Zolton

Yeah, I waffled on whether to include that one, and a couple of other free libs from Cinematique that can be found on their site here: https://cinematique-instruments.com/inst_all_sites/inst_all17_free.php Despite Plugin Boutique "assigning" Landscape to Klang on their free Kontakt instrument page, the CI site lists it separately from Klang -- and the Landscape interface doesn't have the "KLANG" branding that the other set does. Still, all the little mini and/or free libs from Cinematique, Klang -- or KLANG -- are made by more or less the same crowd, so far as I'm aware. What qualifies one of them a Klang or not-Klang is a mystery to me -- but it's an excuse to peruse 10 additional freebies on the CI site!

Thanks, Niky -- I hadn't seen that site before. It looks like one of the price trackers that have popped up recently -- it looks like it's tracking Plugin Boutique, but not Loot Audio, as it only has the PB prices on the individual item pages (including the ones that are free on Loot). I should have included handy links to the free Klangs in the original post; here they are: On Cinematique's site, the Klang page is here (click "For Free" to filter for the 6 currently free ones): https://cinematique-instruments.com/pages_instr/page_klang.php On PB, the dedicated "Free Klang" page is currently broken, but the 4 freebies are available among the free Kontakt instruments here: https://www.pluginboutique.com/categories/55-Kontakt-Instrument?free=true And on Loot Audio, the Klang page is here (sort by "Lowest" to drive the 7 freebies to the top of the list): https://www.lootaudio.com/category/kontakt-instruments/Klang

Not sure whether anyone else would be interested, but I've been curious about the state and scope of the Cinematique Instruments-spun out Klang series, so I took a little dive into the history and current availability. In short: Cinematique started producing small Klang instruments for Kontakt (and often Ableton) in September 2019. Most are heavily processed, perhaps intended for ambient, background or soundscape design. The first handful were released for free, as was one new instrument per month (or most months, at least) for a couple of years. As the series got more popular, some instruments were released with a small price tag (~5-25 Euro) and some (now quite a few) have been discontinued. I have a bunch, and use a few, and since several Klangs are currently available via Plugin Boutique and Loot Audio for $5-6, they make intriguing stocking stuffers / monthly freebie-getting fodder. I was curious what the collection as a whole looks like. So here it is, as best as I can tell: In total, 80 Klang instruments have been released, not including 6 in the "Sampl" and "Konzept" categories that sold for higher prices (15-25 Euro, with one freebie), and which don't appear to be available via any of the shops now. Forty Klang instruments were released for free; 14 of those are currently still available for free, either on Klang's site directly, Plugin Boutique or Loot Audio. In early 2023, Klang went through a revamp and has changed the interface of their instruments; none of the six new-style freebies on Klang are available through a reseller. But none of the eight old-style freebies from PB (4 free) or Loot (7 free) are currently available from Klang. The offerings available directly from Klang (28 instruments / 6 free, "new-style"), Plugin Boutique (50 / 4) and Loot Audio (41 / 7) are kind of a jumble. Everything available at Loot is also available at PB, and PB has a few extra, though Loot's (US) prices tend to be slightly lower, and some of the freebies at Loot cost money at Plugin Boutique. Altogether, a total of 69 Klang libs are currently available (which is nice), for no more than 5-6 bucks or Euro each, depending on where you might strategically want to throw a couple of bucks to get a freebie or top off a shopping cart. Anyway, if anyone's interested in the gory details, I've dropped a spreadsheet with availability info below. Happy Klanging. State_of_Klang-202305.xlsx

I thought the description and link combo was a bit odd -- 20 loops in a "50-in-1" bundle would be an awfully nimble bit of math! -- and I think there's a slight mix up. VST Alarm does have a "Trap Veterans 50-in-1" bundle deal for $24.95 (96% off), via the link above. The free Toronto Guitars loop pack (also by Trap Veterans, gratis for 28 days) is available here: https://vstalarm.com/product/toronto-guitars-by-trap-veterans-limited-time-free/

Just be aware (if it applies to anyone here) that the first-purchase $10 in points can't be used on products on an "initial discount" sale. So if you wanted to try a trick similar to MrFigg's above, you'd probably want to use your big guns/discounts on Pluralis first, then circle back to grab something else with the first-purchase ten bucks off.

I wondered if it was a mistake, since each individual plug is the same price as the bundle. On the other hand, the Dynamics bundle price is somewhat comparable (~$54) at D-Fused Sounds and Sweetwater ($49), which suggests either the neighborhood of the price is legit, or the mistake was on Sonible's end when they sent out the deals and they'll have to sort out each reseller separately. Looks like Plugin Boutique has the sale, too -- no discount at all right now on the Dynamics bundle, but $99 for the smart bundle, same as Sweetwater and consistent with BS ($91) and DF ($110).

