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Sticking on to a few developers / Choosing the best out of multiple developers?

S R Krishnan

Active Member
Hi. Lately I've been buying and trying out a lot of plugins from different developers. But I find that process entirely brain draining after a point of time as things keep coming to the market every single day. Now I've concluded to stick on to a few developers whose plugins suite my taste(List below) and sold the rest of them. I just want to travel with these developers for some time.

How do you guys streamline your workflow and plugin purchases? How often do you invest and how do you frame your decision making on the purchases? Would love to hear your thoughts!

List of developers I'm sticking on to:

2C Audio
Acustica Audio
Boz Digital labs
Eventide
Fabfilter
iZotope
Kazrog
Kilohearts
Klanghelm
McDSP
Plugin Alliance
PSP Audioware
Relab Development
Soundtheory
Valhalla DSP
Waves
 
I don't care about plug-in developers. I care about individual plugins and what they do.

One of my favorite features of Cubase is it allows me to categorize my plugins. This is such a time-saver it is one of the main reasons I stopped using Pro Tools.

So I have all of my plugins grouped by what they do. I have a distortion category, reverb category, delays, EQs, etc.

I have several categories just for different types of compression. Fet, VCA, Optical, bus compressors etc.

This categorization system allows one to think in terms of collections of things. Like I have a collection of stompbox distortion plugins. I have a collection of 1176 plugins.

In terms of workflow, I can't overemphasize how fast and efficient this system is. If I need a particular type of plug-in, say, a tape saturation plug-in, I navigate to that category and find it quickly.

This system also makes me think of plugins and new plug-in purchases differently. Now when I see a new plug-in, I think of it in terms of my collection. Do I need a new convolution Reverb? No. But my collection of spring reverb plugins is seriously lacking.

So in terms of developers, I can't imagine depriving my precious little plug-in collection based on who wrote the plug-in. Arturia, for example, is a newcomer in terms of effects plugins and I probably would have skip them over. But they've recently released some plugins that I wanted for my collection. So I bought them. And man am I glad I did. Their 1176 emulator is the best.

It is true, of course, that some developers are better than others. But you'll never know when some obscure developer will release something that's really cool that you need for your collection.
 
I don't care about plug-in developers. I care about individual plugins and what they do.

One of my favorite features of Cubase is it allows me to categorize my plugins. This is such a time-saver it is one of the main reasons I stopped using Pro Tools.

So I have all of my plugins grouped by what they do. I have a distortion category, reverb category, delays, EQs, etc.

I have several categories just for different types of compression. Fet, VCA, Optical, bus compressors etc.

This categorization system allows one to think in terms of collections of things. Like I have a collection of stompbox distortion plugins. I have a collection of 1176 plugins.

In terms of workflow, I can't overemphasize how fast and efficient this system is. If I need a particular type of plug-in, say, a tape saturation plug-in, I navigate to that category and find it quickly.

This system also makes me think of plugins and new plug-in purchases differently. Now when I see a new plug-in, I think of it in terms of my collection. Do I need a new convolution Reverb? No. But my collection of spring reverb plugins is seriously lacking.

So in terms of developers, I can't imagine depriving my precious little plug-in collection based on who wrote the plug-in. Arturia, for example, is a newcomer in terms of effects plugins and I probably would have skip them over. But they've recently released some plugins that I wanted for my collection. So I bought them. And man am I glad I did. Their 1176 emulator is the best.

It is true, of course, that some developers are better than others. But you'll never know when some obscure developer will release something that's really cool that you need for your collection.
Interesting perspective and I do agree with you! I've done this classification in case of instruments as Synths, Drum Machines, Sample Players, Virtual Instuments and it helped me get over the collection attitude in that. Hopefully it works in fx plugins too
 
Yeah, it's been a real lifesaver for me. I have over sixty different categories of plugins, many of which are grouped into subcategories.

I mentioned my compressor categories, but I have the same type thing for EQ, reverbs, modulation effects.

It's fun.
 
Yeah, it's been a real lifesaver for me. I have over sixty different categories of plugins, many of which are grouped into subcategories.

