A Scoring Notes Prime Day primer [updated]

Prime Day — or Prime Big Deal Days, Amazon’s retail-palooza, isn’t just one day — it seems to occur with greater frequency. The current iteration is October 7 & 8, 2025. And while it’s an entirely made-up event so that the shopping giant can sell you even more stuff, there are some deals to be had. It can actually be a good time to purchase items that will update and upgrade your setup, especially if you have some downtime to get familiar with your new shiny things and integrate them well into your workflow for when the busy season hits.

With that in mind, I figured, why not get into the fray with a Scoring Notes article featuring some products. You can’t open your browser without finding Prime Day recommendations from all corners of the internet, so in this post I’ve limited the recommendations to items that are currently on (or nearby) the desk that you see in the photo below, featuring a mix of newcomers and old(er) standbys. For that reason, it will be a somewhat eclectic mix, but hey, that’s no different from the usual Scoring Notes beat!

Notes: Prices are updated for October 7 & 8, 2025, but are always subject to change.

Also, if you do some Prime Day shopping on Amazon, here’s an easy way to support Scoring Notes without it costing you anything extra. Simply start your shopping by clicking this special link for Amazon’s Prime Day deals, or click the image below. Then, add your items to your Amazon cart and make your purchase. For any purchase you make after clicking the link or image (even if it’s not a Prime Day special), Scoring Notes will receive a commission fee, at no cost to you. It’s as easy as that!

Time to go shopping

What’s in the photo pictured above?

Mac mini

In my New York studio where I print and ship a lot of music for NYC Music Services, I had been rocking a 2019 iMac until a couple of months ago, and it was getting long in the tooth. With macOS 26 Tahoe being the last version of macOS to support Macs with Intel processors, it was time to get ahead of the curve.

If you’ve imbibed the Apple juice but haven’t upgraded your computer to an Apple silicon Mac (one with the “M” series of chips), you’ll be in for a real treat, and possibly delighted at the relatively low cost. Even the most basic Macs today can outgun the older, more “powerful” Macs of just a few years ago.

I picked up this 2024 Mac mini with an M4 chip, 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, 24 GB RAM, and a 512 GB SSD for $942. And if you don’t think you’ll need quite as much RAM or storage, you can dial down the specs to this 2024 Mac mini 16 GB RAM and a 256 GB SSD for $499.

It’s got plenty of connectivity: Ethernet, HDMI, and three Thunderbolt 4 ports on the back, and two USB-C ports plus a mini headphone jack on the front.

Whether you’re looking to upgrade your existing computer, or get a second one, the Mac mini is a great choice.

Satechi Mac mini M4 Hub

You may find the Mac mini specs perfectly adequate, but if you want to squeeze a little more out of it, I’d happily recommend the Satechi Mac mini M4 Hub & Stand. It has a NVMe SSD Enclosure (storage chip sold separately), a dock with 2 USB-A 10 Gbps slots, a USB-A data port, and an SD card reader. It’s available now for $80.

You can see it in action on my desktop with some items plugged into it. It does take up one of those three Thunderbolt ports on the back of your Mac, but in return you can upgrade your ports, not to mention your storage at a fraction of the price Apple would charge you to add storage to your Mac.

Samsung internal and external storage

I got the Samsung 990 Pro 2 TB SSD, which easily drops into the Satechi. The version with the heatsink is actually on sale right now and is cheaper than the normal version: $140 for a 2 GB chip. Then, you can configure your Mac to use it as additional storage, or as a backup drive. Remember when storage mean big, bulky, whirring drives? If you still think that’s the case, you’ll be very pleased with this upgrade.

And if you want the best of both worlds — an external drive that’s more portable — both David MacDonald (my Scoring Notes podcast co-host) and I endorse the Samsung SSD T7 Portable External SSD. It’s barely the length and width of a credit card and the thickness of perhaps two or three. It’s a great option to store more of your tasks, action items, notes, and thoughts, and the price is among the lowest I’ve seen; $90 for the 1 TB capacity; $130 for the 2 GB; and just $219 for the whopping 4 GB version. It comes with both USB-C and USB-A cables (the drive itself is USB-C).

There is also the Samsung T9, which is newer and offers faster read and write speeds, but at this time it’s $50 more expensive than the T7. I’d say for most people the T7 is more than adequate.

Xkey MIDI controller

The Xkey 25 offers a slim profile and a discounted price of $111, which is 20% off the usual $139, and has long been a favorite around here.

The Xkey Air is wireless, and, at $203, a pricier option, but offers more portability as you go cable-free.

If you’re looking for a more budget-friendly 2-octave alternative to your desktop for fast note entry into your favorite music notation software, The Nektar SE25 is $40.

Logitech MX Keys keyboard

To complement your MIDI controller, you need a good alphanumeric keyboard.

