UAD Spark

[digitaldrummer]

if there wasn't proof enough that there are supply chain issues in the world, Universal Audio is going to offer "Native" plug-ins, not tied to any hardware. The caveat being it will be through a subscription. I don't really like subscription models. It is also Mac only right now (which I wish UAD would stop doing because the audio world is no longer only Mac). So I won't even get to try this until later this year (which really probably means fall of 2023 if it is like any other UAD product).

I did see the FAQ says those that have purchased existing UAD plugins would get access to the Native plugins, but it was not clear if that meant you had to have a subscription (edit: the FAQ says you do not require a subscription but you have to use "UA connect" to link your UA account to an iLOK). I would like to have native equivalents of some of the plugins - although I don't know if it would help. I notice that some UAD plugins make the bounce process really slow, while other times I can bounce at 5x or higher speeds (which saves time in the long run... referring to Pro Tools 2021 btw... ). And Plugin Alliance also offers many of the same Brainworx developed plugins natively so I do have a few of those that I use even though I bought the UAD version too.

[Nick Sevilla]

My understanding so far is that If you already own UAD-2 plug ins (the ones that needed CPU Satellites or their audio hardware), then you do NOT need to pay for a subscription, you will get all your plugin licenses into your iLok account for the Native versions.

I do not know how many of their plug ins they have ported over, since their Spark webpage is completely uninformative, and it only shows 9 plug ins total. Possibly just the way they designed the page.

I will be getting my Native licenses next week, because right now their website is basically a crash site right now. Like Will Smith slapped it or something (ouch!)

[alexdingley]

interesting stuff... and sure; I gather the supply chain stuff could have something to do with it, but I was presuming they just wanna get in on that sweet sweet monthly coin.

I'll be curious to see how this all pans out:

• As Nick wondered; are there more plug-ins offered than just the ~9 shown?, as I own like ~40 of their plug-ins for my thunderbolt Satellites
• Are the native versions "VST3 equivalent" meaning... will they suddenly be free of the one notable limitation in the current DSP-Powered version of all UAD plug-ins? — In the DSP-powered versions, you cannot external-side-chain stuff from other channels. Any plug-ins (Like their Sonnox DynEQ) that can take a side-chain trigger from other channels is not able to offer that functionality in the UAD version. Thankfully Sonnox were very gracious with me after I learned this and they offered me a Sonnox Native DynEQ for a cross-grade price, which was pretty cheap. — stuff like that would be interesting to see. Since I already own that Native Sonnox brand plug-in, this won't be a huge win for me, per se... but I gather it would be helpful for other folks who'd like to gain the side-chain ability.

[digitaldrummer]

I just checked my UA account and I have (yikes!) 67 plugins... so yeah I would like to have the ability to run some of those natively if I needed to. Of course there are some that do benefit from the DSP and low latency on the input, such as the Unison preamps... but my Apollo 16 doesn't have preamps and my PCIe cards don't work for that purpose either, so I tend to care a lot less about that kind of thing. I do sometimes put a reverb or even a compressor on a vocal chain going in but only record the "clean" signal - it's more to just give the vocalist something in their cans.

also, some of the plugins have not been updated in ages, so I just don't see UA suddenly spitting out a bunch of shiny new versions of plugins - it would probably be a simple port, or nothing at all. or maybe they will surprise me. but I agree they are hoping to cash in on the subscription model that seems to be all the rage (note: I have zero subscriptions to any software) and their subscription cost looks to be on the higher end (as is typical with UA)

[alexdingley]

I have zero subscriptions to any software

Same! I really still prefer to own my software, as I try only buy stuff that I'll own & use for MANY years (which would mean that the subscription would likely end up costing more than the whole purchase price.

[permanent hearing damage]

Anyone else feel like UA plugs are starting to wane? I have barely bought any from them in the last few years and I find I’m using them less and less. Granted, I still use them on every mix but with computers getting more powerful and other developers really upping their game (and most charging far less), I am using less of my Octo than I did a few years ago.

[Nick Sevilla]

Anyone else feel like UA plugs are starting to wane?

I had to stop buying them since they no longer support Satellites with Firewire.

That was over a year ago.

Update: I still only have 4 plugins (well, two collections and two individual ones) plus an ATR-102 iLok license but no plug in to go with it.

They have stated they will continually release new Native versions of plugins. But absolutely no timeline. Which tells me they are going bananas on the code side, for AU, AAX and VST3 formats (there are software out there that can code all three at once, I doubt these guys know about Juce Pro and stuff though.)

The ones I absolutely used all the time, are the La2a collection, the 1176 collection ( I do have those in Native now), plus the Capitol Chambers and the ATR-102 Tape Machine. I am hoping they port those last two to Native this century LOL.

[drumsound]

I'm assuming the Capital Chambers is a pretty big CPU hog and would think that it might be ported last or never...

[Nick Sevilla]

I'm assuming the Capital Chambers is a pretty big CPU hog and would think that it might be ported last or never...

It's not too bad, as it is just an IR sample player with some EQ and other niceties. It does use more CPU than a regular reverb. But not as much as, say, their ATR-102 tape emulation.

I remember Capitol Studios telling me, in no uncertain terms, that they would NEVER allow their Chambers to be made into IRs... while I was pumping audio to 5 of their chambers for a record before mixing it. They had one of their engineers babysit me, to ensure I would not sample an Ir of an actual impulse response into their chambers. Which I never did.

