As every year, a few keen brands have already started discounting their DAWs and VST plugins from the end of October, with some stretching their deals into January. Now whilst you can buy audio software and hardware in a sale at any time of year, we have so far not picked up any that are called Black Friday.
Many brands offer high quality plugins for free all year round. During Black Friday, we see others release plugins for free for a limited time. This year, we found the following free Black Friday plugins:
Soundtoys:Little Plate reverb (normally $29, from 6 November to 1 December 2023 free)
Baby Audio: Every year the brand releases a new free plugin. The company told us they plan to release a new free plugin in December 2023. In the meantime, all free Black Friday plugins from prior years are still available.
🛍️ Dealer's Deals
Some of the best deals on music hardware instruments (like guitars, keyboards, drums), software (like DAW or plugins) and studio hardware (like microphones, speakers, headphones and audio interfaces) offered by retailers, and not the manufacturers directly.
That's why we assembled links to the best retailer deals, highlighting some tasty offers.
u-he is one of the most respected creator of high quality plugins, including DIVA and Zebra. Yet they rarely offered any discounts in recent years, apart from a rare discount as NKS partner through Native Instruments some years ago.
So we were delighted when to our surprise u-he joined the Black Friday band wagon. And we were even more pleased when we saw their level of discount is more than 50%. We have never seen that level of discount on this quality brand. So this has to be the deal of 2023.
Loopcloud provide a high quality sample library subscription, provided through our 5 star rated Loopcloud sample management software. During Black Friday 2023, you can try Loopcloud for only $1 month for up to 2 months. Normally $7.99 a month, this offer entails 100 sample credits a month, a 1GB sample library, and Loopcloud software with 5GB cloud storage.
Ableton repeats an OK Black Friday deal with 20% off in 2023. However, we discovered you can buy Ableton Live 11 for up to 55% off. Thomann* has been consistently the cheapest official retailer selling Ableton Live, as our extensive research showed over the last years*. We award the Ableton deals at Thomann 5 stars.
Sonnox offer cracking plugins, with the Oxford range Inflator and Limiter home in many studios. With 77% off their most popular plugins, you can get your hands on those crackers from $30, for one month. If you haven't any of them, try them and buy some. 5 stars.
Output have a popular range of powerful effects and Kontakt based instrument plugins, including Substance, Analog Strings and Brass, and Exhale. More recently, Output introduced the Arcade instrument subscription. This plugin offers an ever-growing pool of loop-based samples, phrases, instruments, and loops for a monthly subscription.
In 2023, FL Studio expanded their Black Friday deals to the whole product range, and increased the discount from 20% to 25%. We wished for a higher discount but compared to historic deal breadth and depth. In addition, you can get $30 (or 37%) off the new FL Cloud annual subscription. Easily a 4 star deal rating for Image Line.
Soundtoys reduced their discounts slightly from 2022, when their excellent Soundtoys bundle* was discounted to $229. However, as the bundle is normally selling for $499, the 2023 discount of 50% down to $249 is still significant and good value in our opinion, encompassing 22 plugins including their latest release Super Plate.
Discounts on individual plugins, such as the excellent Little Plate, Decapitator, EchoBoy, or Little Radiator, have increased to up to 80% off*. This lowers the bar to access those excellent VST plugins, like Soundtoys Little Alterboy, to only $29.
Celemony, the maker of Melodyne, improved their 2022 Black Friday offer from up to 52% to up to 60% in 2023. Together with a 2 weeks sales period, and all Melodyne versions included in the sale, we are happy to award a 4 star deal rating this year.
The popular drum suite Addictivie Drums, the keyboard selection Addictive Keys, the drum sample organiser and groove plugin XO, and the popular vintage character plugin RC-20 Retrocolor, are all half price for two weeks, just like XLN Audio offered in 2022.
Waves are on sale every day but still leave their biggest discounts reserved to Black Friday*. They started their Black Friday sale on 1 November, and will extend deals at an expanding rate until Black Friday itself. Waves Audio shared the following deal schedule with us:
Early Black Friday Deals: Now live*, many plugins are discounted to plugins $19.99, and more included each week. Bundles are also reduced as well*, starting from $39.99.
Rhodes Music not only started producing the the hardware keyboard of the famous Rhodes keyboard again. The company also released an official plugin version alongside the extremely expensive hardware. The plugin comes at a premium price but during Black Friday has been reduced by 50%.
LANDR is more than just an online mastering service it originally started as. Nowadays, subsriptions include a wide array of attractive plugins, it offers music distribution services, samples, courses and a lot more. With that in mind, you can save up to 50% for a limited time during Black Friday, with subcriptions starting from $8.27 a month.
Polyverse Music runs its Black Friday sales from 14 November to 4 December 2023, which includes Supermodal, Manipulator, I Wish, and Gatekeeper. You can grab yourself the highest discount on the Polyverse Comet reverb plugin with 80% off. But this top reduction will only be offered during 24h on 14 November. Whilst this is not very customer friendly, discounts are higher than in prior years, which only reached 50%.
If you look at the historic deals from Baby Audio, they kept on steadily increasing from 40% to 50%. As we predicted, Baby Audio did not increase this further. Instead, they introduced an increased discount to their bundles. One month is plenty of time.
As every year, FabFilter is running their Black Friday deal with 25% across the whole range of plugins and bundles, including the newly released Pro-R2 reverb.
Antares started the Early Black Friday with a half price offer across the whole range of Auto-Tune plugins and vocal effects. In addition, the company adds in one year a free subscription with all purchases, with the subscription package (Essentials, Producer or Unlimited), depending on the value of the plugin purchased.
