UAD Goes Native - Say Hello to UADx Plugins via UA Spark

[@charlesschenk6290]

Thank you Matt for taking time to compare these UADx plug-ins with the UAD2 plug-ins. UA has done it again, given users better ways to use their tools. I own a boat-load of UAD DSP chips, and plug-ins. At first, when I saw the subscription plug-ins from UA, I was concerned that I and others would also need to buy the subscription. Then I learned that UA-Connect software lets users who have permanent licenses for UAD2 plug-ins, also receive licenses for the native versions to which they already have the permanent UAD2 licenses. :-Don (KZbin is now calling me Charles, go figure.)

[@MattHepworth]

Hey Don, thank you! Yeah, you nailed it.

[@bco0t6]

@@MattHepworth that determines if they’re made any different and they’re very similar from what I can see, but it doesn’t mean that the DSP versions aren’t providing a specific color toward audio or midi, when I use two Pultecs on a kick drum at the same frequencies the DSP versions just sounds a bit more natural as opposed to the native but this is after listening to audio for 7 years so I’m really particular all our ears are different you know

[@Vikotnick]

I haven't used my DSP plugs for a long, long while. Main reason is that I can't be bothered anymore when there are vst's that are well made. So I took a little hit on quality to go "in the box" but I am sure as hell going back to all my wonderfull UAD plugs as soon as I can.

[@MattHepworth]

Hey all, here's how it works, HOWEVER, UA servers are being hammered with the traffic right now, so some issues will come from that. Also, iLok licenses will take probably 48 hours to deposit. The demos will work for you in the meantime though, I believe. Download and install UA Connect. Clicked on "Redeem My Plugins" Link to your iLok account Then you should see a message confirming you have plugins associated with your acocunt. UA's Server load is probably affecting this right now.

[@tronam]

M1 native UADx is finally released today and also includes the Pultec bundle. About time!

[@MattHepworth]

Yes. I have a M1 vs Rosetta comparison vid that will be live in a couple hours. The Pultec is a welcome addition!

[@jwalker99us]

Hi Matt, Didnt realize you were a youtuber! Great walkthrough. See you on the UA Forums.

[@MattHepworth]

Thank you! I have lots of ideas in the pipeline and in progress. See you at UADF!

[@soulinspiration1]

Great vid!! I'm excited because my friends who don't own UAD plugins/hardware can get a subscriptions and we work together.

[@mattsynth]

UAD went by the wast side in our studio after all of us UAD-1 users got burned. Never again, lots of other options out there today.

[@tronam]

Apparently M1 native support is coming soon, so I'll probably hold off subbing until then, but I'm pretty excited about finally being able to access UA plugins again after (regretfully) letting go of my octo a few years ago.

[@MattHepworth]

I think it's a nice addition!

[@jamesc4343]

toggling would be great because manually switching everything is impractical but I understand it would take a ton of coding (Smashed the button) thanks for the video

[@MattHepworth]

Thank you very much!

[@karlchestersarabia6741]

it looks good

[@spacelook9076]

I'd say your mind was blown a long time ago.

[@MattHepworth]

Hahaha!

[@soulinspiration1]

I can't wait for KZbinrs to post a review of Waterfall B3!!

[@MattHepworth]

Indeed. I'm not a VI user or I'd post it myself. ;-)

[@JorgeSilvestrini]

I'll try and post a comparison to iKMultimedia's which I also own and like!

[@soulinspiration1]

@@JorgeSilvestrini Fantastic!!

[@JorgeSilvestrini]

@@soulinspiration1 Downloaded - will need to play with it a bit and then record something! Will keep posted.

[@soulinspiration1]

@@JorgeSilvestrini I look forward to it.

[@CalvinTheII]

OMG! 🤯🤯🤯 Finally!

[@CamariMusic]

Great review... I would not buy any of their hardware systems after seeing this. It makes sense to get an Apple Studio and run these plugins

[@CreativeMindsAudio]

Right?! I was thinking the same thing about the Mac studio 😂. Still gonna wait on a new computer. I just upgraded my PC last year and my Mac a year before that. Gotta milk the investments.

