UAD still worth it?

[VitaminD]

With all the bundles and discounts, error or not, I think the plugin singles pricing is a bit insulting. I'm sure the objective is to get more bundle sales, but the singles aren't even close to competitive in pricing.

[DCrown]

Imo UAD joined and started developing and releasing native plugins too late for many a man, most of us already have more than enough good plugins, so why buying the same emus again. UAD is aware of it and that is the main reason why they offer so low prices. To say UAD plugins are better is just a hype beyond facts and reality

[kmonkey]

Imo UAD joined and started developing and releasing native plugins too late for many a man, most of us already have more than enough good plugins, so why buying the same emus again. UAD is aware of it and that is the main reason why they offer so low prices. To say UAD plugins are better is just a hype beyond facts and reality

The thing is - the world is alive and new generations arrive. So the point "we already purchased what we need" is a bit weird unless you believe you live in a vacuum.

[jamcat]

You wouldn’t survive very long.

[SLiC]

I can’t imagen what it would be like if you were just starting out and had no plugins! So much out there now (not like when I started) and so many massive bundles …NI, Arturia, Softube, Fabfilter, Soundtoys, UA etc, any one of them good enough for pro level production and enough fx to last a lifetimes!

[musicdoc]

15 years ago UAD was cream of the crop. Now it's still good but the competition has caught up. Just what comes with Cubase or most pro software packages alone is already really good. Plus it's easy to get other effects software as part of other packages, for instance, buy NI Komplete for the synths/sounds and now you have a bunch of other effects to work with. So although I still use and reach for UAD often, it's more a matter of familiarity of knowing exactly what I can get out of it rather than the best sound anymore. And if I was having to buy it all again, I might get like the $300 deal they got going now, but no way in heck would I pay the single plugin price.

[jamcat]

NI has not caught up.

[musicdoc]

NI doing a model of an API channel like UAD, I agree, they got a ways to go. But in the general the reverbs, creative effects and the eq's are quite usable. In comparison to the old days when the UAD reverbs and compressors were head and shoulders above everything else.

[noiseboyuk]

But in the general the reverbs, creative effects and the eq's are quite usable.

...in some cases better. Raum is sensational. Definitely not the case that all of NI's effects are lacklustre.

[DCrown]

Imo UAD joined and started developing and releasing native plugins too late for many a man, most of us already have more than enough good plugins, so why buying the same emus again. UAD is aware of it and that is the main reason why they offer so low prices. To say UAD plugins are better is just a hype beyond facts and reality

The thing is - the world is alive and new generations arrive. So the point "we already purchased what we need" is a bit weird unless you believe you live in a vacuum.

I don't need another 1176, LA2A, Lexicon reverb, Api etc etc etc because I already have it.
Why else do they give their plugins almost for free?! Maybe they will find some new daw users or some stupid users who think UAD's LA2A or 1176 or.... is better than the versions they already have. I was not refering to "we" (=everybody) , but people like me (again of course not everybody!),
who have been buying plugins for a long time (me about 12 years), and UAD is not a brand that makes me ("me", neither I am "we", nor I am "everybody", nor I am a "future generation" !) spend some money, none of their plugins is something unique or revolutionary, just the usual stuff you could have bought already years ago from other devs.
UAD has awoken from a deep slumber a bit too late.

[LoveEnigma18]

UAD has awoken from a deep slumber a bit too late

, which reflects in the way they are hurriedly doing all these sales, probably not exactly sure what to do and what not to.

[Uncle E]

NI doing a model of an API channel like UAD, I agree, they got a ways to go. But in the general the reverbs, creative effects and the eq's are quite usable. In comparison to the old days when the UAD reverbs and compressors were head and shoulders above everything else.

NI isn’t a great example, but Arturia, Relab, Pulsar Audio, IK Multimedia, etc. have caught up or even surpassed.

[kmonkey]

UAD has awoken from a deep slumber a bit too late.

Yes, that may be the case according to your perspective. But again, you are not alone in the world. Tell you did "get" that part did you?

[jamcat]

NI isn’t a great example, but Arturia, Relab, Pulsar Audio, IK Multimedia, etc. have caught up or even surpassed.

Not so sure. Arturia’s Minimoog isn’t as good as UAD. Their 224 is good, but it takes considerably more CPU.

IK’s Pultec is terrible compared to UAD. The low end response is way off and distorts, making it unusable. The IK Fairchild seems OK at 1 or 6 Time Constants, but totally falls apart at the inner settings. Tape Machines are good, but they take 3x the CPU that UAD Studer A800 uses, and they are certainly not 3x better. IK’s LA-2A is good, but it’s incomplete without the R37 pre-emphasis. So you only get about 10% of the functionality of the LA-2A. It’s only as good as the LA-2A Universal Audio gives away for free.

Neither IK nor Arturia’s Space Echo is as good as UAD, but their 1176LN models are comparable. But everyone does a decent 1176LN, including Pulsar. But no one gives you 3 distinct models, except for UAD. UAD 1176AE has no equal.

Relab’s 480L is top notch. I’ve never compared it to the official Lexicon 480 from UA, but I can’t imagine the UAD is better. But that’s one plugin. Relab has been around for over a decade and they have almost no products. They’ve release as many plugins over the last couple weeks as they had over the previous 10 years.

And that really gets to the heart of it. There may be a few smatterings of plugins here and there that are good as UAD. But no one comes close to the sheer volume of great plugins. Universal Audio still has dozens and dozens plugins they haven’t ported yet to native. We’re still just looking at the top of the iceberg.

And UAD models are always 100% complete and true to the original hardware, which is rarely the case from any other developer.

I would add a couple other devs who belong on your list though. NoiseAsh, Brainworx, Lindell Audio, and Softube. These four are consistently on par, but like the others, are quite limited in their offerings.

[jamcat]

But in the general the reverbs, creative effects and the eq's are quite usable.

...in some cases better. Raum is sensational. Definitely not the case that all of NI's effects are lacklustre.

Raum is a freeware trojan. The only hardware it models is a giant wooden horse.