UAD-1e Card is here!

[sharky]

Originally Posted by AlexLakis

I've got multiple UAD cards, and I'm still waiting for UAD-1n...NATIVE.

This is what annoys me. If you want to use the card as a sort of value-enchanced dongle, fine. I understand and I'll still buy your product. But when I have a computer that could easily run more plugs, and I quickly max out my card's DSP, I want to be able to offlay some load onto the processesor. I understand they want you to buy more hardware, but I think at some point they have to address this.

Dedicated DSP is getting more and more marginalized everyday. If you can give me good plugs and copy protect them with a card that gives me a little extra horsepower then good on 'ya. But if you limit my capabilities with a relatively paltry amount of DSP then you're gonna lose my business. Especially with more and more good native solutions out there.

[DivideByZero]

Originally Posted by sharky

But when I have a computer that could easily run more plugs, and I quickly max out my card's DSP, I want to be able to offlay some load onto the processesor.

Can't; vector processors like the UAD use a different instruction set than your CPU. The plugs have to be rewritten, and would keep the processor extremely busy, since vector processing allows the manipulation of a large number of values simultaneously, unlike a CPU.
The UAD-1 is to UA Plugs as a 3D graphics card is to Half-Life 2. You could feasibly code it to run without one, but it's going to come out crappy. Of course, video cards double in power every year or so, unlike our old pal the UAD-1, so I understand where you're coming from, believe you me. This announcement was LAME.

[kudzu]

I have 3 x Uad-1's in a magma chassis / into a G5 ... I run all sessions at 88.2 or 96 Khz ... everything running smooth here, loadsa plugs ... WHATZALLDAFUSS'BOUT ?
For what u get, Uad's are great value / powerfull ...

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by parky

we waited 10 years for this frikin thing?????

What are you waiting for?
I'm not waiting for anything. My 4 crads still works as good as the day I bought them.

[rapfreak]

i really don't understand everyone's gripes. would it be nice if they introduced a card with more power? of course. but i would rather them continue to work on new quality plugs like they have been than to focus on more power.
the uad-1 cards are pretty damn cheap and you can pick up a magma chasis used for pretty cheap. i have plenty of native plugs that are already taxing my cpu, i'll gladly keep using the uad plugs and keep my cpu for the other plugs i like.

[MDM]

as a matter of fact, you can freeze the plugz in Logic Pro -- to free up space

[mersisblue]

Originally Posted by MDM

as a matter of fact, you can freeze the plugz in Logic Pro -- to free up space

yes but on a downside

if you have too many UAD pluginsin even bypassed you will get the UAD power error

you can get your slef into a big headache that way

[Rednose]

Well, doesn't make me want to trash my 2 UAD-1 cards and get the new ones.
More power would be nice.
I think anyone owning a UAD card should still be pretty happy.
At least thier upgrading thier product at a steady pace, and a name like Neve ain't to shabby.

[deon]

HI THERE

I JUST BOUGHT THE UAD STUDIO PACK I HAVE TO DECIDE WHICH PLUG IN-S TO AUTHORIZE BUT I´M NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE SOUND OF THEM, CAN YOU GIVE ME AN ADVISE ON THE BETTER ONES, WE´RE TALKING ABOUT GREAT SOUND LIKE THE JOEMEEK PRE OR THE FAIRCHILD

[C Heat]

Originally Posted by deon

HI THERE

I JUST BOUGHT THE UAD STUDIO PACK I HAVE TO DECIDE WHICH PLUG IN-S TO AUTHORIZE BUT I´M NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE SOUND OF THEM, CAN YOU GIVE ME AN ADVISE ON THE BETTER ONES, WE´RE TALKING ABOUT GREAT SOUND LIKE THE JOEMEEK PRE OR THE FAIRCHILD

Thanks :)

[parky]

Originally Posted by Rednose

Well, doesn't make me want to trash my 2 UAD-1 cards and get the new ones.
More power would be nice.
I think anyone owning a UAD card should still be pretty happy.
At least thier upgrading thier product at a steady pace, and a name like Neve ain't to shabby.

i take it you mean the software they keep adding coz the card is about 10 yrs old now right?

i'm quite a bit underwhelmed coz it's kinda like buying a 4 track when everyone else is running 24 track 2 inch.

