Slate Digital Black Friday 2026: FG-X 2, Tape Machines, SSD 5 and TRIGGER 2
Black Friday 2026 · Slate Digital
Two sales with Steven Slate's name on them are running at Plugin Boutique, and they end weeks apart. Slate Digital's mixing plugins are 50% off until November 15, well before Black Friday. Steven Slate Drums 5, TRIGGER 2 and the drum expansions are $49 each until December 31. Here's what to grab first, what's already back at full price, and what's worth waiting for.
Slate Digital + Steven Slate Drums
UP TO 67% OFF
Slate Digital 50% off until Nov 15 · SSD and TRIGGER $49 until Dec 31
Black Friday 2026 is Friday, November 27, and Cyber Monday is November 30. On November 9, 2026, eight Slate Digital plugins were 50% off at Plugin Boutique, until November 15, twelve days before Black Friday. Every Steven Slate Drums product in this guide was $49 until December 31.
Both brands carry Steven Slate's name, but Plugin Boutique lists Slate Digital and Steven Slate Drums as separate brands, each with its own sale and its own end date. I've split this guide the same way.
Related: Plugin Boutique Black Friday 2026 guide, Black Friday vocal plugin deals, Melodyne Black Friday 2026.
What Slate did last Black Friday
Plugin Boutique's 2025 Black Friday guide lists two Slate Digital deals. An early-access price put the VMR 3.0 Essentials bundle, a Plugin Boutique exclusive, at $49 until November 25. Then a Black Friday sale cut the new Infinity Horizon by 33% and selected plugins by 50% until December 1, including VerbSuite Classics, Storch Filter, the MO-TT compressor, Mix Bundle One and Infinity Bass. The guide doesn't mention Steven Slate Drums.
Slate Digital: what's on sale
On November 9, 2026, eight Slate Digital plugins were 50% off at Plugin Boutique, until November 15, twelve days before Black Friday. That's the whole window: if one of these is on your list, it's a now-or-later decision, not a Black Friday one.
1. Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors — three mix-bus compressors
Three analog-modeled compressors based on classic mix-bus designs, with the transformers, tubes and VCAs of each circuit modeled for its own tone. Built for the final touch on a mix bus.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $74.50 $149 · sale ends Nov 15 · See today's price →
2. Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines — two tape machines
A 16-track 2-inch machine and a 1/2-inch stereo mastering deck, with bias, tape speed and two tape formulations to choose from. Put the 16-track on individual tracks and the 1/2-inch on the mix bus.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $74.50 $149 · sale ends Nov 15 · See today's price →
3. Slate Digital FG-X 2 — the mastering processor
Two modules: FG-Comp, which keeps the punch and transients of your mix, and FG-Level, which decides between saturation and limiting based on the frequency content of the track. Four limiter modes, from very transparent to colored.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $74.50 $149 · sale ends Nov 15 · See today's price →
4. Slate Digital Infinity Horizon — harshness control
Finds harsh frequency build-ups and smooths them in real time, across four bands with their own thresholds. It can follow the source as it changes or lock onto a learned fingerprint. Useful on bright vocals and cymbals.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $74.50 $149 · sale ends Nov 15 · See today's price →
5. Slate Digital Infinity EQ 2 — the parametric EQ, now dynamic
Version 2 adds dynamic filters, Notch, Tilt and Bandpass shapes, and Tight and Smooth timing modes to Slate's parametric EQ.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $74.50 $149 · sale ends Nov 15 · See today's price →
6. Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection — six consoles in your DAW
Two plugins, Virtual Channel on each track and Virtual Mixbuss on the master, with a choice of six analog console emulations. The idea is the console's sound across the whole mix, not one channel strip.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $49.50 $99 · sale ends Nov 15 · See today's price →
Also in the sale: Virtual Tube Collection ($49.50 until November 15) and Bus Clipper ($49.50 until November 15). Virtual Tube Collection is three tube-circuit modules that work as preamp, saturator or tube summing; Bus Clipper is a clipper plus a booster stage that raises perceived loudness without raising peaks.
Already over: Mix Bundle One (now $99, sale price was $49.50), VMR Essentials (now $49, sale price was $24.50) and MetaTune (now $149, sale price was $74.50). Their sale ended November 8, the day before I checked. Last year VMR Essentials was a $49 Plugin Boutique exclusive in early access and Mix Bundle One was part of the 50% Black Friday sale, so both may come back.
