What Black Friday Deals Did You Pick Up? What are You Thinking About/Hoping for?

[Peter DeLegge]

At this point, it seems that just about every plugin and sample developer in the business has a Black Friday sale that’s already started. I think we’re doing a great job of keeping up with all of the deals. I’d like to thank everyone who has been sharing deals and sharing their opinions on what’s on sale.

Is there any developer at this point that hasn’t started a Black Friday sale that you’ve been waiting on?

What are the best deals you’ve seen and what have you picked up so far?

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

2

[Peter DeLegge]

One sample developer I’m waiting on to start their Black Friday sale is AcousticSamples. Not for me, but for the community. I’ve already made up my BF list for the year. But I think AcousticSamples demos of their Wurly reflects the best-sounding Wurly sample library I know of. If I didn’t already purchase several Wurly libraries, I would have bought their library, I just didn’t learn about it until I already had made a bunch of purchases.

I bought the Synthmaster 3 Upgrade last night and I absolutely love it (there’s a code for an extra discount in the thread about their sale. Except for beyond Musio 1 and the update to the latest version of Studio One Pro, I don’t plan on making any additional purchases for anything $30 USD or more this year for myself.

PRO TIP: the forum search engine is really good. Use it whenever you want to look up a developer by name rather than scrolling through pages.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[lamia6]

So far with the Halloween overlap:

• Ujam Idol, Kandy, Halloween essentials pack, plus Vice as freebie (and Reverb freebie)
• Tracktion F.’em with bass expansion (plus cinematic vistas and cyberpunk packs), Biotek 2 with current substances pack
• Synthmaster 3 with DiscoFunk pack
• Glitchmachines Fracture (to get the Monark freebie)
• Anteras Warm freebie

Next up is Sonnox Claro and NI Spectrum Quake for Massive (maybe something else depending on the next PB freebie)

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[Peter DeLegge]

On lamia6 said

So far with the Halloween overlap:

• Ujam Idol, Kandy, Halloween essentials pack, plus Vice as freebie (and Reverb freebie)
• Tracktion F.’em with bass expansion (plus cinematic vistas and cyberpunk packs), Biotek 2 with current substances pack
• Synthmaster 3 with DiscoFunk pack
• Glitchmachines Fracture (to get the Monark freebie)
• Anteras Warm freebie

Next up is Sonnox Claro and NI Spectrum Quake for Massive (maybe something else depending on the next PB freebie)

Hey, I chose the DiscoFunk pack with Synthmaster3. But I have to say, after even going through a small fraction of the presets S3 comes with, the new factory presets far exceed my expectations. That was a fantastic buy. I feel the same way about Musio 1 (I didn’t buy it yet, but I’m using the 30 day trial and love it). I’ve been accumulating the freebies too!

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[Tianzii]

With Halloween sales overlap, I’ve got:

– Air FX Collection 2

– Air Strings

– Air Tubesynth

– Air Organ + free Air Solina

– Sublab and Sublab XL for $20

– WA Ableton Mastering Chains + free WA Ultimate FX Bundle 4

– free Soundtoys PhaseMistress

I’m waiting for the free ones from Waves and Air. And still asking myself if I’ll upgrade the Synthmaster 2 Player, or better get something from abletunes with the 35% BF coupon, cause I already have a lot of synths, maybe it’s time to better learn them instead of getting new ones. 🙂

Curious about my music? Take a listen.

Tianzii on Spotify | Tianzii on Apple Music | Tianzii on YouTube Music

Tianzii on YouTube (Official HD Videos)

What do you think? Did you

2

[fretman]

I’m still waiting for the guitars and mandolin from https://musicalsampling.com/

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

1

[RSMcGuitar]

XLN Vintage Dead <– loving that. Thinking about Session Percussion while the sale is still on.

Couple UAD upgrades

Looking forward to whatever freebies come later this month. The Fracture sound stuff is always awesome.

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[Peter DeLegge]

On RSMcGuitar said

XLN Vintage Dead <– loving that. Thinking about Session Percussion while the sale is still on.

Couple UAD upgrades

Looking forward to whatever freebies come later this month. The Fracture sound stuff is always awesome.

Yep, those devs at Fracture Sound consistently hit it out of the park with their freebies. For anyone who didn’t pick up their latest free string sample library for Kontakt Player, it’s superb.

