Black Friday - the essential guide

[Guy Rowland]

A thread for all the main deals condensed into a quick at-a-glance guide. These threads can get unwieldy, so let's not feel the need to update with every last tiny thing. I'll update this OP as more are announced.

INSTRUMENTS & LIBRARIES

Applied Acoustics - discounts across range @jrrshop
s://www.jrrshop.com/computer-software?cat=3 ... e=1&type=2

Arturia V Collection 4 from jrrshop - $169 (inc in-cart discount)
https://www.jrrshop.com/arturia-v-collection

Audiobro - up to over 40% off on LADD and various LASS libraries.
http://audiobro.com/ab-store/

Big Fish Audio - up to 80% off some loop libraries
http://www.bigfishaudio.com/black-frida ... ;sou=bfaem

Boz Digital - various discounts across the range
http://www.bozdigitallabs.com/

Cinematic Strings - 20% off CS2 @$319
http://www.cinematicstrings.com/

CineSamples - 40% off the whole range
https://cinesamples.com/products

East West Composer Cloud discounted to $299/year (reg. $29.99/month) plus extras.
http://www.soundsonline.com/composerclo ... riday-2015

Evolution 40% off World Percussion 2.0, individual regions (including Taiko), World Strings Guzheng and Upgrades. 35% off Bundles.
http://www.evolutionseries.com/

FXpansion BFD 3 upgrade 50% off
https://www.jrrshop.com/computer-softwa ... e=1&type=2

Heavyocity - various discounts store-wide, inc DM307, Aeon and Damage @50% off
http://www.heavyocity.com/products/

Hybrid Two - $99 for Alpha or Bravo, $179 for both
http://www.hybridtwo.com/

Ilya Efimov - up to 75% off across the range
http://www.ilyaefimov.com/products/bundles.html

Impact Soundworks - 33% off Bravura Brass, 50% off Rhapsody Percussion
http://impactsoundworks.com/black-friday-2015/

IK Multimedia - Sonik Synth 2, SampleTron and SampleMoog $39 each, Total Studio and Workstation discounts @jrrshop
s://www.jrrshop.com/computer-software?cat=3 ... e=1&type=2

IZotope - see effects section

Korg - 50% off apps and plugins
http://www.korg.com/us/news/2015/112702/

Native Instruments - 50% off synths, libraries, Maschine expansions, Traktor and effects (not Symphony Series, Reaktor 6 or Flesh)
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/pr ... ial-offer/

Orange Tree Samples - 35% off libraries and bundles
https://www.orangetreesamples.com/news/ ... riday-2015

Pianoteq - 30% off Pianoteq Pro
https://www.pianoteq.com/buy?black_friday_offer

Pettinhouse - all products $49 except for latest Humbucker. Everything (including Humbucker 2.0) for $199
http://www.pettinhouse.com/

Premier Sound Factory - 30-50% off
http://www.premiersoundfactory.com/inde ... ng+en.html

ProjectSAM - Symphobia series up to 33% off, some bundle reductions also
https://www.projectsam.com/symphobia

Realitone - discounts on the whole range
http://realitone.com/

Rob Papen - 30% off (extra discounts through resellers)
http://www.robpapen.com/discount.html

SampleTekk - 70% off the Black Grand piano
http://vstbuzz.com/deals/70-off-the-bla ... ampletekk/

Sonokinetic - Tutti Vox 33% off until November 30th @€199.90
https://www.sonokinetic.net/products/classical/tuttivox

Soundiron - 35% off most products til Dec 1
http://soundiron.com/collections/on-sale

Spitfire Audio - 15% off bundles and 25% off the individual product range (unlcear if it applies to upgrades) - Nov 26 - Dec 1
http://www.spitfireaudio.com/editorial/ ... iday-2015/

Straight Ahead - 50% off range (except for Horns, still on $50 off introductory discount)
http://straightaheadsamples.com/

Steinberg - 40% off Wavelab, Dark Planet, Halion Sonic 2 & Symphonic Orchestra
http://www.steinberg.net/en/landing_pag ... CKFRIDAY15

Strezov Sampling - up to 30% off the whole range (I think)
http://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/

Sugar Bytes - reductions across the range
https://sugar-bytes.de/shop/index.php?lang=en

Toontrack - SDX and EZX expansions 50% off from resellers, 40% in store. Steep discounts on EZ Mix, EZ Keys and Superior Drummer 2. EZ Mix 2 25 euros from Best Service.
https://www.toontrack.com/deals-2015/
http://www.bestservice.de/en/ezmix_2.html

