What do you have Installed?

[MuzikFreq]

Curious for production purposes what do you guys have installed?
VSTs, DAWs, ECT. Samplepacks I dont care about since those are not really installs.

Reason I am asking is to see either how expansive or how limiting you guys work.
Personally I am thinking about uninstalling most of Komplete 11 since I don't use much other than massive and absynth 5
But I think I am too distracted with all the stuff and end up with more bloat.

[Bill D]

Great question, since everyone has their own setup and preferences.

I use Mark of the Unicorn Digital Performer on my 2012 Mac Mini.
I have Native Instruments Komplete 10, and use mainly Kontakt, FM8, Massive and Battery. My main piano VI is Modartt Pianoteq.
The other synths I use the most are Zebra, Hive, Synthmaster and Serum. Since I’m a guitarist, I play in any guitar parts or solos I need. I sold all my hardware synths a while ago, and just use a Novation SL controller and work “in the box”.
I used to be a “sample and patch collector”, (as if there was some kind of prize given for the largest collection of stuff!!) but I realize now that really “knowing your library” of sounds is the key. Synths like Zebra that have great patch browsers are my “go to” synths. I am in the process of going through my all my Kontakt libraries and offloading the ones I’m less likely to use onto an external drive, so I can find them If I need them, but I don’t have to wade through them if I’m in a hurry to get some basic ideas down. From the interviews I’ve seen on the SonicState and Spitfire Audio YouTube channels, it seems that film and TV composers seem to have the largest collection of software and hardware, since their work schedules are so demanding, they can’t afford not to have the sounds they need at their fingertips. Songwriters and music composers seem to be a bit more genre-specifc and tend not to need the sound of a distorted Polivox layered with 2 turtles copulating, as might a film composer.
I hope that gives you an idea of my setup. If I’ve left anything out, just let me know. Have fun!

[MuzikFreq]

Kinda forgot myself.

Since I'm more into Trance and Psytrance I'm currently going through and tossing out a bunch of stuff since it's just a hassle to find what I'm looking for.

Using Live 10 because the ease of use for me and noodling around with my Maschine Jam in the clips view is great to just sketch out ideas.

As I said before I'm going through and uninstalling things from komplete 11 like some kontakt libraries and mainly just keeping the pianos.
Massive and Absynth are staying

Sylenth1 still is a powerhouse for trance and even psytrance for me and I have a massive collection of presets from the Sylenth1 essentials from Freshlysqueezedsamples.

Serum I only find great for the odd bits like squelches and bassy sounds. I dunno.

Ana2... I don't know, I just use it and it makes a huge sound from little effort. Hard to explain but it has a sound of it's own because the filters and envelops.

Synth1 because it was free and is super light on CPU for the sound it makes.

As for effects I'm mostly using stock ableton plugins. I do use a trance gate from kilohearts and a1triggergate I think is the name.
Morphit because I have Akg240 Studio headphones and want an accurate sound out of them.

[BBFG#]

Two computers.
The one that is part of the hybrid system for the hardware keyboards has almost every piece of software I own. The second, which for the time being, has become my primary, is controlled by VMK & Emu boards, using a VS100 audio interface/recorder.

Cubase 10ai
Sonar Platinum (not Bandlab)

Stripped down specifically for ideas and practice.
HALion 6; Pianoteq 6; Alchemy 1; Zebra 2HZ; AnalogLab...
Groove Agent 4; Addictive Drums 2.
Axiom & Masterpack; Perfect Storm
Demo: Fathom Mono (which will either get uninstalled or upgraded by the end of the month).
There are others in that box, but I think it would be a waste of time to even mention them here.
(But I do have a goal of eliminating NI from my life asap.)

[BERFAB]

All the latest versions of the following:
Cubase 10 Pro
Komplete Ultimate
Rob Papen full bundle
Sampletank 4 MAX
Amplitube with most addons
All T-Racks modules
UVI Falcon and all modules
Complete AIR bundle
O8 advanced
HALion6
Many of the major drum packages: Groove Agent, Addictive Drums, Drumcore, BFD, Geist, Tremor, NI, Heavyocity, Slate drums etc.
2CAudio Aether, Breeze 2.1 and Presence
Synthmaster
Sylenth1
Fabfilter creative bundle
Complete FLStudio bundle
Waves plugs and packages


...and much more that I have acquired over the years.

Obviously there is a lot of overlap and unnecessary stuff here. You don't need to buy this much stuff to have a "complete" working studio. But like many here who have been here a long time, you acquire things and try out what works. To me, they're all useful to some degree. Different crayons in the box.

Plus, also like many here, I rarely pay anything close to full MSRP for anything. Part of the luxury of having a stocked studio is that you can wait it out until that new shiny toy is on sale.

