Universal Audio turning into AI company now?

[zvenx]

....

according to this reddit-post, UA connect is sniffing out how we use their plugins and they have planned or at least consider
to use this data in order to feed Suno with it.

...

This!!!
I believe I started using UAD in 2004 or so, when it was still using Mackie branded DSP cards.
I like, even love many of their plugins, but I have grown to immensely dislike and not trust UA at all.. I have stated reasons both here and at the user forum before.

Many have asked lots of time why does UA connect always run when you start up your DAW.. especially when you are not in a subscription and do not use cloud or hard drive pace protection.
They now even use it for their DSP stuff, which neither needs it to install or authorize the dsp plugins..

Drew has never answered that, just said leave feedback.
I and many others have done so over the years, not one answer afaik.
I don't trust them at all.
I have no idea if the story is true, but As Jens pointed out, I am not going to easily dismiss it.
rsp

[jamcat]

People are going to question the authenticity of the Reddit post because it is so incredibly stupid.

First of all, if it is true, it is not a scandal. Universal Audio has decided to go in one direction, and some low-level employee disagrees. He thinks he's smarter than the "Business Idiots" who built a $35 million dollar a year company, so he's taking his fight to the interwebs. OK, so UA is incorporating AI into LUNA. So what? They've already been doing that. LUNA is free, and UA is looking for ways they can add subscription services so they can monetize it. Maybe it will be successful for them, maybe it won't.

But what is so unbelievably stupid about this guy's post that makes rational people question its veracity, is if he actually is a current UA employee, he will be found. He almost certainly already has been. And he will be fired for cause. A decade of work history down the drain. Is he going to put UA on his resume? Does it even matter at this point? Every audio or tech company from here to China will know what he did, and he will be unemployable outside of the McDonald's drive-thru.

[electro]

UA already did all the vintage emulations before everyone else copied and their plugin catalog is pretty much complete. What they need to deliver now is more Console options for Luna.

[TechHaus]

Glad I got through the mid-2000's mostly freezing audio plugins, rather than getting into uad dsp cards. Dodged a bullet.

Generally, I am still in 2026 a skeptic and mostly ignore digital emulations of analog gear. (I did have all of the analog gear back in the day).

I did have a TC Powercore for a while, though, for the digital emulations it could run accurately on those DSPs.

Anyway, UA is corny and their plugins are corny, and much respect to the whistleblower.

[jamcat]

He's not a whistleblower. There is no "cover up" about the direction Universal Audio is taking their products in. In fact, when they're ready, they're going to want everyone to know about it. So what whistle is being blown?

If this guy is even to be believed, all he really did was pull the rug out from under Universal Audio's marketing team on announcing their next product. Complaining about the direction they're taking doesn't make him a "whistleblower." "Product announcement spoiler" maybe would be a more accurate description. "Guy who insults his bosses on a public forum and gets fired" is an even better one. Or maybe we should just call him "UAnon."

Because honestly, the more you read the post, the less you believe he's any kind of insider. I think this is probably just someone who sees the same things everyone else sees and had a good LARP to cause a stir because he doesn't like it.

[plexuss]

Audio software is essentially in the Tech industry domain. Tech executive leadership is generally trying to move to AI and get rid of employees. Why? Investors want to see this, even if it doesnt mean anything. Corporate leadership doesnt care about the impact to people. They just care about their compensation. Right now a company saying they are "AI" is almost a necessity. It's all a bunch of lies and another bubble. Give it a couple years and it'll all go back to the way it was. And then repeat. I have been working in tech for about 40 years as a product designer. these are my observations.

[UltraByte]

Having spent years in project management and executive roles before jumping ship into audio engineering over ten years ago, this insider leak just doesn't add up in its entirety.
While some parts look plausible, it ultimately reads (and closes) like it was written from a user's perspective.

The way view Drew’s role is depicted and the weirdly specific call to action points make it feel like a "fake whistleblower post" written by a possibly disgrunted customer / troll.

//$0.02

[Pepin]

People here are demanding proof of employment beyond the details already shared? It seems pretty obvious it's a ploy to get enough hard evidence to fire whoever gave them this tremendously bad PR

They have public reps on that sub. It's not difficult to imagine mods there would coordinate with the company's wishes for one reason or another.

This has blown up in a pretty surprising way, showing up on small forums and now even youtubes? That's pretty nuts for a forum post. Details aside, you're fooling yourself if you think UAD isn't aware of that post and considering action. Wouldn't you fire someone that leaked internal emails and new product discussions?

Assuming it's true (and maybe even if it's not), they are absolutely trying to figure out who the mole is and fire them ASAP. Entertaining the possibility it is a recent ex-employee too, either way, it's UAD management wearing the tin-foil hat now trying to figure who is willing to leak anything AI-related they do.

The poster explicitly offered to provide proof in their post, so taking them up on that offer isn't necessarily a "ploy":

Mods, as I said in my initial message, I'm able to provide you with proof of my identity at a moment's notice. Until then this'll need to be a "trust me, bro", and I hope that is okay.

It's also been 4 days without this proof materializing...

[zerocrossing]

As usual, many things that are just different flavors of machine learning are getting called "AI," because it is a new hot term.

[kerfuffle]

because it is a new hot term.

True, the term AI was invented in 1956 while the term machine learning was coined in 1952.

[Uncle E]

What if AI is gaslighting us with those dates?

[TechHaus]

because it is a new hot term.

True, the term AI was invented in 1956 while the term machine learning was coined in 1952.

Mechanical Turk was created in 1770. They send Waymo video feeds to workers in third world countries, as well as Amazon's physical store ai checkouts were done by someone watching videos.

It's interesting that the only culturally relevant piece of generative ai art I can think of at all, is the "We Are Charlie Kirk" meme / tribute song. That's it.

[zerocrossing]

What if AI is gaslighting us with those dates?

What if we're in a simulation, and ChatGPT hallucinations are just our players messing with us?

[VladK]

It's interesting that the only culturally relevant piece of generative ai art I can think of at all, is the "We Are Charlie Kirk" meme / tribute song. That's it.

And as most of generative AI reports it is full of wrong statements
Truly a "fake art", LOL.

[nusound mind]

True or not, I don't like the direction they seem to have taken. I feel like they've cheapened their brand considerably.

Tbf they still have some classics and I love that people can get them cheap (Polymax was given away at one point, for example) but pers. sp. I've reached the roi point of diminished returns and aside from a couple synths, their new plugins do not impress me as much.