I've spent over $10000 on Plugins, here's why you shouldn't
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- Опубликовано: 7 май 2024
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In this video, I show you how much money I've spent on plugins and give you tips and insights on how to make wise choices when investing in audio plugins without breaking the bank. Learn from my experience on how to save money while enhancing your audio production.
Music I Mixed & Mastered:
bit.ly/mendelaudio
Mix/Master inquiries:
www.mendelaudio.com or
mendel@mendelaudio.com
🗣️ Join my Discord - / discord
🔴 Studio Gear
💻 Mac Studio amzn.to/3OVuLo9
🖥️ Monitor amzn.to/3YVOM2H
Apollo x8
sweetwater.sjv.io/Qy4Zz6
thmn.to/thoprod/446926?partne...
Apollo x4
sweetwater.sjv.io/Py4JYR
thmn.to/thoprod/508053?partne...
🚥 Ledstrips amzn.to/44s4mnQ
iPad amzn.to/3qO9GnE
🎹 Keyboards
StudioLogic SL-88 Studio
sweetwater.sjv.io/ZQBn4z
thmn.to/thoprod/382374?partne...
⚡️Power Conditioner
Black Lion PG-1
sweetwater.sjv.io/6eo3qm
thmn.to/thoprod/557852?partne...
🎻Virtual Instruments
Cremona Quartet tinyurl.com/Cremonaquartet
Noire Piano tinyurl.com/pianonoire
Kontakt 7 tinyurl.com/kontakt7m
Komplete Collector's Edition tinyurl.com/kompletenative
Action Strings 2 tinyurl.com/actionstrings2
🎸 Guitar Gear
Epiphone Les Paul
sweetwater.sjv.io/1rRnKa
thmn.to/thoprod/538644?partne...
Guitar Strings
sweetwater.sjv.io/Nk41vv
thmn.to/thoprod/152175?partne...
🧲 Pickups
Fishman Ryan Bruce
sweetwater.sjv.io/R5bRMg
thmn.to/thoprod/550711?partne...
Fishman Devin Townsend
sweetwater.sjv.io/oq0mBE
thmn.to/thoprod/458835?partne...
Guitar Rack
sweetwater.sjv.io/3eyAzB
thmn.to/thoprod/395782?partne...
Guitar Cables
sweetwater.sjv.io/6enWQG
Overdrive Pedal
sweetwater.sjv.io/QyAPv3
thmn.to/thoprod/152419?partne...
Tonex Pedal
sweetwater.sjv.io/ZQLbvk
thmn.to/thoprod/560560?partne...
ToneX Metal Pack tinyurl.com/mendeltonexmetalpack
Kemper Pack tinyurl.com/Kemperpack
IR Pack Vol. 1tinyurl.com/mendelirpack
Amps
Quad Cortex
sweetwater.sjv.io/k0ZDP3
thmn.to/thoprod/486992?partne...
Kemper Profiler
sweetwater.sjv.io/jrZxjv
thmn.to/thoprod/304818?partne...
EVH 5150 III
sweetwater.sjv.io/MmyGkM
thmn.to/thoprod/276675?partne...
EVH 5150 IIIS 6L6
sweetwater.sjv.io/WqRW9J
thmn.to/thoprod/502622?partne...
EVH 5150 IIIS EL34
sweetwater.sjv.io/EKJrxW
thmn.to/thoprod/396465?partne...
Synergy Uberschall
sweetwater.sjv.io/R5ZP3N
thmn.to/thoprod/488032?partne...
Synergy SYN-1
sweetwater.sjv.io/QyOkyz
thmn.to/thoprod/427956?partne...
Reamp Box
sweetwater.sjv.io/WqAXL3
thmn.to/thoprod/553148?partne...
Guitar Picks
sweetwater.sjv.io/AWn0DR
thmn.to/thoprod/297326?partne...
🎤 Microphones
Slate ML-1
sweetwater.sjv.io/Qy4Z0a
thmn.to/thoprod/479694?partne...
SE 8
sweetwater.sjv.io/GmGPo2
thmn.to/thoprod/428493?partne...
Gemini II
sweetwater.sjv.io/Jz4eov
thmn.to/thoprod/444394?partne...
🔊 Speakers
sweetwater.sjv.io/iloudprecis...
thmn.to/thoprod/550340?partne...
