What’s On Your Black Friday Wish List This Year?

[LinkedMusicians]

I wrote and published a blog post this morning on how Black Friday starts in October for this industry. Soon after it went live, the freebies from UAD, Safari Pedals, Hornet, and Eventide started rolling in.

It’s gotten to the point where I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Valhalla DSP broke from their long history of not having sales. I’ve already picked up deals far better than what I ever would have expected and have found myself a very happy user of UAD plugins — a developer that several years ago I would have told you was out of my price range. And today, I saw that people can pick up UAD’s Sound City and Capitol plugins for $10 each in part of a 10 plugin bundle. It’s mind-blowing and fantastic news for music producers — especially those on a tight budget.

So, what’s on your Black Friday Wish List this year?

Are you eagerly watching the deals right now, as companies start their massive discounts in October in an effort to beat out competitors?

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5

[Zargg]

I’ll start off with a boring one.
I don’t have a wishlist this year. I got a TONEX pedal and Total Studio Max 5 (on sale) earlier this year, plus upgraded to Soundtoys 5 from the Effect Rack (also on sale) so that was my money spent for the rest of the year.

I don’t feel like I’m missing anything either.

All the best.

Check out my music: https://soundcloud.com/zargg

5

[Peter Woods]

On Zargg said

I’ll start off with a boring one.
I don’t have a wishlist this year. I got a TONEX pedal and Total Studio Max 5 (on sale) earlier this year, plus upgraded to Soundtoys 5 from the Effect Rack (also on sale) so that was my money spent for the rest of the year.

I don’t feel like I’m missing anything either.

All the best.

I actually don’t have a Black Friday Wish List either, but I have in past years. So what I’m doing and planning on doing is to just snap up the free stuff and the ridiculously cheap stuff, like the $1 deal from Plugin Boutique for the USYNTH and UVI ReLayer that was posted yesterday. ReLayer  seems excellent (@lamia6 and I regularly PM each other and she was sharing how she’s using ReLayer and loves it, so I’m eager to play around with it soon).

@zargg, have you snapped up the free UAD guitar amp, the Safari Pedals effect, and a couple of others that have been posted in the past couple of days? This is top notch stuff, not low end junk or even lite versions (although those are being released too). Are you, like me, watching for more of those deals and for more freebies to come out?  I’m confident there’s more on the way as developers and retailers are fighting for our attention and our dollars.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

1

[Xandre]

The only one I currently have in mind is upgrading my Arturia V Collection to the latest version. And if the price is right their FX Suite too

Xandre
Chaos Scatterbrain with a plethora of 4 bar loop projects, and barely any songs

5

[MagicRuss]

At this point I really doubt that I will buy any more instruments or effects on BF.

I am not updating the Arturia package until the next iteration.

I will possibly buy some reverb libraries from Overloud for ReMatrix.

I might buy some presets for Arturia or AAS synths.

I will definitely buy any MIDI libraries for EZKeys and EZBass that they sell for $10.

I will probably buy a guitar pedal.

6

[lamia6]

Not really sure what is going to be left with the crazy good sales of late Sept. and now. Gonna scoop Spire within the next day or 2 and after that, maybe Sonic Academy’s Kick, likely a few goodies at Audio Assault (Vulgar and Insanity guitar amp, Amper Funk bass amp, Octaverb for sure) and a few extra cabs, maybe Slynth1 if the deal is as good as last year, and Cyberpunk presets pack for Spire. Can’t think of much else, unless a glitch deal for u-he Hive and-or Pro-Q happens (can always hope right, lol)

Edit: Also a Hyte Y-70 PC case in strawberry milk, so I can start building my next dream PC. But that never goes on sale, and is one of the hardest cases to get these days.

CINZ NET Radio    |    Radio Registry

4

[Zargg]

On Peter Woods said

On Zargg said

I’ll start off with a boring one.
I don’t have a wishlist this year. I got a TONEX pedal and Total Studio Max 5 (on sale) earlier this year, plus upgraded to Soundtoys 5 from the Effect Rack (also on sale) so that was my money spent for the rest of the year.

I don’t feel like I’m missing anything either.

All the best.

