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

[peter]

@Brian Did you ever pick up Musio 1? I bought Abbey Road 2 Iconic Strings, Studio One Pro 7 with the 1 yr subscription, Black Rooster Omnitec preamp, some effects and candidly, some things I can’t even recall off hand (cheap), but I’m now on the fence about Musio 1, because I didn’t even want to spend more than 50 bucks this year beyond Studio One Pro and I went far beyond that. While I love Abbey Road 2 Iconic Strings, I really love the Tina Guo solo cello. I suppose the big disappointment for me with Musio 1 is the lack of effects, presets and scripting (like Kontakt versions). Plus a bunch of the libraries are really small. Piano in Blue just sounds like a nice Steinway grand piano, nothing like the sound of the demos for the Kontakt version that has a fantastic vintage vibe to it. But I still might by it. I think the sale runs until Dec 10th and my guess is that they’ll then extend it to Christmas.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[Brian]

@Peter I already bought “Big Musio” lifetime back when it was offered for a “limited time”.  Ask me in ten years if it was a good investment.  I can say though that it has kept me away from other symphonic stuff since I bought it.  I did NOT get Studio One 7.  I have 6, and was looking for a deal.  The fact that they not only closed, but deleted their public forums Nov 11 really turned me off.  I tend to throw hissy-fits when I feel wronged, and that did it for me.  Right now I see them going subscription only soon.  By deleting the forums, a wealth of information on using the pre-7 versions of Studio One is GONE.  Why would they do that, I wonder?  For now, at least, “uninstalled” and using Cubase 14 instead.  Made easier by the fact that Cubase 14 seemed to add a lot of “Studio One” features. 😎

21

[peter]

On Brian said

@Peter I already bought “Big Musio” lifetime back when it was offered for a “limited time”.  Ask me in ten years if it was a good investment.  I can say though that it has kept me away from other symphonic stuff since I bought it.  I did NOT get Studio One 7.  I have 6, and was looking for a deal.  The fact that they not only closed, but deleted their public forums Nov 11 really turned me off.  I tend to throw hissy-fits when I feel wronged, and that did it for me.  Right now I see them going subscription only soon.  By deleting the forums, a wealth of information on using the pre-7 versions of Studio One is GONE.  Why would they do that, I wonder?  For now, at least, “uninstalled” and using Cubase 14 instead.  Made easier by the fact that Cubase 14 seemed to add a lot of “Studio One” features. 😎

Now that you wrote that again, I recall that you already told me that. Sorry. My instincts are that because of Cinesamples aggressive (penetration) pricing and the various channel partners (retailers) they’re using, they’re likely moving a lot of product and that’s going to fund their upcoming libraries. I think your investment will pay off. They clearly — and wisely — see Musio 1 buyers as a direct marketing channel for upcoming products that they’ll have to pay for and you won’t. Now that my son is back at college, I’ll work on getting the email setup and site opened for registration this week. Maybe we can do a Studio One forum here. If anyone wants it, I’ll happily create it. I do think it was unwise for PreSonus to dump their forum, just like I think it’s unwise for BandLab to run theirs like it’s North Korea. I’ve still been using Cakewalk By BandLab (I just bought Studio One Pro 7 last night) and since the new update it’s been crashing A LOT with AD2 and SD3. Not good.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[doug]

On peter said

Maybe we can do a Studio One forum here. If anyone wants it, I’ll happily create it. I do think it was unwise for PreSonus to dump their forum, just like I think it’s unwise for BandLab to run theirs like it’s North Korea. I’ve still been using Cakewalk By BandLab (I just bought Studio One Pro 7 last night) and since the new update it’s been crashing A LOT with AD2 and SD3. Not good.

 

@peter, You might want to check this forum out: https://studiooneforum.com

It was started by one of the moderators from the old Presonus forum. It looks like the community support thread is very active and very helpful. Also looks like @bapu is there already.

• This reply was modified 11 months, 2 weeks ago by doug.

This would be a clever signature if I could think of one.

3

[Hoppy]

Picked up a few items I’ve had some bad GAS for:

Upgrade to Spitfire Chamber Strings Pro $125

Spitfire Symphonic Motions $89

Pianoteq upgrade from stage to standard with the new Shigeru Kawai SK-EX as my free piano. $112

also the PianoTeq Bosendorfer for $39

Toontrack Hard-rock EZX $42

Udemy (3) Orchestration classes $30

Soul, Blues, & Jazz on a Wurli or Rhodes

2

[peter]

On Hoppy said

Picked up a few items I’ve had some bad GAS for:

Upgrade to Spitfire Chamber Strings Pro $125

Spitfire Symphonic Motions $89

Pianoteq upgrade from stage to standard with the new Shigeru Kawai SK-EX as my free piano. $112

also the PianoTeq Bosendorfer for $39

Toontrack Hard-rock EZX $42

Udemy (3) Orchestration classes $30

I wonder what percentage of us are rockers. I’d love to have asked that in the registration, but people get turned off from too many questions. I would definitely be interested in a string arranging class. I’ve had lessons on piano, organ, drums, and guitar, but not strings and it’s been ages since I’ve read sheet music.  I’ve been doing everything by ear.

