8:40 I think that gain knob on the LA2A actually is the output gain. "Peak Reduction" controls threshold and ratio simultaneously so no need for input gain.
The Gain knob adds extra distortion no matter the position ofthe peakcontrol, thats why he talks about of a needed output control . Try it, it doesnt sound the same with the gain cracked all the way up.
@@blacksaonamusic ofcourse it doesn't, but why would you crank it all the way up? If you have some db's of reduction you give it a bit of gain. And if the gain knob colors the sound while doing that and you don't like, you probably weren't looking for an LA-2A type compressor.
More subscriptions. Maybe this works for a comprehensive program like a DAW that goes throughs changes all the time, but plug ins? I still use plug ins I bought 15 years ago.
WEF - "You'll own nothing and you'll be happy" I sure as heck hope not. I think we have to express to these companies that we don't like that idea or nothing will change..
You can still buy plug-ins from UA. If you buy it, you get you get both a UAD2 and Native license (even if you never use/need the UAD2 license), whereas if you rent them, you only get the Native license. So UA is giving you choices.
LA2A can be confusing like that with the Gain knob- it actually controls the output gain, not the input gain. Makes it the perfect compressor for tracking actually singers tend to become very comfortable with their performances when you add an LA2A to their chain. The question is, for how long are the Sharck chips are going to be made for? This would be a good question to answer for users that are going to buy their DSPs for tracking and realtime processing. Awesome video as always man!
I wonder if this move has something to do with the chip shortage? Maybe the writing is on the wall. Obviously UA wouldn't want to make this knowledge public because a huge chunk of their business has been based upon this model, but I wouldn't be surprised that this is out of necessity.
the gain knob on an LA-2A is not input gain, it is in fact the output gain. We would expect the peak reduction to be on the left side and the gain knob on the right but this is how they built it..
You are 100% correct sir. What makes it even more obvious is that increasing the gain knob does not increase compression. Dead giveaway right there alone.
@@devianthousend uncalled fooor, its subjective and i think he is a great audio engineer, he has a ton of videos out just mixing and he has an great ear
I think the purpose of these plugin preview videos gets a bit lost when the effects are used on already heavily processed tracks- what intrests people the most, I think, is using them on dry unprocessed material- so people can really get a glimpse of how it can transform a regular recorded sound.
In the case of compression, I don't entirely agree with this. Compression can really bring out reverbs and the 'impact' they have on a sound. Case in point, when I'm mixing in a DAW (I use Ableton), I always add a bit of compression after a reverb in a send buss because it makes it 'smack' more by bringing out the transients - which is effectively what compression does. I understand what you mean, but sometimes certain sounds benefit from compression and make it sound that much more 'drastic' and as an audio example are much easier to prove a point, versus having something that is more subtle and dry.
That’s a good point, as I use an Apollo interface and console I already have processing of some form on every track coming into logic. As I have templates set up in console it speeds up the process but also has distinct disadvantages too.
@@MrHoogoorock what are the disadvantages? Are you referring to your templates or using the Plugs ins -- just asking cause Im finally looking at videos of all these UA plug ins in an attempt to get better, and I just was unclear what you meant. Thanks!
@@jgwire I was referring to the point of all the plugins on the interface console which use the dsp from the Apollo and bring all the colouration across on production or recording. Once done can’t be removed the colouration that is Mostly delay reverb but also many others. So the advantages are obvious but the disadvantages are your rarely starting with a clean palette, you can’t take your mix on the road if you want to use the UAD plugins unless you have a mobile UAD and if you start a production tweak the console plugins settings and structure but forget to save the session you have a bit of work to do to try and recall it.
Your reaction (which made me laugh) when you heard the compression was the same as mine.I was stunned. It's actually the first time I've REALLY felt like the plugins sound analog, with depth and the colour and character of the original.
U should definatly take a look at Analog Obsession compressors and pulltek (1176 = FETISH, LA-2A = LALA, Fairchild 660 = VariMoon, Pulltek = Rare). It is really stunning how good they work even comparing to real hardware.
@@Mansardian brit bundle is great, but the most tasty thing about AO is the vintage compressors. U know, when I see shock on his face about UAD 1176 and La-2a... Like, cmon, analog obsession does it at least at the same level for free!
Been working with an Apollo for a few months now. The coolest thing about it is the unison preamps. They switch impedance to mimic the preamp you choose. But damn these sound good. Hope they add the pultec pro
Brother, you have been saying "they should make the plugins with auto-gain" in all videos, and they don't listen... man, I really wish they could listen to you... That's so simples and logical. Thank you for your efforts. All plugins should have that... One love and keep the good job!
Hi Wytse, I guess it has been pointed out by someone else, anyway... The way to set this sort of optical LAs seems a bit odd...at first. The gain knob IS output gain. I usually set the amount of gain I want to achieve and then dial in the compression to compensate. From a broadcasting point of view that makes perfect sense: match the program material you want to broadcast to the reference level and catch the peaks to prevent distortion. That was actually the motivation of Jim Lawrence, who invented this thing. From that perspective it makes sense. ...btw: Your airport in Amsterdam is way too big. I lost 2 litres sweat trying to catch my flight😂 (had to compensate that with Heineken. Thanks KLM😅)
I use several emulations from Waves, PA and Softube, the UA plugins in this Spark collection are really good sounding, very warm and so close to real machines. I use a lot in my last production and can't regret to others. Softube still give me some similar quality. Thanks.
I would have subscribed if they had something like Plugin Alliance, where you could choose one plugin and get a perpetual license for it after you've completed an annual subscription or something.
My favorite way to use UAD plugins is the 'unison' plugin on the preamp, where you record destructively through a plugin like a Neve 1073 or a tweed 55 Fender amp. I can quickly dial in a sound when I'm recording and I barely need to process the track afterward. Even the volume is right for the mix! It's hard to explain why it works so well, but it honestly saves me hours dialing in sounds when I'm mixing.
Not all of their plugins can be converted to native because they don't make all of their plugins. Some of their plugins are from other manufactures (like the Antares Autotune, the Brainworks stuff, the SPL stuff, the Sonnox stuff, and the Softube stuff), and those manufactures already mostly offer native versions of their plugins. So it would be problematic with licensing.
yeah, but why would they make something native if that thing is already native? I think that by now everything 3rd party on UAD has Native versions as well. Brainworks and Softube have all ported, I think.
@@gffg387 I’m assuming this is just through their own plugins and licenses with manufacturers that currently don’t have their own version of the plugins like Manley along with companies they bought out like Townsend Labs not with manufacturers they have licenses with that also have their own native versions.
But Brainworx native versions are exactly the same as the UAD version. It's just compiled for a different processor. We have to get real with the UAD stuff. The reason it *seems* like these plugins are so powerful is because the SHARC chips are so weak compared to modern x64 CPU's. The API Vision uses about 20% of my twin core Apollo for ONE instance but one in my 2015 MacBook i7 is about .2% CPU according to Reaper's resource meter. The same plugins. UAD has reached point of admitting, "Yeah, they're just plugins, man". We have to accept it.
Have an apollo USB. Great sounding interface and all included plugins are excellent. Only problem is even when the plugins are best priced, they are never cheap enough.( Probs $100 when fully discounted) I end up having a look where else. I can't imagine the subscription will be particularly affordable.
I own so many of their plugins and have an interface but about 3 years ago I decided to put it on a shelf because it was a hastle. If they port it to windows and give me the plugins that I have, I will sure as hell like to go back.
Well, it's ported to Windows now. Are you still going to return? I'm thinking of giving it a go as I've always wanted to try the UAD stuff but never bought into the hardware aspect to be able to.
@@commonsense5188 Yeah, Ill probably give it a go. I have loads of plugins and wouldn't mind seeing what I have access to. I miss the Moog filter, the LA2A and a couple of others.
