As COVID-19 forces the world at large into quarantine, restricting producers and DJs to the studio, it opens up more time for all us to make some more music. In this article, we highlight the best free downloads, deals, and classes available for music producers under quarantine.
The spread of the coronavirus has had devastating effects on promoters, bookers, and DJs across the world, as mass gatherings, events and festivals have been either postponed or cancelled. The upside to all this (albeit, one that does acknowledge that a lot of financial suffering will be incurred) is that a lot of us will get more studio time.
To support producers in these times of need, various music companies and producers are offering discounted goods, free instrument downloads, sound packs, and courses to provide extra motivation. Just think about the amount of exciting new releases we can look forward to once the pandemic has subsided, and social distancing becomes a thing of the past.
Here’s our picks from the available offers available online now:
Free Instruments from Moog and Korg
Moog are offering their digital-Minimoog synth available for iPhone and iPad, for free. The Minimoog Model D iOS app, previously priced at $4.99 is now available via the app store, providing all producers the perfect opportunity to try out the replica of the classic, instrument.
At the same time Korg have made their iKaossilator for iOS, and Kaossilator for Android also available for free, for a limited time only (iOS version through March 31, 2020. Android version, from March 13 to March 20, 2020).
Download HERE or watch Ean’s review of it from 2011 (!) below:
Beginners’ Deluxe
For those who are a bit new to the game then Ableton are offering a free, fully featured 30-day trial of a Live 10 Suite, They also have a whole array of educational resources to help you going as well at their Learning Music site.
Learning
The team behind Café OTO in London put together this online document of experimental producers offering one-to-one tutorials during this period of crisis.
On his Twitter feed, German producer Kyle Keiger has offered free production insights to those that are interested. He’s not the only one, drum & bass legend TeeBee is offering one-on-one tutorials:
as is Glasgow’s alternative- producer Nightwave:
If you’ve seen other DJs offering exclusive tutorials online, why don’t you link to the offers in the comments section below?
For the techno-minded gang, Truncate hosted a live stream introduction to Ableton on Facebook Live this morning:
This of course is in addition to all the other excellent production courses and schools you can find online, including PointBlank, Udemy, Berklee – but as of now none of those schools have announced discounted or free programs yet (hint, hint).
Free Sounds + Synths
So you’ve got your instruments, your DAW, now all you need are some sounds to go with everything. Output’s Arcade subscription service wouldn’t be a bad place to start, with the first 30-days available free of charge.
Loopcloud are also offering a similar 30-day free of charge service, with sounds, samples, and plugins also included.
Any free/major discounted/unique offers you’ve seen online that’re ideal for this forced home studio time? Drop your discoveries in the comments section below.
