Save up to $100 on Fender American Standard guitars and basses @ Music123 via rebates and price drops. Promo Page: http://ow.ly/ecgR | Rebate: http://ow.ly/echL

Ends 9/15/09

Guitar Center has posted a massive list of brands for the Double Fun Memorial Day Weekend promo. From Today till the 25th, just enter coupon code MEM15 to get 15% off the qualifying brands listed on the promo page.

Some of the brands that caught our eye were Nord, Native Instruments, TASCAM, MOTU, EastWest sample libraries, and MXL mics.

As for the second part of the double fun, they'll be hold some sort of special "list" event if you're really hot on abandoning your BBQ want to go into a store with people noodling on keyboards at 150 dB with a severe hangover.

Music123 has the Musicians Gear Guitar Pack that includes electric guitar, gig bag, strap, instrument cable, picks, and a 10W solid state guitar amplifier for $99.99. Super affordable way for any beginner to get started or for your little nephew or niece that you don't want spreading peanut butter on your pick guard. Buy @ Music123.

Here comes the parade of ways you can save $$$ over the Memorial Weekend holiday if you'd rather buy new gear than get drunk and eat food items cooked over an open flam.

Starting with audioMIDI's Accessory Sale. Just jam coupon code 15OFFMEMORIAL at check out to get the 15% of cables, power supplies, hum eliminators, foot switches and more. Restrictions apply.

If you still think Auto-Tune isn't a cliche as an effect in music production, then, man, are you in luck. Music123 has a $60 rebate for anybody upgrading to Auto-Tune EVO from EFX. That's right, save $60 to either never practice singing again or to make your singer sound like Cher or T-Pain. Free shipping.

Antares Auto-Tune Evo Pitch Correcting Plug-In Software : $319 - $60 Upgrade MIR = $259
Antares Auto-Tune Evo TDM Pitch Correcting Plug-In Software: $519 - $60 Upgrade MIR = $459

And because we care, here's an auto-tune tutorial:

There was a time when half of the music production you hear on the radio wasn't about flash drives filled "beats". It was about applying musicality to some serious technical chops. With lots of people calling themselves producer's because they have MIDI and an AKAI sampler nowadays, it's refreshing to have books like Howard Massey's Behind the Glass Volume II: Top Producers Tell How They Craft the Hits.

I read the first volume of Behind the Glass years ago and it was an eye opening experience that had a more historical outlook on music production. I have yet to receive my copy of this new book, but form the brief Amazon description it seems to focus on current hit makers and unique production elements that they bring to their productions and tips how to achieve them. Book like this can really improve an inspire the creativity of your music production no matter what genre it is. The book is written in full interview form and include:

• T-Bone Burnett (Robert Plant and Alison Krauss)
• Rodney Jerkins (Mary J. Blige)
• Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan)
• Mark Ronson (Amy Winehouse)
• Simon Climie (Eric Clapton)
• Hugh Padgham (Police, Genesis)
• Many more

Like the yesterday's microKORG post, the Zoom H4N Portable Recorder isn't going to drop in price any time soon because it is the latest and greatest from Zoom. So, if you're looking for a good excuse to buy this recorder J&R has the best deal where you can get a $30 Gift Card for your next purchase at J&R.

From Brad Linders blog:

Musician's Friend will give you 20% off selected gear with their Rockin' Rebates promotion when you enter coupon code REB8. It seems to be going for the month of May and click on the tabs to see what they're offering per week.

This is probably the best deal your going to get on the fresh release of the Korg microKORG XL. It's selling for the standard retail prices of $399 (pretty much everywhere) but J&R is throwing in a $40 gift card which you can rationalize as buying the keyboard for $359 even though you probably can't use the gift card against the purchase.

If you're not too snobby about having a tru analog machine (and wouldn't blame you if you were), the microKORG XL is super easy to use and sounds pretty great.

To give you better idea on this great instrument, we have this guy to give you a tour:

Abe's of Maine has a decent deal on the Blue Snowflake USB Microphone for $39.99 + $5.99 shipping which brings the grand total to about $46. The mic is selling every where else starting at about $3-40 more (at least). Easy to use and awesome Blue sound (thing goes down to 35 Hz for those of you who sound like Barry White) for your podcasts, laptop, conferences or anywhere where you need great sound quality for your computer.

