Black Friday plugin deals 2026: The early deals on plugins are already here

UAD Mixtape: 10 plugins for $99
This bundle deal lets you pick ten of your most wanted Universal Audio plugins, all for the low price of just $99. It includes some amazing plugins like the Empirical Labs EL8 Distressor, API Vision Channel Strip, SSL 4000 G Bus Compressor, Manley Massive Passive EQ, and loads more, so if you need to stock up, this is the place to do it.

89% Off: This huge suite of analog gear emulations, amps, effects. An exclusive collection for Plugin Boutique, it sports the vintage-flavored Amp Room: Vintage Suite, the unmistakable character of British Class A, and the punchy precision of FET Compressor Mk II.

Waves plugins: Spend $50 get 1 free
Waves plugins are some of the most popular plugins of all time, making them a great place to start your plugin collection or stock it up. With an excellent selection of plugins available you can get 1 plugin free when you spend $50, or 2 free plugins when you spend $80.

Another bit of outboard gear I’m very familiar with, the Avalon BT-737 Tube Channel Strip can be characterised with a single word - clean. Seemingly no matter how hard you push it the preamps still remain incredibly transparent, delivering a glossy sheen to whatever signals you feed it. With preamp, opto-compressor, and EQ I use it a lot for vocals, but it’s versatile enough to take a shine to pretty much any instrument.

An AI-driven noise removal tool built for vocal isolation and cleanup. It strips background noise while keeping the voice intact, making it valuable for producers who rely on samples, field recordings or less-than-ideal takes. A genuine time saver for anyone handling spoken or sung audio.

A specialist tool that automatically removes or reduces breaths in vocal recordings. Perfect for podcasters, narration producers and vocal-heavy mixes where cleanup usually eats time. Set it, fine tune it, move on. Not glamorous, but absolutely essential once you’ve used it.

Whether you use this AI-powered beast as the starting point for your mastering journey, or just let it handle the whole thing, you'll be more than satisfied with its punchy results - which offer ample room for fine-tuning

I've used the Scheps Omni Channel on pretty much every instrument at some point, whether adding a light touch of vibe or totally transforming the properties of an audio source. It's a 5-module channel strip that features preamp, EQ, de-essing, compressor, and gating, making it a proper Swiss-army knife tool for your productions. There are loads of great presets built into it that make a good starting point for beginners, and if you know your stuff, plenty of options to tweak and shape your sounds.

While I don’t have an actual one of these to use, it doesn’t stop me from putting the SSL 4000 G Bus Compressor on pretty much all of my productions. It works amazingly on a drum bus for adding punch, as well as on the master bus for helping add that final touch of cohesion in the mix-down phase. I love how it’s really easy to get a good sound out of it, and the built-in presets give you a strong starting point even if you’re not an expert in compression.

Read more: Universal Audio SSL 4000 G Bus Compressor review

One of the all-time classic compressor plugins, Waves CLA-76 is many producers' go-to for drum busses. It can add a specific character that will make your drums sound like they're being hit harder, without drastically increasing your peak levels. It's not just viable on drums, though; it really is a Swiss-army style comp that can do the job on guitars, vocals, pianos, and pretty much anything else, so well worth picking up at this bargain price point.

Even if you already own a 76-style compressor plugin, this is one of the best Black Friday plugin deals I've ever seen. Normally retailing at $199 it's got a humongous 85% discount, taking the price down to less than your average family takeaway. Capturing all the characteristics of the original hardware units, I reach for these plugins a lot when I'm mixing.

This vintage-inspired tape delay is one I actually reach for ahead of some of the more guitar-friendly alternatives in my arsenal. It’s full of warmth, flexible modulation, filter sweeps and true stereo delay. At this price, it’s a no-brainer if you want lush echoes or experimental textures.

Expanding hugely on the original Pro-R, the mark II version of FabFilter's reverb plugin significantly ups its game. Available with a tasty $49 discount at Plugin Boutique, like FabFilter's other plugins you get loads of versatility in how you shape your tones with ducking, auto-gate, saturation, and freeze controls all built-in directly.

A hybrid reverb with deep editing, modulation, advanced damping control and sophisticated shaping tools. It fits cleanly into everything from cinematic tails to tight mix spaces. Ideal for producers who want tweakable ambience instead of the usual set-and-forget algorithmic wash.

