Who else is enjoying thinning-out their music software?

nightjar · 2023-09-30T16:11:35+00:00

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nightjar

A picture of several VST plugins on top of Ableton Live.

I have recently begun a rather extensive "thinning out" of my music software and it FEELS GREAT!

None of this purge is because of lack of storage space.. I have plenty of that

I had far too many choices of plugins, presets and ponderous possibilities.

Gone are DAWS I had installed out of curiosity...

Gone are redundant effects plugins that are pointless variations of the same thing...

Gone are ancient VI's from a different era of look/feel and limited capabilities...

Gone are "music construction apps" that are limited in scope and capabilities...

I am putting a huge premium on anything that is deeply embracing NKS2.

I care little for legacy when it comes to music making tools.

But this is just my approach..

Anyone else enjoying a purge?

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Comments

Renton McGregor

Be judicious in research and careful in investment, avoid try-before-you-buy demo accumulation, and you'll be clean as a whistle and rarely need to purge.

cmm

I just spent more time reading this thread than it took to decide which LA2A to use.

nightjar

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/103908#Comment_103908

Ha... and that's kind of the point...

GreatCthulhu

Yes sir. Much of that is due to my converting to a largely analog/500 series setup. I was able to score Neve pre, Pultec, etc.

but even before then I was thinning the herd. I just knew what I liked. A lot of UAD stuff. Eventide and NI for reverbs and crazy sounds. NI and Strezov for VIs. Really had to be something impossible to find anywhere else before I’d buy. (FWIW, I do doom metal stuff so I doubt my needs are excessive as most other posters. It’s all variations in a basic sort of sound, and I know what works for me.)

(this means of course I’m not using any Non-NI plugin that came in membership downloads. And I’ve never been able to wrap my head around ozone, etc.)

Tom Vogel

My "Daws take ages to load and I spent Mucho Dinero so they "would do that all the time" Reason and Bitwig just hate how many plugins I have. Can't turn off Reason scan so yeah kinda silly. My lesson was that some companies use wrappers so you can't just delete VST and keep VST3 it will break. Korg, Rob Papen, Tone2 to name a few. Waves suck and pissed me off bad so at least I canned those ones easily. Ujam is next. To much hoacky pokey with those. It too me 6 years to learn that OS 10.13 just can't last forever. Shucks. Jester cracked me up. Unfortunate how much space a whole bunch of NKS files actually take up or I would have supported Freelance Soundlabs a bunch with NKS stuff

Syncopator

It's interesting that NI sent out an email, highlighting this discussion about "thinning out" music software—yet, there's *no way* to uninstall them from Native Access (or even to just hide them), which is something some of us have been asking for for YEARS.

If you delete a library from your drive, Native Access will display those yellow-orange alerts, indicating that something is wrong. And there's NO way to tell it, "I've deleted this library intentionally. I don't want it anymore. Stop showing me alerts. Stop showing me this library, all together."

Instead of building an uninstallation feature into Native Access, we're expected to dig through no less than thirteen folders (on a Mac) and manually search for related files for manual deletion: https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/210291865-How-to-Uninstall-Native-Instruments-Software-from-a-Mac-Computer

Is this really the best you can do, Native Instruments? Does this very discussion reveal no irony to you?

nightjar

Actually NI has been adding an uninstall feature to Native Access for some products recently .. and more to come.

And a Show/Hide feature is in serious discussion for NA as well.

Uwe303

Hello,

this is a great advice for beginners to pros I would say. Even if you don't throw away stuff you can uninstall or put it away and see what's happening. Challenge yourself by making a project with 8 tracks and try to make a song can also be fun. But in terms of vsts I only use my native bundle and some few other vsts, I've uninstalled a huge amount some years ago and don't miss it.

nightjar

What will be nice when I'm done thinning out all my music/audio software is that I can get all plug-ins/VI up to date with only a few company "product managers".

All I might need to visit for all plugin/VI "maintenance":

1) Native Access (for everything NI & iZotope & 3rd Party Kontakt Stuff hosted in NA)

2) Toontrack Product Manager (for Superior Drummer stuff)

3) IK Product Manager (For MODO Bass)

4) Celemony (for Melodyne Studio)

That's it! Only 4 places! That will be awesome & far easier than it used to be for me.

Only 2 places for DAW maintenance ... Apple for Logic Pro, PreSonus for StudioOne

Only 2 places for Interface stuff .. SSL and Audient

Less is more!

inmazevo

I'd stopped using software for music as of about 8 months ago except for on-the-road with the laptop.

The software wasn't the problem, really (though I do have too much of it). The hundreds to thousands of presets leading to option-paralysis was. Well, that and managing OS security updates alongside dozens of plugin updates per month and their license managers and incompatibilities that comes from sharing a music machine with an internet-enabled, general purpose machine.

I came back to the computer a few days ago with a strong willingness to 'purge,' unused or 'maybe-one-day' bits, as well as things I find under-supported. I'm keeping all the licenses for now, just in case I decide down the road to come back to anything.

Live is gone since I just didn't use it much in 15 years. Only Kontakt and Battery are still around from NI, and only on the Intel machine (tbd on whether those stay or I migrate off of them). No more A.I.R. stuff, or Izotope stuff but Ozone. No more Waves. Anything IK that can't live in SampleTank is gone (but I LOVE Mixbox). An unbelievable amount of sound packs and sample libraries are gone. Anything with annoying/intrusive license protection is gone, with the exception of SoundToys and the iLock requirement for using it on two machines, which I might stop doing.

It's lovely. Not enough to bring me back into the 'in-the-box' world on new projects, but definitely more usable.

TheLowEndTheory

Less is more.

Simon A. Billington

Bought a new Mac. Instead of migrating I manually copied over my projects and a few other files, everything else was installed from scratch.

I put some thought into what I was going to install. Largely it was the key applications like Logic and RX. I gave the plugins some thought and installed the main ones I most commonly use, also knowing that if I needed any of the other ones they were just a download away.

I like to keep my system as lean as I can, while still having some diversity.

Vocalpoint

Great thread.

I am about to enbark on this for 2024 but I am taking it even further than just what is installed on the DAW.

This week - I started a huge Unsubscribe process - by targeting all the minor plugin/instrument players I have in my collection and getting them off the "promo" list - the emails have become a headache that I do not need - so one by one - they are being benched.

After the vendors are ID'd - I will start the cleanup process and archive all the software I do not want installed and stash it for a rainy day.

The logic is brilliant - how many EQ plugins or synths does a guy need anyway?

I still maintain that I had more fun and made better music when I used my trusty 4 track Tascam Portastudio back in the 80's with NO plugins, no extras and most importantly - no tracks to spare.

Assemble a standard toolbox - then use it and learn it. Leave the rest behind.

Milos

I had Studio One, Magix, LMMS and Cakewalk.

I removed all of them except for Cakewalk.

I am glad I made that decision.

UnderwaterSunlight

When I may finally update from Mojave to Monterey, this means one DAW less because of incompatibility (the older "Reaper 4"), But well, my other 3 DAWs (Cubase, Live and Logic) are still Monterey compatible. So nothing major changing here.

Good that I have not accumulated heaps of plugins except those Reaktor modules called Ensembles. I have hundreds of Ensembles from the Reaktor user lib, which by the way are all excellent in their own right. Some are instruments, some audio FX, others again process only MIDI data.

Probably going to create some fine tracks with what is available. I like having an abundance of options at hand.

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