1. Quick links
2. Editor's picks
3. Vocals
4. EQ
5. Compression
6. Delay
7. Reverb
8. Saturation
9. Guitars
10. Drums
11. Free plugins
12. LIVE: latest updates
Hello, and welcome! There are loads of Cyber Monday plugin deals doing the rounds and I'm going to be bringing you the very best throughout today. I can tell you now that some of the deals you'll see today are truly great, resulting in incredible savings - and others are all hype. The good news is that, with decades of experience covering music technology gear between us, my team and I know how to sort the wheat from the chaff.
Now, this being Cyber Monday, the likelihood is that today is your last chance to bag a true bargain, so my advice would be to strike before the prices go back up.
Looking for a last-minute deal? Try our guide to 19 of the best plugins under $50 this Cyber Monday for last-minute impulse buying
What else? Well, there’s still big savings on top-tier mixing tools, such as FabFilter's Pro-Q4 (25% off), rich and inspiring instruments and effect plugins that are absolute fire (see Soundtoys' whopping 79% off bundle deal). Then, of course, there's that super-sweet Universal Audio deal, where you can choose from one of ten different plugins free of charge! From classic compressors to tape saturation, there’s something for every need.
Alongside my colleagues at MusicRadar I’ll be ensuring you know about all the best deals, as they happen throughout the day. I'll also be sharing periodic updates on some of the best weekend deals that I come across live - make sure you keep your eyes on the live blog at the bottom of this page to keep updated.
We’ve also added sections to this page which round up the best deals in key categories.
Hit the Live Updates section for our personal recommendations as we find them.
Bookmark this page and stay tuned for all the best deals as they appear!
Quick links
- 📈 TODAY'S MOST POPULAR
- Sweetwater: Huge up to 80% off sale
- Thomann: Final day of the huge Cyber Week sale
- Universal Audio: 10 plugins $99
- Plugin Boutique: Up to 96% off
- 🛒 INDIVIDUAL DEALS WE RATE
- FabFilter Pro-Q 4: Save 24%
- Soundtoys 5.5: Massive $360 off
- UAD Mixtape: 10 plugins just $99
- Ableton Live 12 Suite: $187 reduction
- Oeksound Soothe 2:
$199, $139 - Melodyne 5: Better vocals 74% off
- Vocalign Pro: 40% discount
- Neural DSP Tone King: Half price amp sim
- Waves Platinum: 67 plugins $129.99
- Plugin Boutique Bundle:
$1,820.97, $69 - BFD Drums: Huge $160 off
If you already know what you're looking for, here are some links to all the Black Friday sales that are live right now:
- 🛒 MORE OPTIONS
- Waves: 5 plugins $99.99
- Native Instruments: Up to $173 off
- IK Multimedia: Save on Max software
- Loopcloud: Save $800
- Loopmasters: 50% off samples
- Guitar Center: Up to 40% Black Friday sale
I'm MusicRadar's Managing Editor looking after our music technology coverage. Prior to joining the MR team I was Editor in Chief of Future Music and Computer Music magazines for more than a decade, so I've been kicking about the world of music technology for a while now.
I've spent the past 15+ years reviewing music making gear, interviewing musicians and producers in the studio and trying (and usually failing) to make some half decent music of my own.
I'm Andy, the Music-Making Ed here at MusicRadar. My work explores both the inner-workings of how music is made, and frequently digs into the history and development of popular music.
Previously the editor of Computer Music, my career has included editing MusicTech magazine and website and writing about music-making and listening for titles such as NME, Classic Pop, Audio Media International, Guitar.com and Uncut.
When I'm not writing about music, I'm making it. I release tracks under the name ALP.
Editor's picks: Today's best Black Friday plugin deals
🎤 Vocal plugin deals
🎛️ EQ plugin deals
📉 Compression plugin deals
🔁 Delay plugin deals
🌌 Reverb plugin deals
📼 Saturation plugin deals
🎸 Guitar plugin deals
🥁 Drum plugin deals
🆓 Free plugins
LIVE: latest updates
Hi all. I'm Si, MusicRadar's managing editor looking after all things music technology.
I'm kicking off our live coverage of Black Friday plugin and music software deals. I'll be here for the next few hours to guide you through the best discounts and offers as I find them. (After which one of my illustrious colleagues will take over).
I'll be totally honest from the off – I'm pretty sceptical about a lot of Black Friday deals, particularly when it comes to software. There's usually quite a few offers out there jumping on the Cyber Weekend bandwagon that aren't all that special. Equally though, some brands do go all-in, and if you've been waiting to restock your hard drive or you just fancy something cool and new to play with, there are some great offers to be had.
I've been reviewing hardware and software around these parts for more than 15 years, so I'm not short on opinions on what is, and isn't worth your time.
Let's kick things off with a few big names...
First up, Ableton Live. I've been a Live user for more than 20 years and it's come on in leaps and bounds in that time. Live 12 and its recent 'point' releases are some of the best updates the DAW has had in decades. The generative MIDI tools and Roar distortion are particular highlights.
Live offers aren't exactly rare, but this is definitely a good time to buy if you've been holding off. The best deals I've seen are on Live Suite, which you'll find below. If you're an existing users, check out the Ableton site for update prices.
- Ableton Live 12 Suite: $187 reduction
- Ableton Live 12 Suite: £140 reduction
On a similar front, there’s some solid discounts out there on Bitwig Studio. Again, it's not that uncommon to see discounts on Bitwig, but this is still a great opportunity to get a truly excellent piece of music making software at a good price.
Bitwig's modulation system – which lets users add an unlimited amount of LFOs, sequencers, processors and expression tools to any device – is truly innovative, as is its Eurorack-inspired modular synth, The Grid.
It makes a great secondary DAW. I regularly switch between Ableton Live and Bitwig Studio in order to find some fresh inspiration in one when I’ve hit a creative block with the other. It’s particularly great for experimental, ambient and generative music.
The deals below are on the current version – Bitwig Studio 5.3 – but will also get you access to Bitwig Studio 6, which is currently in beta.
- Bitwig Studio: £69 reduction
- Bitwig Studio: $100 reduction
We've already flagged it up elsewhere, but it's worth mentioning this deal on FabFilter Pro-Q 4. It's quite simply one of the best mixing plugins out there.
The latest version adds spectral dynamics, improved dynamic EQ and a really handy 'instance list' feature that makes it easy to adjust multiple tracks from a single interface. Honestly, this is a plugin that genuinely makes it easier to make better-sounding music.
There's 25% off over this weekend, which is nothing to scoff at.
- FabFilter Pro-Q 4: 25% off at Plugin Boutique
I really like the concept of Universal Audio's 'Mixtape' plugin deal. This lets you pick 10 UAD plugins from a fairly extensive list of big-hitters, which includes a lot of classic hardware emulations and a few synths, for a set price of $99.
UAD Mixtape: 10 plugins for $99
What would my list of 10 look like? Good question...
- Opal Morphing Synthesizer
- EMT 250 Classic Electronic Reverb
- Galaxy Tape Echo
- Pure Plate Reverb
- EMT 140 Classic Plate Reverberator
- Lexicon 224 Digital Reverb
- Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor Compressor
- Verve Analog Machines
- dbx 160 Compressor / Limiter
- Brigade Chorus
Long story short, I've been listening to a lot of dub techno lately.