We predicted at least one plugin to reach 70% discount like in prior years, and think that Antares may still increase its discount, given they are calling the offer so far "early". For now, we award Antares a 3 star deal rating.
Korg's classic and modern synth, effect and drum computer emulations have rightly an excellent reputation. During Black Friday, you can grab yourself a piece of virtual history from $24.99, and up to 59% off.
The deal is only 2 weeks long, and for most plugins 50% discount. While this is decent, we have seen Korg offer this plenty of times during the year, so this Black Friday deal is not that special, compared to other brands who go the extra mile during Black Friday.
Ableton brings back their offer from 2022, with two weeks of 20% discount. As a sweetener, they announced the release of Ableton 12 in early 2024. All purchases from now on qualify for a free upgrade to Ableton 12.
Having said that, this deal only earns a 3 star deal rating from musicmanta. Because Thomann, one the biggest European retailers that also sells world-wide, substantially undercuts the Ableton offer. So we recommend you buy Ableton from Thomann instead*.
As we predicted, Cableguys continues to offer a disappointing Black Friday deal. Only the Shaperbox bundle is on offer, with a derisory 10% or $10 off, for one month. At least for 2023 the company added one extra module to the bundle just ahead of Black Friday, with ReverbShaper.
We predicted at least one plugin to reach 70% discount like in prior years, and think that Antares may still increase its discount, given they are calling the offer so far "early". For now, we award Antares a 3 star deal rating.
The Protools Black Friday deal AVID continues to disappoint in our view. 20% discount is lower than what AVID offered in 2022 with with 25 to 33% off Protools annual subscriptions. It only applies for the first year as well, and is only offered for 10 days. 👎
Black Friday doesn't necessarily mean you have to spend your hard earned cash. Some brands are generous and offer a free plugin. We predict Waves, Plugin Alliance, and Baby Audio to release new free VST plugins, like in the last few years. The good news is that many free plugins from previous Black Friday are still available.
Little Plate is a nifty light plate reverb emulation from the well respected Soundtoys stable. The settings are limited to decay time, mix and low cut. But then, the original EMT 140 plate reverb Little Plate is modelled on, does not have a lot of settings either.
Normally selling at $29, for one month you can download the plugin for free. Thanks Soundtoys.
Free Waves Audio Black Friday plugin - we are testing this already ...
Last Black Friday, Waves Audio released a free plugin called Lil Tube, a tube saturator plugin. Lil Tube is the first in the new MAGMA series of Waves plugins which specialise in analog emulations. The plugin is available as part of the BB Tubes plugin bundle for $39.99.
For this year, we know that Waves Audio will release another new plugin for free. How do we know? Because Waves Audio have told us, and already provided a beta version for us to review. We cannot disclose what plugin this will be, but it will be worth the wait.
From 6 November, the pre release will go live, and you will be able to sign up with Waves to receive the free plugin. And this plugin will only be available to download on Black Friday itself, 24th November 2023.
Free Baby Audio plugins
We predict the Baby Audio with continue to offer a free plugin in 2023, and will include this here as soon as it is released. In the meantime, you can still download the all four free plugins Baby Audio released in prior years.
An simple plugin, based on the Super VHS algorithm, offering random fluctuations in the pitch of the incoming audio signal, for that vintage, tape emulation sound. Using the amount slider, you can choose from subtle variations to extreme fluctuations in pitch.
An easy to use algorithmic reverb VST plugin derived from Baby Audio Spaced Out. At every click, Magic Dice will generate a new texture, using Spaced Out's randomisation engine – and no two results are ever the same.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are when most VST plugin and DAW software developers offer their lowest prices of the year. Some brands, such as Ableton, are on sale for only 5 days. Many others, however, start in early November, or continue to offer deals well into December, into the Holiday or Christmas season.
We analysed the best plugin and DAW deals offered by the most popular brands from Black Friday 2019 to 2021. That information helped us predict what brands are likely to offer Black Friday deals, at what discount, at for how long.
How we predict Black Friday plugin deals
Unfortunately, we cannot gaze into the future. However, we are in contact with many companies who share upcoming promotions with us. In addition, we conducted in-depth research into what deals were offered during Black Friday 2019 to 2022, and then predict which plugin or DAW developers might offer during Black Friday 2023. In 2022, we got most of our predictions right, and just a few wrong. In any case, we update our predictions with any confirmed or live deals as soon as possible.
Ableton Live is one of the most popular DAWs for music production. But it is not cheap, in particular when you want to go for the bigger bundle Ableton Live Suite.
From 2019 to 2021, Ableton offered 25% off for 5 days, from the day before Black Friday, to Cyber Monday. All Ableton Live versions were included, from Ableton Live 11 Intro, to Ableton Live 11 Standard, up to the top of the range Ableton Live 11 Suite. The 25% discount applied to both new purchases and upgrades.
Contrary to our prediction that Ableton will repeat this regular pattern in 2022, Ableton decided to cut their discount to only 20%. That was disappointing in our view, in particular as other retailer like Thomann, our lowest priced Ableton retailer, offers 35% discount all year round.
It is still possible that Ableton will increase their discount to 25% for the usual 5 days. But for now, while this is good offer, we can only advise you to buy at a lower price at Thomann.
⚡️ LIVE NOW: Buy Ableton Live 11 at lower price than the predicted Ableton Black Friday deal: up to 45% off at Thomann*
Thomann* has been consistently the cheapest official retailer selling Ableton Live, as our extensive research showed over the last years*. So the great news is, you don't have to wait until Black Friday to buy Ableton at a great price, or can still pick Ableton up cheaply, after Black Friday has ended.