If you've got an instrument track that just isn't quite sitting right, or you want to add some extra texture to the whole mix, Waves Kramer Master Tape is a fantastic analogue tape emulation. It adds a really punchy sound and is based on a machine that has featured on loads of classic records. There are plenty of controls for tweaking it to your exact specifications, which makes it super versatile in the mix.

Another plugin I use on pretty much everything, the Oxide Tape Recorder is a regular customer on my drum bus, adding punch and low end warmth to the overall kit sound. It’s super easy to use unlike an actual tape machine, meaning you can apply it effectively with a minimum of fuss. It’s great for getting that final bit of warmth onto any instrument, and is really effective used on buses to help glue everything together.

One of the most popular saturation plugins in the industry, Soundtoys Decapitator is a standard in studios across the globe. Versatile enough to cover a light dusting of vibe all the way through to all-out sonic destruction, this is one plugin that should be in every producer's arsenal. A $140 discount over at Plugin Boutique makes it a fantastic early deal to take advantage of.

IK Multimedia's Amplitube 5 is currently a ridiculous 85% off on IK Multimedia’s official site. 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.

IK Multimedia was the first to create a perfectly modelled bass instrument, and MODO Bass 2 is still the gold standard for instant live-sounding low-end as far as I'm concerned. At 75% off you shouldn't miss this

A complete virtual guitar rig with amps, cabs, stomps and routing options. It delivers fast workflows and versatile tones without fuss. Whether you track guitars daily or just need a reliable all-rounder for writing, GTR3 covers a surprising range for the price.

A huge saving on this collection of top-tier drum (and a few nifty effect) plugins. Beat Scholar and MINDst Drums are the real draw here, and provide versatile control over every element of a drum performance

The authentic sound of five analog giants that you’d have to pay an arm-and-a-leg for (literally, probably) are accessible for probably the cheapest price they’ve ever been. These are some truly legendary instruments, albeit in software form (I mean, in my book - that’s a pro, not a con!)

Audio Plugin Deals: Free bundle
This incredibly generous bundle from Audio Plugin Deals gives you $211 worth of content for absolutely nothing, making it one of the best value deals around for Black Friday. It includes 7 Kontakt libraries that comprise instruments and samples, making it a boon for anyone who makes music in the box. Bear in mind that this won’t work with the free version of Kontakt however, so you’ll need the full version in order to get the most out of this deal.

iZotope Vocal Doubler: Free vocal plugin
This one is actually available year-round, but if you’re on the hunt for free plugins I can highly recommend iZotope’s Vocal Doubler. It’s a great way to add that subtle depth you get from multiple vocal takes when you’ve only got a single take to work with. The super clean UI makes it really easy to use, and you can add stereo separation or more variation between the real take and the simulated one.

Kiloheartz Essentials: 35 free plugins
The KiloHeartz Essentials Bundle is insane value for money, and perfect for producers who are just taking up the craft for the first time. Featuring a full 35 totally free plugins, it covers everything from EQs, compressors, delays, reverbs, transient shapers, filters, and pretty much any other type of plugin. They’re super simple to use, making them great for learning your craft on and with so many available for nothing, it’s one of the best value plugin deals you can get.

Native Instruments Supercharger: Free compressor
Native Instruments’ Supercharger is a tube compression emulation that not only tames transients but adds a characterful drive to your sounds. This free version works with a single knob, making it another great one for beginners to dive into compressing sounds. I’ve found it works great on vocals and drums in particular, and the mix knob is a really handy way of doing super quick parallel compression when you don’t want to smash the life out of your tracks.

Minimal Audio Squash: Free
Get Squash - the brand new ultra-modern OTT compressor from Minimal Audio absolutely free this Black Friday. Squash is perfectly tuned for modern styles, and allows users to quickly explore different characters and achieve the ideal loudness and spectral balance.

Universal Audio Showtime 64 Tube Amp plugin: Free!
The latest guitar plugin from Universal Audio replicates a very famous Fender Showman amplifier, giving you massive clean tones and bags of headroom from the comfort of your DAW. It's available completely free of charge over at the official UA website, so is a complete no-brainer for adding another great tone to your collection.

Valhalla DSP Supermassive: Free
Once you've used Valhalla's Supermassive reverb plugin it's honestly difficult to believe it's free. Packed with larger-than-life sounds it is perfect when you want to add some ultra-spacious tones to your recordings. I regularly use it on ambient tones in my recordings, and it's great for vocals too.

