UAD apollo and plugins owners......is it worth it ? HOnestly

[bill45]

Uad may have the edge when it comes to saturation.

[Scotty]

Another disadvantage to add to my previous posts.... Earlier UAD-2 cards, the solo, duo and quads are not universally compatible with the new Ryzen motherboards. Support is hit and miss. Some motherboards allow the older cards to be slotted into pcie ports that can be configured as 2nd gen which makes some motherboards work. Some companies ASROCK for example have released bios updates that will allow the older UAD-2 cards to work. It is hit and miss. Do your research otherwise you'll be trading in your UAD-2 cards for a loss and buying an Octo card which is not effected.

[pandashake]

Why would you need or want 72 inputs and outputs?

There tends to be a lack of imagination from some posters who can't get their heads around the fact that there are many different workflows, needs , preferences , budgets etc. It would be equally short sighted to claim that this kind of set up leads to superior results. It doesn't, it is just ease of access and nice workflow that I am willing to fund through paying projects. It isn't expensive in the long term. I got the Raydat cards for half price from someone moving to an Apollo system a couple of years ago and I keep my eye open for ADAT converter boxes on the used market. Cables probably amount for a the same or bigger cost in the long run.

I'm on dual RME Raydats

I am using almost all of of the available inputs and about 30 of the available outputs. The reason is that all of my hardware are always patched in and defined within Cubase as external instruments and effects. I run a dedicated 6 channel headphone cue system with separate cue sends in stereo. Keeping a multi mic'd drum kit setup permanently and several mics available in a vocal booth and amp room will eat up IO very quickly. That along with a large rack of synths and groove boxes and you can see how the IO gets used up.

Apart from that, I host two other computer along with my main DAW that communicate to the DAW: Korg OASYS PCI cards and the Creamware DSP cards live in their own computers, again connected via ADAT cables.

Most of the gear is not on and running at the same time. But if I want it .. it is patched in and on its own midi cable and audio cable(s) and ready to go as it is defined in the routing system in Cubase. I don't use patchbays.

Monitoring through Effects at Low Latency:

I monitor at 64 samples via the raydats through effects when tracking bands in my 5 room studio. It is overkill for bedroom producers for sure and it doesn't make me special in the least. Nor does it make me an idiot. I know my gear. It is just how I have grown my system over the years. I prefer to have all of my gear available and on line.

What are you using for the ADAT AD?

[bill45]

Another disadvantage to add to my previous posts.... Earlier UAD-2 cards, the solo, duo and quads are not universally compatible with the new Ryzen motherboards. Support is hit and miss. Some motherboards allow the older cards to be slotted into pcie ports that can be configured as 2nd gen which makes some motherboards work. Some companies ASROCK for example have released bios updates that will allow the older UAD-2 cards to work. It is hit and miss. Do your research otherwise you'll be trading in your UAD-2 cards for a loss and buying an Octo card which is not effected.

Good point. No win 10 for UAD-1 cards.I may grab a UAD-2 solo.I think I can still upgrade my UAD-1 plugins to uad-2.

[Scotty]

What are you using for the ADAT AD?

A combination of adat convertors depending upon how critical they are... for the headphone cuing system ada8200 works fine... for drum tracking a pair of Universal Audio 4:710 - Ds with Universal Audio LA-610 Mk 2s and Avalons 2022s and 737s and Neve clones in the spare line inputs for mic and DI inputs. They are best converters I have in here so I use them on critical mic and instrument DI sources.

I use a pair of digimax FS convertors for most of my rack synths and groove boxes. The other adat inputs are just going adat to adat via the satellite computers that run Oasys PCI and Creamware/Sonic -Core DSP stuff. No converters needed there. These are legacy systems that I still value although they aren't much use these days.

I keep a spare Focusrite OctoPre (picked it up for cheap) nearby so if someone brings in a synth rig I can patch it in without having to disconnect my own gear.

[Scotty]

Another disadvantage to add to my previous posts.... Earlier UAD-2 cards, the solo, duo and quads are not universally compatible with the new Ryzen motherboards. Support is hit and miss. Some motherboards allow the older cards to be slotted into pcie ports that can be configured as 2nd gen which makes some motherboards work. Some companies ASROCK for example have released bios updates that will allow the older UAD-2 cards to work. It is hit and miss. Do your research otherwise you'll be trading in your UAD-2 cards for a loss and buying an Octo card which is not effected.

