The team at Universal Audio are very pleased to announce a new product, the UAD-2 Live Rack.

UAD-2 Live Rack is a road ready 16-channel MADI effects processor in a single 19" 1U rack that gives live sound engineers the ability to craft studio quality mixes using real-time UAD-2 plug-ins. You even get Antares Auto-Tune Realtime in the package.

The system is built to withstand the rigors of live sound and if you require ultimate power users can chain up to four UAD-2 Live Rack units together for up to 64 channels of MADI signal processing. 

The UAD-2 Live Rack

The UAD-2 Live Rack means you can mix studio-quality live sound with included UAD plug‑ins like Antares Auto-Tune Realtime, genuine Teletronix LA‑2A and 1176 compressors, Pultec EQs, and many more. If you need more power for bigger shows connect up to four UAD-2 Live Rack units for 64 channels of MADI signal processing.

Connect the UAD-2 Live Rack to your Mac via the twin Thunderbolt 3 ports then onto your live console either via two single MADI Optical SC cables or one Duplex MADI Optical SC cable for each UAD-2 Live Rack unit. The back panel also includes BNC connectors for Wordclock. And we know what you are thinking because we are thinking it too. We can't wait to see if the UAD-2 Live Rack will also work in the studio with a MADI equipped interface. We will try to get a Live Rack and try this for you as soon as they become available. 

There is also a Live Rack App for effects tweaking, saving, and recall complete with drag and drop, copy and paste, plug-in zoom, channel strip presets, and more and if you need to mix fast use the MIDI snapshot recall for seamless integration with select Soundcraft Vi consoles.

Realtime UAD Plug-In Processing

With its Realtime UAD QUAD Core Processing, UAD-2 Live Rack lets engineers shape their live mixes with some of the world’s best sounding analogue emulations. If you are already a UAD-2 plug-in user just plug in the UAD-2 Live Rack and get mixing. 

The Live Rack includes the Core or Ultimate UAD plug-in bundles. Other UAD plug-ins are of course sold separately. A small number of UAD plug-ins are not compatible with UAD-2 Live Rack. For full details, visit the UA website.

Select from Core and Ultimate Software Packages

UAD-2 Live Rack Core includes a generous suite of UAD plug-ins right out of the box, featuring Teletronix LA-2A and 1176 compressors, Pultec EQs, and more. UAD-2 Live Rack Ultimate offers 90 UAD plug-ins, with titles from SSL, Studer, Neve, Manley, Lexicon, API, Moog, and more.

Both Core and Ultimate bundles include the Antares Auto-Tune Realtime plug-in. Legendary for its vocal enhancing and creative applications, use genuine Antares Auto-Tuning in real time for pitch correction and modern pop vocal effects.

Live Rack Application

With the Live Rack application, front-of-house engineers can take advantage of intuitive features such as drag and drop, copy and paste, keyboard navigation, plug-in zoom, and the ability to store and recall channel strip presets and/or complete setup configuration Snapshots. Designed for seamless operation in a live setting, the Live Rack app features large text and GUI elements making it easy to quickly tweak parameters. The Live Rack app also features MIDI snapshot recall capabilities as well as networked software integration with select Soundcraft Vi consoles. 

Fail-Safe Features

UAD-2 Live Rack includes professional, fail-safe features for reliable live sound use. Redundant internal power supplies ensure that UAD-2 Live Rack will continue to process audio if one power supply fails. If the Live Rack application or computer fails, or its Thunderbolt cable is disconnected, UAD-2 Live Rack will still process audio with the last known plug-in state intact. And with the Live Rack app in Safe mode, destructive setting changes are prevented during a live show.  

You can find out more about the new UAD-2 Live Rack at the Universal Audio website.