LOL why the waves hate? that bundle is like 300 plugins lol

 

Wow lmao whos is that?

 

lol dang you too? It's an addiction. Wow WTF 31TB?!?!? Geez

 

Right, yea I just have too many that I will probably never even use. I'd just gotten into a autodive downloading mode like maybe I should try this, lets see what this is about lol, then it seems to be nebver ending. Thanks for the advice.

Oh wow that would be amazing you could just move the file with there ever being a installing direcfory just a .dll or .exe? It would be great to have a list of what all you have installed on your machine as well.

Thats true, like I was saying earlier I used to be able to go into FL and i had only a few plugs I useed and I knew exactly what I wanted and I knew how to use it too. Now I'm having to learn all these synths and the effects and how to use them etc. I'm shocked to see that Nexus is even still around and people still use Sylenth1 too? There should have been a Sylenth2 by now.

Nice, I just downloaded the whole suite of D16 and I'll check it out and get rid of what you suggested.

So Artutia Analog Lab is better than having Sylenth, Korg collection, Arturia V collection, Roland cloud collection, Omnisphere, Serum, Arcade, Dune, Spire, etc? I have the Tone2 stuff too it's got some good sounds. Vital is freaking amazing and I can't believe it's actually free. It would sweet to have a whole moog or nord collection too.

I have cradle the god particle and orion as well just haven't tested them yet.

I think I have the plugin alliance bundle too. I can't believe AI these days, making animations and graphics that would normally take hours in Photoshop, Illustrator or Premier. I remember Macromedia Flash 4 lol.

Right, thats true. I've been doing some reaserch so I'll be downsizing soon.

 

Nope trying to downsize and see what people think are viable to great options and what's total useless junk. That's also true as well because just because some one else has great usability or likes the sound of something for their style doesn't guarantee that I will.

 

Its 2024. You NEED every UAD and Acustica plugin. Unfortunately, some Acustica plugins are limited edition, so good luck finding those, you may as well retire again. Save you the hassle of starting back up.



For real tho, a lot good advice covered here. Less is more often times. I also have a huge sample library, TB's of kontakts, hundreds of plugins, but realistically i only use a handful.

I work on ALOT of genres of music tho, so i do tap into the various libraries and samples when needed, so maybe dont delete everything, but just spend some time narrowing down a "go-to" folder.

As far as plugins, its really hard to say. You can get every rec under the sun thrown your way, so its best to maybe watch some youtube videos or find some "best of" blog post. Best plugins 2024, best Techno plugins, best mixing plugins etc etc. Watch a view, and see if anything resonates with you, and see if it has a demo. There are a lot of free plugins as well, as others have noted. Melda free, Airwindows, Analog Obsession, TDR (dont skip TDR, in fact look into all their plugins), and plenty more.

Good luck on your journey, and welcome back!

 

Haha I laughed too hard at the opening statement

Dang TBs of kontakt libraries, I mean I can see it easily, some are freaking massive. Which ones are the best? I probably have way too many, It would be nice to have a mutli all in one. I'm sure there are some out there. I just got UVI Falcon so i'm sure I''m about to have even more big libraries.

I love the East West stuff but damn it's freaking HUGE.

Yea thats a good idea, I've been looking at some best of sites and getting peoples opinions for which genre they are best suited for. I'm going to be downsizing shortly. Hell I have like 100+ folders of stuff I unzipped and still havent installed lol.

what's TDR? I don't think I've seen any of their stuff.

Thanks brother once I get my midi controller and hardware interface I'll be working on some music for sure.

 

Because it installs 300 plugins. well, you do.

Most of them install just like any others, because there are presets, and manuals, maybe some other needed preferences files. At certain points; I have wanted to remove stuff from my DAW's plugin menus, figure out some unknown conflicting plugin crashing DAW, or other reasons like yours of just reduction. I will make another folder and name it something like "unused plugins" on my external drive, and move all of them off the SSD and into that folder. Next open of DAW will scan and they are gone. Dragging anything back will immediately work after re-opening DAW.