Good point. No win 10 for UAD-1 cards.I may grab a UAD-2 solo.I think I can still upgrade my UAD-1 plugins to uad-2.

Just keep in mind your Solo card may not work in a new AMD motherboard. IT is the early UAD-2 cards specifically Solo, Duo and Quads that are hit in miss on the Ryzens.. The Octo cards seem to work on every system in so far as I have read at least. UAD-1 cards are PCI based not PCIe .. some people have got them working using PCIE= to pci adapter cards and wrapping the plugins in jbridge to make them 64bit. I am not going there and retired those cards a long time ago. If you bought plugins on the UAD-1 platform they are still available to you on any new UAD-2 card that you bought except the Nigel amp sim which was abandoned.

[burnt circuit]

Uad may have the edge when it comes to saturation.

If I currently owned and used UAD products, I would probably believe that too...

[Spring Goose]

You can achieve the same DSP processing power with many alternatives for half the price.

explain please

Everything you need to know is contained here.

https://www.waves.com/soundgrid-studio-system

Mate, is this still the case now that UAD will be making instruments? I mean is the Soundgrid still the best choice?

[dionenoid]

Mate, is this still the case now that UAD will be making instruments? I mean is the Soundgrid still the best choice?

That guy you asked is banned. He was just here shilling for Waves. So i wouldn't take his comments too serious

[electro]

Uad may have the edge when it comes to saturation.

If I currently owned and used UAD products, I would probably believe that too...

Try the original UAD Moog Multimode filter. Drive circuit was the best ITB saturation I had ever heard. Then when it comes to EQs, try the mk2 UAD Helios which I find amazing.

The Native plugins that I feel hang out in the same territory as UAD are the Eventide Clockworks and Brainworx emulations, some which are also available on UAD.

[Spring Goose]

Mate, is this still the case now that UAD will be making instruments? I mean is the Soundgrid still the best choice?

That guy you asked is banned. He was just here shilling for Waves. So i wouldn't take his comments too serious

ok

[gbaddis]

I'm going to sell my UAD satellite for use just Native plugins.
UAD plugins are amazing but......1) Using satellite, CPU is not 100% free
2)if I insert for test SSL channel strip in every track and arrive to 100% satelllite CPU, when I start play Reaper crack. (tryed to change setting but nothing to do)
3)Price

[Freshback]

Soundgrid is quite good alternative to UAD system but problem with Soundgrid is that the hardware is very loud. What I mean is that fans are so loud, that I had to take it to the other room to be able to work with my mixes. It connect with one CAT5 cable so I had to hide that cable somehow.

[roman.i]

Any UAD owners here? All plugins are 50% off now, is this a good sale or a usual one?

[Cheadle96]

Ive owned the UAD system for 11 years. I have 2 quads and 80 plugins. I also have a new AMD Ryzen 3900x computer i just build about 3 months ago and my 11 year old card works just fine.

Back in the day UAD was on top. Now, not so much in my opinion. I dislike their business model, 90% of their plugins are just ok. Ive noticed from comparing the plugs to the hardware is they are smeary, choked, soft and less defined.

I used to mix through and ATR 102 1/2” tape machine on the repro head for two years. I could boost an eq beyond what you would image and the tape would eat it up. When i rewound the tape and kept working while rewinding I couldn’t. It sounded so bad without printing so i had to wait for the rewind.
UAD has the 102. Does and sounds NOTHING like the real thing by a drastic amount.

Right now i only use it for FX , Reverb ,delay, ect.. and dont push any dynamics or eq to hard.

My new computer runs circles around what is available in native form.

If you have subpar hardware then UAD is comparable or better in most cases.

I have an old ART VLA that i did an extensive mod that often times feels better/more musical then the updated LA2a

That is just my two cents and only a small amount of experiences ive shared. Ive been contemplating selling my system for a couple years until now.

For my situation its not worth it and dont want to be tied to it anymore.