another user told that it wasn't necessary (in his case, he has uad with one email and ilok with a different one)

 

Same here. UAD is UAD. Ilok is ilok. I have UAD native and card, ilok online and key. Different emails out of my history, works just fine.

 

I have put my offline computer, online for this. But 95% of the time its offline. But you will need iLok, so to me it makes sense they don't work yet.

 

Universal Audio has done a really good job here. Especially with some of the compressors. The Api 2500 is very well done in my opinion. So good, in fact, that I've analyzed it down to the bone and rebuilt it for myself. Since I've been missing a decent 1073 plugin for years (I use PSP's E27 for Neve'ish and Api'ish EQ applications), I thought I'd try UA's interpretation of a 1073 and see how it did.
And oh boy, this is where they really screwed up. I have to say that I've worked with a lot of Neves. From the original Neve to the new DPX, BAE and other clones. All are a bit different, have different components built in, but still have a recognizable sonic character that ties them all together. UA is kind of off the mark here.

Long story short, I compared UA's 1073 to PSP's E27.
Why? Because I know what a 1073 should sound like, and because I've been emulating that sound with the E27 for years. Kinda.
The E27 is a bit darker (api'ish) than the 1073, so I add a bit more gain than I normally would with a Neve to create more harmonics, which usually gets me very close to the 1073 sound. Not here. I usually avoid this, but if I had to describe the Neve sound with adjectives, I would say: thick, smooth, creamy, and when driven hot: crunchy. UA's 1073 is just lifeless, thin and shrill.

I can't upload comparative audio from the test mix, but here are a few screenshots:
(I matched the curves of the Neve to the PSP that was originally used in the mix)


Pink is PSP, green is UA:






The delta of the two EQ curves:




The delta of harmonics structure:


Annotation:
Above the zero line are the harmonics that are more present in the PSP E27.
Below the zero line are the harmonics that are more present in the UA Neve 1073.
However, all the harmonics shown are present in both plug-ins.



The result in the listening comparison is frighteningly shrill on the UA, resulting from the incredible amount of high level harmonics present on the UA.
A difference like day and night.

Do not take this as a rant, but as an experience report. And please, make your own experiences.

Cheers,
Sinus

 

You mean,aliasing?

 

No, if the 1073 produces aliasing, it is largely masked by the noise.
What I mean is that the UA 1073 produces A LOT of harmonics at fairly high levels, and has even stronger exciter qualities than the E27 already has. So be very (and I mean VERY) careful with your gain staging.

 

Anybody having issue with uad spark plugins on ableton 11, it's freezes on big projects, specially when you zoom on the arrangement view ?

 

Oh I bet you will

 

I found this on gearspace, a list of alternatives for the most UAD plugins.
It's not complete, but I think there are some interesting alternatives on it.

https://gearspace.com/board/music-computers/748002-full-list-native-alternatives-uad-plugins.html

 

I'm waiting for sistersite version

 

If it produces lots of high frequency extra harmonics, it would inevitably be more prone to aliasing and therefor require more oversampling = higher CPU load. That's why I value analog emulations that produce only moderate amounts of harmonics higher. In fact: they are more similar to actual hardware.

 

I can agree with this. UA's Neve 1073 primary purpose is to be Unison preamp model. And just like hardware it's very sensitive to gain.
You can hear real difference when driven hard.
It's one of my favorite Unison preamps but I almost never use it in mixing.

 

Good luck with that, it's ILOK protection so we probably won't see it over there anytime soon

 

If my memory serves me correctly ILOK protected plugins have been methamphetamine'd before and offered on sistersite, no? Wasn't there a big wave of those like 1 or 2 years ago?

 

Maybe so, only time will tell, not sure how it would work being a subscription model only

 

i think the main problem will come from the susbcription side. they have to find a way to block the communications with the server

 

There are two things which should be taken in consideration:

1. SPARK is iLok 3 protected. As far as I know hard nut to crack.
2. SPARK must be connected to UA Connect app which constantly checks and validates licenses. When online, it communicates with UA servers all the time. When offline, it checks iLok USB for every single plugin loaded.

To sum it all, they really took serious precautions to prevent cracking. But there's always hope

 

In my mind it would be like cracking the newest Pro Tools, which we haven't seen yet, I would be VERY surprised to see it on the sister site in the next year

EDIT: The DLL files will open in a debugger, so there might be hope

 

Last edited: Oct 21, 2022

weren't some of the latest plugins (release by r2r) ilok 3 protected too??? and the second point i think is the most difficult one. my 2 cents is that you have to fool the app onto a fake server (like kms used to with windows) or kinda programme the connection to always give like a positive answer back (as they did with the xbox hacking at one point, in which they attack the cd-reader that allowed to run pirated games)

 

There is no ILOK3 protection, there is a iLok protection !!!!!!!!!!
Stop propagating nonsense here and on sisi (sister site).