we are very happy to announce that Uhbik 2 is back from its five year hiatus.
Since we resurrected Uhbik 2 from its Sleeping Beauty slumber last year, we squashed around 140 issues. Around 40 or so are still waiting to be tackled, but we think it's safe to let you play and explore the current state while we work on the remaining issues and the new factory library.
If you happened to be at Superbooth 2025 a few weeks ago, you might have already gotten a glimpse of the new version. If not, you can watch Davide's David's awesome demonstration before diving right into the beta:
Update & Pricing
We do not have an ETA for the final 2.0 release yet. It might take us a few more months, but we are confident about a release later this year.
Uhbik 2 will be free for existing Uhbik license owners. The introductory price of 149 Euro will remain in place during the beta phase, then go up to 199 Euro upon official release. This means that new Uhbik customers can save 50 Euro if they decide to buy soon.
New names, installation and reloading old projects
Support for the VST2 format has ended, as well as support for 32-bit. On Mac and Linux, please manually delete the old VST2 versions. On Windows, the uninstaller will take care of this during installation.
Probably the most requested improvement, we renamed the individual Uhbiks so it's easier to remember what each one is doing.
If you have some user presets, don't panic, they have not been deleted. You just have to manually copy these over to the new preset folders, as these got renamed as well.
If you had an older Uhbik version installed, a full plugin rescan might be needed to convince your host to show the updated names. In Logic, a rescan won't do, you need to delete the AU cache file.
Some hosts save the name of the plugin in the project file, so the old names might still show up when reloading old projects. But loading fresh instances of Uhbik should display the new names.
Speaking of reloading old projects, here is where it gets tricky. Everything should work just fine for projects using the AU or AAX versions.
If your host supports VST3 migration via IPluginCompatibility, it should replace the old VST2 versions with the new VST3 versions. If this doesn't work, or if your host doesn't support VST3 migration, please let us know. And ideally, also contact your host's support team to ask for IPluginCompatibility support.
If you created projects using the old VST3 version, they should load, but we cannot promise it, as it depends on the host. Please let us know about any issues.
Old projects that used the revision 9629 alpha might contain some broken automation, as some parameters have been removed and others have been added.
Surround and sidechain
Uhbik 2 supports surround formats up to 7.1.
We have been working on proper surround support in Uhbik 2 for months and tested most major hosts extensively.
If you happen to know your way surround around in this area, please test as much as possible and let us know if anything doesn't work as expected.
If you are using Logic and you have old surround projects which do not behave as expected, you might have to delete some of Logic's settings in order to fix the channel routing on surround tracks. If you need help with this, you can contact our support.
Please also check if the surround channel routing works as expected when switching between the ITU or WG-4 options in Logic.
Important: surround and sidechain features are supported in Logic 11 or newer, but not in older Logic versions.
In Studio One, using surround with the CLAP version of Uhbik 2 won't work yet. We are on it.
Uhbik rack version
As you might know, we have also been working on an Uhbik rack version that could load multiple Uhbiks to create and save effect chains. We had to put this on hold, as it became clear it would delay the release of Uhbik 2.0 by many months. We are still thinking about if and how we can include such a rack plugin in a future update.
Downloads
Uhbik 2.0 Public Beta 18148 Mac – last updated 2025-05-27
Uhbik 2.0 Public Beta 18148 Windows – last updated 2025-05-27
Uhbik 2.0 Public Beta 18148 Linux – last updated 2025-05-27
Uhbik, used as directed, is absolutely safe!
But as always, this is a beta, so beta be safe than sorry. Backup important files (presets) prior to running the installer, and always protect your ears (put a limiter on the main output of your host).
And please let us know about any quirks you might encounter.
We need to know if there is anything left to do for proper surround support, and we want to find out about potential issues caused by the renaming of the plugins. And, of course, we want to know about any other oddities we overlooked. But please check the known issues below before reporting something.
Known Issues:
* Hosts without IPluginCompatibility support won't load old VST2 projects
* A plugin rescan or clearing of the AU cache might be needed to update the plugin names
* Some hosts display the old plugin names in old projects
* New Preset Factory Library is work in progress
* Preset tags are work in progress
* CLAP parameter modulation support will be added later
* Logic: surround and sidechain features are supported in Logic 11 or newer
* Studio One: surround not yet working in the CLAP version
* The "no LFE" and "Dry C+LFE" options will get renamed
* Host bypass button in Cubase won't show up; please use the plugin's own bypass
* Positioning of strings in the main data display changes with the GUI size
* Scope: if the first slots are unused, the other slots might not work
* Mod assigner: drag & drop of LFO onto envelope input source menu works only for sine LFO
* Mod assigner: orange dot and mod depth indicator ring not showing up for MIDI sources
* Level meters might fail to wake up after the VST3 "suspend processing" feature was triggered in Cubase/Nuendo
* Uhbik Shifter can automute if it receives too hot input signals
* Uhbik Grainshift might glitch or fall silent
* Parameter automation might be broken in projects created with the revision 9629 alpha version
* Uhbik-G: Automation of the plugin on/off button will be broken in old projects
Enjoy,
the u-he crew
