Problem with UAD-1 and UA's response

[Chili]

A few months ago, I purchased the project pack with DSP card from UA. After about 3 weeks, the card crapped out and wouldn't work properly. I finally got off my a$$ and called them about it. No problem. They had me run through a couple of tests over the phone and they pretty much knew what the problem was.

They had me ship it via their UPS account and they fixed it and turned it around very quickly. Then they sent me an email asking to pick whatever plug I didn't already have and they would authorize it free of charge. Of course, I went through the price list and picked the most expensive, the Neve 88RS. (Hope I can figure out how to use it)

I gotta say, I think that's very cool of a company to do that. These days, it seems a company will do all they can do screw the customer. When we get screwed, we come to the forums to rant about it and warn others about that company. So, I think it's cool to be able to come here with something positive about a company for a change.

Peace,

 

[pipelineaudio]

Do a search and youll find all sorts of fun about UA's complete mishandling of the UAD-1 including turning down offers to have a third party fix their crap for free

Hopefully the UAD-2 will be better

 

[tc4b]

Do a search and youll find all sorts of fun about UA's complete mishandling of the UAD-1 including turning down offers to have a third party fix their crap for free

Hopefully the UAD-2 will be better

Is it possible from a company to learn from its mistakes? A lot of companies still seem ignorant to how far and fast bad pub can spread across the web these days. Just read consumerist for several examples of companies that screw customers, get embarrassed on the internet, and subsequently change their tune. I'm not saying this is the case here, but hey, we can hope. In any case, seems like they took care of shit here.

 

[Walter Tore]

great news! I bought a couple used ones a few months ago and love them. Walter

 

[pipelineaudio]

Is it possible from a company to learn from its mistakes? A lot of companies still seem ignorant to how far and fast bad pub can spread across the web these days. Just read consumerist for several examples of companies that screw customers, get embarrassed on the internet, and subsequently change their tune. I'm not saying this is the case here, but hey, we can hope. In any case, seems like they took care of shit here.

Its a race between marketing dollars and internet speed.

There is also the thing that you cant necessarily trust what you read on the internet, and that if its printed on paper it has to be true

Responsive companies are pretty vocal when they catch their names on an internet forum and are doing well because of it. People still trying to cover up the truth with magazine ads are having a tougher and tougher time of it

 

[Chili]

I didn't know about UA's history before. I've read a lot of good comments about their plugs and thought it would work for me. So, if they faltered before, it seems maybe they learned from it and are more responsive. Definitely better than I've had from any company in a long time, hence worth giving some praise.

I'm still pretty new at home recording and learning as I go. So thanks for putting up your thoughts here.

Cheers,

 

[pipelineaudio]

The plugs themselves have great behaviour when compared with their hardware counterparts. There are many who will say that their sound isnt anywhere near close, but at least their behaviour is. I think they sound great. I wish they would release them for native and drop the video card dongle. And drop the DSP accelerator pretense. They would wipe out all their issues (except become more subject to piracy) in one fell swoop

 

[NL5]

I gotta say - I've found them to be a FANTASTIC customer service company. I absolutely love their plugin's, and run 4 cards in a magma. FANTASTIC!

 

[Weasel9992]

I think they're great too, and the product is second to none. To the extent that software is capable of emulating hardware accurately I think the UAD stuff does it better than most.

Frank

 

[That Guy]

3 UAD-1's (PCI) in my rig. Love the plugs. Support has been B+, but overall I'm fond of the company. I have had system stability issues (err=blah,blah,blah). Overall, they work fine, sometimes I need to do workarounds. Sometimes weird stuff happens. Some users have no problems, others have nightmares. I'm in the middle. When things are working well you don't want to upset the cart and change things.

Pipeline, I see you're a Magma user. I've thought of trying that route. What DAW(s) do you use? Sonar user here, so I'm cautious.

 

[pipelineaudio]

I use REAPER, but used to try to use the UAD-1 in vegas. I only have one card left now, and that's just for testing purposes. I am hearing positive stirrings that the UAD-2 is going to be a whole different beast in terms of ease of fixes for the driver. I got my fingers crossed!

 

[That Guy]

I use REAPER, but used to try to use the UAD-1 in vegas. I only have one card left now, and that's just for testing purposes. I am hearing positive stirrings that the UAD-2 is going to be a whole different beast in terms of ease of fixes for the driver. I got my fingers crossed!

Pipeline,
We shall see ..... and possibly spend more money on UAD-2. Once UAD-2 is out, it may be a great time to pick up used UAD-1's?! Native would be great but UA won't do that. I'd rather see a standalone DSP processor from UA, but then again I'd like to see naked frisbee, free beer and big titties in my backyard.

 

[acidrock]

I wouldn't have three cards if I wasn't happy with them.My biggest problem with UA is they keep coming out with new plugs.

I hope they continue to make new plugs UAD-1 compatible.

 

[That Guy]

I wouldn't have three cards if I wasn't happy with them.My biggest problem with UA is they keep coming out with new plugs.

I hope they continue to make new plugs UAD-1 compatible.

