Octamed on the Amiga, everything else is just sideways .

 

Hm, back when I used Ableton Live regularly I was quite satisfied with the stock plugins, only collecting more plugins for fun or because they were trendy.
Nowadays, if I were to reduce myself as much as possible while staying in Reaper, my choice would be (approximately) as follows:
- FabFilter Total Bundle (has all the basic necessities and enough options for more creativity)
- IK Multimedia Amplitube (as I play loads of guitar and don't have a proper physical amp)
- MeldaProduction (FreeFXBundle and some additional tools depending on what I intend to do - music production, post production, restauration..)
- Native Instruments Kontakt (some nice piano libraries in there, Una Corda is one example)
- sonible smartGate and smartLimit
- Spectrasonics Keyscape (greatest keys I know, need I say more?)
- Toontrack Superior Drummer 3 (in case no drums and/or drummer available)
- Xfer Serum 1/2 (once again, need I say more?)

There are some more plugins that are very nice to have and ease the workflow a lot, but going for essentials that should be it.

 

Amiga?!!! .... Atari ST(e) any day of the week!

Seriously though, the Amiga/Atari days were amazing times for being creative & pushing the hardware beyond what it was supposedly capable of. Both visually & sonically.

 

Last edited: Nov 14, 2025 at 1:12 AM

If my system were wiped, tomorrow I'd install:

• Cubase 15
• My UAD plugin$ - but especially: ATR-102, Distressor, AMS RMX 16
• Lexicon reverb
• Softube: Weiss limiter
• Arturia chorus
• VoosteQ Model N
• Techivation M-Exciter
• Omnisphere
  
• TAL synths and Cherry Audio synths
• Arturia synths
• Kontakt

 

Keeping this also in mind, it would be interesting to use that folder with the installers and auth, also programs (installer I made loads with vlc, notpad++ and a few others) and code out for win full reinstall oobe. Almost there...

 

If I were to do a clean install tomorrow this is what I'd install first

Software
Studio One
WinRAR
Jdownloader
Wiztree
Powertoys
Streamdeck

Plugins
Algonaut Atlas
Sublab
Apisonic Speedrum 2
Fabfilter Pro-Q
Tal-Sampler
Melodyne
Valhalla Reverb and Delay
Some tape plugin

 

TDR Limiter 6 GE is always the last thing on the 2‐Buss, and essentially all TDR plugins are on my palette with Arbiter my go-to sibilance helper.

To finesse volume control on every track before group bussing there is either one or two instances or a combination of the two of Jon V Fir Comp2 and Klanghelm DC1A.

Buss comps are either Klanghelm DC3A, Klanghelm MJUC and TDR Koltenikov

Reverbs are Valhalla, delay effects Valhalla and Fab Filter Time. When I use a chorus I choose my old version of Sknote DDD Dimension

For synths I regularly use Arturia Pigments, Synapse Legend HZ, U-he Zebra and Repro. For tonewheel it's GSi VB3. Piano duties are relegated to The Gentleman or Noire.

 

Cubase on the STe was amazing if you had hardware gear. In college me and a friend pooled equipment, we had: Akai S1100 + 1100EX with max memory 32MB each, Roland D-50, Kurzweil K2000, a Chroma Polaris II (my first ever synth - fantastic), a Mackie 32:8 and various outboard. Also a PC with a Digidesign Session 8. All running off the single Midi port on the Atari. The page refresh update on the STe got slow on complex tracks, but the timing was rock solid. We almost got signed to a label. Spent many hrs programming those Akai's - fun times!

 

JHudStudio Vocal King
Waves GTR
Softube Vintage Amp Room
Sonalksis FreeG

 

Last edited: Nov 14, 2025 at 8:18 AM

i dont use WAVES plugins anymore. in the beginning i was using maxxbass.. v equalizer, schweps pluins, jjp collection.. etc
but i stopped because i found Universal Audio.. which is better.. my opinion

 

I only work with multitracks. It seems to me that Waves made a name for itself through clever marketing, using famous sound engineers in its adverts and the fact that they were among the first to create plugins based on the interfaces of real hardware devices.

