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UAD plugins without dongle?

Hello.
Will it ever be possible to use the UAD plugins without the dongle card?

I have big problems with the card causing pops and clicks and would like to run native versions of the plugins.

Looking at the DSP requirements of the TDM versions, compared to other plugins available as both TDM and RTAS, I estimate I should be able to get the equivalent of four UAD cards by dedicating a couple of cpu cores to DSP.

I'm sad as I have a computer that could handle much more plugins than the mpact2, but it's doing nothing at 1% on four cores while a pitiful few plugins run unreliably on the dongle.

I do like the sound of the UAD stuff though.
 

Fairlight

Venerated Member
lumphammer said:
Hello.
Will it ever be possible to use the UAD plugins without the dongle card?

I have big problems with the card causing pops and clicks and would like to run native versions of the plugins.

Looking at the DSP requirements of the TDM versions, compared to other plugins available as both TDM and RTAS, I estimate I should be able to get the equivalent of four UAD cards by dedicating a couple of cpu cores to DSP.

I'm sad as I have a computer that could handle much more plugins than the mpact2, but it's doing nothing at 1% on four cores while a pitiful few plugins run unreliably on the dongle.

I do like the sound of the UAD stuff though.
Hi,

The UAD card isn't simply a dongle. It's a DSP card, where all of the plugin processing is carried out, so unfortunately there is no native versions of these plugins and I doubt there will be anytime soon. Maybe the the VERY distant future. Who knows.

If you're getting pops and clicks, check out the forums... There is a load of advice on checking your system. If you struggle here, get in touch with UA with your complete computer specifiction, I'm sure they will advise accordingly.

I do believe though, the UAD-1 card is way behind the capabilites of modern DAW standards so UA need to produce a new super card soon to compete and keep ahead of the competition. The newer plugins are too CPU hungry to get a decent plug count in your mix.

Cheers,
Peter
 

Fundy

Established Member
With the advent of multicore processor setups perhaps there is room for scope where some of these plug-ins are concerned. However the whole software/hardware security issue comes into play as well. The basic fact is internal hardware acting as dongles is more secure than a software challenge/response or website activation.

I like the idea of running Native versions along with the DSP versions of the same plug-ins. Having a least 1 registered card to act as a means of ownership could eradicate somewhat the problem of software piracy.
 

macmusic78

Active Member
as soon as there would be a native version it would get hacked.. the best software will always be on dsp cards or securely dongled... the world is bad - thats sad...
 
Thanks for the level headed replies to my ranting.

In theory, my setup should work fine, all the components have no known caveats with the UAD1, and the computer was designed specifically to be used with it.

I've tried every single tweak I can, from PCI latencies, registry hacks, different driver versions, changing PCI card order/interrupts, different software latencies, removing and disabling other hardware, reinstall everything from scratch.... no joy. Still occasional little ticks when the card is installed, even if no plugins are enabled, more ticks when using plugins.

I have no tolerance for any glitches of any kind, even a single sample once a day, so the idea of tweaking and tweaking till it just about works for some reason I don't understand makes me nervous.

Someone please say they get absolute reliability using this card, as I am losing hope.

Fundy, I agree about the security aspect. Perhaps if they moved to using the card for pure decryption, along the lines of a WIBU key, then native plugins could be possible. (This has been successful and impractical to crack if done properly.) Another possibility is running some token DSP on the card and the rest native, though this still requires the extra load of transferring audio to the card and back.

My setup is:
UAD card PCI.
Two delta 1010 PCI.
Intel quad core E6600 2.4ghz.
2GB ram.
P5B-E motherboard.
Geforce bottom of the range AGP passively cooled.
CubaseSX 2.0.1
Windows XP SP2.
 

LFranco

Venerated Member
lumphammer said:
I've tried every single tweak I can, from PCI latencies, registry hacks, different driver versions, changing PCI card order/interrupts, different software latencies, removing and disabling other hardware, reinstall everything from scratch.... no joy.
Not to be a smart ass, but have you tried to call UA? They have excellent support that puts the "big guys" to shame, in my opinion from experience with dealing with UA and other companies (hint: something that surfers like).

