By Dave Sheffield

As many of you may already know, we here at Universal Audio have just released version 4.4.1 as a Universal Binary public preview release. Users should be aware of the following if they make the decision to download and install the new version of the software.

The Universal Public Preview of the UAD-1 software will run native on PowerPC processors as well as the new Intel-based Macs, making this a truly universal driver for Apple computers.

    “Version 4.4.1 of the UAD-1 software will make this a truly universal driver for Apple computers.”

If you're wondering about compatibility issues with the Universal Public Preview, we have tested the software on both single and multicard setups, and everything seems to be okay on the house machines we have tested here. The only issue that has come up is with running multiple cards in machines with more than 4 GB of RAM that do not have Apple's latest firmware update installed (the firmware update was released on September 19, 2006-be sure to check for that!). We also recommend running the latest version of OS X for ensured compatibility.

If you are using a MacBookPro, you need to have OS X version 10.4.8 installed.

To get the Universal Public Preview, simply download and install the software on your machine. If you would like to remove the software and move back to a previous version (4.4.0), make sure you use the uninstaller option in the installer before installing a previous version. This is to ensure there is no version mismatch between the newer (Universal) components, and earlier (PowerPC-only) components.

Also, because this is a public preview release, we are asking you the users to help us out with any bugs or problems you experience. We are requesting that you send us that information using the UAD Version 4.4.1 Preview Release Feedback Form on our website.

We are very excited about this release, and are looking forward to hearing from all of you about any issues that may arise in making the changeover to Intel-based machines.

Be sure to check the 4.4.1 Universal Preview Release release notes for additional information.