Not too pumped lately with UAD plugs

Is it just me or has the last year or so been less interesting as far as new releases from UAD. Perhaps it is all the third party stuff being released. Especially when there is a native version at a much lower cost? Not sure but I hope UAD comes up with some new tools or more MKIIs of some of the older stuff (hint: the rumored HELIOS).

The SSL mk II's were this year. Both are superb. Fuchs TII and the Savage 120 are both excellent 3rd party sims and I'm not a sim guy.

Last year around this time v9 was released and they dropped the API 2500 on us.

I bet they have something in the works this orbit of the sun, too.

The SSL E Channel Strip MK2, Fuchs Train II, and Engl Savage are excellent. The Dytronics Cyclosonic is about the greatest plugin I can't get myself to buy. Personally, I don't understand the enthusiasm for the 2500, SSL Buss Compressor MK2, and SDD-3000.

I think a lot of it comes down to how much you already own. Now that I have been with UAD for several years I own a ton of stuff. And most of it is stuff I only dreamed of owning when I was younger and the only option was the hardware. I am blown away with the tools at my fingertips now.

But because I own the bulk of what I want it’s harder to get all fired up with new releases because it’s usually not something I feel I need or it’s another compressor to add to the 26 I already own. So it’s hard to wrap my head around spending $300 on the 2500 when I have 26 other wonderful sounding compressors. I will entually pick up the 2500 but it will be during a massive sale.

And then when you throw in things like waves going nuts this year and damn near giving their plugs away it can easily dampen your enthusiasm towards the pricing and strategy of UAD.

However, with all that said, I am still all in on this platform and love what they have made available overall on this platform and their plugs make up 85% of the plugs I use on every mix.

I agree that the development of new ideas has been a bit unexciting.

I was going to mention that you should thank God that you have not heavily invested in Waves, with their ridiculous update policy, and then I thought " heck I have invested in £3000 worth of dongle for UAD.

UAD should update their plugins more often keeping the cost of upgrade much less expensive for previous owners. The LA2A is a case in point. I originally bought it for $149 and upgraded to mk2 for £149. Yes more money than the original. Given the heavy investment that many users make in hardware and the original purchase surely UAD can give something back. I'm not asking for freebies, just an acknowledgement of customer loyalty. Paying for a new product is different and I accept the development premium. However, it is undeniable that most software companies update quite regularly, sometimes incorporating quite significant improvements for free or a very modest cost. Maybe instead of the regular sales a more reasonable pricing system that encourage customers to buy now rather than wait for Christmas or mid summer and would ensure UAD a regular cashflow.

dnr said:

UAD should update their plugins more often keeping the cost of upgrade much less expensive for previous owners. The LA2A is a case in point. I originally bought it for $149 and upgraded to mk2 for £149...

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Not to detract from your post, sorry, but wasn't the LA-2A included as part of the 'Analog Classics' bundle that shipped with the card?

H

The la-2a update included 3 versions of the comp and I believe more fully modded, so not a bad deal.

The mkii pricing was a bit of smoke and mirrors though as you had already bought the mki and then had to pay another $150 for the upgrade. As UA would always include the legacy plug in in the mkii , really we were paying $300 or essentialy full price or getting the updated coding at half price ??

Yes it was. However, I was an early adopter when the UAD 1 first came out and bought it then. The point I made could easily be applied to the Neve 88RS or many other MK2 versions of existing plugins.

Kcatthedog said:

The la-2a update included 3 versions of the comp and I believe more fully modded, so not a bad deal.

The mkii pricing was a bit of smoke and mirrors though as you had already bought the mki and then had to pay another $150 for the upgrade. As UA would always include the legacy plug in in the mkii , really we were paying $300 or essentialy full price or getting the updated coding at half price ??