I’m cheating slightly here: although the photo in my studio shows Apple’s Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad — which I had pressed into service upon initially setting up my Mac — I quickly replaced it with what I consider to be a much better option.

Logitech MX Keys S – Windows and MX Keys Mini – Windows, and the Logitech MX Keys S – Mac and Logitech MX Keys Mini – Mac are excellent choices. I personally use the Logitech MX Keys S – Mac keyboard every day.

The MX Keys S full size keyboard is currently $130 and the MX Keys Mini is $80, but Amazon’s prices tend to fluctuate, so keep an eye on it. These keyboards have a sturdy feel, a satisfying typing experience, and are backlit for extra visibility during those late night music preparation marathons — they automatically illuminate when you’re typing and power off when you’re not.

Logitech MX Ergo trackball

Next to the MX Keys is what has been my favorite pointing device for many years: the Logitech MX Ergo trackball.

I’ve been using trackballs for more than a decade and I would not want to go back to a mouse. Like so many of us, I had started to develop hand and wrist pain from heavy use. It’s just not natural to move your hand side to side and up and down all day. If you think about all the reaching you do with your arm to re-position a mouse, it adds up to a lot of repetitive stress.

Yet the early trackballs like the earlier Kensington models seemed big and bulky. When I found the Logitech M570 in 2014 in a form factor more like a traditional mouse, I was immediately hooked. This budget-friendly option lives on as the Logitech M575S, and at $40 it’s still a solid choice. But when the MX Ergo came out, I switched to it in 2018. The scroll wheel is substantial and supports side-scrolling (tilt) — key to navigating around large music scores or a DAW project without relying on the use of the keyboard.

Most appealing is the 20 degree tilt, which, while optional (you can lay it flat), is a game-changer. It’s a natural position when resting your hands, and I barely think about it.

At around $90 I highly recommend it — you’ll need a few days of learning curve coming from a mouse, but it’s worth it. The Ergo is wireless, connecting either through a USB dongle or directly through Bluetooth, and recharges using a micro-USB cable. I thought I’d lose it, but I’ve managed to hang on to it since 2018, and that device is still going strong.

There is a newer version, the Logitech MX Ergo S trackball, which uses a USB-C charging cable instead of micro-USB. It costs $120 and also claims 80% quieter clicking noise than its predecessor. I’ve never been bothered by the click noise of the original Ergo, but if silence is golden for you, and you like the universality of USB-C, the extra cost may be worth it.

Dell UltraSharp 32 4K U3225QE Thunderbolt Hub Monitor

Gracing my desk are two new Dell UltraSharp 32 4K U3225QE Thunderbolt hub monitors. I don’t have any other Dell products, but I’ve been a big fan of their displays for a long time. These displays cost $789 each, which is an amazing deal — in July the price was $1,000. I really feel that, on a bang-for-your-buck basis, increasing your screen real estate is the best thing you can do to enhance your productivity. Who wants to spend time scrolling and switching between windows all day long?

It’s not just the display that’s worth it, though. These hubs provide connectivity out the wazoo. I’ve connected one display to my Mac Mini via Thunderbolt — and then I’ve connected the second monitor to the first monitor via Thunderbolt, meaning that only one Thunderbolt 4 port on my Mac is driving both displays.

Not only that, but this gives me access to all of these ports, x2, because I have two displays:

If that weren’t enough, you have front access to another USB-A and two more USB-C ports via this cute little pop-out:

If you use a laptop because you’re on the move a lot, but need a display and hub for those times you’re more stationary, the Dell UltraSharp 32 4K U3225QE may well be all you need.

I’ve connected both of my Stream Decks to it. Speaking of which…

Stream Deck MK.2 and XL

You didn’t think I’d forget about the Stream Decks, did you?

The Stream Deck Stream Deck MK.2 and Stream Deck XL are on sale for Prime Day right now for 20% and 15% off respectively; that’s $120 for the MK.2 (15-key version) and $212 for the 32-key XL version.

What do you do with a Stream Deck (or two or three)? Why, use Notation Express and Notation Express XL for Sibelius and Notation Express and Notation Express XL for Dorico, of course!

And, if you have multiple Stream Decks, well, more power to you:

Thankfully, we’ve got a summer sale on Notation Express going on throughout the duration of Prime Day — in fact, it runs through July 15. (There’s lots more at the Notation Central summer sale, with the code SUMMER at checkout to see the 20% discounts applied there.)

Off-camera

My most valuable possession, though, isn’t any one of the pieces of high technology pictured above. It’s Elaine Gould’s book Behind Bars, and the newer Behind Bars: General Conventions. Available from Amazon for $100 and $35, respectively, if you’re in this business, make note of these essential pickups.