UADx Opal Morphing Synth - Sonic LAB Overview

Universal Audio recently announced their Spark subscription, a curated and expanding range of their plug-ins from the extensive UAD and Luna platforms. But these are now available as Native format plug-ins, so you don't need the DSP platform to use them (Mac only for now)
As part of the new package, UA have introduced Opal - an all new synthesizer instrument with 3 hybrid analog/wavetable oscillators, two morphing filters, 2 LFOs, 2 multi-segment function generators (per voice) and 3 envelopes.
Throw in a mod matrix and some tasty FX and you have the size of it.
We take a look at the new instrument.
spark.uaudio.com/
00:00 Intro and overview
3:00 sounds examples
05:29 Oscillators
08:35 More sounds
10:00 Filters
16:20 Modulation
18:40 FX and more sounds
23:50 Thoughts
#soniclab #uaudio #opalsynth
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[@Claidheambmor]

I gave up long ago with software and went for a second hand cheapo Virus B. Sure, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles like super cutting edge effects or endlessly variable filters but there comes a point where in order to get the most out of an instrument you have to opt for one device and learn it inside out. I decided the Virus B would fulfil that role. I must say this sounds absolutely lovely though. Thanks Nick and co for providing us a video on a Friday and I wish UAD all the best!

[@Jason75913]

"one device and learn it inside out" *one _really good_ device And you obviously did just that, ahaha! "super cutting edge effects" Built-in effects on any hardware or software synth are often mediocre compared to standalone, dedicated effects, in my limited experience and that of other folks I've talked to. A Virus Ti2 would be the exception, I think, lol, not that I would know. Well, I think getting the hang of subtractive synthesis is what is most important in getting the most of a synth, ignoring built-in effects, with 99% of synths being subtractive and, like, ~80% samey. So learn one really well and you'll get the hang of more quite easily. (You know that you want more ;p )

[@ComposerMichaelDow]

Still using my virus ti but miss my c. The jp8080 gets a work out too as well as the Juno 60 and mks-50 and sh-09 and evolver keyboard. All things I will never sell. No renting, no becoming obsolete due to being old software. I think the best software to use is that which is included in your daw as it will almost always stay valid and working

[@intheblink]

Whoo! New SonicState makes for a happy Friday!

[@jawoody9745]

A good, comprehensive look at the synth. Thanks!

[@jm6734]

Always nice with a bit of synth Friday 👍🏻 BTW the voice vs synth volume on this video is all over the shop.

[@LarsBjerregaard]

Nice sounding, very capable and featureful synth. Killler features seems to be the morphing filter, very nice. But subscriptions.... sheesh.

[@ehdyn]

Very cool synth.. could be a classic but I'll wait until they offer it for sale. No one wants to lose access if their subscription lapses when there are so many other great synths to choose from.

[@MichaelRohaly]

Sounds pretty nice, and the filter flexibility is good. It underscores how little I want to spend time poking around with a mouse, but that's not due to design problems except for whoever designed my brain I guess.

[@spectre.garden]

Great review. Lots of features, and it sounds like a quality plugin.

[@RealityShiftUK]

Loving the early black friday deal and this

[@videosuperhighway7655]

Amazing synth worth it. Got it when I bought the ultimate 11 for my uad.

[@LaurentDiscShowMan]

Muy bien buen plugin very good..animo con todas las cosas y con alegrias...

[@jonotwycross8998]

Beautiful filters and sounds shame its only mac ! Love to try this one lovely sounds thanx

[@stephenroldan5107]

Got it with spark. Sounds nice

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

Morphing has always been available to us with two or more synths working together. Vangelis used 10 to 15 expression pedals as I do today also. I use sustain pedals, expression pedals and mutes and pedal switches to control 10 or more synths/samplers/groove boxes/ at the same time. I record Vangelis style performing the complete composition in real time without overdubbing. Every channel of the mix is carefully set in level, compression, effects, EQ, and panning at the mixer and then sent to a 24 track hardware recorder as finished "mastered" tracks. During performance I am using both hands and both feet controlling keyboards, pedals, switching mutes, morphing synths with expression and sustain, and fading/muting/soloing in and out of sequenced tracks. I began as a musician on an organ 54 years ago, so this is natural to me, I will be adding a pedalboard for using my feet as another pitched instrument soon! (it can take a week to set up all my devices to the perfect controlled performance)

[@Rhythmattica]

Ok.. Well done. Hope you own quite a few CS-80's.. Or at leas a GX RIP Vangelis.

