Universal Audio Reviews 

Have been informed about iLok compatibility issues with the new version of macOS (again). Thats not acceptable in 2024.

UA Audio:
Make iLok avoid such problems and please find another copyright solution. iLok has hurt us since the 90'.

I do not want to postpone any Mac OS upgrade.

Stopped buying any new plugin with iLok.

This five star is for Drew, the UA ninja! Thanks you for all the help along my journey! Also huge thanks to all the support agents(Sam, Greg etc.) making my experience using UAD products smooth and easy!

I purchased an UAD-2 and some plugins, but now I cannot even login to my account.
Also the quality of the plugins has become worse.
Think twice before dealing with this company.

I have to express my deep concern related to consistent prolonged support response from the UAD Support, and the quality of troubleshooting assistance provided by the Support team.
Personally I encountered persistent delays for days and weeks, and this impacts my ability to use their products and interfaces, and is very frustrating.
This has been going on since I remember, and no action has been taken from the UAD.
In other words: Disrespect and arrogance toward us customers!

The products seem to be wonderful. The support side of things is just completely broken. Wait days to get any reply from the chat bot gatekeeper which requires you to type the same info over and over again even when signed in. And then hope they respond. I’ve been trying for a month to get this Apollo x8 to talk to my Mac book pro but alas, nobody can help me because it's only the other companies fault. Hopeless. I would expect some decent support considering this interface is over 2 grand and advertised as being compatible with Logic Pro. Pathetic.

Update: It is now March 12th. Three months. I still cannot record.
The Customer service is absolutely so bad as to make it harder than not getting any help at all.

Update: March 19th. they reply (see below). what is your ticket number? I'll look into it for you. And send me another few links I've read and videos I've watched? Not support. Support is a phone call from a person who is competent to troubleshoot within a reasonable timeframe. Not three dang months, not only after I tell you I've given up on your product.

I just want to say UA are really helpful, speedy in their response times with customers & always informative to prospective customers. I WANT to say that, but unfortunately I can’t, because I think the complete opposite! Sarcastic, arrogant & apathetic! Won’t ever be buying from them!

From the moment I bought the product it was dysfunctional. There is no way to contact support besides long back and forth email threads that take up to much time. Your products are thousands of dollars and you can't invest in support? You guys suck and are absolutely the worst company. Your support bot is crap and I design them for businesses for a living and they are actually helpful. Your articles and help videos don't go over hard resets and I spent over 5 hours testing everything out. I bought a new cable too. I have had this for over 3 years now and I have to say this product is trash. It has great sound but is highly unreliable.

I've been using their hardware and software for years.
The few occasional problems have been dealt with quickly and efficiently. They are there to make our lives making music easier, more enjoyable and doing so with the highest quality. Thank you UA!

Universal Audio is a pro's choice, their plugins are seriously cool. The Spark subscription is just awesome – I've got an Apollo sound card from them with a bunch of plugins that came with the purchase. I've mixed a lot of songs on this cool gear and the plugins really made our tracks sound amazing.

I also want to give a shoutout and respect for their DAW Luna. I've been using Logic Pro for 10 years, and after seeing it in action, I decided to mix and record a track in Luna. I was worried it wouldn't click with me, but I really wanted to test the legendary Ampex ATR-102 tape emulator and Luna's other features. To my surprise, I really liked your DAW. The Ampex and summing consoles from API & Neve are pure joy, and they even gave me a free 30-day demo. The legendary mastering consoles from Ampex & Neve gave me the sound I needed – warm vintage vibes. The track turned out awesome, and your Luna 🌙 gave me the feeling of working with an analog mixing console. Thanks, guys, keep improving your DAW and delighting us with your plugins.

Your Ampex ATR102 plugin integrated into Luna is just luxurious. Can't wait for a discount to grab it with both hands and feet.

Absolutely horrific customer support. I spent $200 on plugins during their cyber sale and they didn't show up in my library. Can't get a human on the phone and just got a response from the ticket I opened on 12/4 saying they can't service the ticket.

