FREE: UAD LA-2A and $49 11-plugin offer

[Guy Rowland]

Well how about this - the UAD LA-2A is one of my absolute staples, going on every vocal I've ever done for many years, and now it is free until the end of the month - https://www.uaudio.com/uad-plugins/comp ... essor.html

Or is it? I do find this in their Q&A extremely confusing:

Is this plug-in included in the LA-2A Collection?

No, this plug-in is brand new, and is not included in the LA-2A Collection.

It looks essentially the same - it's surely got the same innards... so what, in fact, is this? I suspect it's some kind of marketing or legal fudge for some reason to do with existing customers and owners, but some clue would be nice. But working on the presumption that this is the same unit in practice, go get it.

EDIT - apparently it is the same minus the mix and hf emphasis knob. Great!

[Guy Rowland]

And - what is going on with UAD?! - plugin boutique have an 11 plugin essentials collection (including the full LA-2A package) for £49.

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/ ... IME-OFFER-

[wst3]

And - what is going on with UAD?! - plugin boutique have an 11 plugin essentials collection (including the full LA-2A package) for £49.

https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/ ... IME-OFFER-

I do not know, but even I am starting to get a little nervous!

[Lawrence]

I think they’re going full Waves.

Still on Mojave, I have to update to at least Catalina to use the LA-2A. Fear and loathing.

[playz123]

The problem these days with UAD plugins is that they aren't VST3 and therefore don't even show up in Cubase 12 running in Native mode on a Mac M1 or M2 . It's just one of many reasons why I still have Cubase 11 installed as well. Fortunately they do work in Logic Pro, but that is not my main DAW. It also doesn't appear that UA is planning to update their plugins, but that remains to be seen. They aren't alone though, I'm still waiting for companies like Kush to update their plugins too.

[Guy Rowland]

Huh - according to this, UAD's native plugins are now also VST3 compatible? https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articl ... D-Plug-Ins .

I'll check myself later, will report back.

[Guy Rowland]

Good news - UADx is indeed VST3 compatible now. All installed on Cubase and PT (AAX native) on the MacBook. Looks very much like the existing plugin, but very slightly different.

I'm in this slightly odd position where I have shared hardware access to tons of UAD stuff, but that is tied to my main rig so I can't use them on the laptop. Truthfully there's only a handful of UAD plugs I really use though and the LA-2A is one, so this is amazing. I don't think I'll get Essentials as for me none of the other plugins are, well, essential.

I do have the distinct feeling though that freebies and incredibly cheap bundles are here to stay, so I'll keep my eyes open from here on. I find the AMX 16 Expanded is very comforting, I'll look out for that in particular.

EDIT - meant to say that you get three licenses with UADx, and by default mine installed as a machine license. Great.

[playz123]

Huh - according to this, UAD's native plugins are now also VST3 compatible? https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articl ... D-Plug-Ins .

I'll check myself later, will report back.

Yup, read that too, quite awhile ago. BUT I'm not sure exactly what they mean. And many others have have mentioned the same thing I did. When one installs even the latest version of the software (10.2.5 Mac), the plugins are still only VST. VST3 is required for Cubase 12 running as stated. I just installed the latest version for my Apollo Twin X two weeks ago and things are as I reported. NO VST3!

[Guy Rowland]

Scroll up, Frank!

[playz123]

I did just read your update, but remain confused about "UADx". What is that? It doesn't show up for my downloads and people continue to complain there aren't any VST 3 versions. Will see what I can find re. my interface, but nothing so far.

[Guy Rowland]

I did just read your update, but remain confused about "UADx". What is that? It doesn't show up for my downloads and people continue to complain there aren't any VST 3 versions. Will see what I can find re. my interface, but nothing so far.

UADx is the native versions of the plugins, not tied to hardware and licensed by iLok. You should have access to these for all your powered plugins (or at least all the ones they've done native versions for). The free LA-2A is UADx.

I'm not sure what the roadmap is for powered stuff and VST3.

[playz123]

Yes, one can use UA Connect to install a few plugins as VST3. BUT, so far the number is very limited...only a couple of my 12 plugins are available. So, I guess we should clarify by stating that a few, but certainly not even the majority are available as VST3. I have the full version of the LA-2A and it's certainly not showing up here in UA Connect. But good to hear the free version is reported to be VST3/UADx. Thanks for checking further, Guy, but sadly I still don't have VST3 versions of 'most' of my UA plugins.

[Guy Rowland]

Curious - here's the full list of plugins currently UADx - https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articl ... UAD-Spark- and the LA-2A Collection is on it, so you may want to contact support as to why it's missing.

That said I thought they'd done more than this, presumably they'll all be converted eventually.

[playz123]

Thanks, Guy; will definitely do that. If the list is accurate, I currently have no idea why it's not available in UA Connect.

EDIT: Ah ha! After closely examining the “list”, now I see what’s going. The list for plugins available Natively shows “Teletronix LA-2A Collection” and “LA-2A Tube Compressor”. The latter is just the freebie. I own the LA-2A Legacy “Leveler”. So, obviously it’s important, when discussing the LA-2A, to be very specific as to which of the products are on the list and which are not. My LA-2A is not specifically a Collection so it is not on the list.

[wst3]

mindless thoughts, since I am procrastinating like crazy today.

First, I expect that all current powered plugins will get ported to the native "UADx" format as quickly as possible. It is a win-win for everyone (unless you are the type to get your panties in a bunch because you paid more for the same thing.. The sooner they get all the plugins out there as UADx the sooner that problem goes away.

Second,, so they've ported some of the powered plugins to native VST3, no way do I believe that VST3 versions of the powered plugins are far behind.

I'm not sure what is involved in such a task, but I expect to see at least an announcement about them before the end of the year.

Having nothing better to do the last couple of evenings (read trying to avoid cleaning out the garage) I did a bunch of comparisons between UAD and UADx versions of plugins that I own. So far the only difference I can spot is that some of the controls behave differently, but not by a lot, frankly physical pots varied more than that.

I'm keeping my UAD2 hardware and plugins, but I am also taking advantage of the UADx versions, in fact I've hidden the UAD2 versions of current UADx plugins just for fun.

I do think the free LA-2A stunt is a little bit questionable, but hey, it got s talking about them.