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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 10, 2023 14:50:16 GMT -6
I see where they’re offering this…
And then saw where the native plugs are like $29-100…makes me wonder if the plugin market is just completely saturated.
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Post by bossanova on Oct 10, 2023 14:56:01 GMT -6
I see where they’re offering this… And then saw where the native plugs are like $29-100…makes me wonder if the plugin market is just completely saturated. I don't know what their bottom line is, but I wouldn't be surprised if multi-$100 plugs that require external hardware to use aren't selling like they used to. They probably rode the reputation of that legacy code for as long as they could. |
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Post by Ward on Oct 10, 2023 15:08:06 GMT -6
Free? Still overpriced.
[That's a joke by the way]
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Post by Tbone81 on Oct 10, 2023 15:16:11 GMT -6
They’ve been doing these back to back sales for a few months now at least. They’ve officially adopted the perpetual discount model where it’s silly to pay even close to full price for anything they have. You see something you want, just wait 3 weeks and it’ll be on sale.
My guess is that the bean counters realized they could score a nice short term profit by blowing everything out, not realizing that they’re watering down their brand, and that people like me are now going to ONLY buy there plugins when they hit that $29 mark.
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Post by skav on Oct 10, 2023 15:22:22 GMT -6
From FAQ:
"Is this plug-in included in the LA-2A Collection?
No, this plug-in is brand new, and is not included in the LA-2A Collection"
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Post by kcatthedog on Oct 10, 2023 15:27:56 GMT -6
I see where they’re offering this… And then saw where the native plugs are like $29-100…makes me wonder if the plugin market is just completely saturated. I don't know what their bottom line is, but I wouldn't be surprised if multi-$100 plugs that require external hardware to use aren't selling like they used to. They probably rode the reputation of that legacy code for as long as they could. This runs natively you just install using ua connect. UA is still deep discounting the Ultimate bundle and pushing its subscription model. |
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Post by ragan on Oct 10, 2023 15:42:20 GMT -6
You can cross grade from the free LA2a to some other bundles too. Pretty sweet deals.
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Post by Johnkenn on Oct 10, 2023 15:43:34 GMT -6
“It's the silver algo with the legacy GUI. We've tuned it to sound good right out of the gate on all sources.”
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Post by copperx on Oct 10, 2023 16:25:26 GMT -6
It's so bizarre seeing UA morphing from being a "don't call us, we'll call you" kind of company into an audio Kohl's.
I truly don't understand what's their end game. Twenty years ago they still had the UAD mystique; the rumor was that UAD plugins were almost like hardware, and at the same time, you couldn't verify that claim without buying into the whole system. I'm sure they thrived just because of that.
Now that their plugins are native, everybody can see that the emperor has no clothes. Sure, some of their offerings are fantastic, but it's hard to justify buying thousands of dollars of DSP hardware or having to install the UA Connect / iLok Cloud malware combo when there are much cheaper, equivalent options that don't require such inconveniences.
So what's next? Everything's on sale every day? Maybe the MBAs are right and that's the way to go nowadays.
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Post by copperx on Oct 10, 2023 16:27:15 GMT -6
“It's the silver algo with the legacy GUI. We've tuned it to sound good right out of the gate on all sources.”
Not sure if you're serious or joking.
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Post by ragan on Oct 10, 2023 16:37:55 GMT -6
It's so bizarre seeing UA morphing from being a "don't call us, we'll call you" kind of company into an audio Kohl's. I truly don't understand what's their end game. Twenty years ago they still had the UAD mystique; the rumor was that UAD plugins were almost like hardware, and at the same time, you couldn't verify that claim without buying into the whole system. I'm sure they thrived just because of that. Now that their plugins are native, everybody can see that the emperor has no clothes. Sure, some of their offerings are fantastic, but it's hard to justify buying thousands of dollars of DSP hardware when there are much cheaper, equivalent options that don't require such an inconvenience. So what's next? Everything's on sale every day? Maybe the MBAs are right and that's the way to go nowadays. I mean, why isn’t it smart to say “how about we sell plug-ins to the people that just want plug-ins and hardware to the people that want hardware?” and not force cross-strap the two things? |
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Post by Quint on Oct 10, 2023 16:50:27 GMT -6
It seems there are maybe some in this thread that are not aware that UA has gone native.
That said, as someone who is pretty heavily invested in Apollos/Luna/UAD plugins (DSP and native), the general corporate stance of UA leaves something to be desired these days. I have a love hate relationship with that company. I really like some of their products, but some their decisions in the last few years are, at minimum, puzzling, and, at worst, troubling. The corporate double speak coming out of that company is getting worse and worse.
