You are spot on with the subscription issues. I find it hard to buy in to plugins I can never own. So that makes me avoid it. The Apollo Solo and Apollo bundles were also a smart move and finally allowed me to join the UA club. The native concept was smart and also key to me joining the ecosystem finally. The fact that owning the plugins also gets you the native version is a solid product decision and they should never let that go. That’s why I continue to focus on owning the versions that are also native.
@@oinkooinkI see a lot of down talking UAD, but correct me if I’m wrong UAD ultimate 11 are just about all native and a 1 time buys a huge array and you flat out own them
@@oinkooink I wouldn’t say a stone cold con, and trust me I’m not a fan of the subscription (exclusively) model. I think if your a pro and it makes sense financially as part of your outgoings, then yea it can 100%. But how many users a making an actual “living” out of it vs those who aren’t. That’s where I see the issue.
The reason I stopped using UAD was Slate. They beat them at their own game, with no hardware tie, for far cheaper. And when they did that, UA had the cheek to charge double to update the plugins you already bought so they could keep up with slate (by adding the transformer and pre amp modelling slate had), AND if you did fall for that, you found that you could only run 1 or 2 of these new plugs on a $1000 card. They went from being Avids flexible alternative, to the same greedy anti consumer company as Avid.
@@brmbkl well if you don't understand it then sure, it's meaningless, to you. Let me clarify then: I mean before Slate arrived, UAD were the only plugin maker to be able to model analog processors with accuracy. not only did Slate surpass them, they did so on a more user-friendly business model with no hardware lockdown and fairer pricing, this was before the subscription option too. Is that making more sense?
I have a lot of love for UAD plugs because using just a uad-2 solo card back in the early 2000s I was able to compete with and wind projects over producers who had $20,000 pro tools rigs. When my laptop with a Express 34 card slot died I gave up UAD for along time. I did however miss them very much. I don't do subscription but lately have been picking up really great deals our native versions with the Tuesday special deals. Also I've gotten some $25 off coupons left in my account. So without hardware and without a subscription I have got some amazing deals on some fantastic plugs. Their quality it is second to none
Dawg you are completely spot on with this videos. Almost everything you brought up is exactly what I’ve always questioned about UAD. Like $300+ for a single plugin?? When Waves has its equivalent for $30. I’ve always felt at the end of the day the average music consumer can’t even come close to telling if you used their Pultec EQ or Waves (for example)…their Transient Shaper or Kilo Hearts’ FREE one. So like you mentioned, it’s really hard to justify why we as customers are paying hundreds of dollars for a plugin when the end result of your song or beat can still slap with plugins for less than half the price compared to using all UAD.
But they're not equivalent. That's why. The UA plugins that are expensive are the Unison tech plugins. So when I select a Unison Tech plugin like for instance the SSL 4000 .Or like you said the Pultec which is also available in Unison Tech form. My Apollo interface goes thru a change physically and all the impedances change to become that SSL Unit or that Pultec. I have both SSL plugins. NO COMPARISON when the UA is in the Unison Tech slot. Night and Day difference. They have the legacy versions for people without Apollo Interfaces who just want a basic plugin . And they are a lot less money. And even those ones are better than waves. UA has been making these units since there fifties. Waves only came out with software . UA has a lot more knowledge and years of experience building the real stuff. You get what you pay for. Why would all the pro engineers use UA products if it wasn't worth it ?
yup tracking live is a big push of the Apollo. I don't think it's just a dongle as many have said. It offers a physical interface to help you record a bit easier, it also saves configurations (both in console) and if when you turn it back on it goes back to where it was before. As @@billesposito2112 mentioned it also have UNISON.
UAD plugins are expensive ONLY WHEN you pay full price. They have great sales monthly, half year and year end sales. Plus they don’t use your CPU with the DSP which is why i like them. You can load up a session and not effect your CPU at all, assuming you have enough DSP to handle them.
I'm not sure if the CPU-load matters anymore. I use hundreds of plugins (no UAD) in a mixing session, and I really have to go overboard even with very CPU-intensive plugins to get to the max limit. And my Mac computer isn't high end by any means.
The Apollo Solo can load just 2 to 3 plug-ins, then it's over. That is not up to date. The whole thing is almost consumer deception. The headphone amplifier is also mediocre in my opinion. It was advertised as the best headphone amplifier in its class. On the one hand, I now have UAD plug-ins, most of which are not included in Spark and thus cannot be loaded as ordinary plug-ins. On the other hand, I have third-party plugins that I can't load in UAD's console because I'm supposed to buy them from UAD again. The whole thing is ridiculous.
@@e.d.8215 Well yeah….an Apollo Solo wouldn’t help much. I’m referencing satellites. You would need at least a couple Octo’s to comfortably have a session with multiple UAD plugins.
I dont think you mentioned the whole point of UA was tracking through plugins, that did a pretty get job emulating hardware, in a near 0 latency situation. I was more used to tracking through a little bit of basic hardware, but the UA setup is nice. I can def see older school engineers migrating easy to UA as they kept the workflow very similar. But just for mixing? Yea, any plugin vendor will do. I only by on sale no matter who the company is so, the pricing is all pretty similar.
They do. I have almost all the plugins from Spark cuz I had the DSP versions of the plugins. So I purposefully bought all the plugins I wanted that were in spark over Black Friday, so now I have both DSP and native versions. Win win! Haha
@@BYCWELL unfortunately, as I've looked into this a bit more, they offer some of them that you buy additionally for free, but of the ones that come with the Apollo, they do not do all of them. Possibly in the future though.
I got an UAD interface before the Native thing. I got few plugins for my UAD and then I bought same plugins from Plugin Alliance (they are actually the same plugin developers selling for UAD and Plugin Alliance). When I compared them I realized they sound identical, so no need to spend money on UAD interfaces :)
@@jimhardiman3836 Vertigo, Maag EQ, anything by Brainworx, Elysia compressors, Friedman amp sims and a few other amp sims. That's a few of them. Lately people have been complaining that they have the Plugin Alliance version and the UA version and they don't null. Dirk of PA said that they update their plugins with small sonic improvements behind the scenes now and again, UA is still using older code. That's why some no longer null. Anything UA I'm considering buying, I look to see if PA has it first due to the Native factor.
"I bought same plugins from Plugin Alliance (they are actually the same plugin developers selling for UAD and Plugin Alliance)." what are you even saying?
@@brmbklexample: Marshall JMP 2203, is sold for $80 on Softube's website (used to be sold on Plugin Alliance years ago), but on UAD website is $200. This plugin is made by Softube, not by UAD. And it's the same plugin, performs identical doesn't matter from where you buy it. Same with many other plugins sold on UAD's website.
You've made a lot of good points..part of the reason I didn't go with UA for my interface and went the Apogee route was because I didn't want to be forced to have my interface with me every time I want to use a plugin...needing an Ilok was already enough..but IMO a big part of people using UA stuff wasn't completely about elitesm solely but also the dip factor, where the interface could take some of the load of your computer and have the interface do some of the heavy lifting when using plugins, but now that has drastically changed with computers, especially when Apple started making their own silicon chips and we dont need external dip like we used to, I can run sooooo many more tracks and plugins than I could 10 or 15 years ago, or even 20 years ago on a $40,000 ProTools TDM system , I think UA had to go native because a lot of people just aren't going to buy their interfaces and be chained down just to use their plugins.
