Native UAD Spark VST3 Plugins Out for PC+Mac (UAD Hardware Not Required to Purchase)

[_leras]

Just spotted their custom bundles:
3 for $700 - f**k off
6 for $1k - better but IMO still not that great value. I might possibly consider...
10 for $1300 - value-wise much better. But I don't think there are 10 I really want. 5 at best.

There's no sale on at the moment. I don't think I've ever paid that much for a bundle.

[_leras]

API 2500 undecided but likely useful (I doubt it's noticeably better than a few other decent sw comps)
All of the channel strips - woo (dunno who falls for that crap?)
Pultec - I like the idea if it's a decent emu but again, fixed mid bands - didn't realise it was so limited.
2 x tape recorders - woo. Again who falls for that crap? I lived through that era - expensive tape wasn't bought to colour the mix, it was bought to be clean, clear and the best it could be back then. Same with mixers. Too many young'uns fooled by "colouration" advertising.
Lexicon 224 - tick, though not my first choice, I probably would use it.
Hitsville chambers - useless
Pure Plate - tick, though I don't use plates that often, def not anything I'd buy normally
Brigade Chorus - too limited and I don't need or want a tremolo.
Galaxy Tape Echo - undecided. Likely good but again - I don't use tape echoes that often.

Just to answer on some of the ones you are not sure about, I'd say they are all worth trying

2500 is a great drum bus and/or mix compressor
Channel Strips - very useful on say, non main channels, make things sound cohesive across a mix and to and extent - like a record
Pultec - this is broad strokes, sure, but it definitely something that makes a lot of things just sound a bit better
Pure plate - if this is the same as the EMT 140, then I think it's really a great sounding reverb, I love this one a lot, lots of potential uses when you EQ the output from metallic verb to really clean and airy
Brigade Chorus - Boss chorus is very thick, and much more useable if your DAW has a mix knob (very easy to add to a container in Bitwig, which adds a mix control). Can be great at times.
Galaxy Tape Echo - this is a really good Roland Space Echo sound, the grunginess in the repeats is really pretty organic sounding, it's great for fx in some places

edit: sorry missed the hitsville chambers - what didn't you like about this? I think it's a very real sounding room space - I got this in a sale and have found some really great uses for it

[kritikon]

Just spotted their custom bundles:
3 for $700 - f**k off
6 for $1k - better but IMO still not that great value. I might possibly consider...
10 for $1300 - value-wise much better. But I don't think there are 10 I really want. 5 at best.

There's no sale on at the moment. I don't think I've ever paid that much for a bundle.

Well, the UAD website has those bundles on it. The intro prices & collections sure look like a sale to me. It says until 31st March.
$699
$999
$1299

[kritikon]

And if you paid less than that, and these are intro sales to tempt...it says to me that anything I buy now means I'm going to get royally ripped off.

"edit: sorry missed the hitsville chambers - what didn't you like about this? I think it's a very real sounding room space - I got this in a sale and have found some really great uses for it"

I just don't have use for impulses of studios. Especially someone's attic.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

The Motown EQ is terrific sounding, but so is the Kazrog True 252 which is only $29 (sale ends today I think). Don't sleep on it because of fixed bands. They interact in really cool ways that are difficult to replicate with other EQ's. The word "musical" comes to mind, but that's been used a lot for less interesting interactions than these have.

The Motown chambers are great. Frankly, I've done a complete 180 on the "studio" plugins. At first I thought they were just gimicky impulse responses. Which, they are. But man are they worth it. Ocean Way, Hitsville, Sunset Sound, FAME...keep 'em coming folks! Too bad Sound City shut down and Dave Grohl bought the console. That would've been an amazing room to capture.

[musicdoc]

If you are new to UAD, the 3 new bundles creative/diamond/mix are a serious bang for the buck. Way less than what I paid for many of the plugs many moons ago. (And available Native I believe)

And in the plug in world UAD is something special. You get some of the best emulations out their, with consistency between plugs. Though nowadays native is quite good, UAD equipment emulations are spot on verses others where things are hit and miss. So yes they are pricey but they just work with no guessing as to the quality.

Incidentally, their API eq is one of my most used. Their Plate also.

If you have a bunch of other stuff already that you know well, then maybe it’s just extra filler and not really needed. If you have time to do lots of testing, you probably can put together a similar sounding set using other companies like IK/NI/Waves. But here you pay for consistently top notch plugs in one ready to use package.

After many years of mixing I could probably get away with just cubase plug ins and be fine, but UAD just makes things sound better fast.

