Universal Audio UAD-Xpander

Another reason Universal Audio has gained favor among musicians and engineers is because of the range of plug-ins available for their UAD-1 DSP card. The UAD-1 runs “Powered Plug-ins,” which can be used alongside native VST, AU, and RTAS plug-ins. The obvious advantage with the UAD-1 is that it lets you run UA’s high-quality plug-ins without using precious CPU resources. For desktop-based musicians trying to squeeze the most performance from their systems, this is a boon. Now, thanks to the UAD-Xpander, laptop users can use Powered Plug-ins on their mobile systems.

This is big news, considering that the stable of Powered Plug-ins keeps growing. As of this writing, the list of plug-ins includes an attractive collection of manufacturer-endorsed emulations based on coveted gear originally built by such audio icons as Neve, Roland, SPL, and Empirical Labs.

I’ve been a UAD-1 user for well over a year now, and I’m hooked. Every project that comes across my hard drive uses UAD-1 plug-ins somewhere in the mix. When the opportunity to review Xpander came up, I was on board. According to UA, the Xpander delivers identical performance to a UAD-1e card. I was anxious to see if I could indeed take sessions loaded with Powered Plug-ins from my desktop system and work on mixes remotely with a laptop. To sweeten the pot, Universal sent along two of their newest Powered Plug-ins — the Precision Buss Compressor and SPL Transient Designer — for review.

HARDWARE

In terms of DSP resources and efficiency, the UAD-Xpander is identical to the UAD-1e PCI-Express card. The only significant difference is physical: The Xpander connects via ExpressCard, the latest expansion standard for laptops, which is found on Apple MacBook Pros (though not the less expensive “regular” MacBooks) and a host of PC laptops.

If you haven’t heard of ExpressCard before, it’s relatively new on the scene, replacing the older CardBus standard, which was sometimes called “PCM/CIA.” The big deal, as it relates to the Xpander, is that ExpressCard provides a much faster data transfer speed. It’s because of this that Xpander can perform identically to a UAD-1e card sitting in a desktop computer’s PCIe slot. The card itself comes in two sizes: 34mm and 54mm. The Xpander’s card is 34mm, but if your laptop has a 54mm slot, it will fit — these slots on laptops are designed to steer the narrower cards into the socket.

The entire package consists of a power supply with several overseas plug adapters, the 34mm ExpressCard, and the guts of a UAD-1e card housed in an attractive aluminum enclosure similar in size to a 3.5" external hard drive. Xpander is lighter and quieter than most hard drives, though, because the card’s power supply is relatively small, and there are no moving parts, nor any need for an internal fan.

The included cable that connects the card to the main unit has the same impedance and connector as an HDMI video cable, although UA doesn’t recommend using an off-the-shelf cable. Unfortunately, you can’t daisy-chain additional Xpander boxes onto the card to create a multi-card system. According to UA, the HDMI cable doesn’t provide for this.

UA sells a PCI-Express card called the Xtenda, which lets you use the Xpander with a PCIe-equipped desktop computer. For folks who shuttle between studio and remote work and don’t want to pay for separate UAD-1e and Xpander cards, the Xtenda is a cost-effective option. Via the Xtenda, Xpander can also be used as part of a multi-card system, up to a maximum of four cards — say, three UAD-1e cards internally, plus an Xtenda that runs out to the Xpander box. An enviable configuration, if ever there was one!

PLUG-IN OPTIONS

You have a choice of three bundles: Xpress, Xpert, and Xtreme. Similar to previous UAD packages, the actual difference is the dollar amount of the included voucher, which you use to buy plug-ins directly from UA’s website. Every UAD product, including Xpander, comes with 14 base plug-ins, covering everything from dynamics to EQ to reverb to guitar amp modeling. Keep in mind that several plug-ins within the CS-1 channel strip and Nigel guitar amp “suites” figure into that number.

