The Elite Free VST Plugin Catalogue: Top Picks and Downloading Platforms

10 Best Free VST Plugins 2024 (Free Download)

Benjamin Arango

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

With the release of different VST plugins, it has become more convenient and inexpensive for a music producer to mix a track. Instead of buying expensive music instruments, they can install dedicated plugins and get the same results without any hassle.

Of course, with so many available options, it can get a bit hectic to evaluate which VST plugins are worth installing. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 10 best free VST plugins so that you can pick the best ones to fulfill your requirements.

So, without any further ado, let’s start the list.

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Best Free VST Plugins

1. Native Instruments

Native Instruments has done a remarkable job by releasing KOMPLETE START. It’s a complete audio-mixing bundle that contains a variety of VST plugins, virtual instruments, thousands of audio effects, and several other free resources for music production.

Earlier all these elements were available individually. However, music producers can now access all these elements with a single product bundle, making the entire audio-mixing process more convenient and quick.

You can use the KOMPLETE START audio bundle with any VST, AU, and AAX plugin compatible DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).

Features

• Get Access to 2,000 sounds and more than 6 GB of content
• Perfect for Beginners as KOMPLETE START has everything to step-up your music production game.
• Compatible With Windows as well as Mac OS.

2. Spitfire LABS

Spitfire Labs is yet another complete package if you’re looking for different types of sounds. It would have been an injustice to exclude Spitfire Labs’ audio project from the list of best free VST plugins as it contains some of the unique audio effects one can integrate into their audio track.

What separates Spitfire Labs from other VST plugins is that every sound is composed of musicians and sampling experts in London, which means there’s no compromise on the quality whatsoever. And, since it features a wide variety of sounds, ranging from drums to actual natural sounds from the Northern Hemisphere, you’ll have no limitations on expressing your creativity.

Features

• Get a Variety of instrumental and natural sounds in one package.
• Experts compose each audio effect/sound.

3. Sonatina Orchestra

Sonatina Orchestra is a suitable free VST plugin for people who have just started their career as a music composer and are looking for pretty necessary investment. It’s an orchestral sample library that contains pretty much all the elements you’ll need to create an orchestration virtually.

The library contains an array of audio samples, which have different amounts of stage ambiance, based on the placement of an instrument on the stage. It means you give your audio track a real orchestral vibe using different audio samples.

Features:

• Different Types of audio samples including strings, brass, keys & choir, etc.
• Perfect for Beginners as well as slightly experienced music composers

4. Keyzone Classic

Keyzone Classic is a piano-based plugin that provides acoustic samples from different pianos. The plugin can be installed on any operating system, be it Mac or Windows, and works with the majority of DAWs.

If you want to add a piece of soft piano music in the background of your audio track, Keyzone Classic is the perfect option. Unlike the previous best free VST plugins in our list, Keyzone Classic isn’t a complete bundle, which makes it lightweight and easy-to-use.

Features:

• Get a variety of presets including Yamaha Grand Piano, Steinway Grand Piano, Basic Electric Piano
• Lightweight and easy-to-install.

5. Plogue Sforzando

Sforzando is one of the most powerful sample players that’ll free you from relying on proprietary formats for creating your own SFZ file formats. With Sforzando, you can create and share instruments for free, as well as commercial purposes.

Although it might not be a suitable option for beginners or even intermediate composers. Why? Because there is no fancy UI that’ll help you navigate through different elements. Everything needs to be done from scratch, that too, at the SFZ file level itself. In a nutshell, you must be a skilled and highly experienced composer to operate Plogue Sforzando.

Features:

• Uses SFZ file format, which is royalty-free, which means you can create and distribute instruments without any restrictions.

6. Simple Sound Delay Plugin

As the name implies, Simple Sound Delay is a virtual signal delaying AAX and VST plugin. It can be used in any DAW to delay audio signals with extremely accurate precision. The plugin allows you to postpone time by setting a time-frame in milliseconds or using the samples.

However, being one of the standalone and free VST plugins, Sound Delay can only be used to delay audio signals. Apart from this, it doesn’t provide any functionality whatsoever. Sound Delay is an appropriate option for music composers who have already installed dozens of individual VST plugins and want a new one that’ll help them delay audio signals as well.

Features:

• Delay Audio Signals in milliseconds or using samples
• Delay mid & side-channels separately

7. Tube Amplifier Plugin

Tube Amplifier is a VST plugin that applies asymmetric tube triode overdrive to your project. By no means, TubeAmp is the right choice for a beginner as one must be familiar with tube-triode.

However, if you’re an experienced music composer, Tube Amplifier will fit your studio perfectly. As we mentioned earlier, it can be used to apply asymmetric tube triode overdrive, which is usually found in single-tube microphone preamp boxes. It also contains a low-pass filter that’ll help you imitate a low-quality tube-triode.

Features:

• Asymmetric tube triode overdrive
• Two processing modes
• Additional output saturation stage
• Stereo and multi-channel processing

8. Ozone Imager V2

Ozone Imager V2 is probably one of the best free VST plugins as it allows a music composer to have full control over the width of the sounds. The tool has three different vectorscope meters that instantly show the stereo width and help you widen or narrow the sounds precisely as per the project requirements.

Ozone Imager also has a dedicated “Stereoize” feature that’ll help you turn mono sounds into stereo without any reverb. This will make it easier to enhance the overall audio effects and give a professional touch to your tracks.

Features

• Stereoize the sounds with no need for doubling
• Visualize the sounds using vectorscope meters to precisely adjust their width

9. RS-W2395c by Fuse Audio Labs

RS-W2395c is a classic Baxandall equalizer that’s perfect for creating audio effects for your rock band. It offers an extremely straightforward UI, which will make it easier for all the hobbyist music composers to switch low and mid-bands without having to dive deeper into the “Settings” menu.

The dedicated high-shelf will give you the liberty to carve darkening instruments and voices. This will help you compose audio tracks that stand out in the crowd.

Features:

• Extremely Flexible UI
• Easily Control Mid & Low Bands for your track

10. Sound Recovery

Unlike other free VST plugins in our list, Sound Recovery is specifically tailored to repair low-quality audio tracks to make them sound better and reach the professional level. The plugin will help you adjust mid & high frequencies to an optimal level or add them if they’re missing in a soundtrack. So, if you have any tracks that require a slight polishing, Sound Recovery will help.

Features:

• Erase Unwanted Noises from an Audio Track
• After repairing a track, save the preset for future use

Benjamin Arango

Benjamin Arango is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Benjamin Arango

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