Subject:Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Posted by: billybk

Date:2/21/2003 9:17:22 PM

The latest UAD-1 3.01 update is out with enhanced DX support.
SOFO apps are now officially supported and my preliminary tests
have shown that except for one bugga boo, the DX implementation
is nearly flawless. In fact, from my preliminary tests Universal
Audio has hit a home run with it's official ACID 4 and Vegas 4 support.
In fact, I would say the new 3.01 DX versions are performing better
with SOFO apps than with SONAR. You can actually loop Vegas and ACID
projects seamlessly in 3.01, whereas, there are still problems, looping
UAD-1 plugins with SONAR. The only bugga boo I have come across is the
same bug that plagued the initial 3.0 version. A 50% CPU spike, that only
goes away, when you disable and then re-enable the PPI's during
playback. Only problem is everytime you stop and start the transport,
the CPU zooms way up again. I just go through the same disable,
re-enable process as before. This should be an easy one to fix.
Hopefully, by next month, when the next 3.1 update is due to be
released and the DreamVerb is finally delivered to the masses.
Otherwise, the PPI's are a joy to work with, and they sound absolutely
fabulous. Especially, the compressor/eq's, Nigel and the RealVerb Pro.
All the Uad-1 DX plugins come with extensive full featured parameter
automation. The RealVerb has 40 such parameters available itself. Whether
using ACID 4, Vegas 4 or SONAR 2.2, the smooth, zipper free envelope
real-time vector mixing is superb. I tried out Vegas 4's new Audio Bus
Tracks with the UAD-1 3.01 DX plugs, on the Master and (2) AUX Buses.
The resulting vector mixing was spot on. Once you match the buffers sizes,
between the DX host and the UAD-1's accessible Performance Meter, the PPI's
are utilized just like any other native real-time effects plugin.
I have found that a 22.3mse(1024 samples) works very well with ACID
4, Vegas 4, the UAD-1 and my Delta, in ASIO mode. When doing
live input monitoring in Vegas 4, I will lower the buffer sizes
to 2.9msec (128 samples) or 4.4msec (192 samples).
This is a welcome update, and I thank UA for getting this 3.01
maintenance fix out so quickly after the release of 3.0.

Can't wait for the free DreamVerb :)

Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: coolout

Date:2/22/2003 5:16:01 AM

yes!!!yes!!!yes!!!

it's official...i'm getting one.

billy i have just a couple of more questions: do you think the cpu spike could be a p4 denormal or something in the pci bus?

did you try putting the denormal eleminator plugin in the signal chain?

how much better are the uad compressor plugins?

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: SHTUNOT

Date:2/22/2003 7:42:10 AM

Great news!!! Thanks Billy B.!

Ed.

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: billybk

Date:2/22/2003 8:56:34 AM

"billy i have just a couple of more questions: do you think the cpu spike could be a p4 denormal or something in the pci bus?"

I don't think so. I am using a PIII 1Ghz CPU and this CPU spike behavior does not occur in SONAR 2.2.



"did you try putting the denormal eleminator plugin in the signal chain?"

No, but I may try it anyway.


"how much better are the uad compressor plugins?"


I guess you just have to hear, to believe ;) Seriously though, I find myself reaching for and using the UAD-1's vintage compressor/eq's before anything else nowadays. It is so easy to get a great sound out of them. Hell, just keeping the plugs at their defaults adds a warmth and robustness to your digital audio tracks, just like in the original analog models, that same classic vintage LA/2A and 1176LN sound is readily apparent in your mixes. The new Cambridge EQ, gives the UAD-1 a great (Sony Oxford like) multi-band to use now too.



Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: ozzborn

Date:2/23/2003 6:40:06 AM

how would you compare the cambridge eq to the waves linear broadband eq.
and about how many plugs can you run on two cards

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: billybk

Date:2/23/2003 8:40:23 AM

The waves linear broadband and cambridge are functionally very similar mastering quality (5)mutli-bands eqs. When sweeping the eq's(sometimes dramatically) at the extremes, I found the waves eq sounding harsh and brittle and would easily distort. The cambridge, OTOH, sounded a bit warmer and smoother and would not distort even when doing very extreme eq frequency sweeps. The waves linear uses about 16%-18% percent of my native PIII 1Ghz CPU. Whereas, of course the cambridge is using the DSP on the PCI card. Once cambridge, uses about 4% of the DSP card. So I guess you could easily get 30-40 of them going with (2) UAD-1 cards and still have plenty of DSP left for other PPI's.


Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: coolout

Date:2/24/2003 6:25:39 AM

thanks for the input billy, you sold me.

my uad-1 is on the way.

500 bucks on ebay...brand new, sealed, with a factory warranty.

that's half the price of a powercore card.

i'm in the middle of a large project right now, so i can't wait to see the improvement the compressors alone make on my mixes.

all i need is a good subwoofer to complement my near-fields and i'm done for while.

i'll keep you guys posted.

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: drbam

Date:2/24/2003 8:39:34 AM

<<all i need is a good subwoofer to complement my near-fields and i'm done for while.>>

LOL!! Well good luck! For more years than I care to admit I've been saying that exact statement: "All I need is (fill in the current gear craving) and I'll be done for awhile!" If anyone is ever successful in this regard, please let me know how you did it! ;-D

drbam

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: billybk

Date:2/24/2003 8:54:37 AM

coolout,
You are going to love the UAD-1's compressor/eq's. No native software plug can touch them, IMHO. That is basically all I use on my mixes now :) I do still use the Waves L2 on my Master output though. Make sure to download and install the latest 3.01 update as it has improved DX support. Yeah, for a DSP card of this quality, these babies are a steal. The (20) included software plugins alone, are worth a lot more than they charging for this card. It is like you are getting the DSP card to run them for free. Shweeeet!

Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: ozzborn

Date:2/25/2003 2:49:09 AM

i was considering getting another computer for more pluggin power.
i have pentium III 1.2 , and sometimes i push it far when im using 15 waves linear eq and a dozen other hi-end plugs.
a new computer is about 2,200 for what i want. but 2 uad cards is about 1,200 dollars.
my computer is more than adequate except when im really pushing it.
what would you recomend.

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: billybk

Date:2/25/2003 6:54:58 AM

I have a PIII 1Ghz/512MB/ASUS CUSL2-C DAW that I built several years ago. It has performed flawlessly for me over the years. The only time I really needed more CPU was when using a lot of real-time plugins. The UAD-1 had pretty much solved that for me. I am hoping to get another 12-18 months out of my DAW. By that time, the P4 3+Ghz
HT CPU's should be in plentiful supply and be a relatively cheap upgrade. For now, the addition of my UAD-1 has enabled me to keep my present system, and given me an awesome arsenal of real-time effects. I may be tempted to get a second card myself.
In your shoes, I would get (1) UAD-1 to test the waters. Using a faster CPU and native DX/VST effects will still not give you the quality of the UAD-1 plugins.


Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: DKeenum

Date:2/25/2003 1:10:22 PM

You guys are really giving me a bad case of gear lust!

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: billybk

Date:2/25/2003 3:39:26 PM

Yeah, I had been lusting after the UAD-1 for the past year. But since it was VST only, I held off, until UA made an official committment to support DX last December. The first week of January, I broke out my credit card, and finally gave in to my pent up gear lust. One of the best gear investments I have ever made. Except for the native CPU spike when you first press play when using the PPI's, the DX implementation in ACID 4 and VEGAS 4 is near perfect. The workaround remedy is to disable and then enable the PPI's once a project is playing and then the native CPU goes back to normal. This does not happen in SONAR when using the UAD-1. This leads me to believe it is a SOFO issue. Hopefully, SOFO and UA, will get this bug taken care of, soon enough. Then I won't have anything more to complain about :)

Billy Buck

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: Twinstates

Date:2/27/2003 9:33:10 AM

Dude,

you have to get one.

Best purchase i have made in ages. In fact probably in my top 3 ever gear purchases. It makes mixing so much easier. Vocals - La2's on each track, 2 pulteq's, realverb on the bus and then perhaps a bit of DM1L for some delay flavour. Nice as pie.

Get it, there is no way ever you will regret buying this card. It rocks. I can't recommend it enough.

Cheers

TS

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps...I GOT MINE!!!!

