yorolpal
In the last few years WAVES has completely changed their image.  And their copy protection scheme which, while being similar to the iLok system, DOES NOT use an iLok and is proprietary to WAVES.  They seem much more customer friendly and support has much improved.  They are constantly heavily discounting from their old sky high pricing structure and are continuing to release new, top shelf and innovative plugs. 
 
UAD, on the other hand, while always being a friendly bunch to work with and a purveyor of top notch plugs, has, to my mind, stagnated in both a mindset and pricing structure from their heyday as the top dog of the plug in world.  Most of their newer exclusive to UA offerings are IMHO fairly pedestrian and they seem to favor simply modeling plugs you can already get from other companies (and better ones at that).  Their prices are still sky high and their sales are few and the big discounts are usually just on their oldest, outdated plugs.  Plus, don't forget the most expensive part of the initial UAD experience...the dongle.  Why UAD hasn't gone native yet is a mystery to me.  But what do I know?
 
I own many plugs from both companies.  But could I have a do over as of today I'd forego UAD in favor of other great offerings at lower price points from other vendors (like FabFilter, for instance). 
 
YMMV.
 

I gotta thank yorolpal for being so insistent on pointing out FabFilter. I finally took the Fab plugs through the test - and boy, the name really says it all: they are totally fabulous. I'll buy the whole PRO-x series, don't know if I can wait until they have a sale. I probably buy even at full price (there was a thread just recently about plugs worth buying at full price ... well, I reckon the Fab ones are ...)
 
BTW, I also did a lot of WAVES testing and ended up taking advantage of the August sale on some of their standard pieces & vintage emus. Compared to the Fab stuff, the GUIs appear about a hundred years old, but they work on my DAW (contrary to some reports in this forum) ... the sound is out of debate & still great ...
 
So for the time being I did not enroll as UA customer (as regards plugs), mostly as I still have lots of resources in the beefy DAW and I did not feel like spending a grant for something that mostly acts as a dongle while native power is idle ...
 
 
Just out of curiosity: Is anybody really using the WAVES signature series plugs. I tested them for the fun of it (though I never really believed in that mangling of multiple processors into a single GUI), but I did not like them at all ... maybe just my prejudice ...
 
Cheers,
 
Rob

FYI, you never have to pay full price for FabFilter plugins. Anyone that owns the plugins (myself included) can send you a 10% discount code via email generated from their FabFilter account. The person generating the email also benefits by receiving $13 credit against future FabFilter purchases when the discount code is used.

scook
FYI, you never have to pay full price for FabFilter plugins. Anyone that owns the plugins (myself included) can send you a 10% discount code via email generated from their FabFilter account. The person generating the email also benefits by receiving $13 credit against future FabFilter purchases when the discount code is used.

Hi scook,
That's a cool way of acquiring new customers
Would you be interested in earning that $13 credit? You could generate the code and send it to the address you'll find at the bottom of this link.
 
Thanks
 
Robert
 

Done.
 
Yeah, Fabfilter not only makes good plug-ins. They are good guys too.

FreeFlyBertl
Just out of curiosity: Is anybody really using the WAVES signature series plugs. I tested them for the fun of it (though I never really believed in that mangling of multiple processors into a single GUI), but I did not like them at all ... maybe just my prejudice ...
 
Cheers,
 
Rob

Rob,
 
I find that some of the presets in CLA are nice for vox and acoustic guitar, I have recently found that I really like JJP for my vocals. Have not yet tried it on others vocals yet. 

scook
Done.
 
Yeah, Fabfilter not only makes good plug-ins. They are good guys too.

so are you. thanks for that discount voucher !

The thing I favor for Waves is that, not only do they painstakingly model antique hardware by brand, they go after specific units that have been used with great success, and simply allowed you to duplicate that exact device many times. UAD does the same thing, but where Waves has gone after specific favored units, I don't sense it would be wise for UAD to do the same as this would potentially compete with their hardware line of sales. Does UAD model their vintage equipment for plug-ins, or do they believe the ones to model are the latest and greatest hardware offerings? I'm setting myself up to be contradicted here, but does UAD specify which exact unit(s) they modeled? 
 
More, I agree with [yorolpal] in that Waves support has significantly become more customer-centric. Where some DAW makers don't study the ways of the plug-in makers, Waves knows the in's and out's of Sonar, and know how to work an issue to close without you having to conference in a Sonar support agent. Sure, Cakewalk cannot be help responsible for what Waves does to your DAW, but Waves support seems to know this demarcation.
 