I will say this, though: Bare bones desert island setup: Cubase 10 with HALion 6. Everything's in there.

Cheers
-B

[FapFilter]

Since it doesn't really matter what specific tools you use as long as you gel with their workflow and sound which both are highly subjective, so i won't be calling names too much, but i'm using:

- 1 DAW
- 1 Audio Editor
- 1 VA synth
- 2 FM-ish synths
- 1 Wavetable synth
- 1 Sampler
- 1 dedicated drum sampler
- 1 dedicated drum synth

Of course i was using way more stuff over the years since i entered software land in 2005, but now i settled on the above which feels perfect for me.

What i didn't include in that list: i also still use Reaktor, but not that much anymore.
I was primarily using it for sample mangling, but nowadays i mainly use it for the very occasional need for specific tasks i don't use all that much anyways, like granular, or physical modeling. Of course it can give excellent results in almost any type of synthesis, but i usually just prefer using my other tools.
Never really built my own ensembles, but the user library is more than awesome enough that i wouldn't even need to try myself anyway.

I actually also own and use almost twice as many hardware instruments, but i could happily just use these few softies without feeling restricted in any way at all.

Though the amount of what you truly need depends on your own way of working. Some feel comfortable with countless instruments, while other might just need one (or none at all) of certain things, which of course also depends on the genre(s) you're working with.

[BBFG#]

l will say this, though: Bare bones desert island setup: Cubase 10 with HALion 6. Everything's in there.
Cheers
-B

Agreed!
I would miss my Pianoteq though.

[BERFAB]

l will say this, though: Bare bones desert island setup: Cubase 10 with HALion 6. Everything's in there.
Cheers
-B

Agreed!
I would miss my Pianoteq though.

Well, piano generally is a tricky thing. It's my core instrument, and so I'm pretty picky about it. I don't have Pianoteq, but I easily have a couple of dozen well sampled piano packages (including the dozen or so just from the NI Komplete Ultimate package). So you'd think with all that fire power, one of those specialty pianos would be my go to. Not so. I've discovered that HALion6 has one in particular that I absolutely love. The patch name is Mellow Grand Piano, and with my S88 controller, it really gives me a fantastic solo playing experience. I've enhanced it by adding 2CAudio's Breeze 2.1 reverb (Clear Hall patch set to a wet setting of only about 8 or 9). YMMV of course, but it works for me.

Cheers
-B

[BBFG#]

l will say this, though: Bare bones desert island setup: Cubase 10 with HALion 6. Everything's in there.
Cheers
-B

Agreed!
I would miss my Pianoteq though.

Well, piano generally is a tricky thing. It's my core instrument, and so I'm pretty picky about it. I don't have Pianoteq, but I easily have a couple of dozen well sampled piano packages (including the dozen or so just from the NI Komplete Ultimate package). So you'd think with all that fire power, one of those specialty pianos would be my go to. Not so. I've discovered that HALion6 has one in particular that I absolutely love. The patch name is Mellow Grand Piano, and with my S88 controller, it really gives me a fantastic solo playing experience. I've enhanced it by adding 2CAudio's Breeze 2.1 reverb (Clear Hall patch set to a wet setting of only about 8 or 9). YMMV of course, but it works for me.

Cheers
-B

Understood. I have Grand 3 also. Which for me, all but ruins the pianos in HALion. But in layers, H6 pianos are great. I wish they would include a way to use them within H6. Pianoteq gives me the in-between of those. However, since it also gives me pitch bend, it gives me the "what if" in treating the library as a guitar. (BTW, I have the full version with all the libraries).
Pianoteq 6 layered with Alchemy 1 in Patchwork gives me something like HAL6 with a different character.

And the NI pianos which would be great if they didn't have those 'spots' in velocity that ruin them for me. I stopped using them completely, because it's like driving a freeway with speed bumps.

[dune_rave]

Re: What do you have Installed?
--> windows, total commander, winrar, gimp, office ...

[e@rs]

Studio One 4, Live 9 Suite, Renoise 3, all U-He synths, all ValhallaDSP, all Soundtoys, all Sonic Charge, almost all FabFilter, all Camel Audio, Spire, Aalto, Renoise Redux, both SynthMaster's, Kick 2, Punchbox, RMV, DUNE 1 & 2, Massive, FM8, Monark, Razor, Breeze 2.

Also Cubase Pro 10 trial because... anniversary sale.

[BERFAB]

And the NI pianos which would be great if they didn't have those 'spots' in velocity that ruin them for me. I stopped using them completely, because it's like driving a freeway with speed bumps.

I know, right? Totally agree. Plus a few of them have the odd bum sample. Completely ruins the experience.

[chk071]

Make this a quiz and i'll participate.

[MuzikFreq]

Make this a quiz and i'll participate.

Just gave me an idea for a fun thread.