If you're a guitarist though, there's a good range of amp sims on offer too. Alternatively, studio heads could spec up a full list of classic preamps, compressors and EQs.
If you just want maximum discount, load up on the UAD synths such as Opal, Polymax and the Minimoog – some of which are $149 each at full price.
While we're talking Universal Audio, that's a neat way to segue onto the topic of Black Friday free plugins.
Even if you're not in the mood to part with any cash, 'Cyber Weekend' always brings a decent crop of free plugins that can often be had in exchange for nothing more than a mailing list signup.
UA has a nice little giveaway of its own...
ValhallaDSP's Supermassive delay isn't strictly a Black Friday thing – since it's been free ever since it launched in 2020 – but it was just updated a few days ago with yet another new algorithm.
Honestly, this is one of my favourite plugins full stop, even ignoring the fact that it's a freebie. If you don't already have it on your hard drive, get it now.
Waves has its traditional Black Friday freebie too... Magma StressBox. This year's offering is a combined compressor/expander with a simple one-knob design, which aims to add punch, tension and feel to 'flat' tracks.
As part of InMusic's Black Friday deals, the company is offering up a new tape emulation plugin for free – Tape Double Track.
From InMusic: "With Tape Double Track, we wanted to honor one of recording's most iconic studio innovations and make it accessible to every music maker," said Neal Gustafson, Software Marketing Manager at AIR Music Tech. "This is not just another doubling plugin — it's a faithful recreation of the original tape-based technique, enhanced with modern flexibility, and free for a limited time for everyone to use."
There are two new Aphex Twin tracks up on SoundCloud. Yes, I am aware this has nothing to do with Black Friday plugin deals.
Back to it.
As in recent years, Native Instruments is going pretty big on its Black Friday deals.
The biggest discounts to be had on the various Komplete bundles, which have discounts of up-to 50%.
Although NI isn't at the forefront of synth design as it was back in the days when Massive ruled the roost, in recent years its Komplete bundles have really benefitted from the company's merger with iZotope.
Komplete Standard, for example, will get you NI's Kontakt, Massive X and Guitar Rig, but also iZotope Ozone standard VocalSynth 2 – plus a whole load more synths, effects, sampled instruments and expansions. It's a really nicely rounded package, particularly at this weekend's prices.
On the Native Instruments front, it's worth flagging up Traktor Pro 4 too. The discount here isn't quite as big as that on the Komplete bundles, but £89/$99 is good price for a fully-featured piece of DJ software.
As I said when I reviewed the latest version of Traktor last year, the most appealing thing about Pro 4 is the fact that – compared to the likes of Rekordbox and Serato that come entangled with subscriptions and add-ons – the whole feature set comes for that one, all-in price.
While that might not sound like the most lavish praise, honestly, Traktor Pro 4 looks stylish, runs well and has all the features that most DJs will need. For at-home use or hobbyist DJs, it's probably the best value digital DJ package.
Plus, with the launch of the new OneLibrary format, it's now possible to export tracks from your Traktor library for use with AlphaTheta CDJs, which is a pretty big deal.
- Native Instruments: Traktor Pro 4 $50/£40 off
Evening all, Andy Price here, MusicRadar's music-making Ed. I'm taking the Black Friday live blog-reins from Si and ready to keep you up-to-date with the most eye-popping and unmissable deals springing up across the web.
Before I start on the 'big' stuff, I just wanted to direct you to a couple of specific little software bits that have served me very well in this year's music-making exploits. Cherry Audio's Mercury-6 and Ujam's Virtual Pianist Bundle are both essentials in my personal projects and have significant discounts over at Plugin Boutique (51% and 60% off respectively).
Check out just why you should grab 'em here and here
Back soon…
Spitfire Audio has created some of the most realistic and emotionally-stirring string libraries on the market, and over at its official site, right now, the company is offering between 15-50% off its entire catalogue up until December 2nd. That's a bountiful stable that includes the mighty BBC Symphony Orchestra, Albion One, the British Composer Toolkit, the recently released BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the Zimmer-overseen Hans Zimmer Strings.
If you subscribe to the company's newsletter before the 2nd December, you'll be able to get a further 20% on top of all sale prices via a unique code. So, subscribe here and get shopping!
A mammoth bundle of world-class synth emulations, Arturia's V Collection 11 Pro is currently half-price over at Plugin Boutique. It'll still cost you considerable outlay ($349) but when you look at the jaw-dropping original RRP ($699!) you're saving a fair bit - and gaining a veritable army of synths. You get 45 meticulously modelled software synths, covering all analog, digital, sampler, and electro-acoustic bases.
We can't really recommend this mouth-watering bundle enough, and at this price, the value and quality it'll imbue into your tracks will more than pay for itself.
You'll have to move quick though, the offer ends on Sunday!
Across Acon Digital's website you can get up to 70% off the vast range of its high-end mixing/editing tools, effects and plugins.
Included in that number is the hugely impressive Remix:Drums - an AI-powered plugin that enables you to isolate specific parts of a pre-recorded drum set and control the levels of its constituent parts, in real-time.
That's an ability that a scant few years ago would have been regarded as impossible - you'd be laughed out of the room for even suggesting it. But now, thanks to AI (and a pinch of Acon Digital's considerable know-how) it's eminently possible to delve into the murkiest of drum samples and fine tune kits you've really got no business tinkering with. It's also cheaper than ever.
You can currently bag Remix:Drums over at Plugin Boutique with a 33% markdown. You don't really need me to explain how useful a tool like this is going to be
Crikey, I've just had a look over to see what Sample Logic is up to, and the company has only knocked off 90% from its fabulous Cinematic Guitars series until December 1st.
Cinematic Guitars Infinity, Cinematic Guitars Motion and Cinematic Guitars Organic Atmospheres typically retail at $599, $349 and $299 respectively, but those asking prices have just plummeted to a measly $60, $35 and $30.
That's a phenomenal saving, what's also phenomenal is how these Kontakt instruments sound. Able to conjure animated and realistic guitar textures and atmospheres, they've long been trusted go-to's for elevating a mix, and making things a bit more 'widescreen'.
They're getting on a bit now, but they still sound utterly brilliant, and are well worth having in your arsenal. At this price, it's a no-brainer. The sale ends on Monday, so if get them while they're hot.
You thought it couldn't get better than 90% off? How about 100%?
Antelope Audio is providing its top-tier EQ, the MG4+ absolutely free of charge until November 30th. How extraordinarily generous of them, particularly as it typically goes for around £/$100!
Taking its cues from the iconic 500-Series six-band analogue EQ, this is a slick addition to your EQ toolkit. It's also one which - at absolutely zero outlay - requires no more hard-selling from me.
Just grab it while it's free (before Sunday November 30th!)
There's really been some astounding price-drops this Black Friday, ranging from individual Swiss-army-knife tools to immense savings on the music production equivalent of luxury hampers. Stuffed to the brim with tasty treats.
Speaking of which, Plugin Boutique has a head-turning, 89%-off, deal on Softube's gargantuan Producer Collection. This exclusive suite is an impressive treasure trove of virtual analog gear, retro guitar tones and amp sims, expansive effects and a whole lot more.