Yes they probably are the best sounding plugs around, and the right selection of plugs that everyone wants, but only being able to use 8 or so isn't enough when people are tracking 24trk + these days. lets hope they've heard eveyones loud "ooohhh" (slap knee) and are working on something to compete with the new bread of hardware plugs (ssl, focusrite, TC)

[Macaroni]

Yes they probably are the best sounding plugs around, and the right selection of plugs that everyone wants, but only being able to use 8 or so isn't enough when people are tracking 24trk + these days. lets hope they've heard eveyones loud "ooohhh" (slap knee) and are working on something to compete with the new bread of hardware plugs (ssl, focusrite, TC)

Think about it... the new SSL Duende is $1,600 street price for 32 tracks of "1" EQ and "1" compressor - both of very high quality. For the same money, you can get 4 UAD-1 cards, which will easily do 32 tracks of a variety of vintage compressors and eqs. The UAD-1 is still a good deal and is modular, which is a big plus.

They've stated that the PCIe buss can handle many more channels, so hopefully these two new cards are the first of a new line.

[Henchman]

I wish SSL hadn't made the Duende into a stupid 19" rackmount box.
That turnes it into somethign much less portable.
I have 4 UAd cards in a cutdown magma chassis that's super portable.
Allowing me to take it and my laptop anywhere to work.

Why do gear companies keep makin g stuff in 19"? When it's all about portability these days.

[Duardo]

Well, doesn't make me want to trash my 2 UAD-1 cards and get the new ones.

I don't think that was the point...just that now if you have a PCIe machine you can get a UAD1 for it, or if you've been wanting to upgrade to a PCIe machine but have been holding off because your card wasn't compatible now you can.

-Duardo

[morpheuzrecords]

I would rather see someting with more DSP power instead of PCIe
I already have one and I am now thinking about another UAD-1 or maybe I would go with the SSL duende. maybe both

BTW does anybody have some first hand experience with the SSL? Does it sound like the real console ?

[Macaroni]

I think part of the griping here and on other forums is that everyone is referring to the new PCIe card as a 'upgrade'. It's NOT an 'upgrade', it's really just the same card for the new PCIe format, which is a necessity, and they filled that need. UA is providing cards for both systems - PCI & PCIe - that's what was needed and that's what they did. First things first.

Everyone has been speculating and hoping for a more powerful card, and when they didn't do it, many went nuts because UA didn't fulfill their fantasies.

A more powerful card may now be possible since PCIe can handle more channels to deal with the additional processing power - more channels and better than FireWire - according to UA. That's probably the next hardware product, but first they had to at least get the same power into a PCIe format, which they did. Bravo!

And the power of a single card is still a good and fair deal even compared to these new FireWire boxes. And multiple cards gives you a flexible growth path.

[parky]

Originally Posted by Macaroni

Think about it... the new SSL Duende is $1,600 street For the same money, you can get 4 UAD-1 cards.

really? i thought the UAD was more expensive than that? can you point me to a site?
cheers

[WidgetNinja]

Originally Posted by DivideByZero

Can't; vector processors like the UAD use a different instruction set than your CPU. The plugs have to be rewritten, and would keep the processor extremely busy, since vector processing allows the manipulation of a large number of values simultaneously, unlike a CPU.

I've said it before, but UA can pay me a damn comission when they switch to this and save their business.

www.clearspeed.com

Mathematica screams on this, 90+ parallel calcs.
And no affiliation beyond professional interest in finance simulations.

[Macaroni]

really? i thought the UAD was more expensive than that? can you point me to a site?cheers

The UAD-1 Project pack street price is $400 x 4 = $1,600. 4 cards will easily give you 32 channels of processing power in a decent modern computer, Mac or PC. Of course, that's with minimal plugins, but you can buy exactly the ones you want and use them across all 4 cards. Not exactly the same cost, but close enough, and with far more flexibility.

[hitsville]

Originally Posted by Macaroni

The UAD-1 Project pack street price is $400 x 4 = $1,600. 4 cards will easily give you 32 channels of processing power in a decent modern computer, Mac or PC. Of course, that's with minimal plugins, but you can buy exactly the ones you want and use them across all 4 cards. Not exactly the same cost, but close enough, and with far more flexibility.

actually, let's say you wanna use 1176LNs on all channels for example, you can run 8 of those on a single card. Which means with 4 cards you'll have your 32 channels, but no dsp left for eq's. Now if you want to use that new 1073 eq plug, you could only run 4 of them with one card, so only 16 of them with 4 cards and no comp.. of course you could always use the SE versions which are less dsp hungry. But all I wanted to say is that it's not that simple with uad. Anyway, I don't have 4 pci slots availables for uad's

[Macaroni]

actually, let's say you wanna use 1176LNs on all channels for example, you can run 8 of those on a single card. Which means with 4 cards you'll have your 32 channels, but no dsp left for eq's. Now if you want to use that new 1073 eq plug, you could only run 4 of them with one card, so only 16 of them with 4 cards and no comp.. of course you could always use the SE versions which are less dsp hungry. But all I wanted to say is that it's not that simple with uad.

Good points. Not exactly the same but close. Not bad for technology introduced years ago.

