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[AaronTooNerdy]

Greetings, I was wondering what plugins/vsts everyone generally uses. It would be great if you could also include the genre of the music you usually compose.

For me, I tend to use tweakbench's plugins for chiptune related music, and Kontakt 5 for any music that requires realistic sounding instruments. While i'm at it, the DAW I use is FL Studio 12.

[cynicus]

If you're talking instrument wise, I really like Ableton's Analog for chiptune, it has enough functionality to get some really nice textures out of it. For more realistic sounds, I tend to move around a bit, especially when it comes to piano, Ableton has some good packs for it, NI have some nice ones too.

However for mixing/mastering and effects, any dynamic control for me has to be done by FabFilter, time based effects I really like Ableton's stuff. But any filters I like to put it through the filter on my Moog, because Moog.

Also, M4L has some incredible capabilities and I use that for verb and granular synthesis

If you can't tell I use Ableton

[dlt.fm]

+1 for all things FabFilter.  Those plugins are magic.

[Pete301]

mmmmmmmmm, FabFilter is sleek, sexy and super-good.

Altiverb, and IR-l are good for impulse reverbs. Trueverb I like to use as a non-IR verb for different flavour.

I use a lot of SoundToys stuff too.

I do mostly sound design, and some Orhcestral/electronic music.

[Hitrison]

Mostly Ableton's stock instruments.  I make a lot of noise, so I don't always use actual instruments, just manipulate sounds clips in creative ways.

I cannot recommend Stillwell (particularly 1973 for high-frequency EQ'ing and the Rocket) and Valhalla's plugins highly enough, though.  I generally want plugins that have little to no visualization.  I'd rather mix with my ears than my eyes.

[MrHassanSan]

++; to every mention of FabFilter and Valhalla so far!

XLN Audio's Addictive Keys has several really good pianos and keyboards, can't recommend that enough.

I don't know if it's one of my favorites yet, but I just recently purchased Koto Nation and it sounds REALLY nice.

[tturnbull13]

I also love Valhalla, Altiverb and soundtoys so ++ on those!

Soundtoys has a new EQ out right now for free (I think it's still for free) called Sie-Q, really cool so far! Also I use some Waves ( I put the C4 on everything, may be a bit over use but it's such a quick way to make everything sound good!) and Sonnox, the limiter and EQ are great.

As far as VSTs, man so many.. I use a lot of Spitfire stuff for orchestral writing and things like Zebra, Diva and Falcon for synthesis. I write in Pro Tools 11 and have just recently switched over to Cubase 8.5, really loving it so far.

I tend to write for horror films so I do a lot of upsetting music with random things I record and orchestral hybrid.

[zminusone]

Fabfilter Total Bundle

[Michael Klier]

Following the FabFilter Hype . Best investment I've ever made.

[Jordanoakley]

You guys might've convinced me to buy some Fabfilter stuff!
A particularly great compressor that I use is PSP's VintageWarmer 2 (which comes with the also amazing MicroWarmer).
Someone who worked on video game scores recommended it to me and it has been great for everything from acoustic guitar to chiptuney things.

[motorherp]

The FabFilter EQ, compressor, and limiter have become staples for me, I use them all the time in everything, and I've demoed their Saturn saturation plugin and was very impressed by it, thinking of picking it up sometime.

Other util stuff that I've found very good and I use a lot have been Cableguys Volume Shaper and Pan Shaper.

I'm still in love with Ohmboyz for delay, it's pretty old now but still great, and SugarBytes WOW filter is highly recommended.

For synthesis I used to stick to NI Massive for sounds I wanted lots of modulation control over, and LennarDigitals Sylenth for virtual analogue and virus emulation.  I've now replaced these with XFer Serum and Reveal Sound Spire respectively, they fit the same role as their replacements but are much better modern synths.  The older two are still worth a look in if you're on a budget though, you might be able to snag them for a good price now.

[draven stedman]

Instruments-wise, these days I use a lot of Plogue's Sforzando for soundfont playing (when I'm using chiptune soundfonts I have), and a lot of Helm, an awesome FOSS VST, for more complicated from-the-ground-up sound design.

As far as effects go, I use two Ableton effects racks. One, which I use for my slow-moving pad synths, is a somewhat elaborate drone rack made up primarily of a few bitcrushers, a few filters, and an excessive amount of reverb (all Ableton stock, cause the stock Ableton effects are really great), all put through an awesome free VST EQ (TDR Nova). The other, which I use on arpeggiators, pianos, and other stuff that I use more for melody, is made up of a little bit of reverb, a little bit of delay, and a bunch of EQ (again, the absolutely stunning TDR Nova) to make it punchy.

[rynde]

I use Soundtoys Plug-Ins on pretty much every project I touch.
I'm also a massive fan of Valhalla Freq-Echo - it's great for creating bizarre/magic/sci-fi sounds.

[PythonBlue]

Instruments-wise, these days I use a lot of Plogue's Sforzando for soundfont playing (when I'm using chiptune soundfonts I have), and a lot of Helm, an awesome FOSS VST, for more complicated from-the-ground-up sound design.

As far as effects go, I use two Ableton effects racks. One, which I use for my slow-moving pad synths, is a somewhat elaborate drone rack made up primarily of a few bitcrushers, a few filters, and an excessive amount of reverb (all Ableton stock, cause the stock Ableton effects are really great), all put through an awesome free VST EQ (TDR Nova). The other, which I use on arpeggiators, pianos, and other stuff that I use more for melody, is made up of a little bit of reverb, a little bit of delay, and a bunch of EQ (again, the absolutely stunning TDR Nova) to make it punchy.

Funny you mention Sforzando: a few days ago I made a breakthrough with the chipsounds generators that is making both it and sforzando grow on me: approximation of 16-bit sound. XD

As for other VST's, while I do use Kontakt, most of my libraries for it are intentionally dated due to my preference for old school sounds. Sample CD's from the 90s, for instance.

I do also use EWQLSO for more complex orchestral sounds, and a tiny bit of Omnisphere and Stylus RMX. Everything else is a mishmash of mostly retro style VST's, from my new Synclavier V to VProm.

[s_harriton]

I use Soundtoys Plug-Ins on pretty much every project I touch.
I'm also a massive fan of Valhalla Freq-Echo - it's great for creating bizarre/magic/sci-fi sounds.

Yup soundtoys all day long. Decapitater can make almost anything useful sounding.

I love the Steven Slate Suite of plugins. The quality is mind blowing.

Between those 2 bundles I can do everything I want. mix/master etc