The UAD deal for $79 US — I forgot what it’s called, but it’s an assortment of their plugins including effects, Raven, Waterfall Organ — is very tempting. I was listening to demos of Raven and it sounds great great to my ears. I thought about XLN Vintage Dead — ever since they did the update to AD2 I’ve been using it a lot more. But I felt like I already have the dead sound covered. I definitely see the appeal of Session Percussion, and I would love to have it, but knowing it’s part of the new version of Komplete Standard — I own the previous version — I’m waiting for Komplete Standard to go on sale — and hoping they do something for the holidays; otherwise, I’ll wait it out until NI has a 50% off Komplete Updates sale. I’m a HUGE Kontakt user.  Nearly 100 percent of all of my projects use Kontakt sample libraries.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

1

[MagicRuss]

I picked up Vintage Dead for Addictive Drums 2 in the recent 60% off sale.  It fit perfectly into a track where I needed to replace RMV because Cakewalk doesn’t like it.

I picked up the upgrade from Arturia FX Collection 3 to 5.  I haven’t used it yet.

Also all the EZ Keys MIDI files that were on sale that I didn’t already have.  If they put out more at that price I will buy them too.

I might get EZ Bass this year.

I’m also tempted to get Helix Native.

Every year Overloud puts one of it’s Gem series on a no-brainer price.  This year I hope it’s the vocal one.

 

 

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[Peter DeLegge]

On MagicRuss said

I picked up Vintage Dead for Addictive Drums 2 in the recent 60% off sale.  It fit perfectly into a track where I needed to replace RMV because Cakewalk doesn’t like it.

I picked up the upgrade from Arturia FX Collection 3 to 5.  I haven’t used it yet.

Also all the EZ Keys MIDI files that were on sale that I didn’t already have.  If they put out more at that price I will buy them too.

I might get EZ Bass this year.

I’m also tempted to get Helix Native.

Every year Overloud puts one of it’s Gem series on a no-brainer price.  This year I hope it’s the vocal one.

I’m watching the Toontrack deals very closely. I have pretty much everything I want from the current AdPaks for AD2. The ezMix packs are what I’m milling over from Toontrack. I suppose if they release more drum EZxs and SDxs (wait, I’m not even sure if that’s what they call them, but I mean expansions for SD3) I might bite on those. But the ezMix packs are very compelling to me because I don’t know how to put together a great effects chain and my mindset is pretty much the mindset I had when I was a working musician — I’ll focus on playing and rely on the experts to handle the sound engineering. It is why I love sample instruments with great presets, because I don’t have the skills to do what the pros can do and I can get very inspired by great presets. So I prefer to focus my time on playing than attempting to become a slightly less incompetent sound engineer!

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[Tianzii]

Oh man, I’ve got Sublab and Sublab XL upgrade and then I’ve seen all curent and future XL presets packs bundle at $10 on PB.

https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/10415-SubLab-XL-Pack-Bundle

Couldn’t hold my horses and bought that. I have to say… It’s freaking good and now I’m hoping for price on FAW Circle2 to drop to the lowest price which was $20 in February last year. 🤞

If I see that price for FAW Circle2, I’m instantly getting it and I’ll be closing the BF sales.

IMHO These guys from Future Audio Workshop did a great job with their plugins and presets, but I’m so broke I can’t afford yet another plugin above $20.  🙂

Curious about my music? Take a listen.

Tianzii on Spotify | Tianzii on Apple Music | Tianzii on YouTube Music

Tianzii on YouTube (Official HD Videos)

What do you think? Did you

1

[Peter DeLegge]

After spending time with the demo of Musio, I’m starting to realize that while it does bring new sounds to me, I’m spoiled by having detailed sampled Kontakt libraries and great Kontakt scripting. The lack of scripting in Musio libraries, the lack of crispness to some of the strings and not having patches really add up to disappointments for me, even for the low price. So, I think this holiday season, I’m getting myself a library I’ve dreamed of for decades, Abbey Road 2 Iconic Strings.

If anyone here owns Abbey Road 2 Iconic Strings, I’d love to get your thoughts. I’ve watched the walkthrough videos and various influencer videos of the library.

