Softube or UAD?

[9headshydra]

”This is where UA emulation is a very luxury approch”,

Yes - if you happen to get your UA plugins in use.
I have 30 licenses, but only 8 plugins working at the moment. Won’t install the UAC in the danger the rest of my UA plugins stop working. Their support is useles.

I had no issue with more than 110 licenced plugins from them since 2006, every (free) native ported version work well, no issues with UAC too.

and since you get a free trial, anybody can try it

[Harry_HH]

”This is where UA emulation is a very luxury approch”,

Yes - if you happen to get your UA plugins in use.
I have 30 licenses, but only 8 plugins working at the moment. Won’t install the UAC in the danger the rest of my UA plugins stop working. Their support is useles.

I had no issue with more than 110 licenced plugins from them since 2006, every (free) native ported version work well, no issues with UAC too.

and since you get a free trial, anybody can try it

Trying doesn’t help if this goes like i my and many other users case.
UA plugins may work well several months, but suddenly stop opening properly with a new UAC update. And you can’t avoid UAC updates, if you buy new UA plugins. The UAC update is forced.

[Alexander_D]

Seems that I will buy Klanghelm plugins and maybe Presswerk from U-HE
And also some really nice stock plugins in Cubase 13 on my board

[The Noodlist]

UAD

[mothra]

Tough one and a bit of a personal preference really.. Both make some great stuff, I own lots by both. But FWIW, I was all in with Softube's American Class A channel strip, and the bus processor. When UAD's native stuff started dropping prices like a rock, I went all in with a bundle. The Vision API immediately replaced the Softube channel strip across every project I had it in, and while I liked the bus comp, I ended up just going back to the SSL one, along with the Fusion Drive to make up for it. The only ones I still have in use really are the Fix Flanger and Phaser when needed. I do love their Juno and their SH-101 too.

Their API was awesome but I feel like the UAD sounds closer to what I'd expect out of one, the 'gain' on them is totally different and I prefer the UAD because it models the preamp instead of tacking a drive control at the end of the chain. Don't even need to tell you how awesome their LA and 1176 comps are compared to everyone else's. The folks that invented the hardware still do the best emulations of it.. I've been waiting for their SSL stuff to port so I can get rid of Waves altogether, but I'm guessing maybe they have some deal with SSL where they can't/won't, since SSL has their own now??

[jens]

R37 (emphasis, specific SC filter) is way more usefull than MS for such comp, beyond fact that it's also a particularity of an hardware LA2A, to be able to tweak it on the plate is just convenient

Yeah, opinions on this vary.

"Most LA-2a's that I see have the pot set fully flat anyway."

I use Live and it's not that much complicated to create MS processing for any plugins when actually needed :

1) create a rack
2) make two chains :
in the first chain put an utility at 0%, followed by the effects you need for the mono part of the signal
in the 2nd chain put an utility at 200%, flip the phase, followed by the effects you need for the stereo part of the signal

Sorry, but as that is in no way at all a valid replacement for IK's brilliant LR/MS feature, it should mean you never actually really tried the IK (otherwise you'd know you posted total bollocks here) - so then how would you know you prefer the UAD version over it?

See - can't really take you fanbois serious.

[seangm]

but suddenly stop opening properly with a new UAC update. And you can’t avoid UAC updates, if you buy new UA plugins. The UAC update is forced.

UA Connect was giving me lots of problems and was always running and updating in the background during sessions. The solution was to just rename the UA Connect executable and it never runs on its own anymore. When I buy a new UAD plugin I re-install so it can install the new plugin and then immediately rename the executable again. No more UA Connect issues after that, it isn't needed to run the plugins only to install.

[9headshydra]

Sorry, but as that is in no way at all a valid replacement for IK's brilliant LR/MS feature, it should mean you never actually really tried the IK (otherwise you'd know you posted total bollocks here) - so then how would you know you prefer the UAD version over it?

Nothing brillant, it’s just a convenient way to do MS processing, and nothing that can’t be easy to reproduce with anything when you understand what is MS encoding, wich is not needed everywhere, everytime.

