UAD-1 Universe - This Month at Universal Audio
- This Month in UA Universe
Featured Employee - George Peterson, Soldering Technician
 |
|
Star UA Soldering Tech George Peterson
|
UAD-1/New Products : UAD-1 Studio PAK & UA Fairchild Compressor
 |
|
UAD-1 Studio PAK
|
At NAMM 2004 in LA, UA launched UAD-1 version 3.4, the Fairchild 670 plug-in and the new UAD-1 Studio PAK – a complete bundle containing the UAD-1 DSP PCI card and all 20 premium UA plugs including the new UA Fairchild 670, Cambridge & Dreamverb which are normally paid $149 plug-ins. For new users that want to get all the UA plugs at the best possible price, the Studio PAK is the product for you. US List $1199, street price around $899.
 |
|
Clare with one of the Studio PAK winners,
...just as Stevie Wonder walks by. More NAMM Photos |
To celebrate the launch of the Studio PAK, UA gave away 2 units in a hugely popular prize draw each day at NAMM. Here’s some photos from the show :
<top>
Since the Mackie UAD-1 has been discontinued, isn't the UAD-1 Studio Pak
just a price hike?
If you either don't already own a UAD-1, or if you already own a UAD-1, want to buy another and have not yet purchased the after-market plug-ins, it's actually a discount. Given that the street price of the Mackie UAD-1 is around $600 and the price of DreamVerb, Cambridge and the new (must have) Fairchild is $450, the total price of what's included in the Studio Pak is $1,050, which is $150 more than that $899 street price. If you're either an existing UAD-1 owner who already has the after-market plugs, and wants to add additional cards or looking to purchase your first UAD-1 and don't want to pony up for the after-market plug-ins right away, we recommend purchasing the Mackie UAD-1 card, which will be available in the retail channel worldwide at Mackie authorized dealers until supplies run out (expected in March 2004). At that time UA will make available a replacement product to UA dealers worldwide-more details on this replacement product will be forthcoming.
 |
The UA Fairchild 670 Compressor is now available for purchase at the new UA store for the low price of $149 and has been getting rave reviews and is or hottest selling plug ever ! Read all the amazing unedited user reviews here and download v3.4 to checkout the 14-day fully featured demo :
<top>
UAD-1 Website and Customer Service, Toll-Free Tech Support, Forums
All registration, license code redemption and plug-in sales for the UAD-1 will now be handled at the all new site my.uaudio.com. So if you have not already registered, you will need to in order to buy any plugs in future. The good news is that along with new high speed servers, this process has been completely automated so authorizations can be now be generated instantly around the clock without the 72 hour waiting period for authorization as in the old system.
There are some new telephone and email contact points for UAD-1 Tech Support. In order to best help everyone quickly and efficiently, we kindly request that you READ the known issues and installation notes that come on the CD-ROM with the product or in the latest software download BEFORE calling us.
Also, there are a number of FAQ’s & Tech Bulletins online that often can resolve common issues without waiting in the Tech Support queue. We would really appreciate it (as will your fellow customers in need) if you can help us maximize the use of Tech Support calls for UAD-1 specific customer problems and NOT for basic issues such as: (i) too lazy to read the installation notes, (ii) how to setup or actually use your recording software or audio interface which should be handled by your dealer, or the software manufacturers and not UA. We will also launch a UAD-1 knowledgebase online later this year to offer further fast help/advice.
Customer Service :
- 1-866-UAD-1176 (toll free USA)
Mac UAD-1 Issues:
PC UAD-1 issues:
Unofficial UAD-1 Forum: chrismilne
Support Report (Tackles top Mac & PC UAD-1 issues every month in the Webzine)
Software Manufacturers :
- MOTU
- + 1 617 576-3066
- techsupport@motu.com
- Emagic
- + 1 530 477 1050
- support@emagicusa.com
- Steinberg
- + 1 317-577-8770
- http://www.steinbergusa.net/Support/contact.htm
- Cakewalk
- +1 888 CAKEWALK
- http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/EMAIL.ASP
<top>
 |
|
Greg Sutton, Advertising Manager of Mix Magazine and George Petersen, Editorial Director with PR Maven Marsha Vdovin and UA President Matt Ward
|
UAD-1 Known Issues & What we’re Doing
The Support Report column in the webzine will have the answers
to the top 5 Tech Support call ins every month for Mac & PC, so its always a good idea to check in here before you call. Chances are the answers you are looking for are already here.
However, sometimes when we introduce a new release such as with the OSX/G5/Panther and AU plug-in support we introduced in v3.4, we are aware that there will be more questions and often are a few specific issues that were not resolved at the time of release. Please read the KNOWN ISSUES that comes with the download. Many users do not read the technical information we are already openly making available. We will also let you know an accurate and regular update on how we’re progessing on these issues every month here in the webzine. Here’s the update on Panther/G5 ;
We are already working urgently and closely with Apple and other audio software developers to understand and fully resolve these remaining issues in a future OS release but here we want to clarify what the issues actually are since they do NOT affect everyone. The Apple G5 has new motherboard hardware, new ASIC's, new BIOS. The Panther OS is a brand new Apple OS. There are some open issues not unique to UA present in this system. Rest assured, UA (and other software and audio hardware vendors are working with Apple to resolve issues)
To clarify where we stand on G5 issues:
- UAD-1 hardware IS PCI-X compatible. This is NOT an issue
- PCI & PCIX cards require specific drivers for G5. All PCI cards in a system must be supported. UAD-1 IS supported. But not all PCI cards are, so its possible that other cards can create issues for UAD-1.
- The G5 has a new PCI bus management VLSI/chip – this does not appear to behave as in previous Apple systems. Card order and PCI bus placement and load seem currently more complex and critical than G4. We recommend putting the UAD-1 on a different PCI bus to an audio interface card right now. However this may not affect all users.
- We are performing low-level tests of the new PCI bus with a bus analyzer to understand the problem. Apple have already made a BIOS upgrade to resolve similar issues with Digidesign ProTools. Apple may yet also change the motherboard hardware in future G5’s – we are investigating all of this.
- UAD-1 works on G5 but has a higher host CPU load under Panther than previous operating systems. Some users may not have even have noticed this, but this can cause problems with some sessions. We are working with Apple to resolve.
- UAD-1 cannot be as heavily DSP loaded on G5/Panther as on G4 – again this only affects those that heavily load their UAD-1 with a lot of plugs. We are working with Apple to resolve.
- Some users have experienced pops and clicks – this can be affected by PCI Card order or “aggressively small” core audio buffers. Swap your card order and/or increase your buffer size for mixdown.
Conclusion:
Apple and G5 support is firmly on UA’s agenda and the system works now though is not yet optimized as well as G4 systems. We are doing our part to improve our optimizations and will release this in a future update. Do NOT expect this new G5/Panther system to automatically work as seamlessly today as the much more evolved G4 platform today which has thousands of extra man hours of development. But do NOT also automatically assume that UA is the root of any G5 audio system problems. Both Apple and all audio software developers and interface manufacturers must all get all the pieces optimized for the system to work flawlessy and with full potential.
<top>