I'd say that issue emerged over the past few years because of new algorithms (SmartEQ yes but also Soothe obviously)
You don't have to use those plugins, people managed to do so before too

And for the file size: I'm sure that a lot of plugins shrank down in size due to the use of vector graphics instead of bitmaps

Also: nobody is willing to go full madness anymore and code a DAW in assembler ;)

Aren't most processes in audio successive instead of parallel?
Don't get me wrong, there was a GPU noise cancellation video on twitter where a guy got his voice filtered clean in real time while running a vacuum on highest setting, but I wonder how applicable that is to the usual procedure of music making

 

i still prefer to use 32 bit/Daw/Plugins! Why upgrade because you have to follow the sheep or apple/microsoft! Just because you have the latest 64 Bit Daw/plugins...it does not make you any better producer!! or you think you are!! if the CPU is struggling! just bounce the wav file!

 

Last edited: Apr 4, 2022

Yes they have actually become bigger, also consider that the sound of the plugins has become much better compared to the first plugins. Good plugins could be counted on one hand back in 2012.

 

Last edited: Apr 4, 2022

Evolution and progress are not the same thing and they do not share the same path, on the contrary, they often conflict.
An example: if you try to open a 10 year old daw project with the latest version of same plugins you will find that it needs perhaps double the computing power to run smoothly.
Unfortunately, trying to be against this is completely useless. There is someone who decides for us when we have to upgrade the system and how much we are going to spend for the next laptop: we just obey the orders -end of the story-
I'm not saying it's right this way, I'm reporting how the technology business works and how we are hostages

 

I still remember Native Instruments, in the beginning there was the preset format *NKS and then at some point everything was changed to *NKSF. Again a lot of work for the users. The reason was that the performance of NI products was getting worse.

 

Your problem is money.

 

Well, I've been making music professionally for the last 12 years with one computer without upgrading it, until it died electronically. So it's possible to
1. Study and make the right choice before buying a computer. Specially being careful not to buy technology that is about to change into 2 month. (Examples: is a new version of pci express going to be launched in 3 month? Is the brand going to change CPU socket in few month, like AMD is doing this year? Etc...)
2. Taking advantage of a computer even if it's old.
ie: Massive X would not run on that computer because of it's CPU structure. But you know what? I could do the same as Massive X or better with Vital which is free.

So, as OP is leaking about 2 years, not 10, it's completely possible to keep on working without following the new computer/ plug-in trend.

 

I was happy for years with Windows 7. then came software that had Windows 10 as a prerequisite. Difficult decision. After several looks into my crystal ball and some articles, I switched and installed Windows 10 and installed every plugin for 3 weeks. my CPU and RAM I have chosen to meet the most modern requirements. However, I can not do video editing. I hope that I can get along with my PC until the end of my life. Is probably utopian, but I do not want DDR5. Let's see what will die first !

 

im desperately looking for waves v1 plugins but the first versions i can find are v3. i miss the original black RCL gui

 

In my opinion ssds are getting too cheap right now, even I that live on a poor country and not developed at all (Brazil) can say that ssds are pretty much affordable nowadays, 1tb of sata ssd for USD 70 is just amazing, so software developers understand that they can expand the size of their products, without affecting the price, in order to increase their quality

 

I have a bit different approach.
I really wish that my old computer would have lasted until the end of this year, so I would have build an "all new specs" computer.
But as it died, I just bought medium laptop, as it's useful for some situations any way, and I'll wait for 2023 to build my new beast anyway, which I hope will last another 12 years lol.

 

Obviously the OP makes sense but this is not a yes/no topic.

 

the problem is that proper dsp costs money. bloatware is cheap. look at the first waves. totally revolutionary and totally not resource heavy.

 

Very interesting, I'm mostly interested in what hardware gives up the ghost, or rather what components wear out.

What is broken with you ?

I still have a second PC with windows 7 and several hard drives as storage for movies and software. quasi my backup PC for the worst case. One has made surveys which old CPU and motherboard still runs today. what one holds most likely is the CPU and RAM, but the old ones are too slow.

 

I don't mind if plugins are more demanding, but they have to do something better than existing solutions or bring something new to the table.
I don't want or need a fresh coat of paint for 5x the CPU usage at 0 benefit to the sound.

 

I see the point, but why use SmartEQ if it's so bloated?
Use FF Pro-Q3, DMG EQuality/EQuilibrium or any other Proper digital EQ..

Also the AI portion of those "intelligent" plugs is rather dubious,
if not plain useless cr*p..

It can be interesting to check where the level of AI stands atm,
but I won't recommend using that other than as a curiosity or sheer entertainment.


IOW,
AI EQs will fuck up your Mix, or your instrument EQs if you let them,
doesn't matter if it's Ozone or SmartEQ, don't use that crap.

Get a better sound from the source and it won't need to be adjusted as much, if at all..
(my harsh 2 cents..)

 

the ai fad is over before it started.

 

There certainly can be trends in software to constantly update because... well, we have a team of software engineers that we pay and hey, coders gonna code... a lot of great programs like AdAware just "improved" themselves to the point of unusability. But I don't see such a problem in the vst world, generally. Usually, when plugins come out with a "new, better!" version they actually are new and better, or legit bugs are fixed.

 

Last edited: Apr 4, 2022

Nothing is broken with me lol
But that old computer's mother board just died completely, it's not even showing the bios.