Black Friday plugin deals 2024: Everything you need to know including shopping advice, early deals, and more

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Get ahead of the game with my top tips on how to get the most out of your plugin deals shopping

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1. Quick links
2. Early deals
3. FAQ
4. Shopping tips
5. How we choose
6. Why trust us
7. Last year's deals

The Black Friday plugin deals aren't here just yet, but that doesn't mean you can't scoop up an early deal and avoid the chaos. I've been covering Black Friday at MusicRadar for the last three years, and before that, I spent five years in music retail. In my experience, the best deals always happen a little before the main event itself. Deals are going to start landing as early as mid-October, so if you're here already give yourself a pat on the back, you're well ahead of the game!

As a producer and mixer myself, I always look forward to Black Friday as a time to pick up some of my most wanted plugins for less. Last year it was the Oxford Inflator and Soundtoys Decapitator that topped my list, and I was able to get both at a significant discount. It certainly helped that part of my job was looking for the very best Black Friday music deals around.

This year I'm hoping to get my hands on a discounted version of Oeksound Soothe 2. At over $200 it's a pretty expensive plugin but I've seen so many of my favorite producers using it that I've got to add it to my collection. I'm also thinking about going for the Arturia Dist Tube-Culture for my saturation needs, and the SSL Native Bus Compressor 2 which has been getting rave reviews from mixers and producers in my circle.

Alongside the MusicRadar team, I'll be looking after this page and feeding the very best plugin deals from the whole across the whole Cyber Weekend into one handy place. Having covered Black Friday for a long time and reviewed huge amounts of software this year, our team is in an excellent position to recommend the very best deals. It's not a pure price decision either, we spend the rest of the year using plugins, writing articles on how to get the best out of them, and staying immersed in all the latest plugin news, so we know what the best stuff is.

We'll be updating this page throughout the full Cyber Weekend, so if you want to avoid the rush, do yourself a favour and bookmark this page. You can then check back regularly and see what's become available, and at what price.

Black Friday plugin deals: Quick links

The proper Black Friday plugin deals haven't landed just yet, but here's an overview of the current sales you can get your hands on right now:

Early Black Friday plugin deals

There's not a huge amount of plugin deals around at the moment, but I've managed to find a handful to whet your appetite:

Soundtoys Decapitator: Was $130, now $69

Soundtoys Decapitator: Was $130, now $69
One of the most popular saturation plugins in the industry, Soundtoys Decapitator is a standard in studios across the globe. Versatile enough to cover a light dusting of vibe all the way through to all-out sonic destruction, this is one plugin that should be in every producer's arsenal. A $61 discount over at Plugin Boutique makes it a fantastic early deal to take advantage of.

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Sonnox Oxford Limiter: Was $264, now $39

Sonnox Oxford Limiter: Was $264, now $39
If you want to instantly amp up your home recording efforts, you should buy this plugin right now. It's got a huge $225 reduction over at Plugin Boutique and is designed to be placed at the very end of your mix bus. The Sonnox Oxford Limiter will hugely increase the loudness and clarity of your mix without clipping. We've just bought one ourselves, and it's had an instant effect on our mixes, helping bring our guitar tracks to life.

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NI NKS Partner sale: Up to 50% off instruments

NI NKS Partner sale: Up to 50% off instruments
With over 250 instruments and effects in the sale, this is the perfect opportunity to fill that gap in your plugin locker. Whether it's adding the enigmatic tones of a handpan in your next beat or just some orchestral strings to bring life to that dull middle 8, it’s a huge selection to choose from, and with up to 50% off, superb value for money.

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Waves Platinum Bundle: Was $1,999, now $209.99

Waves Platinum Bundle: Was $1,999, now $209.99
Packing 67 bundles into one all-encompassing package, the Waves Platinum Bundle is the perfect place to start your producing journey. Bought individually at full price they'd total a massive $1,999, but a ginormous $1,789.01 discount brings back into reach of the majority of music makers out there.

View Deal

Black Friday plugin deals FAQ

Two men working in a recording studio

(Image credit: Future)

What day is Black Friday 2024?

Black Friday isn't 'officially' until Friday 29 November, but last year things kicked off much earlier than that, so it pays to be prepared. Waves got the wheels in motion with a sneak peek at the deals they planned on launching in November, followed by a natural segue into their Early Bird Black Friday plugin deals at the start of November.

Will we see more plugin deals sooner than the day itself in 2024? Judging by previous years, that's a strong horse to back. Whether we see more brands than just Waves jumping on the early doors bandwagon remains to be seen.

You can also expect the deals to continue through the weekend after Black Friday - aka Cyber Weekend - before transforming into Cyber Monday plugin deals three days after Black Friday.

If you're using Black Friday to save money on Christmas gifts, our guide to the best Christmas gifts for musicians is great for inspiration.

What deals should I expect?

Loads of music software sites will be taking part in the Black Friday plugins bonanza, so we'd recommend signing up to mailing lists of your favourite retailers now to get the jump on the best deals when they do come around.

Of course, if you'd rather not deal with the stress of searching through endless deals yourself, as we get closer to the event our experts will be pulling all-nighters to uncover the very best Black Friday plugin deals and publishing them on this page.