 

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

1

[anxiousmofo]

I got sucked into the Chase Bliss and Wren and Cuff mystery boxes, so my software budget has taken a hit. Still planning to upgrade to Melda Complete but looking for a deal sweetener code to pop-up somewhere.

Tangled roots perplex her ways.

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[thesteven]

Was planning on getting a
JBL LSR310S 10-inch Powered Studio Subwoofer
from Sweetwater – currently on sale till 12/31/24.
Was just waiting till BF to see if it would drop any further.

Price shot up today from $299 to $329 🙁
wondering if Sweetwater is going to offer a BF $30 coupon on it to bring it back down to previous price.

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[mustakatu]

So far I got (and I think that’s pretty much it):

sonicLAB BOT Bundle
Anemond Sloom, Factorsynth 3
AudioThing Arguments, Megaphone, Valves, Bubbles
Pitch Innovations Eternal Arps
Hornet HarmoniQ

Will have to pass Cinematic Rooms Pro, partly because of hardware (like CME MIDI splitters that are on sale RN), maybe will grab Madrona Labs Sumu or Physical Audio Modus later

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[patrickwichrowski]

Arturia V Collection X 😀

 

https://linktr.ee/patrickwichrowski/

https://patrickwichrowski.bandcamp.com/

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[anxiousmofo]

I got my MComplete for cheap and am full of the good old gladness. Scouring for Melda deals was the driving force of my GAS for years and now I am past that.

Now maybe I’ll show Arturia some love. Their deals are admirable and welcome.

Tangled roots perplex her ways.

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[lamia6]

Added ANA2 synth. After demoing that for a couple days there is no way I could see myself not having it. Absolutely loving that thing.

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[Peter DeLegge]

I just bought Spitfire Abbey Road 2 Iconic Strings. It was only a few months ago — maybe 4 months ago tops — that I became aware of that library when I was posting at another forum (hmmmm…) about my ideal string library being basically George Martin strings from Eleanor Rigby when someone told me that is precisely what Spitfire did. I saw that it retailed at $299 USD and I promised myself I was going to watch my budget this year. I’m iffy about still getting Musio at this point. The only thing I could really use it for is for the larger string sections. But the one big thing about Musio that I really felt was the lack of scripting on string libraries that you have with a good Kontakt library. That makes a huge difference. So I’m still undecided. I might buy it just to do a review for LinkedMusicians to create a template.

But I picked up my dream library and I can’t wait until it’s done downloading.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

3

[dsteinschneider]

Just finished listening to the Paul Thomson and Christian Henson YouTube videos about the Abbey Road Two: Iconic Strigs library. Then I watched Blair Borland who had many critical points but actually his video convinced me that this would be a good string ensemble library for me.

One of my first VST purchases was Miroslav Philharmonik 2. I’ve used it mostly for solo string or horn parts. Since I’ve added the free symphonic libraries like Spitfire BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Agree that the Beatles string sound is what would work best for the rock songs I play.

Thinking about this one, it would be one of the more expensive VST purchases I’ve made.

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[dsteinschneider]

Hi Peter,

While shopping the library on the Spitfire website I discovered there is a BF code for an extra 20% off. I wrote support asking for a code as I haven’t been subscribed to any of their marketing email.

Here’s the info on the extra 20% off:

===================

Codes will be distributed to customers who have spent £99/$99/99€ or more since the start of the Black Friday sale on November 14th. If you reach this qualifying amount by 5pm GMT on Saturday 30th November, you will also be eligible for an extra discount code.
The exclusive code provides an extra 20% discount on existing sale prices, and there is no limit to the number of libraries you can have in your cart. However, the code can only be used once per customer.
Qualifying amount can be reached through multiple products and with multiple purchases.
If you’ve already spent the qualifying amount since the start of the sale (November 14th), check your inbox for your unique discount code. You must be subscribed to our newsletter to receive a code. Visit your communication preferences and make sure you’re subscribed to product notifications.
If you are not subscribed to our newsletter but think you qualify for the discount, please contact support.
Extra discount not valid on bundles, and excludes our newest releases (Tutti, AIR Reverb Essentials, Abbey Road Orchestra: Flutes, Cells), hard drives and Paul’s book.
You must spend the qualifying amount by 5pm GMT on Saturday 30th November to receive the discount code. Once received, the code can be used until the end of our Black Friday sale (Tuesday 3rd December 23:59:59 GMT)

[Peter DeLegge]

On dsteinschneider said

Hi Peter,

While shopping the library on the Spitfire website I discovered there is a BF code for an extra 20% off. I wrote support asking for a code as I haven’t been subscribed to any of their marketing email.

