Well, I'm quite sure that I don't 'need' anymore, but the number of plugins that Sonar scans includes stuff like the Studio Instruments.
 
I have T-RackS 3 Classic and the IK Custom Shop installed.  I added their Bus Compressor and their Vintage Comp Bundle, but it looks like Sonar scans or lists every T-RackS processor they sell.
 
Per Sonar, 427 found / 224 new.

Proud to say I have less than 30 plugins (not including the ones native to Cakewalk or Studio One), all paid for. It has been a gigantic struggle against 'gear lust' but it allows me to have a very streamlined, efficient workflow: gives me the time to learn and get the most out of the plugins I use everyday. Money savings is a significant consideration, too.

I feel one of the factors leading to musicians drowning in plugins is the useless, quixotic search for "the truth'' in sound: we want a guitar VSTi to sound EXACTLY like a real guitar or, worse, even a very specific guitar model. We want 'saturation' (whatever that is) in our tracks, perfect compression, flawless vocal tracks, 'vintage' this and 'modern' that, we reject 'old school' elements, but love all things 'abbey road', like the studio or the noisy Pultec were the reasons for yesterday's hits. We talk about 'surgical' eq, as if the life of a badly recorded track is worth saving. We are always putting ourselves exactly one step behind the perfect music-making situation; we are always forgetting the public does not care (or even know) wether that little hook they love about song X is a banjo or a freaking trombone!

I remind myself every day that good music is a harmonious whole, not a collection of little anal-retentive sounds. I'm trying...with as few plugins as possible!

My scan reports I have 209.
Knowingly I have only ever installed about a dozen.
I have no idea where the rest all come from.
 

irvin
...we are always forgetting the public does not care (or even know) wether that little hook they love about song X is a banjo or a freaking trombone!

True point.
 
But the latest tech has often been a driver in the music production scene.
 
Everybody wants the Cher-Believe effect. Some have based their musical careers on it (Daft Punk?).
 
Then there was the Disco Handclap (TR808) sound. On nearly every song.
The Linn Drum sound. It was everywhere.
The Phil Collins massive gated reverb snare.
More recently we have the stutter effect.
Synthesizers with vocal-like formant filtering (nee Frampton's Voice Box)
Impossibly tight harmony, algorithmically generated.
And absolute pitch-perfect singing.
 
And not forgetting convincing full orchestral backing
without so much as a violin bow in the studio.
 
All technology-driven. And depending on the zeitgeist, often essential if you want to compete in a particular genre.

irvin
Proud to say I have less than 30 plugins (not including the ones native to Cakewalk or Studio One), all paid for. It has been a gigantic struggle against 'gear lust' but it allows me to have a very streamlined, efficient workflow: gives me the time to learn and get the most out of the plugins I use everyday. Money savings is a significant consideration, too.

Your entire post is refreshing, but I didn't want to see what's bolded above get overlooked - the less you have, the better you know what you have. I bet your know exactly how to apply those <30 plug-ins.
 

Thanks for the kind words. I feel we often don't get the best of the wonderful tools at our disposal. I'm 55, a 'veteran' of the music scene, going back to the 80's and tape machines. I went through the ADAT 'revolution' and my journey has made me very appreciative of all we have: it's a small marvel to think what products like Sonar and others I won't mention can get us for a very small price.

We can do far more in our PC than what the best engineers could do at the long-deceased multi-million Variety studios in midtown New York thirty years ago (young guys know about Pultec emulations, but nobody talks about the balls needed to do tape splicing on a 2" master - there was no Control-Z back then) The only thing the digital revolution has not made available to us is a nice recording room, but even the cheap microphones and audio interfaces are delivering great quality. All we need to enjoy this great era is to spend enough time learning our tools.

My system shows more than 700 vst plugs- 
I have to get rid of the wave plug ins which are unnecessary
mostly installed in 4 versions and some freebies- but no chance to count it down to 30.
 
More than 700 vst are way too much ,or?
 

Does it detract from performance to have so many VSTs available?
 
I didn't think it did.
 
BTW, I still use the old Direct X Sonitus stuff over Waves in many situations. Also Direct X Tape Sim from Cakewalk. Oldies.

the amount of vst plugs doesn´t  detract
the performance of a system unless they are  inserted ,
in the fx chain etc.
Yesterday I got rid of the half! Wave plug Ins which I really never need,
for example MAX Bass in 4 different Versions is never used here.
This reduced my plug ins to 623.
A first step, I´m very curious how much freebies and other unnessary 
VST´s  I will find.
Thanks to the OP and other forum - members for reminding me.
 

I literally use maybe about ..... ten plugins.  I'd rather record music than play around with plugins.