2 Questions about the UAD DSP card

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:27 pm

I am pretty sure I am gonna pick up the UAD-1e Express pack.
I've read nothing but good things about it, but not used it, So my purchase will be based on other users' reviews and UA's reputation.

My questions are:

1. How do the UAD plugs compare to other plugs that are common to DAW's, like Sonalkis, Metric Halo, Waves, WaveArts etc.... I have not been happy with most plug ins since moving to OS X (years ago) and purging all of my legacy plugs. I used to love the Nomad Blue Tube and TL Audio EQ on OS 9. I have not found plugs with such subtle and musical character.

2. If I can only afford 1-2 plug ins beyond the batch that ships with it, what should I get? I am in need of really good, heavy handed compression and an EQ with character. A nice reverb would be great, as would the Space Echo or mastering limiter, But I think EQ and compression is my first order of business. I am thinking the Neve channel strip may be the best move.

I know this has been discussed before. Just thought I'd check in before making a move....

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:46 pm

I love my UAD. I am by no means experienced with a wide variety of, or an expert on, plugins. At the risk of being accused of being a sucker for a cool vintage-looking interface, I'll just tell you what extras I got that I use, in order of use frequency:

1) Fairchild

2) Plate 140

3) Pultec Pro

4) Roland Space Echo (warning! using this plugin in one place will take up a large majority of the DSP power on one pci card, so don't expect to be using this and a Fairchild and a Plate simultaneously)

I also use the 1176 thing (the one that comes with) pretty often, but not as much as the others mentioned. And that's pretty much all the UA plugs I use, but I use 1-3 somewhere on every mix I do.

I don't know how they compare to other 3rd party plugins, as these are the first ones I've purchased since 8 years ago when I got the Metric Halo Channel Strip for my first DAW system. That was also a very nice and useful plugin that I didn't fully appreciate at the time until I "upgraded" to DP4 and couldn't use that version of the plug.

DrummerMan · Post by **DrummerMan** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:49 pm

Oh yeah, and thanks! for your thoughts on interfaces before..

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 12:03 am

Thanks Drummerman, was just reading some of your other posts on the UAD topic.
Glad I could offer some insight on the Metric Halo/RME discussion. Metric Halo has some good videos on their site showing off their functionality. Dry but informative.

I am fairly experienced with plug ins, and sad as it may be, I am a total sucker for a sexy gui.

The Fairchild sounds like a badass, and that's exactly what I am looking for. I like beating up on sounds, drums specifically, with compression. I'm looking forward to the 1176 as well.

From what I've read, the Pultec Pro sounds like a subtle but musical gem. I will probably need that too...

The plate sounds like a good idea, may wait on that, as I can usually squeeze what I am looking for out of hardware and software, but it would be nice to have a verb that did not require so much work to make it not suck.

I am fortunate to have an actual Space Echo RE-201 that is practically hardwired into the Metric Halo and used more or less as a plug in. So I can wait on that, though I am sure I'll cave eventually....

This is gonna have to go on plastic, if I do it.... but as I write this I am talking myself into the expert pack to get more plugs..

I am so very weak.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 3:42 pm

slight bump.....
I am thinking of purchasing this weekend.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 12:44 am

I am glad I waited.
I think I am ordering the UAD-2 Nevana 64 in the morning.
I'll probably buy the Fairchild Comp and maybe Pultec Pro or the Plate as well.

Any final recommendations?

Jay Reynolds · Post by **Jay Reynolds** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 5:40 am

I use the 1176LN, LA2A, and Cambridge EQ all the time. And I mean, all the time.

signorMars · Post by **signorMars** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 6:37 pm

Pultec Pro. instant life and air to snare drums, vocals, really anything... even just running the sound through without boosting or cutting adds a little magic. great for shaping on a stereo mix as well... used it on a couple of mastering projects.

i like the Plate 140 too, but it eats up DSP and since the UAD compressors are (well... were. now i have blockfish and i can't live without that comp either) my primary mixdown comps, the plate 140 sometimes takes up too much dsp.

i don't have any of the Neve plugs yet... i hear they are awesome.

touched1 · Post by **touched1** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 10:14 pm

UAD-2 Nevana 64 is on order.
Hellz yeah.

This is the part where I fess up that I have never even used or seen the UAD plugs in action. I am putting total faith in reviews, word of mounth, and internet posts that these are truly the shiznit.

I am really looking forward to the Neve stuff. The Fairchild, Pultec, and Plate as well. I plan on throwing the Neve EQ and comps across every subgroup.
I like what I've read about the Precision comp and limiters and the Helios and Cambridge EQ. All in good time.

Is there that much of a difference between the 1176 SE and the 1176s LN?
I am thinking I should be pretty well off with the Duo card that comes with it for horsepower. If it truly s 5x the DSP power of the original UAD card as UA claims.