Drum Presets
SD3 Preset Pack tinyurl.com/sd3preset
💾 Storage
OWC Envoy Express amzn.to/3qT0Nt5
OWC Accelsior 4M2 amzn.to/3qNzAba
OWC SSD amzn.to/3OS9KuH
OWC Docks amzn.to/3R550o2
OWC Cables amzn.to/3qNzX5y
🎥 Filming Gear
Sony a6400 amzn.to/3Ed8LAi
RODE Lav Mic amzn.to/47Q73T2
Tripod amzn.to/3qImigj
Sigma Lens amzn.to/47TIGEb
Lights amzn.to/466JmEz
SDCards amzn.to/3EhvCuI
Pen tablet amzn.to/3qRFdFu
Software and Plugins
BSA Low Control blacksaltaudio.sjv.io/ann32R
BSA Clipper blacksaltaudio.sjv.io/m5Z90O
Fabfilter sweetwater.sjv.io/m5Z9Jq
Waves Horizon waves.alzt.net/xVNQd
SSL EV2 waves.alzt.net/oekDke
SSL Coll waves.alzt.net/b4mqx
CLA Epic waves.alzt.net/94374
Ozone Standard tinyurl.com/ozonestndrd
📖 My Tab book PDF: mendelian.bigcartel.com/
👕Merch: tinyurl.com/y2d9k3ub
00:00 Intro
01:52 How much?
04:49 Tip #1
05:30 Tip #2
07:11 Tip #3
08:35 Final Thoughts
#gear #audio #plugins
Solid 5/5 content, Mendel. But the ending? 6/5!
Please share this video with someone who buys too many plugins 💵. I even found more order confirmations so I’m past $10500 🤦🏾! How much do you think you’ve spent on plugins? Let me know!
I really feel like we miss the point and get wrapped up in buying plugins. I have went through so many amp sims before realizing the best amp is a real amp whether into your daw with a captor or mic'd up. Nothing better than the real thing. IMO. I've spent thousands. Not 10k but definitely 1k or more.
@@DanSchultz84I disagree on the real amp part but agree on the regarding going through so many and missing the point. I personally believe we’re at a point that it doesn’t matter how much % its differs from the real thing. It’s definitely good enough to be creative.
I am not a professional or anything, but for me I noticed the more gear and plugins I had, the LESS creative I was with my writing.
Very good video Mendel! And so true... I was an absolute hoarder, for years! I NEEDED to update and upgrade, because "once in a lifetimes opportunities" here! Nowadays I don't even look a the freebies anymore. It's all clutter. So each year I spend less and less (drastically). I am concerned tho with how plugin manufacturers will deal with this. There's a shift happening. Became very apparent with Waves last year and now UA are selling stuff low priced and even giving away free plugins! There's something happening for sure...
You got a good deal on that Soothe, though 🤣. On more serious note, more vids like this are needed for sure, great job as always!
the irony of "oh plugins are cheaper than hardware or axe fx" and then you buy 3 times worth of axe fx 3 :D
Or you don't and use things like neuralamp, countless fx chain options.
I always try to ask myself "Do I want this or do I need this?" when thinking of buying new gear of any kind, and it has helped me a lot through the years lol
8:48 ahahahahahahah niiiice
That ending 🤣🤣🤣
True man, the most plugins I bought when I had no idea about mixing , I thought I need everything to make good mixes, well my mixes are still not on a pro level but the more I learned about mixes the more I realized I didn't need even the half of it .. thankfully I didn't spend so much money but I could have save at least the half I ve spend
At the beginning I've search every free plugins and VST that could suits my needs. Only then I've seek and listed everything that was missing. Since I'm afraid to be lost between too much options I choose only 1 or 2 effect or VST to mix with. After that I seek wich price is the lowest for each and buy it on the right time. For example I bought 2 amp sims for guitar and only 1 for bass. At the moment I've spent only 75€ total and I don't plan to spend more than 150€ again or even less. That way I'm sure I won't waste too much and that I will use it.
Didn't see the Toontrack stuff I've seen you using quite a lot... anyway, this is a real concern we all struggle really. I've spent way more than that during the last years, even if most of the plugins are barely used, I have them available just in case I need it. It's dependant on the work you do, in my case a lot of production and post-production in the music, videogame, TV, film, adverts industries, so I think I have to invest in all those digital tools... because I don't know exactly when I would need to use an specific one for an specific job it might come... or I'm wrong? In any case your video opens a pertinent debate and I can agree more with your statements! Great advice man!!
mendel do you know anyone who worked on the new suffocation album? could you find out how they tracked and treated guitars ?
I asked myself the same question a few years ago. I think I now have everything I need and want for writing and mixing demos. I think my most expensive plugin is Superior Drummer 3, did I need it? Probably not. GGD Invasion was ok and would have done the job, but the sound was very raw and Kontakt plus the mixing was so resource hungry that it wasn't fun to write songs anymore. SD3 was just plug and play with great sounding premixed presets and way less dependen on my hardware at the time. Btw your IR pack was the last one I bought, since then CAB 3 is my default on my rhythm tone in plugins and my quad cortex.