If you have a studio, there’s zero reasons for you to hate on subscriptions… it’s an old mindset that people seem to hang on to way too tight. You can give many types of services via your studio, from recordings for singers to mixing services etc. Prices may vary, but me - for sure I’ll have at least one recording a month, which pays like 120$. So taking my career seriously for my own production plus the return potential makes subscription much more of sense. I returned my monthly investment 6 times. Or basically got myself a 6 months of UAD Spark, with one recording! I also got many perpetual licenses for plugins, bought full price but then didn’t use them as much. Subscription allows you to jump ships anytime you want. One year of Slate… wasn’t your thing? No worries, jump on UAD Spark.
Subscriptions are going to die out, they make zero sense in music. I've been a professional musician and producer for 15 years, it's my sole income, and for all that time, income is all over the place year to year, that's just the nature of music as a living. Renting licences penitently for life is just untenable. I'm not going to rent the plugs until I can't afford them, and then lose every session I used them on. Ridiculous.
Very interesting points. I agree with most of them. I don't think "elitism" is that much of a reason to buy a product. Ultimately, it's about monetization and you are spot on in that regard. Is that extra 10% worth multiples in cost? For the vast majority of musicians with DIY studios, making essentially no significant income, subscriptions are a real genuine problem. Especially when it's not just ONE that people find themselves entangled in. I used to subscribe to Composer Cloud by East West. Superficially, it was a wonderful deal but then I wanted to give them up because I was only really using a very tiny percentage of what they offered. Now, a couple of years later and I want to remix a couple of tracks. I neglected to stem what I had and I now need to find alternative instruments that I outright own instead. I will never go down the subscription route. Never. It's just poor value. You were very right to point out the value when it comes to Adobe type products which are rarely purchased by hobbyists, vs musical subscriptions which are probably majority hobbyists. Thanks for this enlightening discussion!
Very enlightening discussion, love your clarity. I was relieved when UA came out with Native plugs for that kitchen table issue you mention with the Apollo interface dongle I’d bought into (and like a lot, btw). But now they’re coming out with Native ONLY plugins (like the new Lion amp emulation) that I can’t use in the Console, so I’m back to higher latency recording and the inability to chain my UAD plugins the way I’d like to on the way in while recording. I don’t use Luna, so I can only hope they’ll come out with standard UAD versions at some point. (I know, boo-hoo, right! 😅)
I'm a new UADx perpetual customer. After years (decades) without buying into the DSP, I gotta say UAD lives up to the hype. Pure Quality. Even their old plugs can still be better than new interpretations of certain hardware from arturia and others. I'll only buy on sale tho!
I agree, I can not fork out the money for the price or subscription. I will go to Waves unfortunately for UA. Also, I have so many compressor and EQ plug-ins at this point. I think I have 5 versions of an 1176. Everyone is giving their version away like candy during Halloween. At this point any upgrade I make now has to make a significant benefit to the production.
You make lots of great points and express your thoughts extremely well! The issue though, and the real reasons that not many successful musicians started out their career as Certified Public Accountants, is that that extra 5-10% of sound difference has a compounding/exponential effect on the listener, and historically made the difference on whether something ended up in the top 10 of the charts or not. Industries everywhere bemoan why 5-10% of the producers in that industry are making 90% of the profits, and this is why.... they realize the value of that last percentile. Thankfully I don't have to worry about beancounting when it comes to making music, its not what I do for a living. But the concept applies everywhere. That last few % makes all the difference in the world. Can it be quantified on paper to investors? Probably not. But I'm never letting an investor guide my musical decisions anyway.
Also about subscriptions with software. This is a tough one, because I work in the software development industry and know all too well that software cannot just be purchased and expected to work correctly forever. The ecosystem around the software changes (patches to the OS can break existing applications and plugins or cause them to behave differently). And you can't just lay off programmers and hire more later when things break, you need the original crew that knows the product inside and out. And they are expensive... and you have to maintain that staff. And that costs. So who pays for that if you sell a perpetual license with an offer to maintain it for free going forward? Nobody can do that. It means you have to disconnect the laptop from the Internet and get what you can out of it until the hardware dies. Don't get me wrong I HATE subscription software models and this is one reason I am investing more in hardware that I can get multiple decades out of instead of plugins. But I get why subscriptions are necessary. Apple is the chief offender in all of this, developing for their platform is a nightmare because they constantly change the underlying hardware.... planned obsolesence at its best. Microsoft is much better about backward compatibility and why I use that as my DAW platform.
I've been trying to 'warn' UA in their FB forums about not catering for existing customers for a very long time now but they don't seem to be listening, which is very unfortunate...in fact I was the one who suggested that PA should adopt their now very successful 'rent-to-own' model in one of their posts a long long time ago, and look at where it's taken them. Not saying I was solely responsible for it but at the time they posted something on FB asking us what did we think about them adopting this subscription model, and that was my answer to it (didn't see anyone else talking about it but got a reply from the main guy at the time thanking me for it). Anyway my point is I agree with everything you said, so well done for putting out this video. Who knows, maybe now they will start listening. Both Avid and Waves did, so why not UA....
In a perfect world, the model of subscription based plugins is no different. Ultimately if you feel the mix improves with the UAD plugins , that mix which has been created is there for all to hear, so it does in someway become permanent, certainly no less permanent than someone doing a business course or life-skills course, they still have to take that knowledge, or advantage they feel they are getting in the sonic world, with the plugins, and make something of it. Subscriptions are not entirely business savvy entirely, it does not work for everyone, however you can try the plugins for a few months, create some amazing material and then the rest is down to marketing and other factors in the industry. I for one am extremely please UAD are starting to put out plugins on a native platform, and unlike some pricey movie subscription, something constructive can be done with the plugins.
Totally agree. A financing option would have been great or even to have the ability to choose 2 or 3 plugins every 12 months. A more customer oriented service would have been brilliant. As it stands now. it's just something that only caters to a specific group of people. That being said, UAD plugins are awesome. Going native was a solid step into the future.
young producers will NEVER understand....... 1. UAD DSP cards are NOT dongles and never were...they do MORE than just run algorithms. 2. UAD plugins were the first in the industry that were considered on par with hardware units. 3. UAD plugns were the CHEAP alternative to HARDWARE UNITS in the early days and were very convenient. 4. UAD plugins were Better & Cheaper than TC Powercore and Protools HD systems. 5. UAD systems were once the "poor-mans" tools of MIXING ITB 6. DSP was necessary to mix ITB in the early years of Computer Mixing. UAD was the once the only affordable access to vintage sound. 7. DSP Audio sounds better to me still. I dont know why.
Waves has similar issues with subscriptions, updating and backwards compatibility after updating when opening an old mixing session where you used the previous Waves Shell release.
It is a bit irresponsible of you to suggest that their plugins cost $500. They don't have any plugins that cost $500 and I do not understand why you would choose to this figure. As your own example of the web page showed, none of the prices are anywhere close to that. You also fail to state that if you own the plugin, you also get to use it natively for free. Innovation? I believe they have released several high end plugins, like the Motown EQ and Reverb at no extra cost to the Spark subscribers. They have also done several updates. Yes the plugins are expensive, hence why they offer the subscription model. Just because someone buys one of their cheap Volt interfaces doesn't mean they have to use UAD plugins. The real problem is that at one time their plugins were on another level, however many have caught up and are offering the same quality for less money.