[@wildmilne]

The apollo allows you to track in real time with no latency using compressors/delays/reverbs etc, maybe that's getting close to possible with the Mac Studio, but certainly not my case with my mac mini 2018.

[@selfexpressionmusic]

The whole point of the hardware is so that you can run them in real time you're still not going to be able to do that with the m1 🤷‍♂️

[@MattHepworth]

@wildmilne and @Self Expression Music - Absolutely true. Reliable low-latency performance is still critical for many of us.

[@selfexpressionmusic]

@@MattHepworth okay I'm just trying to figure it out I'm like is native plugins running live with no latency on the m1 if so I got to go and get me one immediately waiting for the day that native plugins run in real time 🙏💤😂

[@LetBenTalkforYou]

What a time to be alive.

[@MattHepworth]

Definitely!

[@rekyhl]

Thank you for a good review :)

[@MattHepworth]

Glad it was helpful!

[@perhoier2881]

Oh yeah. Thanks for the info, Matt. 😀

[@MattHepworth]

Glad it was helpful!

[@CreativeMindsAudio]

Pretty sweet! I have an octo and an Apollo x8p. Maybe now i could sell my octo card! And yes I DO use all that processing. I hit 90% on my UAD cards pretty often. I have switched some to native with plugin alliance plugins (I’m a mega subscriber) which helps a bit, but this would change a LOT. I use the LA2A plugins a lot along with the 1073 and API. The other issue is that i am already almost maxing out my CPU on most sessions (thanks soothe 2). But great to know that this is an option to have. Especially if i can speed up bounces on smaller sessions while still keeping the quality. But honestly seeing how much CPU usage the 1073 takes up makes a lot of sense why they opted for DSP chips over native support in the past. I think I’ll be getting an M2 something Mac soon. I have a 2019 i9 intel MacBook Pro right now.

[@MattHepworth]

Great comments and thoughts!

[@deepvan9796]

As long as you only ever use the Spark plugins. Any other plugins you already purchased from UA are never going to be included in Spark. If they suddenly did that nobody would buy Apollo's anymore and most Apollo owners would sell theirs (for less than a new one). They would lose a tonne of revenue.

[@CreativeMindsAudio]

@@deepvan9796 I don’t believe this. Over time more and more of the plugins I already own appear on spark. If they kept making plugins first for Apollo users then gave it to spark members a bit later that would still be a very viable business model. Sadly I haven’t seen them make many new plugins per year as they once did.

[@deepvan9796]

@@CreativeMindsAudio Place your bet. :)

[@maxiumonthebeat5531]

Hi, i don't know how to sync plugins from UAD ARROW to SPARK and autorice, on Ilok app don't appears uad plugins

[@MattHepworth]

You may have done everything right and you're just waiting for UA's servers to catch up. UA said it should all be resolved by April 4th.

[@sin_phany_tv]

I have a question, I’m a blind UAD user and OK so I understand that the plug-ins are finally native for the ones that are out at the moment, but my question is this if I go on the page and do the whole set up do I need to pay a subscription for the plug-ins that I already have or can I skip that version and use the free ones that they are mentioning like the lexicon, or the Neve 1073 everybody’s doing videos but they’re really not explaining that but, it would be pretty cool if someone can answer this for me because I’m hesitant of doing all this because honestly I don’t believe in subscriptions, and my last question is can Mojave users install this or not? All I saw was Monterey, Big Sur and up

[@sin_phany_tv]

Just in case if someone can answer me because reading my comment back it’s a little bit confusing so another words do I need to pay anything to get this running and have access to the plug-ins that they are saying that are free like the lexicon, or the need 1073, because I haven’t bought those licenses so I’m wondering if this would be an advantage just to at least download it so I can have access to those native ones? I do have roughly about 50 plug-ins that I have bought throughout the years, so is auto tune available if I on the license as well?

