I removed most of my plugins

[martiu]

all i need is - TONSTURM SPCTRLEQ, Mackity, Blackhole, Loudmax, Harsh Digital Nose
you have no idea what kind of crazy shit i was hearing messing around with those plugins today

[martiu]

i am also using Zdzislaw Beksinski images as oscillators on Harsh Digital Nose

Screenshot (1523).png

[vurt]

i am also using Zdzislaw Beksinski images as oscillators on Harsh Digital Nose
Screenshot (1523).png

why you mad, homonculus?

[mjolnir]

I'm on Linux, so a lot of what I do is irrelevant to Windows people. However...,

On the plus side, just yesterday I went down from 350 freeware Windows plugins to about 130 instead.
In the process, I realised that I really don't use most of those at all and really don't need most of them at all either.

On the minus side, I messed up and started installing a bunch of Linux freeware plugins (all of the VST, VST3, CLAP and LV2's in my distro).
So now I'm back up to too many plugins again and have to whittle the list down again. I got ridiculously carried away.

But I think I figured out which main ones to keep for instruments:

Zebralette
Charlatan
Vitalium (Linux Vital clone)
Surge XT
ZynAddSubFX
Yoshimi
Odin

and then only keep a few lesser classic ones like ArcDev Mainliner and MaxSynths Bass Module (even though it's crashy lately)

But since WINE isn't stable anymore for VST plugins, it's good that I took a look at the Linux offerings. Vitalium works okay. And Surge XT has been reliable for a while now. A lot of the other stuff I've been finding is too complex or too simplistic. So it'll be good to purge that junk out too.

I might keep a lot of Linux effects, but at least GVSTs are available for Linux.

[FranklyFlawless]

Freeware and proprietary software are not justifiable in my workflow under any circumstances.

[mjolnir]

Today I got my system down to 83 Yabridge compatible plugins (instead of 250+).
I also deleted most of the Linux instruments except for just a few nice ones.
I did install a lot of Linux LADSPA effects, but those are usually easily searchable and stay out of the way easily.

In the process of trying to settle down my system, I reinstalled some sampler plugins and accidentally found a pretty nice free drum sample collection hidden inside of a VST installer. The VST itself was kinda sucky, but I kept a lot of the WAV sounds.

It was just what I needed to beef up my drums.
So now I got a really nice WAV drum sound collection and they still only tally up to about 20 MiB when compressed and archived.

My DAW computer was running out of space, but now it's not.
So overall, the process was worth it. I backed up my system when it was done too.

I pulled out my portable field recorder too, and I'm going to try and switch to mostly using samples instead of plugins.

If any of you guys are feeling squeamish about purging DAW contents, it's really not that bad as long as you plan it out.

[h66]

Disclaimer , I am German , I am an economist and, according to my understanding of real economics, also an ecologist .
That is why I tried from the beginning to get by with as little as possible and worked in particular with the DAW's own options. (See also my repeated posts against CPU hunger, especially with wavetables > P.S. AIR Hybrid 3 - was also almost free at one point - also had rudimentary wavetables, but never a CPU problem.)
The DAW's own options are - for my style of music - limited in Fruity Loops. The game changer was Synth1, with which - by collecting and adjusting the countless presets - I can create any sound for myself (not quite as good as synthofsynth Cagdas , but still)
Reverb is always a difficulty. For a long time, Tone2 Warmverb (also as Multi FX) helped me here, a bit of Oril River and (I treated myself to) Valhalla and also free Ronan Fed Aire.
Relatively early on - after 5 years - I bought Nexus as a creative tool. Up until N3/N4 it was very CPU-efficient and quick to create. Nevertheless, I always try to replace the sounds with Synth1 whenever possible.
I almost exclusively use free Ronan Fed RF-DSP as a multi-FX.
The Maximus from Fruity Loops is sufficient as a finalizer, usually in combination with free OTT.
In summary: there is so much free stuff these days that is absolutely sufficient and: it is better to know one tool by heart than to mess around with three...
I hope you enjoy making music

[mjolnir]

Something nice happened today after I got rid of the extra Linux plugins,... i discovered a few of them (2 of them) are rather nice so I'm keeping those.
So right now, i'm down to about 83 VSTS and about 8 Linux plugins (LV2, CLAP, VST3). The purge was certainly worth it. Thank goodness to plugin developers for making such interesting tools for us. And thanks goodness to those of them who make freewares. It's really a breakthrough technology and godsend to have impressive freewares. Happy New Year 2025 too.

