I don't use plugs often, but if I could only have one set, it'd be the UAD collection. Cool stuff.

I have UAD & WAVES. UAD sounds amazing than waves.

I own 2 UAD cards and a Waves Plantinum Bundle. Even though the UAD's are a pain in the ass to use in Pro Tools I still think that they are great sounding plugs and I use them frequently. Their compressors are excellant and I really like their reverbs as well. The pultec EQ is quite nice and the Cambridge EQ is excellant. The only plug that I am not a fan of is the Nigel (Guitar) plug - such a waste!.

The only thing missing from their setup is a decent Gate. I spoke with someone from their development team and they agreed that they needed to have a more Feature rich gate - he apparently added my request to their development discussion list as it is a common complaint. There is the odd plug that I like from Waves but there best stuff tends to be absolute CPU pigs which makes it difficult as an LE user. Their Ir1 Convolution Verb is great and I really like some of their Rennaisance plugs. I would go UAD over Waves especially if you have a DAW that uses VST plugs! Hope that helps, Cheers!

I had tried the UAD and the Powercore and I prefer the UAD card. Quality for the bucks too & Rock solid. The Powercore was shaky with its communication and got some trouble with it. I know some people that had very bad experience with the reliabilty of the TC (firewire communication problems, type of ports vs hardware vs drivers). Its funny in this PC world, some companies take out some stuff that supposively works but in reality it is at a BETA phase and expect their customers to benchtest the product and if they have problem, they are just directed to a support forum.

Did not have time and did not want to deal and start troubleshooting for gear and pc drivers (specifically when I paid and bought something new in the box) and going into support forums and knowledbases to make something new...working :-? .

Never had such problem with Hardware 8-)

Sample Rates--Powercore=96K max, UAD-1 up to 192K

Hi,

I would suggest you keep in mind the sample rate you need to work with:

TC Powercore is 96K max
UAD-1 has sample rates from 44.1 to 192khz

Also, the higher the sample rate, the greater the DSP overhead. As a rule, if you double the sample rate, you halve the number of plug-ins you can run.

I am thinking about buying one of each. If I do, I will keep you posted.

i was thinking of picking up the diamond bundle from waves.... but i have been hearing about uad from a friend of mine. my question is would it be worth going ahead and picking up this 5K$ product or going ahead and saving my loot on this well praised uad.

p.s.QUALITY>COST

I had a lot of trouble with the TC powercore. I finally sent it back. It would not commuicate correctly with my PC all of the time. TC may have fixed that problem by now but I have not kept up with what they are doing. I know there tech support SUCKS when I called I was put on hold for over 30 minutes and all the tech could tell me was that in certain situations they were having some problems. Well I already knew that. So how were they going to FIX the problem. Did not sound like a company I wanted to do business with.

Thomas W. Bethel wrote: I had a lot of trouble with the TC powercore. I finally sent it back. It would not commuicate correctly with my PC all of the time. TC may have fixed that problem by now but I have not kept up with what they are doing. I know there tech support SUCKS when I called I was put on hold for over 30 minutes and all the tech could tell me was that in certain situations they were having some problems. Well I already knew that. So how were they going to FIX the problem. Did not sound like a company I wanted to do business with.

Couldn't agree more. The support on phone sucks as well as the Online support on the website.

No more!

I just don't have time and energy for this type of crap just like they do not have the time for doing support for something THAT they sold.

About the Powercore, I don't recall the rev # they were at the time and the software version but for AFAIC, it was untested from them and the software was still in the pre-BETA state.

I would second the UAD, I am going to get another card....good luck trying to get one on ebay.....all the ones I have tried on are a battle royale for bids.

The new IR1 v5.2 is supposed to be great I have not tried it yet also the S1 Imager gets a good sound too........

Oh not to hijack but I was able to get another cranesong! whew.

i have the UAD1 and have used waves on manny accations, i would go with the UAD1 also if you buy the cheapie one new before sept 30th you get a free licence for the LA2A. but even the simple chanell strip C1, sound good.

If we're still on the topic of which one is better for mastering, I don't think either of them is particularly great for it. At least the Powercore has the pseudo-mastering plug, MasterX3 or whatever. The UAD does have the Precision Limiter which I really dig for some transparent volume boosting. I don't see how any mastering dudes could spit on that one for just being a lowly plug-in. Maybe I need to revisit the Precision EQ, because I don't remember there being anything that couldn't be done pretty similar with the Cambridge. Overall, I think they are great sets of plugs for mixing. Both cards have their uses for me.
Plugins can be great for limiting and EQ. For stereo mix compression, I just haven't found a plugin I am happy with.

Reggie wrote: For stereo mix compression, I just haven't found a plugin I am happy with.

There are some high-end-analog-mastering-guys who seem to be pretty impressed with the new PSP MasterComp plug. I havent tried it out yet personally though. Even if I had, I would only be able to compare it to the performance of other plugs.

As far as UAD-1, I was able to compare the precision eq to a friends massive passive for a short time before he racked it up in his own studio. While the massive passive was of course sweeter, the precision eq was quite impressive.

Comparing the precision eq to the waves linear phase really put things into perspective for me at least. Much more natural sounding than the waves.

lucidwaves wrote: [quote=Reggie]For stereo mix compression, I just haven't found a plugin I am happy with.

There are some high-end-analog-mastering-guys who seem to be pretty impressed with the new PSP MasterComp plug. I havent tried it out yet personally though. Even if I had, I would only be able to compare it to the performance of other plugs.

I just got the demo of the MasterComp, and haven't gotten a chance to really try it out yet. But I'm a big fan of the PSP VintageWarmer, and if it's as good as that, and as function as Waves L2, I'll be running off to my local Guitar Center to try and snag a copy of the MasterComp.

waves diamond is not so bad. i heard alot of bad things dont know y

I've got both, and have tried the Waves stuff. Waves is fine, but the CPU hit is a bitch. The UAD is amazing for the LN-1176 alone - if you buy it simply for that, you won't be disappointed. I also love the Cambridge. Those two tools aren't matched in Native plugs in my opinion. The Powercore is great for verbs - it sounds better to me than anything on the UAD, although I haven't spent much time with the Plate 140. Also, the Inflator is a great optional plug, which I use religiously for mastering.

A couple of comments.

First of all, I own the TC Powercore. I have had no stability problems what-so-ever. So, I haven't experienced the problems that others have. It has been rock solid ever since I got the unit. I utilize it with Sequoia. It is the PCI version.

Now, far as mastering tools, I do not believe the TC Powercore is the best investment. I think I have only used it once for mastering, for one song on a CD. I usually use it in mixing components of a song. In that application, the TC Powercore is a very powerful and wonderful tool. That said, I think both the UAD and the Powercore have their place.