It helps them figure out how the data is transformed into a valid key. It is a easier to go from Point A to Point B, then to start with A and nothing else. Did you see how R2R acquired the entire Falcon2 library? there are WAY more people who would be interested in UAD. It would also be somewhat naive of users to give valid license info to anyone else, to do good enough work to protect the purchasers' information; if they were to use their own legitimate info. People worry about plugins transmitting telemetry past their firewalls, etc. but anyone with a notepad.exe can make up some data. That wouldn't even be SSL encrypted.

 

Except still for some of the key plugs they are NOT doing native versions because they want to keep selling that junk hardware of theirs.

 

Their "junk" hardware is actually some very good sounding "junk". But if you want to use a bunch of their plugins, the desktop versions are very short on DSP power. If you are a vocalist or playing a "real" instrument and you just want external DSP to capture some effects onto your recorded audio, they are not bad either. What they are is overpriced. With the availability of tools such as AudioGridder, VEP, and surely more to come; the idea of offloading DSP from the DAW CPU is quickly becoming outdated and not good value for your money. you may as well just buy a second or third computer. The little UAD's are already dropping like a rock in resale prices and they have nice sounding convertors, because for many people they are just a dongle. Prices on rack units like the X16 have barely moved at all. Those little units are like a free first puff of crack.

 

thats why i said ''a lot'' and not 'all' or the 'majority'

 

You're wrong. I've tried UAD Spark on a 14 day trial. I was so impressed with the API Vision Channel strip that I'll be getting the Spark plan which will cost me $149/ year.

What's the point of getting a brand new car if you don't know how to drive?

My point is this: Tools don't make a great mix. It's the mixing engineer's knowhow and experience that does.
You can get all the best plugins in the world but if your source material is shit, so will your mix. But if you have great source material, it really doesn't matter if you use Waves or UAD.

Eurythmics second album which was a world wide hit was made on an Tascam 8 track, a Soundcraft mixer, a Roland Space Echo, a Klark Technic DN50 spring reverb and a Beyerdynamic M201 TG mic.

I've always been a firm believer that it's not about the tools but it's about the tradesman.

So clone, stop being a dick

 

lol, there are tons of plugins cracked including ilok itself cracked beware of buying them as they will vanish once detected or if detected online) and you know that very well MR UAD..

 

After the 14 day trial pay one month then cancel during the first week, before officially cancelling UA will offer a $10 a month subscription plan, take that, at least until the end of this month when all the UAD plugs (both Apolo and mnative) are available for Mac users {K} that is..

I think UAD (with Sonnet, softube, etc), Kush, Slate, Vertigo and softube are great sounding plugins..

 

I got the UAD subscription. Is it worth it? Probably NO

Why?

They initially promised new plugins every month. Didn't happen.

They are like expensive toys I feel I have to use, but could really get the job done with stuff that's not subscription-based.

They use a lot of CPU. Id love to have a UAD preamp on every channel, but that's not going to happen. Not even with a 13900k, probably.

Funny enough, I find the best plugins in the bundle to be the Electra 88 and Opal, both instruments.

The interesting stuff for me are not in the bundle (distressor, emt 140, culture vulture, precision series, capitol chambers/ocean way) & are very expensive. Especially in today's market where I sell a track for 5 bucks and mix a track for 20...

Now, why would I buy 11 plugins that are already in the subscription?
Probably to "own" something after I unsubscribe.

my 2c.

 

The native plugins are pretty minimal on the CPU hit so far. I'm working on a remix for a friends band at the moment, was sent 34 stereo stems to work with. UAD Vision on every track, including 5 effects busses and 4 groups, before even really getting started. CPU meter was barely registering in Cubase on an M2 Mac mini. I guess if you're one of those folks that needs 200 tracks to make a tune they can get heavy but a typical 24-32 track mix here, and they barely make any dent in the CPU usage. It's the instruments that fill it up for me. I started the track with my 'usual' Softube American Class A channel on everything and actually saw the meter drop when I swapped them all for the UAD API.

 

I was gonna buy it from Plugin Boutique for £49 but then saw i had an email from UAD with a code, i ended up getting it for £40 direct from UAD

 

Right... barely touches the needle... as you were saying?


Let's say we put something different in the same project, like the Sonimus A-Console, that sounds fantastic btw:
Now THIS barely touches the needle IMHO


System It's an older quad-core i7. Please don't recommend our lord and savior apple

 

yeah I hear you with all that, agree...but I work on Mac,

I compared combining tracks called "track stacks" in logic, you select a number of audio tracks and they sort of become a stack-folder with a VCA bus...or sub master.....then from that bus I out to another bus... then the main output..