I didn't care much for the WUP plan when I first became aware of it, but I will admire this about it. When sales are slow, and Waves isn't getting new products out the door in a profitable fashion, they don't suffer the lack of revenue they need to keep advancing or updating/fixing the existing plug-ins they already have. To be honest, if Cake instituted a reasonable CUP (like WUP), I would buy into it, because that would propose that Cakewalk could spend the extra time/effort for releasing patches, etc.
 
For Waves licensing, I agree that the licensing is tricky, and I read some Russian kid cracked it's security in less than a week, but I still think it's far superior to the ailing iLok technology.
 
For UAD, another thing to consider is the need for the PCI card. PC/Mac Hardware will almost always devalue and become outdated. You can't always trade-in the old hardware. That's what kept me away from the UAD, from the start, even though I had already invested in Waves.

brconflict
 
I didn't care much for the WUP plan when I first became aware of it, but I will admire this about it. When sales are slow, and Waves isn't getting new products out the door in a profitable fashion, they don't suffer the lack of revenue they need to keep advancing or updating/fixing the existing plug-ins they already have. To be honest, if Cake instituted a reasonable CUP (like WUP), I would buy into it, because that would propose that Cakewalk could spend the extra time/effort for releasing patches, etc.
 
For Waves licensing, I agree that the licensing is tricky, and I read some Russian kid cracked it's security in less than a week, but I still think it's far superior to the ailing iLok technology.
 

You don't need to purchase a WUP every year since their plugins work as advertised & seldom require fixes.
Unofficially they'll try to help anyone who isn't covered. Never had problems other than the sync issue using their Delay with Cake's software. ( & fixed by reg. tweak)

brconflict
The thing I favor for Waves is that, not only do they painstakingly model antique hardware by brand, they go after specific units that have been used with great success, and simply allowed you to duplicate that exact device many times. UAD does the same thing, but where Waves has gone after specific favored units, I don't sense it would be wise for UAD to do the same as this would potentially compete with their hardware line of sales. Does UAD model their vintage equipment for plug-ins, or do they believe the ones to model are the latest and greatest hardware offerings? I'm setting myself up to be contradicted here, but does UAD specify which exact unit(s) they modeled? 
 <snip>
For UAD, another thing to consider is the need for the PCI card. PC/Mac Hardware will almost always devalue and become outdated. You can't always trade-in the old hardware. That's what kept me away from the UAD, from the start, even though I had already invested in Waves.

IMHO, UAD is unmatched when it comes to emulations of real hardware units, including their own hardware (e.g. the various UA 1176 models).  Their emus of the classic 1176 and LA-2A/LA-3A compressors; Pultec, API, Manley, Helios, and Neve EQs; SSL and Neve channel strips; Echoplex and Roland tape delays; and Ampex tape machine are, to my ears, clearly the best of their kind.   And they have several tools unavailable elsewhere AFAIK, including the new ENGL amps (which rock!) the Empirical Labs Fatso, and the spectacular Ocean Way reverb. 
 
Yes, the UAD hardware is a sizeable investment.  But with the current promo, where you get some nice plugins free with purchase, it really isn't too painful considering what you get.  Example:  you can buy a new Solo card for around $250 if you shop around (check jrrshop.com and use the "group" discount code) which comes with the original 1176 and LA-2A, Fairchild, Pultec, and RealVerb plugins; PLUS the promo throws in the Neve channel strip, which normally sells for $299.  That's a nice set of tools right there.
 
Of course, this could be considered a gateway drug to a long, expensive habit of buying pricey plugins and ever-more powerful hardware.  But if you can exercise some restraint and wait for the usual sales and vouchers, you can generally pay much less than the advertised prices -- right now, their BOSS chorus plugin is selling for $49, which is more than fair, I think.  And you CAN trade in your old hardware to some retailers (jrrshop again) or sell it for good money on ebay.
 
I also like Waves plugins for several things, but whenever I've compared their products with the UAD equivalent, I've preferred the UAD in nearly every case.  YMMV.  And as for customer service, I've had great experiences with both vendors.  They're both class acts, IME.
 
Cheers,
Eddie
 

FreeFlyBertl
Just out of curiosity: Is anybody really using the WAVES signature series plugs. I tested them for the fun of it (though I never really believed in that mangling of multiple processors into a single GUI), but I did not like them at all ... maybe just my prejudice ...

I've found that the Signature plugs are very useful for some things.  It's not always easy to duplicate what they do with other plugs, and they usually save time.  My favorites are CLA Vocals, CLA Guitars (I frequently prefer this over other amp sims), Maserati Drums (for kick and toms), Kramer Drums (for snares, overheads, and rooms), CLA and Kramer Bass, Kramer Guitars and Effects (for classic rock tones) and JJP Vocals.  The Marroquin series is also very good, but those are more akin to traditional general-purpose plugins like EQ, reverb, and delay.
 
Cheers,
Eddie