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5 of the best early Black Friday deals on plugins at Plugin BoutiqueWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. For more information on how this works click here.
Black Friday 2023 takes place on 24 November. Major music tech brands and retailers have already begun competing for your attention, however, by offering early discounts on their products. These offers aren’t to be sniffed at – we all remember that exclusive deal that’s become a mainstay in our setup, don’t we? A Black Friday deal can invigorate your music production in so many ways.
READ MORE: Black Friday deals 2023: Best early deals for music producers, DJs, beatmakers and musicians
If you’ve ever bought a plugin, you’ve likely heard of Plugin Boutique. It’s an online store offering a range of software-based goodies by loads of brands, from software instruments and effects to DAWs, utilities and more. It’s offering up to 95 per cent off its range this Black Friday and we’ve put together five of our standout deals. Check them out below.
5 of the best pre-Black Friday deals on plugins at Plugin Boutique, at a glance:

AIR Music plugins – Up to 100% off
SSL X-Limit – 75% off
Korg Collection – 50% off
Sonnox Oxford Inflator – 75% off
Arturia V Collection 9 – 50% off

AIR Music plugins – Up to 100% off

AIR Music’s collection of plugins consists of instruments, synths, virtual instruments, drum machines, samplers, and effects. These include popular items like its high-definition virtual synthesizer, Hybrid 3, the brand’s multitimbral workstation, Xpand!2, its expansive Boom drum machine, and its own recreation of the iconic Mellotron keyboard. The offer even takes AIR’s new Jura Chorus plugin down by 26 per cent to around $18.

Offer ends 30 November 2023
Check deal at Plugin Boutique

SSL X-Limit – 75% off

Solid State Logic’s X-Limit is an audio-limiting tool for artists, producers, and engineers, enhancing loudness without clipping. It offers transparency or character, variable release times, SSL’s True Peak + Lookahead algorithm, and minimal latency. It also has a cool all-in-one visualiser for threshold setting and various limiter styles for mix balancing.
Now, as an early Black Friday deal, the SSL X-Limit is being offered by Plugin Boutique for 25% of the original price, down from $124 to just $31.

Offer ends 19 November 2023
Check deal at Plugin Boutique

Korg Collection – 50% off

For decades, Korg has been a pioneer in music tech, delivering loads of acclaimed hardware products. Not only is the brand a well-known name in hardware, though. From effects to synths, Korg also has some pretty sweet software offerings.
On Plugin Boutique, you can get up to 59% off their collection of meticulously recreated, plugin-based synths & effects, featuring iconic models like M1, TRITON, Kaoss Pad, and the extensive Korg Collection.

Offer ends 30 November 2023
Check deal at Plugin Boutique

Sonnox Oxford Inflator – 75% off

Sonnox’s Oxford Inflator is a widely-used and highly-regarded dynamics processing plugin designed to enhance and fatten audio without compromising the natural dynamics. Unlike traditional compressors or limiters, it boosts the perceived loudness, adding warmth and presence to individual tracks or entire mixes. It uses a unique algorithm to provide analogue-like saturation and can be applied subtly or aggressively to achieve fuller, more impactful sound.
Plugin Boutique is giving it away for 75% off, making it just $43, down from $171.

Offer ends 5 December
Check deal at Plugin Boutique

Arturia V Collection 9 – 50% off

Arturia V Collection 9 is a mammoth software package that contains a wealth of accurately modelled vintage synthesizers and instruments. It includes emulations of classic analogue synthesizers like the Minimoog, ARP 2600, and Prophet-5, alongside electric pianos, organs, and more. And now is your window to grab V Collection 9 at a fraction of the normal cost, giving you access to a ton of iconic sounds for an absolute steal. Arturia’s also offering loads of its other products for 50 per cent off, so make sure you snap up those deals!
Plugin Boutique is hosting Arturia’s Black Friday sale, offering the bundle for half the price, making it just $325 and, trust us, this is a lot of bang for your buck.

Offer ends 5 December 2023
Check deal at Plugin Boutique

The post 5 of the best early Black Friday deals on plugins at Plugin Boutique appeared first on MusicTech.

