UA WebZine "UA Universe" October 03 | This is a monthly roundup of Universal Audio News including comments from reviews, forums, emails, and calls we receive from both our loyal UA users and people new to UA. You will also still find our Employee Feature here so you can get to know the folks at UA a little better.

UA Universe - This Month at Universal Audio

Hi, welcome to “UA Universe”. This is a monthly roundup of Universal Audio News including comments from reviews, forums, emails, and calls we receive from both our loyal UA users and people new to UA. You will also still find our Employee Feature here so you can get to know the folks at UA a little better. If you don't have time to keep on top of the media overload, this column is the fast track to what's being said on the street.

This Month in UA Universe

UA's Senior Mac Guru, Jim Wintermyre

Jim Wintermyre hard at work. That's a G5 at his feet, and the 1176LN plug-in on his screen. Way to go Jim!

For this month's employee feature, we have good news and bad news. The good news is the feature is on Jim Wintermyre, Mac Guru Extrordinaire. We decided to feature him because he is the mastermind behind reprogamming the UAD-1 Software for Macintosh OS X, and that is one hot ticket for Universal Audio right now. He is also a great musician. He uses this stuff. I can tell you he is one heck of a guitar player- classical, jazz, and hard rock are all at his fingertips. He played on a recording of mine four years ago and people always ask who the guitar player is. I can also tell you that everybody enjoys being around they guy.

The bad news is Jim is too darn busy with OS X to stop for an interview, so that's about all I can tell you right now. Well, maybe that's good news for our Macintosh audience... this man will not let one bad line of code slip by. We'll check in with him next month.

So in tribute to Jim's hard work and late nights, the rest of this space is intentionally left blank. As you are scrolling, take a moment and salute our Mac Guru.

Cheers Jim!
--The Editor

Jim's door. Is that a hint?

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AES is here!

It’s October, that means Fall AES Show in New York (Booth #1158 if you want to come see us!) where we’ll be presenting technical papers, contributing to the AES historical committee and of course showing a slew of new hardware and software products from UA. And you wondered how we spend our summers here at UA?

Analog: The 2-1176 & The Rebirth Of Stereo

UA's New 2-1176 Twin Vintage Limiting Amplifier

With over 2000 UA reissues sold, the love affair with the legendary 1176LN sound lives on. After 36 years of mono compressor/limiter evolution, UA finally launches the 2-1176, a dual mono/stereo 1176LN with matched FET’s & output transformers. In the new compact 2U form factor, the 2-1176 offers twice the sound and amazing value.

Checkout this month's Compression Obsession feature for more details on the new essential Stereo compressor that is still at heart the mono compressor we all know and love : the 2-1176.

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2192's In Burn-In - Hot Off The Production Line!

Digital: The 2192 Master Audio Interface – One box, Four Clocks, 2 Converters That Rock!
(Stereo 24-bit/192k AD/DA, Clock, Transcoder ) Shipping At Last!

Yes – its here and time to brace your credit card for the next essential studio purchase! Better move fast, we have record pre-orders on this one. After months of final sonic tweaking and critical listening tests the 2192 is finally ready for prime time. How ready? Elliot Mazer, illustrious 5.1 surround mixer who was involved in some of the early prototype listening tests over the summer already placed his order for 8-channels of 2192. Here’s what Elliot had to say …

“When I get music into Pro Tools|HD at 192kHz with external converters like the Universal Audio 2192, it sounds analog. Analog to me is not hearing the system, it's music that sounds natural. I'm no longer distracted by the limitations and distortions of low sampling and bit rates.” (Elliot Mazer, September Digizine, 2003)

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UAD-1 Software for Mac OS X

UAD-1: v3.2 & Dreamverb, v3.3 & OSX
With the release of v3.2 UAD-1 software, the long awaited Dreamverb has set the new standard for plug-in Reverb and is able to finally mimic the dense reverb tails found on the most popular hardware. Dreamverb not only offers the sumptuous sound users have been asking for but ships with a comprehensive set of around 100 studio-designed Presets as starting-points for quick session work, and an advanced toolkit of editing parameters for programmers who want to intricately shape and design virtually any kind of real or surreal space! All this comes without the CPU strain of host-based convolution or sampling reverbs. The UAD-1 can run up to 6 Dreamverb’s on one card at 44.1k and like all UAD-1 plugs can run at multiple sample rates for 44.1k-192k recording.

