Universal Audio Plugins

[esosotericmetal]

Originally Posted by Banned

... but Vee3 hardly costs any CPU load!?

Precisely. It sounds amazing, doesn't tax my system at all and usually doesn't require more than a couple instances, making it the perfect candidate for running native on my Air.

Super accurate analog emulations that model every component on the other hand make the most sense to outsource, or even just print on input.

[micron]

i use a mix of dsp+native, don't think dsp systems are over, just aren't necessary, but it can do some difference.
I don't use uad, but a hardware based on the same analog devices dsp technology from sonic core that is focused also on synthesis and it's a great add on to the production.
I also still have on a separate old pc the first generation scope cards and use them as fx/synth rack, all works in real time with zero latency.
I think a good microphone can be considered a money investment, because it can be resold years later without losing its value, but a dsp hardware is like a swiss knife, it's something to be used unless it works.

[zeekat]

Originally Posted by db9091

4) Plugins prices are lowered over time, losing your equity
5) Plugins are sometimes given free with new hardware, losing your equity
(...)
8) Multiple plugins of similar type (i.e. 1176) lose original equity. Then they become only available as a bundle. Then the bundle price is lowered.
(...)
I'm only getting software that isn't attached to hardware from now on. The high Prices I paid for UA came at the assumption you had equity to sell if you didn't like them. But that turned out to be a lie too.

Expecting rapidly aging digital gizmos to be a good investment is, um, a bit peculiar.

[serr]

Originally Posted by zeekat

Expecting rapidly aging digital gizmos to be a good investment is, um, a bit peculiar.

Yeah, this isn't the kind of stuff you speculate on. It's going to go down in value over time.

You need to shop for the biggest bang for the buck NOW with audio equipment.

I like to snipe equipment that's a year or two old on ebay for audio gear and computers myself.

[BorsingPhoto]

Hi, We're looking into a modest investment for the studio. The plan is to avoid purchasing more than I currently need myself in regards to my upcoming Album releases. I'm on Win 8.1, HP Pavilion HPE-410y, AMD Phenom II X6 1045T (2700 MHz). 16 Gb Ram, Fire-wire PCIe / USB3 card TRUTBPN Tower raid, and are a happy Reaper user (need our surround capabilities), BUT would prefer a workflow requiring less NI Komplete8/9 and Izotope FX "track freezing". Because of this we're also getting into ProTools 11 and might upgrade to HD Native if we can't find a better/less pricy solution.
As I just came off a telephone conversation with UA and was told Win 8 has not yet been certified, I was happy to see your post and would love to hear more of your setup, perhaps more specifically about how you got your Thunderbolt hookup to work?

I just built a brand new PC DAW (Win 8.1 x64, i7 4770k, 16GB RAM) using an ASUS Z87 Deluxe/QUAD MB. The most impressive thing is it has two Thunderbolt 2nd generation "2.0" ports on board and I have my Apollo working via Thunderbolt on my PC!!!!! To top it off, after installing the latest UAD v7.5 on my new DAW, I moved my 6 year old UAD-2 PCIe cards (QUAD & SOLO) from my old DAW to the ASUS Z87 MB, re-booted and the all of my licensed UAD-2 plug-ins are working flawlessly on those cards as well. With (7) PCIe slots (2.0/3.0) and dual TB 2.0 ports (that is 20Gbps per port!), I am pretty much future proof well into the next decade!

[billybk1]

Originally Posted by BorsingPhoto

As I just came off a telephone conversation with UA and was told Win 8 has not yet been certified, I was happy to see your post and would love to hear more of your setup, perhaps more specifically about how you got your Thunderbolt hookup to work?

Yes, I had been prolonging my DAW upgrade for a number of years waiting for a robust MB that had cutting edge technology and was built to last. I especially wanted Apollo/TB connectivity on the Windows platform. After doing a lot of research and getting positive feedback from other Apollo users that were already successfully using the MB with the Thunderbolt card, I decided it was time. The ASUS Z87 Deluxe/QUAD had everything I was looking for and more. I have now been using it for a few months now and it is simply the best MB I have ever used. Build quality, feature set, support, compatibility and the price was not all that unreasonable for what you get in return. I would highly recommend it for anyone looking to build a DAW. Some of the well known commercial DAW builders use the same MB for their "Thunderbolt DAW's".