Quickie specs:

• Pressure Gradient w/USB Digital Output
• Cardioid Polar Pattern:
  
• 16-bit/44.1kHzword and sample rate
  
• 35Hz -20kHz Frequency Response

Abe's of Maine has the Blue Woodpecker Studio Ribbon Microphone for $799 after the $200 mail in rebate plus Free shipping.

Specs can be found in the Woodpecker's manual or the deal link above.

We did the digging around and you can get the a pair of JBL LSR4328P Bi-Amplified Studio Monitors $1239.97 shipped after the $200 rebate on the pair. There were some other offers that came close to this price, but the razor thin price difference made Sweetwater the winner this time around.

If you're a bit more budget oriented, you can get check out the JBL LSR4326P Pak for $948 after the $150 rebate.

Both deals include a nifty accessory kit that which provides a measurement microphone, a remote control, LSR4300 Control Center software, a USB cable, and batteries. Shipping charges apply.

Ends June 30th, 2009.

Every now and then we like to break up the deal cycle with something we find interesting..."blog mode" if you will.

Rock N' Roll being "cute" from the male perspective usually means a female fronted band with a cute girl in a tight t-shirt and jeans and choppy hair rocking out on her guitar. From the female perspective...um, the Jonas Brothers? The other half of the AGD team (yes, a girl) said the Thom Yorke playing his little drum kit live was pretty "cute" too ...

But why just be cute when you can be flipping ADORABLE playing your very own Hello Kitty Squire or Stratocaster guitars? Both versions wisely come in pink or black. Now you can look positively cheek-pinching cute when you pound a bottle of Jack Daniels and then evacuate your stomach inside the kick drum. Awwwwwwww!

Squier by Fender Hello Kitty Stratocaster Electric Guitar - $199 Shipped!

Buy in Pink
Buy in Black

• Agathis body
  
• Maple neck
• Medium jumbo frets
  
• Die-cast chrome machine heads
  
• Chrome hardware
  
• Fixed bridge
• Single humbucking pickup
  
• Volume control
  
• Custom pickguard with Hello Kitty graphic
  

Squier by Fender Hello Kitty Mini Strat Electric Guitar - $149 Shipped!

Buy in Pink
Buy in Black

• Small-scale 22-3/4" neck
  
• Three single-coil electronic pickups
  
• Master volume and tone controls
  
• Rosewood fretboard
  
• Hard-tail bridge
  
• Custom Hello Kitty graphics

[via Music Gear Guy]

From now till June 30th 2009, if you buy Native Instruments Kore 2 Plug-In Host and Controller, you get NI's Kore Electronic Experience free! Electronic Experience is basically NI's cream of the crop, best of, what-have-you of their biggest selling soft synths that you can plug into your Kore 2 system so you're not sitting there turning dials with stock sounds when you hook the sucker up. $399 w/ Free shipping via zZounds.

Here's some limitations of the deal (sorry):

• KORE 2 must be activated before June 30, 2009.
• Second-hand purchases of KORE 2 are excluded
• Coupons must be redeemed before the end of 2009, can not be redeemed for cash, and are only valid for KORE ELECTRONIC EXPERIENCE Download Version in the NI Online Shop (including six soundpacks)
• Software version of Kore 2 excluded.
  

At Wolfgang's Vault this week, simply enter coupon code MOMMA and get 25% off their stock of retro t-shirts including the famous Led Zeppelin avocado (pictured) that they use for any t-shirt promotion. Other shirts include the other 10 or 15 bands you hear on your local classic rock station: The Who, The Doors, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Frampton and more. Ends May 8th.

OK, even though Cascade is promoting this as a "live/stage" version of the Fathead II, of course you can jam this into your studio. I think "live only" mics would have to be beer and sweat proof with and be able to resist the impact of half full plastic water bottles and electronically self cleaning for the occasional piece of underwear.

But since that technology has been needed since at least the 50's and still hasn't been developed , you'll have to settle for this super-affordable, pimptastic looking ribbon mic. So, uh, what makes it a "live" mic then?


