8 Xmas Gift Ideas for Musicians and Producers

Rounik Sethi on Dec 15, 2014 in Review 0 comments

Christmas, or Winter Holidays, are upon us. And it's time to celebrate those close to us. If your nearest or dearest is a musician, producer or DJ then one of these 8 gift ideas will probably appeal.  
Christmas is a time for giving gifts. With that in mind, here's eight gift ideas. Some of these may break the bank, others won't be cause for you to break into a sweat. But all of them will likely be well received by your lucky friend, family member, spouse or band member!

Without further ado, here's our seven recommended gift ideas in no particular order.

1. AskVideo One Year Subscription

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If you want to learn the complete (Komplete) Native Instruments range of hardware and software, become a sound design expert in Ableton Live, master Logic Pro X, get up to date in Cubase, reveal your creativity in Reason, or learn any number of related music production products, skills and techniques from professionals, then AskVideo.com is your one-stop shop. 
Plus, if your giftee is creative in non-musical fields too, they'll love the video editing, image manipulation and coding videos too! A One Year subscription (to watch the entire library online) will show how much you really love them!
Simply create a new account with the recipient's email address, create a password, pay and you're good to go. They'll receive notification after you've signed up for a subscription, so if you prefer to keep it a surprise, write us through the support form and we'll be happy to help you!

Price: Individual HD Course downloads: $19.50 USD, 1 Month Subscription: $25 USD, 12 Month Subscription: $199 USD

2. IK Multimedia iRig Mic HD

The original iRig Mic from IK Multimedia, was one of the first decent microphones available for the iPad and iPhone musician. And we were very curious to find out what was improved in the HD release.

Price: $129.99 / 99.99 Euro

Pros: Solid build. Durable. Comes with USB and Lightning cables. Mic clip. Mic purchase unlocks app features. 

Cons: 30-pin cable option is quite expensive. Probably better for voices than instruments. 

Web: www.ikmultimedia.com

Read our review here

3. Focusrite iTrack Pocket

The trend these days is to photograph ourselves doing, well whatever... Musicians are no exception. Now with an iPhone and an iTrack Pocket you can take excellent video and audio with no fuss.

Price: $99.99 / £79.99

Pros: Super-portable. Great sound quality. Free Impact app is fun and easy to use. Works with other recording apps. Genuinely fills a gap in the market. 

Cons: Slightly expensive for what it is.  

Web: www.focusrite.com

Read our review here

4. Focusrite iTrack Dock

With iPad software becoming more powerful all the time, Focusrite reckons it might have the studio hardware to complete the package'¦ Hollin Jones checks it out.

Price: $199 USD / £169 GBP

Pros: Lightweight and well built. Good selection of I/O. Direct monitoring. Connect and power a MIDI controller. 

Cons: No direct way to connect to your computer via MIDI. Pre-Lightning iPads not supported. 

Web: www.focusrite.com

Read our review here

5. CME Xkey MIDI Controller

It's light, metal, portable with full-sized keys and polyphonic aftertouch. But how does the CME Xkey MIDI controller keyboard really perform in the studio and on the road? Andy Bowen finds out.

Price: $100 USD

Pros: Extreme portability, premium metal build, polyphonic aftertouch, full-sized keys, nice to look at, configuration via iOS, PC and OS X apps, nice price

Cons: Limited pitch and modulation functionality, difficult to master chiclet keys, Micro-USB port is difficult to reach

Read full review here

6. Korg Miku Stomp

Perfect for anime loving guitarists, the new Miku Stomp from Korg delivers some unexpected and cool sounds in a guitar pedal form. You may have to search hard for it in North America, but in Asia and Europe it appears to be more easily available...

Watch Rishabh Rajan's latest extraordinary mashup of Porter Robinson's Worlds using Ableton Push, Ableton Live, and the very cool and bizarre Korg Miku Stomp guitar pedal.

Street Price: £110 GBP / $??? USD

Read More here

7. Native Instruments Komplete 10

If you're feeling very, very generous then Native Instruments Komplete 10 is the ultimate software gift you can give to any musician or producer. Version 10 has has some tasty new additions in the instrument and effect department. Hollin Jones reviews the whole package here.

Price: Komplete 10: £429/$499; Komplete 10 Ultimate: Â£849/$999 (Upgrades and crossgrades available)

Pro: Astonishingly wide selection of instruments and effects. Both collections represent great value as opposed to buying instruments individually. Ultimate collection comes on its own install drive. Regular bundle gives you almost all the core instruments. Could be the only suite you need to make music. 

Con: You will almost certainly need an extra external drive to install the content. No major updates to the core apps themselves.

Web: Komplete 10  /  Komplete 10 Ultimate

Read full review here

8. Arturia BeatStep (with Video Overview)

Are you in the market for a compact MIDI controller with a built-in step sequencer and a few tricks up its sleeve, at a budget price? The Arturia BeatStep may fit the bill. Watch the video demo and you'll just why so many producers are raving about this budget step sequencer MIDI controller.

Price: £89 GBP / $99 USD

Pros: Awesome value for money, innovative sequencer, CV and MIDI connectivity.

Cons: No display'"bar that not much at this price point!

Web: http://www.arturia.com/evolution/en/products/BeatStep/intro.html

Read our full review here

Not found what you're looking for? Check out our reviews section for more ideas here.

Rounik Sethi

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Rounik is the Executive Editor for Ask.Audio & macProVideo. He's built a crack team of professional musicians and writers to create one of the most visited online resources for news, review, tutorials and interviews for modern musician and producer. As an Apple Certified Trainer for Logic Pro Rounik has taught teachers, professional... Read More

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