OT: Thunderbolt 3 Question

[John Ludlow]

You also can't just drop in a TB card unless the motherboard has support for it in both hardware on the motherboard and BIOS support.

So unless your existing motherboard specifically has support for TB you would have to upgrade the motherboard anyway.

Very good point.

[Dave Labrecque]

You also can't just drop in a TB card unless the motherboard has support for it in both hardware on the motherboard and BIOS support.

So unless your existing motherboard specifically has support for TB you would have to upgrade the motherboard anyway.

Right. I think that was the cost-comparing I did. But who knows.

[jmh]

Happily, though, using SAW's plug-in management features we can create a default list that leaves out the ones we don't want to look at.

How do you hide the list? I have been scrolling through a couple of pages for years, even though I probably use less than 10.

[MMP]

That's a bummer. Thanks for the info, though. I wonder if the fix would be on the UA side or the SAW side.

Bob -- any interest in having a pow-wow with the UA folks? I'm happy to facilitate. Though Michael is more qualified.

I think the issue is that SAW products stop the audio engine when you stop playback. I think most DAWs always keep the audio engine running.
You can get around this by keeping a dummy channel in Live mode, or by using SAC as a front end. I hope some day we can have a global switch to change if the engine turns off with playback. There are advantages to both modes of operation IMO, but it is a complication with UAD hardware presently.

One option would be to get a UAD Satellite Or PCI card and a different audio card that does play well with SAW (my present solution).

[Microstudio]

I am curious about why people think the UA plugins and the high prices of them and their hardware are so good? There are many great audio devices out there for less and IMHO Wave plugins are great along with many others.

[MMP]

IMO, some of the plugins just sound better than others that do similar things.

I own the Waves Horizon bundle and use some of the plugins daily, but the reason I choose to use them is mostly when I need a low latency plugin in the pre position. Rarely is it because of the sonic character. UAD plugs often win for character and quality of sound. The fact they are DSP based does seem to pull some load off the computer, especially now that their hardware connects through Thunderbolt.

I do think UA plugins tend to be too expensive, but UAD does discount them often and is more flexible than some companies in how they can be distributed-you can have one plugin license validated on up to six UAD devices. UA also offers free updates with no extra service fee. Waves is a license per system and a hefty fee to stay current. If you own a Mac, UA throws in an entire DAW.

As to the quality of their audio devices, I would say the conversion quality of their recent rack models is better than the SSL Alphalink, the Focusrite Red Series, MOTU, and others I own. The x6 rack's converters are the best I have had in the studio since I sold my Lavry mastering converter a number of years ago.

I also use some other expensive plugins and some inexpensive plugins. What matters most to me in making a purchase can be many things. Does it sound better than other tools? Does it do something innovative that others aren't? Will it save me time in completing my work? What is the CPU cost vs the production benefits?

As a result, I own plugins from many companies including UA. Kush, Valhalla, RML, Waves, Izotope, Oeksound, etc.

So, there you have it from one person's perspective.

[Dave Labrecque]

How do you hide the list? I have been scrolling through a couple of pages for years, even though I probably use less than 10.

Click on the Group button in the FX Choices View. There are options to create user-definable lists of plugins and choose one as the default. I only have a few, but you can make a zillion.

[Dave Labrecque]

I think the issue is that SAW products stop the audio engine when you stop playback. I think most DAWs always keep the audio engine running.
You can get around this by keeping a dummy channel in Live mode, or by using SAC as a front end. I hope some day we can have a global switch to change if the engine turns off with playback. There are advantages to both modes of operation IMO, but it is a complication with UAD hardware presently.

One option would be to get a UAD Satellite Or PCI card and a different audio card that does play well with SAW (my present solution).

Interesting. Yeah, I've been using the PCI/PCIe cards since the beginning. In fact, didn't you sell me a UAD-1 back in the day? I had two UAD-1 cards running at the same time. Cutting edge, baby.

[MMP]

I may have sold one to you. I think I had multiples in an external chassis at one point. So long ago I don't really recall.

Interesting. Yeah, I've been using the PCI/PCIe cards since the beginning. In fact, didn't you sell me a UAD-1 back in the day? I had two UAD-1 cards running at the same time. Cutting edge, baby.