I am moving the studio soon, so I may not even get into it for a few weeks. Just glad I finally got it ordered. I'll report back once I'm up and running.
If anyone wants to chime in with other recommendations for UAD plugs to get, I am all ears. I basically have the budget for 1-2 additional plugs beyond the Neve bundle that's included.

gabe real · Post by **gabe real** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 8:07 pm

must have plugs for me -

LA3A

precision limiter

precision buss compressor (similar to massey CT4, my opinion)

cambridge EQ (most important one of all)
i find the graphic display very useful in shaping sound.

yes there is a difference in SE and LN versions.

the standard plugs it comes with are great too.
dont over look them, please.

just a quick run down of stuff...

LA3A - vocals , subgroups, bass, well anything really

cambridge - on anything that needs EQ, great low and high pass filter.

1176 - vocals, dj scratching, samples, loops, drums, guitars

plate 140 - sub groups, master buss sometimes

neve 33609 - master buss (sometimes, big hit on CPU with UAD-1)

precision buss compressor - master buss - all the time

precision limiter - master buss - all the time

precision EQ - master buss

roland dimension d - back up vocals sometimes - great all around chorus

pultec - drum buss

plugs i wish they would make

a good, clean delay plugin
maybe like a precision delay or something.
tap tempo, filters, ping pong, all the bells and whistles.

spectrum analyzer, like the one in wavelab.
straight to the point.

T-rex · Post by **T-rex** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:48 am

You will not be disappointed! I am continually amazed by how much better the UAD stuff sound than anything else I have tried which is lots of generic plugs and almost all of the waves stuff.

Since you got the Neve pack, you have what you were looking for. Basically the 33609 absolutely rules! I mean it can be clean and punchy or it can be super colored and thick and anything inbetween. And that is just my experience with the SE version which I had used until now that I have a UAD2 card. I mean all the UAD comps are great, but if you have that one, even if you use the SE version you can get so many differnt tones out of it, that you could demo other compressors for a while without buying. Plus the 1176 SE ain't bad.

The 1073 rules also. I too am torn now about whether to buy the Cambridge or the 1081 for those sources that need a little more tweaking than the 1073 offers. A few people in this thread really seem to like the cambridge but I haven't heard much about it or tried it yet.

Plate 140 for reverb. Absolutely great. To me this blows the EMT Plate settings on Altiverb out of the water, which used to be my favorite reverb plug in.

if you get a chance to demo the space echo against your real one, let us know. I have never used a real space echo but the UAD one sounds really really good.

gabe real · Post by **gabe real** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 11:08 am

the cambridge is great. tight Q settings. a bunch of different shelves for high/low pass.
you can get really sharp cuts and boosts out of it.

it doesn't color the sound too much, it just boosts frequencies.
i work with alot of sample based music so this is great for that.

also good when you have out board gear or mics you want to keep the vibe of.

i need to try the 1073 again.
the pultec really gets things colored in a good way, very nice too.

the SE versions still do a good job.

the 33609 is a great compressor too. does wonders on the master buss.
but im on a precision buss compressor thing right now.
a few more controls that i like more than the 33609.

i think you will be very happy with the UAD-2.
great stuff all around. it really makes things come together.

digital fish phones VSTs are great too, i use them on every session.
de-esser all the time, blockfish when i run out of UAD cpu.

also the sontius VSTs sonar comes with are great.
the reverb and delay get used every session too.

T-rex · Post by **T-rex** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:59 pm

Not ot get OT but yeah I have to demo some EQ's. I can either get the 1176 and the Cambride OR the 1081 and keep using the 1176SE. I never worried about it before cause i didn't have the power, but now that I do I want to try the straight up 1176.

Also, I find the UAD EQ's kill the origial URS EQ's. I only wish UAD could have gotten to API before Waves did.

gabe real · Post by **gabe real** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 1:52 pm

i never really used a "real" neve hardware piece so i dont have any
attachment to to it. not saying i wouldnt or wont in the future.

i just get things that work for me besides what they are.
the cambridge just came thru for me.
its more of a all around good EQ.
if i could only have one EQ, the cambridge would be it.
the neve has a character to it, the reason why people use neve.

the neve EQ's have a very unique layout and control.
i think they are laid sideways as VSTs. kind of like rack mounting them.
a dual concentric thing going on, which is much more useful in a hardware form.

this is in no way bashing the neve stuff, trust me, i will get one of the EQs in the future.

the fact of the matter is i wouldnt and couldnt justify spending several thousand on one channel of hardware EQ, sorry.
not unless i had a huge amount of money come my way.......

the 1176LN is hard to place where its better.
i find it a little thicker sounding, more saturation.
i choose the LN over the SE.
only use SE when cpu is low.

ever since i got the LA3A the 1176 gets less use.
i just throw the LA3A on a track, put both knobs in the middle in compression mode. then adjust from there. it works great.

dynomike · Post by **dynomike** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:17 am

best uad plugins that *i* have

1. pultec / pultec pro

2. fairchild

3. precision eq

4. la2a

i wouldn't get the plate myself... so many good FREE convolution based plates . but i'm not a reverb nut.

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