Have we reached "peak plug-in"?

Steinberg Lounge
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Having recently been bombarded with advertising for plug-ins I either already have, or will never need, the thought struck me: have we reached “peak plug-in”? In other words, do we already have all the plugins we will ever need – or in fact, more plug-ins than is good for us?

Have you ever fallen for a “flash sale”, and upgraded a plug-in that you bought two years ago and never used?

Do you have plug-ins that you have no recollection of ever buying?

Have you clicked on a link in a marketing email, only to end up doom-scrolling pages of great-looking plug-ins you don’t need, and woken up five hours later with the dog licking your face?

Have you had enough of upgrades that bring nothing new to your sound, but instead cause problems with graphics, CPU usage, and require you to turn your carefully-tuned DAW computer into a water-cooled gaming rig that glitches like it was the 90s again?

Finally, we now have “AI” everything, promising to do everything you used to actually enjoy doing yourself, except better, quicker, and for a small (recurring, annual) fee.

Am I the only one that has noticed a flood of apparent offers on what used to be insanely expensive software?

I ask, therefore, whether we have seen the peak of the plug-in software market?

Are the smart ones getting out while the going is still good?

Have we reached peak plug-in? :thinking:

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Ages ago.

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It has reached that point for me, no doubt.

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To the point that now it makes harm from now on , it has nothing to do with music anymore .

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It is time for everyone to de-hoard with plugins. You have more than enough built into Cubase. Only keep what you use and STOP BUYING them!!!

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You also have to calculate and economize the time expenditure that you spend on these useless technologies thinking that they will help you create that masterpiece and actually they take off your course…
They work as a veil of confusion that hides music behind it in the most UN-suspicious ways …
it takes maturity and professionalism to distinguish them …

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Great topic, since I resolved not to buy anymore plugins this year…and then bought two…argh. I’ve amassed over two hundred through the last 20 years. shanabit makes a good point, especially with the new plug-ins in their latest version; seriously upped their game.
But my focus in the last two plugins has been the use of AI. They really do speed up your workflow, but…they do not do your work for you; nothing but ears can do that. So don’t buy AI stuff if you think it’s going to do that.
So, Mr soundman is 99% correct, but technology is always moving forward. I was surprised when I found two plugins that did something none of my other plugins did. So you might not stop, but you can slow way down. (my two were Gullfoss and Smart EQ4)

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In some areas I would like to see a return away from plugins to analog. For instance with guitars I think the amp sims have become to easy, it is becoming less common to hear production with real pedals, real preamps etc. I can understand the difficulty with traditional guitar mic’ing, but it is so easy to use nice preamps and pedals, you just plugin them into the same DI/line you already using.

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I think so. I have more than I need at this point to create productions that I am very happy with.

Even with libraries, I think I am pretty much there, with just minor upgrades here and there.

It can’t be a good place to be if you are a plugin seller/developer.

It’s not exactly a massive market…

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I got izotope’s mastering with AI, complete garbage results.

I am using it, but I have the advanced version so I only use the modules I need, which are actually fantastic. But the AI function as a mastering tool created terrible results.

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Anyone would think there are no new users, no “fresh meat” for the plugin grinder.
Many are just beginning their journey into plugin hell, unlike so many here who seem to be at the end of it.

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