On the back of that free Antelope Audio EQ, I thought it was worth sharing Matt McCracken's comprehensive guide to the 9 best free plugins you can scoop up during the Black Friday period. The full article is well worth a read, but the items featured are listed here to make it easier for you to snaffle them up. Get to it!
While we mentioned FabFilter's Pro-Q4 deal earlier, it's worth noting that you can also get 25% off the company's entire back catalogue via the FabFilter Total Bundle, over at Plugin Boutique. It's still a lot of cash, sure, but if you do choose to splash out on this, then there's really no need to buy anything else when it comes to software-based music production ever again. So, in the long-run, it's a saving.
Our Tech Editor Matt Mullen just shared his perspective on the best Soundtoys plugins you can get cheap today, with up to 79% off the RRP- these include FilterFreak, the gnarly Decapitator, delay king EchoBoy and expansive reverb SpaceBlender.
Anyone who is anyone swears by Soundtoys' wares as the last word in effect plugins, and we're hard-pressed to argue.
As Soundtoys itself states, the best deal is the full Soundtoys 5.5 bundle, which you can scoop up for just $239 (normally $599!)
ROLI has a range of considerable Black Friday savings across its MPE-based instrumental wares today.
While they're well worth a look if you're in the market for delving into MPE (ROLI is really the pioneer in that field) it's Equator2 - currently reduced by 40% - that I'd personally recommend. It's a sublime, four-engine, sound-design synth, that allows for deep, extensive control over its wavetable, granular and sample-based internal workings. Equator2 is able to conjure incredible morphing textures, lush pads, coruscating leads and bone-crunching basses with ease.
When married to an MPE synth it really comes alive, but it's equally as captivating an instrument when used with a standard MIDI keyboard.
There's a whopping 80% off the whole roster of EastWest's exemplary sample libraries over at its website during the Black Friday period. In the spotlight is a massive reduction in its flagship ComposerCloud+ subscription ($99 for the first year, instead of the typical $238.98).
The most notable reductions are for some of the company's high-value sample-based virtual instrument bundles, with the orchestral-angled Hollywood Bundle down to $339 from what was previously a $1,697 purchase. That's a lot of bang for your buck.
You can also get 80% off the meaty Future and Ancient Bundles, each of which contain a smorgasbord of EastWest's more intriguing wares. Elsewhere you can find huge savings on individual, recently released, instruments such as LoFi (70% off) and Iconic (again, 70% off)
Head on over and take a browse. I really love the Voices of Soul vocal instrument for a touch of instant humanity, but all EastWest's releases have generally been top-notch in my book.
Back when I was editing Computer Music magazine, one of my favourite soft-synths that we gave away as a gift was a lite version of Lunacy Audio's CUBE. That's when I first discovered the remarkable abilities of this quirky instrument
This sampler and vector synth is jam-packed with 1,000+ sampled instruments and presets. It spans the gamut of bass sounds, reverb-soaked piano, bubbling analogue synth textures and effect-blurring instrumental patches that sound quite unlike anything else. Typically selling at $149, you can currently grab it for just $49!
The UI is one of the big reasons why I love it so much. Based around a unique vector orbit system, you can combine and blend up to 8 individual sounds via its engrossing 3D interface. The onboard samplers provide the means to reverse, loop, arpeggiate and mash-up sounds in near-infinite ways.
Whenever I hit a creative dead-end, I fire up CUBE. It's one of the most vibrant and multi-faceted instruments in my collection.
We love Modalics' beat-making repertoire. The innovative, 'pizza-slice'-based Beat Scholar enables you to sub-divide how your kits are played, while the sublimely sampled kit underpinning MINDst Drums gives arguably the easiest route to getting indistinguishable-from-a-human live drum sounds in your DAW.
Right now Modalics has 71% off both these wondrous beat-builders, as well as their dazzling EON Arp, the bit-crushing/saturation multitool Bitfuzzer and dense Time Oddity Chorus effect via their Everything Bundle. All of these immaculately crafted tools are well worth your time, and will speed-up (and improve) your beat-making no end.
Morning all, Andy Price here, I'm eagerly on the hunt for those weekend-stretching Black Friday deals and will continue to keep you updated through the course of today. To hell with my personal life!
I'll keep you up to speed on the latest updated deals, and those you might have missed - plus those bits and bobs that you might not have even heard of, but that I can personally vouch for as being brilliant.
So, off into the foggy wilderness of the internet I go. Back shortly. Keep refreshing this page!
There's some mighty big savings on u-he's gloriously expressive range of software synths this year, with discounts stretching to up to 52% off the likes of Diva, Bazille, Hive2 and tape emulation plugin Satin.
U-he soft-synths were always the first things we reached for back when we were creating Computer Music tutorials, partly because of just how surprisingly deep and instructive they can be.
I heartily recommend them all - but if I'd have to pick I'd say bag Diva for genuine analog-modelled authenticity, and unmatchable filters
I don’t want to spend all my time talking about soft-synths, but it’d be remiss of me to not mention that Roland’s prestige synth emulations are currently heavily discounted with gargantuan deals over on Plugin Boutique, with up to 75% off the divine JUNO-106 software recreation, 66% off its TR-808 drum machine, 49% off the SH-101 synth and 21% off the dazzling Analog Polysynth Collection.
Fuelled by the company’s ACB (Analog Circuit Behaviour) technology, this is the legitimate, indistinguishable sound of those synths, easily accessible and playable conveniently from your DAW-based ecosystem.
The full bundle features the JUPITER-4, the JUPITER-8, the JUNO-60, the JX-3P and JUNO-106. Imagine having all those for real? Well, if you shut your eyes and play them through your MIDI keyboard it’s extremely easy to imagine that you do.
There’s also a considerably bigger saving on the Digital Polysynth Collection, which features the D-50, JD-800, SYSTEM-8 and SYSTEM-1. This bundle is currently a phenomenal 60% off, so it's well worth considering if you want to expand your synth arsenal. There's also a tasty little Black Friday-specific bundle which combines the JUNO-106, the TR-808 and the TR-909 - wherein you can save a full 80% on the collective RRPs of those items. Now that's what Black Friday/Cyber Weekend is all about!
Cards on the table, I hate mastering. If you’re a bit of a one-man band then the time-draining process can feel like an uphill battle of fastidious tweaking. Believe me, it can suck the life out of intense creative projects trying to handle it all yourself. To that end, I’m ALWAYS in the market for things that speed up the finalisation stage.
While I’m not fully ready to cede the process to AI just yet, LANDR’s AI-powered mastering plugin is a genuinely fantastic starting point and, for me at least, cuts about two-thirds of the work out of what can be an annoying slog. Right now there’s 33% off the asking price over at Plugin Boutique.
Beyond this somewhat controversial AI-leaning option, there’s a whole heap of other mastering-angled tools and suites with their prices slashed right now. Some mastering bundles listed below are truly exceptional - as are their discounts.
The truth is, a good master can transform a paltry mix into something special, so any of these will certainly get you on the right track.
