I think i have too much plugins

[Ploki]

First World problems

In my un-edited version of the post i had a disclaimer at the end that said something among the lines of: i know this is a first (second) world problem wankery type post.

Should've kept it i guess

[Aloysius]

If you keep purchasing plugins, in a couple of years you'll be able to look back and say to yourself, I didn't really have that many plugins in april of 2020.

[MadDogE134]

lol... when you hit 6000... 3000 doesn't seem as much

[Ploki]

i have 141 audio units in my components folder

[Forgotten]

Too many plugins is possible.

Too many guitars on the other hand...? No, not possible...

[Burillo]

i do have too many plugins, but it's usually because my workflow changes over the years, or i find better plugins.

for example, i usually deal with tracks with FX already baked in, and i spend maybe 30 minutes on actual mixing. at first, i was simply using "leveling amplifier" type plugins to get overall levels roughly in the ball park. the problem is, those are essentially compressors, so they don't work that well on certain things and tend to accentuate reverb, delays or other baked in FX, so i had to do some automation twiddling to compensate.

then i got myself Melda's MAutoVolume instead. it is very good and fully featured, but tends to be way overcomplicated to use, and it still had some of the same artifacts that i had to fix afterwards. it is a great broad strokes leveler, but long silences throw it off, and lookahead doesn't really do what i expected it would (e.g. it would do clearly stupid things like start bringing the level up before a long silence) and i could never calibrate it well enough for my needs.

then, i got W.A. Production's Outlaw, and despite being less advanced than MAutoVolume, it actually worked better than MAutoVolume for what i was using it for - but it too left artifacts that sounded like compressor pumping, and its metering is far too limited to make meaningful use of it.

recently, i demoed Soundevice Autoformer, and bought it almost immediately - for my use case, it was clearly better than anything else i've tried by a mile. it isn't perfect, and it still needs a bit of tweaking because it apparently works off peak/RMS levels rather than LUFS, so it doesn't bring up certain parts as loud as i would bring them up myself, so i am currently experimenting with having Autoformer as a first stage leveler, and MAutoVolume as a second stage very slow leveler.

anyway, the point is: now i have a bunch of leveling amplifier emulations, and three different levelers. the amount of plugins i have reflects a journey to find the one that fits my workflow the best.

it's the same with EQ's and compressors and whatnot - at times, i gravitate towards analog-modeled EQ's because i like the EQ designers' choices of curves etc. but then at other times i suddenly decide that i like paragraphic EQ's better. then at times, it's both. then sometimes i like what certain EQ does at certain settings, but don't use it for anything else. so i end up having a lot of EQ's that reflect my path from built-in EQ's to fancy analog emulations to clean digital paragraphic EQ's to a combination of both.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

What do you do if you have bundles that you don't use? keep em in your browsers "just in case" or hide them away? Try to use some from other bundles to replace them so you could shrink them down?
Or just accept the fact that you're a hoarder

I just looked: I've got 788 .dll's in my VST Plugins folder. That's just VST2. Mostly effects. So yeah, definitely just accepting my hoarding.

That said, I've been pretty good lately about buying fewer effects or not even demoing things at all. Forums don't help. A new plugin comes out, there's all this excitement about how great it is, the excitement is usually contageous, then next thing I know I'm buying another plugin. Trying to stop that. The only plugins I'm interested in buying are the Synapse OB-Xa and VCV Rack VST ("Rack for DAWs") once those are both out. Otherwise, trying to avoid effects unless it's something truly unique or just an absolutely stupid price (like $9 Excalibur).

[ATN69]

313 instrument plugins, 1319 effect plugins and a bunch of libraries for Kontakt. I feel abnormal to have so many plugins, until I open KVR and see that I am neither alone or even the worst

[kevvvvv]

I'm a Plugin Slimmer these days.

I good quality plug per job.

2 at a stretch.

eg Valhalla verbs & delays, neutron eq & compression, ozone for master outs.

Life's simpler and I can get on with writing my synth masterpieces

[J4R1O]

What do you do if you have bundles that you don't use? keep em in your browsers "just in case" or hide them away?

I have some Waves' bundles and soft synths that I would like to sell but since the profit would be 0 euros, well, I guess I have no choice but to keep them. :/

I would also like to sell some of my UAD plugins, but... :/

I've already sold many plugins/VST-instruments/Toontrack SDX/EZX libraries this year and instead of buying new ones I decided to buy a new guitar and two new basses.

[kevvvvv]

@j4R10

I decided to buy a new guitar and two new basses.

How cool is that

[Aloysius]

cool story, bro

[Ploki]

cool story, bro

stop assuming me

[Aloysius]

cool story, bruh

[thecontrolcentre]

I have way too many plugins already but that didn't stop me picking up 3 more during the PA sale ...