On a completely unrelated note, at a certain point I bet this site will start ranking in the top 100 with Google for “bad gas!”

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

1

[fretman]

For orchestral help just get Marc Jovani‘s newsletter. They full of interesting and valuable information. I also recommend subscribing to his Youtube channel. He has for-sale classes but his free videos are very helpful.

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

3

[superabbit]

On anxiousmofo said

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.

Congratulations and welcome to the MClub!

I wonder if you’ll experience the (not kidding, it’s documented on VI Control) slight feeling of loss that some of us felt once we topped out our MComplete licenses. It’s not unlike school graduation where you had a goal you were working toward for years and then you reached the goal and while you have the prize, you don’t have the goal any more. And you miss it in a way.

Sure, it’s amazing to be able to mess around with even all of those weird plug-ins that you didn’t care about because you couldn’t see how they might fit into your process, but the dream is now a reality, and sometimes we miss a dream when it’s gone. That sweet feeling of anticipation is replaced with “what the hell do I do with all of these things?” Fortunately, they trickle out new sounds for MSoundFactory with enough regularity that it’s good to check in every so often. Also occasional new plug-ins like MDelay, which is a handy little 2-tap delay, part of the MFreeFX bundle.

Anyway, my big holiday plum was Sonuscore The Orchestra Essentials for $49. It expands the set of preset instruments (and their underlying samples) from the 20 you get with the free version to 99. For anyone who tried The Orchestra Elements for free and was knocked out, yep, it’s worth the 50 bucks.

Many if not most of the presets are kinda too “cinematic” (read “bombastic”) for me to use in songs, but it’s easy enough to turn off or modify the arpeggiators and thin things out.

Of course, you can use it right out of the tin as intended, which is a very fast shortcut to credible film, TV and game scores just from holding chords.

Many of my music software purchases are impulse buys from favorite manufacturers where I like them enough that I’ll buy almost anything they kick out, but this is one where I waited months for it to go on sale at 50% off.

I’ve been having fun using it to make silly orchestral “overtures” for existing songs. Copy the main chordal MIDI track, slap on The Orchestra Essentials and it’s instant overture.

-Erik
___________
superabbit.bandcamp.com

41

[RoyalYaksman]

Software wise I only picked up a couple of Reflex IR packs from ML Sound Lab. They really do just slot into a mix with very little lifting left to do.

The other purchase was 20% off Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro X headphones to be my main monitoring cans. Significant upgrade from my Sennheiser HD280’s. I can actually hear the bass properly with these instead of just part of the lows and having to eyeball the bottom of the bottom end with some best guess knob twisting serendipity.

• This reply was modified 11 months, 2 weeks ago by RoyalYaksman.

1

[peter]

On RoyalYaksman said

Software wise I only picked up a couple of Reflex IR packs from ML Sound Lab. They really do just slot into a mix with very little lifting left to do.

The other purchase was 20% off Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro X headphones to be my main monitoring cans. Significant upgrade from my Sennheiser HD280’s. I can actually hear the bass properly with these instead of just part of the lows and having to eyeball the bottom of the bottom end with some best guess knob twisting serendipity.

I was actually in need of better monitoring headphones, so thanks for posting that, @RoyalYaksman. I know I was talking to a developer friend who recommended I look into Beyerdynamic. Back in my playing (working musician) days, it was AKG, but that was ages ago.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[lastcall]

SLO by Neural DSP.

I feel it sounds 25% better than Tonex or Amplitube so far.

And comes with a transposer.

Now all my guitar tracks in my previous projects will have this amp sim, lol.

It really makes you feel like a pro (works and SOUNDS great).

NOW I get 20% discount on any plugin……. WOW that is great.

I mean, not gonna buy another, they are super expensive but they made me feel good with that statement on an email.

• This reply was modified 11 months, 2 weeks ago by lastcall.