Neural DSP Nano Cortex: Free plugin
The Neural DSP Nano Cortex is ideal for players who don’t want to fully commit to a floor modeler but want the convenience of amp modeling for playing live shows. It’s jam-packed with some of the most incredible captures we’ve ever heard, and you can make your own captures with it too – impressive for such a small unit. With this deal, if you buy a Nano Cortex from an approved retailer between November 21 and December 3, you can bag yourself any Neural DSP plugin completely free of charge!

Plugin Boutique: Free with paid purchase
Okay so this isn’t strictly 100% free, but if you buy anything in the Plugin Boutique Black Friday sale you can bag yourself one of five plugins completely free of charge. With some deals at the PB site in the single figures, this is a great value way to get more for your money, even if you’re just buying a simple utility plugin to help elevate your mixes. You can choose from Lunacy Time, IK Multimedia MixBox, Universal Audio UAD Galaxy Tape Echo, Native Instruments Massive, or Excite Audio Bloom Vocal Edit Lite when you check out.

AIR Tape Double-Track: Free tape plugin
If you’re tired of double-tracking your guitar and vocal takes, this awesome plugin from AIR gives you the feel of tape double-tracking without the endless onslaught of punching in and recording separate takes. AIR Tape Double-Track creates the illusion of multiple takes by using varispeed and modulation to cut down on time recording and speed up your productions. It’s available completely free of charge at the AIR website.

Antelope Audio MG4+: Free plugin
Based on the Maag Audio EQ4, this EQ plugin from Antelope Audio is available completely free of charge until November 30. It may look like any other EQ, but the MG4+ does a really neat trick that very few other EQs have in their locker. The 'sky' band allows you to add a high frequency shelf to the 30k and beyond band, which can have a marked effect on your mix or on your vocal tracks. While most humans can't hear beyond 20k, adding this air band gives a perceptible lift to your tracks, and for nothing it's well worth adding to your tone locker.

Waves Black Friday: Free Magma StressBox plugin
Waves has now unveiled its annual Black Friday freebie for 2025. Magma StressBox is a one-knob plugin designed to 'shape musical tension and feel' through a combination of expansion and compression. Waves says: "Turn right for explosive punch and energy, or left for intimate control and focus. Each twist transforms your track’s feel, adding drama, contrast, and movement in a single knob."

Universal Audio: Free plugin
Choose from one of ten different plugins free of charge with this amazing deal over at the Universal Audio website. From classic compressors to tape saturation, there’s something for everyone here, but you’ll need to act fast because they’re only available from November 27 to December 1.

Containing a humongous 240+ plugins, this subscription to Waves Ultimate has every plugin you'll ever need and then some. It includes plugin updates, regularly added plugins, Waves Stream remote collaboration, premium mixing courses, and plenty more.

Universal Audio Spark gives you access to a full 60 different UAD plugins, and more are being added all the time. It's a great value way to jump into the UAD ecosystem, or just try out a huge range of their plugins to pick out the ones you love. With everything from EQs, compressors, saturation, reverb, delay, and even amp modellers, this is an all encompassing subscription that will cover all of your needs and then some.

The most comprehensive version of Ableton has got a gigantic $187 reduction over at Sweetwater. Jam-packed with 20 software instruments, 58 effects, and over 71GB of content, this is the ultimate DAW for the music maker who likes to do things differently.

Read more: Ableton Live 12 Suite review

Avid Pro Tools: Up to 40% off
It may get a lot of flak online, but it doesn't change the fact that most professional studios run on Pro Tools. If you want to work in real world studios, this is the DAW you need to know. Right now at Avid, you can bag yourself up to 40% off annual subscriptions, saving yourself up to $208 versus the regular pricing.

Containing four of the best orchestral sample instruments money can buy, including the award-winning Hollywood Orchestra, Hollywood Fantasy Orchestra, Hollywood Strings 2 and Hollywood Choirs, you'll be dishing out the Oscar-winning soundtracks in no time

Equator2 is ROLI’s revolutionary MPE synthesizer, taken to the next level. You can use it to create and sculpt any sound imaginable using a vast collection of contemporary synthesis techniques, effects and modulators.

For the Black Friday period only, this low-cost, three-item bundle features a sublime recreation of a JUNO-106 and two legendary drum machines. It's seemingly too good to be true, and will undoubtedly pay for itself in spades if you choose to grab it

The Digital Polysynth Collection is a bundle of four Roland instruments from its 40 year-history. Backed by Digital Circuit Behavior (DCB) technology, these iconic synths are brought to life with breathtaking realism and authenticity, and right now they're extraordinarily cheap!

