UAD cards

[przechuy]

Hi guys.

Basically never used a special,more pro soundcard...and i am annoyed with my basic stuff more and more,when my ear becomes more and more sensitive...

Anyone uses UAD here?I thought about buying maybe used one.

Any advices on picking the right one?


And how it is with those UAD plugins for those souncards?How does it work? I am total newbie in this area.I read that it can unload your CPU quite a lot etc,by taking over some job or something like that.How does it work ?A bit of explenation for a retarded buddy in this area ?






Or maybe any other ,decent suggestions ,having in mind price/value ?
Both cards for PC computers,and external for laptops,as i am going to buy at last a decent laptop .

Some suggestions,views are really welcome .This more "hardware" part of music production is tough for me still,as i was always basing on software and old crappy computer.


And now i do a bouncer job in stripclub and i earn lthere quite a lotl ,so at last a more optimistic views for buying a usefull machine ....(till now i used a old pc with 1,6 ghz single core cpu,,512 ram etc ... and believe me guys i am a magician in terms of squeezing the hell out of any computer after this nightmare hehe,it learned me quite much)

[zebastian21]

well.... the DSP cards such as powercore, UAD and some others were useful years ago when computers werent as powerful as they are right now. so if u buy a brand new computer then the power of the DSP cards doesnt even count . These DSP cards are used more as a copy protection for the developers because unlike native software the codes for the plug ins running on DSP cards has never been hacked.
The UAD offers the best vintage recreation of the most desirable outboard hardware out there. So if thats what you looking for then the UAD is the best.
The amount of plug ins u can run on any UAD card depends of the power the plug in needs. Honestly I wouldnt buy a UAD for power but more for its plug ins which run exclusively on the dsp card

[przechuy]

Thanks buddy for input!

I am in love with fairchild and La2a stuff,thats one of major reasons why my first thought is UAD

[admin]

I had the UAD 10am the Monday it was first shipped.. At the time it was deffinitly a step above the rest. I then sold and rebought it a few times. As new native plugs came out I just felt like the difference wasn't really there anymore. Also when I realized the UAD stuff doesn't model distortion (like most plugs) for instance with overdriving a real Pultec compared to the clean UAD one it seemed even less desirable.

The old one ended up being pretty underpowered as the latest plugs were taking sometimes 75% or so of a full card. But I believe with the UAD2 this shouldn't be a problem.

Overall the UAD stuff is cool but I feel pretty well overhyped, especially on their own forum.

[przechuy]

I had the UAD 10am the Monday it was first shipped.. At the time it was deffinitly a step above the rest. I then sold and rebought it a few times. As new native plugs came out I just felt like the difference wasn't really there anymore. Also when I realized the UAD stuff doesn't model distortion (like most plugs) for instance with overdriving a real Pultec compared to the clean UAD one it seemed even less desirable.

The old one ended up being pretty underpowered as the latest plugs were taking sometimes 75% or so of a full card. But I believe with the UAD2 this shouldn't be a problem.

Overall the UAD stuff is cool but I feel pretty well overhyped, especially on their own forum.

so what purchase would you recommend,as a first more pro sounding card for a person like me?that want to purchase his first real audio card to complete a dedicated machine for music? Offcourse would be great if it also would not cost gazillions of dollars,but nothing is cheap with this "hobby"


Especially,for laptop (i guessthose are those external cards connected via usb?)

[djglenn]

As you know, I'm by no means an expert, but for an external card, I'm very happy with my Line6 Toneport UX2. I don't believe it's intended for our type of music making (more for guitar/live band stuff), but I've been happy with the quality. In addition, it comes with their Gearbox software which has some great amp models (including some for great studio sounding vocals).

Most important thing, it's cheap. And not that it matters, but looks really cool.

If you don't have a midi controller or want a new one, you can get the KB37 which combines the same sound card (I believe) with a midi controller. So a great buy really.

Again, Line6 is really band oriented, but I love the UX2.

Glenn

[przechuy]

i even saw it in poland in one online shop,and i thought that yeah,price is attractive.will check more about it.


And what about some e-mu stuff? heard some not bad oppinions,in terms of external stuff for laptops.Anyone used?

[admin]

Remember the UAD is not a soundcard, it's just DSP so there are no outputs if that's what you're looking for.

Main consideration would be a soundcard that has drivers which are solid and perform well with the DAW you are using. Sound quality difference is minor at best within the medium range of converters available today.

For the past 10 years I've used M-Audio, Paris, and Creamware. Lynx are probably the best converters for the price though, so maybe see if you can get one of those at a good deal.

[przechuy]

Hmm

To be honest all i might want to connect would be a midi controller (keyboard),so USB would be used.I do not have hardware synths and surely i will not buy any soon and i do not record sound from external instruments .


M-Audio is i think easiest to get when i browse offers in shops here .And prices seem to be attractive

[admin]

Maybe look into M-Audio then and try to find a secondhand UAD with the Fairchild and LA2A already purchased.