Best Plugins for Black Friday 2024 (or any time of the year)

In this video, I want to share some plugin recommendations. It's a good time to buy, considering it's Black Friday and soon Cyber Monday. However, I don't want to focus on the best deals in terms of the largest discounts. Instead, I would like to provide a list of plugins that I recommend you purchase at any time of the year. Also, if you decide to pick something up, please consider using my affiliate links in the description.

This is a great way to support this channel. The first deal I want to show you is IK Multimedia's Total Studio Max. This is a fantastic deal! I recently bought this bundle when it was on sale for $200, even though I already had some items that were included in the bundle.

So, if you don't have anything in this bundle and you're interested in any of its contents, this is simply a no-brainer deal. If you're considering buying AmpliTube, Modo Bass, SampleTank, or TRX, you should definitely look into this deal for Total Studio Max. I just want to quickly show you some of my favorite elements of this bundle. For example, with Modo Bass, you get many different features.

Different bass models, and they're all physical modeling bases, from regular electric basses to this violin bass and upright basses. Another highlight for me is, of course, the Hammond B3X. It might be my favorite organ plugin at the moment. Next up, still part of Total Studio Max. Damn, this is kind of fitting.

You see, I love the sounds, and I love the plugins. However, on the backend, IK Multimedia is somewhat annoying. At the moment, it can't find some samples it should be locating. Let's see... and now it works again. They sampled all of these analog and digital hardware synths.

I really like the sounds and the preset browser. However, you might encounter some headaches when working with IK; I have to be honest. But if you're just trying to save money, that might be fine. The main reason why I would recommend the biggest bundle is that, in my experience, if you buy these smaller bundles first, you might still be interested in something else. For example, I was interested in Syntronik, but I was also a little bit interested in Moto Bass or Moto Drum.

And if you buy them separately, you're always going to spend more than if you buy this big bundle, especially at this crazy discounted price. You also get more Moto Drum in this bundle, which is not my favorite or go-to drum plugin, but it's definitely usable and has some nice sounds. In TRX-5, one of my go-tos is definitely the White 2A; I think that one sounds pretty good here on the drums. The tape emulations in TRX are also pretty good, in my opinion.

And I also like the Stealth Limiter, which is pretty capable for mastering. The last thing I want to mention about Total Studio Max is SampleTank 2. More information about Total Studio Max can be found in the video I made. The second deal I want to share is the bx_crispy tuner by Brainworx. It's currently $30.

They're right; the list price is around $400, but you will never have to pay that much for this. You can find it pretty much all year round, probably for $30 to maybe $60. Personally, I think I paid $15 when I got it. I recorded these simple vocals, and if you use the bx Krispy Tuner, that’s another flaw.

I'm just recommending flawed plugins. Somehow, there's a pretty major scaling issue when you first open it in Studio One. However, other than that, it works more or less reliably. The cool thing about Crispy Tuner is that it has three different work modes: very simple, basic pitch correction.

Which isn't great for natural tuning, but I think it has a good sound. If you want to achieve more natural tuning, you might want to go to the advanced tab, where you can start getting more detailed with it. It also has a good-sounding formant shift. However, the standout feature here is really the graphic option.

And I would love it if this plugin had ARA integration. That's the main reason why it's not my go-to. However, you can record the audio data into it. Then, in my opinion, you can start tweaking everything here with different tools in a pretty good workflow—splitting notes, making slopes, and increasing or decreasing vibrato. It's very powerful.

I'm only scratching the surface here. The main reason why I go back to this is that you can individually adjust the formant per note inside the graphical editor. I've never seen this before. I can specify the formant for this note, adjusting it here and there. Let's maybe slide this formant opposite of the note pitch slide.

Like this, you can actually get very natural results, but you can also go crazy and achieve very creative results. That's why I think BX Crispy Tuner is something special, and you should check it out for $30. It's a good deal. If you want mostly natural tuning, I would recommend another plugin, though. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Melodyne, especially Melodyne's pricing model.

