UAD pci card or Focusrite Liquid Mix?...

DJeff · Post by **DJeff** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:19 am

Hi guys,

I'm ready to invest in some hardware-accelerated Plug-ins... I'd like to choose between UAD and Liquid Mix. I have a few questions:

-Am I right to assume that a Firewire Liquid Mix unit would work on both my Mac Book Pro and my G5 dbl 2.3?
-If I go with UAD and the pci card, am I gonna be able to use it if I was to buy another computer in the future?

Also, any of you guys have opinions on latency, sound quality, etc... Do you have a preference? I'm ready to spend about $800...

Thanx

G5 dbl 2.5, 4 gig ram, Mac Book Pro 2 ghz, DP 5.12, Ableton 5 and 6, Reason, Peak, Arturia Prophet 5, Moog Modular, NI Spektral Delay, Traktor 3

Resonant Alien · Post by **Resonant Alien** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:17 am

Sound quality - i much prefer the UAD. UA is known for their uncanny ability to make the plugs sound as close to the real hardware as possible with current technology. I didn't think the LM had the same amount of realism.

User interface - UAD is much much better (if that is a factor). The UA stuff looks just like the actual hardware. LM uses a generic interface for all plugs.

Latency with DP is not an issue with either IME.

One thing you may want to think about is how much stuff you have on your Firewire buss. If you are using a FW AD/DA interface, you have to be careful with other things (like the LM) connecting. I have heard of some people having issues. UAD does not have this concern.

Do you have PCI-e or PCI in your G5? Can't remember when Apple switched to PCI-e. If you have PCI and you buy the UAD PCI card, you will have to buy new UAD PCI-e cards when you upgrade to a new Mac as the MacPros only support PCI-e. If your G5 is PCI-e, then you're fine.

Big advantage of the LM is that you could use it on your MacBook and your G5. UAD is only going to work on your G5.

DJeff · Post by **DJeff** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 12:44 pm

thanx Resident,

my G5 is PCI X. I'm reading the different uad-G5 compatibilty on the UAD web site... Lots of things to be aware of... According to what I'm reading now:
''The best performance with the UAD-1 is obtained with G5 systems that DO NOT use the AMD-8131 PCI controller chipset.''
I'll try to find out what mine is using...

Thank you again

stephentayler · Post by **stephentayler** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:09 pm

Hi there

I am using LM on both my G5 and my MBP, and it has been brilliant. I would recommend it purely for this kind of flexibility. It was also a complete doddle to take it with me to a mix session on Protools abroad recently.......

So, a thumbs up for LM here.

I did have a technical problem with my unit, and I have to say Focusrite have been brilliant in sorting me out. Good people.

Cheers

Stephen

Resonant Alien · Post by **Resonant Alien** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 3:44 pm

DJeff wrote:thanx Resident,

my G5 is PCI X. I'm reading the different uad-G5 compatibilty on the UAD web site... Lots of things to be aware of... According to what I'm reading now:
''The best performance with the UAD-1 is obtained with G5 systems that DO NOT use the AMD-8131 PCI controller chipset.''
I'll try to find out what mine is using...

Thank you again

Yeah, there is a slight performance hit with the PCI-X G5s. I think it is a pretty small hit though to be honest. It had to do with the way that the PCI-X controller differed from PCI or PCI-e - they had to burn part of the CPU for transport over the PCI-X bus, which they did not have to do with PCI or PCIe.

I think you will get the performance you need from either platform, so I would decide based on what you want to use it for and how portable you need it to be - if you want one system that you can use on the G5 or MacBook and can stay with you when you upgrade to a MacPro, the LM has an advantage. If you want to most realistic sounding emulations of Neve, Helios, Fairchild, 1176 and LA2A hardware, then the UAD has the edge. If you want something that may have less than realistic algorithms (though still very good) and has more options - i.e. Manley, SSL, etc., then it's the LM.

Hell, why not be a real slut and just buy both

DJeff · Post by **DJeff** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:10 pm

Hell, why not be a real slut and just buy both

Right, I didn't think about that...

Cheers

guyreilly · Post by **guyreilly** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 9:46 pm

I have LiquidMix and have been very pleased with the quality of the emulations (haven't got to A:B test with a UAD card tho)

I run an iMac so PCI isn't an option. I wish it was, because I have had a number of issues running it daisy chained through my firewire port on my 896HD. Too much data on the firewire bus at once I guess. I am going to try getting a firewire hub but I don't expect that to give much of a boost.