UAD still worth it?

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Agreed wrote: Mon Nov 20, 2023 7:44 pm I love IK's tapes as a mix bus plugin, without tape emulation prior to that. I haven't encountered the cumulative effect, as a result, but I just adore (really, really do) what their tape machines can do at that spot. I have not tried the A800 before, but if it is something you use across multiple channels so that each one is going "to tape" on its own, that's interesting and I'll have to try it now that I'm in the UAD ecosystem.
The A800 is a pretty subtle effect per track, but when on all tracks the cumulative effect is fairly nice, and the instances can be linked which is useful.

The ATR-102 is a better choice for mix bus, or on lead instruments where you want more of a tape effect. But the ATR-102 can also do a nice subtle tape effect.

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Agreed wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 11:53 pm
miloszz wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 10:24 pm Kind of glad for the bundle price shenanigans - I would have bought the Signature Bundle for $150 (owning half of it already) for Sound City but now that it's out and I'm demoing it... meh.
Man, that's one that I think is really good - especially the guitar re-miking function, some really "live" tones that track well using it so far. I think I'll use it a lot like that, personally, which is funny because I didn't know about that part of it, didn't follow the development and thought it was "just" going to be more reverb spaces. Pleasant surprise to have this functionality from it. The re-micing through a PA sounds cool with synths too by the way!
I also think their room/chamber reverbs are excellent. Definitely a very real room feel gets imparted. It's a sonic flavour that can be used creatively. I've used these to really great effect on just one individual sound, or layered with other reverbs. When they work for your taste, they are just fantastic.

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Hi! Currently the "complete" bundle at plugin boutique is 346 eur ( https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/ ... Exclusive- )
You mean they have sold this for 150 ? When?

midi_transmission wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 7:55 pm
heyheycnv wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 4:56 pm Now that the "complete" bundle has been offered multiple times for $150 I wouldn't pay anymore.

Even at that price I dunno. Already have the LA-2A collection. I think it's the best emulation of that compressor as are the Fairchilds. Love them both. The rest...I have so many other options as good or better.
The Ilok Cloud/UA Connect duo is a constant headache. Waiting more than 2 seconds for a plugin to load or having to reauthorize the entire group keeps me from reaching for them.
Yes same as Roland cloud. Very interesting products, but the ecosystem is such a hassle. Even if it's 10% better than other stuff, it's not worth it to me having to deal with this overhead.

However, the idea to be depended on a working online connection and activation servers to use your gear is not something I can support and should be seen even more critical than subscription only.

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_leras wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 10:07 am The A800 is a pretty subtle effect per track, but when on all tracks the cumulative effect is fairly nice, and the instances can be linked which is useful.
Unfortunately not - this feature only works on the DSP version that you run on UAD hardware. It is not included in the native version, and it doesn't look like there are any signs of UA going back to implement it either. So it's of limited usefulness if you have to run on resource-limited DSP to take advantage of linking, which probably means you can't put it across all your tracks anyway.

Bit of a miss by UA on that one, imo...

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Edit: Misunderstanding...
Last edited by beely on Wed Nov 22, 2023 9:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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beely wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:09 pm Unfortunately not - this feature only works on the DSP version that you run on UAD hardware. It is not included in the native version, and it doesn't look like there are any signs of UA going back to implement it either. So it's of limited usefulness if you have to run on resource-limited DSP to take advantage of linking, which probably means you can't put it across all your tracks anyway.

Bit of a miss by UA on that one, imo...
Yes, a big miss. That was the plugin's best feature, IMO. Having it in DSP isn't terrible, you can run a lot of instances and the DSP isn't being used much these days, anyway, but it's a pain to always have to be hooked up to the hardware.

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beely wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:09 pm
_leras wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 10:07 am The A800 is a pretty subtle effect per track, but when on all tracks the cumulative effect is fairly nice, and the instances can be linked which is useful.
Unfortunately not - this feature only works on the DSP version that you run on UAD hardware. It is not included in the native version, and it doesn't look like there are any signs of UA going back to implement it either. So it's of limited usefulness if you have to run on resource-limited DSP to take advantage of linking, which probably means you can't put it across all your tracks anyway.