There were a few things I needed to do to get the MB & my Apollo QUAD copacetic. First, I needed to download and install the latest ASUS Z87 Deluxe/QUAD "Win 8.1 x64" TB drivers (released last Fall). As the earlier version did not work with the Apollo. Second, in Win 8.1, under the TB properties tab, I needed to enable the option to use "uncertified" TB devices. Otherwise, being that the Apollo is not a Windows certified TB device it will never be recognized, as such, when you connect the TB cable to computer.

Other than that, it is pretty much plug and play. I just installed the latest UAD v7.7, so I could check out the latest 1073 Mic Pre & EQ plug-in (got the plug-in after 48 hours of using it, it is that good!) and the TB/Apollo connection is still working solid and stable, as expected. Both audio & DSP drivers are fully functioning as you would expect. In addition to my Apollo QUAD, I also have (2) UAD PCIe cards installed as well (QUAD & SOLO).

I am using REAPER x64 almost daily with my Apollo TB enabled DAW rig and have only encountered one minor issue that is unrelated to REAPER. Once I have the Apollo connected via TB (I can either power up the Apollo before or after I power up my DAW), I can only power the Apollo down "after" I shutdown the computer. If I try to power down the Apollo while the computer is still on, the UADPCIe.sys driver crashes requiring a re-boot if I want to continue to use my UAD cards. Not a big deal for me as my DAW only takes a few seconds to power down anyway. I think it may be a an option or BIOS tweak I have not found yet, as I have read other ASUS Z87 Deluxe/QUAD & Apollo TB users not having the issue at all. Like I said, it is a minor issue and something to be aware of and there is a workaround (power down computer first before turning off Apollo).


Cheers,

Billy Buck

[BorsingPhoto]

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your experiences, perhaps you should send UA an email? I was told they're working on a win 8.1 certification..

After reading this and having studied their Vintage plugins etc I'm rather leaning towards the Apollo Duo or Quatro device especially since AVID fails to act and answer our F'n questions and that you easily can ad a second device for up to 16 I/O's / eight UAD-2's..
Best of all it's still configurable with Reaper... Not assuming anything, I asked it was possible to send / receive simultaneous Audio during mixing and was told yes.. Your input on that?




... - (power down computer first before turning off Apollo).


Cheers,

Billy Buck[/QUOTE]

[billybk1]

Originally Posted by BorsingPhoto

Hi,

Thank you for sharing your experiences, perhaps you should send UA an email? I was told they're working on a win 8.1 certification..

I have already sent them detailed emails with screen captures of my Win 8.1 Pro x64 / Apollo QUAD / Thunderbolt experiences!

Best of all it's still configurable with Reaper... Not assuming anything, I asked it was possible to send / receive simultaneous Audio during mixing and was told yes.. Your input on that?

Can you explain further what you mean by "send / receive simultaneous audio during mixing"? I've had my Apollo QUAD for several years now and have used it in a variety of ways, so maybe I am just not comprehending your terminology.



Cheers,

Billy Buck

[BorsingPhoto]

- Great I'm sure they're working on it..

- Sorry, -As I used to tell my 2'nd X wife.. - "I'm not perfect, but I'm close"

The way I put it to them was just if I could use the fire-wire connection as an effects send / receive, but if it's possible via Thunderbolt it's even better.. my current interface NI's Komplete Audio 6's USB connection send & receive digital audio "simultaneously"..

I currently use ASIO4ALL Beta/no less than 3 audio interfaces "simultaneously".. Hp's built in HD 7.1 audio for surround monitoring, a Blue Yeti USB microphone with it's built in headphone out and Native Instruments Komplete Audio for my 2.1 BX5 studio monitors/Sony sub, w/o problemos/audible clicking artifacts etc..

I'm STILL in my living room couch using PC speakers (Creative labs 2,1 set hooked up to the mid's and Logitech 5.1 kit) for surround monitoring (actually 9.3 surround in total ) but these will be replaced by adding 6 powered studio monitors when our project studio is ready and acoustically treated..

