Bundles with hardware: Increasingly, we’re seeing great bundle deals that include both software and hardware components, particularly audio interfaces and keyboard controllers, for example Native Instruments Maschine Mk3 that comes with the 25 GB Komplete 11 Select bundle, and Focusrite bundling Waves Musicians 2 and the iZotope Mobius Filter with their excellent Scarlett 2i2 audio interface offering the Time & Tone Bundle.

Soundtoys 5 Effect Rack is one good example with Arturia’s V Collection, rather than auditioning several separate instruments searching for a particular sound, you can simply load up the included Analog Lab plugin and immediately search the entire library of 6,000+ presets from all of the V Collections many synths and keyboards, all within a single interface.

Several of the bundles in our list come with with an additional “master rack” utility plugin, for speed and flexibility:This is not an instrument or effect itself but which allows you to load, search and access presets or chain the other plugins, all within a single FX slot in your DAW.

Less context switching between different workflows can mean more time and ease spent in a creative state.

Stay more easily in a productive flow state, minimising the creative friction caused by switching between different plugin designs: Every time you switch between plugins with different GUI styles and ethos, there’s mental friction while you recalibrate.Spend less time learning different GUIs, workflows and approaches to preset management, and more time creating: If you know you like the ethos, workflow and the results you get with the plugins from a particular developer, you’ll usually find that mastering one of their products will make getting up to speed with the others in their range a lot faster and easier – for example, most of the FabFilter plugins have a similar approach to features and layout, and once you get used to the nodes and rotary dials, you’ll be using all of their plugins like a pro in no time. Plus, if you do already own one or two plugins from a particular company, you may get special upgrade pricing for a bundle e.g.

Many of the FabFilter plugins share features and key ways of working, including Pro-Q 3

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