It won't last forever, in fact the end might be sooner than we think.

 

This ^

 

This attitude has nothing to do with plugins and audio: it is an addiction.
To download and test new warez can be pleasurable, but the continued act becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work, family and real life.
Actually, addiction is a true mental illness.

wikipedia:
Addiction is a state characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli, despite adverse consequences
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addiction

 

When you go all legit you quit hoarding. Or buy hardware. Costs start adding up in a hurry. (I could go for some real Neve and UA)Really, just limit yourself to what is in your DAW and a few other things (I like Lexicon reverb a lot and sausage fattener on occasion)

 

what do you mean?

 

best way to stop your addiction is to cancel your internet subscription, it will work wonder on your download habits

 

No. Never enough. More. More stuff. More plugins. More samples. YOU NEED THEM ALL. MOAR!!!!


But seriously, just delete stuff you are not using. It's easy.

 

Here is an example to how I overcome that problem.
Imagine you have just bought a new property and wish to furnish it before you move in. You buy the items that you know will fit in there and will look nice. Well, the software scenario isn't too dissimilar. other than you get to try them out to see how they fit in with your way of working.
I treat each each group ( Synth, reverb, mastering tools, FX, Samples, Bass, Drums, etc) as rooms. I have just what fits nicely into the workflow with one or two alternates floating about. Sometimes the hardest part is to remove something everybody says is great, but if you don't get the whole reason for having it, chances are if you DO use it, it wont work for you anyway

 

Really Short Answer for ADD Type Fellas:

NO PLUGIN CAN COMPENSATE FOR MISSING EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE OF AUDIO…

Really Elaborate Answer:

I think hoarding Plugins has various causes.

1. Testing Plugins is part of growing as a Producer/Engineer until you find out which plugins work best for you.

That's a natural process. Coming from Reason, it took me years to fully understand how all the plugins work, what they were suited for best and how to create my own "magic chains" that work for me. I remember looking at a Pultec Style EQ the first Time I was like, "WTF is this shit"? Same goes for a Multiband Compressor…

2. Convenience: A vivid warez scene combined with highspeed internet connection and free online storage and Terrabytes of space on HDs and the next plugin just a few mouse clicks away… who wouldn't feel invited to hoard the shit? That's part of human nature from a evolutionist perspective.

3. A more problematic aspect to it: lack of skill and/or creativity

Hoarding Plugins can be a symptom of over-compensating ones lack to achieve certain sounds as well as a lack of creativity. I had HUNDREDS of Plugins installed until I realized that I was looking for creativity in them when I should have just played around and composed shit instead of looking for some interesting Preset of a synth I didn't really understand or was pretty unusable without Presets (Looking at your shitty GUIs, Arturia!). One probably can never have enough Instruments, but do you really need every 1176 Comp Plugin out there?

A Solution: Taking a step back.

The OP said he is a sound Designer. If you are, you should know the "grammar of sound". Based on that you should be able to create certain sounds with a bare minimum of tools required to create or manipilate a sound spectrum.

If you break it down to the core, what you have at the end of the day in terms of Effects are either:

- time-based manipulations (Dynamics and all sorts of Delays (Delay, Chorus, Flanger, Reverb)
- frequency-based manipulations (EqualiZer, Filter, Multiband Processes, Distortion)
- amplitude-based manipulations (Everything Volume/Dynamics)
- all of the above at once: for example an LFO controlled Low Pass Filter Sweep or a Multiband Comp

Same for Sound Generators. You just need to know which of the synthesis methods is suitable and how to create a sound. That's practice and Experience.

You just have to find the ones that are working for you and then you're good. You gain a lot by getting rid of stuff: you will work more effeciently, you will get to know your stuff better and you will be able to bring sounds from your mind to reality quicker. So happy uninstalling ;)

 

I think many of us here (except me of course...) have to "suffer" of this addiction. But like a lot of things, it's a matter of will and discipline or, planned obsolescence. Aaaaahhh...blessed be the HDD crash!

 

i had the same issue, so i bought a second computer ..a laptop that only has VERY select few. It really becomes less of a headache.

its a pain in the neck with all these free stuff.

 

Hm, I think we all had/have that problem - too much stuff just because it exists and
looks nice. I had it with gigabytes of sample packs and kontakt libraries and did it that way:

I opened every single project file, re-saved it in a zip file along with the samples I used
and added a txt file with the plugins and in some cases Kontakt libraries i used.
Aidditionally I created a file which contained an overview with everything I need
and all the stuff I don't and after a day of work I got it done.

After that I radically deleted everything else from my disk and got nearly half a TB of
new free space and since a year (and that's the thing I should have done much earlier)
I started to buy the software I used and liked most (instead of my DAW for which I
owned a license more than 5 years ago). The rest of my installed plugs'n'stuff which I use
just from time to time is primarily stored for my older projects. Maybe I'll start using 'em again
when I've bought them as well.

Btw. getting a legit copy of what I use changed my workflow extremely in a positive way.
Now I study a plugin until I understand every single part of it which gives me much
new ways to create awesome stuff with it I never dreamed about.

Ye and that's it.

Short:
- open up all your projects, store them with the samples, libraries and plugins you used
- delete everything else
- start buying the stuff you really use and need for your projects to work properly
- and so get a new experience of the usage of your new legit products
and you'll see - you really don't need more

 

Last edited: Dec 13, 2015

Did a clean install and am up and running already right now with a pretty minimal setup. Almost only have stuff installed that I own. Also managed to cut down those Kontakt ensembles. bless the HDD crash indeed!

 

Stop downloading.

 

Open all your projects and evaluate the plugins you use the most... Anyway, why stop hoarding? It's a way to discover some jevels (ie SKnote Disto ).

 

I have this problem with tutorial videos....

 

its fun, but its a distraction if you can't completely seperate it from the actual task of producing like me

 

i found a cure long time ago, use legit stuff only for your music, in case of CUBASE 8 u have a LOT of legit plugins integrated. GO DEEP into them, and soon find out, u dont need fancy other plugins to make music. (watch some YT ClubCubase videos, even the guy is "KINDA" annyoing, lol)
I try out new stuff every now and then, but i am not into EDM, so its disappointing for me most of the time.
I am also more into Sounddesign, and try to walk different roads. Its a HOBBY for me, so i dont make money from it, but i have lots of great moments like "a kid in a toystore". And if you dont have money to spend, focus on Magware like COMPUTER MUSIC stuff. If you cant make good music with it, even the most expensive shit cant help you...

 

Still a bit of a hoarder, but easier than it was when the groups were providing crazy amounts daily. I took the time and created a test track with many different types of parts, then worked through groups of plugs (delays, compressors, etc) and compared. Surprising how many were weeded out fairly quick for various reasons & deleted. In a relatively short time I reduced the overall amount by half....now if I can just get through the other half!