We just got some breaking news that UAD's plugins are now going native. In layman's terms what used to happen was that you had to buy an Apollo Twin or an Apollo Solo and then you would go their website to buy a plugin that work on the Apollo interfaces. Last year, UA introduced a new feature, a subscription feature, Spark, which allowed you to run plugins without an interface - but it was a subscription. I personally never bothered with the subscription and many were opposed to it. And now, today, some pretty interesting things have come about. We just got word today that UAD plugins have gone native. You don't need an Apollo Twin. You don't need an Apollo Solo. You don't need Spark. And 'verbatim' on their website it states, " FAQ: Native UAD Plug-Ins" // Do UAD Native plug-ins sound the same as UAD-2 plug-ins??? And the answer? YES. They sound identical. What this means is that if you have an Apollo Solo you don't have to worry about constraints of your hardware (you don't need a Twin). And what this means if you have nothing Apollo - is that it doesn't matter. You can effectively run whatever plugin you want on your own audio interface. The only caveat is that not all the native plugins are available natively - but more should be coming in.
