Yeah, UAD is kind of elitist in their pricing. Maybe they think it's a way to keep the riff-raff out. Odd.

or maybe it's cause they have to pay all the royalties to officially license the products that they do.
 
Eventide name can't be cheap as Eventide have their own software line.  Marshall is expensive.
 
the uad's sound so good.  been thinking of buyin a USB 3 Twin for PC and buying a couple of these packs but that is a lot of money to invest without knowing a lot more.

Don't ask smallstonefan for advice. He's got an UAD drip feed into his arm.

for the love of god (and your wallet) - RUN RUN AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Or... join us. We have cookies. :)

strikinglyhandsome1
Don't ask smallstonefan for advice. He's got an UAD drip feed into his arm.

Yeah he prolly beats my 42 UAD plugs by miles. And I only have to Quads.

you only have to quads?  Is that a new exercise? =P

That's TWO Quads Mr Bapu...=P

YIKES! I just checked and I've got 53. I compared the Oxide to the Studer last night and I think I want the Oxide. Trying to decide if I should use the $25 coupon I have now, or see if I can do better on BF. There are about 3 plugins I'd still like, but otherwise I am good.
 
I think UAD has some of the best sounding plugins out there, and I love the GUIs (albeit some are a bit small). I had the Waves stuff (including CLA comps) and to my non-golden ears I could ear the difference and liked UAD better. I think they would get a lot more attention if it weren't for the cost - as most people who ding them openly admit they don't want a "dongle" or think the pricing is unfair/unreasonable. If you have a limited budget, I would stay away as you need to "invest" in the platform if you really want to use them across a lot of tracks.

Yikes is right -  I just looked and I have 59 line items!!!  Some of then are SE or legacy versions of the 1176, LA-2A, etc. but man I must have a problem! 

gmon72
Yikes is right -  I just looked and I have 59 line items!!!  Some of then are SE or legacy versions of the 1176, LA-2A, etc. but man I must have a problem! 

You don't have a problem, in fact you have a GREAT mixing solution! ;)
 
BTW, don't under-estimate the Apollo platform. I haven't used a plugin in unison mode yet (where it actually does impedance matching for the mic based on the modeled gear), but I DO use the UAD plugins in the Apollo console in real-time. Two applications come to mind:
 
1. I have the two Ampeg plugins and can play through them with ZERO latency, while at the same time recording the dry signal into Sonar.
 
2. My son's band practices in my studio. I have a console arrangement set up and saved where the bass goes through an Ampeg, the keyboards go through a 1073 for a little oomph, and the singer goes through a chain of UAD plugins (channel strip/EMT plate). All of this comes out of the Apollo into a pair of Atomic powered wedges and using L/R on the Aux sends in the Apollo I can customize a monitor mix for each wedge. The mix is all set up so when they come over, they just plug in and I load the console. Actually, everything but the bass is already routed through my patch bar so I don't even have to mess with cables. All of the plugins work in real-time with no latency; it's pretty damn cool stuff and of course they sound killer!
 
Also, I use my Fractal Axe FX II by way of SPDIF. The Fractal is locked at 48k which is what I typically record at, but the Apollo has a switch on the digital In that will auto-convert sample rates for you if the incoming signal (ie the Fractal) doesn't match the sample rate that the Apollo is running at (ie the Sonar project rate).
 
UAD: Cheap, No. Awesome, Yes. :)

A cost-effective way to get into UAD plugins is via the purchase of an Apollo.  Of course, you have to be in the market for a new interface, but the Apollos are competitively priced (for their quality) and frequently come bundled with vouchers for hundreds of dollars worth of plugs.  After that, taking advantage of promos and coupons will reduce the expense of additional plugins considerably.  Still not cheap, but no more expensive than stuff from other top-tier vendors like FabFilter, PA, Sonnox, et al.
 
Many UAD plugs have no equal in native-land.  It's certainly possible to produce great music without them, but once you try them, you'll likely be unwilling to give them up. 
 
Cheers,
Eddie