I have the UAD-1e and I'm thinking of upgrading to the UAD-2 (sale ends Sept. 30th). I'd like to get some advice whether I should pursue the UAD route or go with other plugs i.e..Fab Filter??
 
Due to their pricing, I haven't bought too much from UAD in the last 4-5 years, but do use some of their plugs regularly.......and love it.
 
Neve 88RS
1176SE
Precision Enhancer
Pultec EQP
Pultec EQ Pro
RealVerb
+ a few others that came with the UAD-1e
 
Thinking in the long term, is it worth spending $299 on a UAD-2 system (+ I'm also assuming I'll get $299 worth in plugs since I already have the Neve 88RS) or use that money to get Fab Filter or similar?
http://www.uaudio.com/promotions.html
 
 
If you were in my shoes, what would you do in my dilemma?
 
 
 
 

  
IMO, if you had more plugs that you were sure were mission critical to you, I would say yes.
If you write them, they might give you a better deal if you murder your old card and take a picture to send them, but $299, no way, I wouldn't pay that for a quad. UAD seems to be catering to the "it just sounds better on platform" crowd.  Many UAD plugs are from 3rd parties and can be purchased in native format. $299 is just too much for any dongle and really that is what a DSP card equals out to be today, just a large power hungry dongle.

Mesh,
 
Gotta agree with my bro Grant on this one.
 
I do like some of my UAD plugs and others were fascinating for about a week or two where I managed to overuse them.
 
Knowing what I know today, I should have learned on the supplied CW plugs and then simply purchased FabFilter and Slate FG-X and a tape sim (or two?) and maybe Valhalla reverbs.
 
I had this naive notion that if I owned all the top brands I would be "compatible" with whatever project file I was handed. Well, it did not end up being necessary 99% of the time as I either:
 
a) was the bass player on a project that I did not mix
b) was the producer and I got to make the choices of plugs to use
c) you gotta have a "C" according to Mooch  
 
 
Anyways, I read once (and failed to accept it 100%) that you can get a pulteq EQ result with the Sonitus EQ if you understood what was going on under the hood and put in a little bit of effort. But many of today's plug makers cater to the "gotta have the best emulation around" crowd (like me).

In their day UAD was king of the hill. That day has past. Fab Filter, ol pal. Fab Filter.

When I realized I could pay $300 to be able to run enough UAD reverbs (that I already owned) or purchase 2-3 plug-ins or a far better reverb and I could use as many instances as I needed ... my UAD 2 went up on ebay.  Never looked back.

I think it comes down to if you are doing this sort of work professionally or at  hobbyist level. If you are making money from it then I would not hesitate to go down the UAD route. I see the $300 as a smallish investment for what you could get back. But then as a non pro user I can also see why you are looking for best value of the money.
 
I have a UAD1 card also and use it and all of it all over my mixes and I don't know how I would go without it either. I think they are still some of the best plugs out there as well. Nothing has changed that much in that department either.
 
The ultimate thing is Apollo as the interface with the UAD Quad built in. That is the best place for the UAD stuff to be installed ie inside the interface where it belongs.

Jeff Evans
I think it comes down to if you are doing this sort of work professionally or at  hobbyist level. If you are making money from it then I would not hesitate to go down the UAD route. I see the $300 as a smallish investment for what you could get back. But then as a non pro user I can also see why you are looking for best value of the money.
 
 

Agree and disagree.  The reason a professional may want to use it has nothing to do with getting any money back.  UAD plugs won't get you anywhere native plugs can't get you.  The reason a professional studio my prefer UAD is that if they are recording 48+ audio tracks at a time.  In situations like that offloading the DSP actually makes sense.  For project studios and composers (whether professional or not) there is no advantage to spending $300-$2k on processing and more than twice the price of native for many plugins.  When UAD first came out everyone needed extra processing but that is no longer true.  Also UAD was considered by many as the best.  That is no longer true.  There are many plugs as good or better and often for far less money.

double post

I think UAD was the best when the plug market inventory was small. Best probably really meant most popular.
 
I do not think that it entirely diminishes their usefulness today (iffin yew already own them).
 
Cost aside, they are probably still in the top 10 for quality, IMHO.

I have a pretty paltry collection of plugs compared to most here, I suppose, but the Solo actually isn't a bad best since UAD improved the bundled plugs.
 
I haven't bought any of the marquee plug-ins from UAD, but I still absolutely love the EMT reverbs. Valhalla gets its due, and it's great, but for the sound in my head, the EMTs are tops.
 
Of course, this is coming from someone with an antiquated Core 2 Duo system, so unlike most I *still* benefit from having non-native plugs.