I’ve made no secret about my love of Universal Audio products. For years, they have been my go to company when recording and mixing audio. Today things got even better.

“UA’s mission is to bring the character and warmth of analog to digital,” said Bill Putnam Jr., the Founder of Universal Audio, at a NAMM press conference.

Today at NAMM, the company unveiled Apollo Expanded software, which will be released in March. Expanded allows users with Thunderbolt-equipped Apollo Twin, Apollo DUO, Apollo QUAD, and Apollo 16 audio interfaces to freely combine up to four Apollos and six total UAD-2 devices—adding I/O and DSP as their studio grows.

The new Flex Driver also lets users customize Core Audio I/O—name, save, and share presets for different hardware setups and DAWs.

Console 2.0, which will be released as part of the update, includes a high-resolution, Retina-compatible 64-bit software interface for Thunderbolt-equipped Apollos; numerous monitoring improvements including Alternate Monitors, new Control Room functions, and enhanced headphone cue management; enhanced plug-in features such as preset auditioning and drag & drop functionality; per-input Record/Monitor effect switching; and multi-level Undo and Redo for plug-in assignments and parameters.

Sound Machine Wood Works Plug-In — $299

• Lets acoustic guitar piezo pickups sound like a studio-miked acoustic
• Get rich acoustic sounds in noisy environments or when high-quality miking is not possible
• Re-voice the source guitar’s resonance and acoustic properties live or at mixdown
• Freedom to re-mic during mixing, changing and adding microphones as needed

UA Distortion Essentials Plug-In Bundle — $249

• Features the legendary Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808, Raw Distortion (based on the vintage early-80s Pro Co Rat), and Bermuda Triangle (based on the early 70s-era) Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi) plug-ins
• Harnesses Unison technology to precisely emulate the circuit interaction, gain range, and clip points of the original stompboxes

Antares Auto-Tune Live Plug-In — $249

• Realtime pitch correction and manipulation with iconic Auto-Tune effect
• Incredibly low latency for instant response, onstage or in the studio

Friedman Amplifiers Plug-In Collection by Brainworx — $249

• Includes spot-on emulations of the industry-leading Friedman DS40 and Friedman BE100 guitar amplifiers
• Audition 66 different Recording Chains to match the perfect tone to the part
• Fine-tune sounds with an onboard FX Rack that includes a noise gate, EQ filter controls, and host-syncable lo-fi delay