How much money have you spent on plugins?

[GaryG]

I think free's easier to do on a Windows machine, guessing your mac based if you're looking at Logic? Recent free releases by Audio Damage and Toneboosters, for instance, seem to just work for most Windows users, no version issues generally.

I don't think you can go wrong with Logic if it seems to click with you. Correct me if I'm wrong Apple users but isn't Garageband very much a cutdown Logic now? Won't playing with that be a good taster?

As for how much I've made from music... I did sell a copy of an album once on bandcamp...

[kelvyn]

If you want to make tracks for EDM, pop etc, then Logic Pro X is an unbelievable DAW with a ton of fantastic professional sounding content for 200 bucks. A lot of very well know producers/artists are using just Logic plugins in their hits.
If it’s more film soundtrack stuff you are doing the situation is quite different as really good orchestral libraries can cost a lot.
Ultimately it depends on what you want to do... Skrillex made some fantastic sounding tracks using mostly just NI’s Massive.
All my money goes on software...As a professional composer for commercials and short films it’s important to keep up with new software - I got a severe case of GAS anyway - but its anyway something I can write off. I can say that I’ve spent a LOT of money on software
There are a lot of amazing deals constantly being offered which keeps the investment quite low if you shop wisely.
But to be honest Logic - or any other DAW of choice - and a couple of really good sample libraries will get you wherever you want to go.

[Spitfire31]

Way too much.

[nirm123]

900$ since I've started to buy them (so during the last 8 years). I feel that I have exactly what I need, may sell 1,2 plugins but the others are mandatory for me. I'm using every plugin I've ever bought, what I didn't need or used often, I sold.

[DJ Warmonger]

1500 - 2000 USD, this includes Komplete Ultimate.

Also I have no more interest in buying new plugins, the ones I own are enough for every task imaginable. Also, got used to them and it takes to master an instrument.
Just hoping to grab Padshop 2 with some discount someday, as it's the ultimate granular plugin as far as I know.

[Bombadil]

I am also not looking for anything else, though I expect I'll have to pay for the TrackS version that comes out M1 Native. I hope Amplitube 5, being relatively new, will be a free M1 update, but TrackS 5 is a bit dated. That is the extent to which I expect to spend more money on plugins. I am also not buying anymore guitars. 13 + 2 basses + Irish Bouzouki + Dulcimer is plenty.

[harryupbabble]

zero. ever.

i don't have disposable cash.
if i did, i'd buy so much plugins.
the best grand piano plugins.
drum, bass, guitar plugins, etc.

my desktop computer is 11 years old.
i've been expecting it to fail for years.
i save money for that. little by little.
self control, man.

[thecontrolcentre]

No idea how much ... but its a lot. I rarely, if ever, buy at full price, but it still adds up.

[kritikon]

$50 this year. I might go crazy and splash out another $50 too.
Bought Valhalla delay, and will buy Valhalla vintage verb.

That's pretty well it. Got back into music last year after a longish break away from it. Bought Cubase Artist, impOSCar2, the Korg bundle and that's it. Most DAWs have perfectly usable plugins, certainly FX anyway, though some of the instruments are crappy. There definitely are better FX if you want 3rd party but for starting out I'd agree with the majority here that you're wasting your time and money initially. Some freebies are a good idea and nothing lost to try them out. Even reverb - you can get some superb IRs for convolution reverb from machines such as Lexicons, EMT, Bricasti etc. Up until very recently I was using all reverb from convolution, all free and it is professional grade sound.

Having said that - I spent a shitload on h/w.
So I'm not going to get preachy. Bought A Wavestate, Opsix, 2600, Wasp, TD3 and a new patchbay last year. Which more than makes up for the money I would have thrown away on plugins. And I am absolutely sure I'm going to spend a shitload more on hw this year. I need a Behringer MonoPoly, Cat and anything else tempting they throw out this year and maybe a Korg Monologue. It wouldn't surprise me if I even buy something like a Sequential Pro3 - that one looks tasty.

[kritikon]

Oh yeah, nearly forgot - I need a Behringer Proton too.

[BONES]

Include in your calculations the amount of TIME to master each new plugin. TIme cost often exceeds money cost.

You must value your time a lot more than I do. It usually takes me about 5-10 minutes to get my head around a new plugin, so around $7-$14 at my normal freelance rate.