From there, the Xpander Xpress includes a $500 voucher, the Xpert a $1,000 voucher. This lets you pick the plugs that suit your needs. Finally, the Xtreme bundle includes every Universal Audio Powered Plug-in up to and including those released as part of UAD software version 4.5.x. The Neve 33609 ($249 if bought separately) is also included. Plug-ins released after this, notably the Neve 88RS channel strip ($299), and Helios type 69 EQ ($199), still must be purchased separately, no matter which bundle level you bought. This is also the case for the Precision Buss Compressor and SPL Transient Designer. I’ll devote a good deal of space to these two in the “In Use” section below, both because they’re among UA’s newest offerings, and because of how useful I found them in my mixes.

IN USE

To begin with, installation was simple. First, I ran the Powered Plug-ins installer. This program also installs the UAD-1 Performance Meter applet, which authorizes plug-ins and monitors how hard the DSP chip is working. I installed the software on my test system, an Apple MacBook Pro with a 2.4GHz Intel Core2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, and OS 10.4.11. Windows users take note: The UAD-Xpander works on Vista, but not XP or any older Windows OS.

I then powered down the computer, connected the UAD-Xpander to the ExpressCard, inserted the card, and powered up. When I ran Performance Meter, it recognized the card and properly reported all of the authorized plug-ins. Demo versions of all UA plug-ins were also on hand, so I activated 14-day trial periods for anything I didn’t already have.

I then had to activate the new SPL Transient Designer and Precision Buss Compressor plug-ins. Authorization is done by creating an account at UA’s website, then creating a user profile that includes a hardware code from the card (or cards) in your system. I already had an account, so all I had to do was download the authorization file, which then loads into the Performance Meter app. Depending on the plug-ins or bundle you buy, the process can be slightly more or less involved. In my case, it went off without a hitch.

From that point on, the UAD-Xpander worked without fail — truly plug-and-play. During my time with Xpander, I never had any issues with drivers, unrecognized hardware, or unexpected errors. This is typical of my experience with my own UAD-1e. It’s a rock-solid, reliable system.

I migrated sessions from my desktop computer (a quad-processor G5) to the laptop without any downtime or incompatibility. Custom settings from sessions I had ported over were faithfully retained on the laptop, letting me fine-tune rough mixes I’d put together in my studio. The only hiccup I encountered was that I needed to copy over the custom presets I’d saved via the plug-in. As you might expect, these presets aren’t saved as part of a session. This isn’t a fault of the UAD system, just something to keep in mind if you plan to switch between desktop and laptop:

You’ll need to take the extra step of making a copy of any presets you create.

I put the SPL Transient designer (see “What’s a Transient Designer?” on page 63) to good use on several problem tracks that I couldn’t quite reel in with a more conventional compressor. For example, on a fast-strummed mandolin part, I wanted to bring out more of the rhythm without making it sound unnaturally pumped or hyped. With the Transient Designer, I emphasized the strum to create more of a percussive effect, while reducing the ringy harmonic content of the rather cheap mandolin I’d recorded. On another track, a treble-register piano ostinato sounded too spikey through a compressor I had on the stereo bus. Swapping in the TD, I dialed down the attack without making the piano sound strange, and still kept the stereo mix at a competitive level.

I have other transient processors in my toolbox, such as the Sonnox Trans Modulator and Logic’s own Enveloper, and to my ears, TD is less obvious than Trans Mod, and not nearly as heavy-handed as Enveloper. Bottom line: Transient Designer does what it does very well, without leaving a fingerprint on your tracks.

Besides the attack, release, threshold, and ratio controls you’d expect from a compressor, the new Precision Buss Compressor (see “Sonic Glue” above) sports a highpass filter that let me remove low-frequency content from the compressor’s control signal sidechain (this affects only the control signal directly, not the audio itself). Musically, judicious use made all the difference when working with kick drums and other bass-heavy material. If the compressor clamped too hard on the downbeats, bringing up the filter cutoff a bit smoothed out the sound.

