First third-party plugin you bought?

[classic]

My first on was the EXS 24. I produced something about 4 CDs with it that time.
Short after that on I bought the first SampleTank. Had some realy beautyfull sounds I am missing in the newest version.
Don´t have a clue where to get the old sounds to use in the newest version, or if they are compatible at all.
Would make me buy the newest version, just for this old sounds:)
I am kind of nostalgic.

[Cinebient]

Alchemy
Edit: I forgot this is the FX forum, so I think it was CamelSpace for me.

Same, and same XD I was pretty salty when Apple bought them, but I moved on... still have a spot in my heart for those two, though.

I cannot complain really since I am a Logic user and so got a kind of Alchemy 2 and Camel Space 2 for free, deeply integrated in my DAW.
But yeah, I payed about 1000+ for all those Camel Audio stuff....which was maybe wasted at the end. But I still got my value out of it and Alchemy is still one of 3 synths I mainly use these days. Camel Space, now called StepFX inside Logic is also really good. Of course that does not help if you are not a Mac and Logic user.
But all the Camel Audio stuff was my entree in the world of plug-ins and in general software music tools (beside some iOS apps 10+ years ago where the Alchemy app also was my favourite iOS app).

[escalona]

Something made for the Commodore Amiga ages ago...

I know right? I remember I used a "paper dictionary" to write a letter (snail mail) to the programmer in Germany (I was working in Spain at the time) asking for the "plugin" (which was mailed in a 3.5 diskette... those were pretty new at the time). The plugin allowed for a "smooth" transition between two sound sources (basically a crossfade) so I didn't have to jump from the desk where the Amiga was to the mixing board (in a different room!). At the time we were 7 people working only on the weather info for the 3pm news. It took the whole day to get ready for it (believe it or not, the weather is the only part of a news show that everyone actually watches). Now it's a one-person job and they can get it done in minutes. Crazy times.

[Ah_Dziz]

Pluggo

Oh crap, I totally forgot about Pluggo. Good one.

I wish it still ran on my system. I have a couple albums of material that I can't go fiddle with anymore. If there's a way to have pluggo up and running on a windows 7 system I'd love to know. If I remember correctly it gave me an error at install and that was that.

[Halonmusic]

I think it was Waves Reel ADT but can't really remember. It was certainly one of the first.

[cthonophonic]

Jeskola XS-1. That must've been back in 2002, long before it went to a free/donationware model. Technically, I guess I was buying the Buzz machine then, and the VSTi version was included.

[acYm]

it was the nugen mixing bundle (monofilter, steroizer, stereoplacer and visualizer) around 2011.
before that I would only use included Sonar effects.

[sbreiden]

Waves EMI TG12345 because then I was in the Beatles.

[b15fliptop]

Nomad Factory Rock Amp Legends. 2005-ish? One of, if not THE first vst amp modelers. Man, was that thing AWFUL.

[bmigsal]

I think the first one I bought was the Ohmforce Predatohm... nice plugin.

[MRT]

Dash Signature EVE, bought it after I tried the CM mag version. It was also my first sample based instrument.
I loved the electric pianos and used them on everything. Felt like every update from the original was a letdown.

[Ah_Dziz]

The first non host plugin I bought was actually Kontakt 1, but this was in the effects forum so I picked the first effect I bought. Before pluggo and Kontakt, I was still using hardware samplers and mostly the entire smartelectronix collection along with the stuff that came with cubase.

[e@rs]

If it's effects we're talking, I think my first one was actually a pair: Camel Audio PhatSpace bundle.

[Scarlet Pumpernickel]

Mine was a DDMF EQ.

[Halonmusic]

Is synths allowed? if so, DRC