UAD still worth it?

[noiseboyuk]

There are a lot of people (like me) who didn’t really need a bunch of new compressors etc and only bought the bundle as it was so cheap…I’m sure I am not alone and UA made a bunch of money they may not otherwise of made. Like many I have all the Arturia fx and NI fx, all bundled at super cheap prices…there is simply saturation…I must have 50 virtusl compressors now, life was simpler when I just had one hardware unit! As for the synths, there are pretty good…but again, I have legend, Arturia moog and Softube moog…not sure I needed another! Polysynth pretty vanilla (have better) and the WT one is good but I have better….so was it really a bargain at 140? That will depend what I I actually use!

This.

This this this.

I view the whole thing as collective insanity, on the part of developer and customers. Something can be both an incredible bargain and a total waste of money at the same time, depending on the circumstances of who is buying.

[jamcat]

I view the whole thing as collective insanity, on the part of developer and customers. Something can be both an incredible bargain and a total waste of money at the same time, depending on the circumstances of who is buying.

Well if you start down that path, then really it's a total waste of money for 99.9% of buyers who will never produce anything decent with it and never make back their initial investment.

[noiseboyuk]

I view the whole thing as collective insanity, on the part of developer and customers. Something can be both an incredible bargain and a total waste of money at the same time, depending on the circumstances of who is buying.

Well if you start down that path, then really it's a total waste of money for 99.9% of buyers who will never produce anything decent with it and never make back their initial investment.

Also true.

To a point that's fine of course. If you're making music for fun, why should it make financial sense? But I think what happens is that the fun gets replaced by a mad desire to own THE plugin that will make the difference to your music. Initially EVERYTHING will make a huge difference when you are starting, but the longer you go at it and start spending and hoarding, the less it is true. The 37th compressor won't make your music any different to anything you could have done with the other 36. At this point, pretty much all buying - and all KVR posts - are displacement activity, and you've probably stopped actually enjoying making music along the way.

Dum de dum.

Wonder what Toontrack's deals will be this year?

[jamcat]

What I get out of it is the most authentic experience of the hardware that was modeled available in VST form.

I know the actual end results are largely arbitrary. I don’t think one plugin vs another makes any meaningful difference to the end product. People are either going to like your song or they aren’t, and which compressor plugin you used isn’t going to be factor in that in the least.

But my own experience making the song will be enhanced because I’m using an 1176LN and an LA-2A, and not some generic compressor plugin or a “close enough” designer imposter. And that matters to me personally as a student of the late studio era and gear aficionado.

That may not matter to other people. And for those people, it probably is a waste of money.

[Sindikhate]

I suspect that the $150 Signature Bundle crossgrade for all that was mistakenly put up on several audio plugin dealers is something UA is planning for next Friday and it just accidentally went out a week early.

I will buy 10 of these if the Signature bundle crossgrade from La2a is 150 bucks!
I think any person who would not get 44 UAD plugins for 150$ would be insane.
Their sub is at 100$ for a whole year at the moment but you do get extra releases on that one during the year. That is also a good offer.

[SLiC]

What I get out of it is the most authentic experience of the hardware that was modeled available in VST form.

I have never owned any of the hardware fx they have modelled so I couldn't say, in the VST world what sounds good is good! It is interesting comparing the 4 Moogs I now own (Legend, Softube, Arturia and UA), they all sound pretty good to me as a VST, none sound anything like my Behringer Model D (not necessarily a bad thing!) but Nice to see the official Moog label/name on the UA VST- I remember when that used to be on the Arturia one when it was a $200 VST, now in the V collection they work out at about $20 bucks each...that and PA (NI) almost giving away modelled compressors etc is what UA and other are up against I guess.

UAs big selling point used to be the plugs running on UA hardware (I used to have TC Powercore) but with fast processors now-a-days I guess this is less of a thing and competing in the native market is, well...competitive!

[jamcat]

I always thought the selling point was officially sanctioned 1:1 circuit modeled software versions of the most sought after studio gear.

The UA DSP hardware always seemed like it was just there to make it more rarified.

[noiseboyuk]

The UA DSP hardware always seemed like it was just there to make it more rarified.

It made sense 20 years ago to outsource processing power. Doesn't any more.

But I think it did subconsciously give a sense of material worth that you don't get with software. Pretty much an illusion, but an effective one. Add the real branding, realistic UIs and the fact that the plugins do sound good, it was a powerful combo.

[beely]

But I think it did subconsciously give a sense of material worth that you don't get with software. Pretty much an illusion, but an effective one. Add the real branding, realistic UIs and the fact that the plugins do sound good, it was a powerful combo.

What also powered it for a long time was the feeling of buying into an exclusive club, that other, er, "less exclusive" people did not have access to.

And at first, UA plugins were quite a bit better than other developers' offerings, in that they really had the experience and heritage of classic studio gear, and the will to model them in detail, that the more software-development founded companies didn't have.

Before UA started modelling 1176's, LA2As, Fairchilds, Pultecs etc in the early 2000s, other plugin companies weren't modelling these things, they were coming up with their own-design software compressors, EQs and so on. UA really were the first company to put "here's a software version of this great studio hardware" plugins into the market (Bomb Factory on ProTools doesn't really count, imo, as their "models" were just vague approximations). The first 1176 plugin I used was UA's (in UAD1), and I was like "Oh, *that's* the sound I hear on records!

Of course, the rest of the market caught up over time, so there were viable alternatives to UAD stuff for a lot of categories of product.

[jamcat]

It made sense 20 years ago to outsource processing power. Doesn't any more.

But I think it did subconsciously give a sense of material worth that you don't get with software.

But looking at how little CPU native versions take compared to other plugins, combined with the fact that you could only run like 8 instances on a UAD-1 card, it really didn’t make sense from a technological standpoint by the time UAD started up, the way TDM made sense in the ‘90s.

I think it always had more to do with cultivating the same kind of exclusive culture that Pro Tools TDM plugins had.

[SLiC]

I always thought the selling point was officially sanctioned 1:1 circuit modeled software versions of the most sought after studio gear.

The UA DSP hardware always seemed like it was just there to make it more rarified.

Maybe the 'officially sanctioned' thing carries some weight, but so much software now claims to be 1:1 circuit modelled...anyone can buy a piece of hardware and circuit model it I guess, sanctioned or not! Like I say, I am no expert but the circuit modelled synapse, UHE, Softube etc stuff also sounds very good to my ears...maybe others just caught up? Maybe at some point (15 years ago) the 'circuit modelled' stuff struggled running native and needed DSP Hardware?

There certainly was an 'exclusivity' to the accelerator hardware at one point- I bought Powercore to get the Virus plugin!

[jamcat]

Most models aren’t 1:1 replicas though, for legal reasons, primarily. So Universal Audio having officially licensed versions makes a huge difference. Every knob is accounted for and exactly where it’s supposed to be. And it does exactly what it’s supposed to do.

You can learn to fly a Boeing 747 on a 747 flight simulator. And when you get in the cockpit of a real 747, everything will be the same, and you will know how to operate it. I want the same level of experience from my plugins.

[DaniZzz79]

You can now pick up the Signature bundle for $142 at plugin discounts… craziness!

now they DOUBLED the price

https://plugindiscounts.com/product/uni ... n-upgrade/

[SLiC]

You can now pick up the Signature bundle for $142 at plugin discounts… craziness!

now they DOUBLED the price

https://plugindiscounts.com/product/uni ... n-upgrade/

Glad I bought yesterday , this thing is a lottery!

[roman.i]

Glad I bought yesterday , this thing is a lottery!

Don't they say they will refund everyone who bought this deal because this was a mistake?