Their update policy alone is reason enough to block their website in the host file.

 

No, they had first mover advantage. Back in the early days they pumped out a large suite of non-DSP plugins before anyone else. They were very mediocre in quality with only a very few good ones (quantity over quality is still clearly in their DNA as a company), but back in the early 2000's, something was better than nothing.

They did pivot to using celebrity endorsements later, and that's the phase they're in now.

 

IF you leave your current workstation as it is, you'll have a unique opportunity to start from scratch with your new workstation, awesome!
if so, with new installation I'd recommend migrating nothing - from time to time, on special occasion like this, you have the chance to get rid of the past and start anew,
if you're up for a challenge, just install latest version of your primary DAW with no additional 3rd party plugins and see how long you can live without stuff you used before, only then bring back the bloat,
meanwhile obviously do NOT delete any older installers since you never know when manufacturer or sister site goes down,

it's really refreshing to start fresh, but it's very important to keep older system and older installers in case anything happens (client from past calls, or you forget to backup a legit license, forget you have half-finished project etc..),
no plugin and no software is that important to automatically install it again, especially if you jump operating system across few versions, there are changes that many softwares break, make less useful or even obsolete,
I enjoy reasonable minimalism (which is basically impossible while hoarding plugins and stuff), afterall SSD storage costs money, that said it's a good practice to check developer sites or sister site for latest updates (you'd be surprised how many people get stuck with older versions not knowing fixes or improvements have been made since initial releases),
it's also a chance to forget about your templates and presets and other presumably obsolete workflows (this is the hard part but as the saying goes "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."),

now to your OG title/question - I have no essential software, back in the day I used Sonar, then went Mac and Reaper, found Sonar-bundled plugins were mix of Overloud and XLN which I could keep using on Mac but then found Waves (which keep being boring) then iZotope (which also lacks innovation), Fabfilter (which value is more on learning side rather than amazing sound) then various free plugins (leveraging the fear of licensing/pricing changes, lack of cracks etc..) like TDR, Analog Obsession etc...
...in the end it's not at all about the tools, it's about having time listening to various music to get ideas that you can then bring into your own production, mixing etc... because NONE of the tools/plugins is irreplaceable, it's just your/my own laziness/comfort holding back in the long run

 

Improvisator + RandARP combo
Harmor
Battery 4
OsTirus
J-Scope

 

Synthogy Ivory is very good too.

 

Last edited: Nov 14, 2025 at 11:47 PM

The ones I use most often, so they are essential:

DAW - Cubase since forever.
Drum - SD3/EZD3 - I don't exclusively use these, but they are essential parts of my toolbox.
Bass ("live") - Submission Audio basses, no question.
Guitar/bass plugins - NDSP, STL Tones, ToneX, Bogren, JST, Aurora DSP
Synth/Keys/etc - I could list many plugins/libraries in this section, but overall, Steinberg HALion-GA5-Retrologue-Padshop pretty much cover everything if you expand them.
General plugins (EQ, compressor, tape, etc.) - Cubase stock, FabFilter, Waves, Plugin Alliance - mostly these. + I need Kontakt also.

 

Last edited: Nov 15, 2025 at 12:44 AM

May I re-use this please?

 

ive learned whatever my advantages are in a situation, ill use them

 

I produce ambient and trance sometimes...

DAW - Bitwig
Reverb - LiquidSonics Cinematic Rooms / Eventide Blackhole Immersive
Delay - NI Replika XT... I'm sure there's better stuff out there, I just always grab this.
Compressor & EQ - Stock plugins generally.
Synths - Pigments, OsTirus, Omnisphere
Saturation - Newfangled Saturate or SPL Twintube... again there's probably better stuff, but i opt for these mostly.
Metering - ADPTR MetricAB

 

Last edited: Nov 15, 2025 at 5:45 AM