VST virtual instruments too much choice hindering creativity vs hardware romplers?

[Zexila]

Not sure about Omnisphere, it is often said to be lacking bread and butter sounds.

It does for sure, but the purpose of same in this story is to replace all his synths/synth sounds and little extra, if anything got "cooked" presets and loads of them, it's Omnisphere.

Who knows, maybe combination of bread&butter rompler like Halion Sonic and Omnisphere is winning ticket for him in this case.

[J.Hartmann]

I agree with V0RT3X. With time you learn what to reach for when you're looking for something. Creativity, on the other side, can come from using something new, or by trying something different with what you have.

I'm still using all the freeware and synths I've bought, sometimes even the free ones are better or more fun to use. Just staying away from programming and complex Max devices, I like my knobs and sliders!

[JBlongz]

We need to exercise SELF-CONTROL. Pick 3 plugins from your collection and milk them until it seems like you are recycling too many sounds. Looking for a plugin that "mixes well" is a poor excuse. Before plugins, mix engineers had a job to do. With plugins, they still have a job to do: MAKE the plugin fit in the mix.

As for composer's cloud: NO ELECTRONIC HARDWARE available can achieve this sound. So throw that idea away. I bought everything from EastWest before composer cloud was offered...money well spent. The sync licensing alone more than returned the investment. I'm going to give you the list that my friends don't like me to share:

Arturia
East West
MeldaProduction
Native Instruments
Spectrasonics
Tone 2

Among my large investment in plugs, I own everything from these brands made prior to 2016...and together these can accomplish anything.

[DJ Warmonger]

Looking for a plugin that "mixes well" is a poor excuse. Before plugins, mix engineers had a job to do. With plugins, they still have a job to do: MAKE the plugin fit in the mix.

Indeed. I can take any random preset or sample and make it fit in the mix, which is both fun and efficient. Nowdays we have enough amazing plugins to do any music imaginable, but plugin can't do any music on its own.

[aMUSEd]

You may consider a software workstation instead, like Halion Sonic or Air Expand. Not sure about Omnisphere, it is often said to be lacking bread and butter sounds

Considering the fact that it contains the whole of Atmosphere, which has often been regarded as the epitome of 'bread and butter' synth sound romplers, this is not really the case, I think some people just reacted against the fact that the more recent patches in Omnisphere included a higher percentage of experimental sounds, but it still has tons of basic synth patches, plus is easy to make your own.