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

@@Rhythmattica Unfortunately no. But I continue to honor Vangelis by performing and recording in his style, Vangelis opened doors for me, and I will always be grateful. Many good musicians have said now that the HydraSynth is a very, very good substitute for the CS80.

[@Rhythmattica]

@@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene I sold my Cs80 recently , I had a guy annually ring me, If I wanted to sell it... Eventually, I said yes.. the up keep (which I did service myself , if I could) , I just came to the realisation , Its great, but int the same size and weight, Theres more I could do, and cheaper.. But no doubt , every time Id play it, Id always think Vangelis , and of course do a but of Blade runner,.. But I digress.. I do have a few EV pedals, but when composing , my approach and workflow is very different to your good self... But heres the thing.. Bare with me... Its only just recently its been happening.. Before I got my CS80, I owned an Ensoniq EPS... forget the comparisons except for the one thing,,, Something no other keyboards since the CS80 had (well , as im aware) Poly Aftertouch.. Sure no ribbon, but YOU KNOW, the amount of expression POLY AT along can add to a performance... It for me , is what has been missing for decades... (in a Standard , functional keyboard.. forget Roli MPE and the new expressive.. Which looks awesome..) I know Im just blabbing on, but if youvbe read and understood what I said, Its actually a reason I like the hydra synth ;)

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

@@Rhythmattica Back in the early 90s I bought a new Ensoniq EPS16plus. Great minds think alike :) . I will probably eventually buy a HydraSynth Explorer to see if this synth is something I can use..if yes, then will buy the full sized key version. This year it is time to upgrade my main instrument, piano. About ready to go for the Yamaha P515.

[@Rhythmattica]

@@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene I used a EPS at work, Then Bought a 16+, and today , Still Have 2 x ASR10's , which somewhat recently bought a SCSI2SD for... Besides the Syquests, Zips etc.. Im transferring 1000 floppies .. Prob a few hundred from my own libraries I started with the EPS.. BTW, Check out expressive new Keyboard,, Not cheap, but the closest so far that does MPE and play like a synth Keybed... Oh , and the Synth is looking damn fine... So check it out before buying anything,,,

[@Miltersen]

Nice synth for sure.

[@stevenSouthpole562]

Welcome UAD to a VERY busy market. Looks like a nice synth to compliment/fill a gap in the package but not enough for someone like myself that owns Serum, Massive X to jump ship onto a subscription.

[@Garflips]

Sounds a tad like a software version of the Majella Implexus. I'd have to wait on Windows but actually for me, Newfangled Generate has this territory covered.

[@bukaglasna]

Those filters sound like Z-Plane from E-mu. Apparently some developers went to UAD when E-mu went down..

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

Is sounds like alot of synths both soft and physical.

[@Wagoo]

Seems like a nice synth VST. I might have been interested in buying it.. not renting though

[@videosuperhighway7655]

Distant Pipes has an Eno thing going on. Lovely.

[@Lisula.20220]

Wow ! 😊

[@UBERLADEN69]

Subscription synth bah! Sounds good tho

[@nrosko]

I would actually be interested, it has a nice GUI, sounds nice but wtf subscription only. Like i would want to pay money to companies forever & never own it. I do not even wish them luck.

[@Death_By_Media]

I agree , but it’s a mixed bag too as I think about how many plugins and DAWs I’ve bought that the bug fix I wanted for was almost always behind a payed upgrade too so I’m not sure if I’m splitting hairs with if I truly own it anyway anymore. I think back how often I’d upgrade Reason , Live , NI complete etc and it might as well had been , but yeah still feelsbadman .

[@GizzyDillespee]

@@Death_By_Media If you buy software, you can use it for as long as you like. If you rent software by subscription, you're allowed to use it for one month, and then it stops working unless you pay them again, every single month. If you stop paying them, you can't keep the current version, and forego updates. You can only do that if you own the software. it's worse than renting furniture, because you dont even rent anything real. it's like renting a picture for a month.