@@Vikotnick Funny enough, I was sitting here in the studio watching some shootouts and decided to download the plugins for Spark and play around. I was extremely impressed. This might be lengthy. First thing I did was load up a kick, snare, 808, synth and some hats from a new track I'm doing. I threw Slate VTM across all channels, including the master out and dialed to taste. I then did the same with the Studer from UAD. I was just going by ear as that's how I do things. I did gain stage prior. Hands down, no comparison. VTM sounded flat, and thin which really got me intrigued. I then loaded up the Lindell 50 Channel on the tracks, along with PA's version of the 2500 on the drum buss. Dialed to taste. Then I threw on the UAD API Vision strip, and the API 2500 on drum buss. Matched settings as closely as I could and shit man, it was no contest. I shit you not, and I don't get all stoked over shit like this. I was able to dial in the sound I wanted in a fraction of the time with the vision strip vs any of the bx consoles I've tried along with others. The 50 channel didn't sound bad, but compared to the API vision it was night and day in my studio. I listened on my CLA-10A's, Genelec 8030c's and my Nuemann NDH 30's. The 50 channel came up flat, sounded choked, and lacked depth and stereo image. The API vision was fantastic and that was literally after just twiddling knobs for a few minutes. I immediately uninstalled all my SSL bundle plug ins, (yes I had the sub) deleted 50 channel and some other PA plugs and from this point on, the API vision and the Studer will live on all tracks along with the API 2500 on drum buss etc. It was that easy for me to make the decision and I haven't even messed around with any of the other UAD plugs that came with the trial. The sound I always hear in my hear starting a mix came together so fast with those 3 tools. Really threw me for a loop. I'm thinking about grabbing the new "A-Console" from Sonimus tonight and throwing that into the mix which is their new API offering for console emulation. Studer-A-Console-API Vision, on all tracks would be superb. At least I think so. I really only mix my own music, so I don't need a wide variety of channel strips etc. The API stands firm between the Neve and SSL flavors so it's really all I see myself needing from this point on. Of course I do have the random things that I like for FX and little things like Karzog true iron etc etc. But the meat and potatoes of my templates will now be API oriented thanks to UAD. The vision strip workflow was really fast so I'm content now. Sorry for the rant, but nothing software related has gotten me this inspired in quite some time.
As a music producer I can say that vst3 effects do a great job, but I could never fully rely on them. They are amazing extra tools to apply to your daw to give your music a little extra boost and flavor. I do like owning racks and real effects, but some effects can cost up to thousands of dollars irl. It’s nice because UA doesn’t just make new vst products but they also revive ones that have been out of production for a long time. Whether you can believe the sound is close to the original or not. Owning hardware like the ams dmx or the lexicon 224 in an actual form I can use while only paying $200 versus $10000 is awesome. It’s Especially bad to own a piece of equipment that most people on the planet can’t even repair because the parts are non existent.
All musicians listen up. STOP supporting plugin subscription companies! They don’t have your back! You are renting! Not owning! Most importantly if they all have their way you will be adding 5 to 10 or more monthly bills! On top of most important life’s bills!!!! All these companies end game is wanting this including digital distribution companies now. You will go thru life within more bills than you ever imagined! Because you didn’t fight back the greedy system! And own NOTHING! STAND UP! SPREAD THE WORD!! FIGHT BACK!!
It's weird someone reviewing UAD plugins that have been around for years and being surprised about how good they sound. I thought everyone knew UAD have been the VERY best at vintage hardware plugins since day 1. I've been using UAD less and less though as my studio and travel computer setup are mirrored these days, except the UAD plugins running on the accelerators. For that reason I've slowly switched to Plugin Alliance which is also great, but not as good as some of my UAD favourites. Let's hope they move to native for the rest of their plugins soon!
@@TheJohnsofDoes says who? not the audiophile community that's for sure. I think you'll find they are. In fact at one point Fabric's algorithms were a league above UA's.. How quick you forget it is because of Fabrice that we now have full path modelling in our UAD plugs. I was there at the beginning, I have both and use them professionally. When Slate introduced the rack they embarrassed UAD on realism to the actual hardware as they were including transformer and pre-amp modelling not just eq curves/compression curves. UAD went back to ALL their plugs like neve, pultec, 1176 and LA2A and remade them to include the full path (at which point I might add they upped the price on us to $300 per plug, and those pathetic sharc chips could only run 2 of some plugs total on an $800 dollar card). It was UAD that had to catch up to slate, not the other way round. Don't get me wrong UA plugs are still good, but they are both very much in the same league, unfortunately UA's business model (like pro tools) is predatory, and extortionary and they've brainwashed people like you into believing the dsp hardware was necessary when it was outdated a decade ago never mind now. lo and behold they are now trying to catch up to slate again by copying the business model.
They lost me as a customer back in the day when they wanted me to pay for a plugin update I already purchased. It means they can make you pay for updates every month if you want to use your plugins. Yeah no
I can’t ever see myself using subscription plugins. The thought of potentially hitting hard times in the future, having to cancel that subscription and subsequently not being able to create music seems like a pretty bleak situation…
FWIW, the gain control on the LA2A is an output gain, not an input gain. The output gain is routed through the LA2A’s tube stage, which provides its well-known smooth and pleasing harmonics. The level of input gain on an LA2A is determined by the amplitude of the signal being fed into the it. As a side note, one of the important functions of the real LA2A that UA seems to have gotten right with their plugin version, is its 2-Stage release; with the first half of the release time being around .06 seconds, and the second half of release stage lasting anywhere between .5 seconds and 5 full seconds, depending upon the amount of reduction happening in the first stage. This two-stage release is one of the important contributing factors to the overall sound of an LA2A’s gain reduction, and is one of the reasons why heavy amounts of gain reduction can be implemented without a signal “sounding” as though it’s being heavily compressed. FWIW.
Wow, I'm not in the studio I'm listening on a small Bluetooth speakers, but these UA plugins do sound fucking great! I'm in the same boat as you. I used them once at another studio for necessity and didn't really analyze them very much. They sound fantastic.
I am a programmer. UAD has been BS (for multiple reasons) for many many years. #1) high-end Apple desktop computers have historically been overpriced for the processing power they provide (yeah blah blah blah [LOOK, if you like the OS then you like the OS! That's awesome! That's what it's all about and I couldn't possibly care less. I've owned macs (starting with the mac-classic) and admin-ed departments of macs in the distant and very recent past so do not come at me.]), so people have expected them to perform for too long, and that created a market for companies like UAD to start developing shims to keep them alive and productive. #2) (which I think Wytse is alluding to in this video) That also allowed inefficient programming on UAD's part because they didn't need to worry about efficiency, because the customer was required to have extra processing power (that UAD controlled and could depend on being there). Oh, and #3) The niche that UAD filled is an outdated concept. Don't do it.
I just don't understand why they don't offer native perpetual licences. I don't need entire collections of plugins in which most I won't use. Subscriptions are a waste of money for me cause I am only interested in specific types of processors. And will use those most of the time. So it only makes sense for me to purchase a perpetual licence for plugins I will actually use. Why on earth be committed to a lifetime of payments to a subscription model for only a handful of plugins I will use from the collection? It just doesn't make sense. Especially when there is nothing revolutionary about them. UAD need to bring something to the table and at the very least offer a perpetual licence for at least one of their plugins for customers paying loyalty. There are plenty of players in this market that offer choice and continue to do so. I could name quite a few with one company offering month to month sub (cancel any time), then able to offer a perpetual licence of any plugin from their entire range for $1 at the end of each month. No commitments. Choice is the future. Subscriptions turn potential customers away with a sour taste in their mouth.
I am not sure I agree, some UAD plugins are heavy even for modern computers and delegating that to a dedicated DSP is definitely advantageous. That said you could more cheaply and easily just buy another computer to do the exact same thing. So maybe you are right. Although there will be more latency and worse integration in that case.
I agree, but I think currently it's easier, more convenient and probably cheaper to expand a system with a second/third accelerator than it would be to set up additional computers with Vienna & a KVM switch/teamviewer.
@@tunefinite I definitely wouldnt do it with a VNC client. I would certainly not bother with a KVM either. I would just treat it as a standalone piece of hardware and then have a central computer which sends midi (or OSC) to it either over the network or over a literal midi router. I couldnt be dealing with treating them like an individual computer that way lies madness
Full disclosure. I use a UAD interface and, thus, have a lot of their plugins... You are absolutely right that many of them are very processor intensive, thus require additional horsepower even on a powerful computer. Truth told, some of them will even max out their own gear. But the emulations are really nice in my opinion, Yes, they have a nice Pultec that feels and sounds reasonably authentic to my ears. For me the true killer (which does not run on Spark yet) is the Capitol Chambers. That and their emulation of the Fairchild 760 really carry the day for me. For what it's worth, their plugins often do come with exactly what you are asking for; they have an alternate interface that is pure digital with no knobs, just parameters and numbers AND... it often lets you do things the hardware versions don't like gain compensation, turning off the emulated noise or wow and flutter, etc.