But I stick around because I still see more good than bad. Luna IS really cool, and their plugins are still some of the best. But the entitlement and general attitude coming from UA is not so great these days.
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Post by drumsound on Oct 10, 2023 16:54:11 GMT -6
I think John nailed it in the first post. The plugin market is saturated. I got into UAD late in the game, when gwlee7 was getting out. So I started with a shitload of plugins. There are a few that I use a lot, and some I barely touch. BUT, they do sound very good and I will keep using them. |
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Post by copperx on Oct 10, 2023 16:56:53 GMT -6
I mean, why isn’t it smart to say “how about we sell plug-ins to the people that just want plug-ins and hardware to the people that want hardware?” and not force cross-strap the two things? Sure, but if the company is doing emulations and not innovative DSP, then everybody is going to compare the plugins to hardware. Comparisons to hardware are inevitable. |
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Post by copperx on Oct 10, 2023 16:59:20 GMT -6
[...] the general corporate stance of UA leaves something to be desired these days. I have a love hate relationship with that company. I really like some of their products, but some their decisions in the last few years are, at minimum, puzzling, and, at worst, troubling. The corporate double speak coming out of that company is getting worse and worse. I have never left uadforum.com without a feeling of rage or indignation. I've never felt that anywhere else on the internet. That place needs to be taken down with a flamethrower. |
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Post by Quint on Oct 10, 2023 17:10:07 GMT -6
[...] the general corporate stance of UA leaves something to be desired these days. I have a love hate relationship with that company. I really like some of their products, but some their decisions in the last few years are, at minimum, puzzling, and, at worst, troubling. The corporate double speak coming out of that company is getting worse and worse. I have never left uadforum.com without a feeling of rage or indignation. I've never felt that anywhere else on the internet. That place needs to be taken down with a flamethrower. Yeah.... UA primarily interacts with its customers on their forum more than anywhere else. Which would be okay if it wasn't over run by fan boys unwilling to be objective about UA's shortcomings. So there's a positive reinforcement feedback loop going on over there that rewards UA's worst impulses. It doesn't help that talking with Drew (the current UA spokesperson) is like talking to a wall sometimes. That guy could use some more humility. I mean, sometimes he can be okay and helpful, but other times it's like, do you not hear the words coming out of people's mouths? Sorry, but UA is NOT infallible, despite your protests to the contrary. Things were better when Gannon was in that position. He had a lot better bedside manner. But he's been gone for a while. I wouldn't say that Drew is the cause of the current problems at UA (it's a global corporate problem, although Drew is part of the problem), but his hire in that position has coincided with what has been a general downgrade in customer service and overall respect for the customer at UA. It's unfortunate, but UA has turned into a big corporation. They're not the little company that gives you the warm and fuzzies anymore.... Kind of starting to remind me of Avid.... |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2023 17:38:51 GMT -6
I see where they’re offering this… And then saw where the native plugs are like $29-100…makes me wonder if the plugin market is just completely saturated. For these kind of analog emulation plugs? Yes, especially of normal stuff like an LA2A. At least the UVI one you can control the distortion and the new PA Neold one modeled the aging of the optical sensor to get some crazy over/undershoot behavior. For cool new things like Sound Radix, TDR, U-he/UVI synths, Massenburg, or whatever the hell the Flux plugins do? I want more! Dan |
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ericn
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Balance Engineer
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Post by ericn on Oct 10, 2023 18:36:11 GMT -6
I see where they’re offering this… And then saw where the native plugs are like $29-100…makes me wonder if the plugin market is just completely saturated. The market for emulations is certainly over saturated, but I think this and their sudden embrace of native has as much to do with generating cash to pay for acquisitions as anything. UA made its money on the reputation of Bill Putman Universal Audio/ UREI, but when you dig deep enough you start to realize it was more based on acquisitions than in house development. The closed system is a great way to insure loyalty. UA thought it would carry over to native. Well now they actually need to put the work in to sell individual plugins vs just running a special to get you to buy, it’s hard and expensive work, go figure. |
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Post by Quint on Oct 10, 2023 18:57:31 GMT -6
I see where they’re offering this… And then saw where the native plugs are like $29-100…makes me wonder if the plugin market is just completely saturated. The market for emulations is certainly over saturated, but I think this and their sudden embrace of native has as much to do with generating cash to pay for acquisitions as anything. UA made its money on the reputation of Bill Putman Universal Audio/ UREI, but when you dig deep enough you start to realize it was more based on acquisitions than in house development. The closed system is a great way to insure loyalty. UA thought it would carry over to native. Well now they actually need to put the work in to sell individual plugins vs just running a special to get you to buy, it’s hard and expensive work, go figure. Not that I'm complaining, because I think Luna is really cool, but creating a DAW from scratch, had to cost a boatload. So I agree that some of these things they're doing are likely driven by the need for a cash infusion. I'm looking at the guitar pedals as the most obvious evidence of that. |
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deif
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Post by deif on Oct 10, 2023 21:20:52 GMT -6
“It's the silver algo with the legacy GUI. We've tuned it to sound good right out of the gate on all sources.”