 

Yah. I have honestly probably too many, but i do a lot of hybrid orchestral /cyber punk trailer stuff, as well as a wide range of traditional genres. Pop, EDM (all subgenres), hip hop/trap, indie / alternative, singer songwriter, punk, jazz, even country lol. Its really hard to quantify which kontakt libraries are the best, as many of them are pretty specialized. Heres a list i put together for a friend the other day, who was asking specifically about "trailer / scoring libraries".

• Fracture Sounds - Box Factory - Cinematic Library made of boxes. Really cool, and unique. Sounds killer
• Fragments Modern Percussion - Small in size, but capable. Quick and easy to use, fun top loops and great randomization
• Spitfire / OPW Shoe Factory - unique ish library. Melodic and percussive content
• World Percussion Taiko - Exactly what it sounds like. Sounds killer
• Output - Analog Brass and winds, Analog Strings - Two different libraries. Must have.
• Pathfinder Cello - Unique and very expressive cello. Take a little to figure out but worth it
• Bowed Colors Cello - Also very expressive
• Pathfinder Violin
• Emergence Audio - Cello Textures, Viola Textures, Violin Textures. Unique, good for underscore and layering. Moving textures
• Mallet flux - really cool and inspiring mallet library. Great for layering.
• Sequis - Interesting results, moving and powerful sequencer - wide range of possible outcomes
• sCene Saffron - cinematic pads, atmospheres etc. great library with fast and easy randomization
• Fracture Sounds Trails - Must have , beautiful, moving library
• Fracture sounds String Formations - must have, moving, ethereal strings.
• Fracture Sounds Petrichor Earthy Winds - must have, moving winds

These following libraries are great for techno:

• Artistry audio - Staccato, Monolith, Scorpio - some of my all time favorite libraries. Powerful randomization, insane sounds.
• 10 Phantom Rooms (10pr) Low end strings, and low end modular. Two awesome libraries.
• Play Series Modular Icons - I hate the play series, but this one is good
• Pangea - Dark, cinematic, pads, leads, basses, must have
• Playbox -t’s a very unique tool, kontakt or otherwise. It’s a little confusing at first, but once you get the workflow it’s unstoppable. This one maybe not so much for techno, but its just a really cool library. Would work well for melodic techno, but also just in general for resampling.

Ill add that the Output libraries in the trailer category are also well suited for techno.

Falcon is an absolute beast. One of my most used synths. Its worth learning it inside out, as its extremely powerful, but a bit convoluted in operation. East West stuff is also great. Some of it is just filler, but they have some really good libraries, i love their hollywood orchestrator. I get the annual subscription every year @ thomann black friday. its cheaper.

TDR - https://www.tokyodawn.net/tokyo-dawn-labs/

A few great, like really great free plugins, and some equally as awesome paid ones. Affordable too. TDR Limiter 6 is a mainstay. Its a compressor, hi freq limiter, clipper, and limiter all in one. Easy to use, and a great sounding plugin. Slick eq and nova are both great eq's (free versions of each i think?) Their special filters bundle is great. The plugin arbiter, from the bundle, is probably plugin of the year for me.

 

Logic Pro, Reaper, FabFilter, Valhalla, Serum, Diva, Roland Cloud, Keyscape, IK Hammond and a few Bass and Drum Kontakt Libs, that's all I need, but I don't do scoring or orchestral work.

 

All you own is viable. All. Without exceptions. Eventide, Kilohearts, Slate, Waves, IK, NI, Melda. Any of these bundles are enough. Just pick one of them up. Or may be two. And forget about others.

May be I'd pick one 'neutral' bundle (Melda or Kilohearts) and one 'analog' bundle (Slate, IK or Waves). But all of them has the same level of quality.

By asking other people their opinion which is better you achieve nothing. You just waste your time. Differences between all the options aren't about quality, they are about subjective preferences. And people will give you an advice to get even more. Do you really need it?

 

Welcome back from the dead, it's 2024 and your DAW probably has most of what you need already. I know you didn't ask my opinion on this in particular but if I were you I'd focus in the DAW first and later bother with trying different plugin options.

 

Cool, another thread about naming all plugins that ever existed and why you NEED them!

