They do - the plugs allow for 2 activations.

I have them activated to both ilok cloud and to my physical ilok, so you can work offline as much as you like. You should read the faqs on UA's site, they cover everything very clearly.

Personally I think the system they've come up with is great - it doesn't screw existing owners of UAD hardware, of which I'm one - in fact, it gives us even more usage from the plugs we own that have native counterparts, AND the ablility to use them on the go with no UAD hardware connected.

I don't think it'll hurt their hardware sales either, because the two things that the UADx plugs can't do is near-zero latency tracking, and the impedence etc modelling with unison preamps. I use the unison pres all the time - have A/B'ed almost all of them against the real things (and actually used them to match hardware when going back to re-cut vocal lines after doing sessions when I'm not in the same studio) - IMO they're more than worth the buy-in price of an Apollo.

I'm not a fan of subscriptions models at all, so it doesn't apply to me. I think atm it doesn't really offer enough value to attract many new people who aren't already in the ecosystem, but if they get to a point where most/all of the first-party UAD plugs are native, I think they'll do v well from it.


I'm just sitting on my MBP atm playing with UADx plugs in Cubase - cpu usage is very reasonable, even on my ageing mid-2014 model. I'm not sure what's going on with Qiloo's system, but something's not right - I'm getting usage a lot closer to that Matt Hepworth video.

 

Last edited: Apr 1, 2022

try saying anything negative on gearslutz, youre removed faster than holding a blank paper in moscow, theyre heavily investing in marketing this as something revolutionary, where its just lazy programming

also please tell me thats aprils fool, you have compared the hardware against uad on what? apple earbuds lying in front of you?

 

Amphions, Barefoots, Neumanns, ATCs, etc Apple earbuds too, ofc - esp since that's what a huge proportion of the audience will be listening on.

Used them on a whole bunch of records for Sony, BMG, Marshall, etc and gotten plenty of compliments from both artists and execs on vocals and guitar sounds.

Just like I've also used my Helix on several big rock records, and once had the head of Marshall records compliment me on 'really getting a great Marshall tone'

I use these things basically every day, and know them inside out. I also use lots of hardware frequently. The differences, especially with most of the unison preamps, are so small as to be essentially meaningless.

Ofc there's always gonna be the hobbyists and the plugin dr crowds, who are more concerned with forum one-upmanship, and fairly-meaningless-in-the-real-world graphs and shit, but for those of us actually making records for a living, things like UAD and Helix help make records faster, and tbh a lot of the time, better - esp in terms of convenience, being able to work anywhere, recallability, etc, while still sounding amazing.

I should point out though, that tbh a lot of the time I'm not really that bothered about whether or not a plugin exactly matches the hardware it's modelling - if it sounds good I'll use it, if not, I won't (and I have the same view with hardware too).
I have found that UAD in many cases comes very, very close (as do pretty much all of the top-level guitar processors - Helix, Axe-fx, Quad Cortex, etc).

But I have been very impressed when I've had to go back during a few projects and match a preamp tone weeks after an initial tracking session, and UAD unison pres have gotten me so close that I've been able to comp between the originals (tracked with hardware) and the re-records (tracked with UAD) with no noticeable difference.

You're more than welcome to your opinion ofc, all I'm saying is they work well for me, and a lot of other people seem to like the results.

 

Last edited: Apr 1, 2022

honestly I said I'm HAPPY they going native what I'm talking about is once they port over the rest of the plugins all things considered having 16 cores of DSP ain't gonna matter much so much to the point I can see the END coming for my satellites which I spent a pretty penny for thinking UAD would never go native of course I've gotten years of good use out of them I just see the end not complaining.

 

Even if they port every single UAD-developed plug over, (which personally I'd love them to do) I don't think it'll turn Satellites into paperweights. It never hurts having extra dsp in reserve.

You might find yourself using more instances of stuff like Ocean Way, or the new AMS delay, etc, y'know?

 

I don't use an ilok dongle as my first and last one burnt up on me
So now i only use the LM ilok on my MacPro
And i did read the UA blurb
Like i said my mac only goes online to authorise my plugins then it's of
Looks like it's hard for people to understand my words PEACE

 

I can honestly confirm that. UNISON tech + UAD preamps are exceptionally good. I too have tracked recorded stuff from another studio using real hardware and dialed the tone through my Unison pres after. The difference (if any) is so small it's neglectable. Not to mention the speed of the process itself and you can save everything as preset if you want to go back later.

Again, I think the main advantage and selling point for new UAD users will be just that. Their UNISON enabled interfaces and what you can achieve with near-zero latency.

 

Lol *Pulls out some lowkey pass-agg comment, then signs off with "Peace"*

And tbh it's sometimes a little tricky, given your apparent aversion to punctuation...

At literally no point in this thread did you state the above. Looks like it's a little tricky for some people to remember what they did and/or didn't write?


For convenience, here's your previous posts in the thread:

Granted, you stated you "prefer" to work offline, but that's a little different to "I never have my machine online, apart from the occasional authorisation, and I also don't have an ilok because my last one apparently died in some kind of fireball" Then you went on some rant about iCloud...

Also, it's not 1998 anymore, just leave your studio machine online, it's completely fine. And if it's not fine for you, then get better at using a computer. PEACE

 

Last edited: Apr 1, 2022

Yeah. The unison/impedance low latency input is a good thing, and I would buy that for a 1 or 2 channel input device at a reasonable price, knowing that having the other crap native.... but not for what they think they can charge for 1999 tech right now... so hopefully they figure that out, as honesty: THAT would be their best market.

 

Words fail me Almost
I've been working with computers since the atari days
And building audio computers (Windows) from 2001
And doing Mac Systems for the past 10yrs
BUT
Some mothers do have 'em
Anyway i'm just saying what i feel about UAD as i have been using there products since 2001
So i feel i have a right to vent
Rice & Peace ( A Lovely Caribbean Dish)

As the say in Jamaica "JUST COOL ZEEEN"

 

Last edited: Apr 2, 2022

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 2, 2022

What, who called me? What did I do this time...?


PS. Just joking, I actually agree with the first part of that post. And partly on the last

 

So... UNISON is bullshit?

 

Nice business move from UAD. Bigger market for their plugins. All the "inthebox" music creators will become potential customers.
Luna will be their dsp eco system for recording. Really clever.

 

but you are comparing it with waves that already has very old emulations, compare it against some acoustica audio for example

 

The Native and DSP versions are exactly the same! They NULL!

So all that UNISON Preamp technology, circuits that emulate analog hardware on plugins... all bullshit?

 

Of course they null, it's the same code.

As far as the UNISON Preamp technology - that is completely different story and definitely not bullshit.

Read more about UNISON here:
Universal Audio Announces Groundbreaking Unison Technology Exclusive to Apollo Audio Interaces

 

Do you really think that tracking on a unison preamp with DSP plugin and tracking with a different (but high quality) audio interface with the native plugin will sound different?

 

You CAN'T track with any of Unison-enabled plugin emulation without Apollo interface in order to achieve it's true potential. You should really look some Youtube videos on UA channel in order to understand how it all works.

 

When I said a Unison Preamp is obvious that I was talking about a Apollo interface. Wtf...