Unlike most ribbon motors designed today with an offset ribbon element the new Cascade FAT HEAD II houses a hand-tuned ribbon element that incorporates the legendary symmetrical ribbon design. This design offers a true figure 8 pattern. The corrugated aluminum membrane itself is positioned in the center from front to back, thus producing a balanced audio input signal to both sides of the ribbon assembly. This design is very useful when executing a mid-side or Blumlein recording set-up and also great for live stage use.

Ah, OK. The normal price for this mic is $225, so your saving $25.

Comes with: Premium suspension shockmount, quality wood box with heavy-duty latch and hinges, upgrade aluminum case, micro-fiber cleaning cloth and pouch.

Quickie specs:

• Type: Ribbon (velocity) Microphone
• Ribbon type & Dimensions: 99% Pure aluminum, 5 micron, 1 3/4" (L) X 3/16" (W)
• Polar pattern: Figure 8 Symmetrical
• Sensitivity: -56 db +/- 2 dB (0 dB=1V/Pa)
• Frequency response: 30 to -18,000 Hz (+/- 3dB)
• Output Impedance: <=200 Ohms
• Recommended load impedance: >1000 Ohms
• Max.SPL (1% THD @1000 Hz): 165 dB
• Connector: 3-Pin male XLR
• Size: Diameter: 3" (O.D. grill), overall length 7 3/4", 1 3/4" (O.D. body)

This is the best price we found on this project studio worthy monitor. The Alesis PROLINEAR 720DSP Powered DSP Monitor normally retails between $199 - $250 everywhere else, so we double and triple checked to make sure this items wasn't b-stock or anything funky. Of course, we have to mention this is for 1 monitor only (you'd be surprised how many people thing it's for a pair).

Quickie Specs:

• 2-way active DSP studio monitors
• Low frequency power: 80 watts RMS, 120 watts peak
• High frequency power: 40 watts RMS typical, 120 watts peak
• Frequency response: 50hz ? 20kHz
• Signal to noise ratio: > 90 dB A-weighted, analog in to analog out
• Digital crossover
• 4-band parametric EQ
• 8 presets and 8 user programs

AMS has about tow pages of deals for their 2 Fer Tuesday promotion today. We found some good deals on On Stage mic stands, IK Media softsyth bundles, Samson microphones, Nady headphones, and more. Get one for you, one for mom. Or get "his" and"her" pairs of everything.

Focal Press, the makers of quick start guides fro things like Pro Tools 8, Logic 8, and Ableton software is offering a a 20% off coupon code on the above software if you enter in dome information about yourself here.

These books are pretty much indispensable as quick reference if you you just like to dive into your new software and really aren't a fan of the Tolstoy-size manuals. What's also great about the Pro Tools books is that they are specifically written for applications like Film and Video and and Music Production.

Realizing that their Bonus Bucks wasn't as cool as gift certificates, Musician's Friend has finally brought back their 20% Gift Certificate discount from the holidays.

This offer is good through May 4th at Midnight! It's as simple as buying a $100 gift certificate for $80 after you apply the coupon code GF20 at check out. Of course it's good for just about any purchase denomination ($200 off a $1000!).

Through the month of May Music123 is offering Native Instruments BATTERY 3 for only $99! This is the full version of this popular sampling software. This price is 50% and is normally reserved for Academic pricing, but somehow audioMIDI pulled off this sweet deal for us unedumacated folks.

Quickie specs:

• 12 GB sample library: over 100 drum kits with over 23,000 individual samples and over 2,600 categorized drum cells covering all musical styles
• 8 step-by-step video tutorials included
• Fully customizable cell matrix of 128 sample cells
• Performance articulations: roll, flam, buzz, right hand, etc.
• Beat synchronization with loop import for Apple Loops™, REX™, Acid Wave™ and Beat Creator™
• Time stretching feature per cell for creative sample manipulation
• Graphical waveform allows samples to be edited on-the-fly
• Sample Purge keeps RAM load to a minimum

Musician's Friend has the Ibanez IJX121 Metal Guitar Jumpstart Package in Camo for only $199 +Free Shipping. This items, and it's other colors normally start at about $269, so you're saving about $70 on a great starter package for yourself or your nephew who you've sneaking Guns N' Roses albums to.

