🔥 How Many Plugins Do You Presently Have Installed on Your Computer?

[chris.r]

4 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

IMO, best practice is that once I find the ones I want to settle on, go through and cull the ones I now know I'll not be using. Hundreds of plug-ins bit the dust when I did the new build.

A less-cluttered plug-in browser is like a less-cluttered inbox: it means less distraction. It also means that I won't use some minor league plug-in in a project that I'll call up after I've culled it and get the missing plug-ins message.

You can do that by creating a new plugin menu layout and include only a handful of them but still keep all the rest installed on disk! Hey, what's wrong with having more plugins on disk 🥳 

[Starship Krupa]

1 hour ago, chris.r said:

You can do that by creating a new plugin menu layout and include only a handful of them but still keep all the rest installed on disk! Hey, what's wrong with having more plugins on disk

I can do that in Cakewalk, but my secondary DAW is Mixcraft, and their plug-in management is less flexible.

It's just a way to minimize distraction. I already have a category called "A-List," which is handy because it shows up at the top of the category sort. It's where I put my quick go-to's.

[Bapu]

I would like to mention that I don't eliminate duplicates. So my 5K reported by CbB is def filled with some thinks like multiple Izotope's (RX-7, 8. 9 and 10; all advanced. Or Ozone 7, 8, 9 and 10).

So yeah, my 5K on CbB is probably more like a true 4K (or maybe even the ~3.1K reported by Studio One).

My 32bit plugs (exactly 19 are installed ) are not counted in any DAW because I never point my DAWs to that "Program Files (x86)\vstplugins" folder. I've long since stopped bridging 32bit plugins.

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by Bapu

[marcL]

My plugin organization is quite different. I have the VST2 plugins installed under a top folder and then a provider subfolder. But I never reference this top folder directly by my DAWs.

Instead a have an FX, an instrument and an edit folder, the first 2 with subfolders (Dynamics, EQ, ...). And then I create file links of the plugins in those folders, the ones I really use. In the DAWs I use then the FX and instrument folders for scanning only and in the Edit programs (like RX, Sound Forge, ...) the edit folder (a reduced FX listing). Like that I can reduce the scanned plugins and duplicates without uninstalling some plugins (and it is easy to include or exclude a plugin again).

As the VST3 folder is also growing, maybe I will do the same for it.

By the way I create the file links with a script, so that I easily can have the same plugin structure on my 3 PCs (works perfectly).

Edited October 29, 2022 by marled

[antler]

6 hours ago, Bapu said:

5000K

Wow... I'd hate to see how long it takes to start up Sound Forge with that plugin count

[antler]

15 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

In my case,I have easily more than three dozen paid detailed piano sample libraries and that's just the straight piano libraries, not including the freebies, prepared and bowed piano libraries. I'm a sucker for a beautiful or quirky sounding piano library. So I guess another question I'd have is, what type of instrument sample libraries do you tend to have the most of.

For me, it absolutely would be piano. The next instrument I have an outrageous amount of is drums. But my first instrument was piano (in terms of lessons) and my second instrument was drums (originally self taught before years of lessons). It used to be guitar libraries and VSTs -- I had every high end  developer's guitar libraries and plugins, but then I came across Orange Tree Samples guitar and bass libraries, later developed a relationship with the developer and those are basically it for me, beyond the NI Strum libraries that come with KOMPLETE which are brain dead, easy to use loop players that are super convenient when initially working on songs. I suppose the next highest amount of instrument libraries after that would be synths and strings.  

Pianos are tricky because they all have a slightly different feel to them. That combined with the space they take has led me to talking myself into just going with Pianoteq - modelled so it's small and light, and with various sound packs for different flavours.

As for libraries, I probably have most of bits and bobs best classified as 'orchestral'. I try to stay away from sampled synths - lots of space required compared to a synth plugin. Does it sound the same? Maybe, maybe not. Will anyone notice in a full mix? I'm guessing probably not.

[Billy86]

On 10/26/2022 at 7:40 PM, PavlovsCat said:

Yay! Thank you to whoever voted in the poll to make me feel like I'm not the worst plugin hoarder of all time!!!

Agreed! 😆 I thought my ridiculous number was high!

[Eusebio Rufian-Zilbermann]

On 10/28/2022 at 5:03 PM, PavlovsCat said:

My expectation is that -- unless a person is truly a plugin hoarder -- that they may purchase several plugins that serve the same function, but after trying each one, they eventually settle on one or two that provide them with what they feel is the best combination of results and workflow. 

