Say you're broke...

[ampetrosillo]

You're broke. You want to make music. You don't want to compromise, but of course you're broke, so you need to. There are lots and lots of free VSTs, and many of them on par with commercial software. Others still can be made to sound good, but might not be as pleasant to use as some commercial alternatives. But, I'm guessing, most of you have some commercial software that you feel cannot be replaced by any free VST, software you would invest your little money on because you feel that you need to. Which is it?

I'll start.

Valhalla reverbs (at least VintageVerb and Room, although Plate is great too but I could do without it).
MJUC (a really great compressor, I feel you could get away with using this on any source and it would work fine).
One convolution reverb (the free ones are all too limited).
Reaper.
I don't feel I need to buy any softsynths (and in fact I haven't bought any).
Maybe the TDR bundle (just because it's very reasonably priced and they're are great plugins, their free versions are wonderful but for example Nova GE does add very useful features).

That's it really, for me.

[ere2learn]

sold a kidney & bought the 900 Series Modular, P440 Sweet Spot & P11 Abyss

[audiouser720]

Nah forget it, I would just get into colouring books or something

[osiris]

When you po the CM versions of things can be a godsend.

[oneway]

I think the OP’s list was good, but I might add the oeksound plugins. Or maybe spiff combined with Baby Audio Smooth Operator to save $100 or so. I think the rest can probably be done with jsfx.

Past that, if I was broke I think the big priority might be a good dedicated music computer one can leave at a stable OS version. I think a big thing I see shoot some people with few resources in the foot is they keep having to update the computer they use for work, life, and whatever, and their music software is less reliable because of it. Every once in a while there’s a point update of Mac or Windows that does something like break PACE compatibility and it can be a real bummer.

[MadDogE134]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQeyLbRIUxU

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I'm sure I'm missing stuff, but here's my list to start...

Host
Reaper $60

Effects
TDR SlickEQ - free
TDR Nova - free
TDR Molotok - free
TDR Kotelnikov - free
Valhalla SuperMassive - free
ValhallaVintageVerb - $50
VallhallaRoom - $50
Audiority Dr. Phase - free
Acon Digital Multiply - free
Klanghelm Tens Jr - free
Klanhelm MJUC Jr - free
Klanghelm IVGI - free
Klanghelm DC1A - free
Tonocracy - free (essential for guitar player's only - nice to have for everyone else)

Instruments
Vital - free
Surge - free
Tyrell N6 - free
OB-Xd - free
BFD Player - free
Sitala - free
MODO Bass 2 CS - free (all you need is a P-Bass)

...I feel like Reaper's stock plugins could round out the rest and that would be more than enough to make a record with.

[whyterabbyt]

Bidule and maybe MuLab plugin.

[MusicMayor]

If you care to go down the rabbit hole...

Going all freeware (well... almost)
https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=52382

[Funky40]

what does broke mean ? (in your part of the world)
how much budget does this mean....per month ?....per year ?


I´ll add to what has been posted allready in previous posts:
Reverb:
(Covolution) Audio thing Fog Convolver 2, at sale!.....~$29 iirc, or even lower ? not sure
The free ones are not doing it then, it seems.

FX:
watch plugin alliance sales.
often enough is the whole "Unfiltered audio" line to be had for $29.
Several of these ar still on top of all time top lists. SpecOps and "Zip" in particular vs. my taste.
check other things from PA at sales.
Sometimes sales cumulated in such strange ways, that one could even just grab some UA FX for $0.
i doubt we´ll see that happen again

check:
APU loudness compressor !
$29 regular, $19 at sales (right now)
worth it for many things, regardless of your budget.

[Vortifex]

The free versions of Voxengo SPAN, Youlean and Vital, plus Valhalla Supermassive, are the only free plugins that stand out to me. Pretty much everything else is bettered by a paid alternative.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

But the premise of the question is basically: your budget is very low and you're willing to compromise, but still want good enough stuff to make music with. The question is not, what freeware isn't bettered by a paid alternative.

[zerocrossing]

what does broke mean ? (in your part of the world)

I was wondering the same thing. It always strikes me as disingenuous when someone who owns some fairly expensive bits of equipment (computer, audio interface, studio monitors), then cries poverty. I suspect what they’re really saying is, “I don’t feel like it’s worth supporting developers for tools that I can get for free, even if they’re a bit gimped in some way.”

The good news is, there are plenty of good free tools out there. IK is always doing some sort of group buy that brings the per plugin cost down to peanuts. Lots of people are selling used licenses for cheap.

[plexuss]

Borrow your brother's guitar.

[seafire]

Worry about the song writing, not the tools.