My beef with UAD is that they didnt give an all access pass to ALL of there plugs ins so you can experiment. Slate Digital is killing the game with there $15 full access pass.
He may sound ridiculous about "buying status" but He is soooo right about it! in the industry here in Nashville TN, great gear or 'hard to get' gear including plug-ins does give you a certain status, of course it comes down to what you can do with it. But recently it is starting to make more sense to go for a Waves version for someone stating out that doesn't own an Apollo, you get to have more stuff and more opportunities to learn how to use different gear.
I love them and I wouldn’t use anything but their product’s honestly as far as the price they absolutely deserve that and more them giving people a chance to LEARN AND EXPERIMENT from home is a privilege.
Hmm … trying to follow but this is really confusing. Are you familiar with UA’s history? Not trying to diss, but it seems like perhaps you are not. For a company with a history as rich as theirs, they are providing a LOT of options for different price ranges but all of their gear (software or hardware) is absolutely made for serious musicians and producers. Also, if your business plan is built around the plug-ins you own or the tools you use, then you’ve got things a bit are backwards. People hire based on skill, taste & your relationships / connections.
I'm not debating your point. The new interface and Mics are targeting the podcast market. For people who are not in the music world, I mentioned the missing value ladder.
The reason I went subscription on most of my plug ins is because even with ownership, you never really own it due to the fact that in a year they'll try to charge you $50-$100 per plug in to update.
I agree with you about subscriptions, I also have the Roland Play4Life subscription. To add to the topic of subscriptions, I also have an issue with these update subscriptions like Waves and Native Instruments have. Those are also nefarious, I mean... if you purchase a product, why should you have to pay for update (not upgrade) costs to keep them operationally stable?
I bought the Volt last summer and there was no real pull to get the UAD plugins. However, after upgrading to the Apollo, I got a bunch of plugins with the purchase and the value is pretty hard to argue with.
A bit late to the party, love the info and breaking down the business side of things. But I must say not needing to lug around my interface to use some of my go to plugins has been a massive game changer!
I think it's great that UAD plugins can now be bought as a lifetime license. I'm curious to compare them to plugins from companies like Waves, iZotope and IK Multimedia. Also the UAD reverbs seem great and I want to compare them to reverbs from Acustica and Native Instruments.
Spot on! Excellent video…. Also you are touching on the phycology of how this is a mind game, especially to new producers who are just breaking in. All companies will hit then hard and fast before the new person realizes just what is going on…
Yeah man, Monetizing is having a HUGE EFFECT on everything. I have UAD and LUNA and APOLLO, but I cannot use SHAPE outside of LUNA, which doesn't make any sense. They have the other plugins available, but I already a Synth and a Moog and a Piano....For me, SHAPE is the undeniable GEM in LUNA, but you can't get access to it outside of LUNA...
for the subscription I think you're only using your own perspective as a producer. You said as a consumer it doesn't make sense, but named off multiple different other types of consumers that could benefit from the subscription. Maybe the subscription just wasn't made for producers and it was more for audio engineers, recording artists, and live performers like you mentioned.
I didn't buy my Mac Studio because of UA plugins, but as an owner of Mac Studio, I could buy 24 UA plugins in the last two weeks for $250. It's $10,4 for each plugin. One of them is the new fantastic Sound City Studios plugin. Most of the "MASSIVE Problems" you talk about here could be said about all the brands out there. And some of it is mostly about the Apollo system, and NOT the UAD Native. However, the Native option may be a MASSIVE problem for the Apollo owners. I don't know.
Currently there are 36 or so plugins available through Spark. I got a holiday discount code for $99 for the first year and $149/yr after that. So for less than $1500 spread out over ten years I have access to those 36 native plugs plus whatever they add in the future. Or with the current sale I can bundle 20 plugins for $999, more than the cost of 6 years of Spark. In six years will we even be using DAWs and plugins? Spark was an easy choice for me.
One question, so I brought the native UAD Electra 88 vintage keyboard will this plugin work without Kontact 7 ? I’m using windows 10 And Cubase 13 pro do need a dongle or does it work like all of my Waves plugins?
Just got the pultec bundle for $39 and the Dimension D Chorus for $14!!! I'm happy with the price! Like all plugin companies, if you wait for the right time, you get the right price 👍🏻
@@vin3421 My comment was made 9 month ago.......... Before they started with the decent sales. Obviously they have changed their sale strategy a lot and I think they have become a lot better. They sell a lot more, now that everyone can buy the plugins, without buying the expensive UAD cards, so they can drop the prices and still make the same money, because they sell more. Which is great for the customers :)
@@vin3421 My comment was made 9 month ago.......... Way before they started with the decent sales. Obviously they have changed their sale strategy a lot and I think they have become a lot better. They sell a lot more, now that everyone can buy the plugins, without buying the expensive UAD cards, so they can drop the prices and still make the same money, because they sell more. Which is great for the customers :)
It's a low monthly subscription and you get massive plugins. And they add more just about every month. Spark is awesome I think . Just the API would take you a couple years at that price and u get a ton more plugins. I would rather spaend a little and be able to cancel at anytime then come up with a lot of money for ONE plugin and if you don't use it you're stuck with it.
That's an interesting perspective. Do they allow you to own anything after the annual subscription? Isn't that just one long demo? My main objection is that it will force people to make a business of what most deem a hobby. As a consumer, I want to own what I buy.
If the hardware costs £5000 - UA took the time and modelled it to be the closest on the market - sell the consumer this in accurate plug-in format - for £150 (own it for life) that is huge value for the consumer - that’s around 3000% value …it’s a business offering true value to pro users…I think people need to stop jumping on UA’s back. If you want other versions which are not as authentic but decent you have that choice. Too much choice is causing this issue.
This is actually really fantastic. I was never actually a huge fan of UAD. They had their place, but....at least for what I do, the value wasn't there. But....that's the case with the vast majority of plugins/companies.
Probably because is better than you can think ... the last version has great improvements and you pay only one time, lifetime free upgrade... it's not fruity it's FL studio
Thanks for the video. If I have a plugin that's available on both UAD h/w and native and I switch between using the h/w and without, does the DAW automatically switch between the two versions? So if I go native, do I have to unload the h/w plugin, reload the native equivalent and then reset the plugin settings? Thanks for your content :-)
the Dongle is DSP. People always leave this part out. And Softube isn’t cheap. Plug-in Alliance is great and affordable (with the sales and coupons), but Softube is just as expensive as UAD.
I'm about to change my interface (currently using an SSL 2+) and I'm looking for a Apollo Twin X Quad Heritage because of all this UAD plugins. I make beats and also mix when the singers record my beats. Should I get the Apollo Twin X Quad Heritage? I mean, it looks like if I am not recording there's no point. Am I wrong?
Thanks for pointing out the UAD plug-in issues. I recently bought some (native) and I got the same issues you got. Could not continue working if no internet or using early y2k-style USB key. I could never imagine this was the case. Have Apogee, Soundtoys, SSL, Waves and many more that works great, at all times. I don’t use the UAD for the same reason you mention. Bad decision from UAD 😠 Not cool
Best advice for anyone... is use what you can afford and learn it well because its not how good the plugin is, its how good you are with the plugins. You can make bangers with cheap plugins too dont be fooled
I have just bought a bundle of UA products, which I now regret. Not only am I forced to be connected to the internet to use them, but also the customer support is pretty appalling imho. I think the plugins are great quality but I will avoid them from now on just because I'm not dealing with nice people. Shame and good luck to 'em!