[Billy Buck]

Originally Posted by Macaroni

The UAD-1 Project pack street price is $400 x 4 = $1,600. 4 cards will easily give you 32 channels of processing power in a decent modern computer, Mac or PC. Of course, that's with minimal plugins, but you can buy exactly the ones you want and use them across all 4 cards. Not exactly the same cost, but close enough, and with far more flexibility.

Well, actually with some savvy shopping and UA's, new Summer UAD-1 promotion, the net unit cost of each brand new card would be more like $260 bucks.

http://uaudio.com/news/releases/2promos.html

You get a $100 plugin voucher that does not expire, for each new card. In addition, there online retailers where you can get a new UAD-1, for around $360.
That is for buying the PCI version. If you purchase the new PCIe version, there is an additional $100 plugin voucher. Plus, as an existing owner of a PCI version, you will get another $100 voucher, for cross-grading and you still get to keep your PCI card. If you play it smart and do your due diligence, you can really save a lot of money and increase your DSP power, at the same time.

http://uaudio.com/news/releases/pcie.html

One thing I have always liked about UA (I already have 2 PCI cards and been a UAD-1 customer, for more than three years), they really do care about their customers and have very generous promotions.

Now let's release v4.3 already. I want my Neve 1073!


Cheers,

Billy Buck

[The Beatsmith]

lol.

so, i wanted to buy one sometime soon for my pcie g5. then i realised it isn't out until Q3 2006. isn't that AFTER september? that's over three months away at BEST

**** that. duende here i come. and maybe liquidmix.

the LA-2a, 1176, plate 140 and precision limiter would be really nice to have. but UA are taking the ****ing piss now

[Henchman]

I'll proabbly look at adding a duende to my 4 UAD-1 cards.
2 completely different set of tools.

[max cooper]

Yeah, I've been wanting native UAD plugins for a while, but I think the major stumbling block is that they love the copy protection they get from it.

Think they'll budge on that? I bet every plugin in use is paid for.

[Macaroni]

Yeah, I've been wanting native UAD plugins for a while, but I think the major stumbling block is that they love the copy protection they get from it.

Think they'll budge on that?

From what I've read, it has to do with the nature of the vector processing on the DSP chip, which isn't the same when going native, so they'd have to do extensive rewriting of the core code, which is probably a daunting task. And the native resources could easily be used up pretty quick.

[DAWgEAR]

Originally Posted by Macaroni

The UAD-1 Project pack street price is $400 x 4 = $1,600. 4 cards will easily give you 32 channels of processing power in a decent modern computer, Mac or PC. Of course, that's with minimal plugins, but you can buy exactly the ones you want and use them across all 4 cards. Not exactly the same cost, but close enough, and with far more flexibility.

The project pack is not necessarily the least costly way to get multiple UAD-1s.

What about the PCI Flexi Pak?

http://www.uaudio.com/products/digital/flexipak

Street price is $700 and it includes a $500 voucher toward plugins. That means the card itself is effectively $200 . Buy 4 of those and get $2000 in vouchers.

The Neve EQ is $250 and most likely there will soon be a Neve Comp at another $250 ... so $500 in vouchers is accounted for ... leaving another $1500 for any other plugins UA may come out with in the future (or catching up on any you don't already own).

The only thing I am not 100% sure of is if the vouchers can be cumulatively combined ... but nowhere on UA's site does it say they cannot.

[DAWgEAR]

Plus it appears that UA's policy is that you get to keep authorizations when transferring them from PCI to PCIe.

Hopefully that will continue to apply if and when they come out with a more powerful UAD-2 or whatever. Although no guarantees.

I was reluctant to invest in another PCI card now given that most likely within a year some new hardware will render it obsolete. But viewing the cost of the hardware card alone at $200 (and getting to keep the investment in the plugins) makes me think I will do it.

EDIT: I forgot about the UAD 100 summer promotion that Billy Buck mentioned a few posts above. Damn! When buying the Flexi Pak, that makes the net cost of the card itself $100!

June 1st thru August 31st 2006 ... Buy and Register a 2nd, 3rd or 4th UAD-1 or UAD-1e DSP card and get a UAD$100 voucher for each extra card purchased valid for all UAD plug-ins.
This offer applies to all UAD-1 bundles: Project PAK, Flexi PAK, Studio PAK, Ultra PAK and the new UAD-1e Express PAK and UAD-1e Expert PAK.

Am I missing something? It sounds too good to be true.

[Duardo]

Yeah, I've been wanting native UAD plugins for a while, but I think the major stumbling block is that they love the copy protection they get from it.

Think they'll budge on that? I bet every plugin in use is paid for.

Why is that a "stumbling block"? Is it a bad thing?

-Duardo