Arturia has been prolific in recent years. Not only did they continue to update its V Collection range of analog emulations to version 9, they also updated both their synth plugin Pigments and their effects bundle FX Collection.
I can imagine last year's Black Friday sale was a roaring success for Arturia. Why? Because the French company has repeated exactly the same Black Friday promotion they ran in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The sale includes:
Arturia Black Friday 2022: 50% off V collection 9 ($599 down to $299), Pigments 3 ($199 down to $99), and FX collection 3 ($399 down to $199), for 5 days.
Arturia Black Friday 2021: 50% off V collection 8 ($599 down to $299), Pigments 3 ($199 down to $99), and FX collection 2 ($399 down to $199), for 5 days.
Arturia Black Friday 2020: 50% off V collection 7 ($599 down to $299), Pigments 2 ($199 down to $99), and FX collection ($399 down to $199), for 5 days.
Arturia Black Friday 2019: 50% off V collection 7 ($599 down to $299), $199 cross grade from any Arturia product, and $99 upgrade from previous V Collection versions, for 5 days.
Other Ways to Buy Arturia plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2024:
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AVID Protools has been one of the main recording tools and DAW for a long time, with Media Composer video editing and Sibelius notation software also popular. However, after switching to a subscription service, discounts have been few and far between.
In 2022, AVID released its 33% off Black Friday deals on Monday 14 November 2022, which lasted until 27 November. Compared to the discount on offer during Black Friday 2021, this was a disappointment, as they offered 50% discount on a first year Protools Ultimate subscription then.
For 2023, we predict that AVID will increase its offer back to 50%, possibly limited to only the cheaper subscriptions Artist and/ or Studio.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
AVID Protools Black Friday 2022: 33% off first year Protools Artist and Studio subscriptions
AVID Protools Black Friday 2021: 33% off first year Protools subscriptions, and 50% off Protools Ultimate first year subscriptions
AVID Protools Black Friday 2020: 15% off one-year Protools subscriptions at selected retailers
AVID Protools Black Friday 2019: 15% off one-year Protools subscriptions at selected retailers
Other Ways to Buy AVID Software Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2024:
Melodyne is not only one of the alternatives to the ubiquitous Antares Auto-Tune. This VST pitch correction plugin also brings a more natural pitch correction and advanced sound manipulation to the masses. While it's not free, Melodyne 5 Essential is certainly making the audio software significantly cheaper.
We think in 2023 Celemony will broadly repeat the offer from 2022. This included the entry level Melodyne 5 Essential for only $49, which is $50 off. If you are on version prior to version 5, the updates are usually good value with up to 70% off.
We expect that Plugin Boutique will again offer a "buy & upgrade" sale, allowing you to buy a smaller Melodyne version and then immediately upgrade to a larger one, saving you slightly more than buying from Celemony directly.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
Celemony Black Friday 2022: up to 52% off Melodyne 5, up to 53% off Melodyne upgrades to bigger version, and up to 70% off updates to newer version 5. Lasting for 10 days.
Celemony Black Friday 2021: 50% off Melodyne 5 Essential (reduced to $49), 40% off Melodyne Assistant, Editor and Studio, 33% off Melodyne upgrades to bigger version, and 40% off updates to newer version 5.
Celemony Black Friday 2020: 50% off Melodyne 4 Essential (reduced to $49), and 33% off Melodyne upgrades.
Celemony Black Friday 2019: 50% off Melodyne Assistant, and 67% off Melodyne upgrades.
Other Ways to Buy Melodyne Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2024:
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Devious Machines have developed an intriguing range of effect plugins in recent years, with plugins such as Infiltrator released in 2021, which morphs and mangles audio through its modulated multi-effects set up.
Devious Machines have reduced the discount every year since 2019, from 40% in 2019, 35% in 2020, 30% in 2021 to only 25% in 2022. We predict that Devious Machines will not reduce the discount further but stick to 25%.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
Devious Machines Black Friday 2022:25% off all plugins,including Infiltrator, Texture, Duck and Pitch Monster, from 16 November to 11 December 2022
Devious Machines Black Friday 2021: 30% off all plugins, from 1 November to 6 December 2021
Devious Machines Black Friday 2020: 35% off all plugins
Devious Machines Black Friday 2019: 40% off Pitch Monster, 50% off Duck
Other Ways to Buy Devious Machines Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2024:
FabFilter are considered one of the most desirable plugin brands. Not surprisingly, we also rated FabFilter Pro Q 3 5 stars in our in-depth review. But with FabFilter Pro Q 3 costing $179, ratcheting up to nearly $1000 for the FabFilter Total bundle, they are far from cheap.
FabFilter sales have a predictable pattern, when we studied what discounts the company offered from 2018 to 2022. FabFilter have always offered 25% off, for a few days only. No surprise then that we predict FabFilter will continue to offer 25% off for Black Friday 2023, on all plugins and bundles. We think the FabFilter 25% off sale runs from Monday 20th to 27th November this year.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
FabFilter Black Friday 2022: 25% off all plugins and bundles for 8 days, from 21st to 28th November 2022
FabFilter Black Friday 2021: 25% off all plugins and bundles for 4 days, from Black Friday 26th November 2021 to Cyber Monday 29th November 2021
FabFilter Black Friday 2020: 25% off all plugins and bundles for 4 days
FabFilter Black Friday 2019: 25% off all plugins and bundles for 4 days
This deal is the best of the year from FabFilter, and increased in breadth from FabFilter Summer Sale, which is also a 25% discount and ran for two weeks, but only included plugin bundles.