Twisted Tools - 35% off
http://twistedtools.com/

UVI - Grand Piano Steinway D free with any order over 49 euros from Best Service; 30% off rest of range except Falcon; $29 String Machines, World Traditions and UltraMini from Audiodeluxe
http://www.bestservice.de/en/deals.html ... no_model_d
http://audiodeluxe.com/search/apachesol ... 02f6a644ed

XLN Audio - 50% off range including Addictive Drums 2
http://uid174343.fan-send.com/l.php?cid ... der%3Dname

Zero-G - $40 off every product, use code BF40
http://zero-glimited.cmail19.com/t/y-l- ... ljdhuit-y/

8dio - 40% off any product over $600 - Code: thankyou40; 30% off any product over $400 - Code: thankyou30; 20% off any product over $200 - Code: thankyou20 (til Dec 1)
http://8dio.com/

8DM: - 50% Off ANY 8DM product over $100 - Code: thankyou50 (til Dec 1)
http://8dm.me/


EFFECTS

Antares - Autotune 8 $199 from jrrshop
https://www.jrrshop.com/antares-auto-tune

Applied Acoustics - discounts across range @jrrshop
s://www.jrrshop.com/computer-software?cat=3 ... e=1&type=2

Fabfilter- 25% off through resellers
https://www.jrrshop.com/fabfilter?dir=asc&order=name

Flux - up to 55% off through jrrshop
https://www.jrrshop.com/flux?dir=desc&o ... _from_date

FXpansion Various plugins 50% off
https://www.jrrshop.com/computer-softwa ... e=1&type=2

GRM Tools - up to 54% off whole range through jrrshop
https://www.jrrshop.com/ina-grm

Ircam Tools - 50% off some bundles
https://www.jrrshop.com/ircam-tools?dir ... _from_date

IZotope - up to 67% off on Stutter Edit, BreakTweaker, Trash 2 and Iris, plus the bundle of them all. Further discounts from resellers.
https://www.izotope.com/en/lp/creative- ... iday-deals

Kush Audio - up to 50% off
http://us3.campaign-archive1.com/?u=998 ... b1e0b8120f

Lexicon - 50% off
http://lexiconpro.com/en-US/promotions/ ... -ins-offer

McDSP - 50% off Everything pack on Friday only; 60% off individual plugs til the 30th
http://audiodeluxe.com/search/apachesol ... 02f6a644ed

Metric Halo - 87% off Precision DeEsser, Transient Control and Character bundle at AudioDeluxe
http://audiodeluxe.com/search/apachesol ... 02f6a644ed

Nomad Factory - up to 67% off various bundles through jrrshop
https://www.jrrshop.com/nomad-factory?d ... _from_date

Plugin Alliance $85 per plugin in cart at jrrshop, some products over 70% off
https://www.jrrshop.com/computer-softwa ... e=1&type=2

Slate Digital - any two plugs for $199 at jrrshop
https://www.jrrshop.com/slate-digital?d ... order=name

Softube - TSAR-IR reverb $25 in cart from jrrshop, sale of many products at audiodeluxe
https://www.jrrshop.com/softube-tsar-1r
http://audiodeluxe.com/search/apachesol ... 02f6a644ed

SoniVox - Wobble, Twist or Pulse free with any purchase over $49 from jrrshop
https://www.jrrshop.com/computer-softwa ... e=1&type=1

Sonnox - 50% off plugs and bundles
http://www.sonnox.com/pub/plugins/november15-sale.htm (poss cheaper though resellers)

Soundtoys - Free Little Allter Boy and reductions across range
https://www.soundtoys.com/store/backinblack
https://www.soundtoys.com/product/little-alterboy/

UAD - over 50% off some plugins
http://www.uaudio.com/store.html

Waves - free Trueverb on Friday, extra discounts available once downloaded. Large discounts across range @AudioDeluxe eg Gold for $149 in cart. New Cyber Monday deal - an additonal $30 off using code CM30, bottom link here for products:
http://www.waves.com/lpn/black-friday-2 ... uginSignUp
http://audiodeluxe.com/search/apachesol ... old%20desc
http://www.waves.com/lpn/cyber-monday-2 ... cm-30-gift

Waves Factory 50% off
http://www.wavesfactory.com/browser.php ... ad4aad001d

HARDWARE

Moog 20% off Select Gear, 10% off Merch & Accessories, also $240 Theramini at Think Geek
http://us2.campaign-archive1.com/?u=66c ... a43eaa0a3e
http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/1be6/? ... AlUC8P8HAQ

Mac Sales Black Friday SSD Sale
http://eshop.macsales.com/Search/Search ... ast15Nov25

Universal Audio - End Of Year Hardware Sale. Buy a Apollo and Get a Satellite Free
http://www.uaudio.com/apollo-satellite-promo

[TheUnfinished]

I highly recommend signing up with Audiodeluxe, who often shave off a little bit extra from these sales prices. I've bought quite a few mixing plugs via them and have never had any issues.