3

[mustakatu]

On lastcall said

I mean, not gonna buy another

But you will. I sit almost exclusively on Neural and Mixwave, worth every penny. Didn’t touch Amplitube for ages

[nishyp]

Think I got carried away here but someone might find it useful or enjoy the read at least! 😅

BF/CM Haul

I think typing this section out shows how much I try to get the best bang for my buck lol

• VoosteQ bundle
  Material Comp & Model N Channel together for $31.80 was my first buy for the season and it was with zero hesitation
• Sonic Academy – Kick 3 Upgrade
  Already had Kick 2 and was beta testing Kick 3 earlier and saw it as a worthy upgrade.
  Being discounted + having some rewards points + getting SA76 for free made it easier!
• dSONIQ RealPhones – Ultimate Upgrade from Professional
  Snagged Professional second-hand a month earlier and the upgrade price was reasonable.
  The Sennheiser HD650’s + RealPhones with my custom EQ curve is my alternative to Slate VSX. Which I don’t even want to contemplate getting until I have a nice pair of Planar’s
• WavesFactory – Echo Cat
  I wanted this for well over a year, and finally crumbled lmao
• KV331 Audio – SynthMaster Everything Bundle Upgrade from SM1 + SM2
  Wanted this for a while too $63.20 with the coupon REKKERD made it easier.
• Samples From Mars – All The Samples From Mars
  Didn’t need this but wanted it for a few years.
  Someone kindly gave me a voucher to get this for $29 so I couldn’t say no!
• Izotope – Everything Bundle Upgrade
  Already had the everything bundle from back in 2022 and managed to upgrade everything to the latest version for a very silly price with some digging and using the code NERDS10 to shave off an additional 10%
• apulSoft – SplitS
  Got the apulSoft FX Bundle earlier in the year for $44.10 and was a fan!
  Saw SplitS in action here, immediately gave it a demo and loved it!
  Got an additional 25% off thanks to someone giving me their MWTM coupon which took this down to $31

Undecided

• Tokyo Dawn Labs – OD DeEdger
  $29 seems like the lowest price this has ever been!
  Do I need this or am I just trying to round off the collection with the missing plugin?

Wishlist

I really wanted to get my hands on a few other things but feel like I was already pushing it so here’s a wishlist for next year.

• Fuse Audio Labs
  I wanted to buy EVERYTHING (not joking, even contacted their support about it!)
  At the very least I wanted FlyWheel & VCS-1
  Somehow, this slipped my mind and I got nothing. At least I’ve got a whole year to save 😂
• Mixland – Total Bundle
  Mainly wanted 3348 TAPE and Subloom.
  The bundle made sense due to the cost but again, funds said no.
• Surreal Machines – Dub Machines
  Great price but I took too long to think because it felt a bit impulsive and I missed the boat.
  My wallet is thankful for that, maybe next year lmao.

Skip List

All the things I passed on. Seems like it’s either upgrades I couldn’t justify, things that are too expensive or things I hadn’t used enough (or at all) to even fully consider spending money on.

• Arturia – Upgrades for V Collection & FX Collection
  Already upgraded from V Collection 8 to 9 and FX Collection 2 to 3 prior and barely scratched the surface before that so no upgrading this time around.
• Korg – Upgrade to Korg Collection 5
  Barely made use of Collection 4 after upgrading from Collection 3 which I barely dove into it so no upgrading this time around.
• Universal Audio – Signature Edition V2 Upgrade
  Can’t justify the cost of the upgrade from V1 to V2
• Black Rooster Audio – The ALL Bundle
  Good deal & great dev but I haven’t jumped into this and waiting on VST3 support
• Eventide – Anthology XII Upgrade
  The upgrade price for me was $149 but couldn’t justify it.
• Aberrant DSP – Complete Bundle
  Need to mess with it more to justify buying it.
• Auburn Sounds – All of them
  $12 a pop? Hard to pass up but I have to start messing around with them and justify the buy
• Sonnox – Essential Bundle
  Already have the Enhance Bundle so adding this on would mean I would essentially have the Elite Bundle. Couldn’t justify it but was a great price!
• Relab Development
  I have Sonsig Rev-A & LX480 Essentials but these are spenny.
• LiquidSonics
  Again, beautiful tools and if I had money to burn, I’d have it all!
• Waves – Upgrade from Platinum Bundle
  Don’t use it enough to justify.
• SynchroArts/LANDR – Ultimate Plugin Bundle
  Looks like a reasonable deal but I’m not a fan of the move away from iLok and the lack of upgrade pricing if you own anything already.
• Polyverse
  I’ve wanted Manipulator for years but I can’t justify the cost.
  Still can’t, even the bundle cost causes friction for me.
• Pulsar Audio
  Seems to be popular but haven’t had time to check out.

Hope List

• Plugin Alliance – PA ALL Bundle (Upgrade Offers)
  I got my hands on the PA ALL Bundle 2022 for a killer price. Would love to upgrade to get my hands on a few of the new toys in PA’s collection. I skipped previous offers because the cost wasn’t justifiable. Still hoping this comes to fruition and is reasonable.