Other Ways to Buy FabFilter Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2024:
The Cheapest way to buy FabFilter: Black Friday may not be the cheapest way to buy FabFilter. Save up to 60% with ourguide to the cheapest way to buy FabFilter plugins. It includes personal offers for existing customers (up to 60% off), education offers for students and teachers (saving 50%), buying used licenses and how to transfer them officially (saving around 50%), and choosing the cheapest official retailer (saving up to 22%).
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iZotope is recognised as one of the premier plugin developers, most famous for the ubiquitous iZotope Ozone 9* mastering suite, or the iZotope RX9* audio restoration software.
iZotope released its Black Friday deals earlier in November and will continue those deals until the end of the year. The discounts iZotope offers are massive, not just the huge discounts of up to 96%, but also including low price points from $9. So this Black Friday is a fantastic opportunity for anyone to start with iZotope plugins, or expand your iZotope selection.
The top deals iZotope offers during Black Friday 2021 include:
This iZotope Black Friday special bundle includes 14 plugins:
Trash 2
Iris 2
Exponential Audio Phoenix Verb Stereo\
Exponential Audio R2 Stereo
Exponential Audio Excalibur
BreakTweaker Expanded
Stutter Edit 2
RX Elements
Neutron Elements
Nectar Elements
Ozone Elements
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
iZotope Black Friday 2022: TBC
iZotope Black Friday 2021: TBC
iZotope Black Friday 2020: Ozone 9 Standard $99 (from $249), Neutron 3 Standard $99 (from $249), Mix & Master Bundle $149 (from $697), Tonal Balance Bundle $299 (from $699), Music Production Suite 4 $499 (from $999), iZotope Holiday Bundle $49 (from $1,211), RX Elements $29 ($129)
iZotope Black Friday 2019: Special Black Friday Bundle was 93% off to $49 (including RX Elements, Nectar 3 Elements, Neutron 3 Elements, Ozone 9 Elements, Trash 2 Expanded, DDLY, Mobius Filter), and up to 60% off other plugins
Other Ways to Buy iZotope Plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2022:
How our detailed Black Friday list can help you decide what plugins and DAW (not) to buy
Rating all Black Friday plugin deals
We rate all live and confirmed deals out of 5 from worst (1/5) to best (5/5). We arrive at our Black Friday deal ratings by rating them according to three criteria:
Length: How long the deal lasts.
Breadth How many of the brand's product range are included in the Black Friday sales.
Depth: How deep the Black Friday discount offered in 2022 is, compared to Black Friday 2019 to 2021, and other discounts the brand offers throughout the year.
How do know what Black Friday deals will be offered? Unfortunately, we cannot gaze into the future. However, we are in contact with many companies who share upcoming promotions with us. In addition, we conduct research into what deals were offered during Black Friday 2019 to 2021, and then predict which plugin or DAW developers might offer during Black Friday 2022. In 2021, we got most of our predictions right, and a just few wrong. In any case, we update our predictions with any confirmed or live deals as soon as possible.
Only top plugins and DAW brands
We don't want to overwhelm you. That is why we focus on a selection of the most popular brands, but then analyse, rate and predict all the Black Friday VST deals in more detail.
Plugins and DAWs only: We only include audio VST/AU/AAX plugins, and DAWs. We don't cover sound presets, sample packs, and rarely music instruments or hardware.
Top brands only: We include Black Friday VST deals only from the most popular plugins and DAW brands, not every deal for every plugin we can find.
I have been there and done that. Yes, I spent more than in hindsight I wanted. And I bought plugins that I ended up not using. But I also saved massively. I now want to pass on the learnings from my costly mistakes to you, the musicmanta community. That's why I wrote a 5 step guide to help you prepare, plan, and purchase plugins at plunged prices (phew!).
Since T Pain and Cher made Auto-Tune famous, Antares has dominated the pitch correction plugins. Antares continue to expand their range, and now include an extensive product selection.
Antares started the Early Black Friday with a half price offer across the whole range of Auto-Tune plugins and vocal effects. In addition, the company adds in one year a free subscription with all purchases, with the subscription package (Essentials, Producer or Unlimited), depending on the value of the plugin purchased.
We predicted at least one plugin to reach 70% discount like in prior years, and think that Antares may still increase its discount, given they are calling the offer so far "early". For now, we award Antares a 3 star deal rating.
Black Friday 2023 Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Length Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - One month, 1 to 30 November, is plenty of time.
Breadth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - All single plugins are included but not any subscriptions.
Depth Rating: ⭐️⭐️ - The discount of 50% is decreased from up to 75% in 2022.
Auto-Tune Unlimited Subscription: 28% off for the first year ($175 annual subscription down to $125), plus choose one free perpetual license.
Antares Black Friday 2021: up to 70% off selected Antares products and up to 50% off subscriptions, for 10 days
Offers included:
Full Antares Licenses: 50-70% off Auto-Key, Auto-Tune Access
Auto-Tune Unlimited Subscription: 50% off for the first year ($299 annual subscription reduced to $149.99), plus bonus Auto-Tune Access full license worth $99
Antares Black Friday 2020: up to 60% off selected Antares products, for 5 days
Products included:
Harmony Engine
Auto-Tune Access
Mic Mod
Antares Black Friday 2019: up to 50% off selected Antares products, for 5 days
Products included:
Auto-Tune Access
Auto Key
Other Ways to Buy Antares plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2024:
Education Discount: Students and teachers can save 50% off Antares all year round.
