Universal Audio updated UA Spark on January 17, 2023 with "new features". But as soon as Windows users updated, they created massive support tickets, telling, including me, that the plugins have become unusable. In fact, as soon as you open a single UA plugin the CPU exceeds 80%, making it impossible to use and freezing the DAW. Universal Audio, after more than 20 days, replied that the problem is systemic, and that it is not possible to go back to a previous version. And now they're closing support tickets saying it's probably not possible to fix it on Windows, de facto announcing that Windows will only be "officially" supported, but no longer effectively, but continuing to receive payments from user subscriptions.
It's unbelievable but sadly true.

I am also attaching a thread on the UA forum:
https://uadforum.com/community/inde...e-skyrockets-after-latest-spark-update.61058/

 

That's awful. I'm glad I didn't continue with SPARK after the trial ended.

 

damn. very sorry to hear that. from the thread it seems like there still might be some hope it will be fixed? how could they have possibly overlooked this though.

 

And I make the error to buying two of their VST. Universal Audio seems to not care about Windows users since microsoft don't pay thme like Apple did for exclusive stuffs. At the price we pay their stuff I expect sincerely they will put more attention to windows users and support there more for the softwares and newers ua gears and olders...

 

if any body has install the demo few weeks back and have left over the vst3 files?

 

The previous version before the January update worked fine, the problem is that if you update the plugins, you can't go back to the previous version. And being stuck on an older version for years as a paying subscriber is not an option.

 

Wow! Guess I'm lucky then, for me the plugins work great on two different PCs (Windows 11) But I also don't use the subscription rather the native plugins could be the same, but maybe it makes some kind of difference?

 

This all refers to UA Spark VST3 plugins, native on Windows.

 

Hoping that UA fully supports Win users is akin to wishing for a unicorn to lick off your nose snot while hiking on a cold winter morning...it'll most probably never happen.

 

Hoping

 

Yes, I totally agree, but what UA has done is blatantly absurd. They completely bricked their Win product, failing to fix a critical and vital OS issue, while continuing to officially support it.

 

Win 11 here, no problems for me

 

Win 11, Cubase 12, running latest updates of Spark plugins here, zero issues with em.

(It shouldn't make any difference, but I'm not on the Spark subscription - I own & use the DSP versions of the plugs too).

 

That's exactly the ones I'm using!

 

... ... and it would be painful too......

But fun aside: Unbelievable how they treat paying customers.
What one notices is that consumer protection has really fallen behind in the US. In the meantime, it is better to buy e.g. European goods or at least from a European dealer/reseller. You just have better rights as a customer in other countries.
The sentence: "Software is sold as is.The warranty is limited to 30 days and exclusively to the value of the media." is just nonsense in EU as you need to provide a guarantee for at least 1 year and of course the software must do what it is supposed to do.
May it be 'systemic' or not.

Spoiler: P.S.: IDK if you can buy UAD software from other sources than UAD?

At least in the European Union, the seller of the software becomes the contractual partner, not UAD. In this case, end customers can claim damages from the seller, e.g. because scheduled performances cannot take place or deadlines cannot be met. At the end you can also claim the conversion (redemption of the software against refund of the purchase price).
After three weeks of waiting for UAD and hearing childish answers, I would ask my lawyer what to do next.

 

Last edited: Feb 7, 2023

Guys, can you share your experiences about Uad spark on Windows? Some users said they have no problems, but often use them little or nothing. The latest upgrade has generated many issues for a lot of users, in fact UA support has spoken that they are working aggressively on a fix but that it is very difficult because it is systemic. Do they work well for you without issues?

 

Man would I love for R2R to have a look at whats going on lmfao, seems like they confirmed its related to authentication.... in other words, iLok
I trust R2R on transparency more than I trust UAD lmfao, I'm sure R2R could help solve their problems

 

I tend to use the DSP versions, but tbh I don't really pay that much attention to which version I load up (unless I'm running out of DSP, in which case I'll specifically use the UADx versions) so most mixes I do have a mix of DSP and UADx plugs - I've noticed no issues / difference since the latest update.

I don't have a Spark subscription (the UADx plugs I use are the Spark versions of the DSP plugs I already own) and they're authorised with ilok Cloud.

 

Works perfect for me, but I do not have a suscription. Just the native plugins I do own.

 

Hmm, do they really?
The affected users asked for a rollback and UAD reliepd that it is not possible.
In my opinion that's plain nonsense. You can roll back every software update because you know every file and every registry entry that changed. But of course it would be (a lot) of work depending on the load of changes.