Andrew Scheps once stated that he prefers the UAD Pultec plugin over the actual hardware (which he owns too) so I'm good with my UAD plugin for that and use it every time on vocals as well as live recorded instruments
That's cool that current owners of UAD-2 get it for free... I was going to say that would be super shady but they did the right thing there. The API 2500 has been my go to bus compressor for a while but now it's a tie between the 2500, SSL Native Bus Comp, and Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor (free right now btw). I love the UAD-2 hardware because it frees up a LOT of CPU resources. As an aside, you should review the free GPU Audio convolution reverb... running plugins on graphics cards is the next big thing imho. Cheers!
about LA2A: "Gain Control: This control does not affect the compression. The gain control should be set after the desired amount of compression is determined using the Peak Reduction control. Once the Peak Reduction control is set, adjust the Gain Control to achieve the desired output level." :)
Actually, if you have a huge amount of tracks and do some more than run of the mill routing, even your "modern day CPU" will thank you for processing some audio on a DSP card, either UAD or Pro Tools HDX. So I may say that the idea or concept of DSP cards - that just don't only work as a dongle - is still pretty compelling.
oh please, not today. even a decade ago I did a comparison with the Sony oxford plugs then they ported native to uad. on a poultry core 2 duo even back then it was 300+ instances vs uad capped at 48 and that was on the $900 quad card. Worse still anyone in dsp could tell you that uad's 2 cards only ran sharc 3rd party chips anyway which were capable of running x86 code all along. only the first uad1 in the early 2000s was a bespoke processor. the only reason they are doing this now is Slate have been embarassing them on both analog modelling and fair consumer pricing options for years now..
Its worth noting that the same company behind the plugins also make the original hardware to spec as its the kids of the inventor of a lot of the hardware emulations, so they model and dissect the hardware as they are building it in the same factory
you apparently don't understand the format. It's a true emulation of the actual gear. 1176 did not have auto gain. They modeled the processor exactly the way it work and sounded 60 years ago!!!
UA is one of the best in analog modelling. Been using UA plugins for 12 years & yes I am all for a shout out for the Studer800, but also for the Pultec EQ’s, the Manley Massive and the Culture Vulture. You’re gonna dig that one, Wytze ;)
DMG Track Comp 2k (API) NI Softube VC2A IK Media Tape Collection, Including Tascam Pulsar 1178 iK Media Sunset Sound PA Lindel 80 and 50 and for Instruments Auturia Synth Collection and Roland Zenology these all sound better than UAD plugins and they are very accessable and more dsp friendly..... Point in Case...UAD is a waste of time.....
@@johnisrael5183to each their own honestly, i’ve tried all these plugins and UAD. I like uad but i wouldn’t say that these plugins that you named are better. They’re nice and accessible though.
Subscriptions don't work for me, I rather buy the plugin and own it for the rest of my life instead of paying to rent them for the rest of my life. Hope that they will eventually sell them.
On the LA2A, the Gain knob is output gain. Not input gain. This compressor has a fixed input gain and an adjustable threshold whereas the 1176 has a fixed threshold and an adjustable input gain.
Whatever the discussion - the main point of focus is the amazing microphone - and the even more amazing collection of holding device and filtering attached. What are they all? What's so special about them?
At the risk of sounding like a UA fanboy, I run UA Apollo Twin as a singer songwriter, and they do everything they promised. Expensive as hell, but the quality really is out of this world. Nothing else comes close. The Pultec EQ1PA is mindblowing, and I use the LA2A Silver on a daily basis. Getting this stuff native would actually be handy, I have a meaty computer and I run out of DSP on the Apollo way quick, and you can't boost with satellites, especially with Culture Vulture or some of the echo chambers - so I hope they add a lot more in the near future. Oh, pretty sure the song the drum is from is "Sandstorm" by Darude, but don't quote me...
There are interesting developments in action to use GPU standard graphic cards to process plug-ins as well. The bandwidth is about 300GB per second. This is so amazing.
There are a bunch of issues using a GPU for audio processing, esp. if said GPU is being used by the OS/other software. Additionally, GPUs are fairly inefficient on the power draw/heat output/noise generated vs DSP (i.e. chips specifically built to process audio). I seriously doubt someone wants the noise of a RTX 3060 (or even worse a 3090) running at full blast in their studio space.
@@c3r1c38 UAD1 was a graphics chip. 2 onwards (2008) has been just sharc dsp. very weak and capable of x86 all along. they could have gone native a decade ago.
Dude I could buy it! It was so mind blowing, because as a brazillian (even being a heart doctor) i cannot buy almost anything (abusive taxes + depriciated currency), and i could take this bundle. I was so happy, i though i was gonna cry lol hahahaha I could buy good cheap units (FMR Audio RNC, RNLA, RNP, Art Tube Pac, Art Pro VLA II, DBX 160a), but that's where my budget ends, it was already pretty expensive. I could never buy a real La2a, 1176, neve, and so on. Awesome!
I usually do entire album in one project, and sometimes the processor load gets pretty massive, my m1 Mac mini starts to crackle. So I’m still convinced DSPs are good thing. New more powerful chips - sure, bring it on! My only issue is they should’ve made it as 1 plugin (that could work both in a native processor and in DSP.
@@Labyrinth1010 I use mostly logic, Softube Console 1 on every channel and every bus, studer on most channels, plus number of reverbs and delays. That’s default, nothing crazy. Buffer depends on the load.
Mr Darude...The Gain knob is not an Input gaon per se...more an output gain...but the knobs work somewhat in conjunction with each other. BTW, it would be sacrilege to add auto gain. The upper little adjustment "screw" will help you control how influential are the lower frequencies.
Props to you for differentiating between DSP accelerators and the Apollo interfaces. I'm a UA user and fan, I'm in the groups. Not a lot of people seem to realize the accelerators and mix only use of UAD is the lower value use vs recording/tracking. I've held that notion basically since I got my first Apollo and saw firsthand how much better low latency monitoring was as a performer. Don't get me wrong, the plugins are good, but the DSP limitations are a huge drag for a 2 core DSP user and for most of the emulated hardware there were already decent native alternatives. I'm glad they're starting the move to native.
Just at that point. Longtime user of the PC Card and finally getting an Apollo. Not only for tracking but I’ve never had that UNISON option! that’s supposed to really help emulate the experience of using the real thing.
at least 10 years too late. The UAD cards could run x86 all along, and they have been way underpowered for about a decade too (10 years ago i did a test of sony oxford plugins native vs uad on a core 2 duo, and it was literally 48 instances vs 300+). So the only reason they didn't do this before is to screw their customers into a corner oldschool pro tools style. This is not a consumer friendly move, it's just that Slate straight up embarrassed them at their own game and now they are probably losing money. (this is from a guy that used 8k's worth of uad plugs and dsp btw)
The idea in Native no need for HW accelerater, not mere subscription as I've bought Native UAD plugins outright. That Waves had native (not so relavent to my Server One cpu HW) did not shift with subscription offerings as they were already shifted to Native. I'm, that said, having fun testing Waves per UAD Fairchild/Pultec/Teletronix/ and SSL Native. I recall the days when all we had were the 'real thing', and crackling pots, warm up issues and burnt lights are just a few trade offs. Gotta love analog still.
never going to subscribe to software ever again. period. I'm also not getting any more that use iLok or other problematic license/activation methods, or that need to phone home. This level of protection for software under $100, making it the users' problem, is ridiculous. There's plenty of great plugins and major software etc. that does't require any of this, and they seem to be thriving. Sorry for the rant, great channel as usual
I had a UAD-1 until they stopped supporting it, then a UAD-2 PCIe card until it stopped working. Since then I've gone native with other brands such as Waves, Izotope, Brainworx, etc. and never looked back, so for me, this native subscription thing is not a good deal since I already have everything I need and don't need to pay rent on my software every month.