I got AIR strike 2, drumsynth, and some exotic drums for $15. It might not be the best out of the box, but it's actually pretty good and I'll not need any other drum plugins and such. Since there are also generative sampling methods and I've got a trillion samples already.
Amen!
Stopped using coke & amphetamine so i need to put the extra money somewhere that gives me a good buzz-> guitar amp sims that I'll use for about 2 weeks and move on 🤷♀
I did even today: Celemony Melodyne 5 upgrade from Editor to Studio for 99 Euro! By the way: better don't make such a spreadsheet about gear bought throughout the years!
I fell into this trap to, i've been 'clean' since 2020 :)
Ha! Great choice of words 👌🏾🔥
The SSL Buss+ I would not get rid of. It cost alot and was worth every single penny. My four Ibanez Pia's, yes I said four [ stallion white, Envy green, Sundew Gold, Black ] Ive played a ESP KHII for over 30 years. When I played the Pia, I could not get over it. I have zero regret on owning all of them, I would do it all over again. Superior Drummer 3 I can't do without. And a little to many to list here plugins that I always use. But the above mentioned, I do it over again easily.
Cheers. Dig your music btw. But yeah, plugins (commercial especially) are a pit. The saturation also wastes an enormous amount time coz it's basically 700 million clone things of like...I don't even...
I got Reaper, AIR Strike 2, AIR structure 2, AIR Transfuser 2 for $90. There's a "special that only lasts 3 days" every 2 days. It's like "Yeah as if I'm gonna buy yet another 3 knob vague emulation of something vague AF for $250 which is now on its "one time only" $35 price"...No, I'm not gonna buy that even at that price.
Great video. A reality check for us all. I don't think I'm brave enough to do this exercise 😂
i look at it as an investment, like i can keep them forever. I'm a music major and I plan on making plugin videos sometime soon cuz I have so many
Yeah, but some of those things you can't keep on using forever (subscriptions if they apply, OS/compatability changes, suitability, life). I mean it's always nice to invest in some solid fundamentals that you will and do actually use often. But what ends up happening most of the time is that stuff's utility wanes. Software doesn't appreciate in value, just saying.
I felt into the same pit with guitars - at one hand each of them gave me some sort of exclusive inspiration but at the other few of them are collecting dust for a longer time now. When it comes to financial reasoning it looks like I spent like 1,5k€ for an inspiration for a video which hit like 10k views. Was it worth it.....
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yes, why ? :D:D
Oh. Would you mind if I ask you about a buying tip? I mean I saw you using Wedge force Matcha, and some of it sounded okay. Something about the sampling was a fair bit off to me at least. I haven't actually tried it, and I'm on a serious budget and need some fake guitar. I've demoed Ample Hellrazer and that thing is...nice, considering. But I can't afford Hellrazer, and Matcha is at $30 currently, would you recommend it?
Demo it and check if you gonna use it!
@@Mendelian
Cheers, thanks for the reply. I mean of course I'd check.
Ironically I was hoping for an outright recommendation, tbh, considering that I'm guessing you have a lot more experience regarding that stuff. My options in that are very limited for that sort of price from what I can see, like a nice DI guitar virtual instrument. And I mean, if it's the best there is uh...well I'd probably have to get it coz.
@@Mendelian
I'm posting this for others' info. So I tried Matcha, it's okay (annoying key properties though, clearly hear it's synth), it's functional, if you don't play guitar...yeah it's potentially useful, But if you are good at using a good synth, sampling, you can probably beat that. I got a framus western soundfont....
@@Mendelian
Dude, I don't really mean to bother you, but you got some nice sharp sort of djenty tones out of Matcha. Now, I have no idea about the typical setups, or what you used to get to that. But they literally have no information about setting up Matcha. I got sweet chuggy, doom/black/sludge tones out of it, otherwise not so much (mind you, I only tried to demo/free amp things). Point is, you're a guitar expert as such (imo), coz I mean, I have a stratocaster that my wrist just doesn't allow. So my first problem with the Matcha is it needs more Telecaster. But also, I have no idea what sort fx chain you use and they don't give you a goddamned clue. Imagine you're 13 years old and you're like "fck ye, nintendo deathcore, I buy that" and those bastards don't even tell you how to get a nice basic tone....
