UA 33609

Nice! I’m gonna be all over this. Hopefully they will add this on 1176’s and especially the 176.

I think with the risk of a little over-positivity, that they will implement (SC filter, mix knob and headroom controls) in most plugins for the next update. I must say that it is an extra interesting time with UA! Luna, Bock Audio and innovative thinking. Do not regret that I jumped on their train in 2001 when I bought my first UAD-1 card. Exciting times in many ways (we are not going to talk politics here, I know  ). Like to listen Vance Powell and his ideas. Very useful information and humble attitude.

Drew said same in this post at UA forum:

Quote Originally Posted by Appledude View Post
The real question is what else will come out with this soon to be released update. New plug? Extension? Luna 2.0?

This indeed just a teaser.

Seems like next ua release will be very interesting.

Bring it!

I have no interest in Luna, but always looking forward to UAD updates. I have four Octo cards and two Quads in my studio.

Is this a mKII or just the new features and GUI refresh?

33609 is already a MKII 

At ua forum Drew implied next UA release has some interesting surprises, it’s later today: am curious:)

Current owners get 33609 update for free and you can buy the bundle for $149 vs $299 to get new neve 2254 comp.

Differences between 2254 and 33609

Reposted from ua forum answered by Will Shanks project lead:

Quote Originally Posted by sirthought View Post
Can you talk about the differences between the 33609 and 2254?

I thought I had read that while some studios would rack two 2254s together to make a dual mono option, the 33609 was Neve's effort to make a step-up stereo unit. Despite the graphical difference, the controls are almost identical. I always figured they were pretty much the same amount of color and behavior, generally speaking.

Also, I've never understood compressors that have the threshold control go into positive markings. How does one think about that compared to one that only uses negative?

answer:
“I'd say true, the 33609 was Neve's answer to a multipurpose stereo outboard unit, but Neve did continue on with inline dynamic processing during that time as well. In my opinion, the main differences between the 2254 and the 33609 is the class A vs. class A/B amp design and a faster attack with the 2254. The limiter is Slow/5ms, Fast/100us vs. the 33609's Slow/4ms, Fast/2ms. 100 microseconds is not as fast as an 1176 or a Distressor, but it is still freaky-fast.The fast attack can get into 'unusual' responses under very heavy limiting with the 2254 (even ugly responses), so I believe the compression distortion is the main source of color folks differentiate from the 33609. Like with 1176 and Distressor, I should say this is an area where I have not heard any competitor achieve the equivalent hardware's attack speed/shape. One of the most distinctive things about both units is the "half wave" diode gain reduction design, where the detector only looks at the positive wave excursion; this is a fairly unique 'Neve' design distinction. One thing to note under heavy gain reduction is that you can actually change the transient response character by flipping phase upstream. How dramatic a difference there is will be source dependent, but will be most obvious on transient rich sources or those with asymmetry in the wave form. Of course the 33609's release times are greatly expanded over the 2254 as well. But among other bonus features, I added a custom "/8" pull function that allows a fast compress release time range, divided by 8 (400 becomes 50, 800 becomes 100, etc.) along with a custom slow attack which makes the 2254 much more versatile as a tone compressor.

The red markings are gain, black for gain reduction. I'm not sure why "-" labels are not included on the Neve stuff for GR“