UAD Essentials Edition - Universal Audio

Product Description

Now compatible with any soundcard on Mac and PC

UAD Essentials Edition gives you the rich analog tones heard on decades of classic albums with 12 "must-have" UAD plug-ins and instruments — for one low price — no UA hardware required.

Included in the UAD Essentials Edition

• Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection (3 plug-ins)
• Pultec Passive EQ Collection (3 plug-ins)
• Century Tube Channel Strip
• Oxide Tape Recorder
• Galaxy Tape Echo
• Pure Plate Reverb
• PolyMAX Synth
• Verve Analog Machines Essentials

Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection

The Ultimate Collection Of The Most Revered Optical Compressor Ever

With its gentle, program dependent optical compression, and meticulously designed tube amplifier, the LA-2A is the go-to compressor for professional mixers around the world. In 2001, Universal Audio set the standard in analog emulation with the original UAD LA‑2A plug‑in.

Today, UA’s engineers have redesigned the LA-2A plug-in with more obsessive detail. The LA-2A Classic Leveler Plug-In Collection features immaculate models of three highly sought-after LA-2A units, giving you the most authentic emulations ever of this iconic compressor.

The Teletronix Story

Teletronix founder Jim Lawrence first used photocells for controlling audio gain in the early 1960s. His ingenious optical compression design was a technological breakthrough, far surpassing the stability and transparency of earlier circuits. Universal Audio founder M.T. ”Bill” Putnam later purchased this patented technology, continuing to manufacture the LA-2A for years to come.

Three Historical Units

The Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection puts three of the most coveted incarnations of the iconic Teletronix processor at your fingertips. Like the hardware, the LA-2A Silver, LA-2A Gray, and LA-2 models offer distinct variations in time constants, compression knee, headroom, distortion, program and frequency dependence, and more.

Features

• Use any audio interface, with both UAD Native and Apollo Realtime/UAD-2 versions included
• Track and mix with three historic versions of revered Teletronix LA-2A Leveling Amplifiers, each with its own distinctive sonic attributes
• Record through a Teletronix LA-2A/LA-2 in real time with Apollo interfaces
• Dial-in ideal optical compression textures for vocals, bass, drums, and more
• Harness presets from LA-2A users Ross Hogarth, Darrell Thorp, and Vance Powell

Learn more about Teletronix LA-2A Leveler Collection and download the FREE trial version HERE.

Pultec Passive EQ Collection

Get Silky‑Smooth Sounds With A Collection Of “Must‑Have” EQs

Breathe analog life into your vocals, drums, guitars, and synths with legendary vintage tube EQs used to sculpt over 70 years of popular music. Simply run a full mix or single instrument through these EQs and hear the stunning Pultec analog magic for yourself.

These astonishingly accurate EQs are nearly indistinguishable from the original analog hardware, giving you the same rich tones used by the producers of John Mayer, Daft Punk, Mariah Carey, and more.

Get the Rich Sound of the World's Most Famous EQs

Going far beyond all other Pultec-style EQ plug-ins, the Pultec Passive EQ Collection gives your productions the rich, musical sound of the ultra-rare vintage hardware — the culmination of the world’s most intensive modeling research.

Craft Legendary Low End: The EQP‑1A

Make confident broad-stroke EQ moves and get the vibiest low‑end you've ever heard. From bass guitar and synth bass to kick drums, you'll be amazed at the tight, focused thump, with the twist of a couple knobs.

Customize Your Mids: The MEQ‑5

Add vibrancy and depth to vocals, guitars, and keys — the important "power region” of your mix — with the MEQ‑5's two bands of mid boost and single band of midrange dip, complete with unique filter interactions of the vintage hardware.

Get Cleaner Mixes and Effects: The HLF‑3C

With just two controls, the HLF‑3C will give you retro, lo‑fi effects on your vocals and instruments, or let you surgically remove troublesome frequencies like excessive hiss and rumble that can build up and muddy your mixes.

Features

• Use any audio interface, with both UAD Native and Apollo Realtime/UAD-2 versions included
• Get instant "Analog Magic" with the world's best emulations of vintage Pultec EQs
• Sculpt fat and punchy bass, synths, and drums with the EQP‑1A
• Experience rich midrange textures on your guitars, vocals, and keys with the MEQ‑5
• Create retro filter effects or reduce unwanted frequencies with surgical precision using the HLF‑3C

Learn more about Pultec Passive EQ Collection and download the FREE trial version HERE.