- LANDR Mastering Plugin PRO - 33% off at Plugin Boutique
- Mastering The Mix Faster Master - 20% off at Plugin Boutique
- Mastering The Mix Mastering Essentials Bundle - 60% off at Plugin Boutique
- Sonnox Mastering Plugin Bundle - 75% off at Plugin Boutique
- NUGEN Audio Modern Mastering Bundle - 47% off at Plugin Boutique
- Abbey Road TG Mastering chain - 78% off at Plugin Boutique
If there’s one thing that’s saved me so much in terms of physical space and creative speed, I'd say it's IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube 5. I used to be one of those guys that lugged around 5 or 6 guitars, a sack full of pedals and a trio of amps to every tiny flat I moved to in my early 20s. Back then software amp and pedal/effect-modelling technology was in its infancy, and sneered at by some, but now it's nigh-on indistinguishable from the real thing.
In my mind, it has basically eliminated the need to have an inordinate amount of guitar peripherals (Don’t tell our sister sites Guitar World and Guitar Player I said that, or they'll start throwing peripherals at me).
When it comes down to what I tend to reach for most frequently when needing to inject some guitar into a mix, it’s a toss-up between Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig 7 Pro (currently 50% off, we might add! and IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube 5, or a combination of the two.
AmpliTube 5 has an incredibly easy-to-use chain-building UI, with any amp, cabinet, pedal and rack effect you could possibly need available to route as you choose. Those artist-endorsed chain presets are some of the best in the business. Honestly, I use its Comfortably Gilmour Solo preset more than I should probably admit.
Anyway, it’s currently a RIDICULOUS 73% off over on IK Multimedia’s official site and over at Plugin Boutique. It’s the ultimate all-in-one package for guitar players wanting to jack into the software-production universe without compromise. If that sounds like you then this is probably the number one thing I’d stress you to get over this weekend.
Then get that dusty old Marshall combo on eBay. Your other half will thank you.
While I was looking around IK Multimedia's offers, I clocked that MODO Bass 2 has a extraordinary 75% off its RRP right now until December 7th.
I love playing bass, but in terms of its instantly robust sound, extremely manipulable sonic tweaking and a roster of ready-to-go grooves, the all-in-one-box MODO Bass 2 is probably the safer bet for a release-ready mix.
With a range of instruments (from funky electric P-basses to rockabilly-ready stand-up double-basses) and performance options up the wazoo, it's easy to audition a variety of different flavours, and alternate how they're played in seconds.
At this price it's a real steal - so even if you're quite handy on a four-string, I'd recommend you have this in your virtual instrument library for speed and convenience.
In terms of the best all-encompassing deals, then Plugin Boutique's massive Black Friday-specific plugin bundle which encompasses choice cuts from the likes of Native Instruments, Brainworx, Minimal Audio, Baby Audio and Acon Digital takes some beating.
When sold individually, this colossal heap of goodies should RPP at $1,820.97 - but this bundle price is a eye-ball-bulging $69! - that's 96% off. It's basically free in other words, in terms of how much of that collective cost you're saving.
The offer stands until Jan 4th, so you've got a little bit of time to ponder whether it's a good deal or not (we'll save you the trouble, it bloody is!)
Afternoon all. Si taking over from Andy for the afternoon shift here.
We're well into the thick of 'Cyber Weekend', as I still hate having to call it. Obviously a lot of the big deals have already dropped and those are all rounded up in the Editors' Picks section above.
I'm going to spend a bit of time searching for underrated plugins or deals that we might have missed.
Let's kick off with another freebie. Plugin Boutique is offering up a code for MusicRadar readers to grab Excite Audio's Evolve Elastic Lite for free.
This one is actually right up my street – it's a synth and sample-based instrument that lets you morph between various experimental/ambient sounds and textures using its XY pad.
Yes, it's a Lite version, but it's fast and fun and has some great presets. I've just been messing about with it in Ableton and would highly recommend you grab it (check the date and time in the screenshot above if you think I'm making that up!).
Here's the info:
This futuristic sample-based synthesizer is inspired by the dynamic and unpredictable character of elastic, channeling the experimental sound design of visionary artists like SOPHIE, Flume and Aphex Twin into a powerful and cutting-edge creative tool. Equipped with a quad-layer sound engine, Evolve Elastic Lite lets you morph sound in real-time via its expressive XY pad, bouncing your patches in unexpected directions with four elastic-inspired macro effects: Melt, Bounce, Stretch and Gloss.
Use the coupon MusicRadarElastic at checkout to get Excite Audio's new plugin Evolve Elastic Lite completely free until 1st December.
To use the coupon code, add Evolve Elastic Lite to your cart, log in to your account, and add the coupon code to the Coupon Code field. If you do not have a Plugin Boutique account, you will need to create an account to redeem this offer.
End date: 1st December 23:59 PST
Let's talk Melodyne for a moment. As we've highlighted above, you can grab Melodyne Essential for a bargain price of $25 this weekend. That's a good deal, although for my money, the slightly more expensive Melodyne Editor is the version to go for, which you can also grab with a 56% discount from Plugin Boutique.
That discount basically works by allowing you to grab the Essential version at the $25 offer price, and then upgrade to Editor at a discounted rate. It still works out as a very good price for the Editor software in the end.
Why Melodyne Editor? This is the version that gives you access to the software's Direct Note Access (DNA) feature. This allows you to use its pitch and time correction tools on polyphonic sources like guitar, piano or polysynths.
If you're working with solely with vocals, Melodyne Essential may do the job, but if, like me, you regularly find yourself wanting to edit sampled chords or rework synth recordings, the DNA tech is really handy.
Celemony Melodyne Editor: $174 (56% off) at Plugin Boutique
Arturia's V Collection is a classic go-to option for Black Friday discounts (you can pick it up with a 50% discount at Plugin Boutique) since it nets you a generous bundle of excellent instrument emulations to suit any style of electronic music.
Personally though, I think Arturia's FX Collection is the better bundle. Arturia's effects are perhaps less well know than its virtual instruments, but they hit the same level of quality when it comes to sound and interface design.
For me, there are more plugins in the FX Collection that I use regularly. Its delays and reverbs end up in almost every project I work on, the sequencer-equipped filters are great for adding movement, and I get regular use out of the pre-amps and distortion tools too.
There's some nice modern, creative effects in there too. The likes of Coldfire, Motions, Refract and Fragments are up there with plugins such as Output Portal or Cableguys Shaperbox in my list of processors I'll throw onto a track when I'm in need of some creative inspiration.
Essentially, there's a lot in the FX Collection that I find genuinely useful, and for the $249 price it's going for right now, I think it's a very good investment.
Arturia FX Collection 5: $249 (50% off) at Plugin Boutique
Ok, here's a bargain deal on an underrated synth: Cherry Audio Sines.
Honestly, I feel like this is an instrument that doesn't get talked about anywhere near enough. All the Cherry Audio stuff is impressive, but this is far and away my favourite.
Unlike a lot of Cherry plugins, Sines isn't an emulation of a classic hardware synth. Rather, this is an original polysynth based around four individual sine wave generators. These can be combined to create sounds using a mix of phase modulation and subtractive synthesis, with a touch of additive influence thrown in too.
It's a deep and hugely capable instrument, but really clearly laid out and an absolute joy to build sounds in. As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan.