More power Now Mr. Scott!!!!!

 

[jarrydee]

The only problem I have with UAD is that...Say you want to sample the plugs before you buy them..you cant unless you spend money on their card!!!

What If for some odd reason you don't like the plugs...you are now stuck with a useless pci card!!!

 

[pipelineaudio]

What If for some odd reason you don't like the plugs...you are now stuck with a useless pci card!!!

Even if you like the plugs, you are stuck with a useless PCI card. Per their own claims when comparing with the TC Powercore, The CPU overhead to use their DSP is higher than running the plugs natively.

I wasn't the one who compared the CPU use of the oxford stuff with the UAD plugs, they were. Now that the oxford plugs are running native, at less than 1% cpu on a Core2Duo, the dsp claim should probably go out the window

 

[jarrydee]

Even if you like the plugs, you are stuck with a useless PCI card. Per their own claims when comparing with the TC Powercore, The CPU overhead to use their DSP is higher than running the plugs natively.

I wasn't the one who compared the CPU use of the oxford stuff with the UAD plugs, they were. Now that the oxford plugs are running native, at less than 1% cpu on a Core2Duo, the dsp claim should probably go out the window

Ya I herd that the card sucks..you can only run a few plugs befor it shits out on you!! That's why I don't have uad yet..I would like to here them first but I don't want to be stuck with a card I don't need if I don't like them compared to what else is out there!! Plus I would need 4 cards just to do a mix...I just don't know if it's worth it..cuz I cant here them first!!

 

[Chili]

...I just don't know if it's worth it..cuz I cant here them first!!

Unfortunately, that's the way it is with most everything audio. Sure, you might be able to listen to several different monitors at GC, but you can't really hear how they sound. Not on a demo shelf full of other monitors in a room with a bunch of junk and some kid trying to be joe satriani on a fender squier. Same with mic's and pre's.

You can't even trust a review in a magazine because they aren't going to bad-mouth their advertisers. So how do we know what to buy outside of rolling the dice? Forums and expert opinions and studio equipment lists. Getting a feel for what might work for you and then hearing from people like thsoe here.

For me, the UA plugs had enough good things said about them to warrant an investment (gamble). I don't know yet, if it's going to work for me or not. I think they're better than what I had before. Is it worth the money?? Don't know yet. Too late now.....

I guess you take your chances when you know you can do without the money spent.

 

[jarrydee]

Unfortunately, that's the way it is with most everything audio. Sure, you might be able to listen to several different monitors at GC, but you can't really hear how they sound. Not on a demo shelf full of other monitors in a room with a bunch of junk and some kid trying to be joe satriani on a fender squier. Same with mic's and pre's.

You can't even trust a review in a magazine because they aren't going to bad-mouth their advertisers. So how do we know what to buy outside of rolling the dice? Forums and expert opinions and studio equipment lists. Getting a feel for what might work for you and then hearing from people like thsoe here.

For me, the UA plugs had enough good things said about them to warrant an investment (gamble). I don't know yet, if it's going to work for me or not. I think they're better than what I had before. Is it worth the money?? Don't know yet. Too late now.....

I guess you take your chances when you know you can do without the money spent.

Ya..I know what your saying!! I think I might take the gamble..I guess I could always sell it if I don't like it!!..

 

[mshilarious]

Even if you like the plugs, you are stuck with a useless PCI card. Per their own claims when comparing with the TC Powercore, The CPU overhead to use their DSP is higher than running the plugs natively.

I wasn't the one who compared the CPU use of the oxford stuff with the UAD plugs, they were. Now that the oxford plugs are running native, at less than 1% cpu on a Core2Duo, the dsp claim should probably go out the window

You are comparing apples to monkeys. On my old PC (2.4gHz P4) with 3 UAD-1s, maxing out all cards results in a change in CPU usage of about 4%. The power of the cards and the CPU is roughly equal in my case.

For the UAD-2, there are some early reports of excessive CPU loading, like this guy:

http://chrismilne.com/uadforums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9918&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=105#p80115

Note that full power on a UAD-2 quad is roughly half of your Core2Duo example, as I am told. And in that fellow's example, we don't know what the CPU overhead from the app or background stuff is, we just know the total load is about 10%.

So, in either case, the CPU load of the UAD is running at a fraction of the DSP usage of the cards--25x for UAD-1 on my PC, perhaps as much as 5x on the UAD-2. The latter result is strange, but the card's been out a week so give them some time.

But this thread is about UAD-1, which has no significant issue in this respect.

UA still sets the bar in quality plugs--read the reaction to UAD-2 on PSW, for example--they are angry about delay in RTAS support, but not usage:

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/mv/msg/24650/0/16/0/

I loaded 20 1176 compressors, and 20 Neve 1073 EQ's (both were the full versions, not the SE, or "light"versions)

On 4 Aux tracks, loaded 4 140 EMT Plate Reverbs, 4 Precision Multi-Band compressors (all 5 bands active), and 4 Precision EQ's (all bands active).

All 20 tracks were accessing the four Auxes via sends.

UAD-2 meter read 97% usage.