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My Universal Audio Universe

Twin MkII Quad and Octo Satellite

I purchased my first UAD-1 card back in November of 2004 right after Digital Performer added automatic delay compensation for plug-ins. Since then I added a second UAD-1 card, sold those and bought a UAD-2 Quad PCI card, sold that and bought an Octo Satellite, added a pair of Apollo 8p interfaces, and then topped it off with a Twin MkII Quad. With 18 inputs and 20 DSP chips at my disposal, you might say that I have fully embraced the UAD ecosystem.

I was attracted to the UAD plug-ins because of the quality of their algorithms. I think they are doing the most impressive work out there in modeling analog hardware. The killer feature that sold me on their interfaces is their Unison technology. Modelling a preamp will only get you so far in recreating the sound of a microphone plugged into a preamp. Changing the impedance of the analog input to match the input impedance of the preamp that’s being modeled is a huge step forward. An now there are a number of Unison-enabled guitar and bass amps that do the same thing with the instrument input.

Needless to say my ability to be on the road with a full featured studio would be quite a different undertaking without the tools from Universal Audio.

Below is my lighthearted, but accurate, top ten reasons that I love using UAD plug-ins and audio interfaces:

  1. The sound quality.
  2. The tape emulators allow you to turn off tape hiss, wow and flutter and crosstalk.
  3. Having the option to automate virtually every knob or switch.
  4. Being able to do large mixes on a laptop because so much processing is on the UAD DSP chips.
  5. Not needing half a dozen racks full of outboard.
  6. Having a dozen racks of virtual outboard at my disposal.
  7. You don’t have to avoid problematic channels on the vintage console.
  8. Not having to repatch all the outboard gear, or deal with patch bays at all.
  9. You don’t have to wait for the tubes to warm up.
  10. Mix recalls don’t require that you manually reset all your hardware.
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