Beginner’s Guide: Everything you need to make your first beatAdvertorial feature with Focusrite
There’s never been a better time to be a music-maker, thanks to top-quality studio gear available at super-accessible prices. With the right tools and a laptop, desktop or iPad, you can be making beats, recording audio and mixing pro-sounding tracks with minimal hassle. But what exactly do you need to make it happen? Our quick guide explains all and offers some insider tips on what to look out for when choosing your gear.
Audio interface
An audio interface will be a crucial part of your studio. It lets you send sound into and out of your computer at the highest possible quality. Your computer’s built-in soundcard simply can’t compete with a professional audio interface.
Focusrite Scarlett 4th Gen. Image: Simon Vinall
Connecting to your computer over a USB cable, audio interfaces contain digital-to-analogue converters that seamlessly manage the transfer of sound between the digital realm – your computer – and the analogue realm – your microphone, headphones or speakers.
When making your first beat, you may want to record some vocals, instruments, or vinyl samples, so your interface will need to have one or two audio inputs with high-quality preamps. You’ll find this much in Focusrite’s Scarlett Solo and 2i2 models. These also take the hassle out of setting recording levels with innovative Auto Gain and Clip Safe modes that mean you’ll never accidentally record too quiet or too loud.
An audio interface also lets you monitor on headphones, which is necessary when recording a live source like a vocal or acoustic guitar. Plus, you can connect monitor speakers so you can hear your recordings out loud in the room. Some interfaces, including Focusrite’s, work both with your computer and a recent USB-C-equipped iPad, letting you be even more mobile when you make your music.
Focusrite Scarlett 4th Gen. Image: Simon Vinall
A microphone
A studio condenser microphone is another vital piece of equipment for capturing professional-sounding recordings, like from a guitar or a singer.
Connected to your audio interface, a mic like Focusrite’s CM25 MkIII (included in the Scarlett Studio bundles) will pick up a strong and clean signal and let you lay down loops, licks and vocal lines for your tracks. Condenser microphones often require phantom power – a small electrical charge – to get up and running, so it’s well worth looking out for an audio interface that can supply this.

Headphones
While it’s fun to blast music at full volume, it’s not always practical to do so. A reliable pair of headphones, like Focusrite’s SH-450 (also included in the Scarlett Studio bundles), are comfortable for long periods of listening and also let you work on your music without disturbing the neighbours. And when you’re recording with a microphone, you’ll need to listen on headphones to avoid feedback from the existing tracks. A dedicated pair of studio headphones will do a better job of letting you hear the nuance in your music than an off-the-shelf pair.
Digital Audio Workstation
Of course, you’ll need somewhere to record your sound and edit those recordings. A Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) is an application that runs on your computer and does this and much more.
Ableton Live is a supremely popular DAW that runs on macOS and Windows and lets you create projects into which you can record and edit audio tracks and also software instruments to create backing parts. Naturally, you don’t just do everything in one take so there’s support for doing multiple takes, chopping up different parts and moving them around to create an arrangement, and layering different instruments together.
DAWs like Live and Pro Tools also contain software effects that can be used to add depth and interest to your sounds and tracks. Common types of effects to use include reverb, which creates a sense of space around parts like vocals or drums, delays which creatively add echo, and equalization which is used to balance all the different parts of your beat together to make sure they sound great as a whole.
A copy of Ableton Live Lite and a three-month trial to Pro Tools Artist are included when you buy a Focusrite Scarlett interface.

Software instruments
The beauty of modern music-making is that you can fit a whole studio’s worth of instruments into your computer with software instruments. These can be loaded onto tracks in your DAW and played with a MIDI keyboard or programmed using your DAW’s MIDI editor. In Focusrite’s Hitmaker Expansion bundle, you’ll find several cool virtual instruments you can use to build up backing parts for your loops and beats.

XLN’s Addictive Drums 2: Studio Rock Kit is a powerful and slick-sounding drum instrument based on hundreds of real drum samples; you can use this to create serious beats to back up your tracks.
Native Instruments Massive is a synthesizer plugin that covers everything from huge basses to searing leads among its 1,300 presets, and also lets you design your own sounds.
Meanwhile, XLN Audio’s Addictive Keys Studio Grand puts a beautiful concert grand piano at your fingertips. Use instruments like these to create rich and interesting backing parts without needing any extra musicians.
Effects processors
When you’ve recorded and programmed your various sounds, you’ll want to make sure they sound their best. To that end, Focusrite’s Hitmaker Expansion bundle comes with essential plugins for perfecting your vocal recordings.
Antares AutoTune Access is an industry-standard processor for auto-tuning vocals for perfect pitch, and ReLab’s LX480 is based on a legendary reverb unit, perfect for adding space and depth to vocal tracks. Guitarists will also enjoy Softube’s Marshall Silver Jubilee 2555 for adding authentic crunch to guitar recordings either during or post-recording.