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Baby Audio has quietly but firmly edged itself into the spotlight with its unique take on classic effect plugins. Nevertheless, it was a surprise to see the company branch out from effect plugins into instrument plugins, with the excellent BA-1, which achieved a 4 star rating in our review. Not stopping there, Baby Audio launched another plugin called Transit in collaboration with YouTube superstar Andrew Huang.
If you look at the historic deals from Baby Audio, they kept on steadily increasing from 40% to 50%. As we predicted, Baby Audio did not increase this further. Instead, they introduced an increased discount to their bundles.
Individual Plugins:
Transit: $59 (41% off $99)
BA-1 and Crystalline: $49 (51% off $99)
Smooth Operator, IHNY-2, Spaced Out, TAIP: $39 (51% off $79)
Super VHS, Comeback Kid, Parallel Aggressor: $29 (51% off $59)
Bundles:
Industry Pro Bundle: $189 (76% off $790 value, $110 off regular bundle price of $299)
Industry Standard Bundle: $149 (68% off $474 value, $50 off regular bundle price of $199)
Black Friday 2023 Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Length Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Four weeks is the same as 2022 and sufficient time not to feel pressured.
Breadth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - All plugins are include, including bundles.
Depth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - The discount remained from 2022 at 50%, but is not extended to bundles. One star less as the recently launched Transit is only attracting 40% discount.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
Baby Audio Black Friday 2022: up to 50% off Baby Audio plugins, for one month
Baby Audio Black Friday 2021: up to 44% off Baby Audio plugins, starting at $29
Baby Audio Black Friday 2020: up to 40% off Baby Audio plugins
Baby Audio Black Friday 2019: 40% off Super VHS (Black Friday intro sale)
Other Ways to Buy Baby Audio plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023? Here are other ways to save after Black Friday 2024:
Image Line rarely offers FL Studio at any discount throughout the year. However, Black Friday is different. Our research shows FL Studio offered a significant discount in the last few years.
In 2022, Image Line upped their discount to the FL Studio Producer Edition from 20% to 25%, with other editions 20% reduced. In 2023, FL Studio expanded their offer to the whole whole excluding the cheapest Fruity Edition.
Save $30 (or 37%) on the new FL Cloud annual subscription
FL Cloud: $49.99 instead of $79.99
Black Friday 2023 Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Length Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - One month is plenty of time.
Breadth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Now three FL Studio Editions are included - the All Plugins Edition, the most popular Producer Edition, and the Signature bundle. This trumps 2022 when Signature Edition was not included. Upgrades for existing owners are also included, and a discount on FL Cloud.
Depth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - The discount increased from 2021 level from 20% to 25% on the Producer Edition, now in 2023 expanded to the more expensive Signature and All Plugins Editions.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
FL Studio Black Friday 2022: FL Studio All Plugins Edition was reduced to $399 (from $499), plus $300 worth of plugins and samples: KSHMR Essentials FX, Urban Puncher FX + 5 Producer Loops Sample Packs
FL Studio Black Friday 2021: FL Studio All Plugins Edition was reduced to $399 (from $499), plus $300 worth of plugins and samples: KSHMR Essentials FX, Urban Puncher FX + 5 Producer Loops Sample Packs
FL Studio Black Friday 2020: FL Studio All Plugins Edition was reduced to $399, from its higher price of $899, for about one month (2nd November 2020 to 30th November 2020).
FL Studio Black Friday 2019: We could not find any deal offered in 2019 during Black Friday. (If you have a source that confirms a 2019 Black Friday offer, drop us a message and we will update this article).
Other Ways to Buy FL Studio Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2024:
The Cheapest way to buy FL Studio: Black Friday may not be the cheapest way to buy FL Studio for you. Save up to 50% with ourguide to the cheapest way to buy FL Studio. It includes limitations for the infinite free FL Studio trial, education offers for students and teachers (saving 50%) and choosing the cheapest official retailer (saving up to 15%).
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Native Instruments is one of the longest-established developers of electronic music-making software and hardware, which can be found in most home and professional studios. No surprise then when this massive company also wants a piece of the crazy Cyberseason action in 2021. Who doesn't like a nice Native Instruments sale, making many of their tasty VST plugins more affordable?
This year, Native Instruments changed their discount approach to prior years. The software deals so far are far more restricted, with only Komplete 14 Select included, and no longer any individual plugins which were included 2020 to 2022. However, for the first time Native Instruments hardware has been included, a welcome addition.
Native Instruments' Cyber Sale went live on 1 November 2023, and will continue until 15 January 2024. The sale includes:
Length Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Two and a half months is definitely generous, and does not build any unnecessary pressure to buy quickly.
Breadth Rating: ⭐️⭐️ - Disappointing this year, with only one bundle included, the smallest Komplete bundle Select 14. However, the addition of hardware one star rating to make this two stars.
Depth Rating: ⭐️⭐️ - 50% is typical on software, and 25% off Maschine is good, however there is only free software on Komplete hardware with no cash discount offered.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
Native Instruments Black Friday 2022: 50% off most individual plugins and expansions but Komplete software and Maschine/ Komplete hardware was excluded
Native Instruments Black Friday 2021: 50% off most individual plugins and expansions but Komplete was excluded
Native Instruments Black Friday 2020: 50% off most individual plugins and expansions but Komplete was excluded
Native Instruments Black Friday 2019: 50% off Komplete updates and upgrades
Other Ways to Buy Native Instruments Plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2022:
The Cheapest way to buy Native Instruments: Black Friday may not be the cheapest way to buy FabFilter. Save up to 66% with ourguide to the cheapest way to buy Native Instruments plugins. It includes Free Komplete Start, 50% off Reaktor 6 for students, and a hidden way to legally buy Komplete 13 for $200-$300
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oeksound have carved out a strong reputation as a specialist plugin creator, since it was created in 2006. First of the gates was Soothe, a dynamic resonance suppressor, which has since been updated to Soothe 2. A few years later, oeksound released its second plugin, Spiff, an adaptive transient processor.