I actually don’t have a Black Friday Wish List either, but I have in past years. So what I’m doing and planning on doing is to just snap up the free stuff and the ridiculously cheap stuff, like the $1 deal from Plugin Boutique for the USYNTH and UVI ReLayer that was posted yesterday. ReLayer  seems excellent (@lamia6 and I regularly PM each other and she was sharing how she’s using ReLayer and loves it, so I’m eager to play around with it soon).

@zargg, have you snapped up the free UAD guitar amp, the Safari Pedals effect, and a couple of others that have been posted in the past couple of days? This is top notch stuff, not low end junk or even lite versions (although those are being released too). Are you, like me, watching for more of those deals and for more freebies to come out?  I’m confident there’s more on the way as developers and retailers are fighting for our attention and our dollars.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music.

I have indeed picked up those freebies Peter, and will continue to look for more deals with those prices 😉

Check out my music: https://soundcloud.com/zargg

2

[mustakatu]

Mostly presets for the gear I already have. Cache algorithm by Sinevibes for my Korg NTS-3 unit, newly released packs for XLN XO, and maybe Addictive Drums if the discount is deep enough. Honestly, I just want the Softube Console Fader MKIII hardware unit to go on sale, but I guess that’s not happening.

2

[fretman]

Gforce OB Bundle https://www.gforcesoftware.com/products/the-oberheim-bundle/

MusicSampling classical guitar https://musicalsampling.com/nylon-rustique/

MusicSampling steel-string guitar https://musicalsampling.com/hoard-picked-acoustic/

Insanity Samples Hurdy Gurdy https://insanitysamples.com/products/the-gurdy-hurdy-gurdy-wheel-fiddle

Arrange Like a Pro book: https://www.amazon.com/Arrange-Like-Pro-Richard-Niles/dp/B0D6WLQVMT/

I already have a few good classical/steel-string guitar VIs but I often need 1 more to make an  ensemble sound more real.

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

3

[anxiousmofo]

Zebra 3 upgrade

More modules for Softube Modular if they go on significant sale

Maybe VCV Rack Pro

Dawesome Novum and/or Myth if they go on deep sale

Maybe update my V Collection

Plasmonic if it is 50% off or more  (never has been, not holding my breath)

What I’m really wanting is a Moog Matriarch at 20% off or more, but I’d have to sell a bunch of other gear to afford that.

Tangled roots perplex her ways.

3

[patrickwichrowski]

Arturia – Rev LX-24 is a possibility.

https://linktr.ee/patrickwichrowski/

https://patrickwichrowski.bandcamp.com/

2

[Nitrate Audio]

I am hoping for some good deals from my fav dev Soniccouture.

Gear & Setup:
Instruments: guitars, lapsteels, mandolins, bass, e.t.c.
Hardware: Mac Mini M2 Pro 32gb, Windows 10 Pro 32gb
DAWs & other stuff: FL Studio, Cubase, Maschine
Amp Sims: Amplitube, AmpRoom, S-Gear, Stark

3

[lastcall]

On Zargg said

I’ll start off with a boring one.
I don’t have a wishlist this year. I got a TONEX pedal and Total Studio Max 5 (on sale) earlier this year, plus upgraded to Soundtoys 5 from the Effect Rack (also on sale) so that was my money spent for the rest of the year.

I don’t feel like I’m missing anything either.

All the best.

Present past for the future

I’ve tried the longest to make ToneX spind any good with no avail. Maybe some decent cleans, or OD.

But with Hi Gain…it sounds like 1000 needles against a block of metal.

Plugging my Ibanez RG 7321 with Dimarzio Pafs directly to an Apollo X8.

I love all kind of guitar sounds, the amp doesn’t matter to me.

Same with NAM, on my end it all sounds very bad.

I don’g undertand how some guys achieve amazing sounds.

(Using also any plugin it just sounds bad, even the Soldano feo Neuraldsp).

Tried everything, even gain staging…

Clean my guitar with no plugins sounds SUPERB.

I don’t get it.

 

 

1

[mustakatu]

@lastcall, sorry to hear that. IMO something’s def wrong here, e.g. Neural DSP are so hard to make them sound bad. There’s a growing discussion on gain staging on guitar plugins, have you watched videos like these to figure out the reason of your problem?