$25 – a discount of 50% via Plugin Boutique – is a ridiculous bargain for a unique and massively underrated instrument. This is very much in impulse buy territory, and one that I promise you won't regret. Highly recommended.
Cherry Audio Sines: $25 (50% off) at Plugin Boutique
Afternoon. Si here, jumping on the live feed again.
We're in the Sunday lull between Black Friday and Cyber Monday but a lot of the deals launched in the last few days (and weeks) are still active, so now's the time to check out a few that we haven't already looked at.
First up, let's talk about a couple of DAWs offering great discounts this weekend for both new and existing users.
Image-Line FL Studio is an application that often gets unfairly labelled as a 'beginner DAW', but honestly that's nonsense.
It's as deep and flexible as any of its rivals, with plenty of unique plugins included. That said, the way its sequencer works makes it particularly adept at loop-focused genres like dance music and hip-hop.
I really like it as a secondary DAW (I tend to use Ableton Live and Bitwig Studio, mainly). The beloved step sequencer is really quick and fun for programming beats, and the way it allows you to sketch out ideas is very quick and intuitive once you get up to speed with the workflow.
By far my favourite aspect of FL Studio's overall package is the fact it includes lifetime free updates with every license. So if you were to jump on one of the discounted offers running this weekend, you're essentially done for life – you'll also get all future updates, improvements and new features added to your chosen edition.
Over on the Image-Line site you can get up to 30% off depending on which edition you opt for. There's some decent savings of upgrades from one edition to another for existing users too.
Image-Line FL Studio: Up-to 30% off new licenses and upgrades
Avid Pro Tools is a very different DAW to FL Studio, but similarly suffers from some slightly outdated preconceptions.
Pro Tools is often seen as only relevant to big pro studios. That's not entirely unfounded, as it's still a favourite for many 'traditional' producers and engineers recording big rock and pop acts, but Avid has done a lot to make Pro Tools more appealing to home users and electronic musicians in recent years.
That including introducing the loop-focused 'sketch' interface, as well as Splice integration. It also has a lot to offer content creators and those using in mixed media.
It's undoubtedly a deep and professional tool. If you've been considering learning the Pro Tools workflow, or you're a user with a lapsed subscription, now is the time to grab a copy – there's up-to 40% off annual subscription plans.
Avid Pro Tools: Up-to 40% off an annual subscription
Evening deal-hunters, Andy Price here taking over from Si. Hope you’re all having a fabulous Cyber-Sunday. Or should we just refer to this weekend as ‘Cyber-Weekend'? or is it still, technically, Black Friday? Opinion is divided here in MR HQ.
The one thing we all agree on is that there’s still some completely out of this world deals going.
While our individual credit card balances have already been fully maxed, that's not going to stop us from zooming in on some of the best plugins, VSTs, DAWs and soft-synths up for grabs for a limited time at ridiculously low prices.
I’m going to pay tribute some of my personal favourite bits over the next few hours, and also a few deals that are just too good to miss, so keep checking back periodically for the latest updates. Onward!
I absolutely adore Void and Vista’s Kontakt instruments, these artfully-crafted sound design tools span the experimental, prepared instrument-powered Frames, the elegant electronic/orchestral mash-up Strands and my most-used of their roster - Folds.
Right now there’s 30% off the RRP of all of Void and Vista’s wares, and in my view they’re all well worth the investment. If you're new to the company, then here's why I'd start with Folds…
Folds presents an utterly spellbinding array of vocals which can be tailored - as if you were manipulating a synth - to complement and enhance any project. The mass of presets (aka snapshots) are really where Folds' range is best illustrated, with a host of soul-touching choirs, ensembles, harmonised layers and effect-soaked landscapes ready to go at the click of a mouse.
The uniquely-designed UI is a very creative space to work in - it's a darkly-hued, moody aesthetic within which tweaking, blending and effect-daubing is encouraged via its dynamic, reactive background.
Folds sports extensive modulation controls which include dual LFOs as well as Amp, Pitch and FIlter envelopes to impart momentum, while humanity-evoking inharmonic friction can be wrought by a bit of tinkering with the Detune and Cascade options.
When I’m working on my mixes for my artist project then Folds is a typical no-brainer to flood my mix with a sometimes ethereal, sometimes intimate and sometimes completely unique-sounding presence.
I was such a fan that I took it upon myself to chat to its developers Tom Smeaton, Aneek Thapar, Jon Atkinson and Matt Pike last year, and really got a sense of how this magnificent vocal powerhouse came to be. I think Jon explained its versatility best:
“We realised that we’d made an instrument that people could bring their own thing to. That should be the mark of a good instrument – whether it’s acoustic or otherwise. If it’s got scope to cover a lot of different sounds.”
Folds has certainly proved its malleability to me over the last year across quite a lot of my projects. Right now it’s at the cheapest it’s ever been, so it’s the perfect time to hoover it up.
While I’m talking about some of my regularly-used staples, I can’t not quickly point out that this fabulous bundle of some of Audiomodern’s inspiring virtual instruments and tools are currently 37% off over at Plugin Boutique.
Included within this extensive collection is its bedrock MPE-sampler Soundbox, and a range of instruments, including organic keyboard-based sound design tool Cosmo (40% off individually), expressive vocal suite Voxmotive (40% off individually), the orchestral instrument-stretcher Kromium (40% off individually) and the ‘ultimate real-time chord machine’ Chordjam (41% off individually).
If you ask me, Playbeat (version 4) is the cream of the crop here - and as an individual purchase, it's actually cheapest over at Thomann (47% off vs 40% down on PIB)
We've previously referred to it as an 'easy-to-use, boundlessly creative launchpad for fresh rhythmic ideas' and we stand firmly by that.
With this AI powered beat-machine, you can generate randomized drum patterns drawn from source sounds selected on-the-hoof from within its vast (and further expandable) sample library. It’s provided no-end of surprising creative inspiration to me since it was launched earlier this year.
A cracking little synth from GForce, the impOSCar 3, is currently reduced by half over at Plugin Boutique.
One of the most unique-sounding things in my soft-synth collection, the refined and long-awaited third version of impOSCar, released last year, is based on the old British OSCar synth made by Oxford Instruments back in the early 1980s.
A merger of analog and digital internals, the architecture of this synth can capably produce some remarkably varied and captivating textures. I tend to use it for arps primarily, but vibrant lead sounds and stereo-field stretching pads are easy to fashion via its dense but authentically-designed UI.
The superb dual filter is extremely powerful, coupled with its fantastic wavetable editor and poly-unison mode, impOSCar 3 is a solid synth.
GForce ImpOSCar 3: $64.99 (56% off) at Plugin Boutique
Well beam me right up, I've just noticed that Orchestral Tools’ Modus has had a full 50% vaporised from its asking price.
As a ‘standard nerd’ I always get a thrill when I fire up this Jeff Russo-helmed soundtrack suite. Sporting strings, clarinets, flutes, horns and brass, pianos, percussive FX and choirs, Modus is pretty much everything you need to conjure the sort of majestic, intrepid soundtracks that would turn Mr Spock green with envy.
