What are the best plug-in manufacturers?

[AcousticsWizard]

A salesman at my local store said that there are tons of plug-ins, but if I want to buy the best of the best, he said the companies to go with are Waves, UAD with the car-based plug-ins, Sonnox, Abbey Roads, and Brainworx.

Are there any others I am missing in the very high end premium category of plug-ins?

 

[Jake1]

for plug-in synths and samplers...i like EAST WEST QUANTUM LEAP, NATIVE INSTRUMENTS, IK MULTIMEDIA, STEINBERG, & REFX...and for effects i pretty much just use WAVES

 

[kcearl]

i like my UAD stuff, I also like how it stops my CPU taking so much of a hit (I run three cards), I love the UAD compressors...I also have a TC powercore card but the only extra plug Ive bought for it is the sonnox EQ...the standard reverbs are excellent, and along with the UAD Pultec pro, cover my EQ needs perfectly

I use PSP delays and a Liquid bundle

When stacked against buying a new more powerful PC, and the resale value these boards and plugs have, it worked out pretty good value all in all...

I think Waves suffer the same as ProTools...everyone thinks because of their popularity they are the best...I sorely doubt any home user who uses Waves truly paid the $$$ they cost, and Im a firm believer you dont learn something if you dont pay for it...there are also companies out there like Nomad, Softube, and PSP, who's plugs are just as good if not better than waves, UAD, sonnox etc

 

[Elton123]

Soundtoys, Waves, sonnex, McDSP