V-Guitar Members Should Take a Fresh Look at Universal Audio

Started by scratch17, November 15, 2017, 05:37:26 PM

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scratch17

UA has just released V9.4 of their software. IMHO, many of the guitarists on this forum should take a fresh look at this platform. Their plugins now cover a huge range of simulations of guitar, bass, effects, microphones (with Townsend L22 Mic) and studio gear.

Just released plugins include the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor, Ditronics Tri-Stereo Chorus, Gallien-Kruger 800RB bass amp, and Ocean Way Studios Mic Collection for the Townshend Labs L22 Sphere microphone.

A word about UA's Unison Technology; what it is.

Unison is actually a hardware technology that in a Hi Z DI input helps match pickup loading to make an amp sim or distortion pedal plugin react to your pickup loading the way a tube amp does.

The mic preamps on Apollos and Twins also have Unison technology. There are a large number of classic mic preamps, channel strips with Unison technology. With Unison, the impedance, gain staging and circuit behaviors of the channel strip are meticulously reproduced.

Just this year UA and its partners have released a plethora of Unison guitar amp sims. Their are now 17 Unison amp  sims from Fender, Marshall, Engl, Fuchs and 8 Unison bass amp sims from Ampeg, Eden and Gallien-Kuger. BTW, I and others on the UA Forum love electric guitar into the Ampeg B-15N bass amp.

There are also Unison pedal sims based on the Pro Co Rat, Ibanez Tube Screamer and EHX Big Muff.

Since UA added Unison technology, they have added it to existing amp sims as time has gone on. I suspect that sims from Friedman and Chandler will join the list in the future.

There are also multiple UA plugins that model classic effects for both guitar and studio.
How about a Roland Space Echo? Need a Moog Multi Mode Filter for some wild tonal effects? Roland or Boss chorus, anyone? Want Antares Autotune Realtime? Or Eventide's H910 Harmonizer? The list is way too long to name them all here, but you get the picture.

What about acoustic guitar? Do you have a Fishman Aura preamp? I do. I really like the way I can change the sound of my Taylor 710BCE's body with it. But now I have Sound Machine Wood Works. It is like the Aura on steroids. I use it to make the piezo sound of my Hamer Duotone sound like an acoustic. And if I want to modify my Taylor's piezo sound, Wood Works is like a Swiss Army Knife.

What about the microphones for recording an acoustic guitar? If you don't have good ones, forget about trying.

The Townsend Labs L22 Modeling microphone is an incredibly good solution. It has two large diaphragm condenser capsules and can be configured in mono or stereo. By themselves, the capsules have the kind of extremely flat response like those found in measurement mics. The L22 is also a multi polar pattern mic.

But Townsend created the L22 with mic modeling in mind. The L22 comes with plugin software that includes models created from 11 classic mics. Does the L22 U67 model sound exactly like an actual vintage Neumman U67? Not unless you own the exact UA vintage U67. And of course, they own it. The models of vintage mics depend on the specific mic. But trust me, Townsend has chosen to model some great examples.

You can read about the Townsend models and some of the plugin's really trick recording advantages here:

https://townsendlabs.com/products/sphere-l22/

So if this is about UA, why am I mentioning the mic? After all the L22's plugin comes in all of the popular native formats.

First of all, if you own an Apollo, you get the original Townsend plugin and 11 models. The difference is that it runs on Apollo so you don't add to your computer's load.

Second, just this week, UA released the Ocean Way Mic Collection. Twelve new models from the famed Ocean Way Studio's mic locker. The models were vetted by legend Allen Sides. Exclusive to UA Apollo, this collection for the L22 plug-in is based on what he felt are the very best representations of classic mics from Neumann, Sony, RCA, AKG and Shure.

For acoustic guitar, I like to do mid-side recording. I use a cardioid mic near the sound hole for direct sound and a figure 8 mic to create the stereo field width. Two L22's would be perfect, but I can only afford a one. So I use the L22 with a U67 model in a cardioid pattern for the direct sound and a Sterling Audio ST159 in a figure 8 pattern. Works great!

I also sometimes use the L22 in stereo with the Royer ribbon model, positioned closer to the fretboard.

If you jump in to the UA universe, be aware of a few caveats and tricks to save yourself some money.

1. Some of these plugins take a lot of DSP, some do not. There is a table available that shows what you can expect as far as DSP load for a specific plugin. You can find it on the UA Forum site here:

https://uadforum.com/forum.php

2. Get the most DSP you can afford when you buy an Apollo. The Twin Mk2 and Apollo 8 come with either 2 or 4 DSP chips. Both come with a great set of free plugins called the Analog Classics Bundle. UA also just added a stripped down version of their Marshall Plexi to the AC bundle.

The Twins have a UA plugin promo on now. The Apollos have a great promo that gets you a free UAD Quad or Octo Satellite.

