With up to 94% off at Plugin Boutique, these are the best plugin deals you’ll see for a while - here’s 5 picks from a mixing fanatic with 20 years in the home recording game

Universal Audio Sound City Studios: $/£349, $/£39
This is one of the latest additions to my plugin collection and I’ve ended up using it on nearly every mix since. It’s great for adding a touch of the real to virtual drum instruments like Superior or Steven Slate Drums, and I’ve also found it's superb on virtual guitar amps too. It’s got an absolutely massive $/£310 discount in the sale at the moment, and I’ve found it works brilliantly on multi-tracked guitars, bringing them all together in a cohesive unit when used on a bus, or to add a real sense of depth and life to vocal tracks recorded in a booth.

Sonnox Oxford Inflator: $156/£138, now $29/£27
I actually bought this in the sale myself as I’ve been curious about it for a while now. People often mistake it for a compressor or limiter plugin, when in fact it's more like a saturation plugin. Its typical use is on the master bus to help add volume without introducing clipping or pumping, but I’ve found it works really well on single instruments too. I’ve particularly enjoyed putting it on my drum busses to add more punch to the sound without pushing the transients into clipping territory. With a hefty $127/£111 discount at Plugin Boutique, now’s the perfect time to pick it up at an absolute bargain price.

Korg Wavestate Native: $199/£195, now $99/£97
I grabbed Korg Wavestate earlier in the year after seeing some demos of the hardware unit, and I’ve been using it a lot for creative sounds in my production work. I love cinematic, film score-type sounds to back up my post-rock musings and this soft synth is perfect for this type of work. It can also get pretty wild if you prefer more out-there synth sounds, and even play back full beats to you depending on how you configure it. Perfect for ever-changing and evolving sounds that take you by surprise, it’s phenomenal value for money with a $100/£98 discount, and there’s such a depth on offer here that I’m still finding new things about it even now. 

Cherry Audio Stardust 201 Echo: $19/£14, $9/£7
Okay so even at full price it’s not like this is a huge stretch, but for less than $/£10? It’s a no-brainer if you don’t already have a tape echo in your collection and I get a lot of use out of my version having picked it up years ago. Great for pretty much any instrument, I love it for those ‘Karma Police’ style oscillations that ring out at the end of a song, or just for adding a touch of vintage depth to a vocal. Cherry Audio’s take on Roland’s famous echo unit does the job of both the RE-201 and RE-301, as well as a few tricks of its own, and at this ridiculously low price, it’s well worth the money.

Universal Audio Ampex ATR-102: $/£349, now $/£39
Another recent purchase of mine, the Universal Audio Ampex ATR-102 tape machine has quickly ended up going on pretty much everything I make. I’m currently using it to add a touch of tape warmth and glue to my master bus, as well as using it on instrument busses for some extra life. It sounds particularly good on my drum bus when using drum VSTs, and is just the thing when you want to bring something slightly forward in the mix, or add some extra vibe to instruments in the box. With a huge $/£310 discount, now’s the time to pull the trigger if you want to add super realistic tape tones to your mixing arsenal.