Here’s the info on the extra 20% off:

===================

Codes will be distributed to customers who have spent £99/$99/99€ or more since the start of the Black Friday sale on November 14th. If you reach this qualifying amount by 5pm GMT on Saturday 30th November, you will also be eligible for an extra discount code.
The exclusive code provides an extra 20% discount on existing sale prices, and there is no limit to the number of libraries you can have in your cart. However, the code can only be used once per customer.
Qualifying amount can be reached through multiple products and with multiple purchases.
If you’ve already spent the qualifying amount since the start of the sale (November 14th), check your inbox for your unique discount code. You must be subscribed to our newsletter to receive a code. Visit your communication preferences and make sure you’re subscribed to product notifications.
If you are not subscribed to our newsletter but think you qualify for the discount, please contact support.
Extra discount not valid on bundles, and excludes our newest releases (Tutti, AIR Reverb Essentials, Abbey Road Orchestra: Flutes, Cells), hard drives and Paul’s book.
You must spend the qualifying amount by 5pm GMT on Saturday 30th November to receive the discount code. Once received, the code can be used until the end of our Black Friday sale (Tuesday 3rd December 23:59:59 GMT)

Yeah, I knew that, but it’ s a useless promotion for me. The code is only good for a second purchase — after you make a first purchase of £99/$99/99€ over Black Friday week. Despite spending money on this website, I’ve been trying to watch my spending and that discount is only good if you come back and buy something else. I’m one and done. But I fell asleep early last night and woke up early and have been playing with Abbey Road Two Iconic Strings and it meets my expectations. I am very happy with it. I’m no longer so sure I want Musio anymore after this. I might just save my money.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[dsteinschneider]

Thanks for that info – I figured that was the case, but you can always hope 🙂

Glad you’re happy with it – I’m thinking it will be worth it for me also. Glad you posted about it, I was unaware of the library.

1

[dsteinschneider]

Thinking about the Sonnox Oxford Limiter for $29. I use Waves Magic Mushroom, Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor and T-Racks One depending on what we are trying to accomplish with a mix. I also sometimes “post process” with Lurssen.

Anyone using (or used to use) the Sonnox Limiter?

[mibby]

I picked it up recently at this price. I held out for many years because it always seemed too expensive to me. But people swear by it, so I thought I’d finally pick it up and I’m glad I did.  It’s basically a “wave shaper” and there’s a guy that figured out he could do the same thing with Melda’s MWaveShaper in their FREE bundle.  I think the Preset is even in there.  That said though, there’s a lot to be said for workflow and usability.  🙂

https://www.meldaproduction.com/effects/free

Apollo Twin Duo USB | ARC Studio | Fender Studio Pro 8 | Windows

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[thesteven]

Hi @mibby – you’re actually thinking of the Sonnox Oxford Inflator (https://sonnox.com/products/oxford-inflator), not the limiter.

Yes, you can emulate it with Melda
How to use Melda plugins to emulate Sonnox Inflator – Page 2 – MeldaProduction Forum – KVR Audio
as to whether or not you’re willing to make the effort/have the patience that’s another issue.
As you said “there’s a lot to be said for workflow and usability.”

A lot of people really like it the Inflator. I bought it during a previous sale but when I had the opportunity to use it on a mix I was working on, I wasn’t impressed and ended up using IKM’s Lurssen instead. Maybe next time I try it I’ll find true love, bliss and sonic satisfaction… or maybe not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
As always YMMV.

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[mibby]

Doh! You’re right! My bad. Nothing to see here – back to the regulatory scheduled thread…  🙂

Apollo Twin Duo USB | ARC Studio | Fender Studio Pro 8 | Windows

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[anxiousmofo]

Was excited to pick up Arturia FXCollection 5 but it won’t install on my Win10 system even after restarts etc.

All my previous Arturia {VCollection8, Pigments etc.) installed fine. Bummer, that.