People here might wonder why this Swdish looney is complicating things? To them I have to confess I'm intellectually superio.. Seriously, it started out as a cool experiment to introduce simulated/fake spaces and play around with reflective "surfaces" variably in an otherwise dead sounding small project studio, and will eventually come to include an infinitely configurable space for re mic recordings, possibly reducing unwanted frequencies by experimenting with various EQ / Phase cancelling techniques..

- "It's NOT us that are MAD, can't you see? it's the rest of the world that is CRAZY"..
Joking aside (no really).. All I want when my studio's finally completed is a Blond Nurse with Firm Boobs, to feed me and help me stand up straight.. - Sir Carl's insanely sane Twin..

Originally Posted by billybk1

I have already sent them detailed emails with screen captures of my Win 8.1 Pro x64 / Apollo QUAD / Thunderbolt experiences!


Can you explain further what you mean by "send / receive simultaneous audio during mixing"? I've had my Apollo QUAD for several years now and have used it in a variety of ways, so maybe I am just not comprehending your terminology.



Cheers,

Billy Buck

[Billoon]

I've got a dual-boot W7/W8.1 box, all fully updated and on 8, UAD plugins report double the latency they do on 7. Other plugins aren't doing this. I'm still on 7.4 though.

Just me?

[billybk1]

Originally Posted by Billoon

I've got a dual-boot W7/W8.1 box, all fully updated and on 8, UAD plugins report double the latency they do on 7. Other plugins aren't doing this. I'm still on 7.4 though.

Just me?

Are you refering to UAD plug-in latency value measured by REAPER (both Performance Meter & Plug-in Chainer)? There should be no difference, as there are no changes in either REAPER or any UAD version to cause this if setup correctly. I moved from Win 7 x64 (SP1) DAW to a Win 8.1 Pro x64 DAW a couple of months and they show the exact same plug-in latency values. UAD plug-in latencies are determined by the project sample rate & audio buffer size (UAD-2 plug-in latency is 1 x the current buffer size + extra latency due to any applicable upsampling).

Also, in the UAD Control Panel / Configuration tab do you have the "Extra Buffers" option enabled? If so, this will add "64" samples plug-in latency to every UAD plug-in. Some DAW hosts require this option to be enabled (like SONAR), but others (like REAPER) do not. I use both SONAR X3e x64 and REAPER x64 4.62. I will only enable "Extra Buffers" if I am using SONAR. Otherwise, it is left unchecked to lower UAD plug-in latency. I am using the latest UAD v7.7. I always update within days of a new UAD release to stay current.

Cheers,

Billy Buck

[BorsingPhoto]

Just to verify... (this is almost enough to drive almost anyone religious)

From Universal Audios Site..

What is AAX 64 support for UAD Powered Plug-Ins?
UAD Powered Plug-Ins v7.5 adds support for Pro Tools 11's new AAX 64 plug-in architecture. Now you can use your UAD-2 PCIe card, UAD-2 Satellite unit, or Apollo-series interface to run AAX 64 plug-ins inside Pro Tools 11 on Mac OS X and Windows.

Copy of my question to UA

I have read the AAX portion in regards to UA's Apollo devises/DSP cards, however I'm STILL not convinced if/how this works.
As I'm reading it, ALL your UAD plugins AND Third party AAX-64 (IZOTOPE AAX-64 / Komplete 8/9 AAX-64 plugins) are able to make use of Apollos DSP resources from WITHIN ProTools 11 (HD 11 version not even needed)? If that's so this incredible news totally serves all my current and future needs since I just add on another Apollo quad (or UA PCIe DSP card?), but how does the I/O work since Native PT-11 AAX-64 plugins would have to be channeled via Firewire to the Apollo and back to PT? Also if I misunderstood the core of my dilemma and it would require an internal UA PCIe DSP card, will they be able to run together? i.e. UA's Apollo quatro + UA's internal DSP card?

"Don't worry, this will happen to you too as you become OLDER" - Sir Carl..

[billybk1]

Originally Posted by BorsingPhoto

Just to verify... (this is almost enough to drive almost anyone religious)

From Universal Audios Site..

