Universal changes

Almost two months ago I got an email saying I'd bought three new Universal Audio effects, when I didn't.

At first I thought my account had been misused, then I noticed that all three effects were based on those made by Roland (who also own the Boss brand of guitar pedals) and concluded that it was a licensing issue. It seems some people thought they got freebies.



Yesterday I remembered these new effects and remembered to try them. They don't sound any different but the new versions appear larger on the screen. Anyway, I thought I'd comment on two drawbacks with the new unbranded versions.



The first issue was the presets. The new versions have new presets and I found myself looking for the familiar sounds that I use. Thankfully the UAD FAQ says I can copy over the old presets to the new effects.

The second issue is the new names given to the effects. "Galaxy" is colourful and a good equivalent to the "Space" in "Space Echo" and it slipped straight into my memory, but the "Studio" and "Brigade" names have not been so easy to remember.

Previously all three effects would list under "Roland" in the alphabetical list, so I currently find myself scanning the ever-increasing list of UAD effects to try and remember what they're now called. This will become a problem for me when UAD remove the Roland-branded versions unless I get used to looking for them now.

Which leads me to a wistful comment, that it'd be great if only the UAD effects I own appear in the list of VST offerings.

I realise that it's probably not something they'd want to address though, as the process of looking at these offerings goes some way toward prompting me to buy them. It does seem that I remember the effects that are useful to me and quickly forget those that I buy and don't use.

Which leads me to observe that Brainworx should consider giving their effects names with more evocative characteristics. And I'd guess it could be good if UAD were to arrange their effects in sub-folders in the VST list, using categories like those listing the products on their website's store.