Black Friday / Christmas / etc tips

[Guy Rowland]

Not an exhaustive database of every deal, but as we find good stuff perhaps post it here.

Waves - perhaps spooked by UAD - have now moved down to the $19.99 deal level. Some good stuff here - https://www.waves.com/black-friday-early-deals . (Also imo I don't think we're ever going to return to the madness of subs-only, so I wouldn't be too concerned on that score).

Sonnox have some good early deals, 75% off some stuff - https://www2.sonnox.com/pub/plug-shop/shop-b.php

Both of these have additional rolling discounts for multiple products.

[Jaap]

I just saw that Berlin Studio from Samplicity is on sale till the end of November with 40% off
https://samplicity.com/shop/berlin-studio/

I see many positive things about it though I haven't tried it as I feel I am quite done on the reverb side of things (I know....blasphemy ), but as I might go looking for an alternative for the 2CAudio Breeze/Precedence setup this might be for me something to look into.

Anyway, it's on sale!

[Guy Rowland]

Eventide's Blackhole is popular round these parts, and recently they released an Immersive version of this and Micro Pitch for Dolby Atmos use. They have eye-watering RRPs of $499, firmly putting them in the audio post pro category. But blimey that was quick - everyPlugin.com has them at $166 each til Dec 31st. Still not a bargain for most people, but if you love the plugs and work in Atmos it's now more of a realistic option.

https://everyplugin.com/deals/shopby/ma ... ntide.html

[Guy Rowland]

This is pre-Black Friday and only good for 2 days, but Sonuscore have their Kontakt Origins bundle vol1-5 for $20 which really is a steal. I have this already, an excellent series - hoping that vols 6-10 follows this, which don't yet have.

https://www.sonuscore.com/shop/origins-bundle-vol-1-5

[Guy Rowland]

Some new UAD native plugins and bundles (but no RMX16 yet). Here's the deals that Plugin Discounts are doing - https://www.pluginboutique.com/deals/show?sale_id=14657

[Guy Rowland]

Arturia have their deals back. Log in for your pricing, for me V Collection 9 from 8+SQ80 is €99, and FX Collection is €69. I've always resisted both since I have so much stuff. But - more fool me - I was playing around with some of the interactive demos on their website for the FX collection and they do sound absolutely bloody lovely, don't they? That LX24 is gorgeous, and I like they have an optional modern front end and extra modes - https://www.arturia.com/products/softwa ... 4/overview . The Coldfire distortion has some neat tricks too.

Dammit. I can feel my spirit weakening. I'll be turning into Bill with bottomless reverbs.

[wst3]

Curse you Guy - I'd have been quite happy being ignorant of this sale.

At $69 it almost feels foolish to pass, and I likely won't, there are some real gems in there. And I have been impressed with the few effects plugins I've already tried.

It's a race to see which of us caves first Guy!! (and you do not want to be me!!!)

[Guy Rowland]

It's a race to see which of us caves first Guy!! (and you do not want to be me!!!)

Let's see who blinks first!

I've actually put myself back from the brink, as I've read a lot of comments about the LX24 that it is verrrry CPU hungry. I'm not sure I need the aggro.

[wst3]

wow, great minds or something?

I took a look a all that is included and all that I have and decided that I've got all the bases covered. At least that's what I'm thinking this afternoon...

[Guy Rowland]

My real weakness is drum machine samples, and imo the best out there (mmmaybe even better than Samples From Mars) is Goldbaby. They have a 40% off BF sale. I see they have a new huge Tape Drum Machine Collection which includes some of the stuff I already own, and they do extra discounts in these situations.

https://www.goldbaby.co.nz/products.html

Tape Drum Machine Collection (even full price for this at $49 is a steal)
CR-78
4 In The Floor
Acetone Rhythm Producer
Mam ADX-1
Dr Bohm
Combo Sideman
Conn Rhapsody
DDM-110
DDM-220
DDR30
DPM-48
DR-55
DR-110
DRM-15
DRM-16
DRM-32
Drumulator
DSM-1
ED-10
Super Spacedrum
Crash Pad
ER1
KPR-77
KR-55B
Linn LM1
Linn LM2
MBase01
MFB-522
MicroRhythmer
MPC-The Kit
MR-10
MRX-185
Olsen X-100
PB-300
PO-12
R-50e
R-50III
R-70
R-100
Rhythm-80
Ritmo-12
RPM-40
RX-5
RX-21L
RZ-1
Synsonic Pro
Tom
TR-55
TR-330
TR-505
TR-626
TR-707
TR-727
Volca Kick,
XD-5,
Rom808
Rom909

(Includes Battery and Kontakt kits)

[Guy Rowland]

Getting ridiculous with UAD now - $142 for the 44 instrument Signature Bundle at Plugin Discounts - https://plugindiscounts.com/product/uni ... ad-bundle/ . This is labelled as a crossgrade from any bundle, but apparently it works on the free LA-2A.

They'll have the whole collection is available for $1.99 tomorrow, no doubt.

[Mike Marino]

Output is running 50% off all of their instruments, fx, and Arcade.

https://output.com/

[Mikeybabes]

Getting ridiculous with UAD now - $142 for the 44 instrument Signature Bundle at Plugin Discounts - https://plugindiscounts.com/product/uni ... ad-bundle/ . This is labelled as a crossgrade from any bundle, but apparently it works on the free LA-2A.

