Don’t know your 2500 from your 1176? Read on to find out about 11 classic pieces of production hardware, now available as a native UAD plugin.
Earlier this year, the team over at Universal Audio decided it was time to give the people what they’d been asking for. Seemingly out of the blue, they made some of their most renowned and cutting-edge digital plugins native-compatible, meaning they can run without the need of UA’s DSP-powered hardware interfaces and satellites. This release gives an affordable entry point to those seeking the range of classic hardware emulations, and an opportunity for us to finally stock them on Plugin Boutique!
Many of Universal Audio’s plugins are meticulously modelled on famous analogue hardware. If you’re unaware of the history of this equipment and why it’s so well regarded, this article will help you gain an understanding of their plugin counterparts, and will assist you in identifying which plugins are right for you before you purchase.
1176 Classic Limiter Collection
The 1176 Peak Limiter is one of the most famed hardware compressors of all time. The original 1176 hardware was released in 1967, and – employing Field Effect Transistor (FET) technology, and making use of ultra fast attack times – was a revolutionary piece of kit.
Multiple variants of the 1176 compressors were released over the following decades, but it wasn’t until 2001 that the first digital plugin variation became available.
Now, thanks to the 1176 Collection, we have access to three separate digital versions of the classic compressor as a part of a sin: The Rev-A Bluestripe, The Rev-E Blackface, and the 1176AE. Each of these digital plugins replicate their analogue counterpart’s distinct sound using a carefully-crafted, trialled and tested algorithm, giving us the closest emulation of the originals’ sound.
ou can get your hands on UAD’s 1176 Classic Limiter Collection here today.
The Moog Minimoog Model D was released in 1970 by Bob Moog with the intention of providing musicians with a portable performance version of the original Moog Synthesizer.
Because the original Moog modular synthesizers were so expensive and required a lot of extra components to run, the Minimoog Model D was made to be more accessible to a wider scope of musicians, which resulted in it becoming the most popular and iconic synthesizer of all time. For a taste of the original modular Moog, check out Arturia’s plugin recreation.
Universal Audio’s digital version of the Minimoog Model D provides us with a bespoke emulation of the original analogue hardware at a reasonable price point. The digital version was meticulously refined in order to best replicate the original. The result? A highly-accurate, digital Minimoog synth with near zero latency.
For a taste of hardware history, you can add the UAD Moog Minimoog to your plugin folder today.
The Teletronix LA-2A tube-driven optical compressor is one of the most revered compressors in the history of audio signal processing. The optical photocell technology was first used by Teletronix founder, Jim Lawrence in the early 1960s and, after a few prototypes were produced, the first LA-2A model would be conceived and embark on its journey to become the most popular compressing unit of all time.
These compressors have a few different incarnations, each with an independent design and different attack/release time, making each variation slightly more suitable for different tasks.
The UAD Teletronix LA-2A Leveller Collection boasts three distinct emulations of the classic units: the LA-2A Silver, the LA-2A Grey, and the original LA-2. Universal Audio’s engineers have put their all into creating an authentic digital replication of the original units.
Discover the three-strong compressor collection to find out more and try them yourself.
Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection
The Fairchild is arguably the most significant tube compressor to ever be created, capable of processing incoming audio signals using its army of 20 tubes and 14 transformers. These Batman-esque analogue units can glue your mix together in a way that, until recently, has been impossible to accurately replicate in the digital domain.
Sure, there have been multiple emulations of the Fairchild Limiter released, however, it wasn’t until recently that UA’s team revisited their 2004 digital rendition of the compressor, improving it, and bringing to near total replication of the original.
UA have also implemented a range of extra features exclusive to their digital Fairchild compressors. These features include a Wet/Dry control to incorporate a swift parallel compression, a left and right sidechain filter for enhancing your drums, and a headroom control for tuning the compressor when using it in your mastering chain.
Invest in the UAD Fairchild Tube Limiter Collection now to apply colourful glue like no other plugin can.
The Studer A800 is a staple piece of analogue equipment, known for its unique, warm colouring of the input signal and thickening of the low-end. This tape recorder can still be found in many recording studios today because of how groundbreaking it was at the time of its inception.
UA’s digital A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder can be used in many creative ways that the original 900-pound behemoth couldn’t achieve with the same haste. The intuitive design of the digital version allows for swift selection of different emulated tape and head types, calibration and IPS (inches per second) settings, and adjustments to the EQ and noise being applied to the signal.
This plugin has the potential to apply a luscious varnish to your final mix in the mastering chain, or to individual instrumental tracks.
For warm, tape-style saturation the UAD Studer A800 plugin is available now and native-compatible.
The Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb is one of the most widely-known, enthused reverbs of all time. Despite modern digital reverb technology being able to create more realistic reverberation, the lexicon 224’s classic, era-defining sound is still highly sought after.
The 224’s signature extra-long decays and spacey colouration is perhaps what gives it its individual merit and prowess as a reverb. Its unique characteristics result in a nostalgia-inducing sound that you’ll have a hard time finding elsewhere.
UAD’s emulation of this analogue classic could be considered one of their most impressive, as they managed to license the exact algorithms from the original hardware when developing the plugin.
The emulated version of the reverb also includes a neat bonus feature. There’s a toggleable ‘Bug-Fix’ mode that disables/enables historical bug-fixes from the analogue Hall B and Chorus presets. (Of course, you can leave the bugs in too for full nostalgia immersion!).
To get that legendary Lexicon sound at the click of a mouse, you can add the UAD Lexicon 224 to your plugin library now.
The Pultec vintage tube EQs are amongst some of the most legendary analogue EQs in all of music production history. These EQs have been used to apply a tonality to records that is famed for its fullness and warmth while retaining clarity.
The EQP-1A rose to prominence because of its unique capability to both boost and cut a selected frequency at the same time, despite the user-manual explicitly instructing against it. Of course, as creatives, we like to break the rules. This rule breaking ultimately culminated in the creation of a whole new EQing technique, named after the equipment itself.
Once again, UAD have delivered a highly-authentic emulation of the original Pultec units, giving us the ability to achieve the same rich, vibrant tones, and legendary character at a fraction of the cost.
If you want to simultaneously cut and boost your signal with the revered Pultec trick, you can do so with the UAD Pultec EQ Collection.
The Opal Morphing Synth is the only entry in this list that’s not been modeled from an original hardware unit. Don’t let that fool you though. Opal draws inspiration from classic analogue synths in its visual and sonic aesthetics, and is still a powerful asset that UAD has blessed us with through its native release.
UA describes Opal as an analogue-meets-wavetable synth that takes the warmth and fullness of analogue equipment, combining it with the flexibility and versatility of wavetable synthesis. With three oscillators, a noise section, two morphing filters, vast modulation possibilities and inbuilt UAD effects, the mileage one can get out of Opal is impressive.
If you want to hear what all the fuss is about, pick up Opal now and start morphing.
The API 2500 is one of the most popular stereo bus compressors amongst professional sound engineers. This classic compressor is known for its use of API’s patented THRUST circuit, resulting in a unique punchy compression of a mix’s low-end.
Another unique feature of the API 2500 Bus Compressor is its Type switch. This switch changes the compression type between the ‘Old’ feed back compression found in the API 525 and the ‘New’ feed forward type introduced by the 2500.
UA’s digital emulation of this legendary unit is also amongst their most accurate – as the original compressor’s schematics were given to them exclusively by API themselves with the green light to create a digital version
The digital version retains the original’s New and Old compression types and introduces a fresh Mix control knob. The plugin also comes with presets used by prestigious engineers on famous artists’ works, such as Jeff Balding (Faith Hill), Vance Powell (Jack White) and Ryan Hewitt (Red Hot Chilli Peppers).
To try some of these presets out in your projects, add the UAD API 2500 to your plugin folder now.
Modelled from Roland’s RE-201 Space Echo, the Galaxy Tape Echo might seem familiar to many engineers and artists. This highly regarded unit functions both as a tape delay and a space reverb, and gave a distinct helping hand in producing many historical hit records from Pink Floyd to David Bowie.
The RE-201 hardware unit is a complex piece of analogue hardware design, so for Universal Audio to have produced such a precise emulation is not something to take lightly. This effect plugin can be applied in stylistic fashion to almost any element and still provide an additive creative flare.
The Galaxy Tape Echo plugin comes with numerous additional features that weren’t included on the original hardware – adding increased efficiency to your workflow.
Read more about the history of the Space Echo, along with the intricacies of this feature-packed plugin before adding it to your basket.
This next piece of equipment might not be as famed as some of the others on this list, but it’s still a stellar piece of hardware in its own right. The Roland Dimension D is a pretty unassuming piece of equipment, with only five buttons on its faceplate. In practice, though, the Dimension D is capable of adding all-analogue subtle stereo widening to any signal, all the way up to silky smooth chorusing.
The Dimension D is said to sound so good that Universal Audio took it upon themselves to develop the Studio D Chorus plugin, putting this spatial effect powerhouse within reach of many. Like the original, the plugin allows for multiple buttons to be pressed in conjunction with one another, so while it might look like there are only four modes, the possibilities stretch far beyond that.
Invest in the UAD Studio D Chorus now if you want to start experimenting with its four modes to see what it does for your mixes.