Century Tube Channel Strip

Capture "First Take" Magic With Easy-To-Use Preamp, EQ, And Compression

With a vintage-inspired tube mic preamp, transparent dynamics control, and intuitively voiced EQ, the Century Tube Preamp plug‑in lets you stay in the creative zone while you record and mix, helping you capture inspiration with stunning results.

The Perfect Tube Mic Pre for your Vocals

The Century Tube Channel Strip's mic preamp will give your vocals the warmth and detail that only a tube mic pre can provide. The stunning range of tones, from subtle to saturated, will coax inspiring performances no matter the genre. Use the Low/High gain switch to match the Century's Tube Preamp to your microphone, with the Low setting complementing more modern condensers, while the High position excels with dynamic and ribbon microphones.

Unison Technology for Apollo

Century Tube Channel Strip blurs the lines between analog and digital, giving you all of the important impedance, gain staging “sweet spots,” and circuit behaviors of a vintage tube preamp, thanks to UA's groundbreaking Unison technology. The secret is Unison’s bi‑directional control and communication from the Century Tube Channel Strip plug‑in to the digitally controlled mic preamps in Apollo.

Easy EQ Seasoning for Vocals, Guitar, and More

With its intuitive, musically voiced, three-band EQ, the Century Tube Channel Strip is perfect for quickly bringing out the details in a breathy vocal, adding some punch to an overdriven electric guitar, or giving an acoustic rhythm guitar propulsive sizzle and shine.

Get Optimal Compression Quickly

Featuring a classic optical leveler, the Century Tube Channel Strip’s dynamics section takes the guesswork out of compression settings with a single knob. Quickly tame a dynamic vocal or bass performance, and add energy and harmonics to acoustic guitars or piano — all with a twist of a knob. The Century’s leveler can also compress as effect, adding grit and texture to keys and soft synths with character and vibe to spare.

Add Character and Color to your Mixes

Of course, the Century Tube Channel Strip plug‑in isn’t just for realtime recording with Apollo. You can also run it natively in your DAW and give your vocals, guitars, and synths, vintage‑inspired tone and character, without ever leaving the box.

Features

• Use any audio interface, with both UAD Native and Apollo Realtime/UAD-2 versions included
• Enhance and simplify your recording workflow with a first-pass tool designed for tracking vocals, guitars, synths and more
• Stay in the creative zone and confidently record performances with a broad stroke, "do‑no‑harm," tube channel strip
• Easily flatter your tracks with a vintage-style tube mic preamp, simple three-band EQ, and optical compressor
• Control Apollo interface mic preamp gain staging and impedance directly from the Century Tube Channel Strip plug-in via Unison™ technology

Versions Included with your Purchase

• UAD Native: Runs on your Mac or PC without any UA hardware
• Apollo Realtime & UAD-2: Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD-2 hardware

Learn more about Century Tube Channel Strip and download the FREE trial version HERE.

Oxide Tape Recorder

UA’s Groundbreaking Tape Emulation In An Easy‑To‑Use Plug‑In

Oxide Tape Recorder gives you the musical, mixable sound of tape, letting you quickly add clarity, punch, and warmth to vocals, guitars, drums, and more, so every track sounds like a record.

Get Hit-Making Analog Tape Sounds

Developed by the same team behind UA's industry-leading Ampex and Studer tape machine plug-ins, Oxide Tape Recorder gives your productions the warmth, presence, and vibe of professional analog tape, with only the essential controls, so you can get sounds faster.

Explore Groundbreaking Tape Emulation Technology

Whether you’re tracking in realtime using an Apollo interface or mixing in your DAW, Oxide’s intuitive controls deliver musical results for beginners and pros alike. Just select IPS (inches per second), EQ, and noise reduction settings, and tweak input and output controls to taste. By emulating fat tape compression and colorful circuit behaviors, Oxide gives your tracks the cohesive glue that only analog tape can provide.