Studio One comes with Melodyne Essential, but that version is too limited for me. However, upgrading is usually more expensive than just buying this plugin, which I think is actually better: RePitch. It's not as powerful as the full, highest version of Melodyne, where you can do polyphonic pitching, but for monophonic signals, this is amazing. First of all, it has ARA integration, so you don't have to listen to the music; you can just open it, and it works seamlessly. It's also synced to the timeline, right? If I want to correct something, I can do it there.

If I want to adjust the pitch drift, I can do it here, and this option allows for more or less vibrato. Here, you can even adjust the level. It is more flexible than Crispy Tuner, offering a bit smoother operation, especially considering the ARA support. It's also much more powerful than, for example, Melodyne Essentials. There are two versions of it: I have RePitch Standard. I don't really know the limitations of Elements, but I would strongly urge you to get the Standard version, and I think you will be happy for a long time—unless you want to do polyphonic pitch adjustment. However, if you're satisfied with the Elements version, you might want to consider one of these Black Friday bundles, which offer pretty good deals. I believe that starting from the $49 version and upward, you have RePitch Elements included.

For $50, you can get Repitch elements bundled with a variety of different plugins, which I think is fun. I don't know all of these, but Aberrant usually has good stuff. I like AAS, Baby Audio is good, and Ugem offers some great products as well.

So you gain some additional value. Personally, I just enjoy experimenting with some plugins that I have never tried before. Next, it's a no-brainer deal for me; pretty much every year, I have to buy more of these packs. Addictive Drums 2 by XLN Audio is one of my favorites. So, let’s replace the Moto Drums with an XLN kit.

It's difficult to say if it definitely sounds better in this specific situation, but I really love working with this plugin even more now that it has been updated with the 2.5mm live update. I want to mention some kits I like. I enjoy the United Heavy kit, which we just heard. I also really like the Modern Soul R&B kit; it's great for more modern-sounding productions.

The Black Oyster Kit is really cool, especially for some Beatles-esque or Motown sounds. It could also work well for some folk or pop sounds. I think that sounds great. I also really like the Studio Prog, especially when I want to create some Pink Floyd-inspired music, or perhaps a disco-type sound.

The new Vintage Dad is a lot of fun. One thing to criticize about it, though, is that it's definitely not a one-kit wonder, you know? Depending on the genre, you might not find what you're looking for in a certain add-on pack or expansion. One of the most versatile kits I've found so far is probably the Fairfax II. The Fairfax I is also good, but it's really difficult to say. If you work with very limited genres, you might be happy with just one or two kits.

But personally, I keep buying these kits, and maybe it's a bit of an unhealthy addiction. One kit is $40. Two kits are $80. However, I would recommend getting the custom collection, where you can mix and match three kits along with some extras, such as MIDI packs. They're also quite lenient.

If you pick one and you don't like the collection, you can mix and match three kits with some extra MIDI packs. They're also quite lenient. If you choose one and decide you don't like it, you can exchange it later. However, it adds up quickly. If you're looking for a cheaper option, consider checking out some of U-Jam's drum kits.

One kit is 20 bucks here. They're also not really fitting for all genres. They're a bit more playful in the sense that you can work a bit better with MIDI loops with these. So if you want to do some loop-based performances, these plugins are pretty good, and they also sound decent. Personally, I prefer the sound of Addictive Drums, and I prefer the customization of Addictive Drums, but you know, Champs, virtual drummers, there's definitely some good sounds in there.

Another go-to deal for me that I always recommend people get is MSoundFactory LE. What's so good about MSoundFactory LE? For $52 on the website, or even a bit less at $46, you can gain access to a ton of different instruments, from synths to sample-based instruments, along with all the add-ons they have released so far. You get Melda's MeldaWay Grand, which usually retails for $100, as well as Dream Machines, Power Brass, and Power Strings. Check it out! If you go to the "All" folder, you can scroll through and see how many different synths and sample-based instruments you can access with the LE version.

