I don't have the satellite, but I have the PCI card and I use it literally every day. I don't have the Studer or Ampex emulations, but they are very high on my list. The plug ins are nothing short of awesome sounding. Some of the plug ins, like the Pultec Pro, make the sound a little bit better just by putting them on a track and leaving it flat. Great stuff!! Highly recommended!
Looking forward to getting the Pultec EQ on some stuff. I heard it's the best software 1176 and LA-2A you can get too. Also keen to free up some processing on my machine, it's on the ragged edge right now
Keep in mind that it will take a substantial portion of your Firewire bus, and according to one review I read, it will revert to FW 400 speeds if the chipset in the computer isn't compatible. You might want to check with UA on the specs of your computer and it's FW components before making your final decision.
I've been using the LA2A a lot lately, I just really like it's "soft" way of doing gain reduction. I find it's great on piano, in particular.
Cool, I will check on the Firewire situation, I have a 400 and 800 port available, don't know if the chip is the right one, but I'm sure I could do a diagnostic to work it out.
I was thinking of getting the CLA Waves compressor bundle, but I don't get the extra DSP processing, and I heard the UA ones are better anyway.
Jamie, like mazz I don't have the Satellite but the PCI card so I second his suggestion to make sure it will work with your computer. Should be no problem finding out from UA as they are very responsive.
I will simply say the UAD is one of the best purchases I've ever made and I'm quite sure you won't regret it. IMHO you simply can't beat the combination of stellar plug-ins and reduced hit to your host DAW.
Having emulations of different flavors of top vintage EQs and compressors at my fingertips has been somewhat of a revelation for me and has definitely made my music sound better.
I've also come to know UA as a very customer friendly and generous company, which is another big plus in my book.
So, assuming the Satellite works with your system, I give this purchase a big thumbs up...