I've downloaded about 1800 hacked plugins already, how do I stop doing this?

 

To be completely honest, this is not eternal, it just takes time. For me it took two years until I suddenly realized that it's over, I guess for everyone it's different, but I'm telling you, this feeling will eventually pass as the amount of plugins on the market is huge, but not infinite (the number of "available" ones is even smaller). All in all, this feeling is ok, I wish everyone good luck!

 

For me it was when I got a new PC and realised my plugin count was astonishingly large and that I'd never used most of them apart from the first 15 mins or so after I installed them. With very few exceptions I now use only the built-in fx of my daw and I focus on less than a dozen synths.

 

Take comfort than MANY of us have been there!!

As @boingy99 does, if you can focus on JUST using stock DAW plugins and get things sounding how you want, even if on small productions, and then if you are getting results then see how to achieve with want you want with just those stock plugins (most blow away 3rd party stuff from a few years ago anyway), then you will develop your skills and ear much more.
Or just block sister site in your hosts file

 

Start downloading samples instead.

 

By developing a senseful and repetitive workflow.

Stop playing, start working. Mixing is boring because it's easy.

 

just stop.................simples

 

Start deleting the ones you rarely use. Try to get to a thousand first...! You can also reinstall Windows and then only install what you actually need. Millions of other users feel the same way. The delete key is your best friend.

 

Last edited: May 22, 2025

Here's a method that needs just some discipline: install a fancy new shiny plugin (because we all know, it's going to be that magic doohickey that's gonna make you a platinum seller! *cough*). Delete presets. Read the goddamn manual until you have the thing figured out. Toss it if it's no good. Then move on to the next one. Should slow you down enough.

Of course, you could use the same discipline not to download everything in the first place, but I digress.

 

Well, I'd like to go with a snarky 12-step type answer, but the honest truth for me is that one day it just suddenly all struck me as stupid and I've downloaded nothing for months. There's a couple that I'm mildly curious about but it just seems like a collosal waste of time. I bought a cheap drum kit and doing that now, getting my chops back.

 

I will charge you 50$ penalty for every plugin you download. DM me for payment info.

 

- Don't check the sister site every day.

- Realize that you're probably downloading all of these plugins to make it feel like you're doing something useful, but are in fact doing it to avoid work (I do this trying to reorganize my HDDs every once in a while).

- Find a couple developers that can satisfy most of your needs and try to use their stuff, or actually purchase those tools (We subconsciously place additional value on things we have paid for. When everything is free, nothing feels important or valuable).

- If you're not glued to your computer or phone for a ton of time, you're not going to be downloading plugins, so maybe keep a eye on screen time.

- Don't obsess over every update released by devs (I fell into this trap with Kontakt, and have to delete the 15 fucking updates they release every month that allow their software to barely function).

 

been grabbing stuff for decades. however the smell was off the rose long ago with regard to the amount of actual useable stuff there was available (even back in the daze of irc and ftp's). then there was the great warez famine that happened about 10-15 (??) years or so ago. once that was over, it tended to loosen a few screws (for a little while at least) on the download cap. but then eventually it all came back full circle. just don't grab anything you do not think you would ever use in a real recording session/project and that will severely limit in spades how much you grab. generally 90-95% of the stuff that gets released on a daily basis, IMO, is not worth my time to mess with - that is to say "I" would never use it in a session or project. you need to look at it thru that lens, and once you do your DL's will curtail themselves... the scene is there to help us, and it does in every sense of the word. for most of us, having to buy even the amount of stuff that is critical to our workflow would send us to the poorhouse - as well as keeping up with all the dam updating of said releases.

All hail and praise our beloved witches!

 

I keep a list of my favorite plugins for each category, try to keep it simple. As soon as I started the list I suddenly realized his I don't use most plugins and uninstalled them

 

Keep only the ones you like to use and know well. Try to use only a couple (ok... 3-4? maybe 5?) of every kind of plugin, especially EQs, compressors, limiters, delays, reverbs, meters. There's ton of stuff like that out there with only minimal differences. Test them all extensively before use, pick the best and lose the rest.

When you're being creative and/or mixing, you don't want to search through 100s of plugins. Having just a couple of EQs and compressors that you picked, will seriously cut down the time you lose on picking which plugin to use. Also, it will make your projects far more time and portable proof if you don't use a thousand of different plugins on 20 tracks. <-- one of the reasons certain plugin bundles like Waves are so popular.

 

Last edited: May 21, 2025

Who cares? You can keep downloading more and never get any good at mixing, or you can use some of what you downloaded and actually get good at it. It's a simple choice.

 

Guilty as charged. It was either plugins or porn. Now that things are in a stall, porn has returned. Hurry up witches, my arm hurts.

 

This is something most of us have been through and it's tough to break out of. But there is a way

There is one thing every professional that works in the industry has in common. Deadlines.

Give yourself the shortest possible deadlines that will still realistically allow you to create something you're confident in. And stick to them, no matter what. Everything else will fall into place.

 

i have alot of plugins but most of them never get used.. for example omnisphere 2, which is great

i only use kontakt and nexus 5 and hardware for layering... also i have alot of mixing plugins.. maybe too many to choose from

i would say.. this is human nature to want more more and more
maybe when new plugins release you get interested. but new does not make it good

 

As a hobbyist and experimenter it has been difficult to stop.
In the past year though, I have come to terms with the lack of time and skill (speed) at which i can get familiar enough with synths, in particular, to begin doing anything meaningful with them.
I needed to upgrade hardware for Win11, and the Windows upgrade went fine, but decided it was time for a fresh start.
On this clean Win11 install I only chose the ones I've used in projects, and have been skipping any updates for everything else.