What I can't do without is Pianotheq, Kontakt, SupDrum3, IK Modobass, VB3II. Sorry it's five, but that's the way it is.
FX: Valhalla Vintage Verb, Neutron, Ozone, Antares Autotune.

 

Superior drummer
Kontakt

Izotope Neutron
Slate Digital VerbSuite Classics

 

Ok you want to know our hidden gems, no problem:

I would go for instruments first:
Sylenth, Diva, tb303 Cloud, europa, VirusTI vst interface lol.

Sylenth (cpu friendly fat sound due to a good digital filter design, simple to program enhances productivity)
Diva (heavy on cpu but probably the best sounding vst, can be fat as a synth, many options)
Europa(it is another sound design paradigm, cpu friendly, above average filters, advanced routing and it is amazing for fx and acid sounds, bright sound in a good way)
Cloud tb303 (the best 303 emu to date)
Virus TI (the most flexible sound design utility I have found and works as a vst if you need)

For fx, mixing
Shadow hill compressor, valhalla vintageverb, ableton autofilter, lindel 80 channel and ssl console G

Shadow(best digital emulation of the famous hardware consisting of an opto, to make sound become louder that breathes, no distortion. And a discrete section to add punch SSL like, cpu friendly) Also SPL Iron is an amazing mastering compressor. Alpha compressor is another.
Vintageverb (if you know how to use is the most versatile cpu friendly quality reverb )
Autofilter (it is not analog or fat but it is fast and clean, handy for every bus)
Lindel 80 (magic combined for vocals, which I could emulate with another set of plugs but why I should do that if I have it in one plug)
SSl console G: this is the best console emulation of a SSL console which adds punch, clarity and a full sound in a good way, not even SSL duende (from SSL themselves) is that good and waves is like a toy against this. Best bang for buck here, worth every penny, buy it. There is also console N but that is better as a pre fx.

Worth mentioning as I saw in other posts.
Magic Death Eye: is really magical compressor
Ableton The glue: another good ssl comp emulation cpu friendly and it does the job to add punch and make a fuller clean sound
Hyperspace: serious design of a reverb but can be a lil heavy, good for fx
HG2 blackbox and Pulsar MU: two of the best digital saturators I have worked with, can make a cheap self made vst with aliasing sound interesting, so imagine how good they are.

Hope this helps someone, make the music you love we need more electronic music with a soul.
Cheers!

 

Last edited: Jan 11, 2020

Fabfilter Pro-Q 3 , Fabfilter Pro-C , U-He Zebra 2, Unfiltered Audio Sandman Pro

 

Depends on genre, but I could write a thousand albums for rock/metal bands just using Superior Drummer 3, Kontakt, EzMix, and Waves. And Ezmix could be interchanged with many different things. So if needed I could get full quality with 2 instrument vst's and 2 effect vst's. Now kontakt is kinda cheating but i say it counts.

 

Vst's or VSTi's?

VSTi - Omnisphere, KONTAKT, BFD, Sampletank
Vst - Slate, Ozone, Pluginalliance bundles(mainly the Neve and SSL buses)
Rewire - Reason, Sibelius, ACID Pro

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jan 12, 2020

Kontakt (+my 1tb of libs.), Arturia CS80V, Reaktor.

 

3-4 plugins is almost impossible. If I really break it down to the absolute basics that you need for mixing, then I come up with these 9 plugins:

Flux Solera v3,
Fab Filter Pro-Q2,
Alex Hilton A1 Stereo Imager,
ReaDelay,
Valhalla Room,
Valhalla Plate,
ReaPitch,
U-he Satin,
Kazrog True Iron

 

Last edited: Jan 12, 2020

When mixing, I usually use :

Compressors = Waves CLA 76 (recently I've rarely used it ...)
EQs = Fabfilter Pro-Q
Limiters = Waves L1/Waves L2
Reverbs = Valhalla Vintage Verb

Thats it...

 

You're right! %) Well in that way having all Kontakt libs would be enough for me)

 

Kinda boring but, Instruments : Serum, ANA 2, Nexus2

Effects - Valhalla Room verb, Art Acoustic verb, Waves HD Delay and XFer LFO tool.

 

Such a great insight into your workflow and experience. Love this community

 

I put 7 vsts, I think this would be enough, I go a little on the alternative line.
Instruments:
-DUNE 3
Effects:
-TBProAudio CS5501
-ValhallaVintageVerb
-ValhallaDelay
-ToneBoosters ReelBus
-Voxengo Elephant
-Black Rooster Audio VEQ-1P
DAW: Reaper

 

This is actually my goal, to use as little plugins as possible and try to get the best of them...
Unfortunately, 3 plugins for a entire mix is impossible, that is why i prefer to choose plugins with "all-in-one", its more convenient.

So with this said, my choices are:
Amplitube 3
Addictive Drums 1.5.7
Voxengo Voxformer

All pretty old stuff, but works perfectly.

 

valhalla vintage verb , psp infinistrip , saturn , reaktor

 

mine would be
IK Multimedia Sampletank 4
Omnisphere
Stylus RMX
Korg Gadget 2

 

For synths, definitely Avenger. I hecking can't stand Vengeance Sound's overpriced expansion sets, stupid protection, and the lengths they go to make legit buyers frustrated (which I am one). Buuuut~ I can't deny that the sounds and tones cooked up on that synth are absolutely top-notch. I could probably make do with just that one synth alone.

 

Kontakt, Guitar Rig and Reaktor, and I'm all set.

 

Adam Sjabo Viper , U-He Hive 2 ,Vengeance Multiband Sidechain 3, Nomad Analogue Tape fx ,***edit XLN XO for da beat , sry forgot

 

CANNOT go without...

Maximizer: SoundGoodizer

EQ: SoundGoodizer

Saturation: SoundGoodizer

Distortion: Sausage Fattener

Reverb: SoundGoozizer

Transient Shaper: Transgressor 2

Compression: Brainworx Townhouse Buss Compressor with SoundGoodizer.. you know, to really GLUE everything together

That's my 4. I've won Grammys with these, "trust" me ;)