LA-6176 Signature Channel Strip

Analog heaven in a plug-in.

Experience Universal Audio’s 70+ year analog heritage with a supercharged plug-in version of our flagship tube channel strip, the 6176. The LA‑6176 Signature Channel Strip plug-in gives you three iconic UA products in one: the 610 mic preamp, the 1176 Limiting Amplifier, and the LA‑2A Leveling Amplifier.

Released in 2004, the hand-built 6176 has been the channel strip to stars including Coldplay, Adele, and Pharrell. Now you can get an entirely new UAD channel strip that puts decades of classic and modern vocal, guitar, drum, and bass sounds at the flip of a switch.

Included Versions

UAD Native
Runs on your Mac or PC without UA hardware.

Apollo Realtime & UAD‑2
Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD‑2 hardware.

UAD Native plug-ins run on both macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer and Windows 10 and 11.

Record and mix with three of the most historically-significant pieces of analog gear ever made, in one elegant channel strip
Get the smooth harmonics and rich overdrive of a vintage UA 610 tube preamp on vocals and instruments
Instantly get the famous punch of the 1176, or the smooth warmth of an LA-2A, at the flip of a switch
Record in realtime with Apollo interfaces, putting three legendary processors in a single Unison slot

Plug in to a World-Famous Tube Preamp

Bill Putnam’s 610 Modular Amplifier preamp was a milestone in audio history, introduced in the 1960’s and used to record everyone from the Beach Boys, Ray Charles, and Johnny Cash to Coldplay and Adele. The LA-6176 plug-in features the modern 610-B circuit, giving you even deeper EQ controls for adding rich tube sound that works on everything.

Get Legendary 1176 Punch

The 6176 hardware is the first channel strip to pair our iconic 610 tube preamp with classic 1176 Limiting Amplifier. The 1176 is the compressor that defined decades of popular rock and pop music, from Led Zeppelin to Bob Marley to Beyonce. Its FET-based circuit delivers ultra fast response to guitar, bass, and drum transients making your tracks pop through the speakers.

Add Smooth LA-2A Tube Compression

Borrowing from our LA-610 MkII hardware channel strip, the LA-6176 plug-in packs iconic optical compression at the flip of a switch. In LA-2A mode, you’ll get the same silky compression heard on classic vocal and instrument recordings for over 60 years. Plus, you can easily toggle between the LA-2A and 1176 modes to find your perfect sound.

Unison-Enabled for Realtime Recording on Apollo Interfaces

With an Apollo interface and Unison technology, the LA-6176 Signature Channel Strip makes you forget you’re recording through a plug-in. You'll get all the unique impedance, gain stage sweet spots, and circuit behaviors of an original 610 tube preamp. And when you add in two legendary compressors — it puts three of our most famous analog circuits on a single Unison channel.

System Requirements

macOS Catalina 10.15, Big Sur 11, Monterey 12, Ventura 13, or Sonoma 14
Windows 10 or Windows 11 (64-bit editions)
Intel, AMD or Apple silicon processor
Internet connection to download software and authorize native UAD plug-ins
Free iLok account with iLok Cloud or iLok USB (2nd generation or higher)
Free UA Connect application for managing native UAD plug-ins
A supported DAW compatible with VST, AU and AAX plug-in file formats.

Native UAD Instruments Requirements

Sample-based UAD instruments require SSD storage with APFS formatting for macOS or NTFS formatting for Windows
1 GB to 10 GB available SSD storage per plug-in (space requirement varies per UAD Instrument). A minimum of 100 GB available storage is highly recommended.
Individual UAD Instrument storage requirements are listed on UA Connect’s UAD Plug-Ins tab.

Notes

Operating systems not listed above are untested. Although untested operating systems may work, they are not supported by Universal Audio.
Pre-release and beta versions of operating systems are not supported.
Native UAD plug-ins on Apple silicon machines automatically run natively on Apple silicon in DAWs that support native Apple silicon.
Windows running via Bootcamp on Mac systems are not supported.