I’ve purchased multiple Apollo interfaces. x8, x8p, x16, solo, gen 2s. I have a bunch of duplicate plugins that UAD won’t replace with other plugins. Ok, no big deal. My account has multiple systems with a bunch of different plugins. All of my Apollo devices are on system 1 of my account.

All this time, I’ve been thinking that I could use my Apollo devices on any of the many systems of plugins in my account. I realized that was wrong when I tried to transfer one of my Apollo devices to a different system in my account. None of the other systems have devices attached to them. UAD doesn’t allow you transfer an Apollo device to a system within your own account. So not only can I not replace the duplicate plugins when I purchase an Apollo, but now all of those plugin licenses can’t be used at all!!! What’s the purpose of UAD automatically putting duplicate plugins into different systems, if I can’t use the other systems!

I purchased the Apollo device, and plugin licenses, but I can’t attach the device to the plugins that I purchased with the device. That’s ridiculous! I’ve accepted the fact that I have to pay a premium on Apollo devices for plugins I already have (Apollo devices were cheaper when they didn’t include plugins), but now UAD won’t even allow me to use the duplicate plugins when I need. Looks like the time is coming to move on from Apollo. The price is beginning to outpace the value.

Well, there's always analog...

UA used to be much more clientele friendly. Sadly as they have grown, they have become much less so. I am an original owner so I started with the PCI cards or whatever they were called. When I purchased my Apollo Quad, I got a number of free plugins as part of the purchase but I already owned them and I contacted UA and they allowed me to choose other plugins. It sounds like they are no longer willing to do that which is sad.

Recently, I had to upgrade and their upgrade process required that I create an iLok account. I spent a career in IT and I do not create online accounts anywhere anymore yet there was no way for me to avoid creating this account unless I was willing to let go of my Apollo. I did research that as a possibility but of course the money and the pain of doing so made me eventually bail and create the damn iLok account. In essence, they have tied their new UADx plugins to their older devices and I believe they should not have done this. I will never use their UADx plugins so why was I forced into this new account? Pffft...!!! Stupid...!!! Annoying...!!! I feel as though I was held hostage due to their greed.

From here on in though, I reach for Logic plugins instead of UAD plugins because from what I am seeing of the way they are now doing business, I want to be able to cut the umbilical cord.

It is a shame when a company does not treat their clients properly and from my point of view, UA has crossed into that territory.

I know it won't mean much, but I empathize with you and your frustration. I believe if you have paid to license their plugins, you should be able to authorize them for all of your UA devices. Certainly you are only going to be recording with one device at a time so it is not like you are needing to run their stuff on multiple devices at the same time. Maybe they figure you'll sell one or more of the devices giving someone free access to their plugins. Who knows what they're thinking now. This forced iLok account debacle is simply bad business from a user standpoint. Clearly it benefits them or they'd have come up with a better way of handling things. I am no longer a loyal supporter of the company and I used to praise them to anyone who would listen.

I get it - I do not matter, but clearly the brains in their conference room are not aligned with this particular user.

True. I’m starting to lean more to analog with my hybrid setup. I’m analog going in, and mostly analog on my main bus. I generally use plugins for gear I can’t afford to purchase. And of course plugins like Fabfilter.

I was joking about the wars we get into around here.
And I should be more careful...

I share your approach. I'm heavy on the analog side, but record to Reaper and use plug-ins as needed. I merrily walk the fence between digital and analog, but still have to duck once in a while...

Back on topic, I understand your frustration. Planned obsolescence is disingenuous, at best.

Analog is no cakewalk. Somedays, it's more troubleshooting than tracking, but I have the skills and technology to counteract that.
There's nothing I can do about my software support being abandoned.

That’s what I’m most frustrated about. I’ve paid to license the plugin multiple times, and I can’t use that license as many times as I’ve paid for it. Even if I wanted to record on multiple devices at the same time, I’ve paid for the license twice, so I should be able to do it. They’ve decided that it doesn’t matter if you’ve paid for multiple licenses, you’re only allowed to use one. Is that even legal? What other software company in the music industry do you purchase multiple licenses from, but they only allow you to use one of the licenses?

I was a big Apollo supporter, and user as well. I was also big on Luna. But judging by what they’re doing, I’m no longer going to start to depend on Luna. They’re just going to take all the customer’s feedback to make the DAW better, then abandon the customers that gave them the feedback. Those rack mount SSL interfaces are starting to look a lot better now.