The Finnish company revealed the coming Black Friday deal ahead of time. The sale will begin on Friday, 24th of November, and will end on Monday, 27th of November.
oeksound is offering free trial resets for both Soothe2 and Spiff. If you’ve used a trial license for either plugin in the past and would like to give them another go, visit the oeksound plugin trial reset page and enter your iLok account.
A trial extension license will be deposited directly onto your iLok account - you won’t receive a license code via email. Log in to your iLok account in the iLok License Manager program to find and activate your new trial license, and enjoy an extra 20 days of Soothe2 and Spiff for free.
Black Friday 2023 Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐
Length Rating: ⭐️⭐️ - oeksound confirmed the Black Friday deal will only be offered for 4 days, like in the last three years.
Breadth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Both oeksound plugins, Soothe 2 and Spiff, are included, and Soothe Live is excluded.
Depth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️- 33 to 38% is on the lower end of discounts among plugin brands. However, this is increased from 30 to 33% in 2022, and given the high regular price, this equates to a solid saving between €50 and €60.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022
oeksound Black Friday 2022: 30% off Soothe 2: €139 (from €199), 22% off Soothe 2 update from Soothe 1: €39 (from €50), 33% off Spiff: €99 (from €149), for 4 days from 25 to 28 November 2022.
oeksound Black Friday 2021: 30% off Soothe 2: €139 (from €199), 22% off Soothe 2 update from Soothe 1: €39 (from €50), 33% off Spiff: €99 (from €149), for 4 days from 25 to 28 November 2021.
oeksound Black Friday 2020: 30% off Soothe 2: €139 (from €199), 22% off Soothe 2 update from Soothe 1: €39 (from €50), 33% off Spiff: €99 (from €149), for 4 days from 26 to 29 November 2020.
oeksound Black Friday 2019: 30% off Soothe 2: €139 (from €199), 33% off Spiff: €99 (from €149), for 4 days from 29 November to 1 December 2019.
Other Ways to Buy oeksound Plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2024:
Buying a second hand license, then transfer the license:This is possible through oeksound, if you can find a cheaper copy of Soothe 2 or Spiff.
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Since it was created in 2013, Output has expanded its range of sample-based instruments to Arcade, its VST plugin subscription, and even studio hardware. Without a doubt, Output's pedigree is illustrious. Many artists have used their plugins, such as Kendrick Lamar, Bjork, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Imagine Dragons, Coldplay, and Drake. Output plugins have also been used to create film scores and music for shows such as Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, and Black Panther.
Output in 2021 repeated pretty much the same deals as it offered in 2020 and 2019, with around 35% off. Hardware is excluded, as well as Arcade 2.0. This is a decent deal, but not spectacular. The instruments including Output Exhale, Analog Strings, and Substance are all 35% off, with Output Expansions 37% off.
This monster bass VST plugin was built using Native Instruments' Kontakt sample engine. It comes with 300 presets, combing analog bass, with electric and acoustic bass instruments, all run through the Output engine using layers, filters, and modulations. If that is not enough, you can expand the sonic spectrum further with Substance Expansions, which are 37% off:
Exhale is a vocal-focused VST plugin that can be heard on countless tracks. It has been a favorite for EDM and pop producers who want to sprinkle vocal chops and phrases onto their songs. 3 Exhale Expansions add even more phrases, all on sale for 37% off:
Output Black Friday 2020: Output increased its savings to 35% off individual Output instruments and effect plugins
Output Black Friday 2019: Save 25% off individual Output instruments and effect plugins
Other Ways to Buy Output Plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2022:
Bundle: Save 65% off individual prices when you buy the complete selection of all non-subscription Output instruments and effects, together with their Expansions. The Bundle costs $849, compared to $2,510 when bought individually. During sales periods such as Black Friday, Output adds a 35% discount, reducing the Output Bundle to $551.
This VST synth plugin has been in the shadows of the likes of XFer Serum, Lennar Digital Sylenth1, and Native Instruments Massive for a while. But it encouraged at least serious EDM producers like Armin Van Buuren and Morgan Page to put their names against it. The VST brings both digital and analog engines to the virtual table, which runs through 4 oscillators, and 2 filters, beefed up with 9 unison voices. Movement stems from copious amounts of modulation options, before adding 2 multi-effect units for extra sonic flavor. 900 Presets bring plenty of choices if you simply want to get going.
Black Friday 2019 and 2020
Reveal Sound Spire Black Friday 2020: 30% off to $129.
Reveal Sound Spire Black Friday 2019: 30% off to $129.
Other Ways to Buy Reveal Sound Spire Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2022:
Education Discount: Students can save 48% all year round, reducing Spire from $189 to $99.
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British developer Sonnox has been around for many years and is most well known for its Sonnox Oxford Inflator and Limiter plugins, as well as their full Oxford range, which includes dynamics, EQ, and reverb plugins. But Sonnox plugins are certainly in the more expensive category, with most of their individual plugins costing over $200.
Like in previous years, Sonnox is one of the earliest out of the blocks, with top deals starting from early November. The deals will continue until 5 December.
