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Universal Audio
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Professional audio interfaces and plugins developer
Universal Audio
Work Here?
Professional audio interfaces and plugins developer
Overview
Universal Audio provides professional audio hardware and software for recording and processing sound. Its Apollo interfaces and UAD accelerators handle real-time DSP plugins that emulate classic analog gear, while analog hardware handles conversion. The plugins run on either the hardware or computer, delivering high-fidelity tracking and mixing with authentic analog character. Its approach combines dedicated DSP hardware, extensive analog emulations, and a long industry history to serve musicians, engineers, and studios.
About Universal Audio
Industries
Hardware
Entertainment
Company Size
201-500
Company Stage
M&A
Total Funding
N/A
Headquarters
Scotts Valley, California
Founded
1958
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- August 4, 2026 EMT 140 and EMT 250 natively reach Windows and macOS users.
- January 13, 2026 free 610 Tube Preamp expanded native adoption without Apollo hardware.
- April 15, 2026 UAD Explore FREE added eight plug-ins and LUNA with no credit card.
What critics are saying
- Native releases erase Apollo exclusivity, shrinking interface upgrade urgency by 2027.
- Discounts like the August 2026 EMT $79 intro price train customers to wait.
- If Apollo loses relevance, UA becomes a low-margin plugin shop.
What makes Universal Audio unique
- Since 1958, UA monetizes Bill Putnam-era analog pedigree across hardware and plugins.
- Apollo interfaces still enable zero-latency monitoring with UAD plug-ins, unlike native-only rivals.
- LUNA, Spark, and UA Connect lock hardware, software, and distribution into one ecosystem.
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Company News
UA releases new native EMT 140 plate & EMT 250 Electronic Reverb plugins. Designed to deliver the authentic plate reverb and vintage digital effects heard on classic recordings by numerous artists; available for macOS and Windows, with no Apollo or UAD hardware required. Universal Audio has announced the native release of UAD EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator and UAD EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb plugins, now available for macOS and Windows, no Apollo or UAD hardware required. Officially endorsed by EMT International, the UAD EMT 140 and EMT 250 are designed to deliver the authentic plate reverb and vintage digital effects heard on classic recordings by artists including The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Prince, Radiohead, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. "Some sounds never go out of style," says Bill Putnam Jr., CEO of Universal Audio. "The EMT 140 and EMT 250 have inspired generations of great recordings, and we're excited to bring them to even more creators." The EMT 140 plugin captures three uniquely different EMT units modeled at The Plant Studios in California. Controls foster dialing in classic sounds with damping and filter controls, and access plugin-only settings like Balance, Width, and Modulation. The EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb is an exact emulation, with an algorithm sourced directly from a "golden unit" at Ocean Way Recording in California, offering the world's first digital reverb and modulation unit. Six modulation effects are onboard for dialing in '70s delay, phasing, chorus, and echo. The UAD EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator and UAD EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb are available individually at an introductory price of $79 USD each (regularly $149 USD each), and are included with the UAD Spark plugin subscription. Musicians looking to expand their UAD plugin collection can take advantage of UAD Mix Tape Pro, which bundles the EMT 140 and EMT 250 alongside eight additional titles for $119 USD during the month of August. Current owners of the Apollo DSP versions of either plugin are eligible for special upgrade pricing.
