The latest UAD 2 Satellite devices connect via Thunderbolt 3 (though UA has kept a USB model around for good measure) and offer powerful processing enhancements in addition to the DSP in your audio interface (if your interface has any, that is). They also serve as a gatekeeper of sorts to the UAD-2 plug-in library (along with UA interfaces): you’ll need some kind of UA hardware if you want to use the company’s plug-ins. They provide an external hardware solution for processing those powerful UAD-2 Powered Plug-ins (and others). The UAD Satellite family of products is a family of (somewhat) portable digital signal processing (DSP) accelerators. That separate interface can be a UAD Apollo product, but it doesn’t have to be. If you plan to use it in conjunction with live recording, you’ll need a separate audio interface. There are no audio inputs on the unit at all. The most important thing to understand is that the UAD Satellite isn’t an audio interface. We need to start with some clarifications about what the UAD Satellite series isn’t. But do you need one at this stage in your home studio? And is the extra DSP you get with the UAD Satellite really worth the extra money?įind out what you need to know in this review of the UAD Satellite. When you run out of DSP, the UAD Satellite can help take your tracks to the next level.

Your existing setup - even if it includes an Apollo audio interface with its own onboard DSP - could eventually run out of processing power.

This brings us to the UAD Satellite family of devices. UA gear is significantly more expensive (though well worth the investment), and the company’s superior plug-ins require a good deal more processing power than other options on the market. If you’re serious about your sound, you can get far better results with UA gear, software and plug-ins than you would with a more entry-level alternative.īut that significant jump in quality comes at a cost, in more ways than one. Universal Audio makes some of the best audio interfaces and plug-ins on the market today.

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