Seems like Universal Audio is not realizing that the huge success of the gen 1 Apollo x series was due to the value you received for your dollar. Now they’re trying to just sell the name with way less value. I was just about to purchase yet another Apollo device until I found this out. Won’t be doing that, this was the last straw for me.

There’s definitely a place for the plugin domain. It’s pretty much unavoidable at this point. But with the limitless amount of plugins, the box doesn’t have to include Universal Audio or UAD plugins. I find myself a lot more frustrated with software issues than analog issues. I can reach for a different mic, choose a different compressor, use a different channel… but with software, we’re at the mercy of updates and user agreements. You can’t even call customer support. You just have to wait until they decide to reply to an email. Whenever they decide that they want to change the way licenses are used, there are no options. I used my neve pre, and I didn’t have to agree to any new terms of use.

I'm struggling to understand your situation here.

How many UAD accounts do you have - just one? or multiple?

And you say you've got multiple "systems"? But all the interfaces are "system 1"?

Why can't UAD consolidate things so all your plugins are ALSO on system 1? Then wherever you use things - as long as you're using a device you own, your plugins should work - because they're all associated with every interface?

I don't think it matters if you don't have duplicates then does it? Every plugin should work, even simultaneously on different systems?

I used to have a couple of UAD boxes at one location and a 3rd at another. It was all on one system (I'm not sure I understand this concept of multiple systems to be honest), and even if both rigs were being used at the same time, everything worked.

Please let me know what I'm not understanding! Clearly I'm missing something somewhere.

I have one UAD account. In my one account, all of my Apollo devices are on one ‘system’ (system 1), which all of my original plugin licenses are on. When I plug my system 1 devices to another computer, I can only use plugins attached to that specific device (system 1). You can only register your Apollo device under one system in your UAD account, and can’t transfer it to a different system within your account. You can have multiple plugin ‘systems’ in your account if you’ve purchased multiple licenses for the same plugins. Let’s call them system 2 and system 3. You have no control over the other systems created by UAD in your account. They automatically determine which system your second or third plugin licenses go under. Which is the first problem.

If I purchased a second license for a plugin, I should be able to use that second license with any one of my Apollo devices. Although I already have multiple Apollo interfaces, they’re attached to system 1. The only way to use my second purchased license for the plugin is to purchase another Apollo device and attach that to system 2. If I want to use the 3rd plugin license that I paid for, I have to purchase yet another Apollo device and attach it to system 3.. and so on. I have six systems of plugins in my UAD account. I can’t use the other 5 unless I buy an Apollo for each of the 5.

Although it’s the same UAD account, once the device is attached to a specific system, you can’t change it. So I have 5 other systems of purchased plugin licenses, and can’t use them.

Imagine purchasing 2 Pro Tools licenses, then they make you buy another Avid interface in order to use the second Pro Tools license. Although you already own multiple Avid interfaces.

Another slap in the face is if you own 6 devices, you will have to repurchase all of your plugins if you want to use them with a 7th device. This may not seem like a big deal, but they no longer allow you to transfer devices out of your account if you sell it. Let’s say I returned an Apollo x4 to Sweetwater in exchange for an x8p. Since you can no longer transfer devices out of your UAD account, that device will be counted in your device limit until Sweetwater resales the x4 you returned. The device isn’t removed from your UAD account until it’s registered by a new owner. So you can reach the max amount of system devices, even when you no longer own the devices. It’s about time for me to move on from the Apollo ecosystem.

[QUOTE=4GIL;17414786]I have one UAD account. In my one account, all of my Apollo devices are on one ‘system’ (system 1), which all of my original plugin licenses are on. When I plug my system 1 devices to another computer, I can only use plugins attached to that specific device (system 1). You can only register your Apollo device under one system in your UAD account, and can’t transfer it to a different system within your account. You can have multiple plugin ‘systems’ in your account if you’ve purchased multiple licenses for the same plugins. Let’s call them system 2 and system 3. You have no control over the other systems created by UAD in your account. They automatically determine which system your second or third plugin licenses go under. Which is the first problem.

If I purchased a second license for a plugin, I should be able to use that second license with any one of my Apollo devices. Although I already have multiple Apollo interfaces, they’re attached to system 1. The only way to use my second purchased license for the plugin is to purchase another Apollo device and attach that to system 2. If I want to use the 3rd plugin license that I paid for, I have to purchase yet another Apollo device and attach it to system 3.. and so on. I have six systems of plugins in my UAD account. I can’t use the other 5 unless I buy an Apollo for each of the 5.

