Long time UAD-s user, but due to UA's unwillingness to upgrade the UAD-2 plug-ins to VST3, I'm looking for alternatives so I can stop running Nuendo in Rosetta mode.

Mostly the ones I am most interested in keep using are:

1176
LA-2A
Pultec
SSL G Comp
RS88
EMT 140
API 2500 Bus Comp
1073 Preamp and EQ

Any suggestion? Something of similar quality.

Thank you.

They are now native (UADx) and you can redeem your old DSP plugins. It’s not the solution I would like to have, but it’s what we have.

Yeah, I'm aware of that, but there are a couple of issues: First not al plug-ins are native and second, and most important, they won't let you use your computer as the "dongle" for pace. They force you to either cloud or dongle. I'm not interested in one more dongle, nor am I always able to use internet. I often travel and work from remote places.

I contacted them and they won't budge. It is an option that Pace allows and many other plug-in manufacturers let you do that. UA will not.

I’d consider Arturia’s FX Suite as a way of addressing most of that. You can demo it and see what you think.

I will thanks

Along with the Arturia plugs, I'd recommend trying out the Black Rooster Audio and Plugin Alliance versions of whatever you're looking for. Those two sources have satisfied my "analog classics modeled for the digital realm" needs very nicely over the past few years and I'm still quite happy with them. (As far as Plugin Alliance goes, the NEOLD offerings are excellent, and I like the Brainworx channel strips too.)

On a whim I bought the IK Multimedia bundle which is now $100.

They are better sounding than UAD IMHO. (Been a UAD user since day 1)


https://www.ikmultimedia.com/product...racks-5-max-v2

Damn, that's a hell of a deal. I'd probably jump on that if I didn't already have these needs covered.

I got the CS bundle version of the T-Racks 5 from IK Multimedia when i bought some hardware. I was always wondering how good is the whole package and could it confidently be the analog emulation package for all the occasions.

What are the gearspacers opinion on T-Racks 5 package as a replacement for UAD and, lets say, Waves?

You need to download the trial version and check this yourself.

Sunset Sound Reverb is excellent and worth the $100 alone.

I already had some points to redeem from my Tonex purchase so I bought this bundle for $69. Looking forward to shooting out some of the usual suspects against the UAD plugins.

Yeah, i lowered the price down to 69$ too. I am thinking of getting it.

I've been a UAD guy since day one as well. I dropped Pro Tools because of the licensing and witched to Logic. The plug ins in Logic are fantastic but Logic is the most frustrating DAW. I've had really weird things occur. Tracks have gotten deleted. Sends and Bus assignments have gotten switched or overlaid. Functions get turned on or turned off without my knowledge.

I think some of it is due to hot keys I am not awae of but not all of it.

I had a bunch of hidden tracks. Then noticed one of my Aud channels was gone. I unhid the hideen tracks and I think that because the hidden tracks had references to old and now deleted buses, it caused all sorts of chaos and renamed or reassigned some of the buses.

Note to self - before hiding tracks, remove send and bus assignments.

Sorry, I digressed here...

Aside from wrong hotkey combos, a thing to look out for is using any of the “Library” presets. Whether it’s the regular channel strip/effects combo stuff, or the virtual instrument related stuff.

Those will sometimes create multiple channels, track stacks, and new bus/aux with more plugins loaded.

If you have something tweaked in just-so with bus/aux structure and then add that stuff in the wrong way…’tis chaos and confusion!

That said, behavior is consistent, and it’s usually possible to get the behavior you want. There’s often more than one way of doing something in the app.

Where did UA say they are unwilling to upgrade UAD-2 plugs to VST3?

They have not yet, but I believe it's coming.

For a counterpoint, I don’t like Arturia effects (or synths), or Black Rooster (decent but why buy decent instead of great?), or IKM (partially due to the company itself).

Softube
Kush
Korneff
Overloud
Lindell
Liquidsonics
SSL

Etc to replace UAD (not in any particular order).

Black Rooster Audio are VST2 only, too, so same problem as with UAD2 on Mac and Cubendo. No ETA for VST3 either.


For the comps (1176, LA2A, SSL, API), I’d throw in DMG Audio TrackComp. Not a shiny photorealistic faceplate, but sounds great, has additional options the UAD ones don’t have and then some more compressor models on top.

Plate 140: Fuse Audio Labs VREV-140 maybe, or Soundtoys Superplate (again, much more than only that)

Tracks, while not a direct replacement for the entire UAD catalog as its missing alot in the Ultitmate bundle, is an amazing, well rounded collection of plugjns and probably the best $99 you can spend on an effects bundle. As far as Waves, the package is huge but personally I can't stand Waves WUP so I refuse to buy their plugins even if many professionals have used them historically. They were the first but imo they are far from best and inferior in many categories.

Sunset and Fame are 2 of the best reverbs you can buy and the included Lexicons aren't bad for quick and easy track reverbs. IK Tapes, while CPU hungry, are the best tape emus on the market period. The Blk1176 and WhiteLA2A are 2 of the best in their category. The Precision Neve 33609 is awesome and one of the best available and the SSL Bus Comp is pretty good too.

The 670 Fairchild Tube Comp, Leslie, Echoplex and Space Echo are all top notch too. The Pultec is a little dated and not top tier compared to some of the newer competitors. The older yellow ones aren't the latest and greatest but utilitarian. Dyna Mu and Sat X are excellent also.

Tracks 5 Max with a few additional reverbs like Liquidsonics CRP, Tai Chi, HD Cart, Relab LX480.... Valhalla or Replika XT delay.....a few compressors and saturation from Kush and Fuse, Soundtoys Effect rack, RuleTec or UAD Pultec and maybe Kirchoff or FF Pro Q3 for utility EQ and you've got all the plugins you'd ever need.

Thanky you for this well rounded answer.

Been waiting for them to do this for well over a year now and no movement whatsoever (they said they were 'working on it' quite some time ago).. Now that I'm on an ARM Mac (and a Cubase user) no more for me.

Anything I used of theirs has since been replaced, and now that I got the native UAD LA-2A's/1176/etc doubt I will look back if they ever do update to VST3.

Waves is a valid alternative.

UAD11 has VST3 support