If you happen to own any of the individual libs in either package and log in to buy from Sonuscore directly, the prices dip a bit lower: $39 for Volumes 1-5 $49 for Volumes 6-10 Not so fantastic if you have three or four, maybe. I just have V5, so the first one's fairly tempting.

Ditto, so far as I can tell, for Morph EQ, which I've had my eye on for a while. Thanks for the heads up!

There are many -- many, many, many, many, many -- threads discussing Ethno World, World Suite, EW's Ra/Silk/Gypsy, Tarilonte, Strezov libs and NI Discovery series, among others, in the usual places (including right here) over the past couple of years. My overall impression is that out of the set of: modern, playable, affordable, comprehensive, realistic and flexible, you can get two, or possibly three, with any given choice. Personal preference, familiarity with specific instruments/styles and individual priority for each characteristic above heavily influence the available opinions. Personally, I'm a hobbyist with great interest but not great expertise in various "world music" styles, and have tried to lean on the less expensive, more playable and mostly-Kontakt-based side, perhaps at the expense of precise authenticity, wide scope or other perks. I'd venture to guess the most relevant opinions would be the ones from people with the same general use cases / priorities as you, if you can glean those from the comments here or elsewhere.

Looks like Frozen Fuzz is either accidentally in the "For Free" section on the website when it isn't, or is accidentally listed for 8 Euro when it shouldn't be. Might be worth checking on later, if you're Jonesing for a freebie.

Looks like a preset for MWaveShaper -- the video describing it is referenced in the BPB item linked above, or directly here: Redpillz has a link to the preset in the YT video blurb -- not positive this is the one dubdisciple was referencing, but probably it is, unless there are a number of DIY Melda-flator hacks floating around. Edited to add: When the above video finished in my browser, the Paul Third video dd mentioned loaded up right after. Not sure which came first, or whether the two methods are identical (need to watch later):

This blurb is right under the "Formats" section on the page linked above:

I found this explanation (evidently blessed by Melda) explaining the differences between MAutoDynamicEQ and MDynamicEQ in a KVR thread from a few years ago: Also, a note for anyone considering the BOCS bundle at Loot -- from what I understand, Retcon (also on sale at a steeper discount %, but 10GBP rather than 6 for the bundle) is the BOCS 2.0 version, with all the functions of the three apps in the bundle, and other bells and whistles besides (in an interface that's both unique and may require some digging through the manual, according to the SampleCast review embedded on the product page). Not affiliated in any way, but intrigued enough by Retcon to try to suss out the package differences and fiddle with putting it into the cart a time or two.

Also from Cymatics, and free for a limited time: https://cymatics.fm/products/mystery-sample-pack-vol-4-v1 (They say for 24 hours, but the link where I initially saw it is a couple of days old and the code worked this afternoon, so... ??)

One quick note/caveat: Unless I'm seeing it wrong (or it's just me), the "ridealong" gift for MGranularMB is MBitFun (also part of the free FX collection), and not MBitFunMB. I was thinking of jumping on this if both were MB, but I already have the (free) BitFun, and I've seen MGranularMB lower at least once, so I might wait it out a bit longer. I do wonder if the non-MB currently showing on the page is an error, though -- a freely-available effect isn't so much a "gift", and the other three deals say you "get M(whatever) worth $(value) for free", while the MGranularMB page says this: Maybe they'll switch it up at some point, to match the other current deals. Especially if Larry's copy above came direct from Melda, and they've just horked up their own plans a bit. Edited to add: It appears the same set of deals is also available via AudioDeluxe, where they (hopefully correctly?) list MBitFunMB as the MGranularMB freebie. The second plugin doesn't show up in the cart, so I'm not sure where exactly it gets included -- but MGranularMB is a buck cheaper there, another 10% gets auto-knocked off and WAProd Imprint is auto-included in the cart for free, so it may be worth a look at AD if you're interested.

I was intrigued when I saw this a day or two ago. I'd advise anyone thinking of grabbing it to kick the tires pretty thoroughly; everyone's mileage will vary, but the recent feedback I saw -- including a post here from last January and several other posts and reviews on various sites -- led me to personally give it a pass. It may also be helpful to know that, according to MSD, it appears PB had Composer Pro S 1.5 on sale at $40 for all of December. The chart suggests it was on sale for $85 multiple times through most of 2022, so if $40 is the new going rate, you might expect to see this one come around again (and again, and again...)

Ah, nuts. I saw some folks also sharing it on VI-Control earlier today, so I hoped it was still valid. (Especially since I hadn't used it yet, either!)

The code I'm aware of (from this thread, among others; end date unknown) is: $5 off any product at APD - APD-NWVBBYY9-5-OFF

Looks like APD's newest deal is Sugarbytes Egoist -- 60% off at $39.99 (minus $5, if the recent coupon is still active). This is the lowest it's been at least since MSD started tracking, though APD had the same deal back in May of 2020. I'm well intrigued at this price, though I'm also still learning my way around Loopmix and not sure how well Egoist holds up after nine years. I know Fleer's a fan, from past comments. Anyone still/recently using Egoist and having a good time?