Length Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Sonnox is one of the earliest brands offering Black Friday offers and keeps them running until after Cyber Monday, for over one month.
Breadth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - All Sonnox plugins are included.
Depth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- 77% is on the higher range of discounts compared to other brands and is 2% lower than the 75% in 2022.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
Sonnox Black Friday 2022: 77% off Sonnox Inflator, Limiter, Claro, and 55% off most other Sonnox plugins, for one month.
Sonnox Black Friday 2021: 75% off Sonnox Inflator, Limiter, Drum Gate, 25% off new Sonnox Claro, and 50% off most other Sonnox plugins, for one month.
Sonnox Black Friday 2020: 75% off Sonnox Inflator, Transmod, Broadcast, Enhance, and 50% off most other Sonnox plugins, for one month.
Sonnox Black Friday 2019: 50% off Sonnox plugins, excluding the newly released Drum Gate, for one month.
Other Ways to Buy Sonnox Plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2024:
Soundtoys have become a staple in many music producers' plugin collections. Decapitator, EchoBoy, and Little Alter Boy can be heard in numerous productions, and are well known for imparting analog flavors to your recordings.
But the full Soundtoys 5 bundle with 21 plugins is not exactly cheap, costing $499. Luckily, Soundtoys has offered tasty discounts in recent years during Black Friday, so you don't have to search for a Soundtoys mac torrent and download an illegal version. When are you getting your first soundtoy?
Soundtoys has offered what we predicted before Black Friday 2021. We have no reason to change our prediction for Soundtoys Black Friday 2022. We predict Soundtoys plugins will be on sale for about 7 days for their flagship Soundtoys bundle*, down to $229 from $499, as well as the $129 discounted price on Effect Rack (from $299)*. Discounts on individual plugins, such as the excellent Little Plate, Decapitator, EchoBoy, or Little Radiator, we think will continue, with up to 70% off*. This lowers the bar to access those excellent VST plugins, like Soundtoys Little Alterboy, to only $29.
Black Friday 2019, 2020 and 2021
Soundtoys Black Friday 2021: Soundtoys 5 reduced to $229 from $499 (55% off) - the lowest price of the year. Effect Rack $129 down from $299. Individual plugins were reduced by between 35% and 75%.
Soundtoys Black Friday 2020: Soundtoys 5 reduced to $229 from $499 (55% off) - the lowest price of the year. Effect Rack $129 down from $299. Individual plugins were reduced by between 35% and 75%.
Soundtoys Black Friday 2019: Soundtoys 5 reduced to $249 from $499 (50% off). 50% off upgrades. Up to 80% off individual plugins, including Decapitator, EchoBoy, and Little Alter Boy - typically $29 down from $49.
Other Ways to Buy Soundtoys Plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2022? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2023:
Education Discount: Students and teachers can buy the Soundtoys 5 bundle for only $249 all year round, a saving of 50%.
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Spectrasonics is most well known for its popular but expensive Omnisphere monster of a plugin instrument. 14,000 sounds, 58 effects, and the ability to use your own samples make this the ultimate dream plugin for some. But at a price of $499, and a policy of not discounting, not even during Black Friday, any discounts are hard to come by.
However the scoured the internet far and wide to find officially authorised resellers listed on the Spectrasonics website that offer a discount all year round.
Waves appeared to be the original plugin creator that started decades ago, and they are still going strong. You might not like their approach to promotions, which sees all plugins constantly on sale - meaning you should never ever buy a Waves plugin at full price. But many of their plugins are still fine quality in our view, and you can always test a free demo version of any Waves plugin before you buy.
We would prefer a more straightforward pricing and promotion policy than Waves offer. Our guidance is to ignore any discounts of up to 90% off their inflated "Manufacturer Recommended Retail Price" (MRSP). In reality, Waves plugins are always on offer, throughout the year. To make this easy, as a rule of thumb, use $29.95 as the "real" price for individual plugins throughout the year. So any real discounts should come off $29.95.
Waves are on sale every day but still leave their biggest discounts reserved to Black Friday*. They started their Black Friday sale on 1 November, and will extend deals at an expanding rate until Black Friday itself. Waves Audio shared the following deal schedule with us:
Early Black Friday Deals: Now live*, many plugins are discounted to plugins $19.99, and more included each week. Bundles are also reduced as well*, starting from $39.99.
Black Friday to Cyber Monday Deals: Waves promise their best ever sale with prices never seen before, plus up to 4 free plugins per purchase.
Black Friday 2023 Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Length Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Starting on 1 November and continuing until at least 27 November is a solid length.
Breadth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - Week one, and only 36 plugins have been included - but Waves promised to extend the range throughout November.
Depth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - The Waves Audio pricing must be one of the most confusing for musicians. They are always on sale, so you never know what is or isn't good value. From our research, $29.99 is the base price all year for individual plugins. So if you can get plugins for less than that, you are likely to make a real saving. With the early offer, you can save 10-50% off $29.95 through multi-buys, so we think it is a good offer, worth a 3 star rating.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022
Waves Black Friday 2022
Discount: Waves reduced 90 top-selling plugins to $29.95 from 2nd November.
Multi-Buy: Waves also offers an increasing discount based on the number of individual plugins you buy. 10% discount from the second plugin, 30% from the 3rd plugin, and 50% off from the fifth plugin onwards.
Waves Black Friday 2021
Waves offered various multi-buys off their already reduced "real" prices of around $29.99.
From early November, an extra 30% off the 2nd purchase, 40% off the 3rd purchase, and 50% off the 4th or more purchases. This represented about a 33% discount.