Not sure if you're serious or joking.
This is how UA described it on the uadforum |
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Post by sean on Oct 10, 2023 22:26:44 GMT -6
Not sure if you're serious or joking.
This is how UA described it on the uadforum I would have figured it was modeled after the reissue they currently sell |
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Post by phantom on Oct 11, 2023 4:49:31 GMT -6
I have never left uadforum.com without a feeling of rage or indignation. I've never felt that anywhere else on the internet. That place needs to be taken down with a flamethrower. Yeah.... UA primarily interacts with its customers on their forum more than anywhere else. Which would be okay if it wasn't over run by fan boys unwilling to be objective about UA's shortcomings. So there's a positive reinforcement feedback loop going on over there that rewards UA's worst impulses. It doesn't help that talking with Drew (the current UA spokesperson) is like talking to a wall sometimes. That guy could use some more humility. I mean, sometimes he can be okay and helpful, but other times it's like, do you not hear the words coming out of people's mouths? Sorry, but UA is NOT infallible, despite your protests to the contrary. Things were better when Gannon was in that position. He had a lot better bedside manner. But he's been gone for a while. I wouldn't say that Drew is the cause of the current problems at UA (it's a global corporate problem), but his hire in that position has coincided with what has been a general downgrade in customer service and overall respect for the customer at UA. It's unfortunate, but UA has turned into a big corporation. They're not the little company that gives you the warm and fuzzies anymore.... Kind of starting to remind me of Avid.... Just had a look again at that forum. They call themselves "UAD lovers". LOL. That made me cringe so hard, like the youngs would say. If I ever become a [insert brand] lover, please put me down. I miss Gannon as well. I have nothing to say about Drew, but Gannon just passed the right message imo. |
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Post by thehightenor on Oct 11, 2023 5:44:34 GMT -6
This is how UA described it on the uadforum I would have figured it was modeled after the reissue they currently sell Hopefully not - I was hoping they'd modelled on an Audioscape Opto Comp  |
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Post by svart on Oct 11, 2023 6:51:40 GMT -6
It's so bizarre seeing UA morphing from being a "don't call us, we'll call you" kind of company into an audio Kohl's. I truly don't understand what's their end game. Twenty years ago they still had the UAD mystique; the rumor was that UAD plugins were almost like hardware, and at the same time, you couldn't verify that claim without buying into the whole system. I'm sure they thrived just because of that. Now that their plugins are native, everybody can see that the emperor has no clothes. Sure, some of their offerings are fantastic, but it's hard to justify buying thousands of dollars of DSP hardware or having to install the UA Connect / iLok Cloud malware combo when there are much cheaper, equivalent options that don't require such inconveniences. So what's next? Everything's on sale every day? Maybe the MBAs are right and that's the way to go nowadays. People woke up and realized that the cost of dedicated DSP hardware is mostly wasted these days. You can run just as many native plugs on a modern CPU today as you could on a DSP card from a decade ago. Lots of plugs were never sonically any different on DSP despite being touted as such. They sounded exactly the same.. But the wallet-ear syndrome tends to make folks who spend a lot of money on something *hear* a big difference, and then they're locked into the ecosystem and the workflow, so they're not going to be doing a lot of honest comparisons. And "sales every day".. You mean the Waves model? |
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Post by svart on Oct 11, 2023 6:55:41 GMT -6
I mean, why isn’t it smart to say “how about we sell plug-ins to the people that just want plug-ins and hardware to the people that want hardware?” and not force cross-strap the two things? Sure, but if the company is doing emulations and not innovative DSP, then everybody is going to compare the plugins to hardware. Comparisons to hardware are inevitable. There is nothing innovative about DSP. DSP doesn't do anything better or more special than any other processor. It just allows you to dedicate a certain amount of processing power to certain specific tasks, which can make it deterministic in various ways, such as delay. Or it can simply lighten a load from a general-purpose processor like the CPU which has a lot of random tasks and wastes a lot of time doing so. |
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