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Are UAD plug-ins worth it?

Did you get 'em, Val?

I'm three months late, but personally I'm in the "no" camp. I think they make most sense when used live in a great portable rack. In the TV industry it's very common for mixers to bring in an Apollo and they're good to go. For general DAW use... there are some UAD gems, but imo as a rule they're not universally better than other quality plugs that don't have the hardware and cost overhead. I have a ton of them shared with a colleague but, in short, I just don't believe they're a unique or sure fire way to sound better.
 
I'll add my 2 cents but don't expect to change your mind (or the other folks here). I think one important thing to keep in mind is the only way to really compare UAD plugins with others is to actually have a UAD system to use to do the comparison. Often times you'll hear opinions from folks that don't have a system and just dislike the business model / concept of a DSP-based system.

I would never buy a UAD version of a specific plugin that has a native option as well - so for example, all the Plugin Alliance / Brainworx stuff or the Softube stuff. Now there ARE reasons you might want to do this from a stability or real-time processing standpoint, but I personally don't need those for these plugins.

In terms of sound, it is very subjective of course. UA does have some extreme DSP heavyweights working for them, so it's not like they're just going to be cranking out horrible plugins. Whether or not they sound special to you is another matter. Personally, I've found their API EQs for example to sound better than Slate's. Similarly, their API 2500 is just phenomenal - especially compared to Waves or TrackComp. Their 1176s MK2 are very well regarded as are the LA-2As. They also have some unique plugins that you can't find elsewhere, such as Capital Chambers or Ocean Way Studios. Whether or not those are useful to you is a question only you can answer (I personally find Capital Chambers insanely good - but UA does reverbs well in general).

As was mentioned, you should never buy UAD plugins at full price - there's always a sale around the corner and sometimes with coupons. Additionally, there are a ton of native plugins out there as well - some direct replacements for UAD plugins (and some unique in their own right). If you look at the very top tier of mix engineers, the ones that can use and have used everything, you'll usually find a healthy mix of manufacturers. Now, there is a lot of usage of UAD at that top level, so clearly the tools are delivering when called upon and have an appeal.

Lastly, I'll say this - UA has supported their platform for years. I have plugins that I purchased over 10 years ago and that still work perfectly now (though may need a UI update). I never really have to worry about CPU issues when loading up plugins - just need to manage the DSP, but I know exactly how much I can get out of the system in that case. Whether or not you value this stability / reliability / predictability is totally up to you.
 
It's a good platform and all, but since I need to use more plugins than my Quad DSP supports, I got used to using native plugins such as Fabfilter, Waves and some Plugin Alliance. Sometimes other brands too. Sincerely, I could live without UAD at this stage, but their stuff sounds good, like the Fairchild limiter.

Regarding OP, U$7k might be too much for a UAD budget, I have about 14-20 plugins including the freebies and that is enough for me. That money is way better spent on some external hardware from Kush or API perhaps, or even a high end workstation keyboard or synthetizer.

BTW, the Quad is enough if I'm controlling the instances I use. I used to have a Solo PCI-E so quad was a big upgrade (Thermionic Culture Vulture fan here)

Remember it's no good to have all the plugins considering you always will have a DSP bottleneck (no matter what DSP unit you got)
You can currently buy an Apollo x6 for $1,800 and then get the Ultimate 8 upgrade direct from UA for $999 as long as you have 25 total purchased plugins first which won’t cost you nearly as much as you might think as you get 9 purchased promotional plugins for free when you buy the Apollo x6 and many of the UAD-2 plugins are 50% off currently plus the UA store gives you a $25 coupon each time u buy one plugin so only buy one at a time and only buy the cheapest plugins that don’t come with Ultimate 8 bundle. In the end you will spend about $600-$700 buying about 16 additional plugins one at a time using a $25 off coupon each time. Then the upgrade price for the Ultimate 8 bundle falls to $999. So in the end you will have spent $3,500 total for the Apollo x6, the Ultimate 8 bundle and another 16 plugins that are not included in the Ultimate 8 bundle which means in the end you will own around 120 UAD-2 plugins and an Apollo x6. For $2,000 more you could buy two (2)Octo Satellite TB3 UAD-2 units, so for $5,500 total you would then have 22 sharc chips (Apollo x6 & two Octo Satellite TB3 UAD-2 units) and 120+ UAD-2 plugins to use with them. Plus, if you buy two UAD-2 Octo Satellites within 30 days you get another 6 free UAD-2 plugins to choose from and if you wait for the next UAD-2 Octo Satellite promotion I’m sure you’d get even more promotional UAD-2 plugins for free with each Octo Satellite. That’s way less than $7,000 and you would have a killer setup and in the end probably own every single UAD-2 plugin too!!!

If you purchase the two UAD-2 Octo Satellites TB3 units first during the next promotion you will more than likely get 5 free promotional plugins for each unit and then the 6 additional free plugins for buying two units within 30 days. Hence that just saved you about $700 so now the Apollo x6, 2 Satellites and upgrade to Ultimate 8 bundle cost you $4,800 and you have around 120 UAD-2 plugins too.

So there are three different ways to get a substantial UAD-2 system for either $3,500, $4,800 or $5,500.

You’re welcome 😇
 
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As a recent newcomer to UAD-2 Plugins, I love them. I have an Apollo Twin X and what I specifically love about it are the Unity Preamps and being able to load a plugin, such as the API stuff, on a Mic and have no noticeable latency when using in a template with many tracks. I'm also a Guitarist so I love being able to plug a Guitar straight into the Hi-Z Instrument input and play with no noticeable latency and use plugins recording either dry, wet, or both. For me, this is just an amazing front end. As for the sound of the plugins, I can't imagine not using them now I've begun to delve into this world. They sound amazing! And they are basically as addictive as sample libraries. Wanting all of them but do I need all of them? That's the toughest question of all time. Probably. :laugh:
 
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