45 exquisite soft synths modelled on some of music technology's heavy-hitters. It's a premium suite of instruments and one of the most desired bundles around.

An incredibly quirky and surprisingly dense creative synth, sampler and instrumental toolkit, you'll be amazed at how much CUBE can bring to your tracks. Get it cheap now!

Native Instruments: Komplete bundles up to 50% off
NI's Komplete bundles round up the best of the company's synths, effects, sampled instruments and expansions, along with highlights from iZotope's mixing and mastering tools. It makes for a very well-rounded package, and a bargain given these Black Friday deals.

An ultra-powerful way to increase the punchiness of your drum recordings - or replace them entirely - Steven Slate Drums Trigger 2 is used by many pro engineers to augment their drum tracks. It's incredibly accurate bleed suppression needs to be heard to be believed, and it comes loaded with loads of great samples too. A $70 discount at Sweetwater makes it a must-have if you want to add some pro sheen to your drums.

The ultimate drum software just got a massive $130 discount over at Sweetwater. Packed full of ultra-realistic drum tones with endless tweakability, whether you're recording entirely in the box you're looking to sample replace, or backup real-world drum recordings, Superior 3's offering is unparalleled.

Read more: Toontrack Superior Drummer 3 review

33% off this remarkable drum-stem separator that can enable deep editing of legacy drum recordings via the power of AI. You see, it's not all bad!

If you want to add realistic drum sounds to your productions for less, this awesome deal on BFD 3.5 at Plugin Boutique is well worth a look. With a massive $160 reduction, you're getting quality drum sounds straight into your DAW for well below $50. With a massive 51 kits there's plenty to get stuck into, and if you like tweaking your drum sounds then you'll love the depth of offer here.

Probably the best guitar VST deal we've seen this Black Friday, at IK Multimedia's website if you buy Amplitube 5 Max or Tonex Max for $99.99, you'll get the other completely free of charge. With a huge array of accurately modeled and captured guitar tones, the combination of both bits of software means you'll be well covered for guitar tones for the considerable future.

90% off a trilogy of ultra epic-sounding virtual cinematic guitar instruments that will push your mix into the widescreen. These are tried and tested solutions for conjuring divine guitar textures without forking out for a heap of pedals (and a guitar!)

Containing stunningly accurate recreations of the holy trinity of guitar amp tone in the Fender Deluxe Reverb, the Marshall Plexi, and the Vox AC30, this guitar bundle is great if you want iconic tube tones from the comfort of your DAW. I use these regularly to back up recorded guitar tones from the studio, and they do a scarily convincing job of replicating the real thing. It now also contains the Woodrow 55 amp, which while lesser known is still a great tone to have in your arsenal.

If you're not so much into the heavier side of guitar playing, the Neural DSP Tone King plugin is the one you should go for. It models the boutique tones of the Tone King Imperial MKII tube guitar amplifier, giving you clean and dirty tones that not only sound incredibly realistic, but inspiring too. I own a lot of Neural plugins, and this is the one that gets the most use from me as I primarily play rock, punk, indie, and other, softer styles.

Ultra-affordable yet incredibly realistic, Aberrant DSPs SketCassette II is honestly one of the best cassette emulators I've ever used. Even at full price it's an absolute bargain, but an extra $12 saving doesn't hurt. Perfect for lo-fi lovers or those who just want some extra character on a boring sound.

If the thought of a plugin with a million options on it brings you out in a sweat, you'll love Baby Audio's Super VHS. Simple, yet powerful, it's capable of subtle character changes right through to all-out mangling of whatever sound you want to feed it. Down to just $9.99 from $69, you're saving yourself a hefty $60, brilliant value.

I love using the Thermionic Culture Vulture on my bass guitar tracks, but it’s a versatile saturation plugin that can be easily utilized across the full depth and breadth of your productions. It can do everything from subtle to thickening to full-on sonic destruction, and the plugin includes some features you don’t get on the hardware, including a mix knob and stereo link function.

Read more: Universal Audio Thermionic Culture Vulture review

This reverb goes beyond stereo and has been tailor-made for 3D and spatial mixing. With support for up to 7.1.6 channels, this particular reverb/space-shaper is a real boon for making those mixes sound even bigger.

