UAD Signature Edition

In the last weeks I was definitely looking for a great sounding Studer for my studio. But
after listening to the Studer A 800 Plug-In my choice was different. I decited to test
the new Plug-In intensively and it´s sound knocked me out. So warm and really really
great analog sounding. The missing link in mixing ITB and simply unique. Congratulations Universal Audio!

UA has truly "changed the game" with this one.. The A800 has became the most appreciated plugin in my toolbox.

First I thought that the A800 would work for me as a FATSO alternative, but after using it I must admit that it's much more than that..

When applied to every track, the combined sound is more than the sum of it's parts.. I can't even begin to speculate on how UA pulled this one off.. But oh so very glad they did :)

If you're producing electronic music ITB with softsynths/etc, you owe it to yourself to give this one a try!

I've always been sceptic about kind of simulation. After 15 days demo period, i think this plugin is amazing. Goooooooooood job.!!!

I took the plunge and bought this even though I cringed at the price. I'm hoping that when the price does finally drop for a sale that UA shows some love with a special coupon of some sort. But anyway...

I'm really pleased with the results on this thing so far. It's pretty easy to use and being able to set different tape speeds and tape types for different channels is great. Drums seem to benefit the most with kicks and snares fattening up and pounding extra hard and cymbals smoothing out very nicely. I tried this with the Neve channel strip on each channel and the cumulative effect is quite nice.

It is a bit of a resource hog and with the channel strips it quickly started to tax my UAD-2 Duo card so now I'm looking to upgrade to the Quad.

The first project I used this on, the client was very happy with the results and noticed a difference from previous projects I've done for him so I guess the investment was worth the money.

Overall, I'm pleased with the purchase.

I just used this inline on a big midi project going to PT9. Recorded all tracks thru this plug strait to disk to save using it in the mix later. I would have to say it is amazing. But be careful as it can mess with timing on things if you make small adjustments on individual tracks to it. I sold my old Tascam deck for this and so glad I did!

This has got to be the best EQ plug I ever used. Never used the HW unit also, but even if they´re not similar, it doesn´t matter. It´s easy to use, quick to get the best results, and it smokes the competition - even UAD other EQs, more often than not. Not the kind of fix-this-terrible-loop EQ, more like a fine tuning tool. I don´t master stuff a lot, but been using the MP to sculpt vocals, and bought it straight away just for its magic at that. I don´t see myself mixing vocals in the box without this plug anymore, it´s really a game changer.

The only reason it doesn´t get 5 stars is that it´s a huge CPU hog to the point it brings trouble to your workflow.

Simply gives an incredibly warm and rich tape sound to any source material, stunning!!!

I have to agree with the last reviewer, that it should be aimed more at the 250 bucks level...
I will not be buying until some sort of offer is on it :-(

Well done UAD.

As an EX owner of the Telefunken-M-15-A I can say this product is not bad by any means.

I was mixing a whole song with it and it was fascinating how it can round of transients and saves you from using extra compression in the mix.

The user manual lacks description in how to use the hidden EQ,Bias etc. controls traditionally right.
There is a Generation that never had the chance to work with such a Tape-Machine.
For this reason it would be great to get more context-information how these hidden knobs affected the output.

At this point I don't care if it sounds like a real tape machine.
At least it emulates well the Tape-Kompression and alone that is great!!

I measured the plug in - watching out for inharmonic-distortions...nothing bad to see.
Other UAD plugs still suffer from inharmonic-distortions - missing dithering in the signal-path?

I give it only 3/5 points because I think it is too expensive for a plug-in.
For some more money you can get a decent 1/4" real HW tape recorder and you will have lot of fun with it.

The price point in my opinion is 250$.
350$ will make this wonderful plug in for a lot off younger-folks unreachable-

I skipped Massive-Passive and Fatso because of the high price.
It looks like that I will skip this one as well even if I like it.

Development: 5 POINTS
Price-Tag: 1 POINT

I love to smash things with it!! like drums and all the percussion sound. It's give the track more air and movement in the mix. Also Great for parallel compression.
It's my magic tool!!

Wow!!! Ok I haven't used the hardware equivalent, but if it's half as good as the UAD software version, then it's something pretty darn special. I thought I had to buy the software version, just to see what all the fuss has been about and quite frankly I'm absolutely floored by how good it really is. I just inserted in on the mix buss and ran some pre-recorded songs through it, to really get a feel for it and you know it's so responsive I started hearing things I never heard before in songs I had been listening to for years. You could with random turns of the knobs create entirely new sonic mixes of the same song. I got so into the session that, when my wife tapped me on the shoulder and frightened the bejesus out of me, I realised how it had just fried my pip.

Much love.

"Massivo" the EQ superhero does it again..... in the digital realm! This godzilla esque eq shocked the world when it first entered the hardware realm with its organic, larger-than-life component network of sound and now it is happening again with software. I own the hardware and have had to patch with this thing for years and believe me, it is time consuming! Now I can leave Massivo on my master output and mix with the software, SAVING TONS OF TIME. This plug-in is so close to the original. There is a different energy when you push the software compared to the original, but this only applies for certain types of hard driven music. The filters are fantastic and sound exactly like the hardware. I use them more than anything. Overall I am very impressed with this plug-in and now a proud owner of both the hardware and software. Thanks once again Universal Audio for making my life easier!

I've just finished mastering a demo mix with this and although I could complain about the amount of resource 1 instance of this plug in takes on my UAD2 Solo Card, the amount of detail and research UAD did working with Manley labs is evident!!! This is definitely going in my arsenal of plug ins for my UAD2 card. If you are into mastering get this. It takes getting used to as unlike other mastering EQs and plug ins....you can boost and cut at extreme levels that you normally would not do for mastering and get very pleasing results from this.

Folks! Whatta delicious surprice! This one is the definate winner compared to LA2 and 3. I replace almost all of my old projects where I used LA2 or 3 and the sound always get's more intense and jump out of the mix in a very musical way. Amazing for vocals and .... yeah, everything! Can't live without it! A MUST BUY!

without a doubt the best compressor for dance music hands down. Turns a flabby kik into a nail thumper, a sloppy stab into an int-your-face dancefloor corker. damn UA this is magic !! nothing else like it in the vs/au plugin world!

Der absolute Oberhammer in sachen summenkompression auf Drum-Bussen !!!
keine Produktion mehr ohne dieses ding. Klasse Arbeit. Einsame spitze. I love it !!!

Amazing tide sound, nice VU meter and not complicated.

It's wonderful on a fingered bass, if you want a more lively sound.

it was the first uad plug i used, and yeah, instantly was blown by its simple power. its much rougher than the la2a - but not in a digital way.

Fantastic ! My go-to Fingered Electric Bass compressor. Simply great! Thank you UA :)

Just got my LA-3A today... WOW...I own the LA-2A, 1176 and the Fairchild, and HANDS DOWN this is THE Compressor for Vocals.....The faster attack, and better midrange cuts better than the LA2A which was my go to Vocal compressor before...

Nice JOB!!!