 

Also, there’s a shared spreadsheet called “Interface and Amp Sim Input Level Table”:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bZHaapCiCg4RLIFqTS5KyUUVa4MwaqfxRCYk35Bvdrs

2

[fretman]

Wish there were instructions to go along with the spreadsheet. Is it in the video (haven’t watched that yet)?

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

1

[mustakatu]

@fretman, no, the spreadsheet is associated with this video instead:

3

[lastcall]

Ty Mustakatu, any help is highly appreciated.

And yeah, I’ve seen it all, or so I thought.

You don’t know my story (just Peter), but now that I have finally recovered a lot of health after years and years, I took out a pedal that somene gave to me brand new, that I never opened because of lack of health, enthusiasm, energy,etc.

Beautiful pedal (on the outside), looks marvelous, all of that not important but this: I didn’t know it was a DIGITAL pedal, and that it could work as a preamp.

Little did I know, I just plugged it in to my interface as a regular pedal, and somehow, if I am not deluded, I am getting that great sound of those youtubers. I attribute it to it being a preamp, idk.

It’s like it fixes my signal, maybe it’s the impedance, I have no clue.

I just know my sound seems to have been fixed. Have tested this twice, so I hope this holds up true.

The pedal? Positive Grid Distortion Pro. Found some videos and one in particular sounded awesome.

I don’t want to Jinx it but it seems I finally will be able to finish my songs.

Godspeed y’all!

EDiT: I haven’t found a good sound of ToneX. It all sounds distant and muddy. No matter the gain staging I do. I tried… a lot… cleans are alright, but high gain is out of the question. Amalgam captures don’t do it either. V2 ones… nope… DI (only amps)… nope.

At least got rid of the harshness I was detecting a lot.
Not even the Soldano NDSP sounds good to my ears.

ALL VERY HOLLOW and kind of honky. I tried using equalization before the amp… nothing… (with EQ I managed to get “better” cleans though).
No presence and tightness at all most of the time.

21

[mustakatu]

I’ve got a strong feeling this Black Friday season will be overwhelmingly, oppressively packed with events and really good deals of all kinds (unlike the previous one), so buckle up, we’re in for a rollercoaster ride

21

[zoukiman]

On Nitrate Audio said

I am hoping for some good deals from my fav dev Soniccouture.

Still waiting, dreaming and hoping for the return of the crazy deal that I missed in 2022…

ANY 5 PRODUCTS: €249 | $249

ANY 10 PRODUCTS: €399 | $399

…

2

[Peter-IK]

For anybody who didn’t feel the Group Buy or the Humble Bundle (both currently running) weren’t for them, I’m listening… Just sayin’ 🙂

I represent IK Multimedia so I will post official things. I also may just post random things as a real human being because I also represent one of those. I will try to be clear when I'm just speaking as Peter, instead of "Peter from IK".

I make no promises to be 100% accurate in doing so, though. 🙂

1

[LinkedMusicians]

On Peter-IK said

For anybody who didn’t feel the Group Buy or the Humble Bundle (both currently running) weren’t for them, I’m listening… Just sayin’ 🙂

Wait, what is this? I demand you post your Black Friday Wish List!!!! There has to be something that you don’t own that you want? Maybe a guitar???
Although, I’m asking my friend, Peter, not official, @peter-ik! Maybe you should create a second account?

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[Peter-IK]

On LinkedMusicians said

On Peter-IK said

For anybody who didn’t feel the Group Buy or the Humble Bundle (both currently running) weren’t for them, I’m listening… Just sayin’ 🙂

Wait, what is this? I demand you post your Black Friday Wish List!!!! There has to be something that you don’t own that you want? Maybe a guitar???
Although, I’m asking my friend, Peter, not official, @peter-ik! Maybe you should create a second account?

Well, I somewhat recently picked up the Epiphone Alex Lifeson Les Paul and I have been enjoying the Marshall DSL40CR combo that I bought a bit before that… and I have all the TONEX Pedals/ONEs that I can handle plus TONEX Cab so I might not have much of a wish list.  Oh and I got the Alex Lifeson TONEX Pedal signed so I’ll take some Rush tickets to either Madison Square Garden or the Hard Rock near the IK US office 😉

I could use a C414 mic but even a Black Friday deal on that would be pretty expensive.  Software-wise I don’t mind giving props to competitors where due so since we don’t do a proper restoration suite I wouldn’t mind a deep discount on an RX upgrade.  Dorico Pro super deal for Cubase users (literally lifetime – Cubase’s, that is – user) would be great since my hand notation is not what it used to be.  Deals on things I subscribe to like OnSong and Ultimate Guitar would be great since they’re coming due soon enough.

