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you’ve been in a studio on the moon or
you’ve just picked up this copy of Audio Media
while you’re in the doctor’s waiting room, you’ll
��nless
have heard of Universal Audio. A company with
a history synonymous with classic vintage audio processors,
for some time now it has also been forging ahead as one of
the leaders in DSP-based audio software, turning classic
audio hardware into affordable and performance-enhancing
software versions of the real thing. One of the latest
developments from UA is its UAD-2 card, which comes in
three guises: the SOLO, DUO, and the
QUAD, which offer 2.5x, 5x, and 10x
the performance of the original UAD-1
card respectively.
ATA – an automatic delay compensation plug-in for Pro
Tools LE and MP users. Mellowmuse is free for all UAD-2
users, and UAD-1 users can purchase it at a reduced price.
As I said earlier, all plug-ins are now UAD-2 compatible so
will work on either card (apart from the guitar amp sim
‘Nigel’, which for legal reasons cannot be transferred; and
the Cooper Time Cube MkII which is the first 'UAD-2 only'
plug-in), and they even found time to add a few new plugins
such as the Harrison 32C EQ and the Little Labs IBP
(In-Between-Phase) alignment tool. The latest 5.3 release
also brings the UAD 4K Channel Strip
and Buss Compressor (both of which
are UA's own emulations of the SSL
4000 console).
The Waiting Game
Under The Hood
Well, to be honest, the UAD-2 is not
The UAD-1 was based on the Mpact
that brand spanking new now as it was
media Processor; the UAD-2 has a
released last year, but it was only with
new DSP engine using the 21369
the release of its 5.2 software that its full
SHARC analogue devices chip, a
potential was realised, especially for Pro
popular and proven family of
Tools users. At the time of writing, the
processors with extreme floating
latest version is actually 5.3. If like me
point performance (this means
you have existing projects running on
more plug-ins for you and me).
the original UAD-1 card, then the smooth
While the original Mpact processor
transition of adding a UAD-2 card is
was great for UAD to get the first
extremely important, and throughout
card off the ground, it wouldn’t
the introduction of the UAD-2, software
be long before more power and
has supported the combination of
the older UAD-1 card alongside the
newer UAD-2, beginning with porting
the majority of all plug-ins to run on
the new ‘SHARC’ chip fuelled DSP card.
It was a huge undertaking by UA to
conform existing code of each plug-in
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flexibility was going to be needed
– let’s face it, who doesn’t want more
processing power? UA has been
developing the UAD-2 for several
years, which has now launched with a
huge improvement in power over the
original UAD-1. It has features such as
THE REVIEWER
to use a different DSP processor, which
low-level cross platform support so
is why it wasn't until version 5.2 of the ������������������������� OSX Tiger/Leopard and PC Win XP/
software that all of the plug-ins were
Vista are all covered, optimisation
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finished. This was one of my personal
for multi-core processors from
reasons for holding back on fitting this upgrade, one Intel and G5, including multi-thread 64-bit OS systems.
ALAN BRANCH is a freelance of those ‘let’s wait till the dust has settled’ installations, The UAD-2 has updateable firmware and smart DSP
engineer/producer and ex-member
of the On U Sound Crew. His long
list of credits includes Jamiroquai,
Beverley Knight, M People, Simply
Red, Depeche Mode, Shed 7,
Sinead O’ Connor, Bjork, and Sade.
www.alanbranch.com
which in most cases of new software is the best course
of action.
Support for all major formats including RTAS, AU,
and VST are now in place. Up until the 5.2 release, there
hasn’t been support for Pro Tools, but now that it’s here
it seems the wait was worth it. It includes Mellowmuse
management with reduced overall bus latency and
zero-latency (LiveTrack – discussed later) modes.
That sounds like a nice slam dunk of fuel to the mixing
system, especially when it’s possible to pimp your system
to take up to four Quad UAD-2s and four UAD-1s if you
have the available slots. That’s a mega powerhouse of a �
38
daw plug-in
The full potential of Universal
Audio’s UAD-2 card has been
realised with the release of its
latest software; ALAN BRANCH
wades through deep waters to
plunge the depths of the little
card’s capabilities.
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AUDIO MEDIA MAY 2009