UA plugs in's Now available without hardware or subscriptions?

[AcousticDreams]

This came in an email this morning from Sweetwater
"Universal Audio is now offering 21 of its most popular plug-ins in a native UAD format. These allow you to take advantage of the company’s unmatched analog emulations using your Mac’s or PC’s host processing — no external hardware required."

*So which of these 21 plugs in's would be a must buy
** And will there be bugs, since this is new, and thus we should wait some time before purchasing.

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/ho...x=9&bsft_tv=35

[jim1960]

From what I'm seeing in the UA FB groups, the software has been a bit buggier than usual. Meanwhile, the packages are pretty meager and while the largest at $25 per plugin is better than UA has offered before, it only makes sense if you really need a sizable number of them.

What's on the list that you feel you really want to own?

[DupleMeter]

I'm not a huge fan of the UAD stuff. It's certainly good, but I think there are equal to better options. That's just my opinion.

Of the UAD stuff (and we have 4 Octo cards at the studio, so I do have access to them), The EMT Plate is the only real stand out to me. It's equal to Seventh Heaven, Cinematic Rooms or TaiChi. Which are the only reverbs I actually like enough to use.

Their classic compressors are nice (the LA2As & 1176s). I think Lindell makes a better API strip & Neve strip than the UAD versions.

Their Pultec is quite nice, I will give them that.

Ok, I'm not being helpful...ignore me.

[AcousticDreams]

Originally Posted by jim1960

From what I'm seeing in the UA FB groups, the software has been a bit buggier than usual. Meanwhile, the packages are pretty meager and while the largest at $25 per plugin is better than UA has offered before, it only makes sense if you really need a sizable number of them.

What's on the list that you feel you really want to own?

This is more of a general inquiry, as I believe this is a brand new direction for UA. Offering Plugs without buying hardware or the UAD Spark subscription.

I am very happy with the plugs I currently own. Not sure that I really need any more processing plug in's. However I have always heard great things about some specific UA plugin's. So it is always good to investigate.

I think I have heard good things about UA's LA 2A. But then again, I am very happy with my Fab Pro C2. I have heard good things about their Tape emulations, but then again...I have Fab Saturn and in a slightly different manner True Iron.

Anyway, it is always good to investigate. Almost all of the Plugs that I have purchased have been of huge value. It is great to have a toolbox of which gives me options in which to experiment with. Sadly, Sometimes you can not realize the value of something until you own it. It might even take weeks before you understand its true potential.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Knives&Guitars

This is more of a general inquiry, as I believe this is a brand new direction for UA. Offering Plugs without buying hardware or the UAD Spark subscription.

I am very happy with the plugs I currently own. Not sure that I really need any more processing plug in's. However I have always heard great things about some specific UA plugin's. So it is always good to investigate.

I think I have heard good things about UA's LA 2A. But then again, I am very happy with my Fab Pro C2. I have heard good things about their Tape emulations, but then again...I have Fab Saturn and in a slightly different manner True Iron.

Anyway, it is always good to investigate. Almost all of the Plugs that I have purchased have been of huge value. It is great to have a toolbox of which gives me options in which to experiment with. Sadly, Sometimes you can not realize the value of something until you own it. It might even take weeks before you understand its true potential.

There is a recent a Production Expert article, about how many Pro Engineers still use mostly stock plugins (the ones bundled with the DAW)
Some of the reasons were more logistical to situations Pros typically deal with, that may not be completely applicable to those of us who are home recordists

But one of the reasons was that many of todays stock plugins sound pretty good, and sort of in conjunction with a recent survey or study where they did A/B Stock plugins against premium 3 party plugins, where many found it difficult to consistently distinguish between them .
The article did note two exceptions that many pros do use 3 rd party .
#1 noise reduction with the offerings from iZotope er. al.
#2 Reverb with offerings from Liquidsonics and Valhalla etc.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by Knives&Guitars

Not sure that I really need any more processing plug in's. However I have always heard great things about some specific UA plugin's.

UA has enjoyed that reputation for a long time and there was a time when it was true to a large degree. Fifteen or so years ago, when UAD-2 came out, UA plugins were arguably the best in the game. But that was at a time when competition was minimal. Today, there's a LOT of competition and some of those companies are making amazing products and I think there's a good argument to make that UA just hasn't kept pace. I'm not saying their stuff is bad. Some of it is very good but it's not the top of the game anymore ...and that's coming from someone who was all in on UA for a number of years.