It took you a while but yeah that's the reason you buy and need the hardware. The algorithms are very heavy. You have the legacy versions in comparison with the 'real' ones as a choice. And trust me there is a huge difference. I am a die hard fan of UAD. Ive got most of the plugins and for me its having all the real stuf and not spending over 100K or more. The algorithms and sound is that good that you easily can do AB comparisons with experienced listeners and they won't or hardly can figure out the difference. So yeah I think UAD with the hardware Shark dsp's is a league of its own. Today I compared SSL channel strip and buss compressor from waves, SSL themselves and the one from UAD. It wins with a big difference. Its so good. greetZ Rich PS: love your'e shows
Piracy should not dictate a business model. Netflix is blaming piracy for their problems now when in effect they were too expensive. If it's cheap enough, folk will always want to but it.
All musicians listen up. STOP supporting plugin subscription companies! They don’t have your back! You are renting! Not owning! Most importantly if they all have their way you will be adding 5 to 10 or more monthly bills! On top of most important life’s bills!!!! All these companies end game is wanting this including digital distribution companies now. You will go thru life within more bills than you ever imagined! Because you didn’t fight back the greedy system! And own NOTHING! STAND UP! SPREAD THE WORD!! FIGHT BACK!!
@@Whiteseastudio ha ha. It happens to the best of us. I'm curious about your opinion of the sonics of the studer, since you work with real tape and have an ear for it.
I am a UAD user, with Apollo interfaces, bought back before computer CPU power really blew up. I very much love some of the UAD plugs, wish I could use CPU power to run more UAD things, rather than buy an accelerator. As I already own a bunch of UAD plugs, the subscription model is irrelevant. Some of the UAD plugs are outsourced, like they have some on their platform that are the same plugins at Plugin Alliance and Softube. So it's better (and cheaper) to find those ones elsewhere in a sale. Yes, I agree, the blue stripe 1176 and the silver LA-2A sound fantastic. Other favourites... The Chandler Zener Limiter slays as drum smash. The "vintage" 175B and 176 limiters add a lot of "girth", "fatness" etc to vocals. The Pultec EQP-1A just makes things sound better without engaging any EQ. The Manley Massive Passive is the most super sweet EQ. Fatso is also a revelation. There is a lot to like.
as far as I know, the sparks or later chips from UAD work very well on plugin algorithms, compared to computer CPU´s, but this opinion is lot of years old, lot of things have changed. nice test. thank you ;)
Ok first off, yes dsp is still a completely valid way to go. Satellites will become obsolete way before Apollo interfaces. It’s not just about taking the load off your cpu, which they do, but also their unison preamps. Their neve, Manley and API channel strips are so close to the real thing it’s almost asinine to pay for the actual hardware. A lot of people will argue that fact but then at the end of the day they wouldn’t be able to tell which is which in a blind test. Second UAD is fully capable of porting all of their plugins back to native because that’s how they were developed and tested before they ported to the DSP platform in the first place. But at the end of the day if you’re running a high powered computer with dsp acceleration all you’re doing is getting more power and everybody knows more power is a good thing. Some of the uad exclusives are the best in the biz like their tape machines, bus compressors and channel strips. Their third party developers already have native versions available and have for a long time so you probably won’t be seeing those ported back to native on uads end.
Well DSPs are not needed for a long time now, don't be fooled. They were in fact for a long time only hardware keys. The reason for this step, that they likely were losing out on sales because nobody wanted the boxes and maybe even they face shortage issues. Software doesn't need special hardware, so just sell the soft. No material cost, no hassle with the hardware manufacturers. This step is only profit motivated. Not to mention that the stupid DSP card wasn't compatible with my brand new AMD PC so I stopped using it all together.... means no more sales. And probably I wasn't the only one.
I was actually very impressed with the sound quality during the trial period, but I did not commit to a subscription because of the mindset you described: digital plug ins have the opportunity to have tons of extra features and there's no point not having gain compensation and other useful controls that other companies like PA and Slate Digital are adding.
Sold my old FW Quad Satellite (which UAD stopped supporting...yeah...thanks UAD) and put the money towards an M1 MacMini. I still have my Apollo with the Quad chips in there...and now I can finally load the Api2500, Vision and 1073, natively...and lots more of what I could ever load. Nice.
Please do a review on Black Rooster plug-ins... id love to hear your feedback on their Neve preamp, la-2a and tape machine emulations... great video by the way❤
For some reason, I don't expect Spark versions to be supported on older OS installs as long as standard UAD-2 versions historically have been. I hope I'm wrong on this. I've seen this already on older Mojave machine which, arguably, was never officially supported but installed anyway and worked fine until it didn't one day after updating.
just get Slate. thats the only reason UA are finally going native. Slate is better models, cheaper and fairer pricing options. and they never charged $800 for a dongle.
I love you Wytse, but you suggested auto gain should be on the 1176 and then you turned off the auto gain on the API2500 xD. I'm glad you were impressed, I'm a big fan of UAD Rev A :)
I think it was a great move by UAD and I looooove that I got the native licenses fro FREE! So excited to be able to use the 1176, LA2A, Studer and API Vision on more than just a couple tracks.
8:40 I think that gain knob on the LA2A actually is the output gain. "Peak Reduction" controls threshold and ratio simultaneously so no need for input gain.
Correct 🤟🏼😎
Yes!!!
The Gain knob adds extra distortion no matter the position ofthe peakcontrol, thats why he talks about of a needed output control . Try it, it doesnt sound the same with the gain cracked all the way up.
Easy enough to test this with plugin doctor or with a null test.
@@blacksaonamusic ofcourse it doesn't, but why would you crank it all the way up? If you have some db's of reduction you give it a bit of gain. And if the gain knob colors the sound while doing that and you don't like, you probably weren't looking for an LA-2A type compressor.
realtime shadows is something we desperately need in audio processing hahaha
that critique had to be satire haha
Yeah can't even support ray tracing or HDR smh
More subscriptions. Maybe this works for a comprehensive program like a DAW that goes throughs changes all the time, but plug ins? I still use plug ins I bought 15 years ago.
WEF - "You'll own nothing and you'll be happy" I sure as heck hope not. I think we have to express to these companies that we don't like that idea or nothing will change..
You can still buy plug-ins from UA. If you buy it, you get you get both a UAD2 and Native license (even if you never use/need the UAD2 license), whereas if you rent them, you only get the Native license. So UA is giving you choices.
@@c3r1c38 Only a matter of time my friend.
@@c3r1c38 so to clarify, does that mean I can buy the plugin from UA, without an interface, and use the plugins perpetually?
@@Rhuggins only for the plug-ins in spark i had the same question aswell
LA2A can be confusing like that with the Gain knob- it actually controls the output gain, not the input gain. Makes it the perfect compressor for tracking actually singers tend to become very comfortable with their performances when you add an LA2A to their chain. The question is, for how long are the Sharck chips are going to be made for? This would be a good question to answer for users that are going to buy their DSPs for tracking and realtime processing. Awesome video as always man!
If he had only read the manual!
I wonder if this move has something to do with the chip shortage? Maybe the writing is on the wall. Obviously UA wouldn't want to make this knowledge public because a huge chunk of their business has been based upon this model, but I wouldn't be surprised that this is out of necessity.
Exactly what I am wondering about the chips. I fear a repeat on the powercore units.
the gain knob on an LA-2A is not input gain, it is in fact the output gain. We would expect the peak reduction to be on the left side and the gain knob on the right but this is how they built it..
The guy is constantly bashing on vst representations of legendary audio gear because he doesn't know how the original units actually work.
Fucking annoying you don't know how a legendary La2A works.
You are 100% correct sir. What makes it even more obvious is that increasing the gain knob does not increase compression. Dead giveaway right there alone.
@@devianthousend dont be mean
@@devianthousend uncalled fooor, its subjective and i think he is a great audio engineer, he has a ton of videos out just mixing and he has an great ear
I think the purpose of these plugin preview videos gets a bit lost when the effects are used on already heavily processed tracks- what intrests people the most, I think, is using them on dry unprocessed material- so people can really get a glimpse of how it can transform a regular recorded sound.
Perfect!!!
In the case of compression, I don't entirely agree with this. Compression can really bring out reverbs and the 'impact' they have on a sound. Case in point, when I'm mixing in a DAW (I use Ableton), I always add a bit of compression after a reverb in a send buss because it makes it 'smack' more by bringing out the transients - which is effectively what compression does.