We’d recommend bookmarking this page - as well as our main Black Friday music deals hub page - so you can keep checking back as more deals are added.

So we know there will be deals. But what should you be looking out for? We've covered enough of these events to know a thing or two about what to expect. Seeing as plugins are downloads rather than physical products, they won’t sell out. A more realistic consideration is that some of these deals might be time-limited to just a day or two, or perhaps only a few hours, so we’d recommend you don’t ponder a purchase for too long.

Discounts can range from a few $/£ off a cool sample pack to massive percentage discounts off huge swathes of music production software.

Great deals come in all shapes and sizes. There are a few key types to look out for:

  • Single item - A single product or plugin with a great discount
  • Site-wide discounts - A single discount percentage on a large range of products across a site
  • Discount codes - Load your basket to a certain value and redeem a discount code for money off your basket contents
  • Added value deals - These include multi-buy discounts, or additional products or software for free when you buy certain items

Whichever deals you go for, you can guarantee there will be a lot of noise during the weekend, so if you’re planning on updating your studio or adding to your collection to boost your music production set-up, it’s well worth marking your diary for this year's Black Friday plugin deals.

Can I get free plugins on Black Friday?

Yes! Many sites offer a free plugin to celebrate Black Friday and as a way to tempt you into their ecosystem, so you could feasibly take advantage of the Black Friday hysteria without spending a thing.

Once again, Waves is a sure bet when it comes to free stuff. Last year they gave customers Walves Silk Vocal completely free, normally retailing at $79. Usually, all you have to do is provide them with an email address to get your freebie.

Which sites are best for software deals on Black Friday?

We have personal experience shopping software at a varity of retailers and we know the ones we trust and where we've had a great experience. These are the places we will always recommend first.

Developers we trust include Waves, IK Multimedia and Native Instruments. They all run great sales and we know they're above board. Buying software from them is a breeze and they all offer fantastic customer service.

Special shout out to Plugin Boutique who sell plugins from hundreds of fantastic brands, and has regular sales throughout the year. They've got pretty much any plugin you can think of so are a great place to start shopping during Cyber Weekend.

Specialist online music retailers have become better on the software front, too. Where you used to only be able to buy physical copies of DAWs, it's now easy to access direct digital downloads at places like Sweetwater, Guitar Center and Thomann of all your favourite plugin brands. And the best thing is that, because software is a download rather than a physical product that needs shipping, you can go for the seller that has the best price!

Plugin shopping tips for Black Friday

1. Make note of the prices - Once you've found your favourite plugins, keep track of how much they are when they're not on sale. This will help you determine whether or not it's actually a good deal, as some retailers are fond of relisting products at the RRP, which makes the discount look larger than it actually is.

2. Consider your music production goals - What do you want to achieve with your music production goals for the next 12 months or so? Is there software that will help you hit them? Or do you have an unfinished track that needs some extra sauce? We know that shiny new AI-powered plugin looks amazing, but you should always be buying plugins that are going to improve your compositions, mixes, and mastering.

3. Clear some space - Something else you should consider ahead of time is whether you have enough space on your machine to account for all these additional downloads! Get rid of any unnecessary bloat on your laptop or PC now, or you might want to consider picking up an external hard drive. Focusing your plugin selection is also a great way to work better, so think about how long it was since you last used that EQ, and if you can't even remember what it looks like or does - get rid.

4. Create a wishlist early - The most sensible way to take advantage of this year's Black Friday plugin deals is to know in advance what you’re looking for. This will make searching much easier, rather than having to trawl through loads of deals you don’t want to find the ones you do, or pondering things you don't need.

5. Sign up for mailing lists - Pretty much every retailer and manufacturer will be sending emails during Cyber Weekend. Signing up for your favorites can help you get the lowdown on when a deal becomes available straight away. Many will also give you a sign-up discount, although be careful here as it often doesn't apply to already discounted products.

How we choose the best Black Friday plugin deals

The team at MusicRadar is made up of real-life musicians who are ultra-passionate about music and music-making. We're all creating music in our spare time, whether that's solo EDM projects or touring in bands. That means we write with our own needs and experience in mind, so you can rest assured that our picks come from the heart.

We're not interested in trying to sell musicians stuff they don't need, and if you look at the buying advice we always advise getting things you need rather than buying superfluously. 

For us to recommend a plugin to buy, it has to be a truly great piece of software, solve a common problem, or sound fantastic in our own productions. We'll never recommend something just because a manufacturer wants us to, and its all our own opinions that inform our product selection.

Why you can trust us

We spend a lot of our time scouring software retailers for fantastic deals on our favorite plugins. Not only is it our job to research and recommend the best gear in our buyer’s guides and reviews, but we’re also dedicated to helping musicians get the best deals on the stuff they need, too. After all, the only thing better than New Gear Day is a hearty discount.

We cover a lot of the big sales events throughout the year, including Memorial Day, 4th of July sales, and Amazon Prime Day, and we have a good view of which products are likely to receive the biggest discounts and when, the prices they’ve been in the past and which deals are genuinely worth a look.