Mixing tools
When you’ve recorded, edited and arranged your track in your DAW, you’ll then want to mix it using specialised plugins to sweeten and balance everything to prime it for release. This doesn’t have to be complex, and advanced tools like the FAST Balancer can help streamline the mixing process.
Plugins such as the Bx_console Focusrite SC and Red 2 & 3 Plugin Suite will also help you ensure your final mix and master sounds smooth and ready for release. And if you need an extra hand, every Scarlett includes five free masters from LANDR to help give your songs a professional, polished sheen.
So there you have it – with the right core hardware and software tools, you can be making pro-sounding music in just a short time. And why should it be complicated?
Learn more at focusrite.com
The post Beginner’s Guide: Everything you need to make your first beat appeared first on MusicTech.

FabFilter Pro-R 2 is a flexible reverb that you’ll use more often than you think£144 (50-65% discount for those with previous FabFilter purchases), fabfilter.com
When FabFilter first released Pro-R in 2016, it was an exciting new reverb plugin with easy-to-understand controls, a clean and natural sound, and an innovative Decay Rate EQ that allowed you to shape the character of your reverbs like never before. After seven long years, and the release of a range of equally exciting, competing reverbs, it’s time for an upgrade. Pro-R 2 retains the look and ease of use of its predecessor, but adds a bunch of useful features to greatly expand its flexibility.

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Clean and easy
One of FabFilter’s core design philosophies in Pro-R is to have a powerful and flexible reverb that avoids the overly-complex controls found on other algorithmic reverb plugins. Instead, we find simple-to-understand dials for Space, Brightness, Character, Distance, Width, Predelay and Mix.
FabFilter Pro-R 2 main GUI
The main Space dial lets you smoothly cycle through over a dozen room models, while simultaneously increasing or decreasing the decay time. The Distance dial makes adjustments to the balance of early reflections and can make a sound feel closer or further away, and the Brightness dial controls the overall tilt for high and low frequency absorption. The Width controls the stereo width (unsurprisingly), and Character adds pleasing modulation to the tail.
This is combined with the return of the Decay Rate EQ and Post EQ that fill the main portion of the user interface. Each has six flexible bands that can be used to shape either the decay time for that particular frequency range, or the overall spectral output of the reverb. It’s all very intuitive to edit and you can quickly dial in reverb sounds that sit well in the mix, rather than wrestling with obtusely-labelled controls and hoping for the best.
What’s new in FabFilter Pro-R 2?
These features were all present in the previous version though, so what’s new?
One of the main improvements, in terms of flexibility, is the fact that you now have three algorithms to choose from. The Modern style is taken from Pro-R 1 and has a clean and natural sound, whereas the Vintage style recreates the warm and lush sounds of classic digital reverb units. Plate gives the more metallic sound of analogue plate reverb. They’re quite dramatically different, so you should experiment depending on what you’re looking to achieve.

Although it sounds less like a real space, the thick sounding Vintage style can sit really well in the mix, and can give anything an instant dose of 80s vibe. The effects of the Character dial change a little depending on which algorithm you choose, giving variations in the style and speed of the modulation.
FabFilter Pro-R 2 algorithmic styles
Thick tricks
Another new addition is the Thickness dial, which adds a combination of saturation and density to help thicken and colour the reverb.
This is a useful tool that expands your sonic options when trying to get sounds sitting in a mix, without needing to add extra saturation later on. You just have to be careful with rebalancing volumes, as turning the dial up often results in a reduction of reverb volume as the signal is flattened.
Duck and cover
Arguably even more useful is the introduction of built-in ducking and auto-gate features.
The Ducking dial will pull down the reverb volume when triggered by the input, which can result in cleaner sounding separation between the wet and dry signals. Meanwhile, the Auto-Gate feature simply has an on button and the ability to set the time in milliseconds or as a synced beat division.
This can create classic 80s gated reverb sounds in seconds, especially when combined with the Vintage algorithm. Having these built in is a nice timesaver – you don’t have to fiddle with setting up sidechained compressors. That said, it would be nice if you had the option to trigger via the plugin’s sidechain input, just for flexibility.
FabFilter Pro-R 2 controls
Exotic imports
Pro-R 2’s most standout new feature is the ability to import an impulse response (IR) file, which Pro-R 2 can analyse recreate as an algorithmic preset. It’s an easy and fast process, although we find the results a little mixed when it comes to accuracy.
FabFilter says that it’s more of an approximation than an exact copy, as the plugin is limited by the controls and algorithms at its disposal.
FabFilter Pro-R 2 IR import
We find that some IRs sound pretty close, and we actually prefer the more open-sounding Pro-R version. However, further tweaking will be required to get the best results, especially with regards the low-mid range and width, and we found some examples that were quite far off. Still, it’s a great way to quickly expand your preset collection, and having parameters to tweak means you can further edit the finer details, which isn’t possible with a fixed IR file.
As Marlon from White Noise Studios points out, this innovation may also have applications in post production for helping to match reverb spaces between different mic tracks.
Immerse yourself
Elsewhere, improvements have been made to the output options on the Decay Rate and Post EQ. You can now choose between L/R or M/S outputs for each band, which opens up possibilities for finely crafting your reverb space. This lets you do things like reduce stereo width in the bass while carving space in the centre for more midrange instruments.
There’s also full support for surround/immersive audio and Dolby Atmos. Loading the plugin on a surround channel gives you further output options for each band, including an Effect Tilt section that lets you slant the effect of each of the main plugin parameters towards the front or back of the room. The mind boggles at how this could be used, but imagine complex reverb sounds that hit you brightly upfront and then with a swelling low end behind you.
Elsewhere, the Freeze button can create infinite decays – ideal for ambient beds.