I understand what you mean, but sometimes certain sounds benefit from compression and make it sound that much more 'drastic' and as an audio example are much easier to prove a point, versus having something that is more subtle and dry.
That’s a good point, as I use an Apollo interface and console I already have processing of some form on every track coming into logic.
As I have templates set up in console it speeds up the process but also has distinct disadvantages too.
@@MrHoogoorock what are the disadvantages? Are you referring to your templates or using the Plugs ins -- just asking cause Im finally looking at videos of all these UA plug ins in an attempt to get better, and I just was unclear what you meant. Thanks!
@@jgwire I was referring to the point of all the plugins on the interface console which use the dsp from the Apollo and bring all the colouration across on production or recording. Once done can’t be removed the colouration that is Mostly delay reverb but also many others. So the advantages are obvious but the disadvantages are your rarely starting with a clean palette, you can’t take your mix on the road if you want to use the UAD plugins unless you have a mobile UAD and if you start a production tweak the console plugins settings and structure but forget to save the session you have a bit of work to do to try and recall it.
To everyone who may read this I hope y'all make it let's keep grinding 🙏🏽
Your reaction (which made me laugh) when you heard the compression was the same as mine.I was stunned. It's actually the first time I've REALLY felt like the plugins sound analog, with depth and the colour and character of the original.
10:20 he looks genuinely shocked & surprised!
I still have my UAD 1. All the plugins mentioned on this channel sounded less than the 25 euro UAD 1 you could get for years.
@@Madrrrrrrrrrrrare u saying the uad plugins sound bad? because there’s no way that’s real
@@onstandard you clearly can't read.
@@Madrrrrrrrrrrr it’s difficult reading it
U should definatly take a look at Analog Obsession compressors and pulltek (1176 = FETISH, LA-2A = LALA, Fairchild 660 = VariMoon, Pulltek = Rare). It is really stunning how good they work even comparing to real hardware.
He did a review about AO and was quite surprised. He liked the plugins he tried (brit bundle)
@@Mansardian brit bundle is great, but the most tasty thing about AO is the vintage compressors. U know, when I see shock on his face about UAD 1176 and La-2a... Like, cmon, analog obsession does it at least at the same level for free!
Too bad it doesn't support axx
@@chode2bthey do now
Been working with an Apollo for a few months now. The coolest thing about it is the unison preamps. They switch impedance to mimic the preamp you choose.
But damn these sound good. Hope they add the pultec pro
Brother, you have been saying "they should make the plugins with auto-gain" in all videos, and they don't listen... man, I really wish they could listen to you... That's so simples and logical. Thank you for your efforts. All plugins should have that... One love and keep the good job!
Hi Wytse, I guess it has been pointed out by someone else, anyway... The way to set this sort of optical LAs seems a bit odd...at first. The gain knob IS output gain. I usually set the amount of gain I want to achieve and then dial in the compression to compensate. From a broadcasting point of view that makes perfect sense: match the program material you want to broadcast to the reference level and catch the peaks to prevent distortion. That was actually the motivation of Jim Lawrence, who invented this thing. From that perspective it makes sense.
...btw: Your airport in Amsterdam is way too big. I lost 2 litres sweat trying to catch my flight😂 (had to compensate that with Heineken. Thanks KLM😅)
Yeah, I made an oopsie there 😅… Guess I’m still human 😂
I use several emulations from Waves, PA and Softube, the UA plugins in this Spark collection are really good sounding, very warm and so close to real machines. I use a lot in my last production and can't regret to others. Softube still give me some similar quality. Thanks.
Yep. I’d put Kush in the same category
I would have subscribed if they had something like Plugin Alliance, where you could choose one plugin and get a perpetual license for it after you've completed an annual subscription or something.
i'm pretty sure the gain knob on the la2a controlls output gain, not input gain. it is made to be used as a compensation for the peak reduction.
My favorite way to use UAD plugins is the 'unison' plugin on the preamp, where you record destructively through a plugin like a Neve 1073 or a tweed 55 Fender amp. I can quickly dial in a sound when I'm recording and I barely need to process the track afterward. Even the volume is right for the mix! It's hard to explain why it works so well, but it honestly saves me hours dialing in sounds when I'm mixing.
That’s some strong kool-aid man. Don’t even need to adjust the volume during mix down? We need proof of this otherwise it’s not true.
I will never give up my UAD satellite to go native. It works fine for me and that's what matters the most.
They have now added a pultec to the spark subscription....I think it sounds REALLY good!
Sold my 1176 hardware after using this plug in. The difference is minute and not worth the extra money! Legit.
Not all of their plugins can be converted to native because they don't make all of their plugins. Some of their plugins are from other manufactures (like the Antares Autotune, the Brainworks stuff, the SPL stuff, the Sonnox stuff, and the Softube stuff), and those manufactures already mostly offer native versions of their plugins. So it would be problematic with licensing.
yeah, but why would they make something native if that thing is already native? I think that by now everything 3rd party on UAD has Native versions as well. Brainworks and Softube have all ported, I think.
They make a lot more, and they are not converted. The ones that they don't make already exist natively..LOL
@@gffg387 I’m assuming this is just through their own plugins and licenses with manufacturers that currently don’t have their own version of the plugins like Manley along with companies they bought out like Townsend Labs not with manufacturers they have licenses with that also have their own native versions.
But Brainworx native versions are exactly the same as the UAD version. It's just compiled for a different processor. We have to get real with the UAD stuff. The reason it *seems* like these plugins are so powerful is because the SHARC chips are so weak compared to modern x64 CPU's. The API Vision uses about 20% of my twin core Apollo for ONE instance but one in my 2015 MacBook i7 is about .2% CPU according to Reaper's resource meter. The same plugins. UAD has reached point of admitting, "Yeah, they're just plugins, man". We have to accept it.
Have an apollo USB. Great sounding interface and all included plugins are excellent. Only problem is even when the plugins are best priced, they are never cheap enough.( Probs $100 when fully discounted) I end up having a look where else. I can't imagine the subscription will be particularly affordable.
If youre lucky you can get the odd deal below 100$. I think I paid 75 for autotune and the manley voxbox
They come with free unison plugins right? Is it only free for a limited time?
@@maddmarkmusic no they come with a few legacy version plug ins and the us 610b but the other 99% are to be paid for after
I own so many of their plugins and have an interface but about 3 years ago I decided to put it on a shelf because it was a hastle. If they port it to windows and give me the plugins that I have, I will sure as hell like to go back.
I accept this gift, thank you! 😄
Well, it's ported to Windows now. Are you still going to return? I'm thinking of giving it a go as I've always wanted to try the UAD stuff but never bought into the hardware aspect to be able to.
@@commonsense5188 Yeah, Ill probably give it a go. I have loads of plugins and wouldn't mind seeing what I have access to. I miss the Moog filter, the LA2A and a couple of others.
@@Vikotnick Funny enough, I was sitting here in the studio watching some shootouts and decided to download the plugins for Spark and play around. I was extremely impressed. This might be lengthy.
First thing I did was load up a kick, snare, 808, synth and some hats from a new track I'm doing. I threw Slate VTM across all channels, including the master out and dialed to taste. I then did the same with the Studer from UAD. I was just going by ear as that's how I do things. I did gain stage prior. Hands down, no comparison. VTM sounded flat, and thin which really got me intrigued.
I then loaded up the Lindell 50 Channel on the tracks, along with PA's version of the 2500 on the drum buss. Dialed to taste. Then I threw on the UAD API Vision strip, and the API 2500 on drum buss. Matched settings as closely as I could and shit man, it was no contest. I shit you not, and I don't get all stoked over shit like this. I was able to dial in the sound I wanted in a fraction of the time with the vision strip vs any of the bx consoles I've tried along with others.
The 50 channel didn't sound bad, but compared to the API vision it was night and day in my studio. I listened on my CLA-10A's, Genelec 8030c's and my Nuemann NDH 30's. The 50 channel came up flat, sounded choked, and lacked depth and stereo image. The API vision was fantastic and that was literally after just twiddling knobs for a few minutes.
I immediately uninstalled all my SSL bundle plug ins, (yes I had the sub) deleted 50 channel and some other PA plugs and from this point on, the API vision and the Studer will live on all tracks along with the API 2500 on drum buss etc. It was that easy for me to make the decision and I haven't even messed around with any of the other UAD plugs that came with the trial. The sound I always hear in my hear starting a mix came together so fast with those 3 tools. Really threw me for a loop.
