Yesterday Universal Audio announced a significant shift in their product lineup. They announced the sale of native UAD plugins with perpetual licences. What does this mean for UAD, for the user base and what if anything can we infer from it about the company?
We’re all familiar with UAD as a company who sell premium plugins, mostly painstaking recreations of desirable vintage hardware, as DSP plugins which run on their proprietary hardware. If you wanted UAD you had to buy into their ecosystem. The Apollo interface has been so popular it could be found almost everywhere, the incorporation of DSP into the interface enabled near zero latency tracking for significantly less than the DSP Pro Tools systems it sought to replace. Having plugins running on a proprietary interface enabled Unison technology which allowed the plugin to influence the preamp’s electrical characteristics giving a further unique selling point. At the height of UAD’s influence they were a huge player, rewriting the rules.
That isn’t to say that UAD aren’t still one of the biggest players in the business, they certainly are. But times change and a few developments have meant that UAD have needed to respond. The Apollo range are based on ageing SHARC chips, the performance of which is considerably less favourable than it was when they were first introduced when compared to the native processing available on a modern computer. Apple Silicon has further exacerbated this issue, with the finite resources available in a UAD system now feeling to many like a constraint rather than a bonus.
Spark
The unimaginable happened last year when UAD announced they were releasing native versions of some of their plugins under a new service called Spark. A limited but growing catalogue of native versions of the previously UAD DSP only plugins became available on a subscription basis. Subscriptions, however unpopular with some of the audio community, make a lot of sense for plugin companies (and it has to be said, also for users who are running businesses) so this move appeared to be driven to some extent by a necessity to ensure a predictable cash flow. However what is different about the announcement today is that for the first time is it possible to buy bundles of native versions of UAD plugins outright, on a perpetual licence.
Who Are These New Native Plugins For?
It has always been possible to buy UAD DSP plugins individually on a perpetual basis and since the introduction of Spark, for DSP users it could be argued that at the moment not much has changed. If you own the DSP version of a plugin which is available as a native plugin you get the native plugin too. What is different is that these plugins are now available to users who don’t have UAD hardware and don’t use UAD DSP plugins. Previously those users could only access UAD plugins via a subscription.
Where Does This Leave Spark?
This does raise the question, where does this leave Spark? While some users will value subscription access, one need only go online to hear from people who would prefer to have perpetual licences to their software and with a comparatively modest selection of native plugins available at present it’s not unlikely that a proportion of Spark subscribers will choose to move to perpetual licences. Are UAD offering perpetual native plugins as complementary to or as a replacement for subscription in the longer term? We don’t know but it will be interesting to see how things develop now there are two ways to access the same products.
Where Does This Leave Apollo?
The all-conquering interfaces were unbeatable in their day but the core technology of that line is old and while many have predicted the imminent arrival of new DSP hardware, when a new line of interfaces were announced, the new Volt series didn’t feature any DSP. If there is a replacement coming we are still waiting for it and while the existence of Volt doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t a fundamental refresh of the Apollo line in the works, it doesn’t strengthen that case. This further move towards native-only UAD doesn’t strengthen that case either.
What About LUNA?
When we first saw LUNA demonstrated we saw a very promising ecosystem of DSP based hardware, DSP plugins and a DAW which offered the latency free tracking freedom of a DAW like Pro Tools HDX but with a thoroughly modern flavour. The ability to switch seamlessly between DSP and native versions of UAD plugins in LUNA is an interesting and potentially a very powerful addition to the ecosystem, and as more native plugins become available the value of this feature grows. We’ve said much about the power of the Hybrid Pro Tools Engine and Carbon. The same flexibility and power in a UAD environment is very appealing and if you’re not tied to a specific DAW then UAD and LUNA could be very attractive.
What Is UAD’s Point Of Difference?
UAD have been as successful as they have been because as well as offering plugins which are at the very top end of what’s available, they were distinctive. You knew what the proposition was. Buy into our hardware and software and you can access our exclusive plugins. With Native versions this is no longer the case. Some of our very favourite plugins are UAD. As good as anything else out there. But if you sell native plugins you are in direct competition with the other ‘best in the business’ plugin companies. If UAD have surrendered a point of difference by making this move, is this to their detriment in some way?
We’re not yet sure but we’ll watch with interest. What do you think? Are you an existing user? Do you welcome this move? If you are someone who hasn’t bought into UAD will this encourage you to try their products? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.