PAK between April 1st, 2007 and June 30th, 2007, you'll get a non-expiring UAD$ Voucher for the UA Online Store. The bigger the PAK, the bigger the voucher. It works like this:

UAD-1 UAD-1e UAD$ Voucher
1. Project PAK Express PAK 50
2. Flexi PAK Expert PAK 100
3. Ultra PAK Extreme PAK 150

Once again, these UAD$ Vouchers DO NOT EXPIRE! You may use them at any time in the future, on any item in the UA Online Store. All you need to do is purchase and register those UAD DSP cards. The UAD$ Vouchers will appear automatically.

There is no limit to the number of cards you can buy, and vouchers you can get, but remember, a maximum of four UAD DSP cards can be used per computer.

Promotion expires June 30th, 2007 at midnight, Pacific time.

 

[azulay]

Judging by this mail and promotion,
it doesn't look as though UA intends to announce
a new (bigger dsp) platform any time soon....

 

[RichR]

This is almost certainly an April fools!

 

[jt]

Looks to me like they’re trying to unload their existing cards. We can only hope this is a sign of a new card coming later this year. Sheer speculation of course.

 

[Cabbage]

Looks to me like they’re trying to unload their existing cards. We can only hope this is a sign of a new card coming later this year. Sheer speculation of course.

That is what I think as well. Plus, I bet the external unit is not selling very well, so it needs a boost too, but that is also pure speculation.

If this is an April fools joke, then UA have little sense of humor. There is nothing witty or funny about this.

Petter

 

[lordward]

Here goes the pointless speculation again.... :roll:

It's been said here before that there is no chance of a new UAD2 card coming out this year. I forgot who it was but apparently someone asked UA at the musikmesse and was told this. How much more official does it have to get? They won't publish that on there webzine.....

If the discussion is so interesting that one cannot help but bring this up well then knock yourself out. But if you will do a little bit of research you will see that this topic has been on top of the billboards here for years now so don't get your hopes up. All these \"signs\" being seen have been going on for the same amount of time. Every time UA makes a \"poop\" it seems to be a \"sign\" of some thing new, \"perhaps the new UAD2?\"

I don’t know if this new announcement is real but it would look to me like UA is just trying to sell more cards, no clear up space to put the new stockpile of UAD2 cards. And the reason for price reduction and additional coupons? The UAD is old and no one will pay the same price these days. I think UA will go native before they bring out a new UAD card.

DW

 

[Cabbage]

I think UA will go native before they bring out a new UAD card.

Yes, you said it - "pointless speculation". But it is hard to resist, isn't it?

Petter

 

[lordward]

Yeah, but read between the lines. UA will never make a native version.... I wasn't speculating, I was being a smart ass... :wink:

 

[Cabbage]

I think UA will go native before they bring out a new UAD card.

UA will never make a native version....

This means that we are stuck, and nothing will ever change!

Is there anything else between the lines that I might have missed.

Petter

 

[lordward]

Nope, no more subliminal messages! Other than the occasional new plugin things will never change - at least not this year.

Believe it or not, I too am very hopeful that the super-UAD card comes out but it seems to be clear now that there will not be one for the foreseeable future. :evil:

DW

 

[Spacey]

Then I can't see how they expect to sell anymore plugins if we can't run them along side the ones we allready use?

Would be nice if someone from UA would give us some idea of what's really going to happen. Would stop people from investing more in native plgins maybe?

 

[lordward]

Then I can't see how they expect to sell anymore plugins if we can't run them along side the ones we allready use?

Would be nice if someone from UA would give us some idea of what's really going to happen. Would stop people from investing more in native plgins maybe?

That's what everyone said awhile ago when the first Neves came out! Still people bought - and UA brought out more, the Neve comp, the Neve 1081 and now the Helios. Someone's buying these plugins and it seems to be enough to have a reason to make more. People will not stop investing more money into Navtive plugins because a) there are some really great Native plugs available and b) Quad cores are here and working and Octo's are on the way. Uad would have to bring out a card 10 x more powerful to compete with that.

Seems to me that UA are trying to squeeze evey drop of blood out of the ol' UAD1 as they can.

DW

 

[marQs]

That's what everyone said awhile ago when the first Neves came out! Still people bought - and UA brought out more, the Neve comp, the Neve 1081 and now the Helios. Someone's buying these plugins and it seems to be enough to have a reason to make more. People will not stop investing more money into Navtive plugins because a) there are some really great Native plugs available and b) Quad cores are here and working and Octo's are on the way. Uad would have to bring out a card 10 x more powerful to compete with that.

Seems to me that UA are trying to squeeze evey drop of blood out of the ol' UAD1 as they can.

DW

My feeling is that UA is breeding over a future solution, just not ready to drop the bomb...

I was amazed to hear @ Musikmesse that there are plenty new plugins to come soon!
Development of a new card is in progress, but will definately not be releases this year - at least I was told so... sounds to me like the solution they're after will be able to run the current plugs, and probably much more powerful.

One more thought: it's ok when they take their time in development as we all expect the new thing (whatever it may be) to run as stable and solid as the cards we're using right now. Look at the drama, when a company releases a beta as a major update, that's happening a lot and everyone complains (which is absolutely justified).

When you need more plugin power now and can't decide for another UAD due to reasons of future compatibility, you've got the choice between native (incl. update to current state-of-the-art processors with all critical questions) and other dsp-solutions like liquid mix, duende, poco (that's more than ever before...).
I recently decided for a 4th card and do not at all regret. I really appreciate the quality of the plugs and don't wanna miss these tools. No care for the future... it's not yet here! The next computer update may require one of those ultra-expensive magma housings if I want to keep the UADs (all PCI), but I guess even by investing in this it's not a bad deal in respect of what it does and compared to some other solutions (which can work side-by-side if needed and can be afforded).