[Marius]

I highly recommend signing up with Audiodeluxe, who often shave off a little bit extra from these sales prices. I've bought quite a few mixing plugs via them and have never had any issues.

Ditto—big fan of them, I've gotten some crazy deals.

[Guy Rowland]

Yup jrrshop good too - sometimes takes a coupla days to get the licenses through though.

[woodsdenis]

I highly recommend signing up with Audiodeluxe, who often shave off a little bit extra from these sales prices. I've bought quite a few mixing plugs via them and have never had any issues.

Audiodeluxe are top notch, use them all the time and most of the time the cheapest.

[Aesthete]

Looking forward to Universal Audio, I have two coupons to use up as well.

[Valérie Delaney]

I was going to save up money to maybe in a year go with this dsp accelerator card : http://www.uaudio.com/uad-plug-ins/uad-2-pcie.html

But, I don't have an appolo card, I have a very good MOTU soundcard which was released last year and I'm completely happy with.

I also have very nice plug-ins from PSP audio, fabfilter, melda, I have u-he satin, valhalla reverb, all very nice plug-ins which I am happy with.

So my question is,

For the lexicon reverbs at Deluxe Audio http://audiodeluxe.com/products?tid=41, which one is the best for cinematic music and do you need a UAD sound card like appolo for this?

Is a PSP accelerator card really useful?

I don't just want to be caught in the whole UAD religion, like there is no other option to do prefessional work than this company.

Thank you so much for your help!

Valérie

[Marius]

Valérie,

If you're happy with the plugins you have, why buy new ones to begin with? I know it's tempting cause there are always cool new things, but if you aren't coming at it from the perspective of having a concrete problem that you're hoping they'll solve, it's very hard to make a satisfactory purchase, and it's hard for the community to offer useful recommendations.

If you say "I love my reverbs, but I'm missing one that goes really huge, beyond real" then people can offer concrete advice like Shimmer, B2/Aether, etc. and debate the relative merits. Otherwise it's all just people guessing at each other, right?

For what it's worth, I haven't bought into the UAD hype and I don't miss it yet. The idea of offloading processing for minimal latency and conserving resources is the biggest selling point, I think, more than the plugins themselves. But now that computers are so powerful...it's less compelling, at least to me.

[Valérie Delaney]

Hum, well would you all say that with the Vahlhalla reverbs, one can do absolutly magnificient professional music?

I just got them but since I head so many great things about Lexicon, I'm just asking, is Lexicon UAD?

Thanks!

Val

[Marius]

I just got them but since I head so many great things about Lexicon, I'm just asking, is Lexicon UAD?

Nope, the Lexicon bundle is native, no UAD card required!

[Valérie Delaney]

Great! So is it worth it?

[Marius]

Can't help you there, I'm afraid, as I don't own the Lex verbs. They seem nice but I'm not hearing anything I can't accomplish with what I already have (Valhalla, Spaces, Aether, etc.)

Someone else will chime in, I'm sure!

[wst3]

excellent advice, be wary of purchasing for the sake of purchasing, or even keeping up with the Zimmers!

And therein lies a huge challenge. I've purchased libraries and plug-ins when I didn't need them, and they've chewed up my financial resources. On the other hand, I've had the time to become familiar with them, so that when I did want to use them I could.

I've also (only once thus far) purchased libraries and plug-ins for a specific project, and that was a nightmare. I had no time to just learn the tools, I had to use them right out of the gate. I am quite certain that this approach cost me time, and stress.

I'm not sure exactly how one balances the competing requirements...

as a card carrying (kool-aid drinking?) member of the UA fan club I just want to chime in briefly...

I don't think that off-loading processing is nearly as big a deal as it once was, but maybe you still need the DSP horsepower to run the UA plugins? I don't know, and they aren't saying<G>!

I do think that the quality of the UA plug-ins has yet to be surpassed, and some of their more original plug-ins don't exist elsewhere.

So I continue to give them money (not as much, and not as often as in the past), because I really like their plug-ins. I'd buy them if they were native!

