Welcome to the Free VSTi Section

Filed Under: VSTi | report broken link 

Select a category on the right to view the Free VSTi’s.

Note: these VSTi’s (VST instruments) have been tested on Windows - please check the inidividual plugin’s websites for information on using them on non-Windows operating systems.

A VSTi is a Virtual Studio Technology instrument, and is usually downloaded as a .dll file.  The .dll file can then be loaded into a VSTi host and played, most often with midi.

Glossary

Bass - real (electric, upright) bass sounds, or synthesized bass sounds
Brass - trumpets, trombones, tubas, etc…
Drums - plugins which contain real drum sounds or synthetic drum sounds
Emulator - replications of classic synthesizers
Exotic Instruments - unusual instruments from around the world
Percussion - marimbas, bells, bongo drums, steel drums, etc… (now featuring a cowbell!)
Piano - pianos and electric pianos
Sound FX - blips, bloops, whooshes, and etcetera
Strings - guitars, violins, cellos, synth strings, etc…
Synth
– fm (frequency modulation) - a simple waveform is modulated with another frequency to produce a more complex tone
 — modular - a modular synth consists of individual components (modules) which can be chained together in various ways
– subtractive - harmonics are subtracted from an audio signal using a filter in order to alter the tone
– additive - harmonics are added to an audio signal, usually to replicate the sound of an instrument
– wavetable - short recorded clips of an instrument are looped and altered to produce realistic sounds
Vox - emulations of voices and choirs
Woodwind - flutes, saxophones, etc…

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