I did this with guitars to see if I would hear anything different.
1st virtual rig was: 2 channel strips, both with 1Kuassa Whamo for drop tune(which is on sale right now at plugin boutique) 2 Drawmer Comp 3 bx_Yellow drive 4 Hornet Valvova (free app) for EL34 Colour and 5 Mod pedals, chorus, flange 6 the amp sim 7 optional LIBRA IR loader or Celestion speaker shaper
---this stack sub master had all the stereo width, Dimension chorus, TapeDesk and Avalon..out to the master volume

2nd virtual rig was: 2 channel strips 1Kuassa Whamo for drop tune (which is on sale right now at plugin boutique) 2 Drawmer Comp 3 bx_Yellow drive 4 Hornet Valvova (free) for EL34 Colour and 5 Mod pedals, chorus, flange etc---this stack sub master had the amp sim, optional IR loaders which was routed out directly to a bus with one single amp sim and optional IR loaders and that sub master TRCK STACK (bunch of clean input to a sub mater) went to another bus with all the stereo width, Dimension chorus, TapeDesk and Avalon..out to the master volume

They sounded IDENTICAL! but using the 1st method sucked up more CPU cause of multiple sims and IR loaders.

To me one single sim handling multiple guitar signals sounds great if you create two virtual set ups and stereo pan them in a mix.
I would only use multiple sims if I wanted to combine amp types, example a softube plexi with a mercurial Euphoria or multiple IR loaders.

I am trying this with vocals now and it's great, but I can see the issue with choices when it comes to guitar tracks., UAD works great on m1 Macs and VENTURA

 

Last edited: Oct 22, 2023

It's not a stupid question and now. You can use both legit Ilok plugs and K'd plugs

 

So what part did I get wrong there? You confirmed exactly what I said about UAD plugins. You used them and the quality is higher than Waves, and it is so easily noticeable you couldn't get your credit card out fast enough. Dismissing the differences in the quality of tools because it fits a cute saying is not reality. If you were painting the walls of a room; would you get the 5$ per gallon cheaper paint, if you knew you would have to use 2 extra coats to get it look the same? No-one ever says "You get what you pay for" when things go great; it is used when you "save a few dollars" and it turns out all screwed up or it takes a ton of extra work to fix because you tried to skimp. Blaming your tools is never a good option, because after all; you are the one who bought them.

 

I said screw it to these offers. I don't want that ilok crap in my system, or their obnoxious UA Connect. Too bad, would have liked to try them out.

 

after you install the plugin, i'm pretty sure you can uninstall ua connect (i think on another thread, someone did it)

 

 

Last edited: Oct 22, 2023

1. At the end of the day it's more of a personal preference. Some people would swear by Waves and some prefer UAD. Who cares, if it sounds good, it is good( Bruce Swedien ).

2. If your source material sucks, so will your mix don't matter what plugin you use.

3. A good engineer will make it sound good, even with poor tools.

4. Your final audience couldn't care less wether you used Waves or UAD.

Exactly what I've been saying

 

It's not exactly the same thing. Firstly, when I commented "who are you to tell someone"; I do not mean it like you need to be some famous mixer/producer to say that. I mean the comment is condescending to say to someone about their work, and you are saying they are making up excuses. Or like telling someone to "use their ears" and other dismissive platitudes. But I will play along.

1. Audio quality can be subject for opinion and interpretation how you say, about a stylistic choice when 2 things you are comparing are close to one another. Acustica vs UAD, fair enough. Maybe you prefer a Lincoln to a Cadillac. Not Fabfilter Pro-Q3 compared with Little Johnny's high school DSP project SynthEdit plugin.

2. No amount of work will save a terrible song. But a terrible mix can very easily turn a great song into a stinking pile of dogshit.

3. A good engineer with really good tools will always beat his own work with really bad ones. Redo a mix of yours that you like and see which you like better. Then blind test compare them. A good chef will make a better dinner using a fresh caught fish from a pristine river in Alaska; than one from a retention pond in Newark, New Jersey. Do you want to eat the Red Salmon that bears were catching; or the neon-green Carp with the hypodermic needles and chemical drum? Sometimes there is no grey area.

People who "swear by Waves" only do so because they are either using them cracked, or because they know them inside and out from all the years they did use them cracked; or because they would rather get about 200 plugins instead of under 20, for the same $1000. Some are equal, almost none are better, and you are left with 150 that aren't. And that 150 number is a guess, but i'm probably being nice with it. Those famous guys saying it, are being compensated to say it.

 

Last edited: Oct 22, 2023