What’s with all the laboured Star Trek puns I hear you ask? Well Mr. Russo’s flagship work has been his spellbinding soundtracks for recent prestige Star Trek TV series (Picard, Discovery and Strange New Worlds), and this Jeff-tailored library will serve you well if you want to try your hand at crafting a similar spirit of wonder and epic-ness.
Oh, and if you just want some Klingon choirs, you’re in luck.
Yeah, the Klingon choirs are truly hilarious to play around with at first… but then you'll get to that point when you lean back and realise that, actually, they're perfect for adding just the right amount of menace to a heavy guitar track. Or if you’re needing to get something a bit different to inflame dull choral sounds, then a bus-load of white-gown clad Klingon choir boys tends to do the trick.
Anyway, yes it’s a bit geeky, but the strings, pianos and other orchestral elements are sublime in their own right, and can be put to use in a variety of contexts.
It’s 50% off over at Orchestral Tools right now with the BF25 code. There’s also a range of savings to be had on OT's other flagship products, including The Metropolis Ark series and The Berlin Series. There’s also a massive reduction in price of the complete OT range via the Teldex Legends Bundle. It’ll still set you back around $5,000 mind!
It’s Modus that I’d personally recommend though.
Spend well and prosper 🖖 (I’ll stop now).
Orchestral Tools Modus: €174.50 (50% off) at Orchestral Tools
There’s some amazing bargains going over at Heavocity - with up to 75% off over the Damage-makers’ savage stockpile of VSTs, kits, guitars, textures and fire-stoking playgrounds.
Among the best deals, mirrored on Plugin Boutique, are the 40% saving on Damage Guitars 2, 50% reduction on the brutal orchestra-pulverising Symphonic Destruction and 60% off the cinematic Gravity.
There’s also 32% off my personal favourite, Analog Hybrid Drums. The satisfyingly crunchy, aggro-charged beats have been called upon in my creative projects more times than I should probably admit.
There’s just so much gnarly joy you can have with any of Heavyocity’s products, especially if you’re in the market for - as the company name implies - sounds that decimate, rip apart and make your sounds howl in pain.
Head over to Heavyocity.com now to check out these sweet deals, which are mirrored over at Plugin Boutique
There’s a cracking 83% off the superb Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor plugin right now over at Plugin Boutique. But if you want it cheap, you've only got a few hours left as the deal expires on Monday 1st!
This Shadow Hills-endorsed emulation, accurately modelled by Plugin Alliance, has been a mainstay of many a pro mastering engineer’s chain for years. Arguably (and mastering engineers do tend to argue…) it's one of the most impact-lifting compressors that money can buy, whether in its original (expensive) hardware form, or this now ultra-affordable plugin version.
The dual-stage compression abilities have been modelled on that impressively-knobbed hardware original (which the software exactingly emulates of course). It’s a robust classic that applies a release-quality sheen to to pretty much anything you throw its way.
If the end result is a bit too much for the master buss of your particular style, I've found that it also works specifically well to beef up a drum buss. This is an iconic tool that, at 83% off, is not to be sniffed at.
Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor: 83% off at Plugin Boutique
That's all from the live blog today. We'll be back tomorrow to rake up all the new Cyber-Monday deals and continue to spotlight those offers you might have missed.
Hope you've managed to grab a few tasty new treats, now here's the hard part…
We implore you to actually USE your new stuff to make actual, real music. It's what it's for after all 👍
Afternoon all, Andy Price here jumping back on the live blog to fill you in on some of the more outlandish deals that are just begging to be added to your baskets this Cyber Monday. Si Truss will also be popping up periodically to share some of his highlights.
First up, I noticed the immense Padshop 2 from Steinberg is currently available for 80% off over at Plugin Boutique, the fantastic, effect-packed synth/sampler is the secret sauce behind many of electronic music's most revered tracks. I know for a fact that former Orb-man Alex Paterson absolutely swears by it when making tracks for acclaimed side-project Sedibus.
Steinberg Padshop 2: 83% off at Plugin Boutique
While Soothe tends to get most of the praise when it comes to Oeksound's extraordinary mixing tools, I also find adaptive tone-shaper Bloom to be equally adept at miraculously saving a muddy mix.
Far beyond a typical EQ, Bloom is an all-in-one dynamics management tool that can impart prescribed character to your various elements with ease. The UI is typically top-notch and as far as I’m concerned, it’s an essential for every project.
In our review, we said "An easy-to-use and undeniably effective plugin, Bloom is a powerful mix tool that does a lot to justify its ‘pro’ price point."
If you move quick you can grab it for $50 off the full price today before it returns to normal tomorrow. I wholeheartedly recommend you take advantage of this price-drop.
Oeksound Bloom: 30% off at Sweetwater
We were bold enough to call Output's Portal one of the greatest effects plugins ever made when we reviewed it a few years back.
Since then, this granular synthesis-based monster has been widely used by both us and the world at large. Praised for its ability to contort, morph and expand any inputted audio signals (or anything you feed it) in all manner of alluring and unthinkable ways, Portal is a sound-designer's dream.
It's half-price right now, at just $74.50 over at Plugin Boutique from the usual $149.
It's one of those plugin effect-generators that everybody talks about, so why not find out just why it's been so fussed over and snap it up at the cheapest price it's ever been.
Output Portal: $74.50 (50% off) at Plugin Boutique
There’s some massive savings to be had with our friends at Cableguys. The effect wizards' glorious 11-item ShaperBox 3 effects suite contains a super-useful arsenal of quickfire tools for manipulating and modulating instruments, vocals and kits.
Now a whopping 76% off the typical asking price ($89 vs $379, that’s a BIG saving.
If I didn’t have it already I’d be adding ShaperBox 3 to my cart right now. There’s also an expanded Black Friday bundle deal which compiles 16 essential Cableguys items, including the full ShaperBox 3 suite, Curve 2, FilterShaper XL and exclusive tools like Snapback and HalfTime, that's still up for grabs this Cyber Monday.
Buying in bulk you’re saving 78% at just $149 (usually $697 to buy them individually)
This all ends today over on Cableguys official website, so stop reading this and get to it.
Cableguys ShaperBox 3 $89 (76% off) at Cableguys
Afternoon. Si here. Adding to Andy's recommendation of Portal (below), I wanted to quickly highlight another Output plugin, Thermal – which is similarly discounted by 50% to $74.50.
Thermal is primarily a distortion plugin, although in reality it's actually more like a multi-effect tool that can be applied across multiple frequency bands with lots of options for modulation.
It's one of those effect plugins that is great to slap on a track and preset surf when you're stuck for inspiration. The combination of saturation, movement and compression in many of Thermal's presets is often perfect for overhauling lifeless synth loops or flat drums.
Although there's a lot of easy-to-access presets and a simplified top-level UI, Thermal also lets you get under-the-hood and edit every aspect of its flexible signal path.
Personally, I use it on drums in almost every project. Add it over a kick and sub group, load up the 'Mammoth Kick' preset and dial the dry/wet down to about 10%. Thank me later.
Output Thermal: $74.50 (50% off) at Plugin Boutique
They might be considered a little old-hat in some quarters, but personally speaking, I'm a big advocate of Tone2’s extensive array of synths and effects. In particular, their blinding Impulse Modelling Synthesis-built Rayblaster 3, the extremely vibrant sounds of Electra 3 and the most recently-released beauty Icarus 3.