[@MattHepworth]

I have not tested on Mojave. It will probably work. Sign in and download UA Connect. Log in to it and link your iLok account. Any UAD plugins you own will eventually appear in UA Connect for you. You do not need the subscription.

[@sin_phany_tv]

@@MattHepworth thank you so much for getting back to me with that answer, so will I also get for free the lexicon and the 1073 and those other plug-ins or is that with the subscription?

[@MattHepworth]

You only get the UADx plugins (including the 1073 and Lexicon) if you own those plugins on UAD DSP already.

[@therealdjap]

I started to watch your video and after hours of messing around, I realized I should have just watched your video fully. I don't see UADx Plugins in my UA Connect but I do see UAD Spark. I'm sure that will iron itself out. Great job! very detailed video! #therealdjap

[@MattHepworth]

Thank you! I try to get to the nitty gritty whenever possible.

[@realgearonline8279]

You might have sold me with the bounce times…but even if you have one dsp version, it crawls, right?

[@MattHepworth]

Hey there. It's still dependent on how much DSP that particular plugin uses.

[@lilocapitalT-ix4nz]

howww dooo u not haveee theee pulttteccccc rrrr u crazzzzzy

[@MattHepworth]

It wasn't available when the video was done. Of course I have it now. ;-)

[@bco0t6]

There are slight differences, I have a keen ear and the DSP plug-ins still bring in an almost life like emulation of the hardware but the native plugins I will say are a really close second.

[@bigdoghat3827]

If there were slight differences wouldn't we hear those differences during the null test?

[@chrisjmccord]

Thank you Matt for your research with this. For someone new to the UA world, your videos are very helpful to me. I'm on the fence about purchasing an Apollo or a Volt now, I have a nice M1 Max MacbookPro the maxed out one and I'm thinking now with these Spark UADx plugins, I don't need the DSP power of the Apollo line, for my smaller recordings. Of course when they finally (or if) start making the plugins M1 native, that will be a big game changer, do you think thats in the works?

[@MattHepworth]

Hi Chris, and thank you! I'm positive the M1 native versions of UADx will appear not too far down the road, however, I would only expect about a 5% improvement in performance. Rosetta gets a bad rap. It's INCREDIBLY efficient, though, in reality. Take a peak at the newest of my Studio One M1 videos for a deep look at that. The power of the M1 (and especially the Max like you got) is the processor itself. They're incredibly powerful for audio. Rosetta can still take advantage of about 95% of the M1's potential. As to Volt vs Apollo, I'd say it all comes down to what you need latency-wise for the live input and whether you're more focused on virtual instruments or live input. If your focus is the latter Apollo is worth the consideration for sure. Thanks!

[@Axeyard]

@@MattHepworth Take a peak?

[@MattHepworth]

@@Axeyard This one - kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGHdd5pni5eEipY

[@paolovic1]

Is it possible to use Uad Spark with plugins in real time? I mean, when I speak into the microphone I would like to use the compressor in real time. I use Rodecaster Pro as a sound card.

[@MattHepworth]

Yes! Check out my vid here - kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKW6kmmNf5x4bpo or this one - kzbin.info/www/bejne/qJDCkJWJg79me6c

[@izzywalker471]

If you have a UA DSP card or Satellite though can you use Spark licensed plugins on their DSP though?

[@MattHepworth]

No, but the DSP pligins you own are free in Spark when they become available on the platform.

[@tmartin6717]

Thanks for the info

[@MattHepworth]

Happy to help!

[@Axeyard]

Thanks, Matt. So are these UADx plugins for Spark customers only right now? How about Apollo/Luna users who already own the DSP version of a plug-in? Will they have to pay to have access to native version if/when it becomes available?

[@MattHepworth]

Currently all owned UAD versions means FREE Spark version. We're hoping UA stays with that plan for the forseeable future.

[@BeatzByBiz]

Which M1 computer are you actually using? If you don’t mind me asking.

[@MattHepworth]

M1 Mini with max RAM.