UA releases native EMT 140 plate and EMT 250 Electronic Reverb plug-ins. Endorsed by EMT International, the sound of legendary vintage reverbs are now available to music creators everywhere. SCOTTS VALLEY, CA - August 4, 2026 - Universal Audio Inc. (UA), a worldwide leader in audio production tools, is proud to announce the native release of UAD EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator and UAD EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb plug-ins, now available for macOS and Windows, no Apollo or UAD hardware required. Officially endorsed by EMT International, the UAD EMT 140 and EMT 250 deliver the authentic plate reverb and vintage digital effects heard on classic recordings by artists including The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Prince, Radiohead, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.* "Some sounds never go out of style," said Bill Putnam Jr., CEO of Universal Audio. "The EMT 140 and EMT 250 have inspired generations of great recordings, and we're excited to bring them to even more creators." UAD EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator. $149 USD | Intro $79 USD | Included in UAD Spark The EMT 140 UAD plug-in delivers the natural warmth and presence that only plate reverb can provide. Capturing three uniquely different EMT units modeled at The Plant Studios in California, it's the exact reverb sound heard on some of the most iconic recordings in history. Key benefits. * Iconic Studio Reverbs. Get the essential plate sounds heard on recordings from The Beatles and Pink Floyd to Radiohead and Adele* * Authentic EMT Tone. Enjoy warmth and realism far beyond other plug-in emulations * A Vocal Masterpiece. Make any lead track instantly stand out above a dense mix * Essential Controls. Dial in classic sounds with damping and filter controls, and access plug-in-only settings like Balance, Width, and Modulation UAD EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb. $149 USD | Intro $79 USD | Included in UAD Spark Regarded as one of the best reverbs ever made, the 250 is beloved for its incredible sound and versatility. An exact emulation, with an algorithm sourced directly from a "golden unit" at Ocean Way Recording in California, the EMT 250 UAD plug-in puts the world's first digital reverb and modulation unit at your command. * A "Real Deal" 250 Reverb. Track and mix with the only emulation fully endorsed by EMT International * Classic Digital Sound. Enjoy the same tones used on records by Pink Floyd, Prince, Elvis Costello, and many more* * Six Modulation Effects. Dial in vibey '70s delay, phasing, chorus, and echo * The Identical Algorithm. Access the exact tone of an original EMT unit from the famed Ocean Way Recording The UAD EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator and UAD EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb are available individually at an introductory price of $79 USD each (regularly $149 USD each), and are included with the UAD Spark plug-in subscription. Musicians looking to expand their UAD plug-in collection can take advantage of UAD Mix Tape Pro, which bundles the EMT 140 and EMT 250 alongside eight additional titles for $119 USD during the month of August. Current owners of the Apollo DSP versions of either plug-in are eligible for special upgrade pricing. Visit uaudio.com for details. About Universal Audio Inc. Universal Audio (UA) is a pioneer in audio and music production tools, with a rich 60-year history of craftsmanship and innovation. UA today enables millions of audio and music creators worldwide, with industry-standard Apollo and Volt recording interfaces, UAD plug-ins, UAFX pedals, advanced audio machine learning, LUNA recording suite, and UA Custom Shop hardware. UA is headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, with passionate employees worldwide - united by its goal of "Inspiring Sound for Generations." (C) 2026 Universal Audio, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, pricing, and availability are subject to change without notice. The "Universal Audio" name, UA "diamond" logo, "Apollo," "Apollo Twin," "UAD," "Powered Plug-Ins," and "LUNA Recording System" are trademarks or registered trademarks of Universal Audio Inc.
Two boutique saturation plugins just landed for Apollo and UAD hardware. Words by Mixdown Developed by Brainworx, the two new UAD plugins bring boutique tube and solid-state saturation to Apollo interfaces and UAD-2 hardware. Universal Audio has added two Brainworx-developed boutique saturation plug-ins to the UAD platform - the Black Box Analog Design HG-2 and elysia karacter Stereo Saturator, both available now for Apollo interfaces and UAD hardware. The HG-2 has a solid reputation in hardware form among mix and mastering engineers, known for adding richness and a sense of finish to a mix. The UAD version captures that tube saturation character and adds a handful of plugin-only controls: a Pentode/Triode blend for dialling in the flavour of warmth or grit, a parallel saturation path that can target lows, full spectrum or top end, and an Air control for opening up the top end beyond what the hardware offers. Density, Calibration voicing and Gain staging controls round out the extended feature set. The elysia karacter Stereo Saturator covers different ground, modelling the Discrete Class A circuitry of elysia's boutique hardware. Three modes - Saturation, FET Shred and Turbo Boost - take it from subtle colouring through to heavy harmonic distortion, and Mid/Side mode gives stereo tracks more width and dimension. Both mono and stereo sources are covered, making it useful across individual tracks, buses, stems or a full mix. Both plugins run in real time on Apollo DSP for near-zero latency monitoring and are available now.