Outside of music, after the GamePass price hike I’d like to stockpile some while I can still get it cheaper so that’s not really a BF deal.  I will buy some non-AAA / indie DLC at full price for a couple of games if they release some (Vampire Survivors – but their Castlevania DLC which I have already is getting a free huge update, Brotato, if Balatro adds DLC, stuff like that since they already price their games and DLC so low).  I didn’t buy the top tier Borderlands 4 so if they come out with any deal for the DLC I’ll go for it.

Oh and one of those fancy guitar pick brands, I always hear people raving about Blue Chip and Honey picks but they’re super expensive. I’m a cheap date for guitar picks and strings, I like what I like and what has worked for me for years.  I could probably use a deal on EXL110 strings or some of the specific sets I use on a few of my specific guitars (still nothing really expensive overall) and I believe I still have around 100 Dunlop 0.88mm green Tortex picks but I pick those up when they’re on sale.  I have a laser cutter/engraver so I could just pick up Delrin and make some myself.

Basically I have enough stuff to keep me occupied so likely I’ll only bite if there’s a great upgrade for something I already love and use or something I really want like Dorico but are more expensive than very capable alternatives.

I represent IK Multimedia so I will post official things. I also may just post random things as a real human being because I also represent one of those. I will try to be clear when I'm just speaking as Peter, instead of "Peter from IK".

I make no promises to be 100% accurate in doing so, though. 🙂

31

[zoukiman]

Waldorf Microwave 1 as seen before BF deal at $86 at Thomann https://www.thomannmusic.com/search_dir.html?sw=microwave

 

https://linkedmusicians.com/forums/topic/waldorf-music-black-friday-sale-33-off-on-microwave-1-software-synth-e99/

1

[Peter Woods]

We’re only at Nov 1 and we’ve seen a ridiculous amount of deals. Since I’ve been posting deals, I can say that Plugin Boutique has been the most focused and prolific with pre-Black Friday sales promotions. I’m sure we’re going to see the other big retailers in this space starting up their promotions in a big way very soon. I realize that last year was intense, but we just entered November, and Black Friday deep discounting sales promotions began in September. Analytically, I find what they’ve done is significatly expanded the Black Friday longer than past years and it’s interesting to see how music producers respond to this. After a while, they get fatigue from being bombarded with offers and what normally would get a lot of attention suddenly seems routine.

I was already planning on NOT buying much this holiday season, so I’m just picking up the freebies and low cost deals. My favorite deal I’ve picked up so far wasn’t even on a special sale, it was a Superior Drummer preset bundle (I shared the guy’s info; I LOVE his presets, if you’re a rock fan, check out The Recreation Challenge, great stuff and priced lower than other preset makers, and I think this guy’s work is far better than some of the other SD3 preset makers).  I think the only thing that might tempt me would be an irresistable deal on a SDX, EZX, or EZMIX preset, USYNTH Caramel if it goes on sale like some of the other synths in the line for $5 or so, or any of a few plugin effects I’ve been considering. But I’m only buying if something is a crazy good deal — but I’m fully anticpating that we’ll see more crazy deals that tempt us, as well as compelling freebies.  Developers are getting very aggressive in attempting to grab marketshare and that’s great news for all of us.

LinkedMusicians Founder. Your friend who keeps the beat.

Check out my music. 

3

[LinkedMusicians]

Now that I’m in a bunch of affiliate programs, I do receive calendars of upcoming promotions, and unsurprisingly, some of the brands that have been mentioned have big sales coming up. But I can’t share which ones or I’ll be booted from their affiliate programs. (FTR, I can criticize the heck out of any of them or the developers products they sell and still be fine, but if you share something provided with an agreement for secrecy, they’re done with you, unless you’re a huge affiliate like the big influencers or BPB; considering LinkedMusicians brought in a total of nearly $2 for the month from Plugin Boutique as of last night, we’re still pretty expendable; Audio Deluxe, which I just got set up with, has brought in more than $10 this month; FTR, influencers can NOT give a savage review and still maintain a relationship and get paid from developers they’re shilling for — that would end the relationship; but dealing with a retailer and not taking cash from developers allows for more freedom; I will never protect any developer from criticism, never; it just needs to be civil, that’s all). Hopefully, before the end of next year, these programs can fully support the site.