I mentioned my compressor categories, but I have the same type thing for EQ, reverbs, modulation effects.

It's fun.
May I know the categories?
 
Man, that is a lot of typing. Quickly it looks something like this (not at my DAW) so incomplete

  • 2 Buss - this has all my favorite things to put on the master bus regardless of category
  • Compressors >Optical, Tube, FET, VCA, Multiband and Bus. Forgetting others...
  • Reverbs >Spring, Hall, Rooms, Convolution,I forget others...
  • EQs >Console sims, Passive, Dynamic, Saturation EQs, etc...
  • Distortion >Tape emus, Tube, Clippers, etc...
  • Delay
  • Gates
  • Vinyl Emus
  • Bass - this is for bass instruments fx. I have a separate category for low end enhancement.
  • Console channel emus
  • Choir effects
  • De-harshness - Things like MannyM and De-edger.
  • De-essers
  • Drum fx
  • Exciters
  • Guitar FX
  • Guitar Amps
  • Harmonizers
  • Pitch correction
  • Multiband FX - Small collection of FX that allow you to add fx or insert plugins on specific bands. My precious.
  • Leslies
  • Mic modellers - sadly, almost empty.
  • Modulation >Chorus, Flange, Phaser etc...
  • Stereo imaging >3D, M-S, Panners, Wideners etc...
  • Reverse fx
  • Gainriders
  • Restoration
  • Speaker Sims
  • Special FX - this includes lots of groovy plugs that do freaky things
  • Transients
  • Tremolo - Should be a sub of Modulation but I use it so often...
  • Vocal FX - plugs dedicated to vocals - rarely use it.
  • Filters >This has a few subs but can't recall...
  • Tools - this has a lot of subs from metering to loudness, tone generators.
  • Oh yeah. Mojo. My favorite. This is a bunch of stuff that trashes stuff.
 
Man, that is a lot of typing. Quickly it looks something like this (not at my DAW) so incomplete

  • 2 Buss - this has all my favorite things to put on the master bus regardless of category
  • Compressors >Optical, Tube, FET, VCA, Multiband and Bus. Forgetting others...
  • Reverbs >Spring, Hall, Rooms, Convolution,I forget others...
  • EQs >Console sims, Passive, Dynamic, Saturation EQs, etc...
  • Distortion >Tape emus, Tube, Clippers, etc...
  • Delay
  • Gates
  • Vinyl Emus
  • Bass - this is for bass instruments fx. I have a separate category for low end enhancement.
  • Console channel emus
  • Choir effects
  • De-harshness - Things like MannyM and De-edger.
  • De-essers
  • Drum fx
  • Exciters
  • Guitar FX
  • Guitar Amps
  • Harmonizers
  • Pitch correction
  • Multiband FX - Small collection of FX that allow you to add fx or insert plugins on specific bands. My precious.
  • Leslies
  • Mic modellers - sadly, almost empty.
  • Modulation >Chorus, Flange, Phaser etc...
  • Stereo imaging >3D, M-S, Panners, Wideners etc...
  • Reverse fx
  • Gainriders
  • Restoration
  • Speaker Sims
  • Special FX - this includes lots of groovy plugs that do freaky things
  • Transients
  • Tremolo - Should be a sub of Modulation but I use it so often...
  • Vocal FX - plugs dedicated to vocals - rarely use it.
  • Filters >This has a few subs but can't recall...
  • Tools - this has a lot of subs from metering to loudness, tone generators.
  • Oh yeah. Mojo. My favorite. This is a bunch of stuff that trashes stuff.
Amazing!
 
I categorize mine at a higher level and try to limit how many i have in each to 5 - 10. Something like

Synths
Drums
EQ
Compressors Limiters
Saturation Distortion
Reverb
Delay
Other
Just Tools

If I had tons more plugins, which I'm trying to avoid, I'd have to break things up more. But there can also be diminishing returns to having too many categories, but better to error on the side of lots of categories (easier to find things amongst lots of shallow categories than a few deep ones). So says my psych degrees.
 
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