Black Friday Plugin Deals

Recording, Mixing and Producing Plugins
#16

The Slate trigger is a little more limited in function than the XLN one. For example, it doesn’t have envelope shaping, the mic positioning is fixed, and the routing chain is a little more limited. Its very much a what-you-hear-is-what-you-get approach to a plugin.

The real big bonuses to the Slate is that its super simple to use. You load sounds by dragging them from the browser onto the pad. Can’t get any simpler than that.

The other big bonus is that they are completely production ready. You don’t have to do a lot of processing to them to get them to do their job. So the pre-processing is a time saver.

This is an advantage over XLN in my opinion. On XLN, I almost always strip off the effects and have to re-build the triggered sample. Its really good that XLN gives you the flexibility to do that though. Because I like the way the trigger function itself works.

#17

No brainer alert!! The Black Rooster Audio VPRE-73 preamp for $9!!!

Use voucher “2018BLACKFRIDAY” during checkout.

Don’t even think about it, just grab it! My favorite saturation plugin right now hands down. This is the first one I reach for when I want to try some saturation or to add warmth and air to a vocal. The hi-pass filter and the high shelf on this thing rock! They call it the “VPRE-73 Silk Edition” for a reason.

They’ve got some freebies too. The FREE VHL-3C gets some use. Frankly, I forget I have the other 2.

I can’t speak for the other plugins because I don’t own them, but I wish I were spending this BF, because I would pick up the other Black Rooster plugins just based on the quality of the VPre-73 alone. Really great prices right now!

https://blackroosteraudio.com/en/

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(Let’s see if I can post the email… Hey, it worked!)

Magnetite

Magnetite is our homage to the sound of magnetic tape recorders. Simply dial in the desired amount of saturation and warmth and Magnetite will add the analog tape sonics that you’re looking for to your mixes.

Regular: $89

BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: $27

GET THE DEAL
VLA-2A

VLA-2A is the world‘s finest emulation of THE opto-electronic compressor of the late 1960s. Awesome on drums, but it also performs outstandingly well on bass or vocals and carefully adjusting the compression really helps to make your signals shine and just sit in the mix.

Regular: $129

BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: $39

GET THE DEAL
VLA-3A

The VLA-3A plugin, is one of the most authentic native emulations of its analog brother from the 70s. This is our goto-compressor for vocals, but it also works incredibly well for bringing out the ambience on percussive material and helping to put some glue into your mixes.

Regular: $129

BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: $39

GET THE DEAL
Blueface SC-5

You‘re looking for a distorted, smashed-up sound on your drum buss? You want to tame lively and dynamic material? The Blueface SC-5 handles it all. The full-blown set of parameters allows you to dial in just the right setting for your application.

Regular: $89

BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: $27

GET THE DEAL
Blackface SC-5

the Blackface SC-5 brings you slightly different compression behaviour, a different harmonic structure paired with a darker sounding audio-path and the option to feed in external sidechain signals.

Regular: $99

BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: $30

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Edelweiss`72

Edelweiss‘72 is a highly dynamic mixing toolchain, that allows surgical modifications to any signal or mix that might sound limply, needs subtle tweaking or a decent finish. Expand, Compress, Limit and EQ your signal with linear-phase filters in regular stereo or M/S mode.

Regular: $179

BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: $54

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VEQ-5

The VEQ-5 is inspired by one of the most famous and renowned equalizers in studio history - focussing on the power range frequencies from 200Hz to 7kHz it is aimed at cleaning up and sweetening vocals, guitar and keys.

Regular: $69

BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: $21

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VEQ-1P

This plug-in allows for manipulation of the low and high end of the spectrum, without impairing the midrange. The interactive filter network, that features boost and cut at the same time will give the users multiple options of how to treat the shelf frequency.

Regular: $89

BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: $27

GET THE DEAL
VPRE-73

The VPRE-73 plugin is inspired by one of the classic preamps in recording studio history. While streamlining the original processor, we did our best to bring you an authentic emulation of the discrete preamp circuitry and audio transformers, but also retained the high shelf filter.

Regular: $29

BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: $9

#18

I just picked up Native Intruments Session Horns for 49 euro’s (50% off). Ever since I used free orchestral horn samples for my ‘Funky Fever’ recording (which you may remember) I’ve been looking for a good funk/ soul horn section at a reasonable price. I hope it lives up to my expectations…
Any one out there use this? Or similar?

#19

Dang! I dont’ do this unless I’m pretty serious about buying something, but I’m gonna go down the list and demo some of these.

For anyone curious that Blueface SC5 is modeled off an Ashley SC50. Plugin Alliance and UAD sell a version called the Vertigo VSC2. However, Vertigo offers a newer version. VSC3. The Black has a less forward and darker warmer sound with the an obvious difference in the bass response when I placed it on a 2 bus.

2 Likes
#20

I’ll be very interested to hear your impressions on the Black Rooster stuff!

This happens to be one of my favorites! So easy to dial in quickly and know if it will work on a track/mix, which it usually does. :wink:

#21

I’ve been wanting to really dig in and try some of their stuff ever since Aaron mentioned it in the MWTM thread where he won the Tchad Blake mix off. He turned me on to the Black Rooster and Overloud stuff here, I’m not sure if he even uses Waves. I don’t see any in his session:

@Tesgin, you may want to have a look at that.

So I was only able to demo the 2A and the 3A. They behave really differently than the Waves ones, but I like what they did. I had a little bit of trouble getting the overloud version of the 3A to give me the snappy over-top-top pop from a snare drum, I had to work for it because the gain staging on these is really different than the Waves and UAD ones. I like the Overloud 2A copy is better than the 3A.