[@Death_By_Media]

@@GizzyDillespee Oh I don’t disagree with the ownership concept in itself in that framing it’s a duh , but thinking more budget wise vs. life span of products especially with DAWs . Buy version x at x dollars...it has bugs they don’t fix until the next paid update ( not uncommon with Live , Cubase , Pro tools , logic etc . ) or your OS has a flaw or bug that gets fixed in an update breaks compatibility etc. or I get plug-in X and it’s abandon ware after 2 years if it was cheaper to rent than buy outright then that would be a win in my book for me . I look at something like Roland Cloud for example that’s a ton of soundware tools for less than half of what they could ( would ) sell it for if they did an Arturia or NI type package and then in a year it would have updated browser or functionality I’d probably want to spend for the upgrade . Or I could pay the ( yes over priced ) fee to say but like SH2 , System 1 , and System 100 my personal faves out of the set , but they didn’t seam as popular to others and then would probably be more likely to stop developing as individual products which if they do with the subscription I can just bail . I personally don’t want everything to go this way either , but I can see some merit depending on the product . If Arturia did a V collection sub for a 100 a year it would be cheaper than me buying the updates every year or so . I think Reason + is a good deal too , back when I used to be a hardcore user of it they did roll out updates every year or year and a half for another couple hundred bucks and I’d always want them so for that product it makes sense to me and for some it other products it doesn’t .

[@videosuperhighway7655]

Remember that comb filter on my korg prophecy.

[@soniklink-WKD4496]

@4:44 Playstation 1 Intro! 😀

[@yossarian1633]

Very nice synth but most 8 voice patches absolutely crush my cpu. The Polymax is really nice too, quick to get going and sounds great.

[@gabrielegelfofx]

It's time for Uad to create the Opal synth hw version.

[@CrisPearson]

It's reminding me a bit of the Yamaha AN1x

[@mark35mi]

Seems an amazing soft synth. Love it. Pc... and non subscription option please.

[@Anonymous-mn3td]

Looks like they listened. It's part of the half yearly sale, too.

[@KirkMonteux]

I don't do subscriptions and never will

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

I agree, I think they are disgusting and should be illegal. Today we are forced to use the most current OS and our old applications won't function on the new hardware and/or OS. Adobe and Apple will put me out of business when my current MAC fails and cannot be repaired. The $2500.00 Adobe software on my current MAC cannot be upgraded to the next generation MAC. I am forced to buy a subscription and throw my $2500.00 software in the trash.

[@Cleefbag71]

Same. Switched off as soon as he said it was subscription only.

[@Grinder-one]

You'll own nothing and you'll be happy ! Look it up.

[@saren6538]

Just bought the Lexicon vortex Today then this comes out

[@Death_By_Media]

So is that the open source Vital code in there just coded to dsp ?

[@mataya909]

It sounds awesome. Even a single sawtooth sounded beefy as shit, even trough youtube.

[@KYTHERAOfficial]

A sawtooth is a sawtooth. Always sounds beefy. Put away the voodoo

[@mataya909]

@@KYTHERAOfficial For some reason, I put few other vst synths next to each other, no filters, amps, drives, saturation...etc...saw wave, one oscillator, and they don't sound the same to me. This one sounds "solid" "beefy" whatever...

[@AdamsBrew78]

Sounds nice..but doesn’t seem like there’s a whole lot setting it apart from Spire, Predator and many others with a similar sound pallet. I think I’d prefer Predator 3 if I were in the market for a new softsynth. It sounds phenomenal and it’s very deep.

[@PuRe_AdDicT]

I can highly recommend Predator, I’ve used it for years

[@annother3350]

Sounds large!

[@dannyveras]

Hello there I just purchased some of these synth plugins from UAD and don’t seem to on the Logic Pro daw, is it because it work with Luna or am I doing something wrong?

[@carlix8035]

It looks nice. It sounds pretty good but why rent when there are tons of other software synths out there that can do the same thing? Arturia pigments can do more than what this synth can do and the user gets to own it in the process. Think uad came in way too late with this one. Anyone with daw proficiency knows how easy it is to set up morph filtering on any audio signal. The key to a good sounding synth is it’s filter/s. The opal has good sounding filters for sure. But not sure they’re the best I’ve ever heard in a soft synth. Not tempted by this one… especially if you can’t own it.

[@jeffjfindley4802]

Begin with what it SOUNDS LIKE!!!!!

[@2112jonr]

Sadly, I lost interest immediately at the word subscription. The only Nick Batt video I've ever cut short. Not interested.

