Tested and Recommended: Best Free Sample Libraries
The Most Extensive Curated List of Tested and Recommended Free Sample Libraries That Play in Free Players. Nearly 200 Of The Best Free Sample Libraries That Play in Free Players (UPDATED AUGUST 2024)
All libraries have been tested and a brief review is provided before each link.
Finding free sample libraries is easy. Finding great, high-quality sample libraries that sound good and are enjoyable to play is significantly more challenging. It requires sorting through a great deal of bad to mediocre libraries to find the gems. This curated list of reviewed and recommended sample libraries that work in free players represents the outcome of spending more than 100 hours testing various free sample libraries. It was first published in 2022 at the Cakewalk Forum and has since been updated on a regular basis. Based on an audit of Google results, it easily stands as the most extensive curated list of free sample libraries on the Web. This list only includes libraries that I have personally downloaded and used and find worthy of recommendation. While very good to excellent, many of these libraries don’t possess the same level of detail, like velocity layers and round robins, as paid libraries, but some do. Even more, you may find that level of detail unnecessary for your purposes.
I invite others to post links to free libraries they can recommend in the LinkedMusicians Forum where we maintain a thread related to this list.
⭐ =Highly recommended favorites.
⭐ ⭐ =My highest recommendation.
RECOMMENDED FREE SAMPLE LIBRARIES
PIANOS
Steinberg Lofi Piano ⭐ ⭐
I’m a huge fan of lofi sounds. I’m a massive fan of the Mellotron and Chamberlain and this lofi piano knocks it out of the park.
PLAYER: HALion Sonic Player (free)
https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/lofi-piano/
SoundPaint Pluck & Hammer Grand Piano ⭐ ⭐
I definitely would have bought this library if the folks at SoundPaint hadn’t decided to give it away free. It’s a Kawaii Grand Piano recoded using guitar picks/plectrums and with a small metallic mini hammer. In SoundPaint’s words, it’s a “hybrid instrument that blends the characteristics of a harp, clavinet, guitar, lute, and harpsichord, with an added hammered dulcimer articulation.” While you’re there, I’d recommend picking up every freebie they have. SoundPaint is trying to win sample library users over and giving away a bunch of very high quality libraries for free. Even more, you can create your own libraries using their plugin, all for free.
FORMAT: SoundPaint (Free sampler)
https://soundpaint.com/products/pluck-hammer-piano
The Real Piano
It took me a long time to decide if I wanted to include this piano library. Candidly, that’s because I don’t love the included presets. There’s just something about the way it’s EQ’ed that doesn’t appeal to me. But I spent more time with the piano, tweaking the factory presets, creating my own presets, and using external EQ and I can now say that I might use this in a project where I’m looking for a very vintage sounding character piano. The sampled piano is a 1903 Chickering grand piano. It is a Kontakt Player library, so you don’t need to own the full version of Kontakt to use this library.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.straightaheadsamples.com/the-real-piano
The Love Piano
This is a sampled grand piano with 12 velocity layers “between the soft to moderately loud dynamic range (no loud or “fff” dynamics here!) and also included hammer sounds pedal sounds (both of which can be added/removed) to give it even more persona.” It includes 18 reverb impulse responses. It sounds very nice. It’s a free Kontakt Player library, so you don’t need to own the paid (full) version of Kontakt to use it.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://vstbuzz.com/special/the-love-piano-kontakt-player-freebie/
SonicCouture Hammersmith Free ⭐⭐
A beautiful grand piano sample library.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p322-hammersmith-free/
VSL Soft Imperial ⭐⭐
This is a gorgeous Bösendorfer Imperial grand piano sample library that I would have been happy with had I paid for it. It is an intimate piano meant for softer playing.
FORMAT: FREE VSL Synchron Player
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