One other, off-kilter maybe, benefit of the accelerator cards is that they do serve as a dongle, meaning it is unlikely that the plug-ins will be pirated, and the company will remain stable - or can anyway. Having invested in other plug-ins, only to have the rub pulled out from under me that does count for something.

This is not to suggest, in any way, that one can't do good work with other plug-in families. It's a matter of your ears, and your sensibilities.

Had I not purchased my Mackie UAD card years ago I might not have heard their plate, or time cube, or Ocean Way studios, and I'd have never known the difference<G>!

[Guy Rowland]

Maybe I should list my own rules for buying something (to remind myself at the dawn of the silly season as much as anything else)

1. Can it do something I can't already do?

2. Will it significantly improve my workflow?

If neither, I really should avoid it.

Those were my rules anyway. In truth I break them a lot. If I can get a SIGNIFICANTLY different / better tone with something, then I tell myself it comes under (1). But when it comes to it, so much that's out there are variations on what I already have. Does it REALLY come under (1) or is this supposed no-brainier just another distraction?

After a while you realise you tend to go to, well, your gotos. Buying another 20 delays probably won't mean you'll use something different every time. You'll find the one that works for you, and ignore the other 19, unless you need to do something really funky.

Val, we need to start a separate reverb thread. It will probably be called The Reverb Thread. People will be very passionate about their weapons of choice. Personally, as long as you have some solid tools, I wouldn't go chasing endless (and very expensive) ones. I know people who do swear by UAD, for the sonics as well as the DSP. But for me... I'm drowning in great reverbs, I don't think my future career rests on getting one that might be 1% "better". How happy are you with the Valhalla?

[Valérie Delaney]

I just tried them for 5 minutes, they sound great

[jneebz]

Big +1 for AudioDeluxe

Also, noticed Cinematic Strings 2 is on sale Nov. 27 - Dec. 4 for $319 (20% off). Great library, IMHO, especially blended with other string libs.

[DrQuest]

I highly recommend signing up with Audiodeluxe, who often shave off a little bit extra from these sales prices. I've bought quite a few mixing plugs via them and have never had any issues.

Completely agree with this. I have many Kush plugins from here.

[Lawrence]

I'm also an AudioDeluxe customer and have been happy for the most part. Had one problem of incompatibility that took some time to resolve.I've heard very good things about JRRshop.

The UADs are still my favorite plugs, though the ones I want (I'm still on UAD 1 so I'm limited) never seem to go on serious sale. I also think plug-in collection (of things you barely need if at all) is a serious vice!

[Lawrence]

I just tried them for 5 minutes, they sound great

Val, did you think they sounded substantially better than Valhalla?

[Phil Mountford]

Valerie, I can recommend the Lexicon Reverbs although as my only other reverbs are from the VSL Suite (and those with Cubase) I'm not sure how they compare. I will say though that they sound pretty lush but transparent enough to not easily blur the sound. Just my 2 cents.

And while you're on the topic of where to shop around, I often use BestService as the exchange rate can sometimes be favourable to those in the UK.

[Valérie Delaney]

I just tried them for 5 minutes, they sound great

Val, did you think they sounded substantially better than Valhalla?

Hi, no I tried the Valhalla for 5 minutes.

[Lawrence]

Ohhhh. The plate?

[stupendousman]

Had I not purchased my Mackie UAD card years ago I might not have heard their plate, or time cube, or Ocean Way studios, and I'd have never known the difference<G>!

+1 for Ocean Way Studios. I haven't heard anything else quite like it. That and the Ampex have done some things to my signal that are way beyond my capacity to replicate otherwise.

I bought into the Universal Audio ecosystem this year kindof by accident. I picked up the Apollo Twin DUO for the good mic pres and the solid thunderbolt interface, and I ended up picking up a few plugins on sale, which I've used way more than microphones so far. A big plus for me is the electric guitar recording/processing/monitoring with near zero latency; if the price is ever right for me (read: cheap), I'll grab the Friedman collection and the ENGL bundle.

Regarding the Lexicon confusion, UAD has an exclusive (?) Lexicon 224 simulation that uses the exact algorithm from the vintage hardware unit and also simulates the analog gear's input transformers and AD/DA converters to add a bit of difficult-to-emulate non-linearity. This is different from the Lexicon plugin bundles that are currently on sale elsewhere, which are native plugins made by Lexicon (I believe).

[Guy Rowland]

Added Audiobro, Strezov and Toontrack sales to the OP.

[Mystic]

Can vouch for JRRShop. They have some really great prices at times. Only complaint is that everything is manual there so it takes time to get emailed licenses. I'm sure they will automate it over time.