Tons of off-topic BS inside! Sweet!

[billybk1]

Hey snooky,
Since you have never used the UAD-1 plugins and seem to have this preconceived notion, as to what the UAD-1 DSP does and the design quality of it's algorithms and the attention to detail that go into authentically replicating classic hardware, you may want to indulge yourself and read this revealing SOS article/interview, with Joe Bryan/UA, Modelling Classic Hardware In Software, from last February:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb05/a ... laudio.htm

Here is one small sample:


I guess that you do have to look at dynamic distortion mechanisms and also the precise attack and release curves, as well as the quirky way ratio changes with level.


Those are very important attributes, and are modelled as closely as we can possibly get them. Basically it is within the tolerance of unit-to-unit variation. The 1176 is a very difficult process to model because of its feedback structure, and the attack time is actually less than one sample. In the mathematical realm where everything is quantised to single samples, you have to play very complicated mathematical games to replicate that. It doesn't actually require up-sampling because of the shape of the knee, and the DSP guys are very good with these things — they have all these tricks they can play using a predictive approach that basically calculates all the possible paths and then selects one as the starting point for the next sample. The LA2A even has a photon value in there that goes between the L panel and the cadmium cell.

Joe Bryan/UA

[munchkin]

I also have a UAD-1 and I think the plugins sound fantastic. After I bought the card my penis extended by 2". That's what it's really all about, snooky.

[putte]

After I bought the card my penis extended by 2". That's what it's really all about, snooky.

.. get version 4.0.
it will give you an additional inch ..
(i wont update though, as the girls are already complaining .. .. )

putte

[billybk1]

After I bought the card my penis extended by 2". That's what it's really all about, snooky.

.. get version 4.0.
it will give you an additional inch ..
(i wont update though, as the girls are already complaining .. .. )

putte

Hey guys, I feel cheated, I only got a 1/2 an inch

[SJ_Digriz]

After I bought the card my penis extended by 2". That's what it's really all about, snooky.

.. get version 4.0.
it will give you an additional inch ..
(i wont update though, as the girls are already complaining .. .. )

putte

Hey guys, I feel cheated, I only got a 1/2 an inch

I was wondering why I got an 1 1/2 instead of the advertised 1".

[JeffSanders]

I've only got two inches...







From the floor!

[snooky]

Hey snooky, blahblah...



I guess that you do have to look at dynamic distortion mechanisms and also the precise attack and release curves, as well as the quirky way ratio changes with level.


Those are very important attributes, and are modelled as closely as we can possibly get them. Basically it is within the tolerance of unit-to-unit variation. The 1176 is a very difficult process to model because of its feedback structure, and the attack time is actually less than one sample. In the mathematical realm where everything is quantised to single samples, you have to play very complicated mathematical games to replicate that. It doesn't actually require up-sampling because of the shape of the knee, and the DSP guys are very good with these things — they have all these tricks they can play using a predictive approach that basically calculates all the possible paths and then selects one as the starting point for the next sample. The LA2A even has a photon value in there that goes between the L panel and the cadmium cell.

Joe Bryan/UA

That's pretty heavy stuff then, if even the light photons are modelled...BUT, you could do the same thing with a native plugin...hm, but anyways as I wrote earlier (for those of you who actually bother to read what I've written) I know that the UAD plugs sound great!! but, they won't turn you inte Max Martin..See my point???

[putte]

I know that the UAD plugs sound great!! but, they won't turn you inte Max Martin..See my point???

.. ah, thats your point. i can hereby tell you that they turned me into Max Martin, and i dont even know who he is ..

max

[snooky]

*sigh* you guys run out of argumnts and start messing with me..ahwell, maybe I will get meself one of the fabled UAD cards and make pro quality recordings like the rest of you superproducers.

[putte]

.. .. come on snooky, take it with a grain of schnitzel ..
i mean, the fact alone that you never tried them makes me giggle when watching your argumentation. and i dont mean this as an offence ..

these are just plugins, nothing more nothing less.
they sound great to most of their users, and come on a dsp-card that doesnt do magic or something .. it just processes these plugs.
thats all ..

putte

[snooky]

fine.

[djsubject]

.. its really really oh so really worth to have an UAD card ..

why? it's old tech and it won't be able to handle any new audioformats..why shell out on a expensive DSP card that is basically designed to be used with technology that is on the way out...there's no resell or future value in this thing..there is native software that is equally efficient for the purose..it's all a big hoax using DSP cards to give a better sound.

do you have a uad-1? or have you used one?

i dont understand this post atall

i folking love my uad-1

EDIT; just read on from the first page no need to reply snooky

but i am most happy with my uad-1

[bmanic]

I know that the UAD plugs sound great!! but, they won't turn you inte Max Martin..See my point???

.. and this is the classic answer to everything that is a discussion about the plugin itself. Now ask your self, how relevant is this?

Can't we just once have a discussion about a plugin, or heck, why not a car, and just discuss the SUBJECT, not where it gets you. Like, just because I have a car doesn't make me Kimi Räikkönen or Sebastian Loeb, this should be so damn obvious, right?? But, that isn't relevant when discussing the car itself!

- bManic

[kritikon]

Exactly, bmanic.

By that argument, you can be a great composer and recording artist using an SB card and OnePingOnly. Which, of course, you can. But there is also nothing wrong with any musician wanting the best tools for the job. Most of the UAD plugins are for sculpting sound and making mixes, channels etc sound better - they're not composing tools or synths. Expensive studios are still in business exactly because musicians and labels want to achieve the best of their product - and that's the exact same reason there are quality plugins available on things like the UAD patform. So let's all ignore quality and be proud of making music on the cheapest, worst quality gear we can find? That's just silly. And irrelevant.

.BUT, you could do the same thing with a native plugin.

Yep, absolutely right, but again...the choice of native plugins that do that is minimal compared to those plugins available on the UAD platform. They're all plugins - we have no argument about that. The software and manner it delivers is not the subject - it's all in the coding. And like it or not, some of the developers who code for UAD plugins take alot more care to emulate their h/w than the average native coder (with some notable exceptions of course).

Show me a native plugin that accurately emulates things like LA2As, EMT plates etc etc then I'll gladly use them. In fact, I'd be delighted. You make a very good point that alot of plugins don't sound remotely like the hardware they're supposed to emulate - I'm with you on that one all the way. Some of the UAD plugins get the closest though. To be quite honest, I pass over most claims from native developers that their plugin sounds exactly like such-and-such a h/w device. But with a UAD plugin, I at least know it's going to be in the same ballpark. I don't even own one yet, so I'm not a convert - but the ones I have heard are bloody close, and more to the point, sound bloody good.


They're simply well coded plugins, that do the same as native plugins, but they do it better.

[Aleksey Vaneev]

There's one more point in DSP vs native debate... You have to know PC/Mac peripheral setup steps to install UAD card or it won't go well. Most of you know this (I mean, how to unscrew the box, how to insert the PCI card, how to setup drivers). But this isn't as easy as it seems for many musicians and producers. It will be easier for them to hire somebody to install the card and drivers, but that usually costs a lot.

Here Powercore is a more user-friendly solution. But since UAD has been mentioned in this thread, here's its obvious user-view problem. Probably, this side of the things causes much scepticism: you have to be a techie.