I really really wanted to try that Edelweiss but I ran out of time, and I’m not gonna be back at the studio or another few days. I downloaded and installed the Vpre 73, but I haven’t had a chance to work with it yet.

1 Like
#22

Do you use this first in your processing chain or are there multiple ways to use this ? If I read pre-amp, I imagine its put first, on the dry signal, to emulate a real preamp, and then to the rest of your processing on that?
Could you eloborate on the advantages of using these things ?

1 Like
#23

Honestly, I use it anywhere. Early on to warm things up or anytime I feel like a track needs some grit, I dial it in, then move it around to where I think it sounds good. One of my favorite uses is at the end a vocal chain to add some warmth and air with the hi-shelf. I really like the sound of this one. You can drive it hard for a lot of crunch, or just a hint to liven things up. A little goes a long way.

What struck me with Aaron’s mix breakdown that @Jonathan mentioned above, is how often he used plugins just for their “character”.

2 Likes
#24

Okay, so Melodyne 4 Essential is on sale for $49 at audiodeluxe (regular $99).

I’m not familiar with the different versions/levels of Melodyne. Can someone weigh in as to whether this is a decent version and how it compares with the other higher versions of Melodyne?

Also, I understand there are a number of REAPER users here; how would this version of Melodyne compare with REAPER’s ReaTune? ReaTune is nothing fancy, but seems to work. IDK what kind of extra features there might be in Melodynce Essential, or how the audio conversion algorithms would compare?

#25

Well, I guess I should ask as well about how M Essentials would compare with Waves Tune LT? Just got it in Waves Gold Bundle; haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.

#26

Thanks mate! And for the referal of that other post, pretty interesting :blush:

1 Like
#27

In the last few years I’ve found myself moving it about the chain more. There’s a common sense thing at first that goes ‘PRE’ amp goes in FRONT, hence the word ‘pre’…right? But I’ve found moving forward that they’re somewhat interchangeable with tape saturation, drive, console saturation and transformer drive. I find Pre’s work really nicely immediately after amp sims (Scuffham, NI, Waves) too.

I use the essentials version of Melodyne, with the full version of Waves tune and the full version of Anteres Autotune.

Waves, Anteres, and Melodyne are the 3 big names in the autotune plugins. You picked up the Waves one in the gold bundle…right?

If you want Melodyne, $49 is certainly the time to pick it up. It has a very different way of doing things. The biggest differences is how it remembers what you change in the vocal track. There are also some differences in how it scans and shares files. They do have slightly different sounds. Not in terms of color or clarity, but how the auto-correct chooses to adjust words and phrases that you correct. I would demo it if you have a chance. I paid $100 for my copy, $49 is a killer deal. Also, I think Melodyne is the most common and often regarded as the best of the 3. I personally wouldn’t call it the best, because I’m pretty comfortable with all 3 autotunes, but Melodyne seems to be a lot of peoples go-to for single voice monophonic sung vocal tuning.

(Ps… I say that specifically because I also use autotuner software on violin and horn players and tone deaf volunteer church percussionists. You know you’re earning your keep when have to autotune a tympani player).

1 Like
#28

Hey @AaronNarace… Just saw you signed in… If you have a sec, can you weigh in with your thoughts on the BlackRooster promo that @miked mentioned? Out of their Black Friday specials, which ones would you say are the must-haves?

1 Like
#29

I’ve been using Melodyne for almost 10 years, to tune my vocals. To me, it’s an essential tool.

It looks like you got Waves Tune LT with the Gold bundle, right? As a gut feeling, that would be comparable to Melodyne essential in terms of features, though I’m not sure how it would compare in quality. I also haven’t used ReaTune, but yeah it looks comparable. I would say that if you use ReaTune and have no problems with the quality, then stick with that.

I have the Melodyne Editor edition. (I got the upgrade on sale last Black Friday.) To be honest, I’m extremely disappointed with the Direct Note Access feature. I have tried it on some of my guitar tracks, and making any change results in horrible artifacts. That being said, I use many of the features in the Assistant version as a regular part of my tuning workflow, and I find the quality to be great. I’m biased, but my vocals come out sounding natural to me. I think it would be hard for me to work with just the Essential version because I’d miss those fine-tuning features.

Hope that helps!

#30

Does anyone like HoRNet plugins? I have a number of them and use them sometimes. They’re all 70% for Black Friday, and very cheap to begin with. I’m subscribed to the newsletter, and they are frequently on sale for 40% off, just FYI.

http://www.hornetplugins.com/plugins/

#31

I’ve got a few Hornet plugins. But the only one that has really gotten a lot of use was the HoRNet VUMeter MK3. I used to gain stage all of my tracks to -18dB VU when I started a mix. It’s an ingenious little plugin. I was also excited about the AutoGain and picked that up. But after getting Melda’s MAutoVolume, I haven’t even tried it out. MAutoVolume just works. I’ve got a few others, as I said, but nothing that I really reach for on a regular basis.

BTW, everything at Melda Production is about to be 1/2 for BF. You can use my referral code “MELDA2490257” for another 20% off your purchase. I will get a 10% credit. If you’ve got a friend with Melda plugs, hit them up for their referral code. :slightly_smiling_face:

#32

FREE DeEsser from Waves!

https://www.waves.com/plugins/sibilance

#33

Thanks man !

I’m starting a new thread tonight about saturation, with some questions before black friday ends :smiley:

#34

I use Black Rooster VEQ-1P (100hz Boost) and their free filter VHL-3C on vocals. I use the Blueface on my master sometimes(well, when I demoed it), it’s a bit too colorful at times. I really like their VLA-2A but it’s situational. I chain Overloud Gem-76 with Black Rooster VLA-2A to get that classical compressor sound. Once the vocal is recorded well, this chain sounds great!!

#35

Sweet. Thanks. Got it!