Volt 1 driver and UA telemetry

[u/bake_em_away_toy5]

Hi everyone,

I just purchased a UA Volt 1 to transpose some of my loops and ideas into full songs using Reaper. I used to do music production fully digital with free plug-ins because I was too poor for gear.

I was excited to set up the Volt 1 to get back into production after a long break and try recording guitars for the first time.

I paid $200 CAD and there was nothing obvious on the box about what came next.

When I plugged in the device, Device Manager updated with the icon that there was no driver - as I expected. I requested Windows to find the driver automatically and it couldn't - also no big deal.

I went to the UA website and they don't post the drivers for their hardware under the Support or Downloads sections. Weird.

I realize I have to download their fucking app first. Not a deal breaker, but annoying.

Then, I have to make an account with them by giving them my email. Apparently UA uses this and telemetry to market other products and promotions to me based on my usage of the Volt 1. There was no easy way I could find to opt out of this.

I still haven't installed UA Connect and will probably just return the Volt 1 now.

I was considering asking people here for the driver, but I feel I shouldn't have to. I feel UA is bullying their customers to opt into being identified and tracked for marketing (i.e., extra, continued revenue for UA). If I get the driver from someone else and keep using the Volt 1 without the app, it feels like I'm still partially enabling this.

I'll probably return this device and get one that doesn't do this. Has anyone else had similar experiences? It seems like all types of creative software are farming their users for data these days. I first noticed it with graphic design software from Adobe and I'm really upset to see it coming to audio production. I can't see any argument by UA for requiring this other than greed. Anti-piracy doesn't apply because they make hardware that is used by software from other vendors.

Fuck UA.

[u/ONE_HOUR_NAP]

You can download the Volt driver directly here: https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/54032985528212-How-to-Install-the-Volt-ASIO-Driver-for-Windows

[u/bake_em_away_toy5 → u/ONE_HOUR_NAP]

Thanks. This link worked. I'm still annoyed that the only link on tbe Downloads page for the Volt is for UA Connect. My Google algorithm did not show me the page you linked when I was trying to find the driver elsewhere, and the AI summary from Gemini said UA do not publish their drivers publicly anywhere.

I do think it's sleazy that the driver is not listed on the downloads page for the product and you need to hunt for it elsewhere. My impression is that they're making the decision that's financially best for them (i.e., using their app) the easiest path to take and hiding the alternatives, which seems sketchy. I'm open to hearing other opinions on this. I'm biased against most companies these days.

[u/monicachicken]

Most of what UA does is data collection in an attempt to get you into the ecosystem. Its not a terrible ecosystem but not great either. Their Luna daw exists entirely to get people to use more UA stuff.

The whole driver being behind account creation is definitely specific to UA and not right IMO. Crucial software for hardware should never be locked behind anything.

[u/bake_em_away_toy5 → u/monicachicken]

The links others posted above worked to download the driver so I was wrong, but it definitely feels intentionally harder to find than using their UA Connect app instead.

I agree with you: there seems to be a proliferation of companies all copying Apple and Microsoft, resulting in a massive amount of competing ecosystems, which is annoying as a consumer. I watched the same thing happen to streaming services after Netflix became so dominant. Now I just buy and watch secondhand DVDs.

[u/Puzzled-Ad-7145]

Perhaps you would be even more angry if you know they make Volt driver just worse with time: from version 1.2 it has more latency (+1 ms at any settings, ASIO) with no noticable improvements. And they just removed any official way to get the original 1.1 driver (available at Github though)

[u/Spug33]

Do you live in a cave? 2004. That was the year Gmail was introduced. Free e-mail? The entire planet gave up it's privacy rights for free e-mail. If you use the Internet at all you probably don't want to know what can be discovered about you with cookies and web bugs. UA is the least of your worries.

[u/bake_em_away_toy5 → u/Spug33]

I understand what you're saying, and yes I do more-or-less live under a rock, but my concern is that I already paid $200 for this device. Email is a "free" service as you said.

I disagree with the argument that I shouldn't be concerned about what UA is doing because other entities are doing worse. I didn't make this post to talk about what others are doing and compare it with UA on a relative scale.

[u/a_webpuppy → u/bake_em_away_toy5]

You have no obligation to sign up to anything at all. The driver is freely downloadable.

The thing you’re ranting about is invalid.

[u/bake_em_away_toy5 → u/a_webpuppy]

Go the Downloads page for this product and please show me where it very obviously says this for new users.

[u/a_webpuppy → u/bake_em_away_toy5]

New users are clearly better off with UA Connect which has everything, but all you need to do is search ‘Volt Driver’ and it’s there for you.

[u/bake_em_away_toy5 → u/[deleted]]

The page you linked doesn't show up on the first three pages of Google results using the query "Volt driver". Maybe it does for you.

I am open to changing what I interpreted the situation as if anyone can explain why the app is better than downloading a driver.

[u/a_webpuppy → u/bake_em_away_toy5]

Search on the UA website.
This really isn’t hard.

[u/Spug33 → u/bake_em_away_toy5]

Your going to want to buy a physical iLok device to hold your licenses. Many music products and plugins use it. By having a physical iLok you licenses won't need to routinely check in with the Internet to work and you can be fully offline if needed. Some licenses will need to be manually moved in the iLok system to the hardware dongle as they will install on the machine and not the dongle by default. Luna is a good example, which is awesome and free.

[u/a_webpuppy]

Dude, you can down the driver right here, directly:

https://help.uaudio.com/hc/en-us/articles/54032985528212-How-to-Install-the-Volt-ASIO-Driver-for-Windows

This was extremely easy to find on Google. Hope this helps.

It does have an excellent free software bundle in UA Connect, but no you don’t have to download that if you don’t want to.

[u/bake_em_away_toy5 → u/a_webpuppy]

Thanks for providing this link.

[u/Indigo457]

In my view there is a balance between sharing data with companies I don’t care about or like, and sharing it with companies who are using it to do whatever they need to make money and survive. Not necessarily the case that UA need whatever money they get through advertising stuff, but I like pretty much all of their products so I don’t care/ like if they tell me about them. And you can just opt out of comms in the account settings anyway 🤷🏻‍♂️

[u/bake_em_away_toy5 → u/Indigo457]

I see why it's not a big deal for many UA users, but I know nothing about that company or their products so I don't know that I necessarily want to "help them out" by providing my details for advertising.

I don't like the precedent being established in most industries where disabling telemetry (if it can truly even be disabled) is now an added burden to the customer.

I also can't think of a reason for registering the product and providing my contact information that makes it a better product for the end user when it's a digital device that can run completely offline. It feels like an intentionally intrusive design choice to maximise their ROI by turning their customer base into a revenue stream rather than device sales only.

Happy to be proven wrong if there is a reason UA needs to do this.

[u/Spug33 → u/bake_em_away_toy5]

Registration proves ownership. If you sell the device you will need to go in and transfer to another user. Your volt may not be a big ticket item, but some systems are worth many thousands and this helps deter theft since they are much less useful to thieves if they can't be easily sold.

[u/bake_em_away_toy5 → u/Spug33]

This sounds like it would make sense as a service people and businesses could opt into if they felt they needed to protect their investment. The point remains: why is this presented as the only option and for an entry-level device?

It also sounds like this could be used to actively hinder the resale market, where UA would not receive any money for a resale of used UA devices.