Knobs and faders

I really like control boards with a bunch of buttons, meters, knobs and faders. Especially when they look good.

I think that sometimes I choose a VST plugin to work with just because I like how it's controlling things and the visual feedback it can give me from the sounds it produces. I don't like plugins that are full of a lot of controls. I like the ones which have like 1-2 knobs and a meter that gives some visual feedback on the functionality.

Here are some examples of some graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that I find frustrating and troublesome:

"Superwave Tiny Pops"

"Superwave P80"

NomadFactory - TrackBox

Izotope Alloy

WaveArts - Trackplug

I consider these plugins "uncontrollable": I can't concentrate on one peculiar aspect of a sound, because there are so MANY parameters that are independent. I think a plugin's GUI should be optimized so many parameters should be linked and merged according to a specific functionality. I don't care technically what it does as in processing and math. I care for what changes does it do to the sound. Here are some examples of this:

Don't Crack - Monster Boost

SKnote - Roundtone

Bootsy - FerricTDS

Sonimus - Satson Buss

Although these latter plugins may seem too simplified, try them, and I find them very useful, because of their sound shaping capabilites and because of their fun workflow (i.e.: simple and fast) - its a joy making music by just choosing the right plugin for a certain effect and not by having to tweak every parameter of a combined versatile multi-effect monster which basically lacks in every area instead of excelling in all of them. That's my opinion: have a lot of specific simple but characteristic plugins instead of having a few and having to sepnd a lot of time tweaking the hell out of them - in't so counter-intuitive!

So, my advice is the same as the philosophy of the developers of "Don't Crack": Have a lot of plugins, all for a distinct purpose, and you can choose your favourites.