Our industry expertise combined with our passion for music makes us well positioned to help our fellow music-makers. It's why we do this job in the first place, to help spread the word of all the great music and music gear that's out there.

Last year's Black Friday plugin deals

Take a look at a few of the deals that caught our attention during Black Friday last year:

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Komplete 14 Select: Was $199/179, now $99.50/89.50
Komplete 14 Select is a fantastic range of top music production software. You get a total of 19 instruments and effects and 15,000 sounds. As NI says, it's everything you need to make music, and more. The instrument highlights are Massive, one of the biggest-sounding and most enduring softsynths. There's also the classic virtual analogue softsynth Monark, and more vintage synth goodness in Retro Machines Mark 2. Traditional instruments are also catered for with The Gentleman upright piano, Drumlab drums, Scarbee Rickenbacker Bass and Vintage Organs. Komplete 14 Select covers pretty much every instrument, then, and also comes with a fabulous suite of effects (including a delay, phaser and reverb) plus nine expansion packs. That's a huge range of software titles at half price!

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Total Studio 4 MAX: Was $/£799, now $/£349
Get all the plugins you need to take your music from a spark of inspiration, all the way to a finished, mastered release with IK Multimedia Total Studio 4 Max. With 170 instruments, more than 500 FX and over 640 gigabytes of sample data, it’s a complete solution for composition, mixing and mastering your music with a combined total value of over €14,000. At this price, why are you still reading this article?

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KV331 Audio Synthmaster 2: Was $119.77/£94.96, now $31.47/£24.95:
They don't call it Synthmaster for nothing. KV331 Audio's Synthmaster 2 is truly a master of synthesis in one application. It uses a semi-modular approach to deliver all sorts of synthesis types including VA, Additive, Wavetable, Wavescanning, Phase Modulation, FM, Pulse Width Modulation, Ring Modulation, Amplitude Modulation, and Physical Modeling. It is packed with more than 2,000 sounds and also comes with some great effects, incredible modulation and a very easy-to-use interface considering the power under the bonnet. Synthmaster 2 for under $32/£25 is a steal, simple as that! Get it quick.

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Korg Collection: Was $485.60/£385, now $251/£199
Korg has many of its software synths, both old and new, in the Plugin Boutique sale. They are typically being sold for between $/£50-100 each at between 30 and 50% off. However, depending on what you already own, you might want to simply grab the Korg Collection instead. This delivers over a dozen classic and newer Korg synths, and is only $251/£199 for the lot, a huge saving of nearly 50%. You get some absolute belters too: classic 70s synth emulations like the MS-20 and ARP Odyssey; the Mono/Poly and Polysix from the 1980s; plus the Prophecy, Triton and M1 from the 90s. It's a history of classic Korg synths!

Pro Tools Artist annual: Save up to $120• Pro Tools Artist -• Pro Tools Studio -• Pro Tools Ultimate -

Pro Tools Artist annual: Save up to $120
Pro Tools is pretty much the industry standard in pro studio environments, but is actually perfectly accessible for serious beginners - especially at these prices.
• Pro Tools Artist - Was $99, now $79
• Pro Tools Studio - was $299, now $239
• Pro Tools Ultimate - Was $599, now $499

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Amplitube 5 Max: Was $299.99, now $79.99
Save big on Amplitube 5 Max from IK Multimedia this Black Friday. For a limited time, you can score a whopping over 70% off its original price!

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Artist Subscription: $/£1 for first two months
With a Loopcloud Artist Subscription you get access to a huge library of over four million samples, 5GB of cloud storage, a huge 1GB welcome pack of samples, and 100 points a month to spend on more sounds. You can upgrade at any time to Loopcloud Studio or Professional for additional sounds, storage and up to 600 credits to spend a month. Now is the time to experience the future of sampling for just £1 a month for the first two months. Usually you would pay £5.99/month.

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Line 6 Helix Native: Was $399, now $199
Harness the power of Helix inside your DAW for half price with Sweetwater’s early Black Friday deal. With 60+ amp models, 30+ speaker cabs, over 100 effects and more, you can have multiple instances of Line 6’s award-winning, world-class studio guitar tone at your fingertips. From vintage to modern classics, rare and sought after stompboxes, and the flexibility that a plugin provides over hardware, if you’re recording guitar then Helix Native should already be high on your list. Save $200 and get your plugin instantly.

More places to shop this Black Friday

MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.

We're not just covering plugins this Black Friday. Take a look at some of our other deals hubs:

Matt McCracken
Matt McCracken
Junior Deals Writer

Matt is a Junior Deals Writer here at MusicRadar. He regularly tests and reviews music gear with a focus on audio interfaces, studio headphones, studio monitors, and pretty much anything else home recording-related. Matt worked in music retail for 5 years at Dawsons Music and Northwest Guitars and has written for various music sites including Guitar World, Guitar Player, Guitar.com, Ultimate Guitar, and Thomann’s t.blog.  A regularly gigging guitarist with over 20 years of experience playing live and producing bands, he's performed everything from jazz to djent, gigging all over the UK in more dingy venues than you can shake a drop-tuned guitar at.

With contributions from