What is AAX 64 support for UAD Powered Plug-Ins?
UAD Powered Plug-Ins v7.5 adds support for Pro Tools 11's new AAX 64 plug-in architecture. Now you can use your UAD-2 PCIe card, UAD-2 Satellite unit, or Apollo-series interface to run AAX 64 plug-ins inside Pro Tools 11 on Mac OS X and Windows.

Copy of my question to UA

I have read the AAX portion in regards to UA's Apollo devises/DSP cards, however I'm STILL not convinced if/how this works.
As I'm reading it, ALL your UAD plugins AND Third party AAX-64 (IZOTOPE AAX-64 / Komplete 8/9 AAX-64 plugins) are able to make use of Apollos DSP resources from WITHIN ProTools 11 (HD 11 version not even needed)? If that's so this incredible news totally serves all my current and future needs since I just add on another Apollo quad (or UA PCIe DSP card?), but how does the I/O work since Native PT-11 AAX-64 plugins would have to be channeled via Firewire to the Apollo and back to PT? Also if I misunderstood the core of my dilemma and it would require an internal UA PCIe DSP card, will they be able to run together? i.e. UA's Apollo quatro + UA's internal DSP card?

"Don't worry, this will happen to you too as you become OLDER" - Sir Carl..

UAD devices (PCIe cards, Satellites, Apollo's) can only process UAD plug-ins. You can add various UAD-2 devices to your DAW to combine the DSP. This is controlled via a unified UAD Control Panel applet that is installed on your computer. IOW, you cannot run native plug-ins on UAD hardware.

I have an Apollo QUAD, UAD-2 PCIe QUAD & UAD-2 SOLO connected/installed and working harmoniously on my Win 8.1 x64 DAW. I also sometimes use my Apollo on my 2011 Mac Mini via it's TB port.

The UA post you refer to simply states that UAD software/drivers now provide PT 11 compatible AAX plug-ins for use with UAD devices (Apollo's, UAD-2 card, Satellites, etc.).

Cheers,

Billy Buck

[Billoon]

Originally Posted by billybk1

Also, in the UAD Control Panel / Configuration tab do you have the "Extra Buffers" option enabled? If so, this will add "64" samples plug-in latency to every UAD plug-in.

EDIT : Fixed it by ending the UAD control panel in task manager then running it as admin. Sticks even after a reboot. FWIW, none of the config tick boxes were sticking, not just the EB one. Odd that its only me having this problem, only have one account on the computer and UAC is set at min.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After taking a better look, this is the source of my problem. I did disable it but found there was still latency in Livetrack mode in W8 which isn't in W7.

What i now have discovered is that the option isn't staying disabled. Tried to disable then reboot, then disable again then reboot, nothing makes it stay disabled.

Happens with and without my soundcard plugged in - MOTU 828 Mk2.

W8 isn't currently supported so i won't bother asking UAD about it at this stage.


This is a fully updated W8.1 with UAD 7.7 BTW.

[billybk1]

Originally Posted by Billoon

EDIT : Fixed it by ending the UAD control panel in task manager then running it as admin. Sticks even after a reboot. FWIW, none of the config tick boxes were sticking, not just the EB one. Odd that its only me having this problem, only have one account on the computer and UAC is set at min.

Yeah, out of habit one of the first things I do when setting up a new DAW or adding a new program/device is to make sure I have administrator privileges
for everything. It seems in Win 8 it is more important than ever. It is odd how you had to go about it though. Glad you got it figured out.

Cheers,

Billy Buck

[imagine]

After reading fantastic reviews about Apollo Twin DUO interface and considering buying one.

Any experiences with this particular UAD product?

[The Telenator]

moonfiremusic: 'I never understood this expensive plugins thing.'

Oh, it's quite simple actually: You go out and buy a bunch of them, then you spend the rest of your life trying to justify with posts in threads like this the foolishness of paying ten times as much for the same code that's in the far less expensive plugins. Yeah, this isn't 2004 anymore. Most of the plugin designers have caught up with the UAD and WAVES designers. WAVES obviously got hip to this reality, hence the prices on many of theirs have crashed ... been marked down and on perpetual 'sale'.

