Deals On Gear and Software

[ken]

Not the stupid deal of the day, but a great deal anyway:

Zzounds has the IK Classik Studio Reverb Bundle for $70. You get 4 different reverb units with a ton of great sounds. I like that they have both insert and send presets and it is really easy to find and adjust the parameters. Works with Mac or PC.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--IKMCSR

PS: if you miss this deal it looks like you can buy it directly from IK for $99: http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/cs ... b-software

[Billy's Little Trip]

Looks like a nice plug-in. I'll try it when it's in the free plug-in section.

[ken]

Focusrite iTrack Solo Audio Interface for iPad, Mac and PC for $99.

Anyone with a computer and an ipad should pick one of these up.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/

[ken]

Cheap mic stands on bestbuy.com today:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/JamStands+b ... 502&loc=01

[fluffy]

Today's SDotD on MF is the Casio PX-3S for $500, which I haven't tried but it's the current-generation successor to the Privia line, which was excellent (and in turn was the successor to the PS10, which was also excellent). If you're in the market for a hammer-action keyboard, you could certainly do worse. I still love my Privia PX-300, and the later Privias were even better.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/keyboard ... tage-piano

[ken]

If anyone needs to upgrade their audio input you can get a 2 channel USB box for $120 on MF:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... c=3GOA2L9A

[ken]

Sweetwater has the M-Audio Keystation 49es 49-key MIDI controller on sale for $50.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... 644&SID=-1

[fluffy]

Today's deal is $400 for a pair of Fostex 8" monitors. I'm really happy with the smaller Fostexes I got a few days ago, and if you're looking to spend only $400 on a bigger pair (shut up BLT), now's your chance.

[Billy's Little Trip]

[url=http://musiciansfriend.com/stupid]if you're looking to spend only $400 on a bigger pair (shut up BLT), now's your chance.

Actually, those are a magnificent pair! You know...some monitors are held for charity, and some for fancy dress. But when they're held for pleasure, they're the monitors that I like best.

[Lunkhead]

Today's deal is an MXL V63M large (ish) diaphragm condenser mic for $60:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/

For those of you who have yet to purchase a "real" mic, this could be a good starter. You'll need an audio interface with a preamp and phantom power to use this, but you really should have those too. This would be a step up from: your laptop's mic, your stereo recorder, your Radio Shack mic with an on/off switch, etc.

[fluffy]

As a point of reference, the V63m is my go-to mic that I use for pretty much everything except near-field soundhole micing. It's pretty dang versatile.

[Lunkhead]

And I think there are some modifications you can make to it to improve its sound, too, for folks who are into that kind of thing.

Also of note, Hello Music once again has the Fender Deluxe Reverb for $900:

http://www.hellomusic.com/items/deluxe-reverb-combo

You may have to sign up to be able to see the deal, and watch out as they will try to spam you. I bought this amp early last year and I love it. You can hear it on a lot of BSS songs from 2012-2013. (I think Ken usually puts my guitar in the right channel.) It's a good solid loud nice sounding tube amp that can probably also be made even better with some new tubes or a speaker or something if you're into that kind of thing.

[Lunkhead]

This product's been discussed a bunch on the boards, it's Toontrack's EZDrummer, now on sale at Sweetwater for only $30!

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EZdrummer/

[Billy's Little Trip]

This product's been discussed a bunch on the boards, it's Toontrack's EZDrummer, now on sale at Sweetwater for only $30!

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EZdrummer/

This is/was a great price! I have a couple songs I did a couple years ago on a demo of ezdrummer and it is a great sounding program. All of the drums hits are real studio performances, so no synth sounding crapola.

[Lunkhead]

This site has Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones for sale for $91 (you have to add them to your cart to see that price):

http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx ... 200&ref=cj

I have two pairs of these and I like them a lot. I think I paid $150-200 for mine. I do a fair amount of mixing with these, like a lot of the mixing I did on my Talking Heads cover. The deal is on the kind with a coiled cable. I have one coiled and one straight and I think I prefer the straight cable but not enough to spend $50 more for it.

[fluffy]

That's the model I use for most things now, and I second that - they're wonderful for mixing and mastering. My only complaint is they have a little bit of spill in the treble range, so often my click track seeps through onto the mic if I'm not careful while recording.

[Lunkhead]

If you aren't using an audio interface to do your recording yet, here is a chance for you to step up to some (seemingly) real (looking) equipment. The stupid deal today is a two channel USB audio interface with MIDI, two mic preamps, phantom power (so you can use a condenser mic when you get one because you should get one, seriously), and zero-latency monitoring (which is something you also need, to record overdubs), for $40!

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/

It seems like a great compact starter audio interface that all the basic features that a solo songfighter would really need. AND it apparently works both with Macs/PCs AND iPods/iPads/iPhones, though it hasn't yet been declared compatible with iOS 7 and the iPhone 5S/5C.

If you're using a stereo recorder or your laptop mic or a Radio shack mic into your laptop's mic input or some janky crap, please do us all a favor and get this.

[Billy's Little Trip]

For anyone using a laptop mic or some other dwanky nonsense, here is a great deal of le' day. A two mic package. MXL 990 and 991 diaphragm mics for $69 bux! Normally $300 bux! Between these 2 mics, they'll cover all the home studio needs from vocals to instrument recording. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/recordin ... ne-package

[fluffy]

For anyone using a laptop mic or some other dwanky nonsense, here is a great deal of le' day. A two mic package. MXL 990 and 991 diaphragm mics for $69 bux! Normally $300 bux! Between these 2 mics, they'll cover all the home studio needs from vocals to instrument recording. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/recordin ... ne-package

Worth it for the 990 alone. That's a great mic for micing amps, and I used to use it as my main vocal mic before I switched to the V63m. The vocals for Octothorpe's "Elements of Style" were recorded on one, if you want a reference.

[ken]

I noticed a couple of other good deals on MF:

MXL 920 Large Diaphragm condenser for $99. Unlike the MXL990 which is actually a small diaphragm condenser, this mic would be good for vocals.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/condense ... microphone

Digitech iStomp $39. This seems like a steal for $40. You can download different pedals with your iphone and change the pedal as needed.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... e-stompbox

[ken]

I've never heard of this website, but a $3 clip on tuner is a great deal.

https://reverb.com/item/45234-reverb-cl ... dium=tuner

[ken]

Digitech iStomp $39. This seems like a steal for $40. You can download different pedals with your iphone and change the pedal as needed.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifie ... e-stompbox

I decided to buy one of these (from Amazon) and check it out. It was really fun! I downloaded a few different effects and they were all good. Not as good as the real thing mind you, but really good for $40! It was a lot of fun and I was surprised how many effects were free. You can only load up one pedal at a time, and I think you have to have an iphone, but otherwise, I am glad to have this around in case I need some special effect for one particular moment.