[harryupbabble]

i guess deleting vst plugins can be good for regaining hard drive space

i'm thinking of being just like runbeerrun
he gots all his vst plugins saved on one ssd
i gots all mine on too many dvds

with an ssd, i don't have to delete vst plugins
i can just delete symbolics links
symlinks can be 1/1000 of the file size of vst plugins

and unlike vst plugins, symlinks don't become rare

and unlike a band with that weird name...
they are disposable
but are not heroes of hypocrisy

[harryupbabble]

wait a sec,
what if that ssd fails?

okay, get two ssds

[funky lime]

jumping on this trend, and last night i spent a bunch of time deleting plugins and sample libraries instead of making music. it was a fun form of procrastination that felt deceptively productive.

- deleted 150gb of sample libraries, now down to a mere 750gb
- deleted most classic hardware emulation plugins (synths, eqs, compressors, etc)
- deleted the unwieldy amp sim suites (amplitube, guitar rig) in favor of single-amp plugins, 1 guitar and 1 bass
- deleted most duplicates in each category. now i'm down to 1 algo reverb, 1 delay, 1 phaser, 1 tape sat, 1 eq, 2 compressors, etc.
- deleted a bunch of synthesizers. now i'm down to: surge xt, chromaphone, ultra analog va-3, fm8, and pecs

now instead of making music i'm on forums posting about it. maybe time to edit my hosts file and block myself from reddit, forums, etc.

[eLawnMust]

For saving I would KEEP burning to disc... They are EMP proof that way... Any kinda hard drives are not hell had too many just take an instant shit, the gov can remotely wipe it clean if they wish...

[FranklyFlawless]

maybe time to edit my hosts file and block myself from reddit, forums, etc.

You can simply disconnect from the Internet whenever you need to focus on offline work.

For saving I would KEEP burning to disc... They are EMP proof that way...

Their lifespan is limited and not designed for archival purposes.

[audiojunkie]

I'm a Linux user as well, and for almost everything, I have more than enough choices, so that I am allowed to choose the best options and keep things minimal. For example:

I use (and for a couple, "will use") the following Linux-native tools:

Reaper
Diva
Repro
Hive 2
TX16Wx Sampler
TAL Sampler
Sforzando (Linux-native version coming soon)
TAL Drum
Apisonic Labs' Speedrum 2
Uhbik
Colour Copy
Decent Sampler
Fluida
X42 Plugins
Surge-XT
Surge-XT Effects
Shortcircuit-XT (Linux-native version coming soon-ish)
Linux Studio Plugins
Cardinal
Guitarix.vst
Chipsynth OPS-7 (Linux-native version coming--I will purchase this soon)
Quanta 2
DragonFly Reverbs
LibraArp
Ildaeil
Airwindows Consolidated
EOS 2
Synthesizer V (I will purchase this soon)

The only real weak point with Linux is with deeply sampled libraries, such as the Kontakt stuff. For that, I use WINE and yabridge for the following:

Musiclab's RealGMS
Musiclab's RealStrat
Musiclab's RealLPC

For fun, I also use the following with WINE and yabridge:

Synthmaster 3
KarmaFX Synth 2
VSTSynthFont64 v.3.x

I'm also experimenting with a Windows guest VM in Linux and Blue Cat Audio's Patchwork and Connector

This really covers everything I could ever need. If I ever get anything additional, it would most likely be to replace something I already have--it would have to surpass an existing tool to be added. There really is nothing more that I need than this.

[skurry]

I just deleted IK and left the rest. Feels Goodman.