are they considered legendary and a monster though? I don't know. In my mind the only plugin vendor that is both legendary, and a monster (monster in that they have been as of yet impossible to crack maybe?) and has never been touched before is UAD.

 

Yes UAD is legendary and up until now it has been a monster to crack.

 

There have already been enough new releases where they are using the Network Block dll files, that they may not even be relative to what everyone is guessing about (Halloween).

 

Halloween is always on October 31st.

 

Last edited: Oct 5, 2025 at 7:53 AM

Not starting a war - but as so many are hoping for UAD. What is so special about UAD, besides they have not being cracked sofar? Having checked their offering I literally can not see anything that does not exist from other vendors. I mean even the exact emulations do exist in the same shape or form. Thanks for your enlightenment.

 

Almost everything is already cracked, and we actually have everything we need in abundance, some even triple, hundreds of EQs and reverbs... but UAD isn't cracked. Of course, they can create a professional sound without UAD; they have Waves, Softube, and many other quality manufacturers...! There's really no shortage. If R2R and other teams disappeared now, they wouldn't miss anything except updates!

 

nothing its just milestone for any cracker group and sort of a psychological reward for the audio scene
like achievements on Steam cool but a bit pointless

 

Last edited: Oct 5, 2025 at 12:17 AM

but of cource

Spoiler: ++++xxxL

 

A big part of it is definitely that they have not been cracked and released publicly. Another reason is because many people have experience with UAD as ex-customers of some variety, which has inevitably lead them to experiencing their tech support and other aspects of the company and their licensing. You can research that part on your own if you need to.

You say you can't "see anything that does not exist". That may be true, but you are in general speaking about emulations which are not licensed by the original manufacturers; some are and they have already been mentioned (Plugin Alliance, brainworx, etc). You can find plugins which you like less, or more; but like it or not, you will not find any emulations which are more accurate to the original hardware. Also, they are like Waves to many users, in that they want to use the same toolbox of plugins. Instead of a patchwork collection you put together of individual plugins from various different vendors; they are a way to have standardization. If you mix other peoples' music, you know that someone isn't going to let you just start replacing plugins you do not have in projects and trying to match settings to plugins you can't open. See how many people keep Waves installed just for that purpose alone. Also, they are cross-platform 1:1. One last item, hard disk footprint. I just checked and 60 plugins on Mac (not counting sample content for synths) and they take up 1.14gb hard disk space. That is less than 1 Acustica plugin.

The only problems with them have always been the company itself and some of their employees, and the prices. If you run into someone who tells you they have them all and deleted them, it's time to get out the trusty old bullshit detector. Most plugin reviews are bank statements in disguise. Negative comments are cheaper than iLok licenses.

 

For myself, the "hundreds of eq's and verbs" are mostly all mediocre pedestrian swill. Sometimes you'll get a gem among the rough, but not often. The UAD native replacements would allow (for me anyway) to simply show the DELETE key to all those mediocre hundreds of eq's and verbs, and run single UAD counterparts much more successfully. I know what to expect from that stuff since they more closely model the hardware I used for years before digital took over. Don't get me wrong UA is now a shit company, but if the UAD stuff was released to the scene, UA can just talk to the hand - out of sight out of mind. Same goes for ProTools, Cedar, Soundtoys, Softube, etc, etc....

And we don't really have Softube, Soundtoys, PT, Cedar, and many other premium warez - some have never been released and some released so long ago they are now ancient. One can theorize for years on the "why" we get mostly swill releases while the good stuff remains ghosted... However, since there are no actual facts to support any kind of realistic speculation as to the "why" of it, it's all just fast moving water under the bridge.

 

Last edited: Oct 5, 2025 at 1:37 AM

Personally. I hope it is UAD, I'm a member over on their forums and would love to see it explode all over the place, I guarantee there would be screaming, crying, and gnashing of teeth.......bring it on!!

 

Why? I am doing the opposite and hoping they are released so people here can stop doing the exact same things. At least that way, the complaining will be over there and not here.

 

I have said it already, but UAD has some plugins that have still never been copied by any other vendor. And the important part is that they are officially licensed by the manufacturer of the real hardware itself, so you know they are true to the real thing. These include plugins like the MXR Flanger Doubler, The Neve 88RS channel strip, the API Vision Channel Strip, the Neve 1084 channel strip, the Korg SDD-3000 Delay (the same one used by U2 guitarist in studio,) the AMS DMX, RMX, and RMX 16 Expanded Delay and reverbs, the Ampex ATR-102, AKG BX-20 Spring reverb, Capitol Chambers (this will never be emulated by any other vendor) and the Hitsville Reverb Chamber which also won't get emulated by any other vendor probably ever. Also there are a lot of other plugins as well that other vendors have tried to copy, but have never really gotten close to the UAD versions, that are again also officially licensed by the real company that makes the hardware. So even if there are other vendors that make the "same" plugin, it will never truly be the same because it's not licensed

And I would also add that many of the plugins you see that are also available from softube and brainworx, were originally released on the UAD platform first. All of the original softube and brainworx amp plugins were originally relased on UAD-2 with unison support, and then they got ported to native. It's only now that UAD is actually porting some more modern brainworx and softube plugins to the UAD-2 platform, because they can.

