This was huge surprise, but totally understandable.  I don’t know anything about managing websites, but I would think that a presence on reddit would offer a huge boost in participation.  I’m on board the move.

In the meanwhile, Peter, you’re amazing for having gotten us this far.

What do I like most?  Well, two things, actually.  It’s great to be part of a community where there isn’t constant bickering.  It’s gets kind of old, you know.  People here are able to be adult and have rational discussions without devolving into flames. Heck, even Peter-IK can post here without fear of being burning to the ground.  It”s all quit…Read More

Virtual Stage – One Move, Perfect Placement
Virtual Stage is a straightforward plugin designed to help you position instruments naturally within your mix.
By moving the sound source inside a virtual room, the plugin’s built-in algorithms adjust EQ, delay, stereo width, balance, panning, and reverb in real time – changing the perceived spati…Read More

On April 21, 2026 at 4:05 am swijaya said
This is a link (posted by @Kirean on another deal forum) to a (don’t-buy-)review:

https://happycomposer.com/aria-lss-review/

That review has some audio samples.  If you’re on the fence they’re worth a listen.

On April 15, 2026 at 1:49 pm Xandre said
Are any of these new freebies, or just a collection of previous freebies?

I’m not positive, but it seems like Polymax Synth and Analog machines might be new.

I took your advice and downloaded this.  it’s excellent!  Not only does it have great sounds, but includes a bunch of presets.

I took a look and my first impression is that this looks pretty good.  The guy seems to know what he’s talking about.  It certainly beats my theory of compression which is “slap a preset on that thang and move on”.

I think you were being extremely kind when you said, “It’s challenging to be optimistic about investment firms acquiring music companies after what happened to NI.”  It just doesn’t bode well, does it?  A friend of mine works in the finance business and if anyone mentions the words “private equity” to him he just grinds his teeth.

On April 6, 2026 at 8:33 pm mibby said
I knew this sounded familiar!  For those who have upgraded to Fender Studio Pro 8, login to < https://my.fender.com > and check under “My Gear”.  There are a bunch of VERY good freebies in there, including 54th Street Studio 1.

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

Thanks for t…Read More

I’m glad to see you give this guy a shout-out.  He has a ton of plugins that really do sound good.  If you want to support him, but don’t want to go the full patreon route, you can also just make a donation of any amount you choose.

On March 14, 2026 at 10:28 am MrFigg said
This for me was one of those “it’s only $5 what can go wrong?” purchases.

That sentence has gotten me into trouble more than once.  My problem is I keep raising the baseline.  “It’s only $10, it’s only $14.99, Oh look, I can get one for the price of two”.  I’ve got say, I really like the “it’s better t…Read More

What’s up with IK these days?  With all the fire-sale prices and discontinuation of some of their major software players (Sampletank, Mellotron to name two) I get the feeling they’re leaving the software world behind and moving towards a Tonex/hardware type future.

Musio user here so I’m especially glad to have you here.  Pop in whenever you get a chance.

I didn’t know about the Music Gear Review search, but I checked it out and it’s great!

Now that I’ve recovered from the shock of Th Announcement I’m looking at libraries again.  I’m convinced that NI may not survive but Kontakt will.  My only real concern is who it ends up with, but that’s a problem for another day.

I know I say this a lot, but it’s amazing what we are able to get for free.  For someone who is on a tight budget these are great days to be making music!

On February 18, 2026 at 2:31 pm fretman said
Blind Faith

America

Crosby, Stills, and Nash

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

I saw America way back in 1974 (I think “Tin man” was their hit at the moment).  I wasn’t expecting much, but I was impressed by how good they were as musicians, they were very tight and well-rehearsed.  Q…Read More

Definitely click on the Youtube link!  This guy has a TON of freebie plugins, and quite a few are modeled on famous gear.  If you’re into free, then this is the place to be.

I’m surprised that they are just now making this available for desktop.  I’m also a bit surprised that they aren’t making it a plugin, though that may be because of some programming issues that are beyond me.  I wonder how it will do at $396 retail, since they have some pretty stiff competition from TONEX, Overloud and others.

On February 3, 2026 at 10:53 am LinkedMusicians said
@jude77, I would love doing a Zoom group. We can even do a special forum dedicated to it if we can find enough people interested. I’m so tied up from working on the site, I would love it if someone else could take the lead. But I can do things to help promote it on the site. Consider this O…

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On February 3, 2026 LinkedMusicians said
Upload your audio file and Waves Voice ReGen will give you 5 minutes free every day.

Of course, this is Waves, so I delved into the details, because, well, it’s Waves and you really need to check the details very carefully for anything from Waves.

It’s says a lot when you have to add all sorts of d…Read More

Plugin Doctor’s all seeing eye is quite revelatory!  It worth every penny of $17.  Now you can finally see exactly what all these plugins are doing to your audio.

I think we need our friend @jude77 — a retired psychologist — to give us all some coaching on how to curb our plugin and sample library hoarding, but then again, I’m pretty sure that he’s as bad as the rest of us! 😉

The official LinkedMusicians account

I figure we could do a zoom group.  The difficult part is that I would the facilita…Read More

Those really are some great prices.  I’ve watching their reverb for a while and this is the time to take the plunge.

Like you, I wish that UA could take the Abbey Road stuff from Waves.  First, because UA does an amazing job with everything they touch, and secondly, I’m still peeved about that Waves subscription thing.  I find I can’t quite ma…Read More

These guys were brand new to me so I took a look.  It’s quite impressive.  I just hope the intro price holds for a while.