They'll have the whole collection is available for $1.99 tomorrow, no doubt.

It’s a glitch that has since been corrected.

I really don’t know what UAD are playing at thought…..their pricing strategy seems a bit mad….

[Guy Rowland]

Well even that UAD madness yesterday didn't lure me... I'm doing pretty well so far this year. Those drum machines at something like £16 (wonderful btw - tons of rare models in there) have been my only weakness to date.

So far (UAD aside) there have been very few really new eye-catching deals imo.

[Guy Rowland]

Pretty much everything half price at u-he - plugins and soundsets.

https://u-he.com/specials/autumn-sale-2023.html

[musicformedia]

Don't forget to check the product's price history or setup a price alert to get notified when a product you want to get goes on sale

https://www.musicsoftwaredeals.com

[thesteelydane]

Hey folks, I have started Bunker Samples Black Friday Sale, with the lowest prices of the year on answers to questions that no one has asked before: 50% off everything, and an additional 10% off your entire order if you buy more than one product. *)

Have you ever wondered…

• What happens when you put a microphone inside a viola and play really quiet? Well I wondered, and the result is Iremia

• What if I could seamlessly change a string ensembles size with a slider? Bunker Strings is the answer to that.

• What would I compose on if I woke up in 1910? Probably a Harmonium.

• How many different ways can you bend a single string? The Off-World series is a deep dive into that.

All products require the full version of NI Kontakt. Sale ends December 10.

Take care,
Nicolaj

*) It's not possible to get the extra 10% off Iremia, but it is still on intro sale, and buying it will trigger the 10% bonus discount on any other product you add to the cart. Explained here:

[Scoredog]

Here is one I could not resist. For you guitarists...Neural DSP.
https://neuraldsp.com

50% off everything except one product which is 30%.

[Piet De Ridder]

BOZ Digital Labs, not really known for their sample libraries, have their two pianos on sale: $29 for the bundle instead of $99.

As the price suggests, these aren’t your massive, hundreds-of-gigabytes-heavy libraries, but rather lightweight instruments — the 1926 weighs a little over 7gig and the 1991 is 8.5gig — that are surprisingly capable nonetheless. (Ideal for laptop use, I would think.) Both come with several mic perspectives and the playback software is fitted with all the required parameters to make these instruments behave decently in pretty much every imagineable scenario.

The timbre and sound are quite good too. Not outstanding, but good. There’s nothing here that can compete successfully with product from the established big piano library developers, but what you get is certainly much better than you might expect after reading the specs and more than good enough not to be dismissed lightly.

The big appeal, for me anyway, is that you get two piano's with a sound, character and timbre that’s very-very-very different from anything the big developers have on offer. Nothing from VSL or Synthogy, for example, can do what these humble BOZ pianos do effortlessly.
Of course, the lack of sufficient samples with which to render all the possible dynamic nuances that a grand piano is capable of, is a major weakness of these two libraries, but the BOZ people did manage to fill the gaps quite satisfyingly. There's still a noticeable uneveness in timbre and weight across the keyboard, and that can be rather frustrating when it surfaces where you don't want it, but it also contributes to these instruments having a kind of non-sterile, lively personality. What annoys one second, may appeal the next, in other words.

The demo’s on the product pages aren’t very informative, I find, but this short video is:



If anyone likes to hear a more extensive audio example, I can do that.

__

[Luciano Storti]

I went in thinking that I’d like it for the low end of the 1991. Turns out that I rather enjoy the 1026 and it’s already in use on two pieces. Yours is a good summary.

[Guy Rowland]

Waves' freebie this year is Silk Vocal - https://www.waves.com/plugins/silk-vocal . Free today only though I think, so get on with it.

Silk Vocal is a smart EQ & dynamics processor that takes your vocals from raw all the way to balanced and mixed. With its intuitive UI you’ll solve problems without needing several other plugins.

Employing innovative technology, Silk automatically detects resonances across 2000 analysis bands. Its smart vocal engine decides where and when processing should occur— you decide how much. Try it, see how fast you mix vocals.

[Stakk]

I ended up grabbing VWinds and VHorns from Acousticsamples. Great playability, spatial control and very low disk footprint.

PerformanceSamples Pacific too. In the past, for some reason their strings libraries did not jibe well with me. Perhaps my skill at playing with those attack layers is too poor, but I'm giving it a shot again for their brilliant-sounding naked audio demos.

And I just ordered BOZ's New York bundle for Piet's round up above and its nice wide-but-close-enough sound.

[Lawrence]

Is it me or were BF sales unspectacular this year?

[Guy Rowland]

Is it me or were BF sales unspectacular this year?

Not just you. For the most part it was deals we'd seen before. UAD was a crazy exception, and OT's Berlin series and u-he's stuff had slightly steeper reductions. I was really hoping for a discount on the Ryzen 9 7900 but alas.

So far my roll call has been the Avenger 2 update (new product); the Kicks and Snares EZX; the Goldbaby drum samples and the Loot Rococo. Quite modest, quite happy.

[Lawrence]

I might get those Boz pianos. Other than that, I’m left cold.
Had the AcousticSamples deal been a bit better I would have considered that, but I’m not in a hurry.