Although it’s the same UAD account, once the device is attached to a specific system, you can’t change it. So I have 5 other systems of purchased plugin licenses, and can’t use them.[/quoet]

OK, that's making things a little clearer.

But - I don't understand why you need to use the 2nd licenses? for example, if you have 3 interfaces, plug them into 3 different systems - can you not just load the same authorisation into each of them, at the same time? You don't need the duplicate license at all, because each interface or accelerator already has access to the same authorisation, and AFAIK there's nothing to stop you using them at the same time?

Well - if I only had one PT setup, why would I need a 2nd PT license? It's not really a working comparison, because you could have 10 UAD interfaces and use 1 copy of the plugin on 10 systems, but you'd need 10 PT licences to do the same thing.

This is all IME. As I said, I used to have 2 different UAD setups, 2 accelerator boxes in one location, 1 in another - and I only had 1 license for each plugin, but they could be used simultaneously.

Is there anything to stop you registering a dummy account, transferring the unwanted interface to this, and then moving it on from there? Genuine question.

I can connect my different Apollo devices to multiple computers, but I wouldn’t be able to use the plugins on multiple computers simultaneously. When you had 2 setups, were you running plugins on each setup at the same time? So did you have 2 recording or mixing sessions running at once?

I currently have multiple protools licenses because I have multiple setups. You can’t use one PT license on 2 setups at the same time. I need both PT licenses because there are times when I need both rigs running simultaneously. If you only use one setup at a time, then it probably wouldn’t matter much.

If I make a dummy UAD account and transfer a device, I still wouldn’t have the plugins. Whenever you transfer a device with the plugins, you have to transfer every single plugin that’s attached to that device (system), you can’t choose. So that would mean that I would no longer have any plugins on my main system (other devices) if I transferred one with the plugins. I could transfer it without the plugins, but that would defeat the purpose. I would either have to repurchase all plugins on my main system, if I transferred plugins with the device, or repurchase plugins for the new system if I transferred the device without plugins. This is ridiculous, considering the fact that I have 5 systems of purchased plugins already in my account. I can’t use them without purchasing another Apollo unit… because once a device is registered to a system, you can’t transfer it to a different system of plugins within your account.

If I want to transfer one device to system 2, then transfer that device and plugins to a different account, I couldn’t. Once the device is registered to a system in your account, there’s no changing it. Other than what UAD calls a ‘one time courtesy’. Which leaves 4 systems of purchased plugin licenses that I can’t use.

The only way to transfer a device with plugins is to transfer every single plugin in that system. Which means that the remaining devices in system 1 would no longer have plugins, and I would have to purchase every plugin again for system 1 (my main system). I wouldn’t be able to just transfer the remaining devices to one of the other 5 plugin systems in my account. It’s not allowed by UAD.

Yeah - I would have - one setup was the main studio, another a private overdub space. I suppose it’s possible that when I was using my smaller space, no one ever opened a session with a uad plug in the main studio…but it’s very very unlikely.

I also only had accelerator boxes, not interfaces. I don’t know if that’s relevant.

With what you’re describing - it seems pointless that you can have more than one “system” within the account, doesn’t it? How can the 2nd plugins be used at all?

Right - I said the same thing.

Yes I agree - the dummy account thing was for removing the limitation of interface numbers on one account - you complained that you had to wait for it to be resold before you could add a new interface, but I’m suggesting a way round that.

Oh, now I see what you’re saying about the dummy account.

You’re right, it’s pointless to have multiple systems when all of my interfaces are on one system. That’s my primary complaint. The only way to use the other systems is to purchase a new Apollo device and register it to one of the other systems. You get one opportunity to choose which system you register the device to. After that, the device has to stay in that system.

Why wouldn’t they allow me to transfer one of my devices to a different system of plugins in my account? I have multiple Apollo devices, I’ve purchased the licenses for the plugins in the other systems, but that’s not good enough. I should be able to use my Apollo devices with any system of plugins that I’ve purchased. I understand not being able to use one license on multiple systems simultaneously. However, if I’ve purchased multiple licenses, I should only be restricted by the amount of licenses that I’ve purchased.

You only have this problem if you’ve loyally purchased multiple things from UAD. Spend thousands and thousands on Apollo devices, then they restrict your ability to use plugin licenses that you’ve paid for. This is what they’re doing to repeat customers.