Music • Sound • Video • Art

So close, yet...

The current blow-out prices of UAD1e cards are attention getting. If you own an 8-core MacPro and are thinking of taking the plunge on the UAD1e, be aware of the following.

To recap: UAD is blowing out it’s stock of UAD1 & 1e cars. They are still honoring the vouchers that came with the cards, so you can buy an Express Pak for $299 and get a $100 voucher and, with the promo going on right now, you also get a $150 coupon when you register the card. That’s $250 for use at the UAD online store. (It’s like getting the card for $50 in my warped “stay broke forever” reasoning). With the expert pak you pay $599 and get a total of $900 vouchers and coupons.

Anyway, I have always been curious about the UAD line and figured with some of these sale prices + promos, it would be a good time to give the card / plugins a try and, if I like them, maybe upgrade next year to a UAD2. So I bought a UAD1e. Got it installed. Sound quality is good. DSP power not so much — there’s a reason the UAD2 came out — but enough to add some spice here and there.

My problem is stability. I’m using the card in Digital Performer 6. DP6 has been really very stable for me…maybe crashed at most twice in the last couple of months. Since installing the UAD, it’s crashed/quit maybe 4 times yesterday. My UAD meter says I have plenty of juice left as I’m only using 50% of available DSP…

So I went a searching through UAD support forums and, lo and behold, there is a problem with the UAD1e and 8-Core MacPros:

With the release of UAD2, Universal Audio is blowing out its stock of UAD1e cards. The prices are pretty phenomenal:

• UAD1e Express Pak (includes $100 voucher for UAD plugins) was $399 and is now is $299
• UAD1e Expert Pak (includes $750 voucher) listed for $999 (MAP was probably around $899) and is now $599
• UAD1e Extreme Pak (includes all 32 plugins thru version 4.5) listed for $2499 and is now $1299.

UAD-1 Powered Plugins Included with each card:

• 1176SE: Definitive Vintage FET Compressor Emulations
• CS-1: Complete Professional Channel Strip (+3 plug-in modules, included)
• Nigel: Amp, Cab, & FX for Guitar and Beyond (+8 plug-in modules, included)
• Pultec EQP-1A: Classic Silky EQ
• RealVerb Pro: Industry Standard Reverb

The siren call of the blow out sale...

Now the crazy thing: UAD is having a promotion wherein if you purchase and register a new UAD-1 (PCI), UAD-1e, or Xpander, your ‘my.uaudio.com’ account will be awarded with an additional UAD$150 coupon, good for any Powered Plug-In in the UA Web Store. So add $150 to each of the vouchers up there.

The deal is looking pretty sweet.

Now you may ask, why bother with a UAD1e when the new UAD2s are out? Really has to do with price and what capabilities will work for you. Take a look at this chart. It details how may plugin instances you can get running in your UAD1e or UAD2 card. So a question is “Is the number of EQs/Compressors/Reverbs/Etc enough to make the UAD1e kit enticing for you at these new price points?”

After all, you can always buy a UAD2 card in the future (all of the UAD1 plugins save Nigel are or will be upwards compatible), upgrade your licenses to run on both cards ($25 each license starting in 2009 I believe), and run the two cards together…

A Google search will bring up retailers running this deal.