Hey, sure, I think WAVES plugins are extremely good for the most part -- just not worth paying for mostly no-hear-ums differences. People can claim whatever they want, just basically nobody can hear any difference. I get the same or even better results using the very reasonably priced Toneboosters bundles as I have working with friends and former employers' WAVES and such.

Oh, it costs $450!!! It has to sound so much better!!! NOT!

[richie43]

Originally Posted by The Telenator

moonfiremusic: 'I never understood this expensive plugins thing.'

Oh, it's quite simple actually: You go out and buy a bunch of them, then you spend the rest of your life trying to justify with posts in threads like this the foolishness of paying ten times as much for the same code that's in the far less expensive plugins. Yeah, this isn't 2004 anymore. Most of the plugin designers have caught up with the UAD and WAVES designers. WAVES obviously got hip to this reality, hence the prices on many of theirs have crashed ... been marked down and on perpetual 'sale'.

Hey, sure, I think WAVES plugins are extremely good for the most part -- just not worth paying for mostly no-hear-ums differences. People can claim whatever they want, just basically nobody can hear any difference. I get the same or even better results using the very reasonably priced Toneboosters bundles as I have working with friends and former employers' WAVES and such.

Oh, it costs $450!!! It has to sound so much better!!! NOT!

Where's the "Like" button on this forum?

I use less expensive plugins almost exclusively. I own a few waves plugins, but only after getting them on super-sales. I have recently quit using them because I had a bad RAM module and somehow that triggered my Waves plugins to think it was a new OS (HUH??) None of my other software even blinked at this. Anyway, I was able to retrieve my licenses with the once-a-year restore option. So I talked with Waves and asked for them to reset my restore option because I felt like that was for a real issue, and this was clearly on their end. They told me that it was unlikely that they would reset it, but if there was a chance they would need to do a remote "take-over" with remote software (like team-viewer) and poke around my computer....
I am not paranoid and have nothing to hide, my DAW is 100% legit- never use cracked software. But I feel like that's a bit over-board when they could click a mouse a few times and reset my restore licenses.... I removed them and am doing fine without them.
I do use Nebula quite a bit, and that is a bit spendy if you get hooked. But in my experience with plugins, Nebula is a different breed altogether, and from my own comparisons at a few different studios that had many UAD plugins, Nebula runs circles around UAD (which sounded like any other algo plugin to my ears).
Use whatever works for you.

For the record, I have had the Tonebooster bundle since it came out, and always get the new plugins as they come out. I am still finding little gems in it.

[Fergler]

Nuff said
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/moan-...voice-god.html

[richie43]

Originally Posted by Fergler

Nuff said
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/moan-...voice-god.html

That's nothing compared to the 2 (at least) ilokolypse catastrophe's in the last year or so.

[ivansc]

I have a total of $200 "invested" in a pair of pci-e UAD1s.
They work flawlessly and always have.
Love the plugs but wont be buying any UAD2 or above unless I get a similar cheap deal.
As has been said before, they are good but when it all comes down to it, so are many other plugs that dont rely on hardware and are not any more expensive, but still approach the same quality.
For me it has always been a question of paying $waytoomuch for those DSP chips.

[Aesis]

Originally Posted by Fergler

Nuff said
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/moan-...voice-god.html

I wonder if they even modeled the VOG with that eq. If it's just a min phase IIR "cookbook" eq that's really insulting.

But maybe still not as insulting as what pace has done.

[PitchSlap]

I have my UAD-1 taking up my computer's only PCI slot. I haven't used the effects in years since I think native are just as good as what I own.

It's basically just an annoying dongle for legacy projects right now.

The ONLY thing I'm missing in native plugins is a Pultec emulation like the Pultec Pro which includes the extra bands. I used that everywhere.

The IK emulation is just as good, but lacking the very important mid bands.

[philait]

Originally Posted by imagine

After reading fantastic reviews about Apollo Twin DUO interface and considering buying one.

Any experiences with this particular UAD product?

Making some assumptions: You're on a MAC and you don't need more than 2 ins (Or want a mobile solution) and tracking the old school way by shaping the sound before it hits the DAW (Get it right at the source & don't fix in the mix)

The Apollo twin is a super piece of hardware, being able to print the plugins (or not if you want) while having an imperceptible latency on monitoring is superb for workflow and artist confidence. The Unison Pre-Amp plugins are quite superb and do give a real change to the very clean on-board pre-amps.

