UAD still worth it?

[plexuss]

you aren't supposed to get a licence free just for being awesome - just ignore the email, it doesn't apply to you.

This feels like a new KVR thread: Free Plugins for Being Awesome

FTR: If anyone is listening, I would like a free plugin for being awesome, just send me a PM with the details so that I can claim it. oktnxbye.

Thing is, you are the complete opposite of awesome so dont expect any free anything.

[_leras]

That's completely fked on UA part. I guess I will just ignore UA moving forward. Ridiculous.

And I still dont understand. I dont have UA DSP anything. All I have are the native versions as part of System 1. Anyway I plan to get to the bottom of this because if I bought it and it was coming to me for free I want my money back.

Chill out. Just email them. They're pretty reasonable normally.

Way to put yourself in a bad mood and spread your bad mood vibes.

[plexuss]

That's completely fked on UA part. I guess I will just ignore UA moving forward. Ridiculous.

And I still dont understand. I dont have UA DSP anything. All I have are the native versions as part of System 1. Anyway I plan to get to the bottom of this because if I bought it and it was coming to me for free I want my money back.

Chill out. Just email them. They're pretty reasonable normally.

Way to put yourself in a bad mood and spread your bad mood vibes.

Yeah sorry. It just doesnt make sense and not being abused by UA in the past I am unaware of their specific flavours for fkupedness. So to me it seemed like I wasted a bunch of money. I think my concerns and posts are justified.

But now I think I understand UA failing in this matter. It makes no sense which makes it difficult to understand. But I think I get it now. I will take this up further with UA directly. Thanks to those who put up with me whiel I try and navigate this UA bullsh.

[ghettosynth]

That's completely fked on UA part. I guess I will just ignore UA moving forward. Ridiculous.

And I still dont understand. I dont have UA DSP anything. All I have are the native versions as part of System 1. Anyway I plan to get to the bottom of this because if I bought it and it was coming to me for free I want my money back.

Chill out. Just email them. They're pretty reasonable normally.

Way to put yourself in a bad mood and spread your bad mood vibes.

Right! LOL!

[_leras]

Been wanting to try this for quite some time now, heard its the holy grail on the master so i had high expectation for this. After some testing i gotta say while it does sound good, its nothing really revolutionary like some folks at GS said. Still prefer Satin for how flexible it is and probably more realistic just because of the research in the manual.

Don't forget tape was used for recording, not as an effect. The ATR102 is kinda subtle, but does impart a nice 'finished' character. It can definitely add a small notch to sounds or a mix.

I haven't used Satin, but very likely if you're 'hearing' it more with other tape FX, then it's more heavy handed and modelling something more for the effect that for tape effect.

If a master used atr102 you wouldn't necessarily know, it would just sound good, with other tape FX you might hear the effect.

Not sure I explained that too well. it's just quite subtle, but subconsciously great.

[_leras]

For electronic music I find myself using the Oxide tape more, even on masters. I don't slam it too hard, but I like the sound of it.

Did you grab Verve when it was free?
I actually (begrudgingly) like it, particularly the "Sweeten" model. It could be a good alternative to Oxide for more aggressive tape drive.

Just with the few 'taster' settings... I think so and it's still free for those at the moment I think.

Haven't tried it yet... Will give it a spin. Love having saturation and distortion options available. You never know which one will fit a sound best on a sound.

[plexuss]

Been wanting to try this for quite some time now, heard its the holy grail on the master so i had high expectation for this. After some testing i gotta say while it does sound good, its nothing really revolutionary like some folks at GS said. Still prefer Satin for how flexible it is and probably more realistic just because of the research in the manual.

Don't forget tape was used for recording, not as an effect.

Not entirely true. In the 90s when small studios were expected to deliver DAT tape masters, I would record the DAT mix to tape and back to DAT for delivery because I liked the sound it imparts (using Ampex 456). I suspect others were doing this too, using tape as an effect. Also, although not exactly the same, tape is used for delay effects. Fulltone's Echoplex clone has a mode where the tape can be run at a faster speed with delay turned off to be used as a real tape effect for mono instruments like guitars etc.

[aMUSEd]

Am I doing something wrong or is the Luna Extension not working in Native? I can load the plugin but the extension should surely be in the Tape Insert list along with the Studer and Oxide when you create a track, but it's not?