If this wasn’t enough its completely FREE to existing or new UAD-1 customers that register before October 23rd 2003. Don’t delay , now is the time to get a card (or another card!) Check out the promotion details at Mackie!

V3.2 can be downloaded free of charge from the Mackie or UA servers:

The AES Show will also be a landmark for Mac users with the first showing of v3.3 (known previously as v3.X) for UAD-1 featuring Apple OSX support, Audio Units and G5 compatibility. Watch out for further announcements regarding a public beta.

v3.3 UAD-1 OS is actually running – OSX & AU support is right around the corner ... will ship Q4 2003

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Pro Tools TDM: Pultec EQP-1A Progam Equalizer
This month will see the AES release of UA’s TDM Pultec EQP-1A for ProTools 24|Mix and HD Systems. This is the definitive emulation of probably the most classic EQ of all time. What better way to celebrate the launch than offer our ProTools customers a new plug-in promotion that can save them up to $150. Check out the "Featured Promotion" section of the webzine.

If you want to read more and understand why the UA emulations are better by design, read our Emulation Paper.

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Coming Soon: UA Fairchild 670 – Stereo Vintage Compressor with Custom Calibration

UA's Forthcoming Fairchild 670

And just as a teaser of even more to come, here is the first ever screenshot of the forthcoming Fairchild 670 plug-in for the UAD-1 modelled after the famous golden unit at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles. The Fairchild is one of the most coveted devices in audio history and if you can’t afford the $30k for a real life hardware version, we thought you’d really like the painstakingly modeled UA version for the unbelievably generous price of $149. Not satisified with the basic level of emulation that some competitors attempt, UA decided to go the extra mile and even added the factory calibration bias controls on a custom panel for adjustment of the compression curve, and linked for true stereo. Watch out for this in the very near future …

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Review Roundup: Dreamverb (From the UA Beta Group & Chris Milne Forum)

“Very impressed. It rivals Classicverb in every sense. UA giving free plugins to their loyal customer base outnumber TC's freebies more than ever. And there aren't any downloadable presets for the Powercore that add so much flexibility as the UAD-1. I'd say, great job. So far, based on what I've heard I think this plugin is a winner.”
“I've been happily working on a series of Mastering Reverbs. Dreamverb is so rich and thick on the low end, it's almost sickening. I love it! This is a much needed plug for myself. Bravo Zulu guys!”
“I installed it, and used DreamVerb. It is dreamy!!!! Really... it sounds MUCH better than RealVerb! It's silky smooth, with a clean soft tail. It not only sounds more realistic, but closer to that Lexicon/ClassicVerb sound.”
“…well, i love it, one more great verb.. makes me forget RVP ever existed, and i wont always be hooking up my powercore fw now for a reverb.”
“Hm... for being a $149 (or at the moment even free) reverb I think Dreamverb should be renamed to Killerverb. Comparing Dreamverb to units that cost many, many times more is perhaps unfair (although of course interesting and as it seems also rewarding).

Review Roundup: 6176 Channel Strip

“I came out of my tests somewhat stunned. Seldom do you find a device that is useful in so many situations, and the 6176 was not only useful, but downright excellent…In many ways, the 6176 seems to be one of those magical devices that adds its special sauce to anything run through it.” (Darwin Grosse, Recording Magazine, October 2003)

Review Roundup: Pro Tools TDM UA Compressor Bundle

“Most audio engineers rely on these workhorse compressors for their signature sounds. We used to complain that digital emulations didn't sound as good or react the same way as the originals, making the sound woolly or dull. Well, stop crying in your beer, blokes, because Universal Audio has released the real deal. It may cost you some DSP, but the results are worth every byte.” (Home Recording, October 2003)

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Questions or comments on this article?