UAD still worth it?

[Mind Riot]

Oh, just to be certain about this, there is no way to sell or trade UAD native plugins, correct?

I know you can sell hardware and the plugs go with it, but I'm only talking about the native stuff as that's all I have.

As good as the deals were, there are now some deals that bug me a bit. They have a deal going now for $119 that has the 1176 bundle, the LA-2A bundle, the Pultec bundle, the Fairchild, and the UA 610s.

I bought the Essentials bundle at $49, basically to get the Pultecs. I bought the 1176 bundle for $39. I think I bought the LA-2As as a bundle for $29. So that's $107.

Hmmmm...that's actually not bad at all. Never mind, I am unbugged.

I would have liked to have had the Fairchild, but it'll probably come up for $29 or $39 sometime.

One thing that does bother me is that now that I have the Massive Passive it kind of makes the Pultecs obsolete. Where would I use a Pultec when I can use a Massive Passive instead? Heck, I wouldn't have bought the whole Essentials bundle except to get the Pultec; it'd be nice to sell them or even give them away.

Wait, I think I've read on the forum somewhere about people getting discounts on bundles when they already own some of the plugs that are in the bundle. Does that actually happen? Could I ask to just get the Fairchild and the 610s really cheap since I already own everything else in the bundle?

Thanks for any information, gentlemen.

[Razzia]

Wait, I think I've read on the forum somewhere about people getting discounts on bundles when they already own some of the plugs that are in the bundle. Does that actually happen? Could I ask to just get the Fairchild and the 610s really cheap since I already own everything else in the bundle?

Thanks for any information, gentlemen.

Upgrade path, yes. Cheap, no. The upgrade price should already be visible when you view the bundle if you're logged in.

UAD has fantastic quality plugins but their treatment of repeat customers leaves a lot to be desired. For instance, i own the API Vision strip and the API EQs. They added one of the EQs as an option to the Vision Strip and they say they modeled the output stage then released it as a new plugin. So essentially a small improvement, and they added a plugin i own to a plugin I own. My upgrade price is $150. Lots of examples like this. If you own the Neve 1073, from which they just pulled the preamp and released it as its own plug, your crossgrade to the preamp is $50.

If you contact support they might offer you a coupon for $25, but it really only makes sense to buy UAD in bundles during sales.

There's some bickering on the UAD forum about stuff like this that gets largely ignored. I've actually been really looking forward to seeing what happens now that they're native, once the larger music production market experiences their upgrade policies. Maybe the volume of backlash will finally pressure them to stop being so ridiculous.

[Mind Riot]

Upgrade path, yes. Cheap, no. The upgrade price should already be visible when you view the bundle if you're logged in.

Oh, so the $119 was...just for...the two...so that means...$599 was actually the...(light bulb) OOooh. I see now.

[Razzia]

Now you're catching on

[VitaminD]

I just tried to maximize my holiday sales deal. UAD pulled an unequitable process for their sign up coupons unfortunately. since I have similar non UAD plugins my motivation is directly tied to getting a good deal. since they screwed that up and I dont feel like I am getting a good deal, I passed. I also let them know. Weird... I've lived without UAD this long so its no struggle to carry on. I did get their 11 plugin bundle, thats enough for me.

Anyway... happy 2024.

I'm in a similar boat with Universal Audio. And their forum marketeer abroad seems to be about as ineffective as another large brand's forum marketeer ...

So far in the past 3 months I've seen him casually slough off numerous complaints about the handling of sales and policy. No big deal to them, apparently. When he gets cornered it is a canned statement of "I'll pass this along" which I gather means "I'm filing your thoughts in the circular bin"

They really don't seem to care, which tells me profits must be tremendous right now not to.

I see they even purposely closed a ton of customer support tickets, just because they were behind on responding to them. Nice huh?

Pleasant products, unpleasant company. I still am interested in a few of their products, but I'm not going to stretch out my wallet to get them. I'll wait for a big sale or another giant mess up on pricing for it.

[Mind Riot]

Now you're catching on

Gradually, if things are explained slowly.

[sciolo]

It's a good idea to use PluginDoctor to compare EQs if you aren't already doing so. I've attached an image of some settings for the Manley Massive Passive and Pultec EQP-1A that produce similar frequency response curves. I was working on about 30 hours of audio speech that sounded very dull after denoising and that's the settings that I used to brighten it up. I went with the Massive Passive in the end. Also, I cut at 120 Hz prior to the EQ using the Manley Tube Preamp.

massive_passive_and_pultec_eqp-1a_settings.png

The red curve is the Pultec EQP-1A.

massive_passive_and_pultec_eqp-1a_frequency_response_curves.png

[Hanz Meyzer]

I now got a refund from Pluginboutique (worked flawlessly), since all those uaudio plugins do not work offline, the ilok license manager process will connect various times to cloud.ilok.com and also transmit unknown data, while the plugins are used in the DAW. A no-go for me. Imagine you take your notebook somewhere without internet, now all uaudio plugins will not work anymore. Also what data is transfered all the time?

AFAIK you need to clearly state this with checkboxes above the order button then, something like “I understand that these plugins need a permanent internet connection in order to work” and “I understand that these plugins cannot be sold”, at least if sell these in the EU. Plugin Boutique doesn’t do that, and uaudio.com neither, where you have to actually register the plugins to your ilok account.

Great that pluginboutique refunded me. Good people, thanks for that.

