Photo (CC-BY-ND) Bill Selak.
Sure, Black Friday may conjure unpleasant images of hordes rushing a Wal-Mart. But with so much of music gear now online in software form, it is a chance to load up with some new music tools for the winter (or, erm, southern hemisphere, the summer), save some money, and make more music. And that’s a good thing. So here are some of the nicest-looking deals in our inbox, too good not to share.
First off, some blatant self-promotion.
WretchUp for iPhone:
You can get the app WretchUp, a collaboration between CDM and Mouse on Mars (with iOS development efforts by myself and Oliver Greschke), at a discount. Now’s a good time if you haven’t picked up already, because expanded Audiobus support is coming. That means you can not only alienate friends with its weird sounds, but produce some lovely effects on things like drum loops. It’s on sale through Cyber Monday for US$1.99.
WretchUp @ iTunes
MeeBlip anode:
Also, our monosynth – recent recipient of a Keyboard Key Buy award and named in Stuff.tv’s holiday buying guide – is on sale. In North America, there’s a special on for just US$119.95. Or you can also now head to dealers worldwide, including a growing number in Europe.
Okay, enough self-promotion.
Ableton have 20% off hardware and software, excluding educational pricing. That means you save $100/100€ off their Push hardware (a steep discount), as well as Live, Max for Live, and packs. Also, for the holiday, it appears they’ve brought back Ableton’s lime green corporate color we love from the oldskool days. That deal runs through January 15, so sort of Black Winter. (Hey, it’s Berlin… mid-January may be the next time you see the sun.)
Ableton Shop
Perhaps the most important deal all weekend, Sensaphonics has a cyber Monday event on their hearing products – which could be a chance to protect your hearing. For the first time ever, they have a sale on their Musicians Hearing Clinic service if you’re in the Chicagoland area; for the rest of us, look to deals on earplugs and monitors (and get free earplugs with in-ear monitors).
Sensaphonics
Propellerhead have a Black Friday deal not only on their own tools, but more than 20 developers – thanks to their growing store of Rack Extensions. Instruments and effects like the Propellerhead Parsec and Rob Papen Preadtor synths, Softube TSAR-1 reverb, and Radical Piano instrument are all heavily discounted, among others.
Black Friday Sale @ Propellerhead Shop
Native Instruments have a wide-ranging sale with half off a variety of software tools. Maschine 2 software (not the hardware, but you might use another controller) is 50% off, as is Traktor Pro DJ and a lot of Komplete instruments and effects (from the modular effect system Molekular to the Razor and Massive synths). Reaktor is also 50% off, perhaps the deepest possibility here. If you don’t have Reaktor, now’s your shot. The newer stuff isn’t on discount, but then with Reaktor, you should be able to stay reasonably busy for the next few years.
Applied Acoustics, maker of a range of unique-sounding software instruments, have what they say are their best deals of the year. 50% off and more in their webstore includes the Modeling Collection upgrades, their fine physical modeling instruments. Through Monday.
Elektron, those wacky, wonderful drum machine makers from Sweden, are on a 15% “Black Weeks” campaign through the 14th of December, discounting all their hardware. Visit their online shop or a dealer near you. (We’ll have more on the Analog Rytm next week on CDM.)
AskVideo.com are one of the best purveyors of online courseware out there. (Disclaimer: I have a number of friends I greatly respect producing videos for them. You may have known them previously as MacProVideo, etc.) Online library passes are reduced to US$15 a month with coupon code ’14bfcm40′, or get 50% off HD downloads with code ’14BF50′. That includes courses like a sound design workshop entirely in Logic’s Sculpture physical modeling synth (one of my all-time favorites), but also how to mix in Reason or use the FMOD Studio game audio toolbox or WaveDNA MIDI pattern editor. Deep stuff:
Library Access [adds coupon automatically]
50% off
Time+Space in the UK have discounts on all sorts of things, up to 80%.
http://www.timespace.com/festive_deals
I’m sure we’ve missed some good stuff, so feel free to sound off in comments.
Added!
Moog Music have a 10% off sale (USA only) for their product line for Cyber Monday. That includes everything except software, Theremini, and the Sub 37. Enter code TURKEYMOOG through December 7.
AfroDJMac has a sale on training and sounds, expiring Monday.
Native Instruments now give you seven MASCHINE Expansions (US$350 value) with purchase, through the ned of December.
And you’ll find more in comments, too, so do check those out!