Is the UAD plugs really THAT much better?

[brianbrian]

I have tried in vain to make any use of the Fairchild. It just doesn't impress me....

Just a quick question, what do you guys try to do with it? If you are trying hard smash a kick/snare or use it for dance/hip-hop/trance type music it probably won't do you any good at all.

Actually, I don't find that to be the case at all. The Fairchild excells at compressing and coloring basses, and sounds awesome on the mix bus for hip hop tracks (unless you like the new super-clean hi-hi sounding hip-hop style). It also makes drums sound huge, which is usually what you want with hip-hop or dance. I make lots of electronic music, and find it to be very useful for multing drum tracks and mixing it back in behind the original signal.

[SJ_Digriz]

Actually, I don't find that to be the case at all. The Fairchild excells at compressing and coloring basses, and sounds awesome

You seem to be in the small minority on that. I don't do dance genre music stuff so I have no way to compare. I am makeing an assumption based off of conversations on the UAD boards that are similar to this one. The guys that think it is great tend to be the jazz/retro-rock/classical guys who record and deal with live instruments. The guys that don't like it tend to be the ones that work with clips/loops/synth bits and are trying to smash the hell out of everything. That is just a general observation. Obviously anyone can make something useful out of anything if they try.

Some of my favorite albums were recorded direct to mono with a condensor mic(early blues)"Sugar Ray".

What is true is that imparts a lot of color and feel to anything. But, typically doesn't wokr well if you smash the crap out of something.

[EJo]

(removed)

[VitaminD]

[SJ_Digriz]

The voxengo plugs are simply awful in comparison to the different plugs on the DSP cards. They're laughable.

I have 2 UADs and I wouldn't call Alekseys' stuff awful. It is different for sure. But I wouldn't say better or worse. It's almost not feasable to compare them.

Another misconception is that there is some magic "better" in the hardware cards. This isn't in and of itelf true. What you have is a well protected set of utilities(FU crack heads). The people who write stuff for the UAD are doing a very specific thing, hardware emulation. They do it well. People could write stuff that is just as good in native mode, but everyone would bitch about the amount of CPU consumed. I've actually seen the rants about CurveEQ, URS and a few other plugs.

[Lazlo Minimart]

The voxengo plugs are simply awful in comparison to the different plugs on the DSP cards.

I'm a UAD *and* a Voxengo customer. I think you're either out of your mind, deaf or both.

[StudioTan]

The voxengo plugs are simply awful in comparison to the different plugs on the DSP cards. They're laughable.

I have 2 UADs and I wouldn't call Alekseys' stuff awful. It is different for sure. But I wouldn't say better or worse. It's almost not feasable to compare them.

Another misconception is that there is some magic "better" in the hardware cards. This isn't in and of itelf true. What you have is a well protected set of utilities(FU crack heads). The people who write stuff for the UAD are doing a very specific thing, hardware emulation. They do it well. People could write stuff that is just as good in native mode, but everyone would bitch about the amount of CPU consumed. I've actually seen the rants about CurveEQ, URS and a few other plugs.

Finally a non-biased, no BS, FACTUAL post! Thank you, SJ_Digriz!!!

[kilroy]

If you don't get these cards, or other hardware that does the same thing, you're never going to make good sounding productions. It's just a FACT.

You know, EJo...you are probably a right nice bloke, and no doubt you mean well in your advice...but honestly mate, this statement is spectacularily funny.

[SJ_Digriz]

I will say this though. The UAD Precision Limiter is the first software compressor I have ever truly loved. Keeping in mind of course that I don't think mixing/mastering is a "how loud can we get it" contest.

[putte]

i love my uad´s .. but there´s a killer though (not yet on pc, but soon):
hydratone from http://www.tritonedigital.com

that´s one stunning plugin, holy schnitzel!

putte

[akisd28]

Well said, SJ_Digriz, just one thing:

I've actually seen the rants about CurveEQ, URS and a few other plugs.

The CPU usage of the URS is ridiculously low - and they sound f*cking awesome BTW. Last time I tested I could load about 130 stereo instances of them on my AMD Athlon 3200 XP+. Look here.

[SJ_Digriz]

Well said, SJ_Digriz, just one thing:

I've actually seen the rants about CurveEQ, URS and a few other plugs.

The CPU usage of the URS is ridiculously low - and they sound f*cking awesome BTW. Last time I tested I could load about 130 stereo instances of them on my AMD Athlon 3200 XP+. Look here.

lol, don't they have a mastering eq or compressor that sucks up the juice? Or am I thinking of something else? I just remember a rant thread about some of the better VST processors taking too much CPU. ROFL....I think one of the good replies was that they wanted an Avalon for $35.50 too.

OT: that thread did remind me that they have PACE which will NEVER touch my system. Which is why I don't know from personal experience.

[akisd28]

No problems with the iLok here. They doesn't use the famous, shitty C/R PACE copy protection. Also, AFAIK, they don't make compressors.

[AndrewSimon]

Is the UAD plugs really THAT much better?

YES they are.

That doesn't mean there are no good alternatives
and some of them are even great but only a handful
and they usually kill your CPU.

So I challenge you to take your best Reverb and run 8 instances simultaneously.
Now glance at your CPU meter.
What does it say?

Mine says 5%

[kilroy]

So I challenge you to take your best Reverb and run 8 instances simultaneously.
Now glance at your CPU meter.
What does it say?

Mine says 5%

Mine says 0%



Aaah...the joys of outboard processing.