I'm thinking about grabbing the new "A-Console" from Sonimus tonight and throwing that into the mix which is their new API offering for console emulation.
Studer-A-Console-API Vision, on all tracks would be superb. At least I think so. I really only mix my own music, so I don't need a wide variety of channel strips etc. The API stands firm between the Neve and SSL flavors so it's really all I see myself needing from this point on. Of course I do have the random things that I like for FX and little things like Karzog true iron etc etc. But the meat and potatoes of my templates will now be API oriented thanks to UAD. The vision strip workflow was really fast so I'm content now. Sorry for the rant, but nothing software related has gotten me this inspired in quite some time.
@@commonsense5188 That is great! Thank you for the long reply. I will check it out tonight when I'm in the studio!
As a music producer I can say that vst3 effects do a great job, but I could never fully rely on them. They are amazing extra tools to apply to your daw to give your music a little extra boost and flavor. I do like owning racks and real effects, but some effects can cost up to thousands of dollars irl. It’s nice because UA doesn’t just make new vst products but they also revive ones that have been out of production for a long time. Whether you can believe the sound is close to the original or not. Owning hardware like the ams dmx or the lexicon 224 in an actual form I can use while only paying $200 versus $10000 is awesome. It’s Especially bad to own a piece of equipment that most people on the planet can’t even repair because the parts are non existent.
The UA Pultecs are incredible. I use them on almost all my tracks.
All musicians listen up. STOP supporting plugin subscription companies! They don’t have your back! You are renting! Not owning! Most importantly if they all have their way you will be adding 5 to 10 or more monthly bills! On top of most important life’s bills!!!! All these companies end game is wanting this including digital distribution companies now. You will go thru life within more bills than you ever imagined! Because you didn’t fight back the greedy system! And own NOTHING! STAND UP! SPREAD THE WORD!! FIGHT BACK!!
It's weird someone reviewing UAD plugins that have been around for years and being surprised about how good they sound. I thought everyone knew UAD have been the VERY best at vintage hardware plugins since day 1. I've been using UAD less and less though as my studio and travel computer setup are mirrored these days, except the UAD plugins running on the accelerators. For that reason I've slowly switched to Plugin Alliance which is also great, but not as good as some of my UAD favourites. Let's hope they move to native for the rest of their plugins soon!
that sounds impressive.. almost making me consider the subscription
just get the slate bundle. at least they're a consumer friendly company. (also the prices are much fairer and the modelling is as good)
@@TheJohnsofDoes says who? not the audiophile community that's for sure. I think you'll find they are. In fact at one point Fabric's algorithms were a league above UA's.. How quick you forget it is because of Fabrice that we now have full path modelling in our UAD plugs. I was there at the beginning, I have both and use them professionally. When Slate introduced the rack they embarrassed UAD on realism to the actual hardware as they were including transformer and pre-amp modelling not just eq curves/compression curves. UAD went back to ALL their plugs like neve, pultec, 1176 and LA2A and remade them to include the full path (at which point I might add they upped the price on us to $300 per plug, and those pathetic sharc chips could only run 2 of some plugs total on an $800 dollar card).
It was UAD that had to catch up to slate, not the other way round. Don't get me wrong UA plugs are still good, but they are both very much in the same league, unfortunately UA's business model (like pro tools) is predatory, and extortionary and they've brainwashed people like you into believing the dsp hardware was necessary when it was outdated a decade ago never mind now.
lo and behold they are now trying to catch up to slate again by copying the business model.
@@TheJohnsofDoes in fact all of them (almost) are superior :D
They lost me as a customer back in the day when they wanted me to pay for a plugin update I already purchased. It means they can make you pay for updates every month if you want to use your plugins. Yeah no
I love Spark, now I'm about to get an accelerator to have access to the rest of the catalog.
I'm sure someone has already mention this .... but ... That's NOT an input gain on the LA-2A ... it's an Output gain (to make up for the compression)
I can’t ever see myself using subscription plugins. The thought of potentially hitting hard times in the future, having to cancel that subscription and subsequently not being able to create music seems like a pretty bleak situation…
keep the bag up
Subscription models are for metro sexuals
UAD Spark is Snake Oil for one reason:
*Only available on MAC* .
FWIW, the gain control on the LA2A is an output gain, not an input gain.
The output gain is routed through the LA2A’s tube stage, which provides its well-known smooth and pleasing harmonics.
The level of input gain on an LA2A is determined by the amplitude of the signal being fed into the it.
As a side note, one of the important functions of the real LA2A that UA seems to have gotten right with their plugin version, is its 2-Stage release; with the first half of the release time being around .06 seconds, and the second half of release stage lasting anywhere between .5 seconds and 5 full seconds, depending upon the amount of reduction happening in the first stage.
This two-stage release is one of the important contributing factors to the overall sound of an LA2A’s gain reduction, and is one of the reasons why heavy amounts of gain reduction can be implemented without a signal “sounding” as though it’s being heavily compressed.
FWIW.
Love all my UAD plugins.. They do sound different and on another level compared to all other hardware simulation plugins I own
Wow, I'm not in the studio I'm listening on a small Bluetooth speakers, but these UA plugins do sound fucking great! I'm in the same boat as you. I used them once at another studio for necessity and didn't really analyze them very much. They sound fantastic.
I am a programmer. UAD has been BS (for multiple reasons) for many many years. #1) high-end Apple desktop computers have historically been overpriced for the processing power they provide (yeah blah blah blah [LOOK, if you like the OS then you like the OS! That's awesome! That's what it's all about and I couldn't possibly care less. I've owned macs (starting with the mac-classic) and admin-ed departments of macs in the distant and very recent past so do not come at me.]), so people have expected them to perform for too long, and that created a market for companies like UAD to start developing shims to keep them alive and productive. #2) (which I think Wytse is alluding to in this video) That also allowed inefficient programming on UAD's part because they didn't need to worry about efficiency, because the customer was required to have extra processing power (that UAD controlled and could depend on being there). Oh, and #3) The niche that UAD filled is an outdated concept. Don't do it.
On the LA-2A the gain knob does not control the input level but the output level.
I'm sorry I didn't quite understand the DSP thing at the beginning... is this some sort of hardware or sound card required to run UAD plugins?
I just don't understand why they don't offer native perpetual licences. I don't need entire collections of plugins in which most I won't use. Subscriptions are a waste of money for me cause I am only interested in specific types of processors. And will use those most of the time. So it only makes sense for me to purchase a perpetual licence for plugins I will actually use. Why on earth be committed to a lifetime of payments to a subscription model for only a handful of plugins I will use from the collection? It just doesn't make sense. Especially when there is nothing revolutionary about them. UAD need to bring something to the table and at the very least offer a perpetual licence for at least one of their plugins for customers paying loyalty.
There are plenty of players in this market that offer choice and continue to do so. I could name quite a few with one company offering month to month sub (cancel any time), then able to offer a perpetual licence of any plugin from their entire range for $1 at the end of each month. No commitments.
Choice is the future. Subscriptions turn potential customers away with a sour taste in their mouth.
I am not sure I agree, some UAD plugins are heavy even for modern computers and delegating that to a dedicated DSP is definitely advantageous. That said you could more cheaply and easily just buy another computer to do the exact same thing.
So maybe you are right. Although there will be more latency and worse integration in that case.
I agree, but I think currently it's easier, more convenient and probably cheaper to expand a system with a second/third accelerator than it would be to set up additional computers with Vienna & a KVM switch/teamviewer.
@@tunefinite I definitely wouldnt do it with a VNC client. I would certainly not bother with a KVM either.
I would just treat it as a standalone piece of hardware and then have a central computer which sends midi (or OSC) to it either over the network or over a literal midi router.
I couldnt be dealing with treating them like an individual computer that way lies madness
Full disclosure. I use a UAD interface and, thus, have a lot of their plugins... You are absolutely right that many of them are very processor intensive, thus require additional horsepower even on a powerful computer. Truth told, some of them will even max out their own gear. But the emulations are really nice in my opinion, Yes, they have a nice Pultec that feels and sounds reasonably authentic to my ears. For me the true killer (which does not run on Spark yet) is the Capitol Chambers. That and their emulation of the Fairchild 760 really carry the day for me. For what it's worth, their plugins often do come with exactly what you are asking for; they have an alternate interface that is pure digital with no knobs, just parameters and numbers AND... it often lets you do things the hardware versions don't like gain compensation, turning off the emulated noise or wow and flutter, etc.