I have a few plugins that I tend to use for my "baseline", typically all the self-adjusting or "AI" plugins (Sonible, Neutron, Ozone, etc) and I use them quite frequently, then there's always something specific that I want to achieve for specific tracks and a gazillion plugins that I try until I find a result that I like (e.g., let me try bassmint on this track... mmm, no, let me see if I find in CLA Bass the sound I'm looking for)

The plugin inventory tool lists 5515 plugins (linked in my signature) but many are duplicate plugin format. 2323 are 64bit VST2, which still include duplicates (multichannel/mono versions, 2out 4out 8out versions, etc). Many are freebies, many are from bundles. I do acknowledge the "collector mania"  but the raw number looks much worse than it actually is

[PavlovsCat]

38 minutes ago, Eusebio Rufian-Zilbermann said:

I have a few plugins that I tend to use for my "baseline", typically all the self-adjusting or "AI" plugins (Sonible, Neutron, Ozone, etc) and I use them quite frequently, then there's always something specific that I want to achieve for specific tracks and a gazillion plugins that I try until I find a result that I like (e.g., let me try bassmint on this track... mmm, no, let me see if I find in CLA Bass the sound I'm looking for)

The plugin inventory tool lists 5515 plugins (linked in my signature) but many are duplicate plugin format. 2323 are 64bit VST2, which still include duplicates (multichannel/mono versions, 2out 4out 8out versions, etc). Many are freebies, many are from bundles. I do acknowledge the "collector mania"  but the raw number looks much worse than it actually is

I think most of us have gone overboard with plugins and sample libraries-- me included. I  don't mean that in any harsh way. If folks can afford it and it makes them happy, I don't see too much harm. I'm in the forum for a few reasons, to find out about great deals (d'oh), but also to enjoy a little online interaction with my fellow music geeks. 

But I have reigned my buying habits in in the past year and I spend a lot more time researching and asking other DAW users questions, hence why you'll notice I have a lot of gratitude to a number of people in this forum who've shared their knowledge and advice and  I'm not spending as much. I'd be interested how others habits have changed over time and experience. 

Edited October 29, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[Tommy Byrnes]

When Gibson did the knife in the heart thing I moved briefly to Studio One before the CbB era. One of the things I missed most was the Plugin Manager in Cakewalk. I would be lost without its versatility. Here is how I have my plugins laid out. I have several custom menus, which I couldn't do in S1.
 

[PhonoBrainer]

Can we "stickie" this thread to the top of the Deals forum?

Like putting a step-on scale right in front of the refrigerator?

[JoeGBradford]

I'll be getting a new PC soon and intend to pare back a bit - I have over 1,000 according to Cakewalk though I assume that includes duplicates of 32bit, 64 bit and VST3. I'm just doing a back up of my VST installers folder now and there's 225gb in there though that includes samples for sample based instruments

I should add that the vast majority of these are free ones and others were bargains such as Total Studio Max for £125

Edited October 30, 2022 by JoeGBradford

[Menace]

On 10/28/2022 at 9:40 AM, locrian said:

Yes, good company indeed!

I also have Cubase Pro 12, but I can't find this list.

where can i see it?

[locrian]

8 hours ago, Onovoid said:

I also have Cubase Pro 12, but I can't find this list.

where can i see it?

Open the Plugin Manager and you'll see a "Plug-in Report" button near the bottom to *generate* a text-file.  The stats are not displayed; you have to generate them.

[Menace]

17 hours ago, locrian said:

Open the Plugin Manager and you'll see a "Plug-in Report" button near the bottom to *generate* a text-file.  The stats are not displayed; you have to generate them.

Thanks. I found it

In reality most plugins are luxuries rather than necessities to me. I didn't even use half

 

Edited November 1, 2022 by Onovoid
BlackList Fixed 9 > 0

[chris.r]

1 hour ago, Onovoid said:

In reality most plugins are luxuries rather than necessities to me. I didn't even use half

Nice try but... no excuses necessary! We welcome you in the OVER-1-K club with open hands

Edited October 31, 2022 by chris.r

[Greg]

this is fun  I definitely have dupes, but do try to remove VST2 when VST3 is installed.  Haven't gotten them all yet.

 

 

Product:                  Cubase Pro
Version:                  12.0.40
Build:                    317
Build Date:               Jul 20 2022

OS Version:               Windows 10.0.22621
Date/Time:                Mon Oct 31 22:25:08 2022

Total Plug-ins:           2236
Effect Plug-ins:          2078
Instrument Plug-ins:      158
VST3 Plug-ins:            1303
VST2 Plug-ins:            932
Other Plug-ins:           1
Blacklisted Plug-ins:     114
Reactivated Plug-ins:     0
 

[Billy86]

Wow. Seeing some of these numbers, I’m feeling a lot better about my (am I a hoarder?) plugin count!😂✌️

[Nick Blanc]

On 10/30/2022 at 7:19 PM, JoeGBradford said:

I'll be getting a new PC soon and intend to pare back a bit - I have over 1,000 according to Cakewalk though I assume that includes duplicates of 32bit, 64 bit and VST3. I'm just doing a back up of my VST installers folder now and there's 225gb in there though that includes samples for sample based instruments

I should add that the vast majority of these are free ones and others were bargains such as Total Studio Max for £125

I did that recently. The way I did it was a bit time-consuming, but at the end a good result. I have an Excel sheet with all my plugins and sample libraries. When I switched PC's, I added a couple of columns, like: How many licenses? Do I have to de-active on PC1 to make it work on PC 2? Where is the installer (harddisk or online), what activation method is used (online connection, license file, ilok, etc)? Does it have VST3, 2 or both? What category? (Dynamics / EQ / Distortion / Synths / etc).......-->Do I want to transfer this?!!

Get ready for a couple of days work (depending on how many plugins you have), but I have no duplicates (if it weren't for the NI and Softube installers, but they are easily deleted), just the stuff I wanted to keep, everything neatly organised, no activation questions.

[abacab]

I'm guessing that we all could get by with just 20 or 30 of our favorite plugins... 😉