You get what you pay for. Some people have the luxury to buy more expensive hardware and plugins, others have to go a cheaper route. There's plenty of flavors and price structures out there for everyone. UA's 3 bundles that they are selling right now are pretty fairly priced. That's a ton of plugin's for less than 1k.
Back in the day I used to have a TC Electronic PowerCore and learned the hard way that these hardware dsp's needed to be replaced sooner or later and maybe the company quits support. Lost a lot of money, so I never bought UAD, now I have most plugins that I like and use, so no need for UAD plugins, but I might try a few to see what it is all about, but I will never do subscription.
Some clarifications: since Feb 14th, UADx now offers rent-to-own financing options via 3P retailers and doesn't require a subscription (perpetual licenses available). Problem solved! :)
So in phase with what you'r saying, there is a big gap between some of the companie's pricing policy and the reality of some professionals (And I mean professionals) in the business.
deciding whether to purchase pulsar audio massive or wait for universal audio to release a native version of uad massive.... I'm not too optimistic about massive native being released anytime soon....
I did the trial from UA plugins... I can't even find the plugins. I have everything in my custom folder for vst's, and my daw won't for the life of me, find the universal audio plugins
I was just looking to buy $500 worth of plug ins with UAD and realized I could get a couple years sub for the same price. Id rather have what was in the Sub package for a couple years than have the 4 plugs (during the half yearly sell) for life.
Your point is so correct is like a demo trial,it makes no sense,why give a small out of a massive.they should really see what waves,softube and plugin alliance are doing and fully learn,
Like you I have thousands invested in the Apollo plugins and I know that I will get all of the ones I already purchased that go into spark but if they don't go into spark am I still entitled to receive them seems unfair if that is not the case
Lol bro not everyone that buys expensive plugins is thinking how can I monetize this. Maybe for someone that has no other job, but the majority of plug-in buyers are hobbyists that have regular jobs, and don’t mind paying a subscription fee for amazing UA plugins. This isnt a diss cuz I watch and enjoy a lot of your videos, but just remember not everyone that does music is doing it with making money in mind.
The subscription model in most cases becomes this "support" of them thing... as in "child support." these companies like any other software company have to address defects, as well as deliver a certain amoutn of improvement over time. A new user buying the software will always get whatever the latest version is, but these companies have developed an expectation of being taken care of buy existing customer. Only a handful of them actually GIVE something every now and then to it's customer base. Over time the subscription price everntually outweighs the purchase price.
I'm glad I got the LA-2A for free since I would've regretted buying any UAD plugins. It writes a settings.dat file in the project folder that does not wanna backup to the cloud en then prevents all my other files from being backed up. I uninstalled all UAD software and won't look back.
For developers, there are two choices only, either subscriptions, or SLA (like the Waves WUP), there's no way to keep producing and selling licences with free upgrades forever, too much development going on these days both with hardware/OS and DAW plugin compatibility. Pick a winner.
So they said if you buy a volt Interface i think a new one you get the compressors for free untill the 30.04.23 can i use them ? If i buy it ??? Or does it tell me you need a apollo twin ???
They go for the masses with volt and try and sell subscription based plugins (which I guess the masses won't get into as they just want to produce music in a home studio), so straight off the block they've potentially missed their largest laudience! Now you don't need the hardware, I think stock plugins will be used in the main and companies like UAD will be forced to compete will all other companies producing plugins that can just be used as is in memory. In your Bedroom. :)
thanks for the vid. i bought in to uad apollo and it came with a satellite free and it works great but you cant use a lot of instances of the plugins unless u get more satellites. then i stumble upon waves soundgrid.. night and day difference. if i knew what I know now i would of went with waves soundgrid. you can use them with the impact server or native. with the server you can run hundreds of instances of the plugins. i got the impact server and horizon bundle for 800 at the time i just upgraded to mercury for 400 and waves came out with 2 plugins that are included in the mercury bundle and i got those for free last month.. i tell anyone i know i choose waves over uad any day for bang for buck work..
I never liked subscription based purchasing. I use both waves and UAD and funny enough I have similar plug ins from each one. I like the flexibility of both plus I only buy on sale. Once you get a nice amount that do everything you need. You're good to go. The key is learn how use what you've got and make sure you only buy what you cannot do without. After all its a cost of doing business but it is a business. If your revenue isn't matching your overhead can get out of hand real quick. I say like smokey's mom on the Friday movie " Make it Enough " lol
Not to mention purchasing the volt as a creator for the mobile vibe...already owning Apollo, been with the company since UAd 1 and already own the plug-in bundle (valued at $448) but dont get a voucher for the value of the plugins already owned ! The Volt sounds better than the 2i2 I owned. Love the Volt but this abuses the people who've been UAD "partners" providing UAD money/press/word of mouth all this way.
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You are spot on with the subscription issues. I find it hard to buy in to plugins I can never own. So that makes me avoid it. The Apollo Solo and Apollo bundles were also a smart move and finally allowed me to join the UA club. The native concept was smart and also key to me joining the ecosystem finally. The fact that owning the plugins also gets you the native version is a solid product decision and they should never let that go. That’s why I continue to focus on owning the versions that are also native.
Let’s not even talk about Ilok
Subscription is a stone cold con. But most people love it. Says a lot about most people. Doesn't it.
@@oinkooinkI see a lot of down talking UAD, but correct me if I’m wrong
UAD ultimate 11 are just about all native and a 1 time buys a huge array and you flat out own them
@@jiovannijiuseppe Flat out owning is fine. Subscription is for suckers and is social engineering and behaviour modification lite.
@@oinkooink I wouldn’t say a stone cold con, and trust me I’m not a fan of the subscription (exclusively) model. I think if your a pro and it makes sense financially as part of your outgoings, then yea it can 100%. But how many users a making an actual “living” out of it vs those who aren’t. That’s where I see the issue.
The reason I stopped using UAD was Slate. They beat them at their own game, with no hardware tie, for far cheaper. And when they did that, UA had the cheek to charge double to update the plugins you already bought so they could keep up with slate (by adding the transformer and pre amp modelling slate had), AND if you did fall for that, you found that you could only run 1 or 2 of these new plugs on a $1000 card.
They went from being Avids flexible alternative, to the same greedy anti consumer company as Avid.
SLATE DIGITAL MIKE DEAN APPPROVED!!!
"beat them at their own game"
different game.
overused phrase, becomes meaningless.
@@brmbkl well if you don't understand it then sure, it's meaningless, to you.
Let me clarify then: I mean before Slate arrived, UAD were the only plugin maker to be able to model analog processors with accuracy.
not only did Slate surpass them, they did so on a more user-friendly business model with no hardware lockdown and fairer pricing, this was before the subscription option too.
Is that making more sense?
Your business seminar sidechain was the best part of the vid to me; thanks!
I have a lot of love for UAD plugs because using just a uad-2 solo card back in the early 2000s I was able to compete with and wind projects over producers who had $20,000 pro tools rigs. When my laptop with a Express 34 card slot died I gave up UAD for along time. I did however miss them very much. I don't do subscription but lately have been picking up really great deals our native versions with the Tuesday special deals. Also I've gotten some $25 off coupons left in my account. So without hardware and without a subscription I have got some amazing deals on some fantastic plugs. Their quality it is second to none
Dawg you are completely spot on with this videos. Almost everything you brought up is exactly what I’ve always questioned about UAD. Like $300+ for a single plugin?? When Waves has its equivalent for $30. I’ve always felt at the end of the day the average music consumer can’t even come close to telling if you used their Pultec EQ or Waves (for example)…their Transient Shaper or Kilo Hearts’ FREE one. So like you mentioned, it’s really hard to justify why we as customers are paying hundreds of dollars for a plugin when the end result of your song or beat can still slap with plugins for less than half the price compared to using all UAD.