Bit of a miss by UA on that one, imo...
Its not that DSP heavy tbh, so across many channels isn't too bad iirc.

The linking isn't essential, but yes it would be nice as native.

I never bought the A800, but I demoed it and did a few full mixes. I picked up the ATR-102 instead. I thought the A800 on multiple channels sounded really nice, 'like a record', but at the time I couldn't justify getting both.

The UAD Oxide tape can also do this multi channel thing. It's pretty interesting how pretty subtle differences add up to a noticeable improvement. I don't think all tape plug ins would get that same 'realness'.

*At the same time lots of people do completely without, it can also be over done if not careful, and I found acoustic/real instruments and voices to benefit more than my electronic music.

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Uncle E wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:30 pm
beely wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:09 pm . So it's of limited usefulness if you have to run on resource-limited DSP to take advantage of linking, which probably means you can't put it across all your tracks anyway.

Bit of a miss by UA on that one, imo...
Yes, a big miss. That was the plugin's best feature, IMO. Having it in DSP isn't terrible, you can run a lot of instances and the DSP isn't being used much these days, anyway, but it's a pain to always have to be hooked up to the hardware.
When I have used this, or other tape type things as first insert, I have found it's usually fairly set and forget. I find the option e.g. tape type, tape speed that I like and tend to stick to it.

So not having the linked effect is not that much of an issue in practice, I find.

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_leras wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:32 pm It's pretty interesting how pretty subtle differences add up to a noticeable improvement.
That's my experience with Luna. The tapes don't blow me away, the summing doesn't blow me away, and the console emulation doesn't blow me away, but put them all together and it blows me away.

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_leras wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:32 pm Its not that DSP heavy tbh, so across many channels isn't too bad iirc.
Not so much on a UAD2 Solo... ;)
_leras wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 8:38 pm When I have used this, or other tape type things as first insert, I have found it's usually fairly set and forget. I find the option e.g. tape type, tape speed that I like and tend to stick to it.
Sure, but it would be nice on instances on multiple tracks, to flip tape types, or presets etc, have them all change together, and be able to better judge the cumulative effect and pick the best setting for the context of the mix, rather than make a guess before you start, and then more or less have to stick with that first guess, because it's too much of a pain to repeatedly tweak 40+ instances etc to see if there's something that works better...

Not a deal breaker of course, but as I say I think a big miss especially as they already implemented it for the DSP version, and when it came to the native version, either they couldn't figure out how to technically do it in the native plugin (although other plugins can do this), or they couldn't be bothered, and just removed those controls and left the panel blank.

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What I don't get about Luna is I own the API Vision Channel strip and Comp so how come I have to pay again for the Vision console and summing?

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dune_rave wrote: Wed Nov 22, 2023 7:18 pm Hi! Currently the "complete" bundle at plugin boutique is 346 eur ( https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/ ... Exclusive- )
You mean they have sold this for 150 ? When?

midi_transmission wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 7:55 pm
heyheycnv wrote: Tue Nov 21, 2023 4:56 pm Now that the "complete" bundle has been offered multiple times for $150 I wouldn't pay anymore.

Even at that price I dunno. Already have the LA-2A collection. I think it's the best emulation of that compressor as are the Fairchilds. Love them both. The rest...I have so many other options as good or better.
The Ilok Cloud/UA Connect duo is a constant headache. Waiting more than 2 seconds for a plugin to load or having to reauthorize the entire group keeps me from reaching for them.
Yes same as Roland cloud. Very interesting products, but the ecosystem is such a hassle. Even if it's 10% better than other stuff, it's not worth it to me having to deal with this overhead.

However, the idea to be depended on a working online connection and activation servers to use your gear is not something I can support and should be seen even more critical than subscription only.
That's not the complete bundle, just signature. At 299 it's such a incredible deal.

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