[@Hummelsbusch]

Is this synth CPU or UAD powered..? I have 14 UA DSPs in total but a rather weak CPU.

[@zynewxv]

That's my question!

[@annother3350]

This subscription nonsense is getting out of hand for all of us offline studio users

[@nathankirklambo1986]

I agree, but what I dislike most is the idea of having multiple subscriptions taking money from me on a monthly basis. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I skip subscriptions and go for software/ apps that I can buy outright. I think the only subscription I have currently is Spotify. I used to have about a dozen going simultaneously, and it was awful. Felt like I was being robbed every month. Never again.

[@ComposerMichaelDow]

I agree. Renting a piece of software is utterly mad. Im an online studio and I will never subscribe to these. Rent to own is the only acceptable method. Unless you really only want a tool for s specific job and that's it. Much like renting a van for a weekend....

[@jeffjones1359]

Absolutely! I avoid these at all cost. Even working online. Rent to own is more acceptable but these subscriptions with no end are a gouge.

[@JayTheLane]

Especially for only 20 plugins.

[@Riktenstein]

Not sure I want to watch this. The last time he did a synth demo I got a lot poorer.

[@badoedipus2551]

wow.. I'm so impressed by how good it sounds.. I'm like surprised.. I've apparently become such a terrible synth snob of late.

[@johnpaulpatton9786]

Opal - sister of Pigments.

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

Not enough value for Me when with Spark compared to Reason plus, it's a good synth but nothing ground breaking. The UAD Moog is somthing I dont need as Arturia gave Me there Mini Moog emulation and Rodes emulsion for free. Lovely.

[@videosuperhighway7655]

I have Arturia and a real Minimoog and the UA Moog that came with my hardware and the UAD Moog sounds amazing blows the Arturia out of the water and now I dont have to drag the real moog out 😂

[@luciwald]

spark 4 volt pls

[@Dudderlyful]

Apple only right?

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

Yes

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

Windows vertion available in December.

[@orfeytrue1704]

На виндовсе уже есть, если у вас есть uad аксселератор, то покупая этот синт штучно, а не в спарке вы получаете его на вечно, и можно запускать кучу копий, так как он нативный. купил себе мууг уад. артурия рядом не валялась.

[@APU658]

UVI give you thousands of synth plus wonderful effects for $24.

[@synthnseq]

Subscription, as in rent in perpetuity and never own outright? no thanks.

[@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene]

This makes hardware synths the most inexpensive and highest value resource we have. I am now 100% hardware including the 24 track recorder.

[@DavidGilden]

Just bought a UAD Octo card and I can’t run this synth on my $$$ DSP card…. No thank you Spark… I buy plugins not rent… my gym has a membership that’s enough!

[@zynewxv]

If you buy it outright do you know if you can use it on your DSP? It's available now to buy it outright.

[@DavidGilden]

@@zynewxv runs native only, but I did end getting it - without the subscription. 🎉 It’s a great synth

[@delvenhamric1200]

Yet another Windows Pipe-Dream, thanks for nothing UA! LUNA, SPARK, and now this! Are you ever going to fulfill any of your Windows real soon promises?

[@scepticskeptic3794]

Great synth... But who the fuck wants a UAD hardware dongle? LOL

[@Jason75913]

Kinda glassy.

[@allthemorphicoceans]

The subscription-only model cannot die soon enough. Shame, that looked like a good one but I don't even want to know, since I can't buy it.

[@vangeliskostoxenakis]

ill stick with my hydrasynth

[@RealityShiftUK]

I have this but I might switch to the hydra synth when I get it

[@Rhythmattica]

Meh. Especially now the Veil has been removed, and the extended time of their DSP platform, something back in the 90's and 00's that actually was something, shows what really was an expensive Dongle in the modern world, and Now they're in the ring, giving their non die hard users access..bvut theres other companies with coders out there that rim UA hard. UAD DSP / UAD NATIVE Red or Blue Pill? Welcome to the real world.

[@KYTHERAOfficial]

Unnecessary

[@Clasam09]

Underwhelming compared to other flagship synths. Doesn't add anything new. Has fewer options and flexibility. Sidegrade at best. Thanks for showing it, nonetheless

[@juxty3102]

Sounds very cold and subscription is a no from me.

[@zyxyuv1650]

This very generic synth came out like 10 years late. Someone needs to tell UAD that 2013 is calling and they want their plugin back.