I've purposely avoided adding a bunch of 3rd plugins, either free or what seem to be great deals.  I had zillions of plugs on my last computer, of which it seemed I only used on one song...then moved on never using them again.  When I open an old project just to listen... those old plugs are long gone (and not really missed), but of course show up missing.  Zillions of compressors, time delay FX...that kind of stuff.

Other than what came with X3 and my Sony software (video), I haven't added any...  oh...I got a couple with my Steinberg UR44 interface, but I never use them after tracking.

A couple of times you get lured into some cool looking freebie... the last one was the Russian compressor/limiter mentioned in the limiter thread.  The meters were too cool and SO much like real analog meters....  but...I restrained.

Then people rave about UAD and Slate stuff.  I've heard the Waves stuff and it's ok. 
But it seems to me, you get tooo many *flavors* and you never make decisions.  I feel like I'm the oddball when cruising these forums.  I like reading about the stuff, most definitely, but feel it really is best to just use the stuff that I got.  I mean I've got 94 plugs just that came with the software.  None extra bought.
 
Then to be honest, I listen to people's mixes ..and using a different reverb than Breverb or any other compressors won't make a quality difference to me as a listener.  I"ve been recording for 40 years, but it seems my ears have never really been trained...or I just like the Cakewalk stuff.  Using a real Teletronix LA2A over my Cake plug isn't going to make my music better.  Just me... Cake should pay me to say this publically!
 
Am I alone in this thinking?

mixmkr
 
Am I alone in this thinking?

I hope not, I think you make a lot of sense. I have a select repertoire of proven plug-ins and leave it at that. I also think limiting the number of plug-ins helps stability.
 
True story: When Sound on Sound magazine did one of their "Mix Rescue" features, the person who did the recording went and got tea for the SOS crew. They started the way they usually do, by bypassing the plug-ins to get a sense of the tracks themselves. When the host returned to the studio, he was taken aback. "What did you do? It sounds great!"
 
SOS says this has happened more than once...
 
Great topic, by the way.

+1 to being a minimalist.

Anderton
 I also think limiting the number of plug-ins helps stability.
 

I can't say for certain if that really affected my situation, but my last XP computer running Sonar 7PE.... I'd crash about once every 10-20 hours of use. 
This current setup (and I'll credit the builder too), doesn't crash at all. I mean not at all.  And I boot up in seconds and projects load instantly.  Shutting down the computer to reboot when you're hot laying tracks was about the most counter productive thing I could think of that was happening.  I've REALLY noticed that difference in a big way.

When I installed a new 2TB hard drive 6 months ago, I did a clean install of W8.1, X3e and only 64bit Plug Ins and only the plug ins that I use on a regular basis. I have run nothing but smooth, since.

MakeShift
When I installed a new 2TB hard drive 6 months ago, I did a clean install of W8.1, X3e and only 64bit Plug Ins and only the plug ins that I use on a regular basis. I have run nothing but smooth, since.

Yeah...I'm running 64 bit only as well... except for stuff like Perfect Space...   I do have to think that limiting stuff outside of Cake's real hemisphere, makes for a smoother drink.  On a good machine, they know what works, with what they've released to the public.

I agree. About the only thing I added to mine that didn't come with Sonar was the Edirol Orchestra VSTi. Still think this is one of the better instrument VSTi out there. Use it a lot, especially when working with MIDI. But other than that, not much else.

I should have qualified.  I do have some 3rd party VSTi... like Toontrack for instance (and wasn't adversely affected by the EZD2 fiasco).  I wouldn't expect Cake to put out an *Omnisphere*...  but Z3ta2 and Rapture are pretty unique.  DimPro works too.

When I went to X3 I also stepped up to 64 bit.  Since then I've added a handful of plugins and have never been happier.  When I was using the 32 bit version of X2 I probably had literally 200 non-cake plugins, of which I probably used about a dozen.  I feel free . . . .

I had a clear out quite recently as Sonar was listing all of the free stuff you tend to download when starting out in DAWland and which never gets a look in when you grow up.
I believe my plugin scan went from the high 700s to the mid 600s. I felt quite liberated and finding the plugin I wanted got much easier.
I also managed to kill SD3 but that's another story.

Grum.