I just prefer UA over the rest in term of sonic qualities, their plugins give me big smile when i use them, all the other not really, and i don’t need to call other peoples as fanboys to convince myself about that, i just don’t feel insecure about the tools I use, no more no less.

As said previously, there is a free trial to let anybody judge by themselves if UAD is where they should go or not.

[jens]

Nothing brillant, it’s just a convenient way to do MS processing, and nhing that can’t be easy to reproduce with anything when you understand what is MS encoding, wich is not needed everywhere, everytime.

As I said - and you conveniently keep ignoring it - it's not just Mid-Side as the feature works for L-R as well - that's because you control both channels WITH THE SAME instance, which is not at all the same as using two instances. Either you for some reaswon just don't get how the feature works or you talk about it without ever having actually really looked at it - not sure which of both would be sadder.

Setting up complex macros aside there is just no way you could achieve the same functionality with two instances that function independently of each other. Of course you could go back and forth and forth and back and back and forth between them and keep manually setting all values in both of them but that's totally not the same.

[jens]

I just prefer UA over the rest in term of sonic qualities, their plugins give me big smile when i use them

That's what happens with fanboys when they get their dose - and that's why you completely fail at every attempt of being objective.

[9headshydra]

Nothing brillant, it’s just a convenient way to do MS processing, and nhing that can’t be easy to reproduce with anything when you understand what is MS encoding, wich is not needed everywhere, everytime.

As I said - and you conveniently keep ignoring it - it's not just Mid-Side as the feature works for L-R as well - that's because you control both channels WITH THE SAME instance, which is not at all the same as using two instances. Either you for some reaswon just don't get how the feature works or you talk about it without ever having actually really looked at it - not sure which of both would be sadder.

When needed, i use fairchild, varimu or capitol master comp for this specific behavior,

As said previously, MS or dual channel processing, is not something I use everywhere and everytime, mostly on bus / master insert and in very specific cases where it brings something, wich is not as necessary as you claim it to be,

But if you think 1176 or La2a have any interest for this, i’m not here to judge your work,

I’m also pretty sure your point of view would be more listenable if you didn’t use « fanboy » in every 2 messages you release here,

[sin night]

It’s about 15 years since I bought my first T-Racks plugin and I always missed the M/S feature even if it’s in plain sight!

To be honest, I rarely use M/S or different settings on L/R.
In the past I used M/S more, but usually it was a rebalancing of levels (more or less side) or maybe using an high pass filter on the side. Nowadays, I rarely do that anymore.


My music is virtually 100% synths (if I had to deal with stereo acoustic recordings, maybe M/S would be more useful to me); I try to keep most of the tracks in mono, if I want a “stereo” fx I use something like a Juno chorus (and I blend it with the dry signal to decide how much side to add) or I program two similar sounds left and right (Ultra Analog by AAS is great for this trick if I work itb, I can make two layers with slightly different settings and pan them left and right for a wide stereo image; then I may layer that sound with another “main part” sitting in the middle)…

M/S of course is useful and having it built in in the plugins is really handy but, because of the way I engineer my own projects, I rarely need it.

[LaserLobes]

Snontron

[ATS]

Melda good too, not sure I saw them mentioned.

[9headshydra]

There’s a reason why they dumped their prices. If you don’t already own it, do something else.

UA dump their prices like Softube , plugin alliance or any other companies dump their prices,

at this point it's more about the reality of plugins market's prices structure than anything else.

the sonic quality of a plugin don't change when it's price change.

Peoples should stop to overvalue the money they put in softwares, especially when they buy new plugins every month or week for GAS reasons.

UAD made a lot more sense back in the day when we didn’t have powerful computers and tons of amazing tools

it's just about getting native version without the need to get a DSP box if you don't feel the need for it.

If nowadays some peoples things they are more valid option to replace UAD plugins, it's more than ok but DSP is no more a good reason to ignore them.

best part is that now peoples can try them without buying a DSP box and judge by themself if they fit their tastes.