Package comes with the following stuff:

• GRG electric guitar with hardtail bridge
• 15W amplifier
• Headphones
• Electronic tuner
• Gig bag
• Guitar strap
• Picks
• Accessories pouch
• Instructional DVD with Paul Gilbert
• Instruction book
• Chord chart

Since we just posted a deal for Apogee Ensemble, we thought we'd update our research for the Apogee Duet.

Since you can pretty much get the Duet standalone just about anywhere, we decided to see what the most bang for your buck could get you for this great, portable A/D. We found that there are two deals you'd be interested in if you want the Apogee Duet with Apple's Logic Express 8 or Studio 8.



1. If you are looking for a full blown starter system, Guitar Center has an awesome deal on their Apogee Duet Recording Package for $899 + free shipping! This is a biggun'. Here's what you get:

Apogee Duet FireWire Interface
New in Logic Express 8
Audio-Technica AT2041SP Microphone Pack
AT2020 and AT2021 studio condenser microphones
Protective microphone pouches
Pair of Fostex PMO.4 Studio monitors
2 x Musician's Gear MS-220 Tripod mic stands
2 x 20' Musician's Gear Lo-Z Mic cables

2. If you already have a sweet studio set up using your laptops built in microphone and iPod headphones, then you may just need these two deals from Buy Pro Gear which are pretty good once you do the math:

Apogee Duet with Apple Logic Express - $624


Apogee Duet with Apple Logic Studio 8 - $895

Front End Audio has the best price on the Apogee Ensemble. In case you are getting started in the audio realm, Apogee has a long history of high quality - especially for their A/D conversion. In the late 90's and early 2000's those purple Apogee 8 channel A/D converters were to hallmark of a high end studio and still are.

So we dug around a bit and found the Apogee Ensemble for $1795 brand new plus free shipping at Front End Audio. Other reputable sellers have the starting price for about $1949 street.

Rather than post the quickie specs, here's the Ensemble in action:

Music123 is having a special 10% discount on qualifying gear for all of you thinking of taking up an instrument, switching to a new one, or maybe have a relative that you want to pin your vicarious dreams of being a musician because you thought piano lessons were "lame".

All you need to do is enter coupon code LEARN at check out. As always, we took the liberty of listing somethings that caught our eye (prices after the 10% discount):

• Pulse Red Hot Five-Piece Trigger Pack - $36
• Live Wire Solutions HA04 4-Channel Headphone Amplifier - $45
• Nino 3-Row Energy Chime with Beater - $23.50
• BBE 482i Sonic Maximizer B-Stock - $89
• 10" Sound Percussion Tambourine with Calfskin Head - $13.50
• Schoenhut My First Piano - Red - $63

If you like shopping at Musician's Friend plus getting $99 free shipping, bu then feel totally screwed when they tell you that you have to pay shipping on a $500 bass cabinet because it's too heavy, now's your time! For the rest of this week you can get free shipping on all orders - even big ass heavy things. Me personally, I'm fantasizing that they carry sheet rock or ordering the heaviest possible item at $99. Big Gear Ships Free Event

American Musical Supply has the QSC HPR151i Powered PA Subwoofer for $949 after applying the $150 mail in rebate. Strong enough for a man, but she likes it too!

Quickie specs:

• Configuration : 15" powered loudspeaker
• Transducers : 15" cone transducer with 3" voice coil
• Frequency Response (-3 dB) 1 : 51 Hz - 105 Hz
• Frequency Range (-10 dB) 1 : 43 Hz - 145 Hz
• Nominal Coverage, -6 dB : 90° x 40°
• Maximum SPL (1 meter) : 133 dB peak
• Power output : 400W Class H,
• Input impedance : 22k balanced, 11k unbalanced
• Controls : Gain, Front LED On/Off, Power, Circuit breaker, Phase
• Indicators :Power, Signal, Limit
• Cooling : Convection
• Amplifier protection : Thermal and Output Limiting, Output Short Circuit, Overtemperature Muting, Driver DC Protection
• Current consumption at 120 VAC : (1/8 power EIA noise) 2.2A
• Enclosure : Painted Birch plywood
  