Sporting 30 different synthesis methods, a drum sequencer, a vocoder, 65 filter types and beefy oscillators, I’m a big user. Typically reached for when I want some creative arpeggiation or some Daft Punk-esque robotic vocoder. Needs that are ably satisfied by its massive preset library.
Then there's UltraSpace. I’ve dabbled with a load of different reverb plugins over the years, but Tone2’s ten-year old UltraSpace still takes the crown as far as I'm concerned as far as pure ambience and mood-daubing goes.
The massive-sounding Arena and Chamber presets add endless range and space to otherwise boring sounds, and its modular design makes further environment-carving a doddle. It’s old, yes, but that doesn’t detract from its brilliance one jot. Just ask big fans, Depeche Mode.
Icarus3, UltraSpace and a whole host of other Tone2 items are currently heavily discounted over at the company’s official website.
Tone2 Icarus3: $169 (15% off) at Tone2
Tone2 UltraSpace: $69 (13% off at Tone2
I’m a big big fan of Eduardo Tarilonte’s extremely characterful sample instruments, which are absolutely perfect for soundtrack or sound-design duties. Beyond the professional applications, Eduardo's beautifully-crafted work is just extremely fun to explore. Before you know it, you'll be creating entirely new sonic worlds, so real you can almost smell them…
Eduardo’s meticulously-recorded samples tend to fit a specific historical or atmospheric theme, as illustrated by their titles.
There’s the brutal nordic-flutes, lyres and throat singing of Dark ERA, then there’s the Tudor-evoking minstrels and hunting horns of Era II: Medieval Legends. Or maybe you’re looking for something a bit more ancient, if so Celtic ERA 2, and Ancient ERA Persia have you covered for traditional Bronze Age and Arabian instruments respectively.
Although these packs each have a uniform theme, they can be applied to a surprising number of genre projects. My personal favourite, the ethereal, bucolic natural atmospheres and mythical woodlands of the magical Forest Kingdom 3 (was $259, is now $155.40) is perhaps the most malleable option of Tarilonte’s high-quality packs.
There’s massive 40%-off savings on Eduardo’s entire range over at Best Service, so if you’re looking for some epic, magical and hyper-stylised sounds to beautifully disrupt your typical workflow, search no more, traveller.
Just a quick one to point out that Eventide’s Blackhole is currently 80% off over at Plugin Boutique. This is a really exemplary atmospheric reverb that on balance I’d probably say tops my personal perennial favourite UltraSpace that I mentioned earlier.
This ain't no ordinary reverb, its mind-bending Gravity control can invert the decay and essentially bend time to your will, just like a black hole can (theoretically) do.
At 80% off until Jan 5th, this is an offer you should find yourself being sucked right into (sorry!)
Eventide Blackhole: $39 (80% off) at Plugin Boutique
We flagged it in our full Drum Plugin deals list above, but at 80% off, the Plugin Boutique deal on BFD 3.5 needs double-underlining.
An ultra-editable, realistic-sounding drum powerhouse, BFD 3.5 comes with 51 virtual acoustic kits and a slick engine for tailoring said kits to fit any context.
With $160 off the asking price, you’re saving a heck of a lot of cash, too.
This is a highly realistic drum kit designer, with humanising qualities and imperfections like mic bleed and detailed pitch-adjustments per-drum which make it nigh-on indistinguishable from a real kit.
BFD 3.5: $39 (80% off) at Plugin Boutique
While we’re on the subject of mahoosive discounts, here’s a (nearly…) 80%-off offer on an awesome, fairly new-ish reverb/creative effect from Unfiltered Audio. Silo merges granular processing with reverb to generate unique sonic flavours (aka grains) that can be further modulated, tweaked and shaped to suit your tastes.
It’s a great deal of fun is Silo, it’s also got a satisfying, creativity-stoking UI which is always a joy to get stuck into. The radar at the middle displays your ‘grain’ position within the fresh cauldron of spatially-angled sounds you’ve generated.
It’s super-easy to get to grips with, and the resulting effects can be injected into anything to add instant interest. It’s a sure-fire winner in my book. It’s currently just $20 on Plugin Boutique. A proper steal if you ask me.
Unfiltered Audio Silo: $20 (78% off) on Plugin Boutique
In our round-ups above, we’ve mentioned Sonnox’s smart EQ Claro and exquisite loudness-boosting limiter Oxford Limiter, but there’s also a massive reduction still standing on the Oxford Inflator that lasts until the end of today!
Regarded by some as a nifty ‘secret weapon’ when bringing a track to the boil, Sonnox’s Inflator isn’t a typical limiter, EQ or compressor, it’s more of an excitement and track-vibrancy enhancer, emphasising volume and substance without flattening a track’s dynamics. It’s been around for over a decade now, but it’s still regarded as a default go-to among the pros when finalising tracks.
Typically $156, you can snap it up for just $38 right now (75% off) until the end of today over at Plugin Boutique.
Sonnox Oxford Inflator: $38 (75% off) at Plugin Boutique
All the studio pros swear by Chandler Limited’s exceptional hardware outboard, which takes its cues from some of music production’s most iconic mixing consoles and celebrated gear. Much of it stems from the legendary Abbey Road Studios, with which Chandler is firmly entwined.
The plugin versions do their real-world hardware brothers justice on every level (aside from that child-like thrill you get when tweaking some of those irresistible dials and knobs)
The Curve Bender Mastering EQ was designed via component-level modelling of the EQ circuits of the Beatles and Pink Floyd-mainstay, the EMI TG12345. The ultra clean analog sound of Abbey Road and Dark Side of the Moon… yep, it’s all thanks to that once ultra-innovative console.
The plugin version actually improves on the bandwith of that celebrated original, sporting four bands as opposed to the original’s 2. Something we’re sure George Martin would have appreciated.
The plugin version of this robust Mastering EQ is currently knocked down to just $75 (74% off!) over at Plugin Boutique
Chandler Limited: Curve Bender Mastering EQ: $75 (74% off) at Plugin Boutique
Turning back to guitars - and I can’t believe it’s not been highlighted elsewhere - but the hefty guitar software workstation Guitar Rig 7 Pro is currently reduced by 53% over at Thomann. That's a better deal than the current 49% reduction over on Plugin Boutique.
This magnificent Native Instruments amp, cabinet and effect-modelling powerhouse is my default load-in plugin when I jack in my ‘leccy guitar. Alongside the aforementioned AmpliTube (itself currently 73% off, just to remind!)
Its output guitar signals are world-class, and to external ears, it's impossible to discern that you’re not playing through a real amp and a colourful pedal board. This is due to the intelligent circuit modelling in partnership with a ton of household name cabinet, amp and speaker manufacturers.
The presets are some of the best in the business too. I can spend hours trying to find the right combination of delay and reverb, then fire up GR’s ‘Creamy Snowflakes’ preset and kick myself for not remembering that it's utterly unmatchable. It's exactly the atmospheric, swelling texture I tend to gravitate towards.
Guitar Rig 7 Pro is really all you need if you want to embark on some serious software-powered guitar-ing.
Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro: £79 (53% off) at Thomann
Afternoon. Si here again.
I've been busy rounding up my favourite 'impulse buy' plugins, currently available at the sweet spot price of less-than £/$50.
These are the sort of Cyber Monday plugin bargains you can take a punt on without worrying about financial ruin.
There's some really, really excellent plugins in there though, including top-tier synths and effect plugins that I use all the time – so I highly recommend taking a look. Although I would say that, I guess.
19 of the best plugins under $50 this Cyber Monday for last-minute impulse buying
Now I'm thinking about all things guitar, I feel the need to make specific reference to Universal Audio's immense Guitar Amp Bundle, featuring an impeccably-modelled American tweed (a UAD Woodrow ’55), a British valve amp (UAD Ruby ’63) and a UAD Dream ’65 Reverb Amplifier and UAD Lion ’68 Super Lead.
All four of these virtual classics impart their respective quintessentially retro cleans, complex overdrives and tube-driven sustain onto your input guitar signal (and anything else, if you want to go off-road a little)
This sweet, pro-sounding bundle is currently just $99 - that’s a full $200 saved on the usual asking price. That maths makes sense to us.
UAD Guitar Amp Bundle: $99 (67% off) at Universal Audio
A brilliant tool for those of you who rely on headphones for carrying out mixing duties (as I sometimes have to, when the neighbours/girlfriend start banging on the studio walls/door) the SoundID Reference software from Sonarworks is the ultimate algorithm-driven headphone calibrator.
Packed with over 500 headphone calibration profiles, SoundID Reference sets a completely flat frequency response on even the most colour-imparting pair of cans - guaranteeing that all-important accuracy.
Right now, you can get SoundID Reference for just $49 over at Plugin Boutique - thats 50% off the usual $99 RRP.
It’s one of those tools you might not automatically think you need, but once you A/B it with your most neutral, mix-friendly cans, you’ll be bowled over by the night and day clarity that this exemplary plugin can reveal.
Sonarworks SoundID Reference: $49 (50% off) at Plugin Boutique
An excellent and trusted synth that is regularly praised by the likes of Martin Solveig, Martin Garrix and Zedd - KV331’s SynthMaster has been a premiere EDM-maker’s choice instrument for years. The latest version of this remarkable instrument is currently slashed down to the lowest price we’ve ever seen it at just $39 (60% off) over at Plugin Boutique.
What’s really awesome about the aptly-named SynthMaster is the broad array of synthesis types you can bring into play within its inviting workflow. These include VAnalog, Additive, Vector, Wavetable, Granular, Phase Modulation, Phase Distortion, Frequency Modulation, Pulse Width Modulation, Ring Modulation, Physical Modeling and SFZ Sample Playback.
When he reviewed it last year, one of our seasoned synth pros, Andy Jones, was head over heels; “SynthMaster 3 welcomes you into a layered world of modular synthesis, sequencing and more, with fantastic, in-depth features and a welcoming and easy-to-grasp interface.”
KV331 SynthMaster 3: $39 (60% off) at Plugin Boutique
There’s 60% off the terrific AI-powered smart:EQ 4 from Sonible right now. This intelligent EQ takes a look at your track and ponders the best possible EQ treatment that can resolve a vast array of issues.
Ahead of the curve when it comes to applying AI in a mixing context, Sonible is really head and shoulders above the competition, and smart:EQ 4 is genuinely useful for those problematic mixes. I'd say it's almost like having a weathered, sassy mix engineer sitting by your side, raising an eyebrow and shaking their head, before seizing the mouse from you and showing you how to do it ‘properly’ (although much less rude than that).
smart:EQ 4 is a steal at $49 (a full 62% off) at Plugin Boutique. Getting it now is certainly the smartest thing to do…
Sonible smart: EQ 4: $49 (62% off) at Plugin Boutique
One of my favourite recent GForce Software releases, is the Oberheim DMX drum machine plugin. This beefy beat-maker is a resurrection of the digital pioneer went toe-to-toe with the LinnDrum back at the outset of the ‘80s.
If you’re into New Order, you’ll be more than familiar with its impactful rhythmic qualities (the ones that defines Blue Monday - we know you can hear its thump in your head).
Prince and Madonna were also fans, and Daft Punk called upon its distinctly retro-flavour when making Discovery.
“This reinterpretation in software sounds truly exceptional,” said our reviewer Roland Schmidt. "All of the sounds garner the immediacy of the original machine, with depth and detailing which is second to none."
GForce's superbly-modelled, user-friendly plugin incarnation, released just last year has got a whopping 50% off its asking price, at just $29.99.
GForce Software Oberheim DMX: $29.99 (50% off) at Plugin Boutique
Dropped just in time for Black Friday, Universal Audio's Paradise Guitar Studio is described as a virtual "dream studio" for DAW-based tone-shapers, packing a vast array of modelled amps, cabs, mics, pedals and effects into a single plugin that represents serious value.
Consider that Paradise Guitar Studio features six of UA's highly-praised vintage amp emulations, which were originally priced at $299 as individual plugins, for only $149. That alone would be a bit of a steal without even considering the extras, which include a smorgasbord of modelled effects covering everything from 1176-style compression to classic overdrive and chorus effects.
While you're over at UA's website, don't forget to claim your free plugin for Black Friday – there's a choice of ten titles on offer, including emulations of the prized Teletronix LA-2A and Roland Space Echo.
UAD Paradise Guitar Studio: $149 (25% off) at Universal Audio
A fiery distortion multi-tool par excellence, Rift 2.0 from Minimal Audio has been one of my favourite signal igniters since its release a couple of years back.
You can use it in a number of ways to filter and morph sounds too, as well as throw in some assignable modulators that can add movement and variety to the inferno you craft.
Rift 2.0 is less a ‘distortion plugin’ and presents more of a musical attitude to signal processing, with animated harmonic movement that is controllable from within its multi-polar processing engine.
This Minimal Audio scorcher can currently be bagged at 50% off over at Plugin Boutique. It’s an investment that will (pleasantly) torch your mix, so be gentle with it!
Minimal Audio Rift 2.0: $64 (50% off) at Plugin Boutique
When trying to get a complicated mix in order, it’s often not necessarily your levels or EQ choices that can drag the end result down. The gremlin in the machine can often be those hard to discern resonance build-ups that can accumulate in various corners of your frequency range, muddying, swamping or incrementally draining the life from your track.
RESO from Mastering the Mix is a quick and effective solution to targeting these problem resonances - even the ones you might not even realise are there.
Throw it at synths, vocals a mix buss or a mastering chain and it’ll work studiously to resolve any problem areas. You can also use RESO to just point you to the areas you need to correct using its intelligent Calculate Targets feature, leaving you to do the pruning yourself.
It’s well worth putting this on every mix before you bounce it down; trust me, this thing is much, much better than your own ears… especially after a long day clad in headphones.
Take it from our reviewer Roland Schmidt; "As a second pair of automated ears for resolving resonant frequency conflicts, RESO is a surefire hit."
Mastering the Mix RESO is currently $39 (41% off) over on Plugin Boutique until December 8th.
Mastering The Mix RESO: $39 (41% off) at Plugin Boutique
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