UAD plugins in 2021?

UAD plugins are pretty good. But not better than the best native options out there.

To me it comes down to how much I want to run my plugins in a DSP solution.

I'm kind of with tkaitkai on this one.  I just use whatever is convenient and works, like the UAD 1176, even though it may not be the best plugin I have.

At some point you have to put the salt in the turkey and put it out on the table and not talk about what kind of salt you bought.  Haha.  That is a pretty elaborate metaphor even for me.

Oh I agree, since I feed my two buss with and mix into a Silver Bullet with the AS buss comp on it, I have been hitting my sub mixes with the UAD SSL G legacy and most recent comp as well.  It works.  I decided a while back to not worry about what “coulda/shoulda” been.  I am gonna use what is easier for me to get what I want.   

Jes,

I don’t disagree with you generally, but my understanding was that uad-2, an improvement, that could not run on the UAD-1 system.

So, to improve platform performance UA launched uad-2 and offered UAD-1 financial subsidies to transition: seems like a good business model to me ?

For track EQ and bus EQ and compression then my answer is NO.

I use native for track EQ like DMG and Fabfilter.
Bus EQ and compression for me is best with hardware.

But for mix reverb, delay and compression then nothing comes close to
UAD plugs (save for Relab, Eventide and Soundtoys)

I just find UAD’s Cooper Time Cube. EMT 250, Roland Tape delay, 244 reverb, 1176 and LA2A mk2 comps to be unique and class leading plus a few other unique plug-ins they do.

So my answer is YES but a selective yes.

Probably smart to target Softube, they don't ever seem to fall completely flat.

It seems that the Overloud compressors would be worth looking into. You get the 2A and the 3A in a bundle.

Also the Brainworx Opto is just dandy, and not hard to get cheap.

I really like the Black Rooster VLA-3A. They do the 2A and the 1176 also but I haven't tried those. But the 3A is slick.

You could also get the Empirical Labs Arousor which has an Opto mode that sounds good. As well as being just a Distressor in the box.

And if you're a traditionalist you could just grab Waves CLA or Slate, I tend to go for the more esoteric options.

People are going to recommend Fuse optical plugins I haven't tried them yet. But the hype is real. I use their guitar pedals.

Vibe: Fuse VCL-4, Goodhertz Tupe compressor section, Overloud Comp LA, Variety of Sound Nasty VLA, Molot GE opto preset.

Clean: Kotelnikov GE with inertia on, Waves Renaissance compressor opto preset.

That 90s Russian kid was grooving.

For Optos, my choices besides UAD LA2A are Fuse VCL4, Bx_Opto and Softube TLA100

Fuse VCL4 and Bx_Opto have a similar action, but while the Bx_Opto is more open and transparent, VCL4 is a bit dark and smoother, in a great way, btw.

Oversampling!

Quite recently I have become increasingly aware of the great sonic benefit to oversampling. This ofcourse cost more processing power, meaning less capacity for plugins in a mix.

I was interested to see if UAD use oversampling in their plugins. A little googling tells me They indeed do. To me this is a BIG plus and makes me consider trying them out. Not only for this sonic benefit, but also for the ability to not drain my internal CPU power to the death bed every time.

Thoughts on this?

There is also a claim that NOT ALL uad plugins oversample. Which don't?

For those interested in the answer to "Which UAD plugins have oversampling and who does not?" Look at the attached images in this post for a full list from the UAD plugin manual (page 844 >)



Look, I'm not saying those plugins with no aliasing filtering sounds bad. As I understand it, aliasing is only a factor when a plugin is programmed to cause harmonics/distortion/saturation. 
Feel free to chime in.

My theory is that a lot of the mid period UAD, Slate, Waves, Variety of Sound plugs were coming out at the heyday of the movement to have stuff like the Distressor and ART VLA type starved plate tube gear all over every record. The early plugin emulations don’t model a lot of distortion. The mid period ones go all out. So the plugins couldn’t just sound like in spec or new analog units. They had to model units that were trying to minimize distortion to compete with modern intentionally distorted hardware and they couldn’t model the action 100% of the hardware due to cpu and dsp power so they went with COLOR. You can get some insane unintentionally plastic day glow sounds out of abusing UAD plugs that mostly sound more like something like Brainworx Black Box.