uad-1 vs. powercore?

[dubaronj]

I'm feeling the urge to get a dedicated DSP card for my plugins, and I was wondering what people's thoughts are on the uad-1 vs. powercore. Just from doing a search, it seems that the uad-1 is talked about more on the Tape-op boards, but I'd like to know what people have to say about the advantages/disadvantages of one or the other. Thanks for any help.

[FormulaReed]

I looked at the powercore, the firewire is cool and the oxford eq is sweet but the UAD-1 comes with cooler plugins. The plate reverb is so sweet.

One thing that is cool about the powercore are the soft synths and guitar amp models.

Reed

[dubaronj]

Thanks for the reply. That actually brought up something else I was wondering. I know that some people don't like Firewire devices for pres and converters, because they are are more likely to suffer from jitter problems than a PCI card. Could a firewire plug-in possibly suffer from these same problems, or is it safe because the audio is in a digital format the whole time? Please someone help me with this.

[tbstudios]

I just picked up the TC Powercore Element this week. ($319 Guitar Center) I was mainly interested in the Oxford plugins that can be added on. The included plugin's are very good. For the money, I don't think it's a bad addition.

Setup/installation was easy. I'm using Cubase SX 2.0 on a PC and everything installed and worked as advertised.

I also looked into the UAD card. It does have a greater amount of plugins but I couldn't justify the extra cost.

-Tim

[kittonian]

The Powercore allows you to use 3rd party plug-ins like the Sony Oxford stuff (worth every penny IMHO) as well as it gives you the TC Delay and ClassicVerb which are both very nice sounding plug-ins. TC also includes the 24/7C Limited which is essentially their version of an 1176.

The UAD-1 gives you amazing compressors, the new Plate Reverb, Pultec EQ, and is more geared towards analog lovers. However, if you are running a G5 the UAD-1 has been known to have some serious issues.

The Powercore Firewire wins out if you have to choose only one but I would strongly suggest investing in the Sony Oxford plugs in addition to the stock set of plugs that come with the Powercore.

If you can afford to get both, that's your best bet.

[thefauves1]

Are you able to run both of these cards at the same time?

[kittonian]

thefauves1,

I'm not sure if you are asking the question or asking the topic starter if he can run both together (if he has enough slots in his system), but the answer is yes. Not only can you run both together but you can run multiple cards of each if you'd like.

[Mr. Dipity]

I looked at the powercore, the firewire is cool and the oxford eq is sweet but the UAD-1 comes with cooler plugins. The plate reverb is so sweet.

One thing that is cool about the powercore are the soft synths and guitar amp models.

Reed

Depends if you like the soud of the TC-Mercury. I have the soft synth, and use it one almost every track of main project, but versatile it is not. I use it for only two specific sounds, and any time I've tried to create more, I've been disappointed. It's a funky, about-to-fall-apart kind of synth.