But I would suggest to all uaudio plugin "owners" (you are not actually own anything here...) to do the same, since uaudio obviously thinks that there is no problem with these practices. After realizing that these plugins require always-on and can’t be sold, the price wasn’t even good. These are not the best plugins in the world either, there are many, many good and equal alternatives without requiring internet at all.

[mgw38]

I now got a refund from Pluginboutique (worked flawlessly), since all those uaudio plugins do not work offline, the ilok license manager process will connect various times to cloud.ilok.com and also transmit unknown data, while the plugins are used in the DAW. A no-go for me. Imagine you take your notebook somewhere without internet, now all uaudio plugins will not work anymore. Also what data is transfered all the time?

AFAIK you need to clearly state this with checkboxes above the order button then, something like “I understand that these plugins need a permanent internet connection in order to work” and “I understand that these plugins cannot be sold”, at least if sell these in the EU. Plugin Boutique doesn’t do that, and uaudio.com neither, where you have to actually register the plugins to your ilok account.

Great that pluginboutique refunded me. Good people, thanks for that.

But I would suggest to all uaudio plugin "owners" (you are not actually own anything here...) to do the same, since uaudio obviously thinks that there is no problem with these practices. After realizing that these plugins require always-on and can’t be sold, the price wasn’t even good. These are not the best plugins in the world either, there are many, many good and equal alternatives without requiring internet at all.

iLok Cloud requires an Internet connection. You don't have to activate them through iLok cloud. You can use the plugins offline with a physical iLok dongle. Not ideal, but claiming that the plugins require an always-on Internet connection is incorrect.

Personally, I got to appreciate the iLok cloud solution. It is very convenient for switching between systems. And to be perfectly honest, it has been a while since my Laptop was off the Internet (and I am traveling a lot).

[Hanz Meyzer]

Sorry, but it is misleading what you are writing. If you do not have an ilok dongle (which most people don't have these days), you can't use these plugins without always-on internet connection.

Also most of the plugins which use ilok provide a perpetual local license which only require internet while initial activation for the host device/computer. After that these plugins also work offline, even while using ilok mechanisms.

The second is the usual case, and buying a physical device only to use software is an really outdated concept. Even Steinberg did understand that. Also then a third checkbox above the order button is missing, something like "I understand that these plugins can be only used offline, if I buy an ilok hardware dongle for XX $ amount, and shipping XY $. The dongle requires an additional adapter for USB-C connections, which I need to buy. The dongle will work approx. 5 years.".

[Hanz Meyzer]

Just for clarification of these issues, this is what pluginboutique writes below the plugin description page (nothing related above the order button at all):

Bildschirmfoto 2024-01-03 um 10.28.48.png

This is what uad / uaudio shows on the registration page, nothing at all!

Bildschirmfoto 2024-01-03 um 10.31.07.png

So while the stated requirements on the pluginboutique page are quite misleading, uaudio itself provides no information about these drastical limitations of the functionality at all. I think this might be even illegal, of you sell it in the EU.

This is how it actually should look like:

Bildschirmfoto 2024-01-03 um 10.45.53.png

[bmanic]

Complete bullshit about the dongle not working for many years. I haven't heard of a single dongle fail among my colleagues and my original iLok, the one that looks like a plastic key, STILL WORKS to this day. None of mine have failed ever and none of my peers dongles have failed ever, as far as I know (and I would know if something like that happened to them). That adds up to approx 30+ dongles over a period of several decades.

I do agree with your point though. For new people who haven't been in the industry or are just hobbyists, the message should be a lot clearer as they probably haven't heard of iLok and how it works.. but you are being way over dramatic.. out of spite?

In short: Yes, iLok isn't the perfect solution to copy protection but it isn't bad. By far the biggest problem was that one time the iLok servers went ballistic about 10 years ago. That was a real shit show. But since then, and before it, iLok has been pretty reliable. Much more so than some other similar solutions. I also far prefer it over other typical copy protection like challenge+response purely for reliability and ease of transfer from one computer to another. It's as easy as installing the software for the plugin, plugging in the dongle and you are up and running. No need to even uninstall the software afterwards and de-register anything.. just take the dongle with you and you aren't violating any copy protection terms as the clients computer can't access the plugin any more.

[noiseboyuk]

Sorry, but it is misleading what you are writing. If you do not have an ilok dongle (which most people don't have these days), you can't use these plugins without always-on internet connection.

Ha!

There is nothing misleading in what mgw38 wrote. iLok dongles are currently used the world over. Total myth-making to suggest they are somehow obsolete. To state "you can't use something offline if you ignore method that allows you to use them offline" is pretty funny though.

[discogsaddict]

Re pultec vs massive passive.

The pultec mid bands are much tighter

[mgw38]

Couple of clarification and I'll let it go then. I think it is perfectly fine to have strong opinions, but they should be rooted in reality.

Just for clarification of these issues, this is what pluginboutique writes below the plugin description page (nothing related above the order button at all):

The system requirements you quote very clearly state that you need to use iLok Cloud or iLok USB (2nd gen or better). Not quite sure why somebody would not get that.

ilok dongles very rarely have issues. Steinberg's eLicenser system was a completely different story. The iLicenser dongles had a tendency to heat up and then the plastic would break. By contrast, I never had any issues with iLok.

iLok dongles exist in traditional USB and USB-C versions. There is no need for an adapter.