The full version doesn't have any more instruments. You can just go to this edit screen right here. If you want to create your own instruments, that's useful. However, if you're just playing or using presets, just get the LE version. Meldway Grant is one of my favorite pianos.

If you want to see me compare a whole bunch of my favorite pianos, check out this video. There are also some more experimental, physical modeling plugins included, like this one. It offers a ton of different sounds to explore.

But if you're really struggling for cash and just want a really good piano, you could also consider buying the Meltway Grand for $10. If you're looking for a different synth, Ceriodo is a pretty cool brand. They don't typically have the best sales, but they generally offer pretty low prices. Personally, I have a bunch of Ceriodo synths, but I don't think it's wise to buy too many of them. I currently have around 10, maybe a couple more or less.

I have no idea when I should choose which synth. However, one of them I always go back to is Signs. It's not even on sale at the moment, but it's $50, which I think is a good deal for it. It might go on sale a bit more, but the lowest I've seen it is maybe $30. I don't think I've ever seen it any lower.

Usually on sale for around $39, but I really like signs. This is not necessarily a list of the best deals, but rather a collection of the plugins I think you should generally consider buying. It can produce some very cool sounds. Some of them may have a bit of FM vibes, but there's also some additive and subtractive vibes. I think it's a very powerful combination of all different kinds of synthesis.

Thank you. If you already have a variety of Cherry Audio synths and, like me, you're not using them enough, you might consider purchasing preset packs. Personally, I'm really happy with my purchase of "Retro Punk" by Xenos Soundworks. This creator makes preset packs for nearly all the Cherry Audio synths. Here are the presets you receive.

I find most of these presets very useful. Another brand I love is Clev Grant. The two things you should consider are, on one hand, Ting, which is a lot of fun and pretty cheap, and Skaka, which is just the perfect shaker plugin. However, you could consider most of them.

These two are just the ones I would recommend for you today. Think just has some random percussive sounds from everyday household objects, mostly. What's special about it, I think, is that it's very responsive to play on a keyboard. The way it's multi-sampled makes it sound great, and it’s so easy to come up with something catchy, like for a rhythm layer or a top loop.

Basically, press any keys in any order and you’ll create something kind of groovy. I highly recommend it. Then there’s the more expensive, but also more powerful option: Skaka. It’s hands down the best shaker plugin available, and they keep adding more instruments to it.

Again, this has a great workflow and excellent sound quality. I think what they did really well here is how they worked with the transients of a shaker. Shaking and scraping sounds contain information before the main transient, and Clef Grant pays close attention to all the details. Additionally, the way they sync the loops with your project's BPM ensures that the transients always hit exactly where they need to.

I love this plugin, and I put it on everything where I need a shaker. All right, we're getting toward the end of this list and moving toward the more optional purchases, I think. These are more for fun, but if you want to buy something, these are great plugins, and I enjoy working with them. For example, some random effects plugins from Melchizedek.

Production: Some of them are on a very steep discount. Mvibrato MB is fun to play with. Mvocoder is very powerful. One of my favorites is M Turbo Reverb.

This one is kind of on the expensive side. It's 50% off, yet still $70 for the light version. However, all of these reverbs are included in the light version. Each one consists of different reverb algorithms. I have one loaded here on the xylophone we heard earlier.

Let's hear a different one. I love this reverb; it's definitely one of my go-tos. M-Dynamics MB is pretty cool. This one offers many different options, which they call devices, each with more or less specific use cases.

Oftentimes, I find sounds in here that I enjoy. You can also get more granular, edit it, and you have a powerful multi-band tool that includes not only a compressor but also an expander, limiter, and gate. There's also the single-band version, which has very different but equally interesting devices to use. Another option to consider is M-Waveshaper MB, which recently received an Oxford Inflator clone as a built-in device. Additionally, there are many other sounds and saturation distortions that you can achieve with it.