[@plutostube]

if I am owner of an Apollo Twin can I use the plugins I bought for it as native without activating an iLok account? (basically using the Apollo as my dongle). Thanks

[@MattHepworth]

No. The only the DSP versions work that way.

[@plutostube]

@@MattHepworth does iLok put a “pressure” on the Cpu of the computer? I know ilok is working in realtime to ading software protection

[@MattHepworth]

The extra CPU load is nearly immeasurable, but it'll add a slight delay on loading/launching the DAW as it checks authorization, in my experience. You don't need the hardware iLok version, which is appreciated by many users. Thanks!

[@plutostube]

@@MattHepworth great, thanks so much for your replies 🙏

[@MattHepworth]

Happy to help!

[@armandodiaz3485]

Hey Matt! I own the two Friedman UAD-2 plugins(BE-100 & DS-40) which I’ve run off an Octo PCIe in Pro Tools. I see Brainworx also sells native AAX versions of these same plug-ins. Now I wonder will UA/Brainworx offer native UAX versions of these also? And if so, which will run more efficiently on say the Mac M1s? See where I’m going with this??….

[@MattHepworth]

I doubt they'll port to UADx since native versions already exist and, I believe, UADx will be limited to plugins coded by UA originally. That said, the Plugin-Alliance/Brainworx native versions are identical to the UAD versions in sound, so I'd consider them to be roughly equivalent to UADx in this case.

[@deepvan9796]

The Plugin-Alliance/Brainworx is the best way to go now. My M1-PRO (10-Core) outperforms my Apollo Quad-Core by leaps and bounds and most of the UA versions of those same plugins are never going to be made available in Spark which means if you invest in them you'll be stuck using them with a poor performing DSP unit attached to your computer at all times. I've already re-purchased most of my UA versions over at Plugin Alliance as I got tired of waiting for them to come to Spark. I'm now loving not needing my Apollo all the time or a non-stop internet connection for Spark. Plugin Alliance = identical plugins with better performance, more freedom, and for much less $.

[@aubreymcgee8230]

I would appreciate if UA would create an auto switch between UAD UADX

[@MattHepworth]

From the feedback I've seen there are more like us than than I'd expected.

[@alongonen934]

Any advantage using Apollo interface (vs. eg RME) when using unison plugins?

[@MattHepworth]

@Alon Gonen Yes, the Unison aspect (hardware portion, anyway) is only supported with Apollos. That's what adjusts the impedance of the actual hardware to match the device its modeling. Apollo is also, typically, a lower latency experience by using Console vs tracking through the DAW (assuming plugins are being used in both instances).

[@selfexpressionmusic]

Maybe you can answer my question I mean no disrespect what is the big deal with the m1 you still can't run the plugins in real time live how is it any different than just having a really good computer? I understand the native thing though I don't agree that it's very exciting because I already owned the copies of the plugins in native form that uad copied.

[@MattHepworth]

M1 is no different than just having a really good computer. Dollar for dollar M1's performance for audio and video is unmatched, though.

[@petercarolane]

By doing this is UA admitting that their chips are archaic compared to simply using native CPU?

[@MattHepworth]

I don't see it that way. Basically, an M1 is 3-4 times as powerful as a QUAD (2-3 times as powerful as a rack Apollo X). That's still substantial performance from the DSPs and they still have a place in heavy projects.

[@bryancarrascotarco5232]

24x 1073 thats a dream

[@Drfresh1402]

Why is it not detecting my plugins?

[@MattHepworth]

If I have to guess I'd say it's still being affected by UA's server load/demand.

[@kingyasofficial]

mine keep saying refresh on the ua connect app

[@StopchangingMyHandlePunk]

sucks on my side it keeps on refreshing no plugins are showing up...I don't wanna subscribe lol i wanna use the one I own natively

[@kingyasofficial]

@@StopchangingMyHandlePunk lol exactly, even after the free trial the plugins still dont pop up

[@MattHepworth]

Yeah, this is probably the UA servers just getting hammered...

