[This topic is not intended for arguments and conflict.]

Short story: I plan to upgrade the system soon, and it will be time to build a workspace from scratch. And I realized that with the new installation, about half of the plugins I currently have installed will be useless. And I'm not just talking about software from sister site, also some of my licensed plugins. As it turned out, I don't even need many plugins from various large companies.

And now to the topic itself.

Please share your experience. Which plugins that were once very important to you have now become unusable? What have you learned over the years of using different types of soft? Which plugins have been with you for many years?

 

At this point my two most used plugins are UVI Falcon and Shade. Falcon for sound sourcing and Shade for mixing / processing. Im using Sparkverb and Relayer for reverb and delay. Ozone for mastering. Thats pretty much all I use at this point.

I love utilitarian plugins, so Shade in particular is my swiss army knife. Apart from all the other stuff it can do, I use it as my main eq, compressor, limiter, panner, m/s processor, and lfo tool. Would love to see some comprehensive stereo imaging features added in a future update.

If I didnt have so many older projects using other plugins, these would be the only ones I'd have installed on my system.

 

How accurately you noticed that moment!

Stock plugins are highly underrated. They do their job

 

I build a new rig in spring/summer time to replace a ~11yo one and I was used to think "My new rig will have more less VSTs"
I was wrong, +500 VSTs again 'cause of old projects too, even avoiding to instali a lot of them which were seldon used or not used at all
I'm stuck in a loop and I suppose not the only one

So... chosing what you have to install depends on what you have done and what you are going to do

 

Everything I've installed makes sense; bad, unusable, or faulty plugins are deleted immediately after testing. I saved everything I installed in a folder called "VSTi / VST for Windows 11" so that reinstalling is faster and eliminates the need to search for or download anything again. In 2000, the installation took 3 days; in 2025, it will take 2 weeks.

 

Perhaps the opposite?

 

If you only need 3 plugins = 1 day
If you need 1500 plugins = 2 weeks

 

Changed my failing hd for an ssd recently, after 10 years of use. Started my set up from zero two months ago.
What I still find essential nowadays:
My daw: Ableton Live
FX: stock mostly, and maybe amplitube 4 (have not reinstalled it yet, as I prefer my zoom hardware).
Synths: Vital (installed others, mostly freebies, but only Vital feels essential to me right now - I can even make it sound like a mellotron if I need!). Apart from Vital, mostly freebies - they can cover everything I need and even more: The Usual Suspects Viruses and Waldorfs, Zebra CM, Bazille CM, some Full Bucket, Tyrell, Dexed). I also like Xpand! and Korg M1 for the bread and butter workstation sounds).
Jbridge
For realistic drums (Ableton stock covers electronic for me): I chose Superior because of the midi library mainly, and how easy is to find a midi pattern using the tap to find function - but soundwise it could be addictive or BFD eco (I still dig the old 32 bit one).

I got around 40 installed right now, most of them are synths (freebies), but just for the sake of variety.

 

I had the same problem

I bought a new PC 6 months ago and started from scratch with the intention to cut the number of plugins at about 80%, but the older projects needed some plugins to make a specific sound or function.
I tried to replace some plugins in older projects, but almost all the times I just couldnt live with the difference

I suggest you that you start replacing the plugins you don t want to use in the new system

 

Thanks for shining light on shade! The vst I was looking for I already had!!!

 

Install the bundles you know you will use like Waves, Fabfilter, whatever. Then stop. Install plugins when you open a project that needs them.
That way, you are installing plugins based off your own usage only; because your own projects prove what you are using and what you aren't.

on the opposite approach, I wrote a little utility app for my own plugin usage tracking in reverse. It tracks all plugins unused in the past 90 days and brings them to attention for deleting. It's just Python, so someone could make one for PC pretty easily.


PluginTracker - All-in-One Plugin Usage Tracker for macOS Catalina+

- Automatically tracks AU/VST/VST3 plugin loads
- Maintains JSON database of last-used timestamps
- Ignores Logic stock and whitelisted plugins
- Generates report of plugins unused for 90+ days
- Optional safe archive (requires user confirmation)
- Lightweight and low CPU usage

 

They're the first in the queue to not install them

 

Genius. Is PluginTracker something you’d be willing to share here? If not, thanks for sharing the details! Will try ‘vibe coding’ this at some point.

 

Oh yes, could you share it? I'm very interested...
Thank you ;)

 

Pianoteq, it's the most realistic piano I have ever heard.

 

PS: bundles I just try to avoid completely, because I usually end up just using less than 10 percent of what is installed.

 

My philosophy is to treat a DAW & plugins like an old skool recording studio. Just get your sound and stick twith it. Maybe add a few pieces every now and again for a new project, but don't go crazy. That's why old records sound so good, cos the engineers knew their equipment inside out. For example, I use Neve/API for tracking and SSL for mixing. That's it, that's my sound.

 

Last edited: Nov 13, 2025 at 8:28 PM

Example of common bundle people install. They will still be in about 90% of projects anyone would send you.