Yeah, that one oddly seems lost to time, at least officially. From what I gather (from, e.g., BPB), it was a set of 7 Kontakt 5 presets and associated samples originally released in early 2018. At that time, Karanyi Sounds was Karanyi Music, with a different domain name to match, which is now defunct and not so obviously Wayback-able, so the links from contemporary posts are fubar'ed. The SYNTH-1 item in the NI "Best of 2023" post cribs the description verbatim from an earlier NI blog post "5 free 80s-inspired synth libraries for KONTAKT", from May of last year. It's possible that the direct mega.nz link was active when that original post was written, but went stale in the interim and the (same) guy who went back and copied his old text for a new blog item didn't bother to check it. Pretty sloppy and/or lazy -- unless the link did work for a while recently and Karanyi noticed and decided they didn't want to serve the files any longer. For what it's worth, it seems the SYNTH-1 material was a precursor/inspiration for Karanyi's Synths DX product. The SYNTH-1 patches, released in February 2018, came from the OB-6, Roland Super JV, Oberheim Matrix 6 and Matrix 1000, Yamaha DX7 and Moog Minitaur. And the Synths DX description says (emphasis mine): So maybe they improved their techniques on the same equipment and didn't want the first-try stuff lying around. Unfortunately, DX is still for Kontakt full only, the samples are encoded rather than SYNTH-1's raw WAVs and it ain't free -- though it was on sale for three bucks in December.

Having dabbled with nearly all of these at some point, it's not terribly many, depending on how you count. Heavyocity definitely uses its own installer/portal, as does 8Dio. Impact Soundworks uses Pulse downloader, so that's more or less of an issue, depending on whether you have it installed for other purposes. The Strezov freebies are/were directly downloadable, but you do have to register those in Native Access, so it's an extra step. Ditto for the Heavyocity Foundations Piano, so that's a double-dip of extra finagling (though lovely once set up, by most accounts). (Not for nothing, but if you're already knee-deep in Native Access fiddling, both Strezov and Heavyocity have other very nice if sometimes niche freebies available. It's a lot easier to grab a few and configure them assembly-line style, rather than all at once, if you're interested in more than one.) When I grabbed it a while back, XPERIMENTA Preparato Piano was a simple download, but they've moved to Pulse for their newer Minima 2 freebie, so there's a possibility that's been Pulse'd as well. So far as I know, Karanyi, Rhythmic Robot, Pianobook, Pettinhouse, Samplephonics and the others on the list all support direct downloads -- though for most, they'll ask for an email address and/or an account setup.

For anyone who may be interested in New Nations offerings, this free collection also comes with a $25 gift card in the "Bonus" download file. The text file states that the minimum cart value must be $25 to apply the coupon -- I was able to add the coupon with a lower total, but I didn't try checking out in that state. The free bundle is made largely of construction kits (20 total), drum kits (20 with hits, loops and MIDI) and MIDI (chords and melodies), with bonus generically-named "drums" and "instruments" VSTIs that I haven't tried out. (Samplers from their range of VSTIs, perhaps?) With the $25 code, it's possible to additionally get one of their "ultimate MIDI" packs for free, or one or two sample packs/VSTIs in some combination for $1 or less, depending on your interests. Or, obviously, $25 off something pricier. The NN store includes a few products from other developers (Infinit, Pyrit, Double Bang, possibly others), which appear to be eligible under the code, as well.

A lot of the music-related bundles from Humble and Fanatical can be sort of 'meh', where the standalone sample packs are concerned. (And that aspect of this one isn't terribly exciting personally, to be honest.) But if you're invested in the AAS universe, this is effectively a sale on selected AAS sound packs: For $1 or more: Synbiosis for Chromaphone 3 (or AAS Player; all packs work in the free player) Masala for String Studio VS-3 For $10 or more, add: Cardinals for Chromaphone 3 Low End Theory for Ultra Analog VS-3 For $20 or more, add: Abstractions for Ultra Analog VS-3 plus the AAS Session pack (Strum, Lounge Lizard, Ultra Analog VSTs) and Objeq Delay Not too shabby, considering single sound packs are $19 on frequent half-off sales.

For those interested, it looks like the offer/server is back up. I was just able to order it using the link above.

I thought about that, but unlike some of the other calendars and holiday deals, the Pianobook advent items should be available free for the foreseeable future. They've just saved up releasing a couple dozen libraries, so they can dazzle one day at a time. The calendar on the front page looks nice and is fun, but I actually prefer to check the list on the main sample packs page: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/ These are up to date and in chronological order -- and you get a short description for each pack, unlike the calendar; everything after the Guitarron 22 is also on the calendar.