With the new native thing today, if they had reasonable a la carte prices, there are some plugins worth having. But the prices for individual plugins are high and they make you buy packages that likely contain a bunch of plugins you won't get much use out of.

If I were you and really interested, I'd wait for the summer sale or the end of year sale and see what they offer. Initial offerings with UA are never the best deals they give. The best prices always are June and November-December.

[AcousticDreams]

Originally Posted by jim1960

UA has enjoyed that reputation for a long time and there was a time when it was true to a large degree. Fifteen or so years ago, when UAD-2 came out, UA plugins were arguably the best in the game. But that was at a time when competition was minimal. Today, there's a LOT of competition and some of those companies are making amazing products and I think there's a good argument to make that UA just hasn't kept pace. I'm not saying their stuff is bad. Some of it is very good but it's not the top of the game anymore ...and that's coming from someone who was all in on UA for a number of years.

With the new native thing today, if they had reasonable a la carte prices, there are some plugins worth having. But the prices for individual plugins are high and they make you buy packages that likely contain a bunch of plugins you won't get much use out of.

If I were you and really interested, I'd wait for the summer sale or the end of year sale and see what they offer. Initial offerings with UA are never the best deals they give. The best prices always are June and November-December.

This is exactly the kind of information I need to hear. Thank you Jim1960. Unless one of them does something super special, or so much better than the rest, there is no rush. Especially at those prices. That was my exact thinking.

There are so many different manufacturers of plugin's these days. Seems like a new compressor plug in comes out every week. They all claim to have something more to offer. Which, is pretty hard to believe at this point. At the same time, I know that some plugs have to do a better job than others. That I have heard through various audio tests. Just like Microphones...some work better in certain instances.

So while we are on the topic of companies who may offer plugs at reasonable prices, and are worthwhile having: Are there any Waves plugin's that do their job so well, or offer something so different, that I should take a look at?

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by KevWind

There is a recent a Production Expert article, about how many Pro Engineers still use mostly stock plugins (the ones bundled with the DAW)
Some of the reasons were more logistical to situations Pros typically deal with, that may not be completely applicable to those of us who are home recordists

But one of the reasons was that many of todays stock plugins sound pretty good, and sort of in conjunction with a recent survey or study where they did A/B Stock plugins against premium 3 party plugins, where many found it difficult to consistently distinguish between them .
The article did note two exceptions that many pros do use 3 rd party .
#1 noise reduction with the offerings from iZotope er. al.
#2 Reverb with offerings from Liquidsonics and Valhalla etc.

Did you also listen to the podcast we did about stock plugins?: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas...=1000597553711


The reality is, a lot of the stock plugins just plain old sound good.

[DupleMeter]

Originally Posted by Knives&Guitars

So while we are on the topic of companies who may offer plugs at reasonable prices, and are worthwhile having: Are there any Waves plugin's that do their job so well, or offer something so different, that I should take a look at?

It depends on what you're looking for? EQ? Compresor? Clean? Vibey?

Scheps OmniChannel is a hands down superb plugin. You could mix an entire record with only that (and some reverbs).

Waves H-Delay is a really nice delay.

Waves Sibilance is my first stop when I need a de-esser (yeah, not sexy, but sometimes you just need to de-ess).

If you want a swiss army knife compressor, McDSP CompressorBank has been on countless releases. It's one of my goto plugins. I think it's been on everything I've ever mixed.

All that said, I'm currently training a bunch of aspiring engineers who are all using different DAWs, we've settled on a few free options that sound amazing.

TDR Nova (EQ): https://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-nova/

TDR Molotok (Compressor): https://www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-molotok/

Klanghelm MJUC JR. (compressor): https://klanghelm.com/contents/products/MJUCjr.php

Voxengo OldSkoolVerb (reverb): https://www.voxengo.com/product/oldskoolverb/

Before settling on these I mixed several tracks with nothing but these plugins (I mean, that's only fair), and I was not wanting for much (maybe another flavor of reverb...with more detailed/smoother tails).

There are always new flavors to sample, but it's also good to really explore what you already have in your toolbox & learn all the different ways they can work for you.