On February 1, 2026 at 8:50 am fretman said
If the price is good, I’ll still buy Kontakt instruments. If OT has a new instrument, I’ll buy that at its introductory price sight unseen.

Studio One, Windows, RME UFX, Yamaha MSP7

Ditto.  In my world OTS=high quality.  And like Peter says in his post above yours, I feel confident that if Konta…Read More

I guess it depends.  If someone like OTS had a big sale I would be all over that.  Likewise if it was an obscure instrument I had always been looking for I’d be in (“Oh wow! Look here’s a model of a 1966 Farfisa organ with a dead middle C note just like John Lennon once kicked over”).  Otherwise I’ll hold off.  One the other hand I’ll probably sti…Read More

I popped in the web-site and the compressor looks very interesting, especially for a freebie.  I always hope people like this will be able to continue what they’re doing because it gives little guys a chance to get into music production without breaking the bank.

Peter, your insight into issues like these are invaluable to the rest of us. I had assumed that most of the major players (NI, VSL, OTS etc) were fairly large stable businesses.  More and more I’m starting to see that many are small and maybe only one person, or a small group of people.

As to the whole Kontakt news, I wish NI would put out a…Read More

Peter, thanks for that.  I think my blood pressure just dropped 10 points.  I’s liking the idea that Kontakt is too valuable to just vanish.  I was hoping that was the case as I read Satya’s article.  I’d love to know what developers, such as OTS, who are heavily invested in Kontakt are thinking.

Yow!  Just got a bit of a knot in my stomach.  Needless to say, I, like a lot of other folks, are pretty heavily invested in Kontakt.  I read the article that Satya posted and it looks to me like Kontakt will be sold.  Hopefully that will be to someone who wants to invest in and continue its existence.  Peter, we need you to weigh-in and tell us w…Read More

Fab Four as a freebie is nice, but it’s getting a bit long in the tooth.  I wish it had more keyboards and less guitars, but the Beatles were basically a guitar band, so there’s that.

I’m still looking for the mythological “Gooderizer” that will somehow make all mixes/music sound even better than what a pro can do.  I know that it, a unicorn, and a close parking space at Target are all out there.  Probably near the Fountain of Youth.

These days I just watch deals in general and see if anything interesting pops up.  I’m re…Read More

I’ve heard some truly harrowing stories about this guy and his emails.  I’m surprised he does it, because I would assume it would create some pretty poor customer relations.  But I guess he must think it does something good.  Or maybe he just enjoys annoying people.

If anybody has done this, let it know what you got.

The problems with Simeon’s video’s is that he’s so talented he could play the spoons and make ’em sound beautiful.  On the other hand, you drop the Pianoforte into my hands and it sounds like scared cats running across the strings.

James’ response to the attacks he received is pretty sad.  The internet can be a particularly brutal place, but it’s always distressing to see the brutality unleashed on a guy who’s trying to do something GOOD.  My personal thanks to Peter for reaching out to James with a kind word.  I feel confident he’ll appreciate it.

I’ve been watching these guys for a while and I think they’re fairly new.  I don’t know how tough the music plugin market is, but I hope they find a place.  I always like to see the little guy make it.

On December 15, 2025 at 2:10 am swijaya said
Hi @peter, first of all, I didn’t know that there’s an e-mail alert for Deals section. However, you’re correct that I probably don’t want to be alerted of every single deals. That being said, I might be having more interest in time-sensitive deals and glitches, and yes, I think I’ll try subscribi…

Read More

I’m not really a keyboard player, though I can sound impressive due to midi editing, so I’m not sure I really have the ear to hear a great piano from an OK one.  With that in mind, lately I’ve been using Pianoteq a lot, probably as much for its ease as its sounds, though I do like the way it sounds.  It has sort of a “3D” alive thing going on I l…Read More

It’s very interesting sounding.  Sort of a like a 1950’s sci-fy movie sound effect when a genie pops out of a bottle.

I noticed that since starting this site you’ve referenced your family several times.  On each occasion it was in warm, appreciative, graceful tones.  It’s pretty easy to see a genuine closeness is there.  Parenting can be tough sledding, and plenty of people do it poorly.  Freud famously said our parents screw us up in our first two years and the…Read More

As AI progresses, it makes me wonder what the future holds.  Presently, plugins like this fascinate me, and I realize they will only grow more complex and capable over time.  I think I’d like to be alive when quantum computers hit the home market to see what happens.

I’ve followed this guy for years and he seems like a really good fellow.  The video is very clever and worth watching even if you don’t download the bells.

The first paragraph was definitely a bit of sunshine on an otherwise cold, gray and rainy day.  I realize that most small developers probably work on a shoestring budget, so I try to support them whenever I can.  Tone Empire comes immediately to mind.  I had to deal with him a year or so ago and he was just a super guy.  Very patient and det…Read More

The Fairchild collection would be worth the price alone.  This one really is a good deal.  Thanks for posting.

I’m with you on RR.  Like you, the one time I needed support I got it quickly, and generally found them very easy to work with.  Their niche is very quirky instruments that you won’t find anywhere else, so if you’re looking for originality this is definitely the place to start.

For anyone interested in dipping their toe into Nebula world, the N4.6 is on sale right now for $199 (regularly $399) here: https://www.acustica-audio.com/shop/products/neb4server

“BTW, to cynics who wonder if I’ll shill for a retailer or sample library developer when we have affiliate links, look no further than this. When I have enough information that I don’t think a developer’s libraries or plugins are good, I won’t post them OR I’ll post them with a note sharing what I know. Of course, that’s not going to help a s…Read More

For less than the cost of a cup of cappuccino I’m definitely in.