Universal Audio is a manufacturer that has been running an unusually large number of sales campaigns recently. I didn't know much about them because I've only been doing DTM for about two years, but they are a long-established audio equipment manufacturer that seems to make a lot of great machines.
Many manufacturers make emulation plug-ins for the great machines made by UA, and when amateur DTMers can get their hands on the original, expensive professional plug-ins at a crazy 80% or 90% discount, it becomes a hot topic.
I also jumped on this big wave and bought the LA-2A and 1176 to try them out.
I've only ever used PA's Shadow hills and bx_console as real machine emulation plug-ins, but I was impressed that the sound didn't break down at all even when I applied reduction levels that would have been crushed and degraded by the digital compressor included with my DAW.
For a simple plug-in, it has a wide variety of presets, and I thought it was a good plug-in that could teach me what settings to use when applying them to vocals, guitars, drums, etc.
UAD is great value for money and has a lot of great features. You can get it for cheap on sales, but it has one problem.
When installing plug-ins, you need to use a management app called UA Connect, which also performs online authentication when the plug-in is launched, so you need to keep it running.
This is what happens when you're offline.
No, I understand.
The thieves who steal paid products are to blame, so manufacturers have to take measures such as putting their products in locked cases to protect themselves.
For a mobile creator like me who sometimes does DTM at Starbucks, it's a pain to be required to always authenticate online, but if that's all it is, it's the same for CeVIO, so I can live with it.
But UAD.
Please stop suddenly interrupting the screen while I'm working and telling me to update.
I hate being interrupted when I'm in the creative groove.
It would even intrude on my screen while I was drawing, even when the DAW wasn't running, so I impulsively uninstalled it.
When it interrupted the screen while I was drawing even when my DAW wasn't running, I impulsively uninstalled it.
I looked for a way to switch UA Connect's automatic updates to manual, but it seems there isn't one at the moment.
I guess it doesn't bother some people, but I don't think it's very usable.
I wish they'd at least make it possible to update manually.
I wrote this because the internet was full of articles praising UAD and there wasn't any information like this.
I don't think I'll be using UAD plug-ins again until the UA Connect problem is resolved.
Melda and PA (Plugin Alliance) are perfect for me because they don't require a resident app or constant online authentication, and the quality of their plug-ins is good.
Thank you in advance.