Boxing Day leftovers. But if you’ve been waiting on some purchases, now is a great time for a deal. Photo (CC-BY) James Whatley.
As more sales – particularly software – move online, we’re finding that musicians can save a lot on their tools by waiting on sales. Black Friday / Thanksgiving / Cyber Monday saw steep discounts on some terrific stuff, and now there are loads of sales in the quiet period from Christmas to New Year’s.
Half off Lemur (through 19 Jan). One particularly tempting deal – especially if you’ve got a winter project in mind – comes from our friends at Liine. Lemur, my favorite controller app on iOS, is now 50% off. And LiveControl 2 has just added essential support for Ableton Live 9.1. The sale runs through the 19th of January.
As it happens, a friend of mine was just trying to choose between TouchAble and Lemur. I use both, myself, if that’s an option (especially with this discount). I tend to prefer TouchAble for its unparalleled Ableton control, but Lemur is a general-purpose app that can make control layouts for anything (I use it with Processing and Pd, among others). The decision-maker might be LiveControl – if it covers your Ableton needs, the more-flexible Lemur is a great choice.
Here’s a video review of LiveControl 2:
15-50% off Teenage Engineering’s Store. (Today only?) Apart from the Swedish maker’s fascinating OP-1 synth/workstation, OpLab electronics platform, and accessories, our design-savvy Swedes also have nice deals on things like some cool-looking laptop backpacks. No expiration date, but today is Boxing Day, so you might want to hurry.
http://www.teenageengineering.com/store
Loop Loft Free Download, Sale. (Today only) Loop Loft today is offering up their ReMixed and ReCute pack for free, with REX2, AIFF, WAV and Stylus RMX formats. There’s also a 40% off coupon for all their loop collections.
Up to 60% off Universal Audio plug-ins. (Through 31 Dec) UA has a big sale on their plug-ins, with up to 60% off and a number of plug-ins under US$100.
http://www.uaudio.com/store.html
50% off KORG apps, 30% off Korg Legacy Collection. (Through 1 Jan) Everything from Korg is half off on iTunes through 2013 – that’s truly everything, meaning iELECTRIBE, iELECTRIBE Gorillaz Edition, iMS-20, iPolysix, and iKaossilator. For desktop users, the Legacy Collection is 30% off, which means some pretty attractive modeled instruments. Store link for the latter (this link appears to be USA only, but I think you can find your way to the deal from other countries, too):
$20 off Cakewalk. More or less all of Cakewalk’s software is on sale with code HOLIDAY20.
http://www.store.cakewalk.com/
30% off Sony. (Through 3 Jan) Sony Creative is repeating their “Black Friday” sale for a few days; looks like a good way to buy or upgrade Sound Forge, in particular.
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/store
25% off FabFilter (Through 1 Jan) Plug-in maker FabFilter is discounting their bundles, including the Total bundle with everything.
http://www.fabfilter.com/shop/
FXpansion Black Friday Sale continues (Through 31 Dec) “Black Friday” here is now extending through the entire month of December, so it might need a new name. But no mind – FXpansion make some of the best instruments on the market, and this is a terrific sale. You can grab up to 60% off on BFD Eco, DCAM Synth Squad, Geist and Tremor. DCAM Synth Squad is I think one of the best virtual analog synths out there and practically a must-have; Geist and Tremor are in a similar category for sampling and drum machines, respectively.
40% off Image Line Software. (Through 3 Jan) The makers of FL Studio produce software that’s a terrific buy (lifetime free upgrades for FL, for instance). And now their tools are 40% off, with up to 70% savings on their plug-in bundles. Get the bundle with ExtraDiscountOnFLStudioAllBundle, or upgrades, FL Studio, or gift certificates (hey, some of us have birthdays in January) for 40%OFFONFLSTUDIO.
US$199 for FL Studio Producer Edition is kind of a ridiculously-good deal, even in the competitive world of music production software today.
20% off Ableton, including upgrades and hardware. (Through 15 Jan) Ableton software, upgrades, packs, Max for Live, and even Live with Push are on 20% sale.
https://www.ableton.com/en/shop/
Free downloads, $25 vouchers from Native Instruments. (Through 31 Dec) Native Instruments is giving away a compressor and preset Traktor remix sets, plus a €/$25 voucher on anything in the store.
Shift into high gear this holiday season with SUPERCHARGER – a boutique compressor, rich with tube character. DJs can expand their sets with four hard-hitting TRAKTOR Remix Sets, based on popular MASCHINE Expansions. And everyone gets a $25 / 25 € e-voucher, valid at the NI Online Shop. Claim your gifts today – SUPERCHARGER will cost $49.00 from January 2014 and the e-voucher expires on December 31. Happy Holidays!
Voucher code: CPKM4DEDA
Okay, mark me down for “mostly game for that compressor,” as that’ll soon be $50. Free sounds worth a try.
http://www.native-instruments.com/en/specials/high-octane-holidays/
Humble Bundle (Through 31 December). Okay, with all of these production tools, you may not immediately think you need a game to unwind – and you might wonder why games are relevant at all on CDM. But Humble Bundle’s game pack runs you as little as a few dollars, includes some of the best indie games out there, and uniquely bundles complete soundtracks for most of its games with purchase. Some of these are casual games, ideal for unwinding in breaks on long studio sessions (and less harmful than cigarettes). The soundtracks have some wonderful listening – the indie game scene is a unique outlet for production creativity these days.
And there’s another reason to pitch this. If you somehow missed out on the ingenious, Scottish BAFTA-winning Bad Hotel, it has a procedural, generated soundtrack powered by open source patching environment Pure Data, via libpd. Composer Yann Seznec at Lucky Frame created a game that’s also a simultaneous music experience.
With Android, OS X, Windows, and Linux licenses all included, and a minimum purchase price for the whole thing running under U$5 at the moment, you’d be kind of nuts not to get this for that game and soundtrack alone.
More? So many deals are coming in, I’m sure I’ve missed a few. As before, if you’ve got a sale on yourself, or want to share something you’ve seen, sound off in comments.