17.12.2020

Free Lightweight Vst Instruments

I don’t go crate digging for free instruments quite as often as I used to, but I still use them from time to time. Some of these are Kontakt instruments, some are VSTs, and some are soundfonts.

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  • Get Kontakt Player! Seriously! Soundfonts and VSTis are going out of style, so you’ll miss out on many high-quality free instruments without it. Many free Kontakt instruments have a “full version only” disclaimer, but this isn’t exactly true: Kontakt Player will load third-party instruments just fine for 15 minutes, at which point you just have to reload the VST.
  • If you find a free instrument you like, don’t wait to download it. If you eventually find a replacement for that instrument but still like the free version, don’t delete it. F2P instruments have a tendency to disappear overnight, and not even the Wayback Machine can scrounge up a lost 300MB download.
  • Sometimes instruments based on free samples from the internet (such as many bigcat instruments) are licensed under CC BY-SA or something similar. Obviously no one’s going to come after you if you fail to credit the author of the samples in one of your instruments(?), but it’s good to be aware of the license in any case. Of course, if you’re already roaming the wild west of those anonymously sourced internet soundfonts and samples that are only de facto in the public domain, it’s already too late for you anyway.

Instruments

Instruments

Piano

Pianobook library
Launched by Spitfire co-founder Christian Henson, this collaborative project features a variety of free home-sampled pianos as well as their stories.
City Piano
City Piano is a great bread-and-butter piano based on public domain samples.
Pop Piano Free
I own several commercial piano libraries, but still frequently come back to Sonic Cat’s Pop Piano when I need keys for bright, upbeat tunes.
Upright Felt Piano
Everyone needs a felt piano in their life. Email address required.

Vst Instrument Free

Solo Strings

pocketBlakus Cello
After creating pocketBlakus, Blake Robinson eventually collaborated with Embertone on a more robust commercial cello library, the Blakus Cello. However, even for owners of the full version, the original free instrument is well worth downloading for its Swiss army knife spiccato patch.
MiniErHu
The erhu is a lovely instrument. You owe it to yourself to have one, mini or otherwise.

Guitar

Korg Vst Instruments Free Download

Shreddage 3 Stratus FREE
The nice thing about Shreddage 3 over its predecessor is that the guitars come with an effects rack built-in and a lot of presets that make it easy to get up and running with a virtual guitar setup without the need to use your own plugin signal chain. The free version of Shreddage 3 Stratus only includes a few articulations, but is otherwise fully functional.
Spicy Guitar
This is actually a physically modeled guitar synth. It’s lightweight and suitable for understated guitar chords.
Cryptar
Atom Hub’s Cryptar is an awesome eclectic guitar library. Its affected haunting sound is great for ethereal melodies, though maybe not so great for chords and fast strumming.
Valiha
I understand the Valiha is not a guitar in the traditional sense, but I’m white and don’t know any better.
ChineeGuZheng Classic
Okay, admittedly also not a guitar. I just wanted to avoid making a subheading called “ethnic instruments,” yknow?

Woodwinds

Ivory Wind
Unfortunately, recorder and kazoo libraries take themselves more seriously than people of our generation would like, so you’re out of luck if you’re looking for a shittyflute. Still, when used properly, the recorder is not actually a terrible instrument! Download this now, because I’m one of the suckers who paid $10 to subsidize it :T
Peruvian Ocarina
What it says on the tin.
Wooflute
This is a bamboo flute with legato and staccato notes, as well as flutter tongue and accented notes, which you don’t often see in free instruments.

Synth

P8
Along with Synth1, P8 is a popular choice for freeware composers looking for a supersaw sound.
Phutura
Available as a Reaktor ensemble (Phutura 2) or a VST plugin, Phutura is an Alpha Juno emulation with the best free hoover sound on the market.
Rave Generator 2
Rave Generator has all the 90s stabs you didn’t even know you needed.