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£149 for me. The Plugin Alliance upgrade policy is a lot cheaper, plus their gift coupons are more generous by and large. I even got a free delay plugin as a Sandman Pro user. Upgrading a UAD plugin is more expensive that upgrading Cubase! Which by the way was £80 for me. (OK it is a yearly cycle - but there are quite significant gains each time.) £300 (again for us Brits) is not far off the full price for Cubase, which I think you will agree is a much more complex piece of software.

Actually I don't make the comparisons you do, as buying the 2a upgrade for me was just about the quality of the UA plug in, which is very high, and personally I thought well worth it.

I have no time for endless comparisons of different platforms/ possible options that I am actually not interested in. I want quality and simplicity not complexity.

I have actually bought a small console ( delta ) and am experimenting with using mostly OB gear: delta shows up tomorrow

the relationship between the consumption of the latest plugins and the dsp architecture, puts a limit on my investment

The Distressor plugin from Slate was a pretty big blow imo. I haven't been that impressed by most of the Slate stuff, but the FG Stress is really really good. It would be a nice comeback for UA if they got a Distressor plugin. I'm actually surprised that Slate got it and UA doesn't.

And yeah, I agree that a lot of the releases haven't been as exciting. But honestly, I have pretty much all I need. Not having new plugins to try out all the time makes me extremely more efficient at mixing since 90% of the time I know exactly what I want and what to use to do it. Mixes that would normally take me 2-3 days to do while trying new plugins take me less than a 1 day to a day and a half when I use plugins I know. And I get the final mix with only 1-2 revisions.

let me ask you guys this and I am saying this with true curiosity and no smart ass-ness..........when you look at UA's lineup, what do you guys feel is missing? For me, when I look at it, I think dear god, it'a virtual candy shop of awesomeness.....I think about things I have lusted after my whole life things like;

studer tape machine.....check
ampex mastering tape machine.....check
LA2a.....check
1176........check
1073.......check
shadow hills mastering comp......check
manley massive passive.......check
manley vari-mu........check
emt 140......check
lexicon 224.......check


and we could go on and on, but my point is that the list above is responsible for like 75% of all recorded music I listen to and lust after sonically and now I have that stuff in virtual form. so I guess what i am saying is that with all the incredible stuff that have already emulated how much truly mind blowing, mind boggling, wet your panties kind of stuff is left????

and yes, I know we can all think of great things here and there......but in all reality they have the majority of most "super popular finger of god" pieces already covered, unless you consider adding more compressors and preamps to be exciting, but they are basically different versions of what is already available. i dont expect there will be alot of stuff that comes along now that truly gets me all riled up......it's more likely that they will introduce some kind of new plug in that maybe isn't based on any vintage piece that does something useful that will get me excited.

I think the Lexicon 480L and the surround version 960L would finish my wanted reverbs along with the other reverbs I already have. The 224 is great but a buddy of mine had a 480L and it sounded soooooooo good.

Time for mkIII updates!

Seriously tho, I've felt the same way for a while, esp since I went native. There are still no adequate native replacements for some things, but that list gets shorter and shorter. As time goes on, releases will become more niche and less bread-and-butter. For example, there are still tons of amp sims people want to see, but that mostly caters to guitarists.

DJ Hellfire said:

The Distressor plugin from Slate was a pretty big blow imo. I haven't been that impressed by most of the Slate stuff, but the FG Stress is really really good. It would be a nice comeback for UA if they got a Distressor plugin. I'm actually surprised that Slate got it and UA doesn't.

And yeah, I agree that a lot of the releases haven't been as exciting. But honestly, I have pretty much all I need. Not having new plugins to try out all the time makes me extremely more efficient at mixing since 90% of the time I know exactly what I want and what to use to do it. Mixes that would normally take me 2-3 days to do while trying new plugins take me less than a 1 day to a day and a half when I use plugins I know. And I get the final mix with only 1-2 revisions.

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Agreed. I am very efficient now after having pretty much all I need as far as a plug in library. But half the fun over the last 10 years has been finding all of those flavors that you never thought you could afford in terms of outboard gear… As I near the end of that discovery process it's just sad…

I would steal little kids lunch money to get it if UAD ever came out with the Distressor. ..

