everybody knows this., just nobody will tell which 80% we should delete.
also never talk to strangers and never get involved in a ground war in Asia.

just good general principles from "The Audiosex Audio Guide, 3rd edition (illustrated)" that this site emails to all users when their email is confirmed.

I couldn't live without it, keep in the bathroom for daily reading..

 

The dude is insane. If not stupid. Plugins do not eat anything as long as the sit on the disk. And every of my 1.500 plugs had a good reason why they are installed. And in REAPER you can change the name of the plugin, so it is possible to write comments in the list. That's wonderful when you have forgotten for what one trick I have used that. And: most of the plugins are such one trick ponys, and sometime in a few years I use them. I do not have 10 EQs or 50 compressors. But lots of synths. So, dude isn't able to work. Want to hear some of his "mixes".

 

What?? Don't you know all those icons on your desktop slow your system down?

But fr though, I divvy up my plugins into different collections for different purposes, of course the hardest collection to curate was the "Essentials" which I periodically remove things from, but overall it keeps me focused.

 

I regularly ~ twice a year - take stock of what I have used and what I have not used. The useless stuff is deleted. Crap is deleted immediately, installer included.
Of course, I don't delete plugins - especially purchased ones - completely. The installers remain.

btw: I do this for all situations where space is limited or the overview would be lost.(Important e.g. for my Motohome...)

Good point. It happended to me so I started to mark Apps/plugins I have used in the folder where I stored the installers in. A kind of "dirty" mark, mine is "0000----" where I use the number for sorting reasons. Using a number ensures placing the used Apps first in a sorted directoty.

Not quite true. At least they use space on disk and on backups if you do them. And some even install little "helpers" running in background (NI) or as a windows service silently or even invisible.

Yes. Had.
If you can still remember today without having to think what the reason was, I'll believe you.
Let's see what you know by heart ...

 

Last edited: Mar 1, 2024

I'm the type of guy that keeps plugins around "just in case I probably could need them".
I certainly have my favourite plugins which I frequently use, but from time to time I pull out some other ones just to see if they work better.

Sometimes I sure feel like a VST-hoarder...

 

I'm waiting for Reaper to come out as plugin then I can use it inside Ableton.

 

As a life hack, I recommend installing 1000 extra plugins before deleting 80% of them. That way you never have to delete any of your favourite plugins.

 

Pareto's Law, also known as the Pareto Principle or the 80/20 rule, states that in many situations, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Examples of Pareto's Law in various domains include:
Software: 80% of errors and crashes can be traced back to 20% of the code.
Productivity: 80% of your output comes from 20% of your focused time.
Business: 80% of sales come from 20% of clients. Additionally, 80% of complaints arise from 20% of product issues. Moreover, 80% of a company's profits are generated by 20% of its products or services.
Society: 80% of wealth might be held by 20% of individuals.
In general, Pareto's Law helps you avoid wasting time on less productive activities.

 

I probably delete something like 80% of any plugins I try. i'm more likely to leave something I don't need, if it is part of a bundle. There are a couple plugins you know you are going to make use of; probably something like the 80/20 observation. But that 80% you leave instead of deleting can quickly add up. If you are working with projects other people send you, then you end up keeping stuff you will not use because it is possible someone else will use them. Especially Waves. Having a /Unused Plugins folder where you can stash them really helps getting rid of stuff. You don't even have to reinstall them, to bring them back. After something has sit in there for awhile, it's pretty easy to make a decision and clear that folder out. If I haven't used something in a month, I am "not using it" and it can go.

 

IQ: 80% of intelligence might be held by 20% of individuals.

 

For some people let say yes,, especially aesthetic guy,, It's like they can't work if it looks messy, even though their work makes things messy.. funny right

Anyway.. In my though,, that guy also mention most some waves plugins not better then stock plugin that his show or said.. like compressor and eq

 

maybe having too many plugins is only a problem to someone who spend too much time playing with new plugins and not getting any work done

i mean just to delete 80% of his list of plugins must have taken he a long time.
then eventually he gonna loose more time re-installing the plugins he forgot he actually needed

 

FLAWLESS VICTORY

 

Pareto's law also states the opposite
software: the other 20% of errors and crashes can be traced to the other 80% of the code.

so the 80% plugins he just deleted might've helped him 20% of the time

 

I completely disagree with this gentleman: he forgets that progress exists, with all that it can offer us. This means that you will have to periodically try new plugins and learn how to use them in the best way: this is part of the job of a sound engineer. We are now witnessing the AI revolution and there is a whole series of tools that didn't exist until a year ago Deroom DeReverb, Autoeq, auto compressor and obviously the whole part that concerns stem creation and voice cloning.
If you stick to plugins from 20 years ago you will produce the sound of 2004 and not the sound of 2024.
No, stock plugins are not enough today, except perhaps for a ruff mix

 

But, but that's my job...

 

This needs to be changed urgently. Please have a look at our sister site.

 

use this formula to figure out which 80% of your plugins to delete....

([x-½]) + ∫ ∑(π²/2)
---------------- {√xy³ - (∆ⁿ + ∂⅔)} = Pᵈ
y-x

 

I wish 80% of my girlfriends would only cause 20% of the trouble they really cause.

 

Has this guy considered that he might get more music done if he wasn't twotting about making vacuously unimportant youtube videos.

Probably a good advert for getting rid of 80% of youtube content.
C'est la tube.
(sigh)