I already own UAD Sound City Studios and it's quickly become one of my most used plugins. I use it to liven up drum room sounds, add space to guitar tracks recorded via plugins, and give a sense of space to vocals. It's already cheaper than it was last year, so well worth picking up if you want to add better depth to your mixes.

This sublime emulation of a modern hardware classic is on sale for $59 instead of $89 until December 27th. ZDV can concoct some genuinely captivating delays with those big front-panel knobs demanding you to get creative, manually mangling up its impressive filters. We heartily recommend you add it to your delay-roster

Probably my all-time favorite delay plugin, Soundtoys EchoBoy has been used at one point or another on pretty much all of my productions, and I regularly see it appearing in professional studios too. Packed full of lush analogue delay tones and with unparalleled flexibility in tweaking, with $150 off at Plugin Boutique it's a must-have for your plugin folder.

Read more: Soundtoys 5.5 review

With its excellent selection of analog-flavored delay tones, Baby Audio's Comeback Kid is a great choice if you're in the market for a delay plugin. It's already pretty cheap by plugin standards, but a $40 discount at Plugin Boutique has brought it down to just $29, an absolute steal.

Read more: Baby Audio Comeback Kid review

If you want to instantly amp up your home recording efforts, you should buy this plugin right now. It's got a huge $199 reduction over at Plugin Boutique and is designed to be placed at the very end of your mix bus. The Sonnox Oxford Limiter will hugely increase the loudness and clarity of your mix without clipping. We've just bought one ourselves, and it's had an instant effect on our mixes, helping bring our tracks to life at the mixdown stage.

A fantastic deal on an intelligent and easy-to-use EQ that will point out where you're going wrong, and fix your problems without breaking a sweat. Sonnox has a wealth of experience in this field and Claro is built on their expert knowledge.

Another unmissable deal on perhaps the ultimate EQ control room. With parameters for fine-tuning your frequencies beyond most other plugins on the market. You shouldn't miss this one.

Gullfoss is an intelligent EQ plugin that forensically diagnoses what's going wrong in your mixes - and can correct those issues at will. It's a recommended pick-up.

Read more: Soundtheory Gullfoss review

The API 500 series is one of my favourite bits of outboard in the studio I work in, so when I’m at home the EQ plugin is one of my top choices. An engineer friend of mine described it as ‘revealing’ and I can’t put it any better than that. Even when you start getting into boosting frequencies in the realm of 12dB it still somehow manages to sound good, and despite being initially confusing, I find the two-tiered knobs really quick and easy to use once you get used to them.

Read more: Universal Audio API 500 Series EQ review

The one plugin I've seen in every professional studio I've been to, FabFilter's Pro-Q 4 is the industry standard for EQ. Ultra versatile with a fantastic UI and loads of clever features, it allows you to sculpt your tones exactly to your liking. A $50 discount at Plugin Boutique makes this a must-have for your surgical EQ needs.

One of my must-have plugins for Black Friday, Soothe 2 has quietly taken the music production world by storm thanks to its ingenious resonance suppression. It looks like an EQ, yet operates partly like a compressor, making it an initially confusing plugin. What you need to know is that it tames harsh, edgy resonances in your mix and despite appearing complex, is incredibly easy to use and see results with. It's got a huge $50 discount over at Sweetwater at the moment, making it perfect timing to get your hands on it - you'll thank me later.

Read more: Oeksound Soothe 2 review

Antares Auto-Tune Pro: 70% off subscription
Probably the most famous vocal plugin of all time, Antares has slashed a massive 70% off Auto-Tune annual subscriptions for the all-encompassing tuning software. Nearly every modern record uses vocal tuning in one form or another, and so should yours.

Vocalign is on my shopping list this year, having recently used the trial. It's great for making your vocal editing more efficient, allowing you to quickly and easily synchronize vocal doubles and harmonies to get a really professional sound. It's currently got a hefty $80 discount at Plugin Boutique, and you can use it on other instruments too, making it an amazing tool for speeding up the editing of your productions.

Read more: Synchro Arts Vocalign Ultra review

For a lot of working producers, Melodyne will be amongst their most used plugins. Pretty much every vocal nowadays is tuned, to the point that most big live shows you go to will have some form of tuning on the vocal. I use Melodyne all the time, and I love its straightforward workflow that enables me to speedily tune vocal takes and get to the important stuff more quickly. With a massive $74 off at Plugin Boutique, this is one Black Friday plugin buy I guarantee will improve the quality of your music.