And here we are. Capitalism won out that battle.

[drumsound]

I'm assuming the Capital Chambers is a pretty big CPU hog and would think that it might be ported last or never...

It's not too bad, as it is just an IR sample player with some EQ and other niceties. It does use more CPU than a regular reverb. But not as much as, say, their ATR-102 tape emulation.

I remember Capitol Studios telling me, in no uncertain terms, that they would NEVER allow their Chambers to be made into IRs... while I was pumping audio to 5 of their chambers for a record before mixing it. They had one of their engineers babysit me, to ensure I would not sample an Ir of an actual impulse response into their chambers. Which I never did.

And here we are. Capitalism won out that battle.

I've heard that they WERE really protective of the chambers. There were people who would send tracks to them just to have the chambers added. I think I read about Brian Wilson doing that when he was living in the Chicago suburbs.

[digitaldrummer]

Well, finally got my Spark (i.e. UADx) for Windows, native plugins today... not that I was really missing them since I only get the ones that are also the standard UAD. I didn't actually get a subscription. So out of many UAD plugins I have, I got about 10 native plugins (or actually 14 if you want to count each individual plugin in bundles). So I don't really see this making much of an impact for me, but there may be times where I want to run the native version instead of the DSP version just so I don't have to stop and commit or freeze something to keep a mix session going. Even with 8 DSP's some of the UAD plugins chew it up quickly and I almost never run out of CPU on the native side - funny how that works. The API channel strip might be one I check out first since the UAD version is VERY DSP heavy (in my experience).

The install went pretty smooth and I pulled up a couple plugins to make sure it all worked but haven't compared anything side by side. I expect that there should be no audible difference (and if there is I'd be pretty worried about UA).

[Recycled_Brains]

I've been begrudgingly using it because I don't own a satellite and sometimes I need to mix away from my home-base and can't lug around my Apollo 16. It's been helpful, but I feel kinda dumb paying for it. If they release the ATR-102 for it, I'll feel better about it.

I think it's cool for folks that don't want to plunge head first into UAD hardware/plugins, but I think I need to just pony up for a satellite because I only have access to like 30% of my most-used plugins via Spark and that makes no sense from an investment standpoint.

[Nick Sevilla]

I ended up updating the software on my older Mac Pro Tower, and still running my FWW800 Satellite off that. thanks to Audinate's "Dante "virtual sound card" I can stream as many as 64 tracks in and out of that computer, straight into my Nuendo sessions. LOL.

Although I do have their Spark software on the laptop, it only gives me 8 out of the whole amount of plug ins I own. Which is like 35 or something. They have not ported over any more plugins so far, in nearly two years.

They also deposited an iLok license for my ATR102 plug in, WITH NO WAY TO INSTALL IT OR USE IT UNLESS I USE LUNA, THEIR DAW which is a basic POS. For that, they receive a hearty "F U" from me. Their tech department blew me off in a very unsavory way for asking for that plug in and / or why I no have a license to software that I own, but cannot access. They basically told me to "just use Luna," which would only require me to buy their expensive ass hardware. THANKS BUT NO THANKS.

[Calaverasgrande]

I installed it right when it came out.
My UAD system is in storage for the time being and I'm travelling.
Thanks to the UAD 'Connect" I get about 5 plugins of the 50+ I own.
I really do appreciate using the 1073, 1176 etc emulations.
Especially since I can go to town and slap them on every channel and this 14" Macbook Pro doesn't blink.

However I don't appreciate UADs official party line that Spark/Connect do not replace the regular UAD DSP plug-ins.
This is invoked whenever someone on the UAD forums asks about getting interoperability between DSP and native, or when they inquire when X plugin will become available on Spark/Connect.
I'm sorry, but music is music. Just because UAD was built on a foundation of DSP doesn't change how I want to get my guitars to sound.
If the UAD DSP plugins are the "real' solution, then why offer Spark at all?

It does kind of suck how many plugins are not ported and how long they are taking. I swear they must only have only one guy working on it. That would also explain how long they are taking on fixing the interface resolution problems with their plugins. There are hundreds of complaints about plugins not being resizeable.
Some handful have been updated to be viewable on retina monitors, most have not.

As a side note when I had my firewire UAD Satellite years ago, I took it apart. I had it in my head that maybe UAD just built a box around a PCIe card.
Well that wasn't the case. But I got a good look at the DSP chips.
They are basically an off the shelf DSP designed in the 90's with incremental upgrades since then. There are much more powerful chips in the same line that have Cortex/Arm CPUs (I forget which) and more local memory which could make the UAD line a lot more powerful. Not sure why they don't use those. Also kind of made me question why I am paying for a co-processor from the 90's.
I understand that DSP is different than CPU, but I don't think the current ones are even on a smaller process node than the 20 year old versions.

[digitaldrummer]

yes, SHARC is old technology and UAD was forced to release a few Native plugins because of supply chain issues (they couldn't and maybe still can't get some of the parts they need to build the UAD product line) to go with their non-DSP interfaces (Volt). But now the cat is out of the bag and we all want more UADx (my system also runs them almost effortlessly). The problem for UA is that they can't keep telling us how the DSP is what makes everything special - although to be fair I do use the Console app with a few plugins in "record mode" although that has some limitations. If someone built an interface that had CPU/FPGA power built-in that could run any VST then I think you could stick a fork in UAD. but I'm not aware of one so far.