Features

• Use any audio interface, with both UAD Native and Apollo Realtime/UAD-2 versions included
• Inject the warm color and punchy low-end response of analog tape to your tracks
• Apply tape saturation and circuit overdrive via simple Input/Output controls
• Choose among 7.5 and 15 IPS Tape Speeds and two emphasis curves for colorful tape textures
• Experience in-the-box recording “through” tape in real time using Apollo interfaces

Versions Included with your Purchase

• UAD Native: Runs on your Mac or PC without any UA hardware
• Apollo Realtime & UAD-2: Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD-2 hardware

Learn more about Oxide Tape Recorder and download the FREE trial version HERE.

Galaxy Tape Echo

Endless, Lush, Dub-Style Delays And Psychedelic Spring Reverb

In 1973, Roland created the RE-201 Space Echo* — a tape delay/spring reverb system that created warm, warped, unabashedly analog echo effects. From subtle tape textures to mindbending chaos, this iconic contraption can be heard on classic Pink Floyd and David Bowie, to seminal dub sides from King Tubby, Scientist, and Lee “Scratch” Perry.

The Galaxy Tape Echo plug-in is an exhaustive emulation of the iconic, legendary ’70s unit, and expertly captures the physical behavior of the inspiring hardware, down to its distortion, musical wow and flutter, sci-fi pitch shifting, and real time tweakability.

Space Is The Place

Universal Audio has painstakingly captured every quirk and characteristic of this complex device. For example, just like the hardware, you can drive the input hard to add hair to a vocal, or widen a drum bus with fat analog character. Tweak the controls and harness seemingly infinite wow and flutter and pitch shifting combinations — perfect for energizing electric guitars. From rockabilly slapback to hazey trails of swirling delay, the Galaxy Tape Echo is a secret sauce for any source in any genre.

A Faithful Reproduction — Warts and All

The Galaxy Tape Echo keeps the controls of the original hardware, and adds some for modern workflows. Use the original Mode Selector for various head combinations, Repeat Rate for timing control, and Intensity for repeats and self-oscillation. The Echo/Normal switch mutes the signal to the echo, while global Bass and Treble let you season to taste. New features include Tempo Sync, Pan controls for reverb and delay, and Tape Select, for varying delay timbres. By capturing the eccentricities of the original, and adding enhancements along the way, the Galaxy Tape Echo is a tool of infinite creativity.

Features

• Use any audio interface, with both UAD Native and Apollo Realtime/UAD-2 versions included
• Add subtle tape delay or colorful cacophony to drums, vocals, guitars, and synths
• Harness distortion, wow and flutter, and pitch shifting, for organic time-based effects
• Use wild-self-oscillation for creative sci-fi textures and moods
• Employ the ambient shimmer of spring reverb on any source

Versions Included with your Purchase

• UAD Native: Runs on your Mac or PC without any UA hardware
• Apollo Realtime & UAD-2: Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD-2 hardware

Learn more about Galaxy Tape Echo and download the FREE trial version HERE.

Pure Plate Reverb

UA’s Renowned Plate Reverb Modeling In An Easy‑To‑Use Plug-In

The Pure Plate Reverb plug-in provides UA's revolutionary plate reverb emulation in a simple, affordable package — with all of the essential features. By harnessing the musical, deep, organic sound of this classic effect, Pure Plate Reverb gives you warmth and texture to your sources that only plate reverb can provide.

Groundbreaking Reverb Emulation Technology

The Pure Plate Reverb plug-in was engineered by the modeling experts at Universal Audio to be a no-compromise emulation of this classic effect. By capturing all of the sonic and mechanical nuances of the steel plate, transducers, and dampers, the Pure Plate Reverb plug-in gives vocals, guitars, strings, and synths a lush, satisfying space that gently flatters any source.

Easy to Use

Whether you’re tracking in realtime using an Apollo interface, or mixing in your DAW, Pure Plate Reverb’s intuitive controls deliver musical results for beginners and pros alike. The ultra-effective Baxandall-type Bass and Treble controls sculpt the timbre of the reverb, while the Low Cut Hz input filters and Pre Delay further season the reverb’s character. Finally, the Balance control lets you place your “space” perfectly in the stereo spectrum. No matter the source, Pure Plate Reverb gives you the rich analog dimension and depth of an old-school plate reverb system.

