Universal Audio UAD-2 Solo Laptop, Does This Thing Rock?

I just "won" an unopened one of these on eBay for $305. I've been watching these for a while and I've seen the price drop from the $500 they cost retail. I'm kind of just guessing that it's because the expresscard 34 slot isn't as popular as it was for a while, however, both my 2008 15" MBP and new 17" MBP have these slots so I'd expect to be able to use this for a long time to come.

I have no idea what emulations or plug-ins will be included and there's a $50 voucher to buy more. I imagine a guy could drop a lot of cash into this thing buying plug-ins but I'm wondering what people here think are the most worthwhile ones to have.

You'll eventually want all of them in time. Trust me. Anyway, any first install or updated drivers unlocks all of the plugins for 2 weeks so you'll get to try them all for yoursef.

That's good to know because I may want to hold off on installing the thing until I get this damn fill-in gig behind me (kick myself in the ass again and remind myself that the answer to bands is always NO) and I can get back to my recording projects.

I haven't tried all of them, but I use the Dreamverb all the time, the Channel Strip (utilitarian but not bad), LA2A. The Pulteq is nice when I don't need more EQ control, which unfortunately isn't that often. I hear good things about the Plate 140.

Is this thing good for tracking or just mixing/mastering?

For tracking, you may have issues with latency. There is a live mode, but I haven't messed with it much.

And yes, "this thing" does rock. UA's plug's really nail the analog sound. But, UA makes a bunch of different plugs so the "best" ones depend on what you need.

IIRC the trial period starts the first time you use the plug. So you can use the included plugs - which are certainly well worth using - then check out the other ones at your leisure.

BTW one of the coolest things is that I was pleasantly surprised to find I could use the plug-ins I owned on my UAD desktop system with the Solo Laptop, no extra charge.

UA just plain makes good stuff. At one trade show EveAnna Manley told me about what a great job UA did emulating the Massive Passive. When a hardware manufacturer gives her blessing to a software emulation of her "baby," that's pretty impressive.

Oh...one other thing. The Solo Laptop gets quite warm in operation. I checked with UA; they said this is normal, and not to worry.

So it not only rocks, it's also smoking hot!

In that weird way some here will understand I had been hoping I would get outbid but now I'm glad I won on it and am looking forward to trying it out.

Thanks for all the !

Craig's endorsement echoes many many other authoritative opinions on the UADs.

I would just add this - consistently I hear from pro-level types that the UAD plugs are, yeah, not exactly the same as having the hardware, but so close and infinitely cheaper and convenient, that they use them all the time. For home studio types like myself whose money gets used up just getting a decent mic/preamp/coupla instruments, etc - the UAD stuff takes things to a whole new level, affordably.

UAD is always running deals on their plugs - no need to run out and buy a ton of them at full retail. Just be patient, get on their email list, and they'll run discounts and give away vouchers and stuff.

I have only the old UAD-1 card, so the UAD-2 probably is surely that much better.

Plugs I use the most are:

Plate 140 reverb (LOTS of people swear by this one)

LA2A

1176LN

PultecPro eq

Boss CE1 chorus (really heavenly on Rhodes or elect guitars)

Be careful about buying other people's plugs - last time I checked the licenses were NOT transferable.

FWIW - I do have some buggy issues with Win 7 and my UAD-1 and Sonar. Cannot figure out who the culprit is so far - hoping it will go away with some update of one or the other.

nat whilk ii

I'm looking forward to trying some of those plug-ins. I expect to be using the Solo unit with Logic and perhaps Digital Performer.

Which version of Sonar? That makes a difference.

If it helps any, I'm using the UAD-1 also with Sonar 8.03 with the "Sonar compatibility mode" unchecked(off) with my FW audio interface set at 5.ms at 44hz/64 bit and it's as solid as any of my native plugins.

Now that's what I call useful information...thanks Alndln2.

Sonar 8 is what I'm using. I'll try Alndln2's settings and see if that helps. What happens basically is that, any UAD-1 plug that is inserted into a track causes my other VST instruments on any track whatsoever to stop responding. If I disable the UAD plugs, the other VSTs return from their silent state. I work around it - freezing tracks and applying the effects, etc., but it slows things down.

I'll report on progress once I try Alndln2's settings out.

Thx mucho todos

nat whilk ii

That is really bizarre. Do you have the latest UA updates? Are you use 32-bit or 64-bit?

Hi mate,

Once you get on that UAD train you won't want to get off. I've been using it for about a year now, all the plug ins are amazing but I would have to list the following as my favourites:

Empirical Labs Fatso

Harrison EQ

Moog Filter

RE201 Space Echo

Neve Pack

Precision Mastering Bundle

Pultec EQ

Cambridge EQ

EMT Plate 140 Reverb

Haven't tried the latest ones yet (Manley Passive, Studer A800, Trident EQ) but I'm sure they will be amazing too. These guys really know what they're doing.

I run 2 Solo cards together on a Quad Core WXP machine with Cubase 5 - It is completely stable. If I run out of UAD power it just doesn't allow me to open any more plug ins but all the ones I have open will perform fine with no freezing, glitching or crashing.

A far better experience than I had with Powercore. I would recomend these to anyone, and I do! (I work in a music tech shop)

Enjoy!!

Just got the Studer 800 added to my account so I can do a review...looks promising. So far, my fave tape emulations have been the McDSP and Virsyn ones, so it will be interesting to see UA's take on this.

Mr Modulator - what problems did you have with the PowerCore (other than TC dropping support for it last month)?