Universal Audio turning into AI company now?

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Lol why am I not surprised, Luna smelt funny when it launched, and on the pace integration.
I wasn't wrong back then.
The smallest minority on earth is the individual.
~A.Rand

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zerocrossing wrote: Wed Jun 03, 2026 4:14 am
Uncle E wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2026 7:30 pm 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?
Ha ha! Good one dude! :D

Are you blocking me? :hihi: :lol: Did I upset you? If so, I apologize. I should prolly apologize to jancivil too...

No, wait...allow me to rethink this!!! :lol: :lol: :hihi: :hihi:

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I think it's safe to say they're now an AI company. They're setting up permissions to feed user data to a model training service called music.ai https://uadforum.com/community/index.ph ... ess.82035/

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hey212 wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2026 11:09 pm I think it's safe to say they're now an AI company. They're setting up permissions to feed user data to a model training service called music.ai https://uadforum.com/community/index.ph ... ess.82035/
That, to me, is the worst part of AI. If you want to make a plug-in and call it AI, go nuts. If you want to constantly phone home and essentially steal data, I'm out and will never trust you again.

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EVERYTHING is now because on my laptop is a little AI icon next to EVERY file. If you hover it reads: Ask Copilot about this file.

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UltraByte wrote: Tue Jun 02, 2026 5:39 am 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
This drama is old news now (at least the authenticity of the post), but your comment changed my mind. The simple observation of the closing call to action and repetition does feel more like a concerned user over an employee.

I'm actually looking forward to some useful/tasteful AI plugins eventually, but unfortunately UA Connect has me feeling they will go the dark path, hoarding data and hoping AI integration will magically make old products more marketable. UA Connect was phoning home multiple times a day, causing internet issues, and I've read other posts looking at terms of service showing it collects more data than average. It's suspicious that you can completely delete it and plugins still run fine, yet its so randomly active. Maybe this is the classic tech model where if the products are cheap or free, you (your data) are the product. I do get the feeling out of all the companies out there, they'd be one of the first to make a shady, big-move.

I'm less concerned about AI in products, which I imagine will soon become actually useful for some applications, and more concerned with quality of products and data privacy in general.

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hey212 wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2026 11:09 pm I think it's safe to say they're now an AI company. They're setting up permissions to feed user data to a model training service called music.ai https://uadforum.com/community/index.ph ... ess.82035/
I peeked at that UAD forum thread and it reminded me of why I left UAD years ago. Someone mentioned being annoyed by the barrage of marketing deployed through Connect, which mirrored my experience with their mandatory Apollo software at the time... a spam machine masquerading as an interface manager. And the "UAD Representative" in the thread is completely dismissive of people's annoyances with their approach.

UA has some great products but given all the excellent alternatives today, definitely not a company I want to do business with.

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billinder33 wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:27 pm
hey212 wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2026 11:09 pm I think it's safe to say they're now an AI company. They're setting up permissions to feed user data to a model training service called music.ai https://uadforum.com/community/index.ph ... ess.82035/
I peeked at that UAD forum thread and it reminded me of why I left UAD years ago. Someone mentioned being annoyed by the barrage of marketing deployed through Connect, which mirrored my experience with their mandatory Apollo software at the time... a spam machine masquerading as an interface manager. And the "UAD Representative" in the thread is completely dismissive of people's annoyances with their approach.

UA has some great products but given all the excellent alternatives today, definitely not a company I want to do business with.
As someone who's not a UAD representative, I will also dismiss this nonsense. If UAD's gentle reminder that they have new plugins in the Connect app is too much of a "barrage" for you, you should go live in a cave and play the lute.
Last edited by zerocrossing on Wed Jun 24, 2026 6:11 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

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Do you have any other audio installer that does this though?
Softube? Arturia? plugin Alliance? Xln? ToonTrack, roland cloud..etc etc etc
Ikmultimedia does it to a bit but for me that is more tastefully done.. at the top where I can easily ignore it.
not to mention it is the only one that everytime I start my DAW it insists on opening even though, I don't use it for any authorisation (between my dsp and ilok dongle).

And keep in mind ikmm is the closest that I have..

rsp
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sound sculptist

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zerocrossing wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:33 pm As someone who's not a UAD representative, I will also dismiss this nonsense. If UAD's gentle reminder that they have new plugins in the Connect app is too much of a "barrage" for you, you should go live in a cave and play the lute.
You seem to have quoted me for something I never said.

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zvenx wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:54 pm Do you have any other audio installer that does this though?
Softube? Arturia? plugin Alliance? Xln? ToonTrack, roland cloud..etc etc etc
Ikmultimedia does it to a bit but for me that is more tastefully done.. at the top where I can easily ignore it.
not to mention it is the only one that everytime I start my DAW it insists on opening even though, I don't use it for any authorisation (between my dsp and ilok dongle).

And keep in mind ikmm is the closest that I have..

rsp
Point to the place on the doll where the banner ad hurt you.
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

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hey212 wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 5:02 pm
zerocrossing wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:33 pm As someone who's not a UAD representative, I will also dismiss this nonsense. If UAD's gentle reminder that they have new plugins in the Connect app is too much of a "barrage" for you, you should go live in a cave and play the lute.
You seem to have quoted me for something I never said.
Sorry, I accidentally deleted the nested quote. Fixed.
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

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zerocrossing wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 5:54 pm Sorry, I accidentally deleted the nested quote. Fixed.
Ha, I appreciate that but you've still got someone else's words attributed to me after the fix. I never said anything about marketing, I just shared a link to the UAD forum.

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hey212 wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 6:03 pm
zerocrossing wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 5:54 pm Sorry, I accidentally deleted the nested quote. Fixed.
Ha, I appreciate that but you've still got someone else's words attributed to me after the fix. I never said anything about marketing, I just shared a link to the UAD forum.
What the hell is wrong with me? :lol:

(I think I fixed it now)
Zerocrossing Media

4th Law of Robotics: When turning evil, display a red indicator light. ~[ ●_● ]~

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zerocrossing wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 5:52 pm
zvenx wrote: Wed Jun 24, 2026 3:54 pm Do you have any other audio installer that does this though?
Softube? Arturia? plugin Alliance? Xln? ToonTrack, roland cloud..etc etc etc
Ikmultimedia does it to a bit but for me that is more tastefully done.. at the top where I can easily ignore it.
not to mention it is the only one that everytime I start my DAW it insists on opening even though, I don't use it for any authorisation (between my dsp and ilok dongle).

And keep in mind ikmm is the closest that I have..

rsp
Point to the place on the doll where the banner ad hurt you.
Smh... it is unnecessarily intrusive and annoying.
That you are ok with it doesn't mean everyone should be..
smh
rsp
sound sculptist

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