And I want the VSS3 reverb from TC 6000.

And no multi-band compressor plug or model has ever come close to TC's master X3 and 5. Boy I miss those. I know those aren't outboard gear models. I still miss them and would love them in the UAD environment.

Horse said:

Not to detract from your post, sorry, but wasn't the LA-2A included as part of the 'Analog Classics' bundle that shipped with the card?

H

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No, back in the UAD-1 days the LA-2A and 1176LN were premium plugins (UAD's pride and joy) and selling points of UAD. They were sold separately and were $149 each. They were the very first must-have plugins. Those were awesome days and the best emulated compressors money could buy until years later.

It seems like the short-lived Mackie branded UAD-1 came with the LA-2A and 1176 as kind of a bundle.

Matt Hepworth said:

No, back in the UAD-1 days the LA-2A and 1176LN were premium plugins (UAD's pride and joy) and selling points of UAD. They were sold separately and were $149 each. They were the very first must-have plugins. Those were awesome days and the best emulated compressors money could buy until years later.

It seems like the short-lived Mackie branded UAD-1 came with the LA-2A and 1176 as kind of a bundle.

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Indeed... 1176SE was included when I bought my first UAD-1 card but I had to pay for an upgrade to the full version.
LA-2A was not included at all.

DJ Hellfire said:

The Distressor plugin from Slate was a pretty big blow imo. I haven't been that impressed by most of the Slate stuff, but the FG Stress is really really good. It would be a nice comeback for UA if they got a Distressor plugin. I'm actually surprised that Slate got it and UA doesn't.
[..]

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I read your post and a little bit later it suddenly hit me. Something is strange, hear me out:

Empirical Labs decided to make their own Distressor plugin, but they didn't make a 1:1 copy but added extra " software only" features, basically like the Fatso Sr plugin. And, they didn't call it the Distressor (I never understood why).
Slate Digital has made a 1:1 copy of the Distressor hardware and it's even fully licensed by Emperical Labs..... but they didn't call it the Distressor.
Sknote has a plugin that emulates both the Distressor and Fatso and he has written permission from Emperical Labs to use the names on the website... the plugin is not called Distressor or Fatso, but since it's a hybrid I guess that makes sense.

So what I'm trying to say is... Where is the official emulation of the Distressor with the actual Distressor name? Most importantly, why is the Slate Digital fully licensed emulation not called Distressor? My take on this is that another developer might have obtained the exclusive rights to use the Distressor name for their emulation. And if I'm right, I hope it's going to be Universal Audio (or Softube)!

So, probably extremely far fetched, but what do you think. Is there any logic to my reasoning? I like to think so!

Matt Hepworth said:

No, back in the UAD-1 days the LA-2A and 1176LN were premium plugins (UAD's pride and joy) and selling points of UAD. They were sold separately and were $149 each. They were the very first must-have plugins. Those were awesome days and the best emulated compressors money could buy until years later.

It seems like the short-lived Mackie branded UAD-1 came with the LA-2A and 1176 as kind of a bundle.

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Back in the day there was no contest when I started using the UAD-1. Even the basic channel strip sounded way more analog than just about anything Native had. I bought everything that came out from UA because it was a no brainer compared to Native.

Native has definitely caught up and it's easy for me to use a mixture of UAD and Native and not feel anything is missing.

Price is what sways me these days. Novatron and FG Stress are two comps that pull me from using UAD comps in many situations.
Still prefer UAD tape, Chandler, Manley, Unison is great...and more.

Most of UAD's EQ's can be replaced I feel.

THE biggest problem is the DSP limitations. Why buy anything for UAD that is done by the same developer for Native?
I never understood people asking for plugins that are available as Native to use on their DSP limited UAD cards.

I'm sure UA are doing something about the DSP but at what cost? The plugs are already expensive and I've invested in 14 cores already.

I am much more picky about what I buy for my UAD DSP now and it's much more infrequent.