Thinking of restoring the mac, learning the plugins to the core in logic pro X. Keeping some maybe 2 or 3 vsti and thats about it. What yous think?

Reason being that i find it messing with my workflow alot, trying to find the best sound reverb or best eq and so on and i dont use half of them and end up getting no music done. I do find i use fabfilters eq, the glue and soundtoys as a example i use alot.. Should i install them?

Example: Lexicon reverb sounds good, looks good and good reviews but then their is 2c Audio, Space designer in Logic and valhalla, uhh cant make my mind up ..

 

Last edited: Jan 2, 2016

Learn some from, Waves and everything from Fabfilter... and that's it.

 

Well, you can do the "just built in plugins" try... if you can pull a good track with it, you can pull it no matter which plugins you use... so... try it out, and then if you need "more" you get more

 

Way to go... Sometimes all that ''fairy dust'' people see in 3rd party-plugins is nothing more than overhyped marketing strategies

 

This is a tough question to answer. You have to do some fooling around to find your go-to's. But once you do, I totally advocate sticking with them for the most part.

However, I can say that I spent a long time using mostly native Ableton plugins for this very reason. They were fast and got the job done. They were named after their respective effects too, meaning I didn't waste time thinking about what ridiculous plugin name corresponds to what effect (this was before I'd properly organized my VST library). And instead of futzing around inside my plugin folder trying to find zOMG the perfect sat/verb/delay plug I was mastering my little set of beginner-to-intermediate level tools. I still really like some native Ableton plugins and use them often. Sometimes the biggest difference between stock plugins and higher end ones is the quality of the presets, fooling you into thinking it sounds better. Beyond that, I subscribe to the belief that there's not that much of a difference between Valhalla and, for instance, Lexicon, so I find plugins that sound "this" good and then develop my go-to preference based on ease of use.

Since you like Soundtoys, that's a pretty happy medium. They sound phenomenal and are easy to use. If you wanna integrate them into your arsenal, you'd get my encouragement.


later edit...
Little tip: I've said this several times before, but maybe it'll be some help. You can get away with more plugins while having less confusion if you organize them into folders based on type rather than vendor. That means you'll have to move things around after you install them (I keep an installation folder and then copy everything into categories in my actual 'vst folder'). For instance, I'd have a folder for dynamics, subfolders for compressors (further subfolders for character and precision types), limiters, multiband, etc... then a folder for EQ, filter, saturation, and so on. This makes things WAY less confusing and when you're noodling around looking for the right effect, you can pick between a few of the same type right away.

 

Last edited: Jan 2, 2016

Hi Mr Anonymous, if i ever was to give any advice to somone struggling with composing/producing part is to choose the most intuitive daw for their use, the most basic setup (stock-plugs) and to totally forget about keeping up with any vst-race, only focus in getting done complete beats/tracks and creating a history/portfolio. My following second advice would be, co-work and get you deadlines.

That and only that will transform a person from just playing a hobby/wasting time.

Made tracks and made beats are forever and can be translated, mixed, remixed, mastered and give birth to endless projects and opportunities. all time wasted in "discovering" the ultimate synth or compressor/eq is worth nothing in comparison.

 

Last edited: Jan 2, 2016

Using default plugins also has the advantage of less CPU load because they usually are low on resources. But I will also recommend keeping the quality/recommended/tried plugins like fabfilters, soundtoys and Waves in hands. Narrow down your choices among these like keep fab Q delete waves eq and so on. It's like pick and choose.

 

I'll try to help you by presenting you with how I decide which tools to use and find my go-to plugins.

I just ask myself these couple of questions:
1) How does it sound to me?
2) Does it meet my expectations?
3) Does it fit my workflow?
4) Will I be able to buy it if I really like it?
5) Does it use a kind of protection I like? [no dongles in my case]
6) Do I find the developer/company good and deserving of my support?

In other words I stick to the scene's "try before you buy" philosophy. All other plugins I just test and play with them in experimental projects and never use in my real projects. In those I only use the plugins that I bought or pass my aforementioned criteria. Believe me, it makes it soooo much easier to make the decisions what to use and what not to use this way!

Cheers!

 

Last edited: Jan 2, 2016

Mr. Anonymous, I gotta say that 90% of what I do is with the stock stuff in Ableton, as Cav Emp eloquently said above, sure, there are always perhaps "better" reverbs etc, but combinatinatorial explosion of options doesn't help most of the time. The eq8 and compressor and delays in ableton etc are usually just fine, and less cpu intensive. Of course sometimes you need some additional inspiration, or want something more extreme, and then you reach for the 2C's etc... or the Klanghelms, etc...

But I can confidently say that I can do 99.9% of what I do with Ableton, NI Komplete, and Soundtoys (throw in Valhalla for verb)... but my plug in folder has definitely bulged over the last few years thanks to friends at the sister site!