On MetaTune: pitch correction is in 42 of the 88 hit-record vocal chains in my Vocal Chain eBible, and Autotune is the tuner in every one of them. MetaTune is Slate's automatic tuner, with negative speeds for a hard effect, a note stabilizer, grouped instances and a built-in doubler. It was $149 when I checked, so I'd wait for a sale before buying it.
Not discounted when I checked: VerbSuite Classics ($149), Infinity Bass ($99), FG-36A ($49), Eiosis AirEQ ($149), Chorus D Bundle ($99), Custom Opto ($99), Custom Series Bundle ($99) and Eiosis e2deesser ($99). Of those, VerbSuite Classics (eight classic digital reverbs, made with LiquidSonics) and Infinity Bass were 50% off last Black Friday.
Steven Slate Drums: $49 for everything until December 31
7. Steven Slate Drums 5 — the drum instrument
A virtual drum instrument with 148 artist and modeled kit presets, over 2,400 MIDI grooves and over 400 instruments (the product page describes version 5.5). It includes Steven's previously unreleased OG one-shot snare samples and faster MIDI mapping for e-drums.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $49 $119 · sale ends Dec 31 · See today's price →
8. Steven Slate Drums TRIGGER 2 Platinum — drum replacement
TRIGGER replaces or reinforces the kicks, snares and toms in a recorded drum track with Slate's samples, layering up to eight stereo samples per hit (close, overhead and room, for example). The samples were recorded to 2-inch tape. Plugin Boutique's page names Chris Lord-Alge, Dave Way and Ben Grosse among the mixers who have used Slate's samples.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $49 $119 · sale ends Dec 31 · See today's price →
9. Steven Slate Drums SSD CLA Expansion — Chris Lord-Alge's drums
Kits Chris Lord-Alge recorded at OCEAN studios in Burbank in 2012 and mixed with his own processing chains, with a sample layer of his SONY reverb printed on the kicks and snares. There's a separate TRIGGER 2 version.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $49 $99 · sale ends Dec 31 · See today's price →
10. Steven Slate Drums Patrick Carney SSD & Trigger 2 Expansion — vintage drums, one pack for both
Recorded by The Black Keys' drummer Patrick Carney with rare vintage drums, mics and plates, in processed and raw versions. It's a single pack that works in both SSD and TRIGGER.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $49 $79 · sale ends Dec 31 · See today's price →
11. Steven Slate Drums SSD Terry Date Expansion — rock drums from the source
Ten kits from Terry Date, the producer and mixer behind records by Deftones, Pantera and Soundgarden, recorded in Hensen Studio B. Also sold as a TRIGGER 2 version.
Plugin Boutique, Nov 9: $49 $99 · sale ends Dec 31 · See today's price →
The rest are $49 too: the Blackbird kits recorded by John McBride at Blackbird Studio, Frank Zummo's hybrid acoustic-electronic kits, David Bendeth's rock drums and the TRIGGER-only Steven Slate Deluxe pack. Most expansions come in two versions, one for SSD and one for TRIGGER 2, sold separately, so buy the one that matches the plugin you own.
All prices at a glance
Slate Digital at Plugin Boutique, November 9, 2026
| Product | Now | List | Deal ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors | $74.50 | $149 | Nov 15 |
| Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines | $74.50 | $149 | Nov 15 |
| Slate Digital FG-X 2 | $74.50 | $149 | Nov 15 |
| Slate Digital Infinity EQ 2 | $74.50 | $149 | Nov 15 |
| Slate Digital Infinity Horizon | $74.50 | $149 | Nov 15 |
| Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection | $49.50 | $99 | Nov 15 |
| Slate Digital Virtual Tube Collection | $49.50 | $99 | Nov 15 |
| Slate Digital Bus Clipper | $49.50 | $99 | Nov 15 |
| Slate Digital Mix Bundle One | $99 | $99 | — |
| Slate Digital VMR Essentials | $49 | $49 | — |
| Slate Digital MetaTune | $149 | $149 | — |
| Slate Digital VerbSuite Classics | $149 | $149 | — |
| Slate Digital Infinity Bass | $99 | $99 | — |
| Slate Digital FG-36A | $49 | $49 | — |
| Slate Digital Eiosis AirEQ | $149 | $149 | — |
| Slate Digital Chorus D Bundle | $99 | $99 | — |
| Slate Digital Custom Opto | $99 | $99 | — |
| Slate Digital Custom Series Bundle | $99 | $99 | — |
| Slate Digital Eiosis e2deesser | $99 | $99 | — |
Steven Slate Drums at Plugin Boutique, November 9, 2026
| Product | Now | List | Deal ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steven Slate Drums 5 | $49 | $119 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums TRIGGER 2 Platinum | $49 | $119 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums TRIGGER 2 CLA Expansion | $49 | $99 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums TRIGGER 2 Blackbird Expansion | $49 | $149 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums SSD Terry Date Expansion | $49 | $99 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums SSD Frank Zummo Expansion | $49 | $99 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums Patrick Carney SSD & Trigger 2 Expansion | $49 | $79 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums TRIGGER 2 Terry Date Expansion | $49 | $99 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums TRIGGER 2 Frank Zummo expansion | $49 | $99 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums TRIGGER 2 Deluxe Expansion | $49 | $99 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums TRIGGER 2 David Bendeth Expansion | $49 | $99 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums SSD David Bendeth Expansion | $49 | $99 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums SSD CLA Expansion | $49 | $99 | Dec 31 |
| Steven Slate Drums SSD Blackbird Expansion | $49 | $149 | Dec 31 |
SSD or TRIGGER?
