Universal AudioReviews of uaudio.com

Unethical software seller. They have sold products that have quickly become obsolete and unusable. They aggressively advertise promotions then immediately slash prices after the promotion has ended and customers have invested. They sell individual products then within weeks bundle them in to packages containing the same products for far less cost - they provide no prior notice of intent to do this. They provide no compensation for customers who have overpaid as a result of these unethical pricing strategies. They promise customers ownership of product versions then break that promise by charging when new versions become available, sometimes adding a minor feature to claim it’s a ‘new’ product and justify the charge. They provide discount coupons but then price products so coupons don’t qualify - coupons expire before they can actually be of meaningful value to the customer. They require software to be running on your computer while their products are in use, which is intrusive and unnecessary. Their products are average at best. Customer service is slow and very unhelpful. My review is not based on a single experience but a year of dealing with them. They are tight, petty and increasingly irrelevant. Awful company.

Best sounding plugins and interfaces, worst software/activation experience of my life. Cracked software worked better in 2001. I haven't been able for Ableton to recognize the plugins the first time it opens ever. And I've gone from multiple OS, UAD and Ableton versions. iLok gets stuck. Sometimes no plugin works. Sometimes only the ones you need the hardware to work. I have spent just today about an hour trying to open a session with everything working. Granted is a big session but I've had to restart Ableton 4 times, re-authorize all plugins a couple of times, restart, all that. And this is my project in my home studio. Imagine have this happen with a client. I have an M1 Max Pro, BTW. Not like I'm with a 10yo computer trying to make crazy stuff. Console is very much not user friendly, I was stuck with customer support to set up Console to work with OBS, while watching kids stream with a a USB microphone. So, if you want good sound, go ahead. If you want reliability, go somewhere else. I would not trust their software or interfaces in a complex scenario or live situation. Imagine you play a gig in a venue without internet, god forbid. At this point in time I'd say use the plugins you can use without their hardware and buy an interface from another company. Good pres are nothing if the rest is a mess. The internet model most audio companies rely on is infuriating. How I miss the old days where you had an offline system and you truly felt like you had a place for making music. Plugins were a part of your system, not some cloud depending trash. Now everything is tied to some IT system that generates constant issues with updates and incompatibilities. And all this I suppose to avoid piracy. We all had to pay the price of companies' greed, because in the end, professionals and people who make money will always buy, a big amount of aficionados will too, and just a bunch of kids will crack, to eventually become either the professionals or aficionados that will. UAD was the target of my frustration, but this goes for most plugin companies and iLok.

I have rarely experienced a weaker and more customer-despising company policy than that of UAD. As soon as you need their help, it takes up to 5 days to get answers. I had to send in my Apollo X6 because it stopped working. After that, the interface disappeared from the face of the earth. I didn't get any information as to when I would get it back for about 1.5 months. Then one day it was suddenly in the post without notice. That was it for me with this brand. No question, if their software and hardware works, then it sounds good, but if you are treated like this and in this way as a longtime customer, then I have to say. No thanks!

I can't believe thee people are in business. They can't provide a download in 2024? They have stolen, yes STOLEN, about $90 from thus far. They won't get another dime from me. I paid for downloads that do not down load and then the company does nothing to help you out. United Audio are thieves. Sue me for Slander, Truth is my Defense and it is the only recognized defense. You are a bunch of filthy low life animals.

soft installers are waste lf time dont buy this gear if you work not play in studio

UAD customer support is virtually non-existent. They put a robot in their front line in order to stall and say that a human being will get back to you within up to 72 hours. However nobody ever calls you and even if they did it would be at An Inconvenient time. This is totally unacceptable and just to tell the world there are other sound cards out there that can do the same if not better and don't cost as much and have real customer support. I'm finished with universal audio. Won't you follow?

Absolutely terrible installation proces. I can not get my plugins running no matter what I. And YES - I have contacted support, and they are absolutely useless. Out of all major plugin manufacturers out there, UA has to be the worst. I have had no issues with Slate Audio, Waves, Spitfire, Arturia and Softube, but with UA i can't even install my plugins, because their install center won't even launch. Everything has been a hassle. Support takes 4 days to answer and gives no constructive advice. Everything is tangled up with iLok. And the worst thing - they WILL NOT give you a refund, no matter what. Stay away!!! I just wasted 50 dollars on nothing.

Only company that sends me 10+ pop ups i have to patiently sit and press "OKAY" every time i open a project with their plugins. I bought some plugins long time ago, but stopped using them because the "having to have my interface connected" was such a big pain when going from studio to studio. Not to mention the chips in the inerfaces are incredibly low quality, it seems more like a scam to get you to update to quad core, than a company actually trying to make a good product. Please UA, toggle off these notifications. It's okay that plugin dosen't work. But i don't want to spend so much time, just pressing "okay" over and over again...