Pro-R 2’s improved preset browser now has tags and favourites. We commend FabFilter here – there are a plethora of presets but tags for nearly all of them help describe the sound and usage. It’s a small thing, but a strong example of the attention to detail in this release.
The added features in Pro-R 2 clearly expand its sonic palette with new modes and additional character. It may not be the most characterful reverb in our toolkit, but a welcome increase in versatility might make you reach for it fairly often. It can sound open and rich or tight and more raw, and it’s easier than most to tailor results that will sit well in the mix.
The IR import feature is hit-and-miss, but it’s still a unique and exciting idea that can be used to further expand the preset list. FabFilter could have added a few flexible modulation options such as those found in their other effects plugins, but this may over-complicate an otherwise intuitive layout. All in all, it’s a solid update to an already excellent all-rounder reverb.
Key features

Algorithmic reverb plugin
VST, VST3, AU, AU3, AAX Native and Audiosuite
30-day trial available
Modern algorithm, plus new Vintage and Plate algorithms
User-friendly Brightness, Character and Distance controls
Step-less Space control blends between dozens of room models
Flexible decay time editing with the Decay Rate EQ
6-band Post-EQ
New impulse response import feature
New Thickness control adds saturation and compression
New built-in ducking, auto-gate and freeze features
New immersive / Dolby Atmos functionality, with channel layouts up to 9.1.6
Improved preset browser
New L/R & M/S mode switching for Post EQ bands
New surround mode speaker settings

The post FabFilter Pro-R 2 is a flexible reverb that you’ll use more often than you think appeared first on MusicTech.

Watch: Abbey Road Amplify Amplify saw Abbey Road Studios open its doors to artists, engineers and creatives for a weekend of free masterclasses, workshops, listening sessions, Q&As and more. 

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Cinematique Instruments Studio Pianos This collection of pianos offers you the right piano for every situation in everyday studio life and, with its clever processing options, is sure to provide the right piano sound for your... Read More

The MLC Introduces Lawyer Toolkit for Legal ProfessionalsThe Mechanical Licensing Collective (The MLC) has released a comprehensive toolkit, prepared by The MLC’s Educational Partnerships team, tailored to assist legal advisors and members of the music publishing community, including music publishers, songwriters, composers and lyricists, in finding answers to their frequently asked questions pertaining to The MLC. The MLC’s Lawyer Toolkit, and the website page where it is accessed from, brings together helpful information and organizes it in a way to provide legal advisors with the knowledge and tools they need to navigate the world of mechanical licensing and royalties efficiently. 

Key features of The MLC’s Lawyer Toolkit include:  

Becoming a Member of The MLC: A guide for legal advisors and their clients on who should become a Member of The MLC and how to become a Member of The MLC. 

Royalty Distribution Timeline: A timeline that details The MLC's royalty distribution process, ensuring legal advisors can advise their clients on when to expect their royalties. 

Catalog Transfers: Information about how to access the procedures for catalog transfers, streamlining the process for legal advisors and their clients. 

Member Tools: An overview of the comprehensive tools available to members of The MLC, enabling legal advisors to help their clients maximize their benefits. 

The purpose of these materials is to provide general information about The MLC and is not intended to provide legal advice. Nothing contained within the materials should be construed as legal advice. 

For more information and to access The MLC’s Lawyer Toolkit, click here.  

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Psycho Circuitry miniVCA+ MiniVCA+ is peak based VCA style compressor, featuring 3 feed-forward VCA action modes to enhance your audio. A robust harmonics section that goes from subtle to extreme! 3 Harmonics modes,... Read More

Why I just resigned from my job in generative AI.Ed Newton-Rex has quit his role at Stability AI. In an exclusive op-ed, he shares why.
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Icon’s new P1-M, P1-X & P1-Nano controllers Icon have revealed three new controllers that share many of the features introduced in their new V1 units but with a more compact footprint that will fit comfortably into smaller studio setups.