Personally, I would rather get an Apollo 8 Duo (2 DSP chips) versus a Twin Mk2 Quad (4 DSP chips). That is because the Apollo 8 comes with a free Quad Satellite so you will actually have 6 DSP chips in total. The Twin also has limited expand ability compared to Apollo.

DSP load is not shared! If you load a plugin on channel 1, one and only one DSP chip is assigned to that channel. The other chips will not be available to carry load assigned to that channel. So if you go over the remaining available DSP by attempting to load another plugin, it will not work. Only one DSP per channel can be assigned.

Having given this warning, I must say, I have been able to load lots of the less DSP draining plugins on a single channel before without an issue. For example, I have loaded an Neve 1073 Unison channel strip, a Sphere plugin and a Roland Space Echo with no problems.

3. Unison Limitations

Only Apollo 8 (Black Face), and Apollo Twin have a Hi Z Unison DI input. The original Silver Face Apollo does not have Unison on its Hi Z input. (Its mic preamps do have Unison, but do not work with Unison Hi Z plugins). And of course, since UA Satellites are only DSP platforms without channel inputs, there can be no Unison on them.

Only one Unison slot is available to load in a channel. So you can load a Marshall Plexi in the Unison slot. But you cannot follow it with a second Unison plugin. That is the bad news. The good news is that you can load the same channel strip into a regular insert slot, it just won't have the advantages of the Unison technology. Don't get me wrong. It will still sound great. It is a UA plugin after all. Also, be aware that the "Legacy" (non-Unison) versions of the plugin take less DSP.

Unison plugins in a Unison slot will get printed to your DAW. To add a dry track for re-amping, split the guitar's signal. I use a Radial JDV Mk3. It has a pure bypass which I send to my Apollo Hi Z input. Then I connect the direct output of the JDV to a Mic input on my Apollo for a dry track.

What about latency? If you monitor through Apollo's Console application, round trip latency will be about 2 ms at 48khz sample rate. Latency drops at 96khz to under 2 ms. I cannot hear any latency no matter which Unison plugin I load.

Can you monitor through your DAW? Yes. Add the rtl from your DAW to the 2 ms of the Apollo and you will get a rough idea of what the total latency will be. As long as that number is below 7 or 8 ms, you probably can't hear any latency.

4. You can use UA Satellites in low latency mode to host UA plugins on your DAW. You won't get Unison. But if you want to try the UA platform on the cheap I think it might be the way to go. That is especially true if you already have a large investment in your audio interfaces.

UAD Quad Thunderbolt Satellites are going for between $400 and $500 on eBay. Lots of them are new from Apollo owners who got them as promos.

5. What is the best time to buy plugins?

Traditionally, Black Friday is the best time. I have picked up plugins that regularly sell for $300 for as little as $99. There are sales almost all the time, so check the store at least once a month.

6. Coupons

UA often provides its users with coupons. I received a $50 coupon when I first registered my new Apollo 8 three years ago. UA also gave my a free Helios Type 69 EQ plugin. I used the coupon and a second $50 coupon appeared. Since then I get a coupon almost every month. They give them out at random times. To find out if there is a coupon in your account, add a plugin to your cart at the UA store. You might see a coupon for $25, or even $50. And yes, coupons count against most sale items. I have gotten at least 5 plugins for free or less than $25. Good ones too.

7. Plugin Bundles

UA sells "custom" bundles for 3, 6, and 10 plugins at a reduced price. The bigger the bundle, the less the price. You get to pick any plugin from the UA store, regardless of price. So for exampe, you could buy a six plugin bundle like this:

Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor ($299)
Manley Variable Mu ($299)
SSL 4000 E Channel Strip ($299)
Korg SDD 3000 delay ($199)
Antares Autotune Real Time ($249)
Fender '55 Tweed Deluxe ($199)

That is $1549 at retail prices for these six plugins. UA charges $999 for this bundle. Here is a better deal.

When I bought my Apollo 8 from Sweetwater, I also bought a 10 plugin bundle. Sweetwater's price was lower for these bundles then and they still are today. For example, UA is selling a 3 plugin bundle for $699. For the same money, Sweetwater is selling the 6 plugin bundle. These are the exact same bundles. You are just paying more.

UA bundles whose contents are preselected for you are also a great deal. For example there is a bundle of Marshall amp sims that includes emulations of the Plexi Super Lead, The Silver Jubilee and the Bluesbreaker. It sells for $399 as a bundle. Bought separately these 3 plugins would cost $597.

Since I bought the Plexi when it first came out (I used a $50 coupon and paid $149 instead of $199), I can get the bundle as an upgrade for $199.

Note that these preselected bundles cannot be selected when you buy a custom bundle.










Hamer Duotone, Brian Moore i213, Taylor 710 BCE 

VG-99, FC-300, RMC Fanout
RJM Mastermind GT10
Kemper Profiling Amp
Radial JDV Mk3, X-Amp
Mesa Recto Pre + 20/20
68 Fender Bandmaster (AB763)
Marshal AS80R

UA Apollo X6, Twin X, Logic Pro, Luna, Melodyne Studio