For example, last week just pulled up a Roland Dimension D plug from Arturia and compared to UAD, figured Arturia is like 10 years newer so lets see how the state of VSTs has progressed. After a short time of testing, still like the sound of UAD better. Though the VST itself by Arturia is programmed louder (or UAD softer?) once volume even, UAD has that drier, fatter, more solid sound. So 10 years and still beating the competition in my book..at least with that particular plug-in.

[mholloway]

For example, last week just pulled up a Roland Dimension D plug from Arturia and compared to UAD, figured Arturia is like 10 years newer so lets see how the state of VSTs has progressed. After a short time of testing, still like the sound of UAD better. Though the VST itself by Arturia is programmed louder (or UAD softer?) once volume even, UAD has that drier, fatter, more solid sound. So 10 years and still beating the competition in my book..at least with that particular plug-in.

I did a similar test, and found the UAD superior to the Arturia Dim-D as well. Also found that the Arturia gives a weird volume boost, as you've noted. The boost is so significant it was hard too meaningfully compare the two without lowering the Arturia channel's output to try and match. No idea if that boost was part of the original, but it seems weird.

Now that UAD is native, first thing I did was buy Studio D and Lexicon 224. Might be the only ones I ever really need (I've wanted the 224 for, quite literally, Years upon years). They are fantastic and I see them getting constant use from here forward.

Only other thing I really want is the AKG BX-20, but it's not available natively (yet).

[musicdoc]

Lexicon 224 has also been a favorite for many years now. I got my first UAD card back when it was a Mackie product. Then really expanded my collection when the UAD-1 to UAD-2 switch was happening. They were blowing out UAD-1 cards with like $500 dollar vouchers so I would buy the thing, sell the card on ebay (already had one) and keep the voucher. It was like paying $100 to get $500. Set me up for a few years. Then not much after that for awhile as it wasn't as fun to buy at regular price:)

I did recently pick up the creative pack though. 5 VST's including the minimoog and B3 which are both top notch. Plus another 5 fx some of which I already had, so at $350 about $50 a vst since I already had some. Quite good for anything UAD. They must be having to adjust to the new market where you have a saturation of VST's and fast computers that no longer want/need a dsp solution or extra card.

[sacer]

I haven't compared the Space Echo to Arturia, but i have compared all EQ, Comps and Channel strips to softube and think they sound identicall, but when it comes to overdrive and distortion, i prefer the softube version. UAD has very much presets compared to softube, so I copied the presets to softube.

[noiseboyuk]

Just spotted their custom bundles:
3 for $700 - f**k off
6 for $1k - better but IMO still not that great value. I might possibly consider...
10 for $1300 - value-wise much better. But I don't think there are 10 I really want. 5 at best.

For the hardware bundles, it was common to get 3 for $299, 10 for $799 IIRC. All prices have shot up now after the Native thing, but I suspect in time prices will drop back to these sort of levels.

[jamcat]

In a year's time UAD will be sending out daily emails about their latest $29.99 MEGA SALE

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

In a year's time UAD will be sending out daily emails about their latest $29.99 MEGA SALE

They do regular sales as-is and I think they'll always view themselves as a premium brand. So, I don't think they'll get to Plugin Alliance levels any time in the foreseeable future. But I do wonder if they can sustain their pricing in the medium to long-term. In fact, I think their prices just increased before going native. They may even be pulling a Slate and keeping prices high and potentially cutting back on sales in order to make the sub seem that much more appealing.

Will be interesting to see how it all shakes out in the end.

[kritikon]

I think they'll be disappointed at how many subs they get. They obvs have gone native because the hw dongle model is dying . Improvements in computing makes that almost redundant, I'd think. And their danger is if they become known for take-the-piss pricing in the plugin world, they go off everyone's radar and risk garnering a bad rep that sticks. Have to say that they're making a bad impression on me initially, whereas before I was neutral on them (hw plugins was never going to be on my radar). There becomes a point where one avoids a company completely if their reputation sticks, even if their product might be decent quality.

For now at least I'll simply sit back and revisit UAD in the near future to see if they decided to join the real world at all. TBH iLok mostly makes them on my avoid list. But good quality at a price that seems sane might just make me less averse to giving business to the PACE twats. Maybe.

[Tronam]

I used to despise all things iLok for years, but now it's become my favorite method of copy protection. It is by far the easiest system for managing authorizations across hundreds of plugins. Most devs provide 2 or 3 licenses each and I can quickly move them around between dongle, machine or cloud. I know that might be a bit of a hot take, especially considering how reviled they always used to be in the old days. I've been here since 2002, so I remember.

[trackbout]

They've been getting thoroughly roasted in the GS thread for selling NFRs, even with the aggressive comment deletion that GS does for UA. Doesn't seem like the native move is helping the brand much, will be interesting to see if they reconsider that position.