• Connectors : Balanced female XLR line level input x 2 (L+R), Balanced male XLR full range line level throughputs x 2 (L+R), Male XLR low-cut line level outputs x 2 (L+R)
• Dimensions : 25" H x 22" W x 20.75" D (635mm x 559mm x 525mm)
• Net weight : 98 lbs. / 44.5 kg
  

Abe's of Maine has the lowest price on the WAVES Masters Native Bundle for only $540 plus free shipping. Most places start selling this for about $20 higher, but hey, $20 is $20. That's an extra bottle of bourbon right there for a long night of sweetening your mixed tracks. The bundle includes:

• Linear Phase Equalizer
  
• Linear Phase Multiband
  
• L2 Ultramaximizer
  

Musician's Friend has put the Fostex David Jones Drum sample drum collection back on sale for $9.99 per set again. Prices and linkage below go to product pages.

FYI, David Jones is a legendary session drummer in Australia and has performed on countless Aussie tracks for Jazz, Pop, Rock, and even Folk (!).

NOTE: this deal usually gets taken away pretty quick in the past, so act quick.


Fostex David Jones Drums VF Series (6-CD set) - $9.99 - GREAT DEAL!

• 6 discs of samples
• 2 discs Pop/Rock; 1 disc Jazz; 1 disc Percussion; 1 disc Latin; 1 disc Alternates takes/tempos
• Stereo formats
• WAV and REX2 formats
• Songs broken into intros, verses, choruses, and endings
• Mac and PC compatible

Fostex David Jones Drums Volume 1 - $9.99

• 2 CD-ROMs full of samples
• 5 drumming styles: Ballad, BusyBoy, Uptempo, PopSound, and StraightAhead
• Tracks in 5 Rock formats ranging from 70-120BPM
• Songs broken into intros, verses, choruses, and endings
• .WAV and .REX2 formats
• Mac and PC compatible

Fostex David Jones Mix It Volume 2 - $9.99

• 2 CD-ROMs full of samples
• 5 drumming styles: ContemPop, Country Rock, Grungie, Rock n' Funky, and Washy
• Tracks in 5 Rock formats ranging from 88-136BPM.
• Songs broken into intros, verses, choruses, and endings
• .WAV and .REX2 formats
• Mac and PC compatible

Fostex David Jones Drums Volume 2 - $9.99

• 2 CD-ROMs full of samples
• Tracks in 5 Rock formats ranging from 88-136BPM
• Songs broken into intros, verses, choruses, and endings
• .WAV and .REX2 formats
• Mac and PC compatible

For you hardcore bargain hunters, you can use coupon code "OutletSale" at Woodwind & Brasswind for an extra 20% off anything in their Outlet Store. This includes new and blemished items. If "blem" or "demo" items makes you nervous, you'll be fine. W&B offers a 45 Day return policy in addition to their 10 day trial policy on all items. The only things you can't return are the following:

• Copy protected material such as sheet music, videos, software, sample libraries
• Recording Media: Cassettes, reels, DAT tapes, Mini-discs, CDR’s
• Drumheads, drum sticks, cleaning and care products, rosin, tubes, strings
• Reeds, harmonicas, pitch pipes, ear plugs and other in ear monitors

We took the liberty of cherry-picking some of the items on our wish list. All prices are blems (you have to be sure to select it on the product page) so you can apply the 20% off:

• Sony PCM-D50 Portable Linear PCM Digital Recorder: $424 - 20% = $340
• Blue Blueberry Cardioid Condenser Microphone: $849.15 - 20% = $680
• Blue Snowball USB Microphone: $85 - 20% = $68
• Yamaha MG166CX-USB 16-Channel USB Mixer: $425 - 20% = $340
• Line 6 POD X3 Guitar Multi Effect Processor: $348 - 20% = $280
• Korg KP3 KAOSS Pad Dynamic Effect/Sampler: $339 - 20% = $271
• Korg MicroKORG Synthesizer / Vocoder: $339 - 20% = $272