They solve different problems. SSD 5 is an instrument: you program or play drums with MIDI, so it's for beats, demos and songs with no live drummer. TRIGGER 2 works on drums you've already recorded, replacing or layering samples on each hit. If you only produce in the box, get SSD. If you mix bands, get TRIGGER. At $49 each, plenty of people will want both.
Buy now or wait?
Don't wait for Black Friday on the Slate Digital side. The 50% off prices end on November 15, twelve days before November 27, and I can't promise they come back. Last year Slate's Black Friday sale did cut VerbSuite Classics and Infinity Bass by 50%, so those two (full price now) are the ones to watch. The drums can wait if you like: the $49 Steven Slate Drums prices run until December 31, well past Cyber Monday. Every paid order also comes with a free gift: on November 9 any paid order could pick UVI's Tape Suite (four tape-effect plugins, $99) or Excite Audio's Evolve Elastic Lite, and orders from $49 could take IK Multimedia's ReSing SE ($39.99) instead.
Mixed the drums? Here's how the pros chain the vocal.
The Vocal Chain eBible collects 88 vocal chains from hit records, as the engineers described them to me: every plugin, its settings and the order it sits in. Each chain comes in two versions, one with paid plugins and one with free ones, so you know exactly what is worth buying this week.
Get the Vocal Chain eBible — $48 →FAQ
Does Slate Digital have a Black Friday sale?
Yes. On November 9, 2026 Plugin Boutique had eight Slate Digital plugins at 50% off until November 15, 2026. Last year Slate cut selected plugins by 50% from Black Friday until December 1, 2025.
Is Steven Slate Drums the same company as Slate Digital?
Both carry Steven Slate's name, but Plugin Boutique lists them as two separate brands with separate sales. Slate Digital makes mixing and mastering plugins like FG-X 2 and Virtual Tape Machines; Steven Slate Drums makes SSD 5, TRIGGER 2 and the drum expansions.
Is MetaTune on sale?
Not when I checked on November 9, 2026: it was $149. Its last sale price, $74.50, ended on November 8.
Do Slate Digital plugins need an iLok?
Plugin Boutique's product pages say a free iLok license manager account is required to run Slate Digital software. Steven Slate Drums 5 lists a Machine ID or an iLok dongle.
Sources & method
Plugin Boutique: Slate Digital · Plugin Boutique: Steven Slate Drums · Plugin Boutique: 2025's Black Friday guide
Prices and sale end dates were read from Plugin Boutique product pages on November 9, 2026 (US store, USD). Last year's Slate deals come from Plugin Boutique's 2025 Black Friday guide. The pitch-correction count comes from the 88 original chains in my Vocal Chain eBible. I will update this page during Black Friday week.
Keep going
— IvanFromRnD
Prices were checked on November 9, 2026 and change often; every link opens the live product page. Affiliate disclosure: Meshplugins.com participates in the Plugin Boutique affiliate program. If you buy through a link on this page, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Meshplugins.com is an independent educational resource and is not affiliated with the brands mentioned. Commissions never decide what makes the list.
Who's behind this
Ivan Meshcheriakov · IvanFromRnD
5+ years ago I moved to LA with zero connections and started building from nothing — 14-hour days, meeting people and interning at studios. It took me 5+ years to meet and interview 100+ Grammy-winning engineers — then I turned it all into the Vocal Chain Bible.
Read my full story →