NoiseWorks unveils VoiceAssist Mouth De-Click: cleaner vocals, less editing. If you record vocals or dialogue, you know the grind. The take is perfect, the performance is there, and then you zoom in and find the timeline littered with clicks, lip smacks and mouth noise. Cleaning it up by hand is slow, fiddly work that eats into the part of the job you actually enjoy. NoiseWorks VoiceAssist Mouth De-Click is built to take that chore off your plate. It's a new module for the Advanced tier of NoiseWorks' VoiceAssist plug-in that automatically detects and reduces mouth noises, giving you a hands-off alternative to manual editing. Let's dive into what makes this a worthwhile addition to your vocal chain. Detection that does the digging for you. The whole point of Mouth De-Click is that it listens so you don't have to. Rather than scrubbing through a track hunting for offending clicks, you let the module find and reduce them automatically. Two controls keep you in charge of how it behaves: * Sensitivity: sets how aggressively the automatic detection and reduction is applied, so you can go gentle on a clean voice or push harder on a noisy one. * Detection HP: a high-pass filter over the detection stage that lets you exclude lower-frequency sounds from processing, so the module focuses on actual clicks rather than reacting to body and warmth in the voice. Automation without the track juggling. One of the smarter touches here is a dedicated Sensitivity automation lane. That means you can vary the amount of reduction across different parts of a session - easing off in quiet, intimate passages and leaning in where the noise is worst - without having to set up multiple tracks and separate plug-in instances to do it. For anyone working on long-form dialogue, podcasts or vocal comps, that's a real time-saver. A free upgrade, plus a gift for LUNA users. Mouth De-Click arrives as a free update for all existing VoiceAssist Advanced users - no extra spend required. NoiseWorks has also reset the Advanced trial, so if you've already tried it before, you can take the new module for a spin. Alongside the update, NoiseWorks revealed that VoiceAssist Basic is now bundled at no cost with Universal Audio's LUNA DAW. Current and future LUNA users automatically receive a licence, which includes the VoiceAssist levelling engine. Rather than riding gain in real time, it analyses the entire recording first and generates editable automation, producing smoother, more transparent level control than a traditional gain rider. There's an upgrade path too: LUNA users get 10% off moving up to the Standard or Advanced tier, which adds AI-powered gating, breath control, de-essing, denoising, de-reverb and low-end restoration. The specs that matter. * What it is: a new automatic Mouth De-Click module for VoiceAssist Advanced, plus VoiceAssist Basic now free for UA LUNA users. * Key controls: Sensitivity, Detection HP filter, and a Sensitivity automation lane. * Formats: VST3, AU and AAX, so it slots into virtually any modern DAW. * System requirements: Windows 10 or later, and macOS 13 or above. * Pricing (overseas, ex-AUD): VoiceAssist Basic US$49 / £42, Standard US$149 / £128, Advanced US$299 / £258 (prices include VAT). The Mouth De-Click update is free for existing Advanced owners. Australian pricing wasn't confirmed at the time of writing - check with Koala Audio at Koala Audio for local AUD pricing and availability. If your work lives or dies on clean vocals and dialogue, an automatic de-clicker that you can dial in and automate is the kind of quietly useful tool that pays for itself in saved hours. You can shop NoiseWorks at Koala Audio to see what's available locally.
Universal Audio launches UAD Topline Vocal Tune plugin. Universal Audio has announced the release of a new native vocal pitch correction plugin for Windows and Mac. Built for modern vocal production, Topline Vocal Tune gives musicians and producers the ability to pitch correct and reshape vocals instantly... Universal Audio has announced the release of a new native vocal pitch correction plugin for Windows and Mac. Built for modern vocal production, Topline Vocal Tune gives musicians and producers the ability to pitch correct and reshape vocals instantly. With ultra low latency monitoring, singers can hear their vocals perfectly in tune through headphones without [...] This is a syndicated post. To read more, click the source link above.
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About Universal Audio
Industries
Hardware
Entertainment
Company Size
201-500
Company Stage
M&A
Total Funding
N/A
Headquarters
Scotts Valley, California
Founded
1958
Universal Audio is Hiring for 4 Jobs on Simplify!
Find jobs on Simplify and start your career today