Plugin Addiction

As of writing this, I have 1,992 plugins installed on my system.

When I think about that number, I realize it’s about 1,982 more than I actually need.

And honestly? That was after cleaning house.

Thank goodness for Help Me Devon’s Bypass. It scanned my drive and showed me the carnage. For years — in my glorious inexperience — I installed every format that came with a plugin. VST2. VST3. AAX. CLAP. If it was in the folder, it went on the drive.

Over time, that turns into digital hoarding.

Deleting duplicate formats alone freed up a shocking amount of space. But then came the real question:

What plugins can I actually delete?

That’s where it got uncomfortable.

I’ve always been a sucker for a free plugin. (Shoutout to Bedroom Producer Blog — you are both hero and villain in my story.) Fifteen years of “messing around with this stuff” adds up.

The reality?

I consistently use maybe 10 plugins when I’m mixing.

Ten.

And that’s after subscribing to nearly every major ecosystem for a year — Waves, Plugin Alliance, Slate, SSL, Harrison, Baby Audio, Kush, Landr, Eventide, Black Salt Audio. I went full buffet mode. After a year, I trimmed it down to the few that actually made sense for my workflow and budget.

More on that journey another time.

Here’s the hard truth:

I don’t need 90% of what’s on my system to do my job well.

But I like having it.

When I’m making beats or mangling sound design, I love throwing the kitchen sink at a track. I love weird tools. I love options. It felt like one of those hoarding shows where someone refuses to throw away literal trash because “it might be useful one day.”

At some point though, you have to ask:

• How many compressors do I actually need?

• Do I really need seven Pultec emulations?

• Is this new plugin truly different… or just the same thing with a shinier GUI and a “now with mid/side” badge slapped on it?

The plugin industry is brilliant. They repackage the same core ideas, adjust the interface, add one modern feature — and we pull out the credit card.

Black Friday? I dropped about $1,000.

To be fair, half of that went to FabFilter — Pro-Q 3 (now 4), Pro-C 2, Pro-L 2, Saturn 2 — and those are legitimately top-tier tools. No regrets there.

But the rest?

Impulse buys. Dopamine purchases.

So this begs the question:

What do you actually need?

If we strip it down, most mixing tools fall into categories:

• Preamps

• EQ

• Compressors

• Channel Strips

• Spatial Effects

• Analysis

• Instruments

• Utility

How many of each do you truly rely on?

Could you delete one plugin for every “favorite” you name?

Could that random “Daw Junkie Mega Saturator 9000” quietly hit the recycle bin tonight?

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Limiting options fuels creativity.

When you stop auditioning 42 delays and just commit to one, you work faster. You decide more confidently. You develop taste instead of endlessly comparing presets.

Maybe the real flex isn’t owning 1,992 plugins.

Maybe it’s knowing exactly which 12 you’d keep if your drive crashed tomorrow.

Let me know in the comments about your plugin addiction. This is a safe place.

I’ll hold your hand while you delete that 42nd delay plugin you’ve opened once.

Cheers,

Cory