From Black Friday 2021 until early December 2021, buy 2 get 2 free. Prices included individual plugins at $29.99 already discounted "real" prices.
Here is an example of what discounts you could get in 2021 when you added multiple Waves plugins at the already discounted price of $29.99.
Total: less than $60 for 4 plugins (on average $15, or 50% off $29.95 "real" prices per plugin)
Waves Black Friday 2020
60% off all plugins and bundles.
Plus a free plugin selection with purchases over $50 (and two over $90). Free plugins included Abbey Road Vinyl, API 550/560, Bass Slapper, CLA plugins, virtual instruments (Clavinet, Electronic 200/88 piano), and Infect Mushroom Pusher.
Waves Black Friday 2019
50% off all plugins and bundles, for example, the Waves Gold bundle for $84.50.
Plus a choice of free plugins, one over $50 purchase, two over $100 purchases.
Free plugins when spending over $50 included H-Delay, RS56 Passive EQ, Bass Rider, Renaissance Vox, Renaissance Reverb, CLA Guitars, CLA Mixdown, DBX 160, Clavinet, and V-Comp.
Free plugins over $100 included SSL G-Channel, Abbey Road Chambers, EMI TG12345, CLA-3A, Abbey Road Vinyl, API 560, Submarine, and Flow Motion.
Other Ways to Buy Waves Plugins Cheaper
Missed Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021? Here are other ways to save before Black Friday 2022:
Education Discount: Students and teachers can save 35% off Waves plugins* all year round. However, this is off the inflated MRSP and doesn't provide true value in our view.
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This Spanish VST developer from Mallorca created some waves in recent years. Plugins like Trackspacer have brought innovation to the sea of sameness. I have used Trackspacer to successfully duck (or sidechain) selective frequencies between vocals and other instruments - which is not straightforward to achieve. No surprise the team has gathered a following for its character plugins, including the Echocat tape delay plugin, Cassette saturation plugin, Trackspacer dynamic ducking plugin, and more recently Quantum transient shaper and Spectre EQ plugins.
Wavesfactory Black Friday 2022 Prediction: 50% discount*
For Black Friday 2021, Wavesfactory offered up to 50% off. However, only one plugin was discounted that highly. This was a bit disappointing and substantially reduced discounts to 33% for most of its plugins, after offering 50% discounts on most of them in 2019 and 2029. So we rated this offer only 3 out of 5 in 2021.
For 2022, we hope Wavesfactory will increase this to 40% across the range.
Black Friday 2019, 2020, and 2021
Wavesfactory Black Friday 2021: 33% off most plugins, with one 50% off
XLN Audio* is one of the specialists in plugins which found a neat niche. The Swedish VST developer expanded Addictive Drums* into an impressive collection of realistic drum samples over the years, capturing both acoustic drum sets and electronic drum machines, all accessible through a pretty plugin interface. Not stopping there, Addictive Keys* further takes XLN Audio's sample wizardry into electric and acoustic pianos.
XLN Audio XO* then is a unique plugin that enables beat making and drum groover creation a cinch. I have been using this plugin for a year now, and I found the classy cloud-like sample manager and filters truly a pleasure to use.
XLN Audio went for it during Black Friday 2022, repeating their discounts from 2021 and 2020. Just as we predicted all year, XLN Audio is running its promotion for 10 days from 21 to 30 November 2022, with all products 50% off.
Black Friday 2022 Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Length Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - XLN Audio have their offer live for only 10 days, more than just the Black Friday weekend but this could be longer.
Breadth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - You cannot top the whole range being included. Full marks for XLN Audio.
Depth Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 50% is a pretty tasty discount, four stars.
Black Friday 2019, 2020 and 2021
XLN Audio Black Friday 2021: 50% off the XLN Audio range, for 10 days.
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Prepare, Relax and Save: Top Tips to be less frantic and have more fun this Black Friday
Using the musicmanta guide to surviving Black Friday, you can increase your chances of grabbing bargains, yet not leaving with any regrets.
Before you spend more than you can afford, you might want to consider the following top tips:
Organise your plugin folder: How many plugins do you have in your folder already? How many of them do you actually use? Can you organise your plugins into folders so you can find them better? Can you delete some that you haven't used for the last years? (But be careful if you have used them in any of your projects in the past).
Set a budget: How much can you invest in plugins this year? How much have you spent already this year? Have you got the money saved and ready to go, or do you need to set aside some money now to avoid credit card debt?
List your plugin priorities: Which plugins and upgrades will bring something new and different to your plugin folder? Are you sure you don't already have a plugin that does the job?
Estimate what you can likely afford this Black Friday: Use our guide of predicted deals to work out what discount you might expect this year, using our detailed guide.
So being a bit organised and prepared is an efficient way to enjoy the jolly season - and then have more time to do what you love doing, making music!
Let us know your top tips on how you are staying sane during Black Friday, and ensure you won't spend money on music tools you cannot afford or regret later.
Frequently Asked Questions on Black Friday plugin, DAW and music software deals
Can I buy Omnisphere cheaper? Will an Omnisphere Black Friday take place in 2022? Does Omnisphere offer any discounts? Will Spectrasonics offer an Omnisphere sale during Black Friday 2022?
Trained in classical and jazz piano, Christof has over 30 years of experience in songwriting and music production. In 2021, he founded musicmanta and is now its Editor-in-Chief. Christof has worked in marketing for 25 years in Unilever and Kimberly-Clark. He is now the Head of Performance Marketing UK for Andrex, Kleenex, and Huggies, leading a team of 10 to create award-winning marketing campaigns, writing effective content, reaching millions of people.
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