UAD Anthem - Very Good Sounding

[zerocrossing]

We still use to buy $1000 phones in 2025 so can we really judge UAD's price policy ?

My iphone is a competent camera for EBay (so has arguably paid for itself anyway), connects me to all of my friends, can be used for music making, is an e-reader and a game system, a navigation system for my car, conduit to Bandcamp and Apple Music libraries for my car, podcasts for my commute and walks, etc..

A phone is worth the price.

This plugin... is worth maybe $39.

That's what I think too. I took a deal where I got two $149 plugins for $99, so that's close enough for me. It does sound beautiful.

[BCKeys2020]

I'm sure it will go for much cheaper within 6 months. $149 intro for something this limited in 2025 is a bit of a joke.

We still use to buy $1000 phones in 2025 so can we really judge UAD's price policy ?

Yes.

But you're free not to buy, just as UAD is free to price its products.
Analog Obsession makes great mixing plugins, Full Bucket makes great synths emulation, all for free. Then why not just using these ?
Or you could go for plugin makers with lower prices.. loads around !

That's not my point. I have thousands of dollars worth of software. I'm not against paying for plugins. Hardware either. My point is, there is a lot out there that does more and sounds great, and costs significantly less. Of course, I could do the two-for sale and that would get it in a reasonable range, but it's more like me laughing at their stupid pricing model. We all know it's going to go on sale for a much better price at some point, so why are they making people wait? IK does similarly stupid things. I like developers like U-He, that have an early adopter discount, and then just prices their stuff for a fair price and only rarely do they do sales, and when they do, it's always when the plugin has been out for a long time.

I naturally understand your POV. But why would a company whose goal is to make money to live and pay its employees refrain from selling a product at a higher price if some are willing to pay that price ? That's why I gave the example of the iPhone, which is far too expensive but they sell millions unit every year, even when the price is higher than the previous model.
From my perspective, it's quite difficult to compare two companies like U-he and UAD. On one hand, you have UAD, which has chosen to pay licensing fees to Neve, API, Moog (etc.) to use their logo and mojo, choose to invest in expensive vintage hardware to create software emulations, and which has 200 employees.
U-he has 14 employees, exclusively U-he branded plugins, mostly original designs, and they release new products every X years (Zebra in 2003, Diva in 2011, Satin in 2013, Repro in 2016, for the most famous ones).
Retrospectively, U-he has probably made a huge return on their plugins by now, but you'll never see Diva for $29. It's just a different business model, and personally, I think both have their downsides depending on how you look at it
I only buy from UAD to simplify my workflow and because it suits me. I just have 3 synths from Softube and those from FullBucket, an amp from NeuralDSP, and Addictive Drums to complete my setup. But I only buy during promotions, whether it's from UAD or elsewhere.

[_leras]

Having now had a proper chance to play around with this in a bit more depth, I gotta say I think it's absolutely fantastic.

Filter is incredible, needs a lot of fine control but is really good.

I had thought that perhaps the pre filter drive was doing something a bit odd, but now I'm just not sure what it's really doing. I think the realisation is that a lot of the presets and sounds in demos just chose quite a low filter setting.

Sequencer is pretty slick.

Sounds really good. Some nice sweet spots if the range of controls is focused in.

Great job UA. I'm still not quite sure what it is. Somewhere between an Moog and ms-20? <shrug>

[cryophonik]

That's what I think too. I took a deal where I got two $149 plugins for $99, so that's close enough for me. It does sound beautiful.

Similar situation here. After playing with the Anthem demo for a bit, I decided it was definitely worth the 2/$99 deal, but the next thing I knew I couldn't decide between about 5 or 6 different plugins and ended up with the 3+3 for $199 bundle, which worked out to $33 each, so I'm happy. One of my other choices was the MiniMoog, and that's a pretty good plugin for $33, too.

[_leras]

The UAD minimoog is really great too.

I hope you got some other good stuff. The UAD FX are so good.

[Cuauhtli]

Off topic again, I guess that new extension that was added in UAD connect now makes an internet connection a requirement again as far as Spark licenses are concerned. If you have a perpetual license you can use them offline at least.

[SebAV]

It sounds great ! Too bad it’s quite limited in the modulation department. A modulation matrix would be great, the « display » at the center could be well be used for that

[db3]

Now that UAD have released the native version of A-Type Enhancer, I had a good option to grab this in the custom 2 for $99 bundle. The SORRYPOLYMAX voucher code also sweetened the deal for me. NB: alternatively you can get 10% discount on the custom bundle at Audiodeluxe.

[jamcat]

I’m contemplating doing exactly that with my Polymax voucher as well.

[_leras]

Now that UAD have released the native version of A-Type Enhancer, I had a good option to grab this in the custom 2 for $99 bundle. The SORRYPOLYMAX voucher code also sweetened the deal for me. NB: alternatively you can get 10% discount on the custom bundle at Audiodeluxe.

Thanks for reminding about that voucher. For my extra I got the OTO Biscuit. Very much a bargain considering how good Anthem is.

[aMUSEd]

Pity OTO Biscuit is still not native

[zvenx]

It is on Softube's site.. but yeah that doesn't help the custom 2 bundle option.
rsp

[Vortifex]

Ended up buying it along with the distressor, using the discount code to get them both for about £32 each. Anthem is a really cool synth. Nothing mind blowing in terms of features. It just sounds good, plus I like the UI.

[_leras]

It definitely has a great range for a two osc synth and covers a lot of ground.

Really thick sound, perhaps too muffled at times. Taking a bit of time to get used to it. The resonance is really superb though, in some ways maybe the best I've heard in a softsynth.

My only real gripe is the scaling with mouse control seems a bit off, even when using shift for fine control. Hoping, but have yet to try, that using a Bitwig remote will let me use a whole knob turn for just the part I want for a patch.

[xmstkvr]

I am finding this to be a pretty amazing synth. I wish Bazille got a similar filter, but it is ok. I am actually quite amazed by the level of sonic goodness that can come out of Anthem, even with so-called limitations. So much fun in starting from init. So thick sound. Pretty impressive for a company that was originally a big player in the FX department. They obviously hired someone very talented for the synths.

With U-he and UA guys, it is very rewarding to have all these tools for purchase.