OH And I would add one extra plugin that will never be emulated ever, which is the AMS Neve DFC Channel strip, an all digital strip that is almost exclusively used in movie studios that UAD were able to port 1:1 to their DSP because they just so happened to be using the same kind of chip architecture, so they were able to just transfer the code to their plugin format. This is software that you literally couldn't find anywhere else.

 

Me too hahahah. Even though I love UAD It would be so funny to see the UADforum absolutely losing their minds.

 

Why do we even need these so-called “copies” anyway? They’re never 100% accurate it’s all just convention. The only thing that really matters is the sound, and you can get something close or close enough with practically any half-decent plugin. Chasing plugins just because they have a famous name on them is an illusion. I’ve been down that road myself.
Well, perhaps real exceptions and unique devices here are only AMS and their algorithms, but they are digital, all other are analogue in a varying degree just approximations dressed up in vintage paint jobs, while other developers do the same thing without paying for the trademark

ps. MXR Flanger Doubler is in IK Amplitube

 

Maybe someone should explain to people who get pissed off about a crack appearing, that when you buy software, you buy it so you can use it without any headaches. Nothing changes when someone else gets to use it too. You were okay with paying for something until someone else didn't have to.

 

Having had an NFR license for all UAD plugins the past 9 years I personally can say there is absolutely nothing terribly special or unique about them anymore. Maybe there’s a slight argument for their Unison plugs, but other than those the quality & selection of plugins out these days pretty much makes UAD plugs the new Waves in my hand over heart honest opinion…. That being said, I hope the Gong is VSL!!!

 

So how does one get a 9 year NFR from their vendor rep from UA, when that same person has to ask for help repeatedly every time a new version of Waves is uploaded?

 

They are just a household name that has not been cracked. For the most part, you are correct, most are available from other vendors. They do have some unique offerings though, some of them great.

Im one of those people who keep waves for that exact reason haha. A majority of UAD too, as really i only use a handful myself. Saying " you will not find any emulations which are more accurate to the original hardware ", is just an opinion though. There are definitely plugins that are equally as accurate and some even more so. Also just an opinion haha.

I would imagine its because of ilok or other robust copy protection. We get tons of excellent plugins. The names you mention are just old. Well known brands that have been around for ages. They all have a lot of competition now.

lol, its always funny to see fanboy's flipping out over releases.

Just because a plugin is officially licensed does not necessarily mean they are true to the hardware. It could be a variety of reasons, somebody knows someone, splits / payments are right, etc.

Side tangent / bragging moment, I once got the opportunity to go down into the actual Capitol Chambers years ago. I was in a weeks long session in one of the rooms, and towards the end of the lockout convinced the engineer to take me down there haha. Such a cool experience.

Yup! whatever works is the reality. Its more about experience, a well treated room and monitoring than it is about any particular brand. Using any daw's stock plugins I could out-mix any beginner who is armed with the entire UAD suite.

Agreed! theres a reason they have gone the native / subscription route. There are so many excellent dev's out there nowadays. There used to be a time when UAD, and even Waves were the best, as that was literally all there was. Of course their plugins are still good, sure, but they are not some magic potion.

 

As somebody who has swapped over to using almost exclusively UAD plug-ins for the analogue emulations, I have to say that I really hope it is indeed UAD they crack, for a multitude of reasons. First off is so we can witness the typical crack lifecycle:

Crack released > Everybody downloads and raves > GAS wears off > Everybody abandons and wishes for the next unreleased vendor

My reasons for wanting UAD cracked are partly selfish and partly because they seem like the last giant that needs to fall. The selfish aspect is that I returned my Apollo yet the 1073 native plug (which I paid money for) still works and will probably stop working for me the moment my returned device gets transferred to a new user. I also no longer have access to the Echoplex plug-in because it isn't yet native, and if R2R somehow manage to release the non-native cracked, that is a gamechanger and very bad news for UAD as they're essentially beaten to the punch on having certain plug-ins run natively.

I think it'll be good for the scene if UAD falls, and the mystique that goes along with uncracked vendors is lost. I actually really like their plug-ins and genuinely do prefer their analogue modelled offerings to other vendors, however, people here are also correct. There is nothing magical about them and I've previously weighed in on another thread detailing good alternatives for their line-up, some of which are better than the UAD versions.

If R2R can crack the UAD code, I'll abandon my legit versions, despite paying for them. I hate having an iLok, and I hate UA connect having to call home and the slight lag it seems to create when opening plug-ins in sessions, and the fact UA connect opens in the background by itself from time to time. If all of this can be side stepped and we get plug-ins that open faster and use less memory, as R2R versions almost always seem to do, I'm all in.

Going to be an interesting month.