What better time to restock your plugin folder than Black Friday? Been holding off on that pair of headphones, which is just a tad too expensive? They may well be on offer this month. The big day isn’t here yet, but a ton of early Black Friday deals on music gear are already cropping up on retailer sites — and we’ve been tracking down the best.

All the biggest audio retailers are offering discounts, including Thomann, Sweetwater, Reverb, and Zzounds. Plugin fans, fret not, Plugin Boutique is hosting some of its best deals of the year.

The team here at MusicTech are searching for the very best Black Friday music deals to save you scouring the web yourself. We’ve included a list of the best deals below, but to save you some time, here are just some of the places we’ll be searching for savings:

Quick links

• • Plugins
  • Synths
  • Pro Audio
  • Samplers and drum machines
  • Headphones

Plugins

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Soundtoys’ plugins are beloved by countless artists we’ve interviewed over the years, from the coveted Little AlterBoy pitch processor to the crunchy Decapitator distortion and new SpaceBlender reverb. This Black Friday, you can get up to 75% off the whole plugin catalogue, including a $350 discount on the complete Soundtoys 5.5 Collection.

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Universal Audio’s UAD plugins are some of the best emulations of hardware on the market. The Black Friday 12 Days of UAD sale brings the price of these plugins down by up to a whopping 85%. That means you can save hundreds of dollars on UAD bundles like UAD Ultimate 14, the Build Your Own Bundle Mixtape, and the UAD Analog Classics Pro Bundle. You can even save 35% off Universal Audio’s DAW, Luna Pro 2.

Many of the brand’s most beloved plugins no longer require UA hardware, but we suggest checking out the full list of natively available UAD plugins before you make a purchase.

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FabFilter’s Pro-Q4 EQ is simply an essential plugin for all producers. We said it’s “almost the only EQ you’ll ever need” in our review, offering a gold-standard slew of workflow improvements. Now you can add it to your tool belt for just £112, with a whole bunch of other FabFilter plugins on sale at Plugin Boutique, too.

Synths

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How often do you get to save over $1,000 on a workstation like the Korg Nautilus?

This keyboard packs in over nine sound engines, over $1,000 in bonus EXS sound libraries, fully featured onboard sampling and HD audio recording, plus a touchscreen interface and up to 14 simultaneous effects to process your sound. This B-stock model also comes with a full manufacturer’s warranty.

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“If we made this 30 years ago, we’d have ruled the world,” Tom Oberheim told us when we spoke with him about the TEO-5. Down to $1,549 in the sale, Oberheim’s latest analogue synth captures the secrets of the OB-X, Four Voice, and TVS, the company’s legendary spirit distilled into a compact, affordable dream machine.

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The old-school-styled Arturia DrumBrute Impact 1984 is a lot more powerful than it looks — and you can now save 20$ on it.

With 10 voices, this analogue drum machine packs powerful, characterful sounds through its built-in distortion circuit and 64-step polyrhythmic sequncer. You can punch in drums in real-time using the eight velocity-sensitive pads, or hook it up via MIDI to trigger it alongside your other hardware.

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Behringer’s JT Mini was already pretty affordable at £93, but who’s gonna say no to a 17% discount? This tiny analogue polyphonic synthesizer is an emulation of the Roland Jupiter-8, with three VCOs, a multimode filter, ADSR envelope and LFO, plus a 16-step sequencer.

Pro audio gear

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Universal Audio’s Apollo interfaces are the top pick by most artists on our My Forever Studio podcast — and for good reason. This Black Friday, the Apollo Twin X Duo is down to $999, saving you a sweet $200. You get 10×6 I/O, two Unison mic preamps and DSP processing that powers real-time tracking through emulations of high-end vintage outboard. This also unlocks the UAD library of over 200 DSP and Native plugins.

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In our review of the Sony C-100, we said that “the C-100 is flavoured in such a way that for the right voice, nothing else will come close.” Luckily, it’s dropping significantly in price this Black Friday at Sweetwater, from $1,500 down to $999. If you’re looking to build up the mic cabinet in your studio, this one is a worthy inclusion — especially at this price.

Samplers and drum machines

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“Should you find yourself in front of an Akai MPC Key 61, you won’t fail to be inspired by what’s on board,” we said in our review of this expressive workstation. Fans of the coveted MPC family will want to check out this deal at Zzounds this Black Friday, which slashes $200 off the price of Akai’s first keyboard-focused iteration of the sampler series. With native onboard recording of audio, MPC Key 61 is the world’s first production synthesizer incorporating vocal effects plugins, which can also be used for creative sound design.

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The sounds of the TR-808, TR-606, TR-909, TR-707, and TR-727 can be yours this autumn in the Roland TR-8S, which is now $200 more affordable. For $699 at Zzounds, you can get the best of the Roland’s legendary classic models with all manner of modern conveniences

Headphones

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“Sonically, these are gorgeous headphones. For the price, you will be serious about your audio and want the unusual offering of three different connection methods. They’re a taste of the higher end of the hi-fi world without the full cost of admission, and with enough tech to satisfy today’s listeners.” That’s what we said in our review of the Focal Bathys headphones. At $150 off, these just became an even better deal.

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Beyerdynamic’s DT-1770 Pro MK2 headphones are trusted studio workhorses. They’re closed-back headphones with a 5Hz-40kHz response for hearing extra detail in your mixes, whether you’re tracking, mixing or editing your music. If you’re in need of a new pair of headphones, these are worth considering, with a discounted price now on at Thomann.

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