41

[peter]

@nishyp I woke up this morning to see your post went into automoderation. Don’t blame me! Haha. Whenever a post has a certain number of links — I don’t recall the exact number — the automoderation software kicks in to hold it for approval, as spammers tend to use a lot of links in posts.

Anyhow, I approved it, of course. Sorry for the delay, but while it catches innocent posts like yours, once I finally open the registration up to the public, that rule is going to end up catching a lot of spam. So just know if you have a post with a lot of links, it might be delayed a bit, but of course, I’ll approve it. I realize it took a good deal of time to put together and I appreciate your making a helpful post that can be vaiuable to the community.

– Peter

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[nishyp]

@peter don’t sweat it! I’m happy I got to take automoderation for a spin haha! 😂

I felt all the links would’ve triggered it and totally understand the need for it too.

Some of my post formatting broke a tiny bit so edited the post to test if it would go back into automoderation too, sorry! 😅

1

[peter]

Starting this site was not the best idea for my plan to cut back my spending on DAW related purchases. Here’s what I bought so far:

Studio One Pro 7 with 12 month subscription
Abbey Road Two Iconic Strings
Musio 1
Synthmaster 3 Upgrade
SonarWorks SoundID Voice AI
Sonibile Smart EQ4Musio 1
Black Rooster Audio OmniTec-67A
United Audio VoxDucker
ezMix Drum Elements
Neon City Synthwave for Massive

To Buy:
headphones for monitoring (closed end) – I was recommended Beyer Dynamic headphones. I’d love to hear recommendations.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

3

[fretman]

I love my closed back DT-1770 Pro 250 Ohm. Got mine from Thomann.

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

1

[peter]

On fretman said

I love my closed back DT-1770 Pro 250 Ohm. Got mine from Thomann.

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

Life doesn’t want me to play anymore. I have severe tendinitis, to the point where using a manual can opener is painful and I’m hard of hearing, so I need to crank up the volume so that there’s a bunch of bleed into the mic when I’m doing vocals. So that’s absolutely a factor for me.  In order to hear a click I have to crank it up so loud, that always bleeds through on vocals. So closed back is always a necessity for me. Thanks!

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[peter]

I realize buying Waves stuff is never popular, but last night, knowing the $49 for 3 plugins deal was about to expire, I pressed buy and picked up:

– Abbey Road RS124 (OMG, I love this compressor!!!!)

– Harmony

– Curves Equator

I realize I may be shunned by @Fleer for this, but I demoed Abbey Road RS124 yesterday on a cover I’m working on of John Lennon’s Imagine — easily the best cover I’ve done to date and I used Abbey Road 2 Iconic Strings, Tina Guo Strings, Piano in Blue (all of which I just purchased on Black Friday deals) along with Abbey Road RS124 on the piano, bass, and drums and WOW!!! I couldn’t say no. I put Waves Harmony on my vocal — just a scratch vocal and it was the best sounding vocal I’ve ever done since attempting to play again. Yeah, my idea that I would cut back on DAW related purchases this year has been a total fail, and then I pumped more than 3,000 hours and over $1,500 into this site, so yeah, I’m all in.

I bought a bunch of stuff for this site during Black Friday to add functionality that you guys are going to absolutely love, that will make finding information related to making music on a DAW a lot easier. I’ll share more later. But yeah, 2024 has turned out to be a year of overspending, but I have an incredible bunch of sample libraries, plugins and a new DAW.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

[thesteven]

On thesteven said

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.

Ended up getting the subwoofer via Guitar Center, they couldn’t match $300 but they gave me a bundled price that included tax (9.5% at my location) and it was good enough.
It works really nice with my JBL 305P MkII’s

Other BF/Holiday purchases

Amazon.com: Sceptre 34-Inch Curved Ultrawide WQHD Monitor 3440 x 1440 
Currently on sale for $217 (which is slightly cheaper than my BF price), love the extra screen real estate and the 165 refresh rate is nice.

Spectralayers 11 upgrade $47.99

Kilohearts Ultimate – bundle completion $32.39 USD (2 spectral engines)

UA 3 bundle – GTR amp sims $84

XLN completion $68.37

and finally (for audio stuff) – not sure exactly why I picked these up (probably FOMO) as I haven’t had time to learn how to use either fully…

Ableton Live 12 upgrade – $172

PreSonus 7 upgrade $111.21

 

+ household stuff (ceiling fan, new toilet for master bathroom, etc.)

Spent more than I had budgeted.

3

[Author]

Posts