UAD $50 coupon. Why am I non plussed?

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 10:38 pm

Universal Audio sent me an email telling me I have a coupon for $50/off any plug-in in their online store. As a proud owner of a UAD-2 Duo which I was recently informed will *never* be compatible with a Thunderbolt to PCIe expansion chassis, ask me how hot and bothered I feel right now to buy ANY UAD plug-ins?

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 10:40 pm

I guess what I'm getting at is knowing that UAD-2 DUO is End Of Line and not sure if I will ever upgrade to some other product of theirs that will run the plugs in the future, I'm hesitant to buy ANY new UA plug-ins at this point and stick with native plugs. I feel like I'm tossing money away now buying any more plugs for my UAD-2 DUO.

HCMarkus · Post by **HCMarkus** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:05 am

Not sure I will ever abandon the old MP platform, James, so I'm not very worried about UAD2 and Thunderbolt at this time. Absent some tremendous breakthrough in DAW software or VIs, I am finding my current machine does everything I need and then some. And if DAWs and VI's start leveraging GPUs, PCIe will allow us to add second GPUs to our Macs, too, and we can be *just like* the nMP.

That said, I don't find myself coveting any new UA plugs, as I've got the FX bases very well covered between current UA stuff, Waves, Altiverb, Antares, and a few others, not the least being MOTU MWEQ.

stubbsonic · Post by **stubbsonic** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 8:05 am

UA sure has been kind of "naggy" with their coupon emails. "Don't forget to use your $50!" I don't mind an initial offer, and maybe ONE reminder, but it seems like they send endless reminders.

It might be worth asking UA if they will offer some kind of transitional deal (as they did with the UAD-1) where your existing plugs could be updated en masse to whatever the next thing is, for some reasonable rate.

As computer speeds reach a certain "singularity"

, they may be able to offer native versions of their plugins and forego the DSP hardware.

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:19 pm

I suspect most UAD owners are feeling ambivalent now with more purchases,I have a Quad card and just added an Octo in September.
The only plug I'm planning on getting is the de-esser,for me @ $50 I'll grab it but after that I don't think I'll buy any more UA plugs until I see what kind of solution UA comes up with for UAD2 "legacy" card owners.
I'm confident when UA feels the drop in sales,they will respond accordingly.

UA will have some kind solution whether it's a rebate deal for "legacy" UAD2 card users (Single,Duo & Quad) like they had last year for UAD1 owners or some other kind of solution.
UA is imo one of the few companies that always try to do the right thing and take care of their client base.
From my understanding the current cards will work in current pci thunderbolt expansion chassis,like Magma with Macs that have the older addressing architecture
So far the new MacPro is the 1st with the new addressing architecture,I'm sure this change
Apple made is affecting numerous companies besides UA.
Taking their previous track record into account I am confident UA will come up with a good solution in some shape or form, they have too much at stake with too many users,the majority are not using the Octo yet.
Even though I have an Octo card,I have no immediate plans to get the new MacPro,I'm more reluctant with more UA purchases moving forward and I'm sure most users are having this reaction,UA will see this and respond.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 1:47 pm

Yeah... I know that technology changes and things move forward and I may have gotten my money's worth out of my DUO while I had it, but honestly I'm going through a time here where I'm seriously contemplating the wisdom of going with any sort of dedicated DSP solution. Sooner or later, it gets left behind, whereas if you buy native plugs, they're simply re-coded and will run on newer Mac hardware and OSs. I have a Liquid Mix which is still functional via bridged plugs but it is orphaned. AlphaTrack, thankfully got a new lease on life. But hardware that interfaces with a computer has a finite lifespan. That's contrasted with things like outboard gear that has analog I/O which can be useful for many years.

I suppose this would be the wrong time to want MOTU to give us an insert plug-in for outboard analog, right?

Phil O · Post by **Phil O** » Wed Jan 08, 2014 5:44 am

I'm with you on this, James. The future of DSP is a big question in my mind, but at the same time I love my UAD plug-ins. For the short term, I'm not investing in any more UAD products. The long term is still up in the air.

Phil

stubbsonic · Post by **stubbsonic** » Wed Jan 08, 2014 7:35 am

I have this G4 for my UAD-1 card, and I have set up a DSP-quattro configuration to use my G4 in essence as a hardware FX unit. It works, but is so inelegant with the loud fan and the extra hoop jumping.

It seems like with the UA hardware, you almost need to keep the legacy laptop around for this type of function. Or be in a cycle of needing to update hardware periodically as interface connectivity changes. I was relieved that the FW to TB adapter kept my FF800 online.

bayswater · Post by **bayswater** » Wed Jan 08, 2014 7:58 am

stubbsonic wrote:I have this G4 for my UAD-1 card, and I have set up a DSP-quattro configuration to use my G4 in essence as a hardware FX unit. It works, but is so inelegant with the loud fan and the extra hoop jumping.

I've done the same thing with a G5. A bit complicated sorting out the delay compensation but once it's done in a template, it works fine.

In deciding whether to stick with UAD, I think you have to remember why you bought it in the first place. I got it because the G4 I was using at the time simply didn't have the necessary CPU power. UAD sounds are nice, but now there are a lot of workable native alternatives.

For others, it's emulation. If you really want the newest UAD sounds, you'll have to keep chasing their newest hardware. In their defence, they didn't make the computer design decisions that render their products obsolete.

stubbsonic · Post by **stubbsonic** » Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:26 am

And UA has an almost unanimous reputation for fantastic sound, and great customer support.

You're right, too, that with DSP acceleration, it is kind of the nature of the beast that you are at the mercy of "forward looking" computer manufacturers-- especially when all that forward looking bricks your great devices.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Wed Jan 08, 2014 2:23 pm

On my phone so not much time to reply. Yeah... not saying it's UA's fault. Now though the value proposition will have to shift from conserving CPU power, to the sound of the plugs.

bayswater · Post by **bayswater** » Wed Jan 08, 2014 2:36 pm

James Steele wrote:On my phone so not much time to reply. Yeah... not saying it's UA's fault.

No, you didn't. Others seemed a little down on UAD.

James Steele wrote:Now though the value proposition will have to shift from conserving CPU power, to the sound of the plugs.

I think they did that quite a while ago. At the forum http://uadforum.com/forum.php, a couple of years ago, there was a lot of discussion about what new plugins users wanted. Despite a lot of requests for VIs and synths, UAD stayed right on a narrow path of vintage emulation.

YouTube · Post by **James Steele** » Wed Jan 08, 2014 10:42 pm

Right. Although have to believe that they could get the same results with native versions, so what they essentially have is the best dongle in the business perhaps?

kgdrum · Post by **kgdrum** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 12:32 am

James Steele wrote:Right. Although have to believe that they could get the same results with native versions, so what they essentially have is the best dongle in the business perhaps?

Perhaps but I've been told from reliable sources at UA that when UA develops a new plug internally many of the newer plugs will actually max out their system testing computers, which I'm sure are very good up to date rigs.
Yeah the card is a great piracy deterrent but I suspect the cards also help with some of the heavy lifting some of these newer plugs require.

bayswater · Post by **bayswater** » Thu Jan 09, 2014 6:29 am

James Steele wrote:Right. Although have to believe that they could get the same results with native versions, so what they essentially have is the best dongle in the business perhaps?

I'm sure the dongle helps the business, but I doubt there are many general purpose computers that could run the plugins as well as the specialized UAD processors.

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