The WORST customer service as there is NONE!!! I am out 49$ because they cannot put my plug in purchases in my iLok account.

I finally decided to buy a UA native plugin, and so wish I hadn't. In order to even install the plugin you have to use UA Connect, which doesn't work. I've raised a support ticket but had no response other than the automated "we've received your support request".
I'll be demanding a full refund and will never touch UA with a barge pole ever again. Hopeless.

I have submitted 2 support tickets and I only got 1 stupid robot answer with links to articles totally unrelated to the problem which I clearly spelled out in my tickets. The only number you can call hangs up on you after telling you to submit a ticket. This is supposed to be professional equipment. It should have professional support. But it doesn't. I'm fed up!

No customer service. Dont know why to bother to put a number on your page if its nobody to respond. Im having an issue i cant sort without customer service.

See title. I really hope that companies with this obvious money-grabbing attitude (like UAD) will soon realise they'd be better of just focussing on product quality and good customer support. I sold my UAD hardware and I'm better of with hardware by another brand. Regarding software they're quite good, so hopefully UAD will focus on developing and maintaining this and offering it in a more fair (stable), less fun-fair alike system/webshop.

I bought the Lexicon reverb plugin. I cannot use it, but the installation stepped through the licensing through the iLock cloud, instead of normal, without forewarning (otherwise I would not have bought it), but i don't have nor want a dongle; the company will not cancel the license and issue a refund. This is outright theft, in my opinion, very shabby customer relations in cahoots with Plugin Boutique. So I have a supposedly activated license but the VST will not properly load into Ableton Live, and I can't expunge it from my iLock either. Very, very poor.

I decided not to give 1 star because I remember a time when the CS was excellent, and the plugs could not be beaten.

However, there are many other companies putting out top notch plugs that completely hold their own, UA need to acknowledge this unfortunate fact and bring their products in line with that reality. They are simply way overpriced for the market they exist in today.

Beyond that, they could and should have made sure their 'legacy' products (like the 800 firewire Satellites) continue to work for modern OSX (you can't use it beyond Catalina). At the moment I have £2,000 worth of hardware investment and many thousands of pounds worth of plugs that I can only use on setup, essentially 'baked-in' to a UA corner.

When you ask customers to believe in your products, and ask them to pay that kind of money, you should do whatever possible to keep them working as technology moves on.

Recently they've gone native, but it's not like you can just port over your session and have them work natively. For no apparent reason there are only a few select plugs available natively, and if you use a legacy plug you need to 'upgrade' to have it work.

Customer service is much slower these days.

I had high expectations when I bought my Apollo Solo from Universal Audio (UA). The brand had a reputation for quality, and for a while, my device worked perfectly. But as all electronics inevitably do, it encountered an issue and stopped powering up.

Being the diligent and patient consumer, I reached out to UA's customer support. I provided them with all the necessary details, from the fault to my personal details for shipping, expecting a quick resolution.

Aiden from Customer Support acknowledged my complaint and promised that their services team would assess the situation. I believed I was on the right track to having my Apollo Solo repaired or replaced.

But it was all downhill from there.

Days turned into weeks, and my repeated attempts to get a status update were met with silence. My trust in the brand was eroding as each day passed. Their customer support’s lack of communication and apparent disregard for a customer facing a warranty issue is disheartening, to say the least.

It's not just about the device failing to work; electronics can have issues. It's about how a company chooses to stand behind its products and value its customers. And on this front, Universal Audio has deeply disappointed me.

For anyone considering investing in UA's products, my experience serves as a cautionary tale. Their products might be great (as long as they work), but if you face any issues, brace yourself for a support nightmare and getting upright ignored.

If you purchase a plugin make sure your email address is the one that is registered to your iLOK manager otherwise your product will be stuck in the Guest Cloud which is very annoying.

There is no way to merge this account to the one with my iLok email address.

I will update review to a full five star if this matter is resolved within 31 days which is pretty fare.

(update)

They sorted it out promptly i'm over the moon. Apollo Twin Soundcard is on my priorities list. Thanks UA