Universal Audio UAD-2 Satellite TB3 Octo 5-stars Reviews

you can't go wrong with UAD

This unit is a must when you want a smooth mixing session, I wouldn't recommend to go any lower than OCTO. I've started my journey with UAD Apollo duo mainly as a audio interface, shortly after fell in love with UAD eco-system and after getting another unit (OCTO) I started seriously building my plugins arsenal (68), believe me or not- after few months my system was craving more UAD juice so getting third unit (octo as well) was no brainer. Since then I never had a situation that system couldn't handle any session. Caution- it's an expensive 'toy' :)

A must

Helped me to have more instances of the UAD plugins, a must in their ecosystem

The ultimate CPU saver for big sessions

I have 2 quad already, FireWire and Thunderbolt. This one runs perfectly with my system. It's a cpu saver when come the Jumbo sessions.

Just one thing, be sure that you ordered the thunderbolt 3 cable and your computer has at least a thunderbolt 3 port. Otherwise, you have a order a thunderbolt adapter and those cables are quite expensive.

If you're serious, you need this

I bought an Apollo x8 and have been in love ever since. But part of being in love is the selection of plug-ins. I only have 37 plug-ins, which is somewhat modest by pro audio standards. But quickly my productions at home were taxing my fully-loaded MacBook Pro. I read that the Satellite is really necessary if you're serious about your home recording. And I am.

Set-up is dead-simple. After I loaded one of my more complex projects (from Ableton Live) there was a little jittery freak-out with my CPU meter going all over the place. But after about 45-60 seconds everything calmed down and my project playback was 100% glitch-free with PLENTY of CPU headroom to spare. It's an expensive "add-on" but, again, if you're serious, it's worth it.

Does a grand job

If you are shopping for these types of products you'll know why.

I did and I am not one bit disappointed; my Mac is leading a very lazy life and has time for loads of other things. the combination of my UA Apollo plus this Satellite is more than enough to serve my 32 track projects. This has something to do with the setup of your projects as wel. But there you are; this is a little gem!

Super useful

I use this item as helper in mixing work, it help to use as many plug-ins and I need to, and computer is working just fine with that little helper. Quality in Universal Audio is amazing as usual, worth it.

So far its great

Does what it should and so far no problems at all.

super +

the product is fully consistent with the price and quality ...

JUST AMAZING

Pros you can use so many UAD plugins now

Cons you need to buy a Thunderbolt 3 cable

but it was really worth it.

Great UAD

Using my satellite with my laptop in home studio and it is working nicely. Plugins are doing great.

Pros : nice sounding plugins, low profile and powerful unit

Cons: expensive plugins

UAD QUALITY

UAD i cant say anything

no brainer

If you need a kick to boost your UA system processing power, this is the no brainer option. I would guess the other scenario would be to use it standalone to add support for UA plugins to an existing system, particularly useful in a mobile solution.

Unboxed it, plugged it in my Apollo x8p, switched on: it popped up the registration web page. Overall I was done with all of that in about 2 minutes, and up and running. Could not have been simpler than that.

Handling the unit it also feels sturdy, which seems relevant if you use it a lot in mobile scenarios.

The Quad unit is cheaper but I'd recommend the extra investment for the Octo. This is especially true if this is the only UA processing unit you use: 4 DSPs is not a lot, and if you run at higher sample rates you will definitely run out of juice sooner than you like.