Features

• Use any audio interface, with both UAD Native and Apollo Realtime/UAD-2 versions included
• Easily add natural depth and shimmer to vocals and instruments
• Sculpt with classic plate reverb controls like mechanical damping and input filters
• Quickly tweak the perfect reverb tone with Bass and Treble controls
• Mix with artist presets from Patrick Carney (The Black Keys), Richard Chycki (Rush, Dream Theater) Chuck Zwicky (Prince, The Time) and more

Versions Included with your Purchase

• UAD Native: Runs on your Mac or PC without any UA hardware
• Apollo Realtime & UAD-2: Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD-2 hardware

Learn more about Pure Plate Reverb and download the FREE trial version HERE.

PolyMAX Synth

Retro Sounds To Shock Your Mind‑Brain

PolyMAX is a vintage-inspired synth that gives producers, sound designers, and musicians fat analog tones from the golden age of polysynthesis. PolyMAX's warm, analog-modeled oscillators and filters, professional UA effects, and curated presets easily fit into any genre — with album‑ready sounds instantly.

Your New Wonder Synth

PolyMAX's analog bona fides pull from the golden age of polysynthesis. Think early Jupiters, Oberheims, and Prophets with fat sounds that sit perfectly in any mix.* A modern synth with retro roots, PolyMAX takes you from celestial to cinematic and beyond.

Experience Magic with Premium UA Effects

With onboard studio-quality UA effects like legendary digital "Hall B" reverb and analog phasers, flangers, and tape delay, PolyMAX makes any production shine with old‑school synth cool.

Get Instant Inspiration with Album‑Ready Presets

Discover the perfect sound using PolyMAX's curated presets, handcrafted by the synth nerds at UA. Designed for fast use across genres, PolyMAX presets and intuitive knob‑per‑function layout means no menu diving, ensuring you'll get the right sound, right away.

Features

• Get rich, sit-in-the-mix analog sounds from an inspiring polyphonic wonder synth
• Use fat-sounding analog modeled oscillators and filters to demolish creative barriers
• Add studio-quality UA effects like vintage spring reverb, tape delay, and modulation textures
• Dive into lush poly synth sounds with album‑ready presets and simple, intuitive controls

Verve Analog Machines Essentials

Give your recordings the colorful saturation and effects heard on countless hip-hop, lo-fi, electronic, rock, and experimental tracks. Designed for the modern musician, beatmaker, and producer — Verve Analog Machines puts a sandbox of playful analog sounds right in your DAW. 


4 Magical Machines to Unleash Your Creativity 

With four colorful UA-designed effects, giving you glossy tape warmth to gritty lo-fi saturation, Verve Analog Machines Essentials adds energy to drums, guitars, vocals, synths, or your whole mix.

Included Machines

Sweeten

Add warmth to anything with classic reel-to-reel sound that can be gently overdriven. 

Great for: Getting studio-grade tape sound on vocals, instruments, or your entire mix.

Warm

An older and bolder tape machine. It’s similar to Sweeten, but with a deeper warmth and warble.

Great for: Getting tape sound with added movement.

Thicken

Hop in your time machine and explore gritty lo-fi textures from half a century ago.

Great for: Giving any track some added vibe and dimension.

Vintagize

Need a tone that’s all your own? Score thriftstore tape machine sound that’s older than your grandparents. 

Great for: Making modern recordings sound old.

Features

• Add analog sound to your recordings with four easy-to-use machines
• Give kicks, snares, and synths gritty tape textures or add warmth to vocals, guitar, bass, or your entire mix
• Make mixes sound instantly more expressive and alive with retro-futuristic analog sounds crafted by UA

Versions Included with your Purchase

• UAD Native: Runs on your Mac or PC without any UA hardware

Learn more about PolyMAX Synth and download the FREE trial version HERE.

System Requirements

• macOS 10.15 Catalina, 11 Big Sur, 12 Monterey, 13 Ventura
• Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit only Editions)
• Intel, AMD, or Apple silicon processor
• Internet connection to download software and authorize UADx plug-ins
• Free iLok account with iLok Cloud or iLok USB (2nd generation or higher)
• A physical iLok dongle is NOT required to activate this product

You can activate this software on an online system (using iLok Cloud) or an offline system (using an iLok USB):

1. Online: an active internet connection and a FREE iLok account are required to authorise UAD Plug-ins using iLok Cloud

2. Offline: you will need a physical iLok USB (2nd generation or higher) to authorise this software

Important note: UAD plugins do not work in Apple's Garageband DAW

View Installation Instructions