UAD-1 Card

[nobby]

I've heard some intriguing things about this.

Do any of you have one, and how do you like it?

[pounce]

i have two of them, which should serve as the first part of the review.

i do prefer it over the tc electronic plug ins. the uad1 is more colored in it's emulations, and the compression and eq are very usable. totally decent stuff, and they have a heck of a plate reverb on there too. i think it's a good bang for the buck. also, if you buy any of the "extra" add on plug ins for the card, it will run on any of the cards in that daw. so both of my cards can run any of the extra plug ins i bought like the cambridge eq which is totally decent. it's just nice to offload a little bit of computer processing via the card. my system is otherwise native, so i'll take a little help via the uad1.

[malice]

I use them too.

For me the comps are more than usable. I think the LN1176 and LA2A are the best pluggins comp in the market today.
Not the real thing, but close enough to rock'n'roll.
Pultec is nice, plate is awsome. I haven't try the neve stuf yet.
The precision limiter, multiband and eq is better than the waves.

The downsides are you have to check real close the system you are using them on, some configs are buggy, and I never bounce a track with them on without the real time rendering on: there are clics and pops if I do that most of the time

malice

[jfee]

I've heard nothin but good about the uad-1. I've only played with one briefly but I have friends with them and have heard mixes they've done with them and have been impressed on more than a few occasions. I was quite impressed with the plate verb.

The one thing that bugs me about them is the lack of processing power. I took a look at the performance chart they have on the website and wasn't impressed. Especially since the new products from focusrite and SSL can run 32 channels of eq and comp.

Anyways, I'm gonna hold off from picking one up because I figure UAD will probably release a super card with mega DSP power sometime in the next year to compete.

Cheers,
j

[malice]

i wouldn't bet on a new more powerful card from them, they seem a bit slow at that.

That said, you cannot compare the Duende with only one card.

The price tag is more in the 2 or 3 X Uad-card: in that case, you have a fair amount of power, like you can run around 24 instances of Canbridge plus compressors (maybe not all LN1176, but certainly mixed instance of LN1176, 1176SE, LA2As and the little one from the channel strip) and the plates.

Of course, the Neve comp takes half a card...

malice

[jfee]

i wouldn't bet on a new more powerful card from them, they seem a bit slow at that.

That said, you cannot compare the Duende with only one card.


malice

You're right, not a fair comparison. I like the idea of being able to incrementally buy them (relatively inexpensively) it just sucks that they eat up a pci slot.

[Pimp-X]

I hear ya about the PCI slot thing.

I'm about to have serious issues I think, given that PCI is making it's departure and PCI-E is taking over... and my audio interfaces are all PCI...

[pounce]

i haven't determined if i'll add duende as well. there is a good chance that i will. the main reason i have two uad1 cards is that they are a little light on processing power, so that is a valid point for sure.

definately some useful stuff comes with the card right out of the box. comps and eq, the two things i'm most likely to do to any given track in the daw. the tc powercore was too bland for my tastes, so the uad1 it was.

of course, i also just bought an alan smart c1, so i still believe that real hardware is a beautiful thing. i could have bought a duende and a uad1 for what i paid for the hardware, but somehow i just don't think that my uad1's will replace a smart c1!

[Knastratt]

I have both UAD and Powercore. Both stands out for a good value. But they're good at different things. The UAD plate is brilliant. As is the Cambridge EQ. Powercore Delay Chorus is great too. I can live with both compressors - but recently tend to turn to the Sonalksis.

And for some reason I tend to grab the PoCo Channel Strip for vocals. Unfortunately the new G5 didn't allow me to have both in the same machine (never get the cheapest in the line-up) so I'm trying to wake up my sleepy old G4 for the PoCo card.

I'd like to try the Duende. But fact is that the power of the 2*2 G5 is enough to drive almost any amount of native plugs. Haven't maxed out more than 25% yet. And then we're talking 15 VSTi's, rack full of Reason gear and 50+ inserts/sends.

[malice]

I'd like to try the Duende. But fact is that the power of the 2*2 G5 is enough to drive almost any amount of native plugs.

This is an interesting topic: I think we are reaching the kind of power that should be enough to face most of the mixing situations.

As a matter of fact, I think I'm gonna start a thread about this subject, I think it would be one of the first all over audio forums, wich speaks volumes about audio forums in general.

malice

[Knastratt]

This is an interesting topic: I think we are reaching the kind of power that should be enough to face most of the mixing situations.

As a matter of fact, I think I'm gonna start a thread about this subject, I think it would be one of the first all over audio forums, wich speaks volumes about audio forums in general.

malice

Yeah, regarding you have OTB monitoring and run at highest latency - the power of modern computers are massive. Haven't threwn in any convolution processes yet, though.

ITB+OTB=love.

[pounce]

This is an interesting topic: I think we are reaching the kind of power that should be enough to face most of the mixing situations.

As a matter of fact, I think I'm gonna start a thread about this subject, I think it would be one of the first all over audio forums, wich speaks volumes about audio forums in general.

malice

understood about power, i don't think i need any more power right now. however, i am curious as to whether or not there is something that those particular plug ins do that i might really want. which is to say i'd probably buy the uad1 plug ins even if they were native and didn't use that card. i just like them. so same thing with the ssl plug ins. or otherwise i could consider the waves version of the ssl plug ins? it's just that the wup program of thiers still pisses me off, i'd rather get the duende than more waves. but if the compressor is really really good, than i'd be happy to get duende.

