Well, it’s that time of the year. Companies start running specials, cutting prices on gear you’ve been looking wistfully at all year; we punters day dream about whatever toys we would really like to receive as gifts. And just because some of us are immune to the, erm, charms of Christmas doesn’t mean we can’t rejoice.

I won’t go into my jah-humbug routine again. Suffice to say, not a huge fan of Christmas, secular or observant. Oh, I do like some of the traditions and trappings, and the lights are awful pretty. But it seems even more garish and unnecessary now that we’re all about two paychecks away from selling pencils out of a cup. And since Grandma isn’t likely to get us NI Komplete or that FNR preamp, let’s look, over the next, oh, week and a half, at some of the smaller gifts you might be able to afford no matter your employment prospects or gift list.

Last year I sort of stumbled into what I called the Digital LoFi Holiday Gift Guide for the Disenfranchised. So why let a good name go to waste.1

I’m gonna start off with a gimme:
Soniccouture’s seasonal offering is particularly excellent, especially if you’re getting in on the ground floor. Buy one get one free. So a couple of top-notch, inspiring musical sample sets for under a hundy. Really, I can’t recommend these sets enough.

Ends the 23rd.

1Before I’m reduced to posting “Top Ten Ways to Market Your Pencils in the New Economy.”