Thank you for sharing and for listening! I feel you 😎
When Waves had...
But they're not equivalent. That's why. The UA plugins that are expensive are the Unison tech plugins. So when I select a Unison Tech plugin like for instance the SSL 4000 .Or like you said the Pultec which is also available in Unison Tech form. My Apollo interface goes thru a change physically and all the impedances change to become that SSL Unit or that Pultec. I have both SSL plugins. NO COMPARISON when the UA is in the Unison Tech slot. Night and Day difference. They have the legacy versions for people without Apollo Interfaces who just want a basic plugin . And they are a lot less money. And even those ones are better than waves. UA has been making these units since there fifties. Waves only came out with software . UA has a lot more knowledge and years of experience building the real stuff. You get what you pay for. Why would all the pro engineers use UA products if it wasn't worth it ?
@@billesposito2112 ,,, not all the pro's use UA my friend...
yup tracking live is a big push of the Apollo. I don't think it's just a dongle as many have said. It offers a physical interface to help you record a bit easier, it also saves configurations (both in console) and if when you turn it back on it goes back to where it was before. As @@billesposito2112 mentioned it also have UNISON.
UAD plugins are expensive ONLY WHEN you pay full price. They have great sales monthly, half year and year end sales. Plus they don’t use your CPU with the DSP which is why i like them. You can load up a session and not effect your CPU at all, assuming you have enough DSP to handle them.
I'm not sure if the CPU-load matters anymore. I use hundreds of plugins (no UAD) in a mixing session, and I really have to go overboard even with very CPU-intensive plugins to get to the max limit. And my Mac computer isn't high end by any means.
The Apollo Solo can load just 2 to 3 plug-ins, then it's over. That is not up to date. The whole thing is almost consumer deception. The headphone amplifier is also mediocre in my opinion. It was advertised as the best headphone amplifier in its class.
On the one hand, I now have UAD plug-ins, most of which are not included in Spark and thus cannot be loaded as ordinary plug-ins. On the other hand, I have third-party plugins that I can't load in UAD's console because I'm supposed to buy them from UAD again. The whole thing is ridiculous.
@@e.d.8215 Well yeah….an Apollo Solo wouldn’t help much. I’m referencing satellites. You would need at least a couple Octo’s to comfortably have a session with multiple UAD plugins.
I dont think you mentioned the whole point of UA was tracking through plugins, that did a pretty get job emulating hardware, in a near 0 latency situation. I was more used to tracking through a little bit of basic hardware, but the UA setup is nice. I can def see older school engineers migrating easy to UA as they kept the workflow very similar. But just for mixing? Yea, any plugin vendor will do. I only by on sale no matter who the company is so, the pricing is all pretty similar.
Far from zero-latency! That's a total myth. UA have the most cunning copy-writers.
They should give legacy owners of the UAD plugins a free VST native version.
They do. I have almost all the plugins from Spark cuz I had the DSP versions of the plugins. So I purposefully bought all the plugins I wanted that were in spark over Black Friday, so now I have both DSP and native versions. Win win! Haha
Yea they sure do, buy once and the native is free.
@@BYCWELL unfortunately, as I've looked into this a bit more, they offer some of them that you buy additionally for free, but of the ones that come with the Apollo, they do not do all of them. Possibly in the future though.
Right all haven't come I was just referring to the ones that have been ported over.@@CoopMusic247
I got an UAD interface before the Native thing. I got few plugins for my UAD and then I bought same plugins from Plugin Alliance (they are actually the same plugin developers selling for UAD and Plugin Alliance). When I compared them I realized they sound identical, so no need to spend money on UAD interfaces :)
Specifically which plugins are the same?
@@jimhardiman3836 I’ve never heard that before but I can believe it since the UAD tube tech and the Softube are the same plugin
@@jimhardiman3836 Vertigo, Maag EQ, anything by Brainworx, Elysia compressors, Friedman amp sims and a few other amp sims. That's a few of them. Lately people have been complaining that they have the Plugin Alliance version and the UA version and they don't null. Dirk of PA said that they update their plugins with small sonic improvements behind the scenes now and again, UA is still using older code. That's why some no longer null. Anything UA I'm considering buying, I look to see if PA has it first due to the Native factor.
"I bought same plugins from Plugin Alliance (they are actually the same plugin developers selling for UAD and Plugin Alliance)."
what are you even saying?
@@brmbklexample: Marshall JMP 2203, is sold for $80 on Softube's website (used to be sold on Plugin Alliance years ago), but on UAD website is $200. This plugin is made by Softube, not by UAD.
And it's the same plugin, performs identical doesn't matter from where you buy it.
Same with many other plugins sold on UAD's website.
You've made a lot of good points..part of the reason I didn't go with UA for my interface and went the Apogee route was because I didn't want to be forced to have my interface with me every time I want to use a plugin...needing an Ilok was already enough..but IMO a big part of people using UA stuff wasn't completely about elitesm solely but also the dip factor, where the interface could take some of the load of your computer and have the interface do some of the heavy lifting when using plugins, but now that has drastically changed with computers, especially when Apple started making their own silicon chips and we dont need external dip like we used to, I can run sooooo many more tracks and plugins than I could 10 or 15 years ago, or even 20 years ago on a $40,000 ProTools TDM system , I think UA had to go native because a lot of people just aren't going to buy their interfaces and be chained down just to use their plugins.
If you have a studio, there’s zero reasons for you to hate on subscriptions… it’s an old mindset that people seem to hang on to way too tight.
You can give many types of services via your studio, from recordings for singers to mixing services etc.
Prices may vary, but me - for sure I’ll have at least one recording a month, which pays like 120$.
So taking my career seriously for my own production plus the return potential makes subscription much more of sense.
I returned my monthly investment 6 times. Or basically got myself a 6 months of UAD Spark, with one recording!
I also got many perpetual licenses for plugins, bought full price but then didn’t use them as much.
Subscription allows you to jump ships anytime you want. One year of Slate… wasn’t your thing? No worries, jump on UAD Spark.
Subscriptions are going to die out, they make zero sense in music.
I've been a professional musician and producer for 15 years, it's my sole income, and for all that time, income is all over the place year to year, that's just the nature of music as a living.
Renting licences penitently for life is just untenable. I'm not going to rent the plugs until I can't afford them, and then lose every session I used them on. Ridiculous.
Very interesting points. I agree with most of them. I don't think "elitism" is that much of a reason to buy a product. Ultimately, it's about monetization and you are spot on in that regard. Is that extra 10% worth multiples in cost? For the vast majority of musicians with DIY studios, making essentially no significant income, subscriptions are a real genuine problem. Especially when it's not just ONE that people find themselves entangled in. I used to subscribe to Composer Cloud by East West. Superficially, it was a wonderful deal but then I wanted to give them up because I was only really using a very tiny percentage of what they offered. Now, a couple of years later and I want to remix a couple of tracks. I neglected to stem what I had and I now need to find alternative instruments that I outright own instead. I will never go down the subscription route. Never. It's just poor value. You were very right to point out the value when it comes to Adobe type products which are rarely purchased by hobbyists, vs musical subscriptions which are probably majority hobbyists. Thanks for this enlightening discussion!
