UA’s HIC Discounts, Danexit and counseling

I just thought it very unethical of UA to give it’s tried and true customers the fiscal finger and save people who had invested a few hundred dollars, thousands and expecting everybody else to pay more.

What I said from the beginning and still maintain is that it would have been programming child’s play for UA to establish who had paid more then the amount the new clients got ultimate 10 for and to cross reference that with the more invested clients current plug ins, establish the delta to complete ultimate 10, and just give them those licenses.

That would have been more fair, instead UA gives those who have already paid more, the “opportunity” to pay more and still not have ultimate 10.

UA’s laughing at us all the way to the bank.

Que bugs bunny !

It’s sooooo funny to me when pro audio manufacturers and “gear pimps” think they’re a big deal. Clown town.

Manley seems kinda passe in some ways. For anyone who hasn't tried comparing the PQ plugin vs the Massive Passive at Access Analog, I highly recommend doing the test. The Vari-Mu v9 was pretty good, but I'd be surprised if it was really better than some newer stuff that has come out since then. Just based on things I've tried and what I've heard in those GS samples where they had all those compressors compared. Sure, you have to take into account the converters and whether someone used dither or not. The Manley Slam was one of the better ones if I recall, but I didn't like it as much as either of the Shadow Hills or the Alpha. Either way, we have a lot of options and don't need to be beholden to any one company whether it's hardware or plugins. 

A lot of times it can be better just to be limited once you have at least the basics covered. After hearing and being able to use some stuff considered top tier, I lost pretty much any interest I had in buying more. Maybe if I won the lottery or received a huge inheritance I'd build a few 500 series racks with a lot of Wesaudio and also get some Bettermaker so I can mix almost all analog with digital recall. But I'm not sure I'd really need to. Recently I watched the latest Audio Animals video and Paul goes through his whole chain and deactivates devices one or two at a time. Left me with the impression that one doesn't need so much stuff. Sometimes I thought stuff sounded better when he'd turn off an eq or a compressor or the analog limiter. Reminds me of when I'd stack similar plugins. Do we really need different eqs for each part of the frequency spectrum to master a stereo mix? Sure it could be helpful...but necessary?

Some of these companies are far too arrogant even about repairs it seems. Luckily I have a really cool shop a few miles away that can fix most any of this hardware with minimal fuss. They even advertise that they can fix old Eventide and Lexicon stuff. So far I've only had to visit them for things that got damaged in shipping. If this shop wasn't around, I'd probably have been a lot more hesitant about owning anything analog. 

Is UAD just racing to the bottom now? Once these companies start with this bottom feeder pricing, it brands them as being largely for people who just wanna screw around. And often those types want to get into this so they can feel important or whatever. Pretend they're a bigtime producer. And a lot of that has to do with the marketing. "Buy our plugins and you will have a world class studio on your laptop and be on your way to being a world class producer". My perception of UAD before I got into it was that this stuff was the real deal. The stuff that was so classy that people were willing to pay a lot for it and run it on DSP devices. Now the perception is "UAD-the latest company to sell $30 plugins on Audio Deluxe". Now what companies are left that aren't racing to the bottom? Maybe just Cedar? I can say that their Adaptive Limiter 2 is well worth the cost. With UAD it's not just about making new people pay a fraction of what the earlier adopters did. It's also about damaging the investments we've made in the brand. There is a lot of brand association out there in the minds of the general public. A software list that once commanded respect can now be perceived by potential clients as "oh, it's just the stuff from the crack sites I downloaded and the other stuff that sells for $30". 

Cheap stuff also gives off the idea that it's cheap because it's either antiquated or because the company didn't put a lot of effort into it. The average consumer out there doesn't know what's what. In the eyes of a potential client, it means something to them if you've been able to acquire premium brands. In the absence of great word of mouth or salesmanship, these brands can tell someone something. Maybe all it says is that you took enough pride in your business to invest a lot. And that will in turn mean you have enough character to invest in their projects. Spending $30 on a UAD plugin does not take a lot of effort or risk. An invested person is perceived as having more motivation to get the job done. It's a lot harder to be perceived as a pretender too. There is probably no downside to being perceived as having invested yourself in premium brands. 

Super excellent point!

Hmm, good for whom, the new client whose just starting to spend or the established client only to see their very large investment devalued by a company that turns its business model upside down?

“ With UAD it's not just about making new people pay a fraction of what the earlier adopters did. It's also about damaging the investments we've made in the brand. ”

Bingo!

Just for context, after buying the first of my 3 Apollos, I became very heavily involved in the UA forum site, just as a poster, was never a mod, but I feel like I volunteered hundreds of hours , bring supportive of UA and trying to be fair when their were differences of opinion. I also took initiative inviting some name producers to do featured threads for a bit. So, when UA gave that sweetheart deal to the new subscribers, I couldn’t believe it.

Anyway, it is what it is. i sold everything and only bought 1 small plug in deal recently due to its exceptionally low price.

As long term clients have stated above, that’s where you end up with ua being a very selective , very occasional buyer, if at all.

One of the things that was said is that UA hired a bunch of avid staff a few year’s back.

I worked with Gannon who was great, who is no longer with UA, and don’t really know, but you look at how UA has changed in the last 5 year and unfortunately the shoe fits quite well.

no more 1000-2000 dollar bundles of stuff that mostly sucks. The Waves Renaissance and Sonnox Sony six pack stuff that costs 1000 15 years ago are now a hundred bucks or so on sale. They’re still pretty good.

Now of course if you pay a few hundred dollars to Sound Radix, Softube Weiss, Tokyo Dawn, or such you get some space age stuff. Fabfilter are pretty too but not as advanced.

And you have the 20-30 dollar analog emulations that might not do what they claim to do but might distort or misbehave in a cool way. I just got the Neold u2a and I cannot for the life of me think of how’d I’d use it for real world, problem solving compression but it does sound cool on kicks.

Dan, you dig plug-ins, I can respect that.

I don’t - to my ears hardware is far far superior sonically.

I’m not seeking enlightenment, I have a literally vast plugin collection and several racks stuffed with high end boutique hand made tube processors (and some solid state too)

All of which gets compared on a daily basis and the hardware is sonically fabulous to my ears - plugin EQ and compression does a job during a mix but it never ever excites me sonically. Never.

I’m sure you can respect my tastes and opinion too.

maybe her gear was meant to be used on 90s and 2000s sting. desert rose. Ye lay ye lay. Great lyrics and vocal sound there.

I refer you to my previous post.

UA luvs to hear what it wants to hear.

I think I am going to start a thread on drewisms.

 Drew just stated this on the ua forum.

"So while you have valid points, I simply do not care because my goal was to take care of our most engaged users."

gee,  I feel so cared about.

Back in my waiting days,I wonder what would have happened if I told a customer I just don't care ?