And imagine - in times of triple octo-cores there's a magma with plenty of old cards in it in your studio... will probably get a real vintage touch in a few years

 

[F5D]

I'm afraid we will never see a UA dsp-card which would be 10x faster than the uad1. It seems that TC and UA don't even want to make any faster cards. It's sad because the best plugins are available only for uad1 and powercore. These days the fastest computers can run 50 times the amount of plugins which dsp cards can run. It would be easy to make 10 or even 20 times faster uad1 but I cannot see it happening. If UA makes a new card, it's max 2-4 times as fast as the uad1. TC introduced their powercore pci mk2 2 years ago and it was only 1.5 times the power compared to the original powercore. If you take a look at pro tools hd systems, their dsp power haven't improved much either. :?

Anyway, this new promotion looks like UA are trying to sell the old cards with discounts because otherwise nobody would buy them. I really hope that UA have a new card coming because they will be out of business if things go on like this more than 1 year. We will have 2x8 core computers then.

 

[guitarz]

Anyway, this new promotion looks like UA are trying to sell the old cards with discounts because otherwise nobody would buy them. I really hope that UA have a new card coming because they will be out of business if things go on like this more than 1 year. We will have 2x8 core computers then.

As long as everyone's got their crystal balls out...

1. It's a lot more profitable to sell hardware. UA has the best plugs so it stands to reason that since people really want their plugs, UA will be the last to drop their DSP card. Sooo, don't expect native-only UA plugs until you see the TC/Powercore, Liquid Mix, Duende, go down first. (though notice all those examples use Firewire, UA!)

2. People should note those are discounts on UA software included with purchase of a new card, NOT a price drop in the UAD-1 itself... sooo no new card for a while...

 

[Mark Edmonds]

As long as everyone's got their crystal balls out...

1. It's a lot more profitable to sell hardware.

Although I don't have access to any figures, I doubt it is more profitable to sell hardware. They have manufacturing and distribution costs to deal with and plenty of middlemen to absorb some of the profit. Compare that with a download purchase from their website where the full money goes into their coffers. I wouldn't be surprised if a single $149 plugin gives them more profit than the card itself.

Mark

 

[guitarz]

Although I don't have access to any figures, I doubt it is more profitable to sell hardware. They have manufacturing and distribution costs to deal with and plenty of middlemen to absorb some of the profit. Compare that with a download purchase from their website where the full money goes into their coffers. I wouldn't be surprised if a single $149 plugin gives them more profit than the card itself.

Well.... I guess I should have said it's probably preferrable to sell hardware (vs. "crackable" software). If it wasn't, we wouldn't see the current bumper crop of hardware running plugs that could easily be sold as native plugs...

Apple computer is a great example of why selling hardware is more profitable a venture than software alone. Continuing their current trend of success, analysts are projecting it's a real possibility for Apple to surpass Microsoft in revenue as soon as 5 years from now! And no, that's not all based on iPod sales alone (nor from the iTunes music store, which doesn't generate a lot of income anyway).

 

[Resonant Alien]

As long as everyone's got their crystal balls out...

1. It's a lot more profitable to sell hardware.

Although I don't have access to any figures, I doubt it is more profitable to sell hardware. They have manufacturing and distribution costs to deal with and plenty of middlemen to absorb some of the profit. Compare that with a download purchase from their website where the full money goes into their coffers. I wouldn't be surprised if a single $149 plugin gives them more profit than the card itself.

Mark

There is no Cost of Goods Sold when selling software via download/license, and there is no manufacturing overhead, so the profit margin on software is generally higher than hardware. When you consider that in a Flexi-PAK, they are only selling the card itself for $200 - the other $500 you pay is actually for software since you get a $500 voucher with the card. Add the periodic $100 coupon and they are only selling the cards at times for $100. They are making tons of cash from the plugs, not the hardware, although I'm sure the hardware revenue doesn't suck.

You could actually buy a Flexi-PAK for $700, use the $500 voucher plus the $100 coupon to get $600 worth of plugs, and then sell the card on eBay for $300. Thus, you just got $600 worth of plugs for $400.

RA

 

[Cabbage]

1. It's a lot more profitable to sell hardware.

Not necessarily. If you sell large volumes, software is much more profitable, since you have close to no production cost per unit. If you do it online, you have small distribution costs as well.

Also, by now UA have gained alot of experiences in cloning analog HW, so I am sure the development costs of the plug-ins are dropping.

Petter

 

[guitarz]

Not necessarily. If you sell large volumes, software is much more profitable, since you have close to no production cost per unit. If you do it online, you have small distribution costs as well.

Also, by now UA have gained alot of experiences in cloning analog HW, so I am sure the development costs of the plug-ins are dropping.

That's not true. Sure the downloads don't cost any money to ship, that doesn't mean you don't have any production costs per unit! Take the new Helios plug... there's licensing, engineers salary for R & D, new driver support, etc.. All which need to be recouped before UA "break even" or even make a profit. On the other hand, the UAD-1 PCI card parts have likely been paid for YEARS ago, given the date of the processor. New software can make money but ultimately DRIVES new hardware purchases. How many posts have you seen here (and elsewhere) where the new Neve plugs resulted in the purchase of an additional DSP card??

But again.... we're not business accountants. You just need to look no further than what's going on right now in the market place. While computers continue to get more powerful we see the highest concentration of hardware DSP products I can remember on the market at once. What does that tell you?? All I'm saying is that no one should expect UA to abandon the DSP card before we see other units disappear from the marketplace.

/crystal ball mode