Most essential VST plugins

[XorXisT]

DUNE 3
Legend
Simpler & Sampler
Ultra Analog VA-3
Polysix
Wavestation

[foosnark]

I've been making, mixing & mastering music for 35 years and there is nothing that is essential to that process that cannot be replaced by another tool (especially vst plugins). YMMV but that doesn't make my experience definitely wrong.

I agree with this generally. But anyway, the actual first post said:

I would like to see what are your top plugins you are using most.
No matter if they have been released this year or before.

So the meaning of "essential" is not an essential part of the thread I guess It is, indeed, another "name the plugins you use most" thread.

[enCiphered]

Fun: Rapid, Hive 2, Phonec 2, Shaperbox, Tantra,

Most use: SD3, Kontakt, Edison, Fab, Gullfoss, Intensity, Axiom or TSE x50

Need to use more: Shreddage, Zebra, Falcon

I could list more...

Thanks for mentioning Gullfoss and Intensity.
Both plugins have a special place in my sound design templates and are irreplaceable.

[Tj Shredder]

If I would have to choose only one:
Hosts: Max/MSP
Instruments: Bitwigs Grid (I know, its not a VST, still its the one I could do all I dream of...)
FX: Trash 2 (my host would easily cover all the bread & butter stuff...)

[e-crooner]

No idea, I am still looking for a single synth that does everything I need it to do, which is not that much, anyway. I hate the idea of having a folder full of plugins because each of them sucks at something.

[vurt]

I've been making, mixing & mastering music for 35 years and there is nothing that is essential to that process that cannot be replaced by another tool (especially vst plugins). YMMV but that doesn't make my experience definitely wrong.

I agree with this generally. But anyway, the actual first post said:

I would like to see what are your top plugins you are using most.
No matter if they have been released this year or before.

So the meaning of "essential" is not an essential part of the thread I guess It is, indeed, another "name the plugins you use most" thread.

oh, reaktor then.
although i view that as essential either way

[BERFAB]

Don't know if we're counting DAWs, but I can't imagine life without Cubase (10.5).
Halion is always the first instrument vsti that gets implemented. So much in there.
Loving Falcon 2.0. It has given new life to MOTU's Mach III content (which is all usf files).
Rob Papen's Punch 2.0 is a work of art. Not to mention that it is jam packed with hundreds (?) of inspiring presets. Best bang for buck on a plug that I've spent in a long time. I'll run contra-beats along side it from Battery 4. Amazing. Inspiring.
Breeze 2.0 has been my go-to reverb since it came out (though it looks like NI's new Raum is going to give it some stiff competition.)
And, last but not least, the new iZotope plugs, particularly Ozone 9 Advanced makes bringing this all together a pleasure. (Still not sure if the Neutron --now v. 3-- way of doing things helps or hinders, but the bread and butter stuff in O9 is some of the best in class, IMHO.)

Cheers
-B

[BlackWinny]

I can't cite only one plugin as my most used. I'll cite my top 16 because I use them as often each others (I'll cite only the payware ones, I'll not cite the freeware ones). I wouldn't leave them for nothing in the world. In alphabetical order of the developers to not give the impression that those at the head of the list are the most used:

- AAS - String Studio VS-3
- AAS - Strum GS-2
- CWITEC - TX16Wx Pro
- DiscoDSP - Corona
- Gunare Ekornas - ME80
- Gunare Ekornas - Messiah
- Linplug - Spectral
- Modartt - Pianoteq
- NuSofting - Stream Dreams Synthesizer
- Oli Larkin - VirtualCZ
- SonicProjects - OPX-Pro II
- TAL - TAL-Bassline-101
- TAL - TAL-U-NO-LX
- TAL - TAL-Mod
- Xils - Oxium
- Xils - PolyKB III

If I had to choose only 16 payware software instruments with a gun on the temple and leave all the others, I would keep all these ones. Impossible for me to restrict the list to less.

And if I had to choose only 16 freeware software instruments (payware ones being excluded) in the same conditions it would be these:

2getherAudio - String Machine 2
Bitsonic - Keyzone Classic
Digital Suburban - Dexed
Full Bucket Music - FB3300
Full Bucket Music - ModulAir
Full Bucket Music - Mono/Fury
Full Bucket Music - Nabla
Full Bucket Music - Stigma
Full Bucket Music - The Blooo
Full Bucket Music - The Deputy Mark II
Keolab - Spicy Guitar
ML-VST - PG-8X
NuSofting - Sinnah
Pekka - MauSynth
Taron - Lord Of The Springs
U-He - Zebralette

[e-crooner]

What's the point of anyone forcing you at gunpoint to list your 16 (?!) essential VSTi's? The whole point of that gunpoint scenario is that you have to make an extremely difficult decision, and thus sacrifices. And believe me, if you had a gun at your temple, you would surely be capable of picking just a single VST

[vurt]

What's the point of anyone forcing you at gunpoint to list your 16 (?!) essential VSTi's? The whole point of that gunpoint scenario is that you have to make an extremely difficult decision, and thus sacrifices. And believe me, if you had a gun at your temple, you would surely be capable of picking just a single VST

a guy in manchester once pointed a gun at me to steal my bike.
i laughed and removed my trousers.
not because im tough, but because my mind just went blank and i went in to auto pilot.
he looked at me and said "nah man, you is right weird" tucked his shooter away and wandered off down an alley.

[e-crooner]

Well, you is a very special case

[vurt]

Well, you is a very special case

id imagine a lot of people panic, i was just lucky enough that he didn't view it as aggression or rather that he probably wasn't loaded.
fuggin fake gangsters.
but, i was kind of agreeing that people don't think straight in such situations.

[fairlyclose]

It is interesting developing this list as I realise just how many different plugins I use. I can often think I have wasted shitloads of money (and I have) but I have also bought a lot of stuff that gets a lot of use

Kontakt is the only essential instrument for me with the folowing sound libraries (although I use lots more)
NI Una Corda
SoundDust Dulcitone 1884
Noiseguild Trinity
Soniccouture (everything) - okay I cheated

Also Kontakt could supply all sequencing with SzCz's superb Cracklefield and the soniccouture ones

for fx
Liquidsonic Reverberate for convolution
plus Toneboosters EQ4

[e-crooner]

Most people probably freeze, but not act like you did
But an unexpected attitude and reaction on the part of the victim is often what makes criminals themselves insecure. They think that when they hold a gun in people's face, that is enough. But most criminals are not prepared to use the gun, so they themselves don't know how to react when the victim reacts differently, maybe even attacking them.

I was robbed once in my life, as a teenager. I remained calm and tried to drop my wallet into the grass behind my back, unfortunately the criminal saw it and took it, anyway

[fairlyclose]

I've had somone shove a loaded rifle at me about 2 feet away from my stomach and threaten to shoot me. His brother stepped in front of it and said "You'll have to shoot me first" and talked him down.
That was nice of him

and a little while ago I got an intruder out of the house in the middle of the night. That was a very strange experience - waking up to loud music and finding this guy in my studio watching porn on my computer !!