[teacher]

the neve 33609 emu kicks serious booty IMO i'd buy the card just for that plug-in

[r.baby]

I think the LN1176 and LA2A are the best pluggins comp in the market today. Not the real thing, but close enough to rock'n'roll. Pultec is nice, plate is awsome. I haven't try the neve stuf yet.
malice

Compared the 1176 directly to one of UAs own 1176 reissues and it's so close that it hurts. Of course, the UA reissue doesn't REALLY sound like a vintage one, but still. The LA2A is my favourite software compressor, period. Then again, it's my favourite hardware compressor too. I really like their Fairchild as well, but having used a real one only once years ago I can't comment on it's authenticity. Their EMT140 is astonishing. The Space Echo is not quite as nice as a real one, but pretty cool anyway. The Neve plugs look great but don't sound as good as the upcoming waves ones. And the waves ones are native.

I really wish someone would do an LA2A and an EMT140 plug for native use. These 'powered plugins' solutions are a pain and with the new macintels there's just no need for them anymore. Sigh.

[nobby]

I was looking for the UAD-1 Studio, and it seems they've discontinued it.

And replaced it with something better... the Flexi Pack.

Seems you get a few plugs and a $500 voucher which allows you to choose from the plugs and gives you 14 days to try them out to find out which ones you want most... and how much processing power they use :Thumbsup:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Universal-Audio-UAD1-Flexi-PAK?sku=182125&src=3WFRWXX

https://my.uaudio.com/store/index.ph

[Skwaidu]

I so wish that UA would either release a firewire box or reintroduce support for the TDM versions OR even release VST/RTAS versions...

I don't have any free PCIe slots left and just keep hearing these great things about the comps. Crap. :Confused:

(Nope, don't want to get in to the expansion cahssis thing right now)

[Comte de St Germain]

I so wish that UA would either release a firewire box or reintroduce support for the TDM versions OR even release VST/RTAS versions...

I don't have any free PCIe slots left and just keep hearing these great things about the comps. Crap. :Confused:

(Nope, don't want to get in to the expansion cahssis thing right now)

Ditch Pro-Tools.

[Skwaidu]

Ditch Pro-Tools.

Naah. I just paid a little too much for the complementary mouse. Stuck with it, I am.

:grin:

[Comte de St Germain]

Naah. I just paid a little too much for the complementary mouse. Stuck with it, I am.

:grin:

Heh.

Those mice are taking over the world.


It's a trick, send the rig to me and i'll destroy the threat.

In return you will recieve the liberating sound of ADAT and VS-880.

[philsaudio]

I have one and only use the basic plugs that come with it. That being said I love it. I can now have three good sounding reverbs and 15 or so 1176SE running without affecting the DAW loading. Worth every penny and more.

My monitoring is outside the box and my three Delta 1010lt's are set to max latency.

peace
phil

[malice]

Heh.

Those mice are taking over the world.


It's a trick, send the rig to me and i'll destroy the threat.



You're beggining to scare the shit out of me

malice :D

[Zoesch]

I used to have a pair on UAD-1 on my main DAW but I've gone mobile due to reasons too long to explain. How I miss the fuckers, the 1176 and LA2A plugins were heavily used, I didn't mind the 'verb plugin either but the Amp emulator was quite mediocre (Guitar Rig definitely has got that right).

I'd kill for a firewire unit so I can use it with my MacBook Pro... the TC Powercore stuff is nice but the comps are nowhere near the quality of the UA ones.

[juergen]

I use them too.

The downsides are you have to check real close the system you are using them on, some configs are buggy, and I never bounce a track with them on without the real time rendering on: there are clics and pops if I do that most of the time

malice

I, too, have had problems with clicks and pops when bouncing with with real time rendering off.

I've used the real 1176 and LA2A but unfortunately that was too far back, when i knew nothing (I still don't have a clue, but at least I'm not back there anymore), but I really like the 1176LN & the Limiter, i use the 1073 and the Pultec (& the Pro version) a lot, and very ocasionally the reverb.

[malice]

I, too, have had problems with clicks and pops when bouncing with with real time rendering off.



This is a known problem. They should sell this card stating that offline rendering is NOT a feature of the card.

I always bounce in real time if I use the UAD cards.

And when I'm bouncing a track while using the UADs on other tracks than the one I'm boucing, I even shut down the cards prior to that. Because they are slowing down the process anyway.

It's a bit anoying I agree.

malice

[juergen]

This is a known problem. They should sell this card stating that offline rendering is NOT a feature of the card.

malice

Indeed.

One of the real bitches, as I am working in Logic, is wanting to freeze a track to put the juice back into the UAD1, where sometimes there will be clicks and sometimes not, which does make me try to bounce offline, just for the gamble...

...and if that didn't work, maybe the next time it will.

I guess I could always just bounce that track in realtime and import it back into the session...:Roll eyes:

What really sucked though was all the bounces i attempted to make when i had just gotten the card, with bands present. Boy, did that look bad.

[malice]

What really sucked though was all the bounces i attempted to make when i had just gotten the card, with bands present. Boy, did that look bad.


Now I'm boucing the track in real time claiming that the pluggin is so accurate in respect to their analog model that it require a lot of computing that can only be done in real time.

And now I get the : "amazing dude ...:icon_eek: "

malice :D

[Grapestomper]

Now I'm boucing the track in real time claiming that the pluggin is so accurate in respect to their analog model that it require a lot of computing that can only be done in real time.

And now I get the : "amazing dude ...:icon_eek: "

malice :D

Hehehe

One man's "drawback" is another man's "feature".

M

[juergen]

Hehehe

One man's "drawback" is another man's "feature".

M

That's what she said.