Very enlightening discussion, love your clarity. I was relieved when UA came out with Native plugs for that kitchen table issue you mention with the Apollo interface dongle I’d bought into (and like a lot, btw). But now they’re coming out with Native ONLY plugins (like the new Lion amp emulation) that I can’t use in the Console, so I’m back to higher latency recording and the inability to chain my UAD plugins the way I’d like to on the way in while recording. I don’t use Luna, so I can only hope they’ll come out with standard UAD versions at some point. (I know, boo-hoo, right! 😅)
I'm a new UADx perpetual customer. After years (decades) without buying into the DSP, I gotta say UAD lives up to the hype. Pure Quality. Even their old plugs can still be better than new interpretations of certain hardware from arturia and others. I'll only buy on sale tho!
Can you name some favorites?
I agree, I can not fork out the money for the price or subscription. I will go to Waves unfortunately for UA. Also, I have so many compressor and EQ plug-ins at this point. I think I have 5 versions of an 1176. Everyone is giving their version away like candy during Halloween. At this point any upgrade I make now has to make a significant benefit to the production.
Waves aint cheap, and has issues as well.
While stock glue conoressor in ableton is just as good as 1176 if you know how to use it.
You make lots of great points and express your thoughts extremely well! The issue though, and the real reasons that not many successful musicians started out their career as Certified Public Accountants, is that that extra 5-10% of sound difference has a compounding/exponential effect on the listener, and historically made the difference on whether something ended up in the top 10 of the charts or not. Industries everywhere bemoan why 5-10% of the producers in that industry are making 90% of the profits, and this is why.... they realize the value of that last percentile. Thankfully I don't have to worry about beancounting when it comes to making music, its not what I do for a living. But the concept applies everywhere. That last few % makes all the difference in the world. Can it be quantified on paper to investors? Probably not. But I'm never letting an investor guide my musical decisions anyway.
Also about subscriptions with software. This is a tough one, because I work in the software development industry and know all too well that software cannot just be purchased and expected to work correctly forever. The ecosystem around the software changes (patches to the OS can break existing applications and plugins or cause them to behave differently). And you can't just lay off programmers and hire more later when things break, you need the original crew that knows the product inside and out. And they are expensive... and you have to maintain that staff. And that costs. So who pays for that if you sell a perpetual license with an offer to maintain it for free going forward? Nobody can do that. It means you have to disconnect the laptop from the Internet and get what you can out of it until the hardware dies. Don't get me wrong I HATE subscription software models and this is one reason I am investing more in hardware that I can get multiple decades out of instead of plugins. But I get why subscriptions are necessary. Apple is the chief offender in all of this, developing for their platform is a nightmare because they constantly change the underlying hardware.... planned obsolesence at its best. Microsoft is much better about backward compatibility and why I use that as my DAW platform.
Excellent vid, lots of essential points. Just today, bought Spark for $99 for a year. Seemed like a no brainer to me.
I've been trying to 'warn' UA in their FB forums about not catering for existing customers for a very long time now but they don't seem to be listening, which is very unfortunate...in fact I was the one who suggested that PA should adopt their now very successful 'rent-to-own' model in one of their posts a long long time ago, and look at where it's taken them. Not saying I was solely responsible for it but at the time they posted something on FB asking us what did we think about them adopting this subscription model, and that was my answer to it (didn't see anyone else talking about it but got a reply from the main guy at the time thanking me for it). Anyway my point is I agree with everything you said, so well done for putting out this video. Who knows, maybe now they will start listening. Both Avid and Waves did, so why not UA....
In a perfect world, the model of subscription based plugins is no different. Ultimately if you feel the mix improves with the UAD plugins , that mix which has been created is there for all to hear, so it does in someway become permanent, certainly no less permanent than someone doing a business course or life-skills course, they still have to take that knowledge, or advantage they feel they are getting in the sonic world, with the plugins, and make something of it. Subscriptions are not entirely business savvy entirely, it does not work for everyone, however you can try the plugins for a few months, create some amazing material and then the rest is down to marketing and other factors in the industry. I for one am extremely please UAD are starting to put out plugins on a native platform, and unlike some pricey movie subscription, something constructive can be done with the plugins.
Totally agree. A financing option would have been great or even to have the ability to choose 2 or 3 plugins every 12 months. A more customer oriented service would have been brilliant. As it stands now. it's just something that only caters to a specific group of people. That being said, UAD plugins are awesome. Going native was a solid step into the future.
They offer monthly payments via Affirm, at least on the plugin bundles.
young producers will NEVER understand.......
1. UAD DSP cards are NOT dongles and never were...they do MORE than just run algorithms.
2. UAD plugins were the first in the industry that were considered on par with hardware units.
3. UAD plugns were the CHEAP alternative to HARDWARE UNITS in the early days and were very convenient.
4. UAD plugins were Better & Cheaper than TC Powercore and Protools HD systems.
5. UAD systems were once the "poor-mans" tools of MIXING ITB
6. DSP was necessary to mix ITB in the early years of Computer Mixing. UAD was the once the only affordable access to vintage sound.
7. DSP Audio sounds better to me still. I dont know why.
Waves has similar issues with subscriptions, updating and backwards compatibility after updating when opening an old mixing session where you used the previous Waves Shell release.
Is UAD in the pro space bigger than the ssl company , which also
has ssl plugins. Just asking cause I'm not a pro.
Much respect.
Don .
It is a bit irresponsible of you to suggest that their plugins cost $500. They don't have any plugins that cost $500 and I do not understand why you would choose to this figure.
As your own example of the web page showed, none of the prices are anywhere close to that. You also fail to state that if you own the plugin, you also get to use it natively for free. Innovation? I believe they have released several high end plugins, like the Motown EQ and Reverb at no extra cost to the Spark subscribers. They have also done several updates. Yes the plugins are expensive, hence why they offer the subscription model. Just because someone buys one of their cheap Volt interfaces doesn't mean they have to use UAD plugins. The real problem is that at one time their plugins were on another level, however many have caught up and are offering the same quality for less money.
100% agree with everything you saying. Does my head in when I'm out and not got internet and want to make some edits to a mix with UAD spark.
My beef with UAD is that they didnt give an all access pass to ALL of there plugs ins so you can experiment.
Slate Digital is killing the game with there $15 full access pass.
He may sound ridiculous about "buying status" but He is soooo right about it! in the industry here in Nashville TN, great gear or 'hard to get' gear including plug-ins does give you a certain status, of course it comes down to what you can do with it. But recently it is starting to make more sense to go for a Waves version for someone stating out that doesn't own an Apollo, you get to have more stuff and more opportunities to learn how to use different gear.
Its the essentials so that you can get an idea down on the go. Leaving you time to finish that idea at a larger facility.
I love them and I wouldn’t use anything but their product’s honestly as far as the price they absolutely deserve that and more them giving people a chance to LEARN AND EXPERIMENT from home is a privilege.
Love how you break down the business side of the music industry for everyone! Btw how do you feel about the rent-to-own option on Splice?
its a rip off. i had it for the longest time and still dont own the korg plug in
@@prodbydramatic That’s weird, my Studio One 4 and 5 purchases are complete and I own both with proper keys from Splice
Thank you for covering this topic for us.