The PBC’s wet/dry mix control was great for doing the engineer’s trick of blending compressed and uncompressed versions of a track to create a fatter sound. It was nice not to have to set up parallel channels in my DAW, which is usually more of a pain to do in a software mixer than it is with hardware.

There’s also a Fade function, which lets you trigger a smooth and professional-sounding fade-in or fade-out from the PBC plug-in, rather than having to draw volume automation for your DAW’s master output. Fade times range from one to 60 seconds, and can be triggered via plug-in automation. I achieved nice results simply by recording trigger automation, then letting Fade do its thing.

Sonically, the PBC definitely gels tracks together in a pleasing, musical way. Depending on how hard you push the compressor and where you set its attack and release, it can go from fairly transparent to exciting and punchy. I inserted the PBC on the stereo buss of several projects of varying styles, and in all cases it imbued a certain thickness and cohesiveness to the mix. Sharp transients were smoothed, kick and bass seemed to pull together a little better, and overall the sound was more “analog” than “digital.” Maybe that reads like marketing bull, but it’s true. With computer-based recording, details typically remain in sharp focus, sometimes too much so, partly because there’s nothing else in the signal path to impart its own character to the mix. With the PBC, I could get that round, “neo-classic” analog-type sound. Plus, it isn’t a DSP hog — I ran nine instances before the Xpander ran out of resources.

CONCLUSIONS

There are several dedicated plug-in DSP solutions on the market, some of which have more processing horsepower than Universal Audio’s UAD cards. But none of the competition comes close to the variety of pro-sounding, manufacturer-endorsed emulations the UAD platform boasts. UA is known for the quality of their plug-ins, and the Transient Designer and Precision Buss Compressor are no exceptions. Ultimately, the reliability of UAD-1 processing and the range of excellent Powered Plug-ins amounts to an undeniably effective addition to any computer music system that’s otherwise based on native processing. If you’re looking to upgrade the mixing capabilities of your DAW without forking out for an entirely new computer, the UAD-1 series, and now the UAD-Xpander, deliver the goods.

WHAT’S A TRANSIENT DESIGNER?

To put it in synthesizer terms, it’s like an amp envelope, except that you apply it to audio tracks instead of oscillators. Transient shaping is commonly used to tame or sharpen the attack of drum loops and individual drum sounds, acoustic guitar, and just about any source that has clearly defined transients. Universal Audio’s SPL Transient Designer plug-in has attack, sustain, and gain knobs. Use your ears and adjust to taste — it’s that simple. I found it to be a subtle effect at low to medium settings, and only obvious at extremes, and even then it wasn’t hitting me over the head. In other words, it’s better at refining a track, not making broad-stroke corrections.

WHAT’S IN THE CARDS FOR THE UAD?

The current incarnation of the UAD-1 was originally released in 2004, and since then the card’s DSP capabilities haven’t changed, which has been a point of contention for many users wishing to run more instances of UA’s fantastic emulation plug-ins. One way around this is to run multiple cards.

Up to four UAD-1, UAD-1e, or UAD-Xtenda cards can combine forces in a desktop system, but you can only use a single UAD-Xpander with a laptop. If your desktop is short on free PCI slots (as most are), the workaround is to install a PCI expansion chassis to house them. This isn’t cheap, but it does work. According to UA, a “very small” number of their users go this route. Though it’s UA’s policy not to discuss possible future products, it’s logical to speculate that future development will focus on a more powerful single-card solution.

CLAIM CHECK

According to Universal Audio, their goal with the UAD-Xpander was to make available “all the killer UAD plug-ins to laptop users. Now you can mix on the go when out of the studio and connect your UAD-Xpander back to your desktop when using your main rig.” Regarding two new plug-ins, UA’s aim “was to duplicate the musicality and versatility of the original, analog SPL Transient Designer, while preserving the range of envelope control without digital artifacts. UAD-1 users have also been clamoring for a bus compressor that could really ‘glue’ a mix together, or could be used for ‘mixing-into’ the stereo master bus. After researching the most highly-respected compressors for this purpose, the Precision Buss Compressor is what we came up with.”