[@kingyasofficial]

@@MattHepworth yea its working now

[@kingyasofficial]

@@roccofloresoneto mine just started working

[@telogic1]

Matt do I need to subscribe to use my paid for plugins as I am not seeing any plugins in my connect

[@ChentheInfj]

Nope, if you own it, you can download ua connect and use the plugins you own for free. 😀

[@MattHepworth]

UA has posted a support article that all these issues should be ironed out by April 4th.

[@Screaming-Trees]

Very strange decision. To release these on what is basically an EOL platform (Intel Macs). Also that's the M1 performance via Rosetta. There will be a big bump in performance once UAD supply a native binary.

[@MattHepworth]

I was surprised to see it wasn't M1 Native, but Rosetta gets an undesrved bad wrap. UA estimates about 10% improvement with M1 Native. That seems optimistic to me, since I've done extensive testing of M1 Native vs Rosetta performance and found Rosetta to be really close.

[@Screaming-Trees]

@@MattHepworth We'll see I guess. Although U-he guys saw immense gains going from Rosetta to ARM. That said, synths like Diva did have a bunch of optimizations that were honed on x86 over a long period of time (its own multicore routines for example which is an intricate thing to do) and this might have been too much for Rosetta. UAD likely doesn't have anything that comes close to the kind of CPU utilization of Diva though so it probably doesn't matter as much anyway. There will be a performance impact though and of course it will enable people to run their DAWs natively rather via Rosetta etc etc. Cool video though. Thanks.

[@MattHepworth]

@@Screaming-Trees Would be cool if it ends up they were able to hyper-optimize!

[@joeydego2]

I came. I smashed.

[@MattHepworth]

Thank you!

[@AudiMok]

great topic but your videos could really benefit from tighter editing.

[@MattHepworth]

@Audi Mok Thanks for the comment. I cut it down from 68 minutes to under 14, but I'm still trying to get DaVinci Resolve down (and improve editing).

[@andyfeldman2590]

So is UA going to continue to support UAD-2 plugins and still sell their Octo PCIe cards? Im at a point where Im upgrading my studio from an old 5,1 Cheesegrater. I have an Octo and a Quad PCIe card. To upgrade I was going to buy a $700 Sonnet PCIe to Thunderbolt enclosure and put my UAD cards in there, then use them with my new MacStudio that's coming. Is it foolish to put more money into my system just so I can keep my UAD-2 cards running? I've never been a big subscription fan, but financially I can't see investing more. And forget about my studio upgrade. What if I was already on a nice Thunderbolt-equipped computer. Say a new plugin that I'd like is released. These have been costing hundreds. Would it make sense to buy a new UAD-2 plugin rather than just deal with a subscription? What to do...?

[@MattHepworth]

I need to give this some consideration with a rested brain before giving my verdict.

[@diyalame5366]

Sell me your cheap UAD-2 SATELLITE THUNDERBOLT 3 :)

[@Oscar-kx2du]

Man, the new GUI in 1176 and LA-2A sucks...

[@MattHepworth]

They were changed a few UAD versions back. I kinda like the older ones, too.

[@MurdaMetz]

Who rents plug ins ? For real I’m happy using stock plug ins . Uad with another money grabber .

[@MattHepworth]

They're free for existing users that own the regular UAD versions, which I think is pretty awesome.

[@MattHepworth]

I'm not keen on rental either.

[@MurdaMetz]

@@MattHepworth maybe I’m just a little salty since my ox won’t connect via wifi , even though I meet all The network and system requirements . How about uad take care of their existing customers instead of trying to get money from new ones ?

[@MattHepworth]

Understandable. Support figure anything out?

[@MurdaMetz]

@@MattHepworth I’d sure hope so after all the money people invested in the dsp , like me .

[@JuanJacinto]

Disadvantage: You can't own them. 👎🏻

[@MattHepworth]

Mostly true. You get them free if you own the UAD DSP versions or LUNA extensions, but if you don't, they're only available as part of the subscription.

[@CalvinTheII]

OMG! 🤯🤯🤯 Finally!