Hmm … trying to follow but this is really confusing. Are you familiar with UA’s history? Not trying to diss, but it seems like perhaps you are not. For a company with a history as rich as theirs, they are providing a LOT of options for different price ranges but all of their gear (software or hardware) is absolutely made for serious musicians and producers. Also, if your business plan is built around the plug-ins you own or the tools you use, then you’ve got things a bit are backwards. People hire based on skill, taste & your relationships / connections.
I'm not debating your point. The new interface and Mics are targeting the podcast market. For people who are not in the music world, I mentioned the missing value ladder.
The reason I went subscription on most of my plug ins is because even with ownership, you never really own it due to the fact that in a year they'll try to charge you $50-$100 per plug in to update.
Wow you’re great
I really appreciate your thoughts 💭
Maybe...the greatest video of all time.. thank you so much!
Lot of words… since I started this 4$/month native packet three new plugins came out. For free. And there’s more to come. These fx are killer.
I agree with you about subscriptions, I also have the Roland Play4Life subscription. To add to the topic of subscriptions, I also have an issue with these update subscriptions like Waves and Native Instruments have. Those are also nefarious, I mean... if you purchase a product, why should you have to pay for update (not upgrade) costs to keep them operationally stable?
I bought the Volt last summer and there was no real pull to get the UAD plugins. However, after upgrading to the Apollo, I got a bunch of plugins with the purchase and the value is pretty hard to argue with.
A bit late to the party, love the info and breaking down the business side of things. But I must say not needing to lug around my interface to use some of my go to plugins has been a massive game changer!
I think it's great that UAD plugins can now be bought as a lifetime license. I'm curious to compare them to plugins from companies like Waves, iZotope and IK Multimedia. Also the UAD reverbs seem great and I want to compare them to reverbs from Acustica and Native Instruments.
there reverbs are unmatched to me its worth spark alone
The value of a subscription for a neophyte is the ability to gain access to higher quality tools sooner.
true, I think my issue at the time was the DSP limitations on smaller interfaces.
Spot on! Excellent video…. Also you are touching on the phycology of how this is a mind game, especially to new producers who are just breaking in. All companies will hit then hard and fast before the new person realizes just what is going on…
you keep it real...SALUTE!
Correct! No way I’d buy into subscription based tier without ownership.
Yeah man, Monetizing is having a HUGE EFFECT on everything. I have UAD and LUNA and APOLLO, but I cannot use SHAPE outside of LUNA, which doesn't make any sense. They have the other plugins available, but I already a Synth and a Moog and a Piano....For me, SHAPE is the undeniable GEM in LUNA, but you can't get access to it outside of LUNA...
for the subscription I think you're only using your own perspective as a producer. You said as a consumer it doesn't make sense, but named off multiple different other types of consumers that could benefit from the subscription. Maybe the subscription just wasn't made for producers and it was more for audio engineers, recording artists, and live performers like you mentioned.
I didn't buy my Mac Studio because of UA plugins, but as an owner of Mac Studio, I could buy 24 UA plugins in the last two weeks for $250. It's $10,4 for each plugin. One of them is the new fantastic Sound City Studios plugin. Most of the "MASSIVE Problems" you talk about here could be said about all the brands out there. And some of it is mostly about the Apollo system, and NOT the UAD Native. However, the Native option may be a MASSIVE problem for the Apollo owners. I don't know.
Currently there are 36 or so plugins available through Spark. I got a holiday discount code for $99 for the first year and $149/yr after that. So for less than $1500 spread out over ten years I have access to those 36 native plugs plus whatever they add in the future. Or with the current sale I can bundle 20 plugins for $999, more than the cost of 6 years of Spark. In six years will we even be using DAWs and plugins? Spark was an easy choice for me.
One question, so I brought the native UAD Electra 88 vintage keyboard
will this plugin work without Kontact 7 ?
I’m using windows 10
And Cubase 13 pro
do need a dongle or does it work like all of my Waves plugins?
The massive problem with UAD native plugins... Is the price..... They are absolutely crazy.
Just got the pultec bundle for $39 and the Dimension D Chorus for $14!!! I'm happy with the price! Like all plugin companies, if you wait for the right time, you get the right price 👍🏻
@@chriswaltonmusictrue asf! could've gotten pultec bundle plus bunch of other plugins for 50 bucks.
Its $50 for 11 plug in Essential Bundle right now…. Worth it?
@@vin3421 My comment was made 9 month ago.......... Before they started with the decent sales.
Obviously they have changed their sale strategy a lot and I think they have become a lot better.
They sell a lot more, now that everyone can buy the plugins, without buying the expensive UAD cards, so they can drop the prices and still make the same money, because they sell more.
Which is great for the customers :)
@@vin3421
My comment was made 9 month ago..........
Way before they started with the decent sales. Obviously they have changed their sale strategy a lot and I think they have become a lot better.
They sell a lot more, now that everyone can buy the plugins, without buying the expensive UAD cards, so they can drop the prices and still make the same money, because they sell more.
Which is great for the customers :)
I stopped using UAD Spark because of UA Connect. Slowed down my computer, wasn't loading correctly. Too many issues.
Does the summersale 2024 complete 12 version change perspective for the middle market? Now I can buy into the elite with 2K plus 1k Apollo.
It's a low monthly subscription and you get massive plugins. And they add more just about every month. Spark is awesome I think . Just the API would take you a couple years at that price and u get a ton more plugins. I would rather spaend a little and be able to cancel at anytime then come up with a lot of money for ONE plugin and if you don't use it you're stuck with it.
That's an interesting perspective. Do they allow you to own anything after the annual subscription? Isn't that just one long demo?
My main objection is that it will force people to make a business of what most deem a hobby. As a consumer, I want to own what I buy.
I agree about justifying this price if there are marginal differences with plugins. Ultimately, is the end user really going to notice?
If the hardware costs £5000 - UA took the time and modelled it to be the closest on the market - sell the consumer this in accurate plug-in format - for £150 (own it for life) that is huge value for the consumer - that’s around 3000% value …it’s a business offering true value to pro users…I think people need to stop jumping on UA’s back. If you want other versions which are not as authentic but decent you have that choice. Too much choice is causing this issue.
The plug-ins in spark you get free if you own them prior.
This is actually really fantastic. I was never actually a huge fan of UAD. They had their place, but....at least for what I do, the value wasn't there. But....that's the case with the vast majority of plugins/companies.
Can you explain why you chose FL Studio as a DAW since you have the money to use any DAW of Choice...
Probably because is better than you can think ... the last version has great improvements and you pay only one time, lifetime free upgrade... it's not fruity it's FL studio
Thanks for the video. If I have a plugin that's available on both UAD h/w and native and I switch between using the h/w and without, does the DAW automatically switch between the two versions? So if I go native, do I have to unload the h/w plugin, reload the native equivalent and then reset the plugin settings? Thanks for your content :-)
Facts.. thats why I'm using plugin alliance mega bundle💯
Softube offers amazing quality at a much better price. And they've never required you to buy an interface (aka expensive dongle).
*expensive dongle* that part
the Dongle is DSP. People always leave this part out. And Softube isn’t cheap. Plug-in Alliance is great and affordable (with the sales and coupons), but Softube is just as expensive as UAD.
I'm about to change my interface (currently using an SSL 2+) and I'm looking for a Apollo Twin X Quad Heritage because of all this UAD plugins.
