Common Questions About VST Instruments
What is the best synth VST?
From our list the one that I enjoy the most is the breadth and creativity of the LABS from Spitfire Audio. You have some great instruments, weird textures, fun sounds that are all very usable in a mix. From a synthesizer perspective Vital is a brilliant synth, animated and lush and everyone should have it.
Where can I get free VSTs?
Start right here. We have the best list of the greatest VST instruments and software synthesizers to fill your computer with sound. Whether you need synths, noises, pianos or orchestral sounds you’ll find something here that’ll do the job and it won’t cost you a cent.
What does VST stand for?
It stands for Virtual Studio Technology and was invented by Steinberg, the people behind the Cubase DAW, in 1996. It allowed for firstly effects and then software instruments to run as plugins within Cubase and then other DAWs that supported the protocol. It’s the technology that turned computers into fully working studios.
Best Free VST Instruments (2024)
Spitfire Audio – Labs
Although the Labs series has been available for a while now, new library keeps turning up and continues to bring us a host of new, creative, and esoteric sounds.
Currently in the collection, we have instruments like the Chinese Moon Guitar, Hand Bells, and a Music Box. There are atmospheric sounds in the London Atmos and creative collaborations in the Opia instrument of unconventional sounds. There are dulcimers, strings, pianos, choirs, and all sorts of experimental and yet completely useable possibilities like atmospheres from the Tundra and Granulated Whalesong.
Everyone should have this range of instruments in their plug-in folders. There are no excuses — even the GUI only has 3 controls so you can’t possibly get lost or bewildered.
New Fangled Audio Pendulate
An interesting take on West Coast-style synthesis comes to us via Pendulate from Newfangled Audio and Eventide. It revels in chaos and plays with you as much as you play with it.
Pendulate uses a double pendulum oscillator to spew anarchy into a wavefolder which mixes and drives tones through a low pass gate while being modulated and messed about with. It initially feels a bit random but you’ll soon have it pulsing on the edge of chaos or maybe just a little bit too far the wrong way. But you can pull out sweetness as well if you like.
It changes, moves, and excites, evolving from pandemonium to order, feedback to fractals, self-oscillation, and self-abuse. It is far too much fun and explodes in a very unexpected interface that really grows on you once you’ve got over being startled.
Pendulate would be great as a premium instrument but it’s awesome for free. And if you really like it then you can upgrade to Generate which unleashes 5 times the madness.
Native Instruments Komplete Start
The Komplete bundle from Native Instruments contains an extraordinary amount of sounds and sonic possibilities. It comes in a number of versions for real money but Komplete Start is completely free and has over 2,000 studio-quality sounds.
Komplete Start comes with 16 pro-grade synths and sampled instruments plus effects, loops, and samples and it’s all the same stuff that comes in the premium versions. For synths, you get the TRK 01 bassline, Reaktor Blocks modular, Mikro Prism, Carbon, weird generative Newscool, and the deep Space Drone. For sampled instruments, you’re looking at a small band and orchestra, playful noises, electric pianos, and thousands of loops and beats.
For effects, you get to play with the all-new Guitar Rig 6 Player and the massive Supercharger high-octane tube compressor.
That’s plenty to get you started and you can buy more and expand your possibilities if you wish.
Don’t forget to check out the Best Guitar VSTs to use these simulations on records!
IK Multimedia SampleTank 4 Custom Shop
SampleTank is a vast workhorse synthesizer that can tap into every genre and style of music with an enormous level of motion and excitement. The Custom Shop version kicks off your journey with 50 sampled instruments and 200 MIDI loops for grooves and beat-making.
The 50 instruments draw from over 4GB of sound content, making them high-quality, professionally sampled and nuanced instruments to play. The interface lets you tweak the sounds and there are 4 groove engines that you can apply to break your sounds down into rhythmic adventures.
SampleTank 4 features an all-new mixer with 70 effects for processing your sounds and grooves. As with some of the other instruments here, you can use the Custom Shop function to add more sounds, more library, and build your perfect selection of sounds.
U-He TyrellN6
It’s the little sports car of synth-based hardware synthesizers and ready to give you a virtual analog experience that’s all about the power of the sound.
Built like a trusty analog subtractive synth, you get 2 oscillators, noise, and a ring modulator with 2 LFOs with multiple waveforms and a screamingly good dual filter. Separate envelopes for the amp and filter give a load of dynamic control and a nice vintage Chorus at the end of the chain keeps things fat.
TyrellN6 comes with over 580 presets which takes all the guesswork out of it while the very cool GUI gives you all the control you could ever need. This is a seriously awesome synth.
Vital Audio Vital
Vital is an alarmingly good spectral warping wavetable synth. It can warp waveforms in all sorts of ways and gives new life to wavetables. There’s nothing about this synth that looks or feels “free” Vital is a premium product that they’re just giving away.
Ok, they’re not giving everything away. The free version comes with 75 presets and 25 wavetables with no ability to add new ones or edit the ones inside. But as a wavetable synthesizer with filters, waveforms, modulations and effects you get the whole deal.
The spectral warping means that you can reshape waveforms generating harmonics and different sounds through simple modulations. And all the modulations are visualized brilliantly in the interface. Everything moves all over the place in response to your sound design and the decisions you make.
Vital looks and sounds amazing, it’s intuitive and fun to use and you’ll never feel like it’s a cut down or limited version.
ToneZ
ToneZ is a polyphonic synthesizer designed for EDM. It has a modern interface and is ready to go with supersaws, leads, basses, plucks and much more.
It has 4 oscillators with 12 morphing waveforms and up to 8 voices. You have control over detuning and stereo width for some really pumping sounds. There are 4 envelopes and 2 LFOs with a complete modulation matrix. There are two filters to carve your tones.
There are loads of effects: Distortion, EQ, Chorus, Delay, Reverb, and Compressor. And it all sounds completely awesome. The layout is professional and inviting and the Expert Detuning section is particularly good at bringing up the power of this synth.
Roland Zenology Lite
Legendary synthesizer makers Roland have a new synthesis technology called ZEN-Core that can be found in both their hardware synthesizers like the JUPITER-X and a new software VST instrument called Zenology.
Zenology Lite is a fully working version of Zenology that comes with 176 tones and 6 drum kits covering a range of synthesizer and instrument sounds. The sound quality is excellent and you get performance control over the filters and effects. It also gives you an idea of what’s possible with this futuristic-looking synthesizer.
It comes as part of a free Roland Cloud account which also includes a free version of Roland’s Zenbeats music creation software. For a few dollars a month, you could upgrade to the full version of Zenology and enjoy a huge wealth of classic and futuristic sounds.
Make sure to check out our lists of the best drum VST plug-ins and free drum VSTs to get that perfect rhythm track!
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