[jamcat]

I also got this email:

Your Plug‑In is Waiting

Add warm, deep saturation to your tracks or final mix‑down with the Ampex® ATR‑102 Mastering Tape Recorder — available natively for the first time ever!

To claim your plug‑in:

Download and install the UA Connect app
From the UAD Plug‑Ins tab, find the Ampex ATR‑102 plug‑in
Click “Download”

This is for people who already own the UAD-2 / LUNA extension. If you do, then you already had the ATR-102 license in your iLok account since last year. So there is nothing special to do to claim it.

If you are eligible for the UADx version, then all you need to do if download it from your UAD Connect app, as it’s been available there since I posted about the ATR-102 coming to native on Monday.

Maybe some people got this email by mistake?
Perhaps some people jumped in and bought it the first day without even going to UAD Connect to try the demo first and didn’t see the free plugin already waiting for them, but that seems unlikely.

If you did check your UAD Connect and didn’t see a free download, then you were not eligible anyways.

But if you did buy it without checking your account first, then I don’t really see Universal Audio as being at fault for your mistake. But their support will take care of you if that happened. They are very good and reasonable.

[mothra]

Yeah sorry. It just doesnt make sense and not being abused by UA in the past I am unaware of their specific flavours for fkupedness. So to me it seemed like I wasted a bunch of money. I think my concerns and posts are justified.

But now I think I understand UA failing in this matter. It makes no sense which makes it difficult to understand. But I think I get it now. I will take this up further with UA directly. Thanks to those who put up with me whiel I try and navigate this UA bullsh.

It makes perfect sense as it was explained to you. For some reason you are not getting what you were told and somehow seem to be winding yourself up like you were just royally fcked over by UA and they stole your 401k and killed your dog on their way out.

You BOUGHT the ATR right?? That adds a license to your account for the Native version, the UAD version and the Luna version. Now that the license is in your account, when the little robot goes looking for people who have the UAD license and finds your account with it on there, guess what, it emails you the same generic form letter it emails all the other customers that own the UAD license and tells you 'Hey we just released this so you get it too since you own the UAD version'.

There's no UA BS whatsoever. If anything, UAD gave the DSP users a free gift. You just happened to hit a 'glitch' with their email system.

[_leras]

So to me it seemed like I wasted a bunch of money. I think my concerns and posts are justified.

No one here can change anything except you, by emailing UA...

That said I'm pretty sure it's not 'free' free. The native version may be 'free' to me as I have the dap version. It may be 'free' to others with a subscription. So, that's pretty much paid for both cases.

[jamcat]

You BOUGHT the ATR right?? That adds a license to your account for the Native version, the UAD version and the Luna version. Now that the license is in your account, when the little robot goes looking for people who have the UAD license and finds your account with it on there, guess what, it emails you the same generic form letter it emails all the other customers that own the UAD license and tells you 'Hey we just released this so you get it too since you own the UAD version'.

Yes, I think you nailed it.
That email went out today to all ATR-102 license holders. That would include people who bought it yesterday. Mystery solved.

[jens]

Thing is, you are the complete opposite of awesome so dont expect any free anything.

Thing is: how would someone like you ever be able to tell who is awesome and who isn't?

[jens]

I think my concerns and posts are justified..

Lol...

[jtsterays]

Been wanting to try this for quite some time now, heard its the holy grail on the master so i had high expectation for this. After some testing i gotta say while it does sound good, its nothing really revolutionary like some folks at GS said. Still prefer Satin for how flexible it is and probably more realistic just because of the research in the manual.

Don't forget tape was used for recording, not as an effect. The ATR102 is kinda subtle, but does impart a nice 'finished' character. It can definitely add a small notch to sounds or a mix.

I haven't used Satin, but very likely if you're 'hearing' it more with other tape FX, then it's more heavy handed and modelling something more for the effect that for tape effect.

If a master used atr102 you wouldn't necessarily know, it would just sound good, with other tape FX you might hear the effect.

Not sure I explained that too well. it's just quite subtle, but subconsciously great.

The ATR is nice, i do hear its "finished" sound, but im trying to minimalize my plugins list and i dont use tape plugins much anyway. Already got Satin and i feel like i could probably get it to the same ballpark if i tweak it enough (its a high end tape sim, not a lofi machine). I expected more with the hypes ya know.