It’s great for adding an overall low-end bump and some edge on the top.

A Pultec EQ across the two-bus has always been one of my favorite finishing touches in a pop mix, just before the last limiter. The included Pultec EQ plug-in performed admirably. On an electric bass, it provided even, round bottom end while enhancing the bite of the strings’ attack. The 1176’s compression is one of those unparalleled sounds that’s well-suited to a variety of applications, and as I turned the dials, I was pleased to hear its familiar tone faithfully represented. This works much like the actual hardware version. The card also comes with a few free plug-ins to get you started.Īmong the free plugs is the high-efficiency version of the 1176. Every plug-in in the store is available for a 14-day, fully functional trial. This makes it easy to figure out which tool will be right for the job. If you want more info about a plug-in - for example, the device on which the model is based - convenient buttons link directly to an online description. I can appreciate a plug-in manager where you can see which plug-ins are authorized, which ones you are demo’ing and which ones are available for trial. The software control panel is inviting and makes it easy to flip through different settings to optimize the hardware. No iLok is necessary as the card is required to run the plug-ins and serves as security in and of itself.

Authorization meant downloading a small app from UA’s Website and running it - very simple. The latest version of the accompanying software from the UA Website installed in a few minutes. Installation was a snap on my 3GHz MacBook Pro with 8 GB of RAM. This port has been available on high-end PC laptops manufactured in the past few years, as well as MacBook Pros.

Until recently, the UAD system used the PCIe bus of desktop computers, but now the UAD-2 Solo/Laptop accommodates the needs of laptop-based DAW users, attaching to the ExpressCard slot to achieve much higher bandwidth than FireWire or USB 2 can provide. The plugs run on UA’s DSP, which offers the advantage of not using resident (native) processing to achieve the processing outcome. Its UAD system offers expertly crafted plug-in versions of the vintage analog gear the industry has come to love - outboard, classic consoles and more. Whether Universal Audio is focused on developing analog gear or software emulations, the company has always been dedicated to sonic excellence.

The Solo/Laptop card comes with a free set of plug-ins.

Uad plugins disabled in mixbus