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3

[LinkedMusicians]

@fretman I just posted that Insanity Samples is having their Black Friday deal. I had to see what the Hurdy Gurdy you want is going for and it’s on sale for $61, regularly $120. But before you buy it, my post includes a code for an additional 30% off your entire purchase, so you’ll want to grab that.

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[dsteinschneider]

I think I’ll be done picking out my 50 IK group buy items by Nov 28 🙂

[LinkedMusicians]

On dsteinschneider said

I think I’ll be done picking out my 50 IK group buy items by Nov 28 🙂

I don’t know what your options are and if you already have it or not, but if you don’t already have Pianoverse, I installed some of the pianos from Pianoverse Max over the weekend and have been blown away at how great it sounds. I immediately fell in love with the Hamburg Grand. It’s definitely among my favorite sampled pianos and went beyond my expectations.

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1

[dsteinschneider]

I downloaded all the Pianoverse grand pianos. Might do the uprights later once I make sure I’ve got all the T-Racks 6 stuff and other little hidden gems like Salsa Percussion Loops which is actually a very playable latin percussion VST.

1

[LinkedMusicians]

On dsteinschneider said

I downloaded all the Pianoverse grand pianos. Might do the uprights later once I make sure I’ve got all the T-Racks 6 stuff and other little hidden gems like Salsa Percussion Loops which is actually a very playable latin percussion VST.

What’s your take on Pianoverse? I love it, and think they’re some of the best-sounding sampled pianos I’ve ever played.

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[mustakatu]

It’s November 13 and I’m already exhausted by all of this. Plugins bought so far: 0

 

Basically it works as a GAS therapy now…

Socrates often wandered through the Athenian agora, a market where merchants shouted and stalls overflowed with goods of every kind. It was his usual place to talk with people and question their ideas about life and virtue. One day, as he paused to look over the endless displays of fine items, he smiled and said happily: “How many things there are that I do not need!”

6

[LinkedMusicians]

@nitrateaudio SonicCoture’s Black Friday sale just went live; I just made a post about it (it’s really short, so you won’t be missing anything by skipping it and heading straight over to SonicCouture’s website or at Best Service’s site where they also have the sale).

https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/

The sale is also live at Best Service and use and earn loyalty cash, get a free plugin and support LM too!

https://www.bestservice.com/en/soniccouture.html?aid=ZBgL2roqVxRSujmR

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1

[Nitrate Audio]

On mustakatu said

It’s November 13 and I’m already exhausted by all of this. Plugins bought so far: 0

 

Yup. same here. 0 so far.

I have to say, I sort of liked that last IKM group buy. I jumped in early with something cheap and then would keep getting my GAS fix by picking up a freebie every week and playing around with it on weekends. This prevented me from buying other stuff and I was always looking forward to tinkering with the new freebies.

Gear & Setup:
Instruments: guitars, lapsteels, mandolins, bass, e.t.c.
Hardware: Mac Mini M2 Pro 32gb, Windows 10 Pro 32gb
DAWs & other stuff: FL Studio, Cubase, Maschine
Amp Sims: Amplitube, AmpRoom, S-Gear, Stark

21

[LinkedMusicians]

You guys are stronger than me! But I post the most deals here, so the temptation is worse for me. It’s like giving an alcoholic a brewery to run. Even if your will is strong, you probably aren’t going to be perfect.

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111

[superabbit]

On LinkedMusicians said

What’s your take on Pianoverse? I love it, and think they’re some of the best-sounding sampled pianos I’ve ever played.

Meldway Grand is still my favorite sampled grand ever, but I was surprised by how much I liked Pianoverse after I got it in that IK Humble Bundle earlier this year. It came with the Black Pearl and Royal Upright models.

Meldway Grand is still my go to for playing solo, but I will be trying the Pianoverse ones in mixes that include acoustic pianos.

-Erik
___________
superabbit.bandcamp.com

1

[Author]

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