If you're on a Mac, you can spend the $200 on Logic Pro and legitimately not need to buy anything else, possibly ever. Not only does it come with instruments that cover just about every synthesis type under the sun, and a full suite of pro effects, but an extensive loop and sample library. It really is probably the most comprehensive all-in-one solution out there today.

That's true of all the big players these days, at least if you buy the top-tier version. Cubase Pro, Studio One Professional and FL Studio all come with enough of everything to see most people through their whole lives. I imagine it's the same for Live and Bitwig. And in the good ol' days, Orion was similarly chockas with everything you'd need for less than $200.

Certain things, like realistic cinematic orchestral... probably going to be pricey, but anything synth-based or even pop/rock can probably be fleshed out in well under a thousand with carefully considered purchases.

There are almost always free or cheap alternatives that do a good enough job. e.g. The Free Orchestra for the free Kontakt Player and Spitfire Audio has a lot of very specialised freebies that you can build into a fairly comprehensive kit of sample-based instruments.

Anyway, for myself it's been a long journey. We made our first four albums with what came in Orion, which I paid $59 for in 2000, and maybe $200 worth of 3rd party plugins (all instruments), plus a handful of plugins I'd made myself in SynthEdit (which cost me $20 to buy). So, all up, between 2000 and 2017 I had probably spent around $600 in total on music software (including SoundForge) and we'd made about $2500 in royalties on our albums.

In 2018 we bought Cubase and that started quite a cascade of expense. Leaving Orion was really hard for me but it has been discontinued years earlier and compatibility with newer plugins, etc. was making it less stable that it used to be so we made the decision to move on.

Since then I reckon I have been spending around $500 a year on plugins (still mostly instruments), so probably around $2000 in the last three years, for sweet f**k-all in returns, despite our last two albums peaking at #1 and #2, respectively, on the German Alternative Chart (which is not sales based, it's voted on by 500 industry people, like the Oscars). It gets harder and harder to make money from music as a working band/artist. You can have a #1 album in Australia these days on as few as 3,000 CDs sold, where 30 years ago you'd have had to sell 20,000 just to get into the Top 20. And I worked out that we need to have a song streamed 11,000 times to make one euro from streaming. I don't know how much our label or the distributor (Sony) make but that's what is left for us. Unless you think you can be the next Justin Bieber, you can't be in this game for the money because there isn't any outside the very main part of the mainstream.

Like most others here, I'd recommend you start with what comes with Logic, if that's what you choose, and take it from there. There are some excellent free VSTi around that you can add to your arsenal if you wish to but which ones you choose will be up to what you want to do (and you will probably be more limited on a Mac than I am on PC). I would definitely recommend the free tier of Native Instruments' Komplete. It has a good range of things that you may find extremely useful. And it might tempt you to spend on a higher tier to get more stuff but I wouldn't be in a hurry if I were you.

[arkmabat]

More than I can actually use. Thank goodness many can be resold.

[Michael L]

Include in your calculations the amount of TIME to master each new plugin. Time cost often exceeds money cost.

You must value your time a lot more than I do. It usually takes me about 5-10 minutes to get my head around a new plugin, so around $7-$14 at my normal freelance rate.

I see you get my point, but you did not complete the cost comparison.
$14 is more than the cost of the Soundspot ($10) AIR ($0) and perhaps other plugins you use.
I also used the verb "master" not "get your head around" which takes less time.

[BONES]

Thing is, why do you need to master any of them? You just use them for what they are good at, you don't need to learn all the ins and outs, especially with the ubersynths, which are so broad that most of us will only ever use a tiny subset of the features available. And even that 5-10 minutes isn't time I need to set aside to learn the thing, it's the first time I spend using it for what I got it for, so it's really no time at all. Certainly no billable hours. I don't think I've ever come across a softsynth that I thought I would have to set aside time for, just to work out how to use it. It's all OJT.

[Michael L]

you don't need to learn all the ins and outs, especially with the ubersynths, which are so broad that most of us will only ever use a tiny subset of the features available.

Why waste a bucket of money on uber-features you will never use?
Spend $0-10 for a simple synth that does one thing well (what you do) OR spend a bucket of time to learn a more costly ubersynth (what I do).
Either way, you are considering both types of cost.
That's my only point.