Evaluate it as an Audio interface first (Including monitoring with AU plugs and Unison) the worry about the rest of the expensive UA plugin suite.

[mikeroephonics]

I actually started using REAPER because my UAD-1 would lock up in Cubase & Vegas. It would lock up even in REAPER with all the special UAD-1 prefs set.

CPUs are so fast now that it's pointless to buy a separate card to run plug-ins. This isn't 2004. They had their chance. Let it rot.

[imagine]

Originally Posted by philait

Making some assumptions: You're on a MAC and you don't need more than 2 ins (Or want a mobile solution) and tracking the old school way by shaping the sound before it hits the DAW (Get it right at the source & don't fix in the mix)

The Apollo twin is a super piece of hardware, being able to print the plugins (or not if you want) while having an imperceptible latency on monitoring is superb for workflow and artist confidence. The Unison Pre-Amp plugins are quite superb and do give a real change to the very clean on-board pre-amps.

Evaluate it as an Audio interface first (Including monitoring with AU plugs and Unison) the worry about the rest of the expensive UA plugin suite.

Assumptions were correct, thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely grab one of these.

[Hubert]

Originally Posted by billybk1

Yes, I had been prolonging my DAW upgrade for a number of years waiting for a robust MB that had cutting edge technology and was built to last. I especially wanted Apollo/TB connectivity on the Windows platform. After doing a lot of research and getting positive feedback from other Apollo users that were already successfully using the MB with the Thunderbolt card, I decided it was time. The ASUS Z87 Deluxe/QUAD had everything I was looking for and more. I have now been using it for a few months now and it is simply the best MB I have ever used. Build quality, feature set, support, compatibility and the price was not all that unreasonable for what you get in return. I would highly recommend it for anyone looking to build a DAW. Some of the well known commercial DAW builders use the same MB for their "Thunderbolt DAW's".

There were a few things I needed to do to get the MB & my Apollo QUAD copacetic. First, I needed to download and install the latest ASUS Z87 Deluxe/QUAD "Win 8.1 x64" TB drivers (released last Fall). As the earlier version did not work with the Apollo. Second, in Win 8.1, under the TB properties tab, I neeLded to enable the option to use "uncertified" TB devices. Otherwise, being that the Apollo is not a Windows certified TB device it will never be recognized, as such, when you connect the TB cable to computer.

Other than that, it is pretty much plug and play. I just installed the latest UAD v7.7, so I could check out the latest 1073 Mic Pre & EQ plug-in (got the plug-in after 48 hours of using it, it is that good!) and the TB/Apollo connection is still working solid and stable, as expected. Both audio & DSP drivers are fully functioning as you would expect. In addition to my Apollo QUAD, I also have (2) UAD PCIe cards installed as well (QUAD & SOLO).

I am using REAPER x64 almost daily with my Apollo TB enabled DAW rig and have only encountered one minor issue that is unrelated to REAPER. Once I have the Apollo connected via TB (I can either power up the Apollo before or after I power up my DAW), I can only power the Apollo down "after" I shutdown the computer. If I try to power down the Apollo while the computer is still on, the UADPCIe.sys driver crashes requiring a re-boot if I want to continue to use my UAD cards. Not a big deal for me as my DAW only takes a few seconds to power down anyway. I think it may be a an option or BIOS tweak I have not found yet, as I have read other ASUS Z87 Deluxe/QUAD & Apollo TB users not having the issue at all. Like I said, it is a minor issue and something to be aware of and there is a workaround (power down computer first before turning off Apollo).


Cheers,

Billy Buck

After I found you report I tried the same thing with a Gigabyte Z97X UD7 TB Board whith the same TB chipset (do others exist?). Bought it actuaLly for a Hackintosh experiment with the UA Apollo Quad and Reaper, but the System wasn't solid at all. Reaper crashed all the time after leaving the program and Os X crashed during shut down after that. Not really funny.
Now with Win 8.1 64 everything works and looks fine except the fact, that the audio interface isn't functional. Installed the latest v7.7 software from UA. In Reaper I can see the Apollo Asio Device but no audioports are listed. Would be grateful for any help sir and please excuse my bad english :-|

Cheerz from Germany

[Don Schenk]

Hi Hubert,

Welcome to the forum, and your English is excellent.