I make beats and also mix when the singers record my beats. Should I get the Apollo Twin X Quad Heritage? I mean, it looks like if I am not recording there's no point. Am I wrong?
Ssl2plus sounds better
Thanks for pointing out the UAD plug-in issues. I recently bought some (native) and I got the same issues you got. Could not continue working if no internet or using early y2k-style USB key. I could never imagine this was the case. Have Apogee, Soundtoys, SSL, Waves and many more that works great, at all times. I don’t use the UAD for the same reason you mention. Bad decision from UAD 😠 Not cool
Best advice for anyone... is use what you can afford and learn it well because its not how good the plugin is, its how good you are with the plugins. You can make bangers with cheap plugins too dont be fooled
Everybody's got something to say...why complain ?? you can own them with dsp, native or just rent them with spark and that's great !
Thanks!
I have just bought a bundle of UA products, which I now regret. Not only am I forced to be connected to the internet to use them, but also the customer support is pretty appalling imho. I think the plugins are great quality but I will avoid them from now on just because I'm not dealing with nice people. Shame and good luck to 'em!
Great explanation @busyworksbeats. I think Akai professional is a great example on what you are saying
You get what you pay for. Some people have the luxury to buy more expensive hardware and plugins, others have to go a cheaper route. There's plenty of flavors and price structures out there for everyone. UA's 3 bundles that they are selling right now are pretty fairly priced. That's a ton of plugin's for less than 1k.
Back in the day I used to have a TC Electronic PowerCore and learned the hard way that these hardware dsp's needed to be replaced sooner or later and maybe the company quits support. Lost a lot of money, so I never bought UAD, now I have most plugins that I like and use, so no need for UAD plugins, but I might try a few to see what it is all about, but I will never do subscription.
Does UAD plugins work best with apollos audio interfaces?
Some clarifications: since Feb 14th, UADx now offers rent-to-own financing options via 3P retailers and doesn't require a subscription (perpetual licenses available). Problem solved! :)
Which site is offering this please
@@Swiftopher755 Sweetwater is one, but probably others
So in phase with what you'r saying, there is a big gap between some of the companie's pricing policy and the reality of some professionals (And I mean professionals) in the business.
deciding whether to purchase pulsar audio massive or wait for universal audio to release a native version of uad massive.... I'm not too optimistic about massive native being released anytime soon....
I did the trial from UA plugins... I can't even find the plugins. I have everything in my custom folder for vst's, and my daw won't for the life of me, find the universal audio plugins
I was just looking to buy $500 worth of plug ins with UAD and realized I could get a couple years sub for the same price. Id rather have what was in the Sub package for a couple years than have the 4 plugs (during the half yearly sell) for life.
Your point is so correct is like a demo trial,it makes no sense,why give a small out of a massive.they should really see what waves,softube and plugin alliance are doing and fully learn,
yo facts about that gta part you went in to. that price stayed at $50 for years
Serum did that rent to buy option and I did it, even if you paused it, what you paid was still in the bank!
Like you I have thousands invested in the Apollo plugins and I know that I will get all of the ones I already purchased that go into spark but if they don't go into spark am I still entitled to receive them seems unfair if that is not the case
Uad for me was gold 15 years ago when plugins were really not that good in 2024 you can mix with stock plugins and you buy few that you really need
Lol bro not everyone that buys expensive plugins is thinking how can I monetize this. Maybe for someone that has no other job, but the majority of plug-in buyers are hobbyists that have regular jobs, and don’t mind paying a subscription fee for amazing UA plugins. This isnt a diss cuz I watch and enjoy a lot of your videos, but just remember not everyone that does music is doing it with making money in mind.
You never want to buy subscriptions. Always OWN your plugins. ✌
The subscription model in most cases becomes this "support" of them thing... as in "child support." these companies like any other software company have to address defects, as well as deliver a certain amoutn of improvement over time. A new user buying the software will always get whatever the latest version is, but these companies have developed an expectation of being taken care of buy existing customer. Only a handful of them actually GIVE something every now and then to it's customer base. Over time the subscription price everntually outweighs the purchase price.
17:33 plug-in alliance do that 10 months payment plan
I'm glad I got the LA-2A for free since I would've regretted buying any UAD plugins. It writes a settings.dat file in the project folder that does not wanna backup to the cloud en then prevents all my other files from being backed up. I uninstalled all UAD software and won't look back.
For developers, there are two choices only, either subscriptions, or SLA (like the Waves WUP), there's no way to keep producing and selling licences with free upgrades forever, too much development going on these days both with hardware/OS and DAW plugin compatibility. Pick a winner.
The massive problem with UAD plug-ins in general is it often doesn’t connect.
So they said if you buy a volt Interface i think a new one you get the compressors for free untill the 30.04.23 can i use them ? If i buy it ??? Or does it tell me you need a apollo twin ???
Bro said he spent 100’s of thousands on plug-in?!! Did you buy them a 3 times?? 10 times?
Yeah and he did not use any the monthly sales.
To me acustica actually sound the most like the hardware the plugs are just pretty heavy on the systems
😂😂😂😂😂 they'd sink the titanic
So if I buy a uad plugin full no payments u still need internet to use it or after I pay for it it works regardless of internet
Bruh i bought the 50 dollar bundle and forgot to read the requirements with the mac os. It dont work on my 2015 macbook pro :/
They go for the masses with volt and try and sell subscription based plugins (which I guess the masses won't get into as they just want to produce music in a home studio), so straight off the block they've potentially missed their largest laudience! Now you don't need the hardware, I think stock plugins will be used in the main and companies like UAD will be forced to compete will all other companies producing plugins that can just be used as is in memory. In your Bedroom. :)
Seems line the new status will be to get the high end outboard stuff… maybe it’s circle-ing back
Gta 5 syndrome… i died at this point haha🤣🙌🏼✨
thanks for the vid. i bought in to uad apollo and it came with a satellite free and it works great but you cant use a lot of instances of the plugins unless u get more satellites. then i stumble upon waves soundgrid.. night and day difference. if i knew what I know now i would of went with waves soundgrid. you can use them with the impact server or native. with the server you can run hundreds of instances of the plugins. i got the impact server and horizon bundle for 800 at the time i just upgraded to mercury for 400 and waves came out with 2 plugins that are included in the mercury bundle and i got those for free last month.. i tell anyone i know i choose waves over uad any day for bang for buck work..
I’ve been on the fence about UAD for awhile now. Reading your comment solidified my investment in the Waves ecosystems!!! Thank you for your time.
I never liked subscription based purchasing. I use both waves and UAD and funny enough I have similar plug ins from each one. I like the flexibility of both plus I only buy on sale. Once you get a nice amount that do everything you need. You're good to go. The key is learn how use what you've got and make sure you only buy what you cannot do without. After all its a cost of doing business but it is a business. If your revenue isn't matching your overhead can get out of hand real quick. I say like smokey's mom on the Friday movie " Make it Enough " lol
Not to mention purchasing the volt as a creator for the mobile vibe...already owning Apollo, been with the company since UAd 1 and already own the plug-in bundle (valued at $448) but dont get a voucher for the value of the plugins already owned ! The Volt sounds better than the 2i2 I owned. Love the Volt but this abuses the people who've been UAD "partners" providing UAD money/press/word of mouth all this way.
Also, thanks for the business conceptualization course !