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How to Register Used Hardware

About Hardware Registration

UAD hardware (Apollo, Satellite and PCIe UAD-2 products) must be registered to a UA Account in order to use UAD plug-ins and make purchases from the UAD store.

Once registered, the hardware can be used with any plug-in licenses that are assigned to the same system within that account. For details about plug-in licensing, click here.


Any Apollo, Satellite or UAD-2 PCIe card can be registered. This does not require steps from the seller unless they wish to transfer their entire UAD-2 plug-in library out of their account with the device. 
To learn more about hardware transfers, click here.

 

Registering Used Apollo / Satellite / PCIe UAD-2 Hardware

  1. Connect only the UA device you are trying to register, disconnect any others.
  2. Log in to your existing Universal Audio account, or create a new one on the Universal Audio account page.
  3. Go to the Hardware Registration page.
  4. Select the device type:
    Screenshot 2025-04-15 at 10.54.33.png



  5. Select used, to proceed registering a used Apollo / Satellite / PCIe UAD-2 device:
    Screenshot 2025-04-15 at 10.56.42.png
  6. Enter the product serial:

    Screenshot 2025-04-15 at 10.57.02.png

    Note: If you already have UAD software v10.1.1 or later installed, skip to the Installing the UAD Software section. If you receive the error "Transfer already in progress for hardware", this means the process has already been started. In this case, you can also skip to the Installing the UAD Software section.

Once the above steps are done, continue to follow the instructions in the Installing the UAD Software section to complete software installation and registration.

 

Installing the UAD Software 

Note: This software includes drivers for the hardware, and the UAD-2 DSP Plug-Ins which run on the hardware.

Once the above steps are completed, proceed to download and install the UAD software.

  1. Download and install UA Connect
  2. Launch UA Connect and log in to the UA account your hardware is registered to.
  3. Click the Apollo & UAD-2 tab to begin downloading the UAD Software Installer.
    A direct download link for the UAD Software is also available from the UAD Software Archives
  4. Important - if you have a status message in the UAD-meter & Control Panel Application, you will not be able to complete registration until you resolve this.  You can follow this guide.
  5. Once the download and installation has been completed, connect only the UAD hardware device you are registering.
  6. Navigate to your applications folder to launch the UAD Meter & Control Panel application. 
  7. In the UAD Meter & Control Panel application, click the blue UAD-2 button to open the Plug-Ins panel
  8. Click the Authorize Plug-Ins button.  Authorizing plug-ins from the UAD-meter & Control Panel application is what completes registration.

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  9. If you have more than one System in your account, you may be asked to select a system.  Note that a UAD-2 device will only be able to run the plug-ins in the system the device is associated to.  In most circumstances, you should have all your UAD-2 hardware in the same system for this reason.  You can have up to six UAD-2 devices assigned to a system, sharing the same licenses.

    For more details on systems in your account and UAD-2 plug-in licensing, visit this guide:
    UAD-2 Licensing Explained
    Screenshot 2025-04-15 at 11.03.10.png

Frequently Asked Questions Regarding Used Hardware

Why should I register my UAD hardware to my UA account?

If you want to purchase and use new UAD plug-ins, or if you want to use plug-ins already in your account with your UAD hardware, you will need to register the hardware to your account.

Does my used hardware come with any UAD plug-ins?

All used UAD devices come with the associated Analog Classics bundle free of charge. 

Do I get the plug-ins included from the previous owner?

If the previous owner did not opt to include plug-ins with a hardware transfer from their account, then you will get the associated Analog Classics bundle free of charge, as explained in this article.

Why do I need to Authorize Plug-ins?

Authorizing plug-ins applies the licenses in your account to the Apollo / UAD-2 Hardware. For more information, click here

Is a warranty included with used hardware?

The UA warranty policy only covers the original owner of the hardware (i.e., the person that purchased it new from an authorized UA retailer) and does not cover any subsequent owners. Any UAD device purchased as used is not covered under warranty. Click here for more information on our warranty policy.

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