Drums

Grooove BPB
This feature-limited version of the drum player by brunsandspork is perfect for creating simple drum kits. The BPB edition also comes with five bread and butter kits to start.
Cinematic Synthetic Drums
Impact Soundworks offers this collection of epic electronic drums for free. Checkout required.
Percussion Elements
This limited cinematic drum library taste pack from Splash Sound features various hits on bass drums, “ethnic” drums, and tops from four different mic perspectives. Checkout required.

Vocals

Alter/Ego
Plogue’s answer to Vocaloid has two free banks to download, Marie Ork and Bones.

Just for fun

Orch Hit VSTi Demo Version
There are a lot of good sounds in here, but number 27 will be your staple for adding that extra punch to your tracks.
Super Spook Keys
Add some sci-fi spookiness to your tracks with this virtual theremin.
Stylophone
What, you don’t know what a stylophone is? Neither does spellcheck apparently. It kind of sounds like an Otamatone.
Haunted Music Box
It’s a music box with some reverse patches and other spookery.
Death Piano LE
Same as the above, only it’s a piano.

Orchestra

Free Lightweight Vst Instruments Vst

Versilian Studio Chamber Orchestra Community Edition
VSCO has apparently devoured Sonatina and other alternative libraries to create the ultimate Frankenstein library made purely of public domain orchestral samples.
Versilian Community Sample Library
Available as .sfz or as Kontakt instruments from bigcat, the VCSL aims to expand on the collection of samples and instruments already offered by VSCO CE.

Vst Instruments Free Download Cakewalk

Effects

Reverb

Reverberate LE
If you’re not willing to hemorrhage money, LiquidSonics’ free version of Reverberate should be right up your alley.

Just for fun

CensorCut
Censor your inappropriate rap songs!
Radio FX
Add up to 8 wav files and tune between them using the big knob.

Utilities

Mutant v3 (Windows)
A Japanese freeware utility by Crypton Future Media to organize your sound effects, loops, and samples in a local database. Add folders, then play and tag your files right from the browser. The program shows waveforms and meta fields like key, BPM, filetype, genre, instrument, etc.

Free Lightweight Vst Instruments Download

Resources

Free Vst Instrument Plugins

Bedroom Producers Blog
BPB, and similarly Rekkerd.org, are great resources for staying on top of soundware giveaways, freebies, and sales.
VST 4 FREE
This site is home to the old, the abandoned, and the super obscure among VSTs.
Spitfire LABS
Spitfire releases free experimental instruments every month. Personally, I wasn’t able to get the LABS plugin to work the first time I tried (probably Mixcraft’s fault ahem), but I own a lot of the donationware LABS Kontakt instruments before they made the switch to the new format, and they’re totally awesome.
Noiiz Instruments
Samplephonics has expanded their offering of virtual instruments since launching their new subscription-based platform, Noiiz. With a free account, you can download one (1) of their instruments listed here. Note: Do not waste your download on the Leeds Town Hall Organ. You can still get it as a Kontakt instrument on their old site. Your other option of course is to make 40 dummy accounts and download one instrument on each, but don’t tell them I told you to do that. 🔫👀
bigcat instruments
A treasure trove of Kontakt intruments, soundfonts, and VSTs made from public domain or Creative Commons-licensed samples.
VI-CONTROL’s free instrument thread
Subforums like this one and the sample library threads on Scoring Central sometimes have homemade instruments or samples by music hobbyists.
Newgrounds(!)
Newgrounds’ audio forum is home to many young composers who enjoy throwing collections of orchestral soundfonts at each other.
Sampleswap
Though the site makes no guarantee as to their license, you can find some really interesting samples and loops here. I found a trumpet riff I recognized from some Neopets flash game music once, and yknow that was just a magical moment.
Looperman
This is a great resource for well-made music loops and acapellas, perfect if you need some inspiration or are missing a certain kind of instrument or style from your tracks.