I don't mean to say any are junk, just junk to me. Over the past weeks I've deleted a lot of respected plugins that are obviously good but which I just realised aren't for me (echobode, egoist, factorsynth, novum, and more).

My point is really that if you just open your DAW and mess around EVERY plugin sounds good or like you might theoretically find it useful someday. But the moment you start working on something where you actually care how it sounds you quickly discover what you like, want, and need.

 

What helped me a lot in this exact situation was reducing the amount of "visible" plugins for a project.

Imagine you've got a room where you only have a limited amount of space for putting all your gear into. You have to decide what instruments and effects are the ones that will go into your "virtual" studio space for a specific project to work on. You may have a storage space with 100s of instruments and effects but this storage unit is 100 miles away from your actual studio space so you really have to decide! Most DAWs have some kind of plugin management options where you can disable plugins or organize them into categories or whatnot.

Use those tools to limit the amount of "ready to use" plugins. What you cannot see you cannot use. Finish a project with only the chosen plugins. For the next project you may change your setup around and use other plugins but make sure your never have all of your plugins at your disposal -> you always have to cope with your limited, virtual studio space.

This method needs a bit of imagination and practice but in the end it helped me not getting lost and doing what I wanted to do -> making music!

 

Last edited: Feb 24, 2024

Most DAWs have the option to have a "favourite" section where you can add plugins to.
Select those who you use and like the most, and you should be good.
I also have a template set, in which I included my favourite Instruments and fx plugins I use most, so I just have to copy them and not get lost in searching for another plugins.

 

If it happens to be that you're an abelton user I recommend this
https://enhancementsuite.me/

Is a little script that allows you to right click to open a menu with a predefined set of plugins that you can add instantly to the track. Not only saves a TON of time overall, is a really EoL improuvement that live should thing to implement natively, but for me works wonders on the aspect you're pointing out. Only the plugs I use more are on the set, and you can have as many customized config files as you want.

 

Yeah me too!
Its like what i do right now,, almost 3 years i always like do this,, which is whats plugins i must use...lol

Im lofi hiphop base,, but i was seriously always for the right compressor and eq,,you know i means its a character,, especially for the comps plugins they have own swing,,sound,,etc.


Be happy me, after almost 3years,, focusing the right daw and plugins,, 2 weeks ago i bought the fl studio prod. Edition! Now almost all plugins i use is from stocks and free plugins lol..

Back to compressor and eq plugins,, for my fav. comp i use in my mixbus except bass,,vocal,,fx is from focusrite a midnight compressor but for more lowend i prefer vsc-3. The eq,, for character i use is vse-4 but i had issues for cpu usage on macos,, so thank you @iamdumb !!! for mac user lol.., this plugins from vertigo is worth it tho.. i feels my beat sounds like 90's.. but legally the price its not cheap lol

Anyway i knows as lofi prod. or beatmaker all the problem,, the answer is roland sp especially the comp fx is from 303.. but its not im focusing on,, maybe latter..

 

i have some many samples.. honestly i just collect.. i rarely use them all.. and i always want MORE.. why do i need more i have already enough.. hehe

 

Buying the plugins I use really helped me with it. Not only because I don't have so many plugins installed anymore but even more importantly, I don't try out every new plugin anymore. For most of them I quickly know that I am not going to buy them because I already have a good alternative, so there is no need to even try them. I watch the introductory video and that's enough to know that I don't really need them. If there is something I really like, I will try the demo and eventually buy it.

 

Same here, I have over 1.5 TB of Samples, and still growing with my Loopcloud subscription.

 

we are here to "Try Before Buy" ...always remember that! ALWAYS! just trash anything you dont like, its very simple!

 

Nice problem to have and slightly rediculous.
From my perspective, if you need to get work done then you'll have your effective tools at hand. If you're just fucking around then don't worry so much about getting things done.. Just enjoy the process.. Learning new tools is all part of that.

 

Download the Piranhna Plugin from SteinBerg, it runs in the background, slowly eating all your other plugins, so it really cuts down on the clutter and decision making after a few months.

 

What Dark6ixer said.
Very simple. I sacrifice lots of time to clean up my workspace, eliminating most plugins and leaving only those I use. Therefore my plugin list is very clean. Focused. Straight down to brass tacks.
As a result I also have a "Shit-Filter", caught in it are a long list of plugins that I frequently check if some company comes out with a new plugin. The list immediately gives me the correct bias toward that company. Like dear iZotope for example. Always drop a company that has a proven line of imbeciles "engineers" working for them. Always follow a company with a proven track record employing excellent coders!