Reply by: coolout

Date:3/5/2003 4:56:49 AM

well, it finally made it in. the greatest add-on to my computer i've ever bought(aside from acid). let me tell you why i'm so impressed. you get so much power for so little money.

i was really prepared for a headache with installation, but it was completely trouble-free. i've also had no problems with delay compensation or cpu spikes.

i've played with audio driver settings in acid for days on end, so i've found what works reliably with my favorite sound card for mixing: soundmapper at 0.22sec.

i was thinking...damn, i'm going to be dealing with all these delay compensation plug-ins just to get everything lined up right, but to my delight the uad dx plugs worked perfectly out of the box with my current projects.

no delay compensation plugs were needed on track or bus inserts. the intergration is seemless as long as you don't mute and unmute the effect chain while the sequence is playing. i guess acid compensates on the delay automatically but i'm not screwing with the settings to find out...it works just fine as is, although i haven't used a midi track with the uad plugs yet.

and the plugs...fanastic. i now see why vintage compressors are so popular with engineers, they're idiot-proof.

LA-2A: set the threshold adjust the gain to match...done. instant silky smooth, yet tight compression. not a dramatic different sound, just a better sound.

the LA-2A along with the 1176LN and the pultec alone are worth the price of admission. it's like you're getting the realverb, channelstrip, and nigel guitar processor as a bonus.

i also tried loading up the effects and hitting the card hard to see if the plug-in count on the box was really true.

it is true, you can really run 14 LA-2As, 9 realverb pros, or 12 pultec Eqs. truth in advertising...what a concept.

now for my beef. it's really acid's fault. i've searched the owners manual, knowledgebase, and forums for information on this silly, silly, issue.

why can't you scroll in a effect or vsti window? SOFO says you can't resize a vst or dx window because of the GUI..duh...we all know that but what other applications do is allow you scroll to different parts of the effect window SO AT LEAST YOU CAN ACCESS ALL THE PARAMETERS!!!

with the effect window detatched and full screen in acid all i can see is about half on the channelstrip window, 2/3 of realverb, and about a 1/4th of nigel. it's bad enough there's so much unused space in acid's effect windows BUT WHERE ARE THE FRICKIN' SCROLL BARS!?!?!?

i guess i'll have to wait for acid pro 5.0

the only workaround i've found is to use the seperate channelstrip or nigel single plugs and chain them together in acid.

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: minipod

Date:3/5/2003 10:05:15 AM

I'm also considering UAD-1. But is it any good for mastering your final project or is only good when it comes to insert FX's on tracks?

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: coolout

Date:3/5/2003 10:42:12 AM

it depends on what you mean by "mastering".

IMHO i don't think true mastering can accurately be done in the same studio the project was mixed in. when you pay for real mastering you're not only paying for the esoteric gear and great monitors the mastering engineer has but also for HIS ear and expertise.

if you're mixing a project on your own, the mastering engineer is really the only quality control you have. the guy who mastered my last project had some analog e.q.s and compressors and a DAW of course, but what separated him from me was a much better acoustic space, monitors that cost more than my whole studio (hell, his chair cost more than my monitors), and the fact he had years of training and practical know-how. he had worked at a top mastering studio in LA for years and worked on everything from major-label hip-hop to country. thank god he's freelance now. it was pretty cheap too. the bill was less than $300 bucks for the whole EP. well worth it.

the moral of the story is get the best monitors you can afford, get a UAD card to do the mix the best you can, and THEN give it to someone else.

Subject:RE: Latest UAD-1 3.01 has DX support for SOFO apps!

Reply by: billybk

Date:3/5/2003 11:18:49 AM

There is a thread (see link below), from the UAD-1 forum, discussing the use of plugins when doing your own mastering. Interesting reading in how others are using the UAD-1 plugs, along with other native plugs, such as Waves or Sonic Timeworks and whether the use or over use of a multiband can suck the life out of a mix. I think most will agree though, that using an independent professional mastering engineer is usually the best solution, but there may be times when DIY can be an option also. Lately, I have been experimenting myself, using the Pultec EQP-1A, Teletronix LA-2A, BBE Sonic Maximizer and the Waves L2 as a plugin chain, when using Sound Forge 6.0 to premaster my final 24/44 stereo wave files. Although, I am far from a professional mastering engineer, I am liking the results so far.

http://www.chrismilne.com/uadforums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1555

HTH,

Billy Buck