Tangled roots perplex her ways.

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[fretman]

Ilya Efimov’s Guitar bundle

Martinic’s AX bundle (completes my Martinic collection)

A few XLN MIDI paks

A few AAS sound paks (completes my AAS collection)

Sonuscore’s Celestial Harp

Synergy DSP’s EchoVerb

FractureSound’s Dulciano

Overloud’s EQ84

A few GOG games

A few Matrix games

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

2

[patrickwichrowski]

On anxiousmofo said

Was excited to pick up Arturia FXCollection 5 but it won’t install on my Win10 system even after restarts etc.

All my previous Arturia {VCollection8, Pigments etc.) installed fine. Bummer, that.

Tangled roots perplex her ways.

I changed the drive and folder of the installations to avoid the “read only” problem in C: folders. I always have a backup of the previous downloads (even the demos) to manually install if necessary.

https://linktr.ee/patrickwichrowski/

https://patrickwichrowski.bandcamp.com/

1

[deeringamps]

Howdy to all,

Picked up all the $9 TT midi (that I didn’t already have), EBX’s Hard Rock & Disco Pop; still on the fence on the EZKeys Pipe Organ.
Also, used the 15% off CyberBlack24 at John Manns Guitar Vault to snag his last PRS DGT SE for $650; delivered to my door!

t

2

[fretman]

Those PRS SE guitars are BY FAR the best bang for buck out there. That is a nice snag.

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

1

[EusebioRZ]

Here is my list

• VPS Avenger 2
• Tone2 RayBlaster 2
• SPC ArcSyn
• SubLab XL & packs
• Imaginando FRMS & DRC
• Magix soundpools (various)
• ArrangerKing
• Modalics bundle (Beat Scholar, EonARP, bitfuzzer)
• Zynaptiq Unveil
• LANDR Super Bundle
• DDMF Superplugin & Bridgewize
• Lumina Delay
• Moogerfoogers 101 & 105
• Imperial Delay
• Xils-Lab Le Masque (and Ramses, by mistake, now at Linkedmusicians Buy&Sell forum)
• MIA Labs bundle (Super Fat, Super Muscle, super Thin)
• Pro Tools Support Plan
• RapidComposer upgrade (3 to 4)
• Kilohearts upgrade (add Filter Table & Shaper Table)
• AAS sound pack upgrade (add all missing packs)

It’s more than I should. I still get GAS-FOMO (buy when cheap because I’ll regret it later if I don’t). Looking at quantity, 50% of the list are impulse buys that I hadn’t considered before this BF. However, looking at actual dollars, big ticket items like the Pro Tools plan, Avenger, Unveil and others were either fully planned or plugins that I’ve been keeping an eye on for months (or years) and I’ve been waiting until the price was right. The impulse purchases are less than 20% of spending.

Is Gear Addiction Syndrome a form of insanity? Here is my vst collection.

What is Gremlins' Music? watch or listen at Odysee

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[Fleer]

Sonnox Voca ($29 at resellers but €19 direct)

3

[Brian]

Only “music” hardware I got (really these are for doing housework, etc) was a pair of Anker.Soundcore Q45 noise cancelling bluetooth cans that seem to work pretty well.  They have a nifty hearing test built into the app that lets you create an EQ profile very easily. $90 from Amazon

Imaginando FRMS/DRC and BAM with all the packs for about $20 each

Two $10 courses from Udemy – Live 12 and Cubase 13

UVI Quadra metal & wood, Modular Drums, and Pulsacion for $12 (50% sale – $100 Imageline voucher)

A year of Imageline FL-Cloud $100 (will get another $100 voucher)

Hornet HarmoniQ $3

Philip Meyer MIDI tools for Ableton Live Complete $34

Karanyi Cloudmax 2 upgrade $19

Rhythmizer Fusion upgrade $19

Sublab XL packs $10

AAS update complete $44 for 9 packs

Klevgrand Tomofon Synth $45

Plasmonic synth $99

 

Gaming-

“Mystery pack” of 20 “highly rated” games from Fanatical (all crap) $13

Hogwarts $14 and MS Flight Simulator 2024 Premium Deluxe $95 from CD Keys

Yawman Arrow flight controller $149 direct

 

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[Author]

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