 

Thank you all for the feedback.
After reviewing your advice and thinking about the reasons for the paralysis associated with the too many plugins, I made the decision to remove all of them. This is a painful lesson regarding purchases and modern capitalism, as many of the unused plugins were purchased with hard-earned money, reinforcing the feeling of wasting them.
I'm going to work through the basics on stock plug-ins from Reaper, I've gone back to Chris' tools from airwindows, and I've installed a few "must haves" that I'm sure of.
I've instituted a "install when you can't replace" rule which will force (in theory) installations of only exceptional tools and reduce redundancy.
I must admit that I feel a little cleansed, there is catharsis and motivation to record. Thanks, 666 and keep it up!

 

trash everything from time to time, starting with clean OS and no tools is refreshing and installing/using only tools you need is much simpler

 

its not so much capitalism, thats kinda like complaining about oxygen, its more about unreal expectations fed by constant propaganda and marketing, and of course the keeping up with the joneses mindset that mass media instills in those without the stamina to just turn all that shit off.

I think you are doing the right thing and will learn alot from your efforts and rediscover the joy of music creation..
Good Luck and thanks for giving us you view on the current state of music creation softwares...

g$

 

Way too many plugins, developers get some right, offer some interesting things but not all their plugins are good, for example the softube tube-tech comp is great, the alternative is acustica purple or ps audio old timer, the you have LA2 1176, you want the ones closest to the hardware at factory settings then specific emulations which where capture at specific studios, there are 4 good Marshall plexi plugins, softube, ik multimedia but for the friedman its Plugin Alliance, Ik multimedia, then you have the jmp 70s white, red or purple plexis, Howard Benson best red tremolo 50 watt by STL Tones, Ik Multimedia for Purple, the fortin Cali white etc..and of all these mentioned 100s of crappy plexi plugins.

so you want
1 the best emulations,
2 signature emulations, a plug captured from a specific person studio stage (new, worn etc)
3 a stand out plugin, soothe2, tube tech, el rey, kirchoff eq, amek mastering compressor etc
If your on m1 solicon mac, you should focus on native unless you have no choice but to run 64bit.,

II think the silicon mac m1-m2 etc are the way to go, the idea that it’s easier to get plug-ins for older machines is linked to easely compromised and vulnerable they are to malware., apple no longer provides security updates.., sometimes a good thing because their security updates are malware., but if it’s all you can afford or spend least on your computer rig cause its locked in a studio only set up for studio then stay offline and use another computer to surf and your good.

 

Last edited: Feb 27, 2024

I created channel strips with specific plugins, sort of like a console, pre-comp-eq, mod, etc and wheni get a better comp or swap it i have a few alterntives.example a tube tech comp or amek or ssl., but not more then i dont need or use..

 

Have you tried IK Mixbox, NoiseAsh Prestige Racks, VoosteQ Channel N, Arturia Bus Force? They are similar to what you are talking about. It makes me wonder why Fabfilter has not made a channel strip.

 

Here's a technique I've utilized (sometimes by necessity) with great results:

Backup you projects (and other important stuff, like documents etc.), most DAWs have a way of saving a self-contained project with all of the samples etc.

Wipe your computer clean. Reinstall OS, install the DAW (and other necessary software, like your wave editor etc.). Then open a project you work on. Only install the plugins that the project uses. And so on.

If you want to try a new plugin, then only one plugin at a time: get the demo version and try it for 15-30 days or whatever it offers. Read the goddamn manual and really learn what it does. Then delete it if it doesn't find a place within the demo period.

Also helps that you only try out new stuff when you really find something you have is lacking something, though this can only come from experience.

 

I would never really on any channel strip plugins alone, you still need to add more with your DAWs channel strips, at least most of the time, the more tracks the more issues with glueing them, compression on a bus or master may help, depends on the style of music and recording.

I built channel strips for guitar, bass, Vocals, drums,
All of them share the same Bus 1,2, 3, 4 and additional bus channels specifically for reasons depending on what iam working with.
All the bus channel strips use the same pre, eq, comp, effect and even stereo imaging at the end and finally a limiter., but most of this is actually off and I add the dynamic stuff only when needed.

I went to audio school where we studied consoles how to Repaire issues, how to swap parts of all the channel strips, for example with the SSL I would swap the EQS, Comp at times., its how I built my channel strips in Logic and Pro Tools, I recall them on busses, mainly a number of signal chains for vocals, guitar bass and drums., I can also recall a logic template specifically tones with Amek on every channel, or SSL or Neve or API.,

 

Last edited: Feb 28, 2024