If you want to buy any of these plugins, you should probably go on the Melder Productions website and check out their bundle deals. If you already own some devices, you usually get an even better price than this. However, this is a pretty good deal for some excellent plugins. I've made a list of my favorite plugins from the M-Mixing FX Bundle, and I think if you have never bought any Melder Productions plugins, I have a referral code available.

Everybody has one built into the website. If you use that, you can get an additional discount, I believe. I'll put a code in the description if you're interested, but it only works if you're a new customer.

You could also consider upgrading the M3FX bundle to the paid version, which is currently available for 20 bucks. I think this is a pretty good deal. I enjoy working with the 3FX, but I prefer using them now after I unlocked it. For example, you can make the plugins look much nicer. I really like how I've managed to get the M-Compressor to look; it is a pretty powerful plugin.

And I also really appreciate how I can now just drag and resize it. I also quickly want to mention iZotope, which is a brand I use a lot when producing or mixing and mastering. What I can say is, similar to the IK Total Studio Max, I find the best deal is if you buy the MPS Music Production Bundle. Currently, it's not even really on sale, so maybe don't buy it right now. I think all of these things individually often cost a bit too much, especially if you want to keep them up to date every year or every other year. Personally, I use this bundle mostly for Ozone 11, but I'm still on version 10 at the moment.

But then, you know, you get tempted to buy Neutron or you want to try Nectar. If you buy the whole bundle, oftentimes you pay a very comparable price to upgrade, especially compared to buying them all individually. If you start buying one and then another one a year later, and then another one the following year, you will end up spending way more than if you had just bought the whole bundle. I do like working with Ozone, but I'm also a bit hesitant to give them my money because this plugin is still quite small. While I can drag it bigger on my screen, the text remains tiny.

Version 11 is a bit bigger, but it's still not fully rescalable. Sometimes I use Neutron. I think it's good to work with, especially if you want to create a quick multiband transient shaper or a quick multiband saturation. Neutron Ozone is also very good to work with. However, they appear too small on my screen, and the updates are too frequent and too expensive. If you decide to buy it, consider using my affiliate link in the description.

I would recommend buying the MPS and upgrading the MPS maybe every two to three versions. Although I am a Plugin Boutique affiliate, I think you should also consider purchasing from Audio Deluxe. One deal I think is pretty good is the Waves offer—three plugins for 50 bucks. While Waves may not be a very beloved brand, the value can be appealing.

But I have to be honest; for example, Max Volume is still one of my go-tos. In every video recording, I put Max Volume on my vocals. I think it has a very natural sound, and it's very easy to do some upward compression with it. If you look at this list, I must say Waves Clarity VX has some great reviews, and I'm still considering picking it up.

Also, OVOX. I've been looking at OVOX for years. I might pick it up this year, maybe next year. I just wanted to mention it because I think it's a good deal. Usually, you pay $30 to $40 per plugin, but you can get three for $50, which is one of the two times a year I think you should buy Waves.

Black Friday, three for $50, and Valentine's Day, two for one. I think that's pretty good. Also, if you want something like Ozone Advanced but find Advanced too expensive, I personally recommend never getting Elements. Elements is even free at the moment, but I still think Elements is not worth it.

Get the TDR Limiter 6 GE. Ten bucks is crazy for what this plugin can deliver. This plugin can do multiband limiting, multiband compression, mid-side limiting, mid-side clipping, and mid-side compression. This is an amazing plugin. All right, I wanted to quickly, though it wasn't that quick, talk about all these plugins.

Let's see how long the video will turn out. Mention which plugins you might consider buying this Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or whenever. These are some of my favorite plugins that I use in almost every song. Maybe you could leave me some recommendations in the comments. What plugins do you think I missed?

What are your go-to plugins that you think everybody should consider buying this Black Friday? If you're using my affiliate links, thank you very much! It could really help the channel, and I'm honestly a bit curious about how much money I can make on the side with a video like this. Thanks for watching! See you again soon!