My system is older than yours and I'm running 4 cards on a Magma chassis and had some problems with these running in the past, but I called them up and after a few suggestions, my cards worked much better (life is not perfect though, according to the UA meter for my four cards, I can only use approximately 80% of the 4 cards' processing power before the DAW's CPU spikes and I can't load another plugin).
 

imdrecordings

Venerated Member
Because you have to. :p
I have yet to see a PC using UADs, run well with it engaged. Multi Core or not. Usually by disabling Hyperthreading, Multi Processing is disabled as well.
You are still using all of the Cores your software will allow.
-S-
 

imdrecordings

Venerated Member
Hey Paul(s)
Well.. YMMV.
All I seem to be seeing, as of late, are people having to disable Multi-processing. In order to get their PC to function smoothly with the UADs installed.
It's just a suggestion, that seems to have worked for others using a Intel QUAD CPU.
What DAW software (besides Reaper) takes advantage and has no problems using a QUAD & UAD-1s? None that I'm aware of.
-S-
 
I guess I could try disabling multiprocessing, but that does kinda ruin the point of having a quad core. Cubase does take advantage of the other cores.

However I'm starting to think this could be more of a hardware problem, related to some combination of mobo and multicore.

I have Linux with Ardour 2.0.2 on another partition.
When I have the UAD card installed, I get little ticks in Linux too.
When the UAD is removed, Ardour is perfectly happy at 128 frames latency (2.9ms odd). I can get a very stable 256 frames (6ms ish) in Windows with the card removed too. With the card installed I get glitches at any latency, plugins or not.

I normally use 1024 frames and monitor through the desk, so I only tried the very low latencies to get an idea of how stable the computer is.

Looks like the only solution is to try an older computer or bin the UAD PCI. Perhaps putting a ten year old PCI graphics card in a modern computer just aint gonna work.

I'd like to try the PCIe version with the PCI bridge on it, does anyone reackon universal audio would let me swap one for a little while? It took me ten minutes of playing with the 1176SE to realize that it's what I need, so I really want this to work.
 

imdrecordings

Venerated Member
lumphammer said:
guess I could try disabling multiprocessing, but that does kinda ruin the point of having a quad core. Cubase does take advantage of the other cores.

However I'm starting to think this could be more of a hardware problem, related to some combination of mobo and multicore.

I have Linux with Ardour 2.0.2 on another partition.
When I have the UAD card installed, I get little ticks in Linux too.
When the UAD is removed, Ardour is perfectly happy at 128 frames latency (2.9ms odd). I can get a very stable 256 frames (6ms ish) in Windows with the card removed too. With the card installed I get glitches at any latency, plugins or not.

I normally use 1024 frames and monitor through the desk, so I only tried the very low latencies to get an idea of how stable the computer is.

Looks like the only solution is to try an older computer or bin the UAD PCI. Perhaps putting a ten year old PCI graphics card in a modern computer just aint gonna work.

I'd like to try the PCIe version with the PCI bridge on it, does anyone reackon universal audio would let me swap one for a little while? It took me ten minutes of playing with the 1176SE to realize that it's what I need, so I really want this to work.
I don't think it has to do with out dated technology, but more or less the QUICK influx of new technology.
Macs don't have these issues.
This seems to be a driver issue.
If you have a PCIe slot available, then by all means get the PCIe card.
-S-
 
\"I don't think it has to do with out dated technology, but more or less the QUICK influx of new technology. \"

Ahh, you are right. I should stop being narky. If they had changed the PCI ID of the card to \"UAD UltraDSP 2020\" instead of \"Mpact2\" people like me would not be making 'clever' remarks.

\"Macs don't have these issues. \"

Unfortunately I don't have a copy of OSX to try on this computer.

\"This seems to be a driver issue. \"

I get the same problems in Linux when the card is installed so I don't reackon it's the Windows drivers. If something does not work in either OS there is a good chance that the problem is hardware.
 

Paul Woodlock

Established Member
imdrecordings said:
Because you have to. :p
No you don't. Well most people don't.

I have yet to see a PC using UADs, run well with it engaged. Multi Core or not. Usually by disabling Hyperthreading, Multi Processing is disabled as well.
You are still using all of the Cores your software will allow.
-S-

My dual cpu machine works great with MP enabled. I don't need hyperthreading because I have two physical processors. I have n't seen many peopel at all who need to turn MP off.

And there's no need to keep ASIO buffer size to 512 or 1024 either in my experience.
 

tgorle

Member
I seem to remember that Nuendo 2 required hyperthreading to be disabled in dual CPU machines (Xeons)... it was all over the Nuendo forum back in the day.

Cubase SX2 has the same core engine.
Disable hyperthreading in SX2 and see what happens.

Anyone on SX3 or N3 is fine... no longer an issue.
 

Spacey

Active Member
If I disabled multi cpu then I would lose just under half of my plugin count on native plugs, so this would never be a solution/option for me. Luckily my system works fine with all 2 (lol, soon to be 4 cores with the July price drops) working.
 
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