So, I've wanted to use some UAD plugins for years, but refused to get locked into their DSP eco system, especially as their plugins were also expensive on top of any audio interface of PCI DSP card, and I couldn't justify it.

However, now with Spark, it's made it a bit more appealing for me, personally. The main plugins I want access to is their Studer A800 tape machine (I love Olafur Arnalds and he adores Studer gear and is convinced only they can give his music the richness they have), API, Pultec, and Neve stuff, and of course their LA2A and 1176's.

They have their 3 months for 99 cents intro offer at the moment, which expires at the end of June. However, I hate, hate, hate the idea of having to be tied to iLok for the authorisation of them. Therefore, I'm now contemplating taking up the 3 month offer as an extended trial period, but I am also wondering if I'm just overly critical of the iLok side of things, or whether it's not actually that bad or intrusive, as they appear to work with the cloud authorisation version from what I understand?

Also, as a side thought to this, does installing the legit PACE software for iLok (cloud authorisation) break any releases on the sister site at all, just so I can see if there's anything that may be adveresly affected, if I'm relying on anything specific, which I don't think I am as I have fully purchased versions of everything I tend to rely on and use often?

 

I can tell you my personal experience, since I've used 3-month trial at the very start of SPARK and now I'm fully subscribed.

UADx plugins require iLok and you can use them on iLok Cloud, yes. But I would reccoommend physical iLok if you can get it as I had zero problems with it.

There were some hiccups when using iLok Cloud earlier, but I think it's all ironed out now.

As far as installing iLok/PACE on your computer with releases from sister site - no issues at all. You are safe

 

Same for me, used the 3 month's trial last year already and i had no problems with it (iLok cloud).

BTW can someone explain me the Problem everyone have with iLok etc? because i dont really get it.
Is it that you need to be online or what excactly is the problem alot of ppl have?

 

i tried the 3 month uad spark subscription and wasnt surprised with the plugins i had big expectations for polymax and opal both dissapointed me im currently paying the all access pass and i want to get off it as soon as possible subscriptions are a pita pay to own nothing if you cant buy it and you think its worth it to subscribe then go ahead but i wont do it again i hate subscriptions

 

For me, it's the intrusive nature of them, forcing you to use up USB ports with dongles or to be online. Personally, I don't mind having my machine online, hence why the cloud version seems ok for me, but I just don't want dongles. Other companies have taken this customer feedback with the likes of Steinberg getting rid of their eLicenser dongle, Reason getting rid of their CodeMeter dongles, and so on. Others will not like dongles and will also want to remain offline too though, and for those, I can see why this is an issue as the more USB devices you have running the more invasive and impactful it is on your system resources and so on, as well as the more scope there is for hardware related issues, and when you also want to be offline it can be a turn off. I had one version of Cubase where my previous desktop would be doing something triggered by the eLicenser dongle that would then reset all other USB devices on the same port hub, so using the dongle meant I couldn't connect any devices like MIDI controllers, hard drives, and so on to the same USB port's hub (and by hub, I mean the integrated hub within the motherboard that have the rear ports, not an external hub). So they can introduce random issues sometimes, and perhaps it's this experience that's made me personally overly wary of USB authorisation dongles and the like

 

Yeah, I get why some people dislike subs, but personally I find them useful at it's a low access point to things I'd find it difficult to justify the price to purchase some things, and normally happy to tun on/off subs as and when needed.

 

3 months for 99 cents sounds really good. Should be more than enough time for the hype to wear off so you can look at these plugins for what they are (i'm telling you this because the hype caused probably the worst case of deceitful ear i've ever had with one of their plugins o_o).

After that, it could be better to just wait a little and buy the plugins you want. During sales and adding some "thank you" discounts you can get almost anything perpetual for a very decent price (except neve because for some reason that thing is only on spark).

Speaking of ilok, i'm using ilok cloud and no problems so far, though apparently you can't use these things on more than one computer if you use the cloud thing, which sucks. I don't know if there's any troublesome impact in terms of resources, but if it is, i haven't noticed it.

 

With the iLok you have 2 activations. So you can use your stuff on 2 different computers.

 

Works great with ilok cloud!

synths are really good, too, to my surprise.

the overall sound quality of UAD is above anything I ever heard.

try this on a snare - get as much gain reduction + release back to 0 with UAD 1176 and with the waves 1176.
you can really hear how much internal headroom each of them have...