I was, for the longest time, using a bunch of free plugins, some of which I really love and see myself continuing to use: Leet Delay, Baby Comeback, Analog Obsession Room, Plugin Alliance Ampeg Sim (not free, but I got it for free). My thing right now is compressors: I was using the old, 32 bit Antress compressors for the longest time, then I went to the Analog Obsession "Fetish" and their LALA for a while, but the other day I tried some of the WAVES compressors for the first time and I gotta say - I was impressed. The CLA 76 and the CLA LA2A and LA3A were pretty nice in my opinion. Although, they had a very "typical" sound, I definitely had a bit of an easier time dialing in the mix with those tools as opposed to some of the other 1176, LA2A options I mentioned, which can get rather harsh, I've found...

The only thing is: I have a bit of a mental block against WAVES. I know for a fact that a lot of people use those CLA compressors and I can see why - They really are fantastic, digital tools... I dunno... I started looking at other companies and there are just SOOO many options! So many makers doing an "1176" or whatever. Some makers have weird restrictions, too, which I'm not a fan of. That is one thing WAVES has going for it - you just buy it and then you have it. Nice.

I would just really like to get my plugin stable settled. I'm finally happy to be moving on from the "download every single free plugin I can get my hands on phase", but there are just too many options out there. I'd love to hear some people's plugin journey. What you've landed on and why. And if you have a hybrid setup with any outboard gear, or if there is anything you typically pass your tracks though or whatever, I'd like to hear about that. I have a few pieces of gear and some ideas regarding that, as well...

I'm not a real freak when it comes to plugins - If I can just find a few compressors that I can rely on, then I'll be happy.