Because Microsoft has not yet put Thunderbolt drivers into Windows, the folks a UA continue to say they don't yet support Thunderbolt operation of their equipment on Windows. But many others, including Billy, have done so without too much trouble.

There is a thread about it over at the UA forum. It is...

http://uadforum.com/apollo-interface...ndows-7-a.html

Maybe someone there can help.

After building Windows computers for the past 25 years, when I bought an Apollo, I also bought a Mac. It was too simple. (Shhh. Please don't tell my Windows friends I own a Mac.)

:-Don

[Hubert]

Hi Don,

thanks a lot and I'm very happy to be here ;-)
Meanwhile I think I know what the problem is. Billy did his Windows installation originally with a FW800 card as it should be, regarding to UA. After everything was up and running he switched from FW to TB and the audio was managed via the FW driver and through the TB connection ... somehow. In my case I tried it without any FW hardware and so the audio part does'nt work. Will try it exactly like he did and looking forward to the DAW of my dreams :-)

Thanks again
Hubert

[db9091]

Well I've gone UAD free completely. Gave away my last UAD-1's.

I've found Slate and FabFilter and Eiosis plugins to be equal to UAD and they only require a Dongle. I've found Fabrice's AirEQ to be superior to any UAD EQ (also iLok2) period.

I also have a bunch of Waves stuff, much which has been around forever so I don't buy the "obsolete plugin" theory espoused here last Spring.

Bottom line, I don't miss UAD one bit as I can find equal or better alternatives that don't require external hardware.

And when you factor the hardware price in, these other companies are much cheaper. So external DSP is obsolete for me.

BTW, I'm running these plugins on a mid-2009 Macbook with SSD and I can load multiple plugins all over the place before I need Track Freezing or Rendering measures.

[serr]

I still have not found replacements for UA's 1176, LA-2A, 670, & Pultek 1A.

Waves comes sort of close with their version of the EQP-1A. It's a usable 2nd choice and it's also not super often I want a 'turn up high frequencies' style EQ. Their versions of those compressors are garbage though.

Those UA compressor plugins are really the real deal. I haven't found anything else that lets you get away with capturing the mic signal raw and running through a compressor 'in the box' and not having that be a compromise.

Seems like compressors and guitar amps with certain character are still elusive to reproduce with plugins.

So here I am in 2015 still rendering tracks when I run out of UAD2 card. While the 8 core i7 monster look on in amusement.

Time=money suggests I should spend on a bigger and/or 2nd UAD card. It being 2015 and having this super computer makes that seem like an incredibly obsolete solution. I'd really like to see UA catch up to this century and ditch the pci card before I give them any more of my money!

Still probably getting close to trying to snipe one of their quad cards on ebay. Right NOW their hardware holds its value well and its a safe purchase. But as soon as they catch up to native processing, those pci cards will start selling for $0.99 opening bids.

[micron]

i'm still holding my older pc's equipped with scope pci boards and i use it like usual outboard and i also have a more recent xite-1 from sonic core.
Some modern native plugins are good quality and can be compared to the dsp counterpart, but native cpu is never enough to handle everything and also real time processing on multiple audio sources at the same time, still not comparable to what i can do on my 10 years old scope system, so i think that both dsp based and native processing can live together.

[whiteaxxxe]

Originally Posted by inertia

I guess people equate quality with cost. If you pay $500 for a plugin it WILL sound better than a free one

does it not?

[flatheadstudios]

I have an Apollo 2 DUO, a UAD 2 Satellite and a butt load of plugins I bought and I could not be happier. Running Thunderbolt on Windows 10 on an i7 box I built and I am loving life. I was a 20 year Cakewalk/Sonar user but when I went thunderbolt Sonar crashed all the time. I discovered Reaper out of desperation and I can't tell you how wonderfully stable everything has been!

the UAD plugins are that good and I am ok paying the costs for them. I feel like I am getting my money's worth.