What is the “alternate interface” you speak of?
Damn i only want the chambers but to get it I need to buy their devices then buy the plug-in 😐
Andrew Scheps once stated that he prefers the UAD Pultec plugin over the actual hardware (which he owns too) so I'm good with my UAD plugin for that and use it every time on vocals as well as live recorded instruments
After trying Fabfilter Volcano 3, there's no point using a Pultec plugin.
@@saricubra2867 Fabfilter's amazing! I'll check it out!
That's cool that current owners of UAD-2 get it for free... I was going to say that would be super shady but they did the right thing there. The API 2500 has been my go to bus compressor for a while but now it's a tie between the 2500, SSL Native Bus Comp, and Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor (free right now btw). I love the UAD-2 hardware because it frees up a LOT of CPU resources. As an aside, you should review the free GPU Audio convolution reverb... running plugins on graphics cards is the next big thing imho. Cheers!
about LA2A: "Gain Control: This control does not affect the compression. The gain control should be set after the
desired amount of compression is determined using the Peak Reduction control. Once the
Peak Reduction control is set, adjust the Gain Control to achieve the desired output level."
:)
Yup; Gain is the output gain.
Actually, if you have a huge amount of tracks and do some more than run of the mill routing, even your "modern day CPU" will thank you for processing some audio on a DSP card, either UAD or Pro Tools HDX. So I may say that the idea or concept of DSP cards - that just don't only work as a dongle - is still pretty compelling.
Very compelling. The mcdsp ab16 is tempting
oh please, not today. even a decade ago I did a comparison with the Sony oxford plugs then they ported native to uad. on a poultry core 2 duo even back then it was 300+ instances vs uad capped at 48 and that was on the $900 quad card. Worse still anyone in dsp could tell you that uad's 2 cards only ran sharc 3rd party chips anyway which were capable of running x86 code all along. only the first uad1 in the early 2000s was a bespoke processor. the only reason they are doing this now is Slate have been embarassing them on both analog modelling and fair consumer pricing options for years now..
@@Bthelick slate vm1 is solid too. Definitely killing it with the plug-ins. Have you tried the FGx mastering processor?
@@bigstevedzn2353 If I have to use limiting,. I like the fx on rock and live stuff, prefer izotope for electronic, but I don't like limiting usually.
Its worth noting that the same company behind the plugins also make the original hardware to spec as its the kids of the inventor of a lot of the hardware emulations, so they model and dissect the hardware as they are building it in the same factory
Thanks again for another authentic and transparent review/perspective on things!
ok bro the 76 being old n the shadows was tooo next level bro lolololol
you apparently don't understand the format. It's a true emulation of the actual gear. 1176 did not have auto gain. They modeled the processor exactly the way it work and sounded 60 years ago!!!
Not a fan of subscriptions so I won't be picking these up any time soon. But definitely great to see UAD taking a step forward at last
I would just use DMGaudio trackcomp for all these comps.. no snake oil involved....the best sound with a modern interface (and working autogain)
Lol for real… and you actually get to own the plug, no bs subscription to pay every month.
@@devianthousend it's the one i use the most
UA is one of the best in analog modelling. Been using UA plugins for 12 years & yes I am all for a shout out for the Studer800, but also for the Pultec EQ’s, the Manley Massive and the Culture Vulture. You’re gonna dig that one, Wytze ;)
DMG Track Comp 2k (API)
NI Softube VC2A
IK Media Tape Collection, Including Tascam
Pulsar 1178
iK Media Sunset Sound
PA Lindel 80 and 50
and for Instruments
Auturia Synth Collection
and Roland Zenology
these all sound better than UAD plugins and they are very accessable and more dsp friendly.....
Point in Case...UAD is a waste of time.....
@@johnisrael5183to each their own honestly, i’ve tried all these plugins and UAD. I like uad but i wouldn’t say that these plugins that you named are better. They’re nice and accessible though.
Subscriptions don't work for me, I rather buy the plugin and own it for the rest of my life instead of paying to rent them for the rest of my life. Hope that they will eventually sell them.
10:32 that face is priceless...
On the LA2A, the Gain knob is output gain. Not input gain. This compressor has a fixed input gain and an adjustable threshold whereas the 1176 has a fixed threshold and an adjustable input gain.
You can sync the Studer plug-in across different tracks. So if you make changes on one it will happen across all
I’m pretty sure you can’t sync in native version
You can do this with any plugin in REAPER
Whatever the discussion - the main point of focus is the amazing microphone - and the even more amazing collection of holding device and filtering attached.
What are they all? What's so special about them?
At the risk of sounding like a UA fanboy, I run UA Apollo Twin as a singer songwriter, and they do everything they promised. Expensive as hell, but the quality really is out of this world. Nothing else comes close. The Pultec EQ1PA is mindblowing, and I use the LA2A Silver on a daily basis. Getting this stuff native would actually be handy, I have a meaty computer and I run out of DSP on the Apollo way quick, and you can't boost with satellites, especially with Culture Vulture or some of the echo chambers - so I hope they add a lot more in the near future.
Oh, pretty sure the song the drum is from is "Sandstorm" by Darude, but don't quote me...
turning the attack knob in l176 is ingact slow attack not fast its different from usual plugins , please note this might be useful
There are interesting developments in action to use GPU standard graphic cards to process plug-ins as well. The bandwidth is about 300GB per second. This is so amazing.
There are a bunch of issues using a GPU for audio processing, esp. if said GPU is being used by the OS/other software. Additionally, GPUs are fairly inefficient on the power draw/heat output/noise generated vs DSP (i.e. chips specifically built to process audio). I seriously doubt someone wants the noise of a RTX 3060 (or even worse a 3090) running at full blast in their studio space.
@@c3r1c38 UAD1 was a graphics chip. 2 onwards (2008) has been just sharc dsp. very weak and capable of x86 all along. they could have gone native a decade ago.
That API compressor sounds reaaaal good.
Dude I could buy it! It was so mind blowing, because as a brazillian (even being a heart doctor) i cannot buy almost anything (abusive taxes + depriciated currency), and i could take this bundle. I was so happy, i though i was gonna cry lol hahahaha I could buy good cheap units (FMR Audio RNC, RNLA, RNP, Art Tube Pac, Art Pro VLA II, DBX 160a), but that's where my budget ends, it was already pretty expensive. I could never buy a real La2a, 1176, neve, and so on. Awesome!
Really surprised that you of all folks don't know that the Gain knob on LA-2A is the output gain. Yes, the layout is backwards.
U/A Apollo allows you to print the plugin to track. That's what makes so useful. I can print the Pre Amp, EQ, Compressor limiter
I usually do entire album in one project, and sometimes the processor load gets pretty massive, my m1 Mac mini starts to crackle. So I’m still convinced DSPs are good thing. New more powerful chips - sure, bring it on! My only issue is they should’ve made it as 1 plugin (that could work both in a native processor and in DSP.
How many tracks and plugins are you running before you M1 mini starts choking out? How low is your buffer? Oh, and what daw?
@@Labyrinth1010 I use mostly logic, Softube Console 1 on every channel and every bus, studer on most channels, plus number of reverbs and delays. That’s default, nothing crazy. Buffer depends on the load.
The gain on the la-2a is post gain reduction my friend 😉
"impressed how analog this sounds" yet doesn't know how the actual analog unit behaved.
Mr Darude...The Gain knob is not an Input gaon per se...more an output gain...but the knobs work somewhat in conjunction with each other. BTW, it would be sacrilege to add auto gain. The upper little adjustment "screw" will help you control how influential are the lower frequencies.
Props to you for differentiating between DSP accelerators and the Apollo interfaces. I'm a UA user and fan, I'm in the groups. Not a lot of people seem to realize the accelerators and mix only use of UAD is the lower value use vs recording/tracking. I've held that notion basically since I got my first Apollo and saw firsthand how much better low latency monitoring was as a performer. Don't get me wrong, the plugins are good, but the DSP limitations are a huge drag for a 2 core DSP user and for most of the emulated hardware there were already decent native alternatives. I'm glad they're starting the move to native.
