UAD's DSP-laptop solution

[props]

Hey guys,

I recently read a review for UAD's, DSP card for laptops. These units allow you to run VSTs from a separate drive, reducing strain on your host CPU.

Has anyone had any experience with these products?

Are the results of these products really significant? How do they compare to other options, such as, adding extra RAM or running VSTs from external hard drives?

[BioQuark]

run VSTs from a separate drive

wat

[paradigm_x]

They actually run the plugs from a separate DSP chip. So dont actually tax your cpu, allowing you to run synths etc.

I have 4 uad cards, they are the nuts. Brilliant sounding plugins that are a joy to use.

Id def recommend.

[darigan]

If your talking about the UAD-2/Solo Laptop card, it only runs UAD plugins off the card not just any plugins. I got one about a month ago and use it constantly haven't had any problems yet, its always able to handle the plugins I want to use.

[props]

Cheers for the info,

Would a USB loaded with plugins work in the same way?

[paradigm_x]

no, the uads are basically a mini computer specifically designed to run plugins, rather than a hard drive. Add a bit of power to your pc effectively.

[deadly_habit]

Cheers for the info,

Would a USB loaded with plugins work in the same way?

no
it's a seperate chip running the plugs on dsp (digital signal processing) cards
so your ram and cpu aren't being touched

[egoless]

Cheers for the info,

Would a USB loaded with plugins work in the same way?

no
it's a seperate chip running the plugs on dsp (digital signal processing) cards
so your ram and cpu aren't being touched

...and you run only UAD plugins (wich are good) , and you have to buy most of them separatly...

Does anyone know how strong is that DSP? How much can you load on it... ?

[paradigm_x]

See here;

http://www.uaudio.com/support/uad/charts.html

You also get a $50 voucher towards plugs which i think is doubled at the moment, look under promos on the UAD page. You also get a free suite of basic plugins which are usable but nowhere near as sexy as the paid for ones. Looking at the page you also get the helios EQ and fairchild compressor til June 30th! Helios is an awesome EQ use it on every tune, fairchild i bought but dont really use much anymore, bought some other better ones, but good on percussion and pads and things, not great on bass.

You also get the Pultec for free which is a great EQ. Only bass and treble tho, the pultec pro is only $79 with 3 extra mid frequency bands.

IMO a great starting point would be the plate140 reverb, re201 delay and the 1073 EQ. A fabulous sounding set of most plugs youll need, supplemented with a bit of native (bootsie, TAL, nebula free maybe).

Beware tho they are like crack ! The moog filter is also awesome, helios, fatso, harrison, could go on. All amazing.

UA have promos every month so if youre patient you cant get 10-30% (sometime 50%) off so only buy when the deals are on. You also quite often get free $25-50 vouchers. Their customer support is also very good indeed.

I am a fanboy i admit it but i used to spend hours fiddling and trying new plugins all the time and never quite was happy, with the ua stuff i pick an eq/filter/delay twiddle for 30secs and things generally sound awesome.

Lots of info on the uadforum if you need more or search here, i rave about them a lot ! http://www.studionu.com/uadforums/

See my rig

[FSTZ]

See my rig

hate you!

kidding

edit: 6,000th post!