[Will Russell]

To get back to the OP...
I have been using HDX for a long time. Most of what I need is available from Avid, Sonnox, McDSP, Brainworx and Softube. Sure, Avid, Sonnox and McDSP are "old" but the coding is superb and the plugins hold their own against any modern plugin I've used.

How many colors do you need to paint with? I find that if I have too many plugin options I spent too much time picking the tool instead of staying in my creative mind.

Dont forget the you can still use native plugins with Carbon, you just cant use them in the monitor path.