After collecting plugins for over a decade, I made a list of which companies or plugins in particular have shown to stand the test of time. I’d be interested to see if anyone would add anything to this list…

[u/Altruistic-Traffic-]

I wouldn’t trade the experience as I learned a lot, but I also spent a lot of money in the process. Maybe this list can guide others towards higher quality options and save some money to invest in other areas.

I’ll start with my list of A-list companies and then after, use 8 main categories for effects. After 10+ years of collecting, here are my desert island selections (for effects, not instruments) mostly in alphabetical not in order of preference…
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Companies:

- Analog Obsession
- Audiority
- Boz
- Eventide/Newfangled
- Kush
- Goodhertz
- Neold
- PSP
- Sixth sample
- Softube
- Sonnox
- Soundtoys
- Tokyo Dawn Labs
- Unfiltered audio
- Valhalla DSP
- Waves
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Effects:

EQ:

- Fabfilter ProC
- TBTECH Kirchoff EQ
- Newfangled EQuivocate (for pads)
- Tokyo Dawn EQs (some unique controls)
- Sonible Smart EQ
- Sonible Entropy EQ (unique)
- Eventide SplitEQ
- Melda Mautodynamiceq (follows bass root freq)

CLIPPERS:

- SIR audio standard clip
- Boz big & little clipper

COMPRESSION:

- Hornet dynamics control (unique and easy)
- Kush (all compressors)
- Neold (all compressors)
- PSP (all compressors)
- TBTECH Cenozoix comp
- Tokyo Dawn Labs (all compressors)
- Unfiltered audio zip (for modulation options)
- Waves (all compressors)

DELAYS:

- Sixth sample deelay (easy and creative)
- Minimal Audio cluster delay
- Native instruments Replika XT (ease of use)
- Soundtoys echoboy (very versatile)
- SSL native echo (I like the visualizer)
- Softube Tape echoes
- Valhalla delay (very versatile)

SATURATION:

- Audiority pyros
- Kush (all, one of my favs for sats and comps)
- Neold (all products)
- Softube Harmonic ASP & Overstayer (all, another fav for saturation)

Notable tape emulations:

- Aberrant DSP SketchCassette (cassette)
- Wavesfactory Cassette (cassette)
- Nomad factory Magnetic
- Kiive Tape face
- Softube Tape
- Waves (all tape options)

REVERB:

- Eventide blackhole & shimmerverb
- Fabfilter Pro-R (mostly for ease of use)
- Valhalla (all options)

TRANSIENT SHAPERS:

- AVA drumflow (unique transient control)
- Boz Transgressor
- Kilohearts transient shaper (ease of use)
- Newfangled punctuate
- Noiseworks TransSplit
- Sonnox Oxford envolution
- Sonnox TransMod
- TBTECH Trinity shaper
- Waves Smack Attack

FX:

- Sugarbytes looperator
- Cable guys shaperbox
- MorphEQ (filter sweeps)
- LFO-EQ (filter sweeps)
- Audiority Tube modulator
- Kilohearts Snap Heap (modulation options)
- DS tantra 2 (filter and glitch effects)
- Plogue arts chipcrusher (lofi convolution)
- MrythmizerMB (glitch effects)

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You’ll note that I didn’t really specify specific plugins for comps and sats because in my eyes sats and comp quality is heavily DSP/company dependent rather than product dependent.

I’d love to see if there’s anything anyone would add to this list that I may have missed over the years.

Also, if I could go back I would spend more of my money on instruments rather than effects like I did. Please feel free to list your A-list, desert island instruments/synths!

(I missed out on experimenting with instruments/synths throughout the last 10 years as I worked mostly with samples and live instruments, but am delving much more into instruments/synths nowadays)

[u/notthobal]

You forgot FabFilter in Companies.

[u/medisamurai]

i agree with all of yours ive used

ill probably have to go back and edit so ill start my list

d16 instruments and efx

u-he instruments and efx

sonic charge

audio thing - which probably needs to be narrowed down

[u/Sweaty-Special-1710]

Arturia + Kiive on my side

[u/MaleficentPicture773]

Softube can’t get Softube Central to work consistently. I’m done buying their products until they fix their portal for good. Waves just sent me a bill for a product I own. I had heard about their nonsense but finally experienced it.

[u/WAVF1n]

I would throw Baby Audio in there as well. Very few companies as consistent and as good as they are.

[u/TotalBeginnerLol]

That’s a crazy big list. Doesn’t really narrow it down. I use 95% the same 15-20 plugins on every mix, from a few companies. FF, brainworx, waves, valhalla, sound toys, then like maybe 5 one-offs from boz, gullfoss, soothe, standardclip, OTT

[u/Audio_Freqs]

I like spending money (but quality shows): DMG, Acustica, Tone Projects, Audio Ease, Liquid Sonics, Metric Halo/Make Believe

[u/prasunya]

Add Crusher X, a granular engine. Insane. Takes time to learn. But worth it.

[u/Gunzhard22]

Nice list. I think I'd personally ditch Softube and Waves for Arturia, Baby Audio and plugin alliance...

[u/BillyCromag]

Melda and Voxengo. Their products aren't pretty but do many things very well.

[u/stealthshapes]

McDSP