As like a community thing (coz I'm a hypocrite), I actually bought Matcha (shame on me), it sucks. Really, if you have not been able to tune a 20mb framus western acoustic guitar for techno and black and prog and other metal. Why should I even say anything? No really, I could only use like 4 notes. So yeah, I want to save 13 year old nintendo djent fans from putting up with bs.
Please give us a basic idea of how to make Matcha not sound like ass (the reviews suggest it sounds like ass, but I know I can make it sound not like ass).
***Additional Info (in case you are looking for a DI guitar sort of option):
1. Wedge force Matcha is crap. It's worth about $20 (realistically I'd say about $10) maybe if you are desperate and have nothing better. I'd highly recommend *NOT* getting Matcha (as an owner of it).
2. If you have and can use Kontakt instruments, you shouldn't have too many issues finding something suitable (in my case, Kontakt is forbidden).
3. If you do not have *any* money, you will do better using some combinations of the numerous free *GOOD* bass and other guitar samplesets or VIs. Of note is the Unreal Instruments Metal-GTX, which should do a fine job considering it's free.
4. If you have some money and need a VST instead of Kontakt instrument, recently I saw Musiclab Realeight for $70, it's really good compared to the ass that is Matcha, otherwise, there are the Ample and other options. AVOID Plugin Alliance guitars (imo) unless they are like 90% off.
Me too... Ugh. I decided to get a Kemper in place of all the plugins.
Well, now I just buy profiles, instead 😂
thank god for Reaper, Reapack and js-plugins and scripts.
beautiful documentation btw
Well there's much more than just that for free, depending on what you do...
I dunno how people can live without proper sonogram/spectral editors and such. Honestly, if i see a big image with a monochromatic squiggly line used to "analyze" or EQ the sound I'm not interested in that discussion. I simply cannot understand why people still look at those things so often.
*Excuse my initial typing.
Shame on me also.... especially for not at least taking a trial first!!
I get so confident that it will be adding value to my workflow that I'm almost always buying directly (the hype you said is real.)
In the end I would say I'm using mayyybe 30-40% of the plugins that I have for real haha.
Anyway, good topic that's for sure!
subscription model plugins are a scam. we shouldn't encourage that.
wise words, but this is how the economy works... less is more and focus on music not the tools around. Btw cool content dude! Keep on rocking! 🤘🤘🤘
I did the same with Sonibile inteligent EQ.Free version.And I know that this plugin kills energy in my metal and make it soft.Too inteligent for metal for sure.
for those that have bought and tried all the available amp sims .. what are your top 3 amp sims ?
Free one NeuralAmpModeler is closest to the real amp. Then ToneX and then either Tonehub or NeuralDSP.
@@Mendelian do you have any captures/profiles for neural amp modeler that you can recommend. I also use that.
Do i need tonex max or is Tonex Se good enough if all i am doing is using other people's captures/profiles?
Call out to my fellow Warez boiz so that I don't have to make a video in the future titled "I've spent over $10000 on Plugins, here's why you shouldn't". 😁
Black fri....😂
shame XD in all seriousness, great video and thank you for sharing.
"...or Facebook, if you're a boomer" WTH man lol FB is as valid as ever! lol
All good! the comment about being a boomer if on facebook. And those glasses... totally boomer design. You must love Facebook :-)
Me with no cell phone, having no idea what a plugin is. 🤷
thats crazy since torrent exist
I’ve spent about double on hardware and I’m happy with most of it. Interfaces have been a drag though
Curious: what hardware could you live without?
@@Mendelian my two-buss chain: SSL bus comp > Pultec > Saturation. No specific models, just some sort of those type’s in that order, so I can do the top-down thing. I can get similar results ITB, it’s not the same depth and low end doesn’t get mushy
don`t worry, I won`t let you down, as long as torrent works lol
you could have torrented all of that
Yeah I think people are waking up to this kind of thing big time, its so easy to mentally get caught out
cracked plugins for the win
I'll be honest, I ended up with ten tons more than I needed, and it was a case of wtf does this even do?
Or option paralysis.
Best thing I did was get rid, and just go with the essentials.
oof
It is fun to be a plugin hoarder. lol 😂
Sheeeyyyyyyit...for 10k you could buy a few of the pieces they emulated with these plugins. Sorry bro. 😂
10 k on plugins your know you download cracked versions no people love to was there money
What?
Well, I reckon if you're going to use something like that commercially...maybe you'd want to be legit. If you're demoing stuff, yeah I can't say I care. There are enormous amounts of free stuff that's actually pretty good, so. I'd just start there and actually spend some money on seriously considered options where there are gaping "production" holes, so to say.
Looks like you needed........ Better help......
This is why I avoid subscriptions like the plaque. They are waaay too expensive on the long run.