Just at that point. Longtime user of the PC Card and finally getting an Apollo. Not only for tracking but I’ve never had that UNISON option! that’s supposed to really help emulate the experience of using the real thing.
at least 10 years too late. The UAD cards could run x86 all along, and they have been way underpowered for about a decade too (10 years ago i did a test of sony oxford plugins native vs uad on a core 2 duo, and it was literally 48 instances vs 300+). So the only reason they didn't do this before is to screw their customers into a corner oldschool pro tools style. This is not a consumer friendly move, it's just that Slate straight up embarrassed them at their own game and now they are probably losing money. (this is from a guy that used 8k's worth of uad plugs and dsp btw)
The idea in Native no need for HW accelerater, not mere subscription as I've bought Native UAD plugins outright. That Waves had native (not so relavent to my Server One cpu HW) did not shift with subscription offerings as they were already shifted to Native. I'm, that said, having fun testing Waves per UAD Fairchild/Pultec/Teletronix/ and SSL Native. I recall the days when all we had were the 'real thing', and crackling pots, warm up issues and burnt lights are just a few trade offs. Gotta love analog still.
😂😂😂 the shadows.. the vintage experience!
never going to subscribe to software ever again. period. I'm also not getting any more that use iLok or other problematic license/activation methods, or that need to phone home. This level of protection for software under $100, making it the users' problem, is ridiculous. There's plenty of great plugins and major software etc. that does't require any of this, and they seem to be thriving. Sorry for the rant, great channel as usual
I had a UAD-1 until they stopped supporting it, then a UAD-2 PCIe card until it stopped working. Since then I've gone native with other brands such as Waves, Izotope, Brainworx, etc. and never looked back, so for me, this native subscription thing is not a good deal since I already have everything I need and don't need to pay rent on my software every month.
You can put the Studer plugin on several tracks and control all at once with the link function. Of course it‘s still summed in the DAW
It took you a while but yeah that's the reason you buy and need the hardware. The algorithms are very heavy. You have the legacy versions in comparison
with the 'real' ones as a choice. And trust me there is a huge difference. I am a die hard fan of UAD. Ive got most of the plugins and for me its having all the real stuf and not spending over 100K or more. The algorithms and sound is that good that you easily can do AB comparisons with experienced listeners and they won't or hardly can figure out the difference. So yeah I think UAD with the hardware Shark dsp's is a league of its own. Today I compared SSL channel strip and buss compressor from waves, SSL themselves and the one from UAD. It wins with a big difference. Its so good. greetZ Rich PS: love your'e shows
UA Plugins are really great and can often add something very unique...stunning that you never tried them.
I've been doing a lot of critical plugin listening lately and I gotta say I was making that 10:23 face too.
Piracy should not dictate a business model. Netflix is blaming piracy for their problems now when in effect they were too expensive. If it's cheap enough, folk will always want to but it.
Somebody answer my question what microphone it's using ?
Been on UAD since inception,no complaints,love Luna zero latency,hybrid running,love your channel very smart guy
Maybe in the future. Right now 14 plugins for $20 a month is crazy expensive.
All musicians listen up. STOP supporting plugin subscription companies! They don’t have your back! You are renting! Not owning! Most importantly if they all have their way you will be adding 5 to 10 or more monthly bills! On top of most important life’s bills!!!! All these companies end game is wanting this including digital distribution companies now. You will go thru life within more bills than you ever imagined! Because you didn’t fight back the greedy system! And own NOTHING! STAND UP! SPREAD THE WORD!! FIGHT BACK!!
"Its a lot of money" **said with a whole tape machine right behind you 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The la2a HAS output gain. It's the gain knob! Lol. Gain reduction is the comp threshold, and "gain" makes up for GR.
Yeah, made an oopsie there 😅
@@Whiteseastudio ha ha. It happens to the best of us. I'm curious about your opinion of the sonics of the studer, since you work with real tape and have an ear for it.
I am a UAD user, with Apollo interfaces, bought back before computer CPU power really blew up. I very much love some of the UAD plugs, wish I could use CPU power to run more UAD things, rather than buy an accelerator. As I already own a bunch of UAD plugs, the subscription model is irrelevant.
Some of the UAD plugs are outsourced, like they have some on their platform that are the same plugins at Plugin Alliance and Softube. So it's better (and cheaper) to find those ones elsewhere in a sale. Yes, I agree, the blue stripe 1176 and the silver LA-2A sound fantastic. Other favourites... The Chandler Zener Limiter slays as drum smash. The "vintage" 175B and 176 limiters add a lot of "girth", "fatness" etc to vocals. The Pultec EQP-1A just makes things sound better without engaging any EQ. The Manley Massive Passive is the most super sweet EQ. Fatso is also a revelation. There is a lot to like.
as far as I know, the sparks or later chips from UAD work very well on plugin algorithms, compared to computer CPU´s, but this opinion is lot of years old, lot of things have changed. nice test. thank you ;)
Ok first off, yes dsp is still a completely valid way to go. Satellites will become obsolete way before Apollo interfaces. It’s not just about taking the load off your cpu, which they do, but also their unison preamps. Their neve, Manley and API channel strips are so close to the real thing it’s almost asinine to pay for the actual hardware. A lot of people will argue that fact but then at the end of the day they wouldn’t be able to tell which is which in a blind test. Second UAD is fully capable of porting all of their plugins back to native because that’s how they were developed and tested before they ported to the DSP platform in the first place. But at the end of the day if you’re running a high powered computer with dsp acceleration all you’re doing is getting more power and everybody knows more power is a good thing.
Some of the uad exclusives are the best in the biz like their tape machines, bus compressors and channel strips. Their third party developers already have native versions available and have for a long time so you probably won’t be seeing those ported back to native on uads end.
Because of you ..now I know which plugin is genuine and which one crap...
That instrumental you played when you opened the Studer 800. That's a hit record!!
Well DSPs are not needed for a long time now, don't be fooled. They were in fact for a long time only hardware keys. The reason for this step, that they likely were losing out on sales because nobody wanted the boxes and maybe even they face shortage issues. Software doesn't need special hardware, so just sell the soft. No material cost, no hassle with the hardware manufacturers. This step is only profit motivated. Not to mention that the stupid DSP card wasn't compatible with my brand new AMD PC so I stopped using it all together.... means no more sales. And probably I wasn't the only one.
I'm convinced they are only doing this because Slate has been embarrassing them for years now.
I was actually very impressed with the sound quality during the trial period, but I did not commit to a subscription because of the mindset you described: digital plug ins have the opportunity to have tons of extra features and there's no point not having gain compensation and other useful controls that other companies like PA and Slate Digital are adding.
Sold my old FW Quad Satellite (which UAD stopped supporting...yeah...thanks UAD) and put the money towards an M1 MacMini. I still have my Apollo with the Quad chips in there...and now I can finally load the Api2500, Vision and 1073, natively...and lots more of what I could ever load. Nice.
Please do a review on Black Rooster plug-ins... id love to hear your feedback on their Neve preamp, la-2a and tape machine emulations... great video by the way❤
For some reason, I don't expect Spark versions to be supported on older OS installs as long as standard UAD-2 versions historically have been. I hope I'm wrong on this. I've seen this already on older Mojave machine which, arguably, was never officially supported but installed anyway and worked fine until it didn't one day after updating.
if i was a plugin developer, you are the latest guy i wll send it for review... sorry! ;)
Dude: Dan Worrall
Thank you for this video. In my opinion you talked very "fair" about these Plugins.
i believe the song is sandstorm by darude
Never wanted UAD because of the hardware but now I might consider them if they will calm down with the prices
just get Slate. thats the only reason UA are finally going native. Slate is better models, cheaper and fairer pricing options. and they never charged $800 for a dongle.
I love you Wytse, but you suggested auto gain should be on the 1176 and then you turned off the auto gain on the API2500 xD.
I'm glad you were impressed, I'm a big fan of UAD Rev A :)
Hahah; Wytse; You've been sampled (4.02 min) in the plugin introduction video "DQ5010 effect plugin - Gritty Drums!" [on YT here]
I think it was a great move by UAD and I looooove that I got the native licenses fro FREE! So excited to be able to use the 1176, LA2A, Studer and API Vision on more than just a couple tracks.
“Gain” is output volume on the LA2A