Just joking, I might actually try some of the recommendations. I will do a fresh install on my machine and also need to assemble a list of essentials.

Because it's like 300 plugins. If they are essential for your production there's nothing wrong with it. Personally, I fail to see why I would need that many at all and I don't want to support Waves any more. I mean, can you name even half or two-thirds of their plugins without looking them up? How much do you need a plugin if don't even remember it's name? (Maybe that just me and my terrible memory, no offense) That's my philosophy - if I don't know how it's called or I look at the name of a plugin and I'm like "ah I think that's doing that but I'm not 100% sure, haven't used it in ages" it's time to through it out, it's obviously not beneficial to my workflow but just eating precious time.

Deactivating VSTs on windows can be done same way as on Mac (moving out of the folder).

 

I've been making electronic music since 1998, before that I played acoustic and electric guitar, my first PC with a TerraTec sound card was very expensive and everything was new - you read PC magazines, picked up a few tricks from friends and got to grips with the new material or in other words the new digital world, somehow you managed to use a computer and the technical development went incredibly fast.

I built myself a small home studio. Several synthesizers, 2 drum machines. Microphones and a 4-track recorder. An hour of AOL internet cost 3 EURO in 2000. The first CD ROM blank cost 5 EURO. Today we have flat rates and a blank costs 10-20 cents. Team Air no longer exists and since nobody knows them, we don't know if they're even still alive.

think it's great that you still remember how slow everything was, that's how you realize how good we have it today. Technological progress also usually brings a better quality of life. The accumulation of knowledge over thousands of years and the accumulation of data and paper inevitably led to computers or EDP (electronic data processing). So the knowledge of mankind is on the World Wide Web today.

I think you should try them all out, they're all completely new inventions that didn't exist before. Software programmers put all their knowledge, their love of music into it and with the human creative spirit, they created something new through a lot of work. And sometimes it's so good that it lasts and will accompany us for years to come. It's also something to do with appreciation.

You don't voluntarily do without too many plugins, so with a laptop you are basically forced to make a selection.

Imagine the internet crashes or you get bored and you want to play or listen to something new, then you plug in your SD and use your treasure trove of plugins, wav, midi etc.

Imagine you go to a library, you won't be able to read all the books because your life is too short. There are only 24 hours in a day. But you know that the books have been written and that they are all there, that's a great feeling. However, the librarian or the owner must be careful that no one steals anything or that the building burns down.

 

For USB audio interface, I can't recommend the Audient ID14 MkII highly enough. Quality sounding preamps if you record anything, but also has 2 line ins for stereo inputs (if you ever have hardware gear or want to record mic etc), dedicated guitar/instrument input, and 4 outputs (pair for main stereo monitors and pair for secondary reference monitors if needed). It also has ADAT in, so easy to expand in future to add more inputs this way if ever needed (as I do with my MOTU 828 MkII getting a new life as an 8 pre input via ADAT into my Audient ID14 MkII, allowing me to connect up my hardware synths easily and permanently).

It is also USB powered, and though more than capable with USB 2.0/3.0 ports, if you hook up to a USB C port, it has enough output power to blast high ohm headphones if you have any (such as the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro 250 Ohm that I use).

It also has loop back, making it easy to record and sample things where needed.

As it's USB bus powered, so super portable too if you ever travel or use a laptop.

For me, it's pretty much the best bus powered and portable audio interface out there in the budget/affordable price range for the masses.

 

Last edited: Oct 24, 2024

I also own an Audient ID14 MkII and agree with you 100%. Clearly recommend buying it.
I would like to point out that the USB-C cable is very short - I had to drill a hole in my wooden desk to connect the cable to the PC case.

 

Stick to a core set of plugins, put them in your favourites on your daw. Expand the list as you go on! That way you can use what you need quickly without becoming overwhelmed.

 

For an audio interface: If you plan on using high impedance headphones, Topping Professional E2X2 is a bang for the buck and a seriously good headphone amplifier..

 

Julian Krause has the know-how and makes really great reviews:

Topping Professional E2x2 - A new challenger! - USB Audio Interface Review