 

logic pro x has the best vsti plugins , don't overload your brain with a lot of plugin.
1. fab bundle
2. blackhole reverb
3.sugar bytes bundle

but really you can do amazing tracks by just using logic pro x stock plugins .

take a track which you really love , put it on one channel and fallow intro/breaks/leads/crash....etc
don't do the same track , just fallow the timeline of the track . where the intro/lead/crash...etc begin and end .

 

This is good advice. I prune my plugin folders often. I spend lots of time bellyaching to myself about "but I might want this sometime..." bullshit! It's all bullshit. Delete. It's a hoarding/collecting mentality and it's antithetical to creativity and productivity. In fact, not having the perfect tool for a job is a great way to incite you to be creative.

 

who remember this daw

 

I must say I concur with a lot of what has already been said in this thread. It is so very easy to get sucked into the latest hype of the newest available plugin, but you Can never go wrong learning the Ins and Outs, of your DAWS built in Plug-Ins first and once those are conquered, expand and try other, once you know how to use your built in plugins evaluating and choosing third party plugins that fit your workflow becomes that much easier, and you may find that all that hype was just hype, and your just as happy with the stock plugins as the ones that spalsh across the pages of you favorite websites.

 

I wouldn't really say you need to 'learn', only if you're dealing with people that use them, or use them yourself. And even then, there's no really need to 'learn'. You can pick things up quickly if the need arises.

I use Waves only occasionally, and Fabfilter seldom.

Basically it boils down to 'do I like it or not', which is fair enough.

I remember trackers, because I used them a few years ago to convert some songs.

built in plugs, I don't use Logic X, But i've used Express 8. Apple's FXs are function over form. They don't necessarily look pretty, but they get the job done. It's generally not a bad choice using stock FXs.

Another big issue is INTEROPERABILITY===

Say you're gonna exchange some projects with a fellow producer which has the same DAW. If you use stock plugz, it's almost guaranteed they'll hear your project as you heard it with minimum hassle. OTOH, if you use 3d pty plugz, it's not guranteed at all. They need to have what you have.

OTOH (we have 3 hands now), if you ever decide to switch away from Logic, Logic stock plugs will generally not be avaulable in your new DAW. And you'll have a harder/longer time recreating your project because you can't do preset sharing (if that were even possible). (It's an ardous process if you want to recreate a project from GB/L into something else)

 

Build a virtual studio with the stuff you like and are comfortable using, and save it as a template. Then every session will feel like being in a proper studio.

If you think about it, a high-end studio doesn't have tons of new gear flying in and out of it on a daily basis. It is my guess that they would only seek new stuff if what they currently have cannot complete a task, or if some game-changing new device came along. For the most part the producers and engineers know their equipment inside out and back to front, and are probably reluctant to change it.

 

Last edited: Jan 3, 2016

I agree Cav Emp! MY personal problem is when I "test" certain plug ins, I will inevitably end up writing something immediately with them, saving the session etc..... then bouncing a 2 mix just for the record..... then sometimes I will hear something I like and want to go back to.... my practice lately is since hard drive space is cheap is to export all as audio, but sometimes I want to go back and figure out what it was that made that sound! But I am with you, I am a criminal digital hoarder for sure.... literally CLEANING MY HOUSE right now, how many damn firewire cables do I need? Old notes, mess, I'm really in need of a new years clean up and trying TO!!!

 

I'd stick with stock Logic plugins.

Let's be honest... Logics 6 Compressors, EQ, Mastering suite/chains, 67 effect plug-ins, 19 instrument plug-ins, 9 MIDI plug-ins, 3,256 Patches for Audio, 4,647 Apple Loops, 864 EXS24 Sampler instruments, 6,800 plug-in settings for 85 plug-ins, 38 Ultrabeat kits with 950 unique drum sounds, 922 reverb spaces
.... are not holding you back. Surfing the web or Youtube for the next best plugin is sucking all your energy dry. And it's not helping you get past that 16 bar loop either!

Been there too many times myself
Once you've finished a few songs then worry about how "warm" Jimmy Fandango's new reverb is or how "rich" and "cuts through the mix" Freddy Fartwart's new compressor sounds

Good luck!!

 

16 bar loop... that's a whole song, man!

 

Interesting!
When I first started making music ITB, I thought my products didn't sound as good as that of the big guys I saw on YouTube and other places on the internet because I lacked third party plugins.
Eventually, I found ways to get access to third party stuff and my music still didn't improve, one bit.
I learned to learn my tools first and master simple music techniques like harmony and my music has been improving.
Today I see a lot of glamorous things on sister site and don't even touch them cos new synths and comps and EQs won't help me make better music.

 

Interesting!
When I first started making music ITB, I thought my products didn't sound as good as that of the big guys I saw on YouTube and other places on the internet because I lacked third party plugins.
Eventually, I found ways to get access to third party stuff and my music still didn't improve, one bit.
I learned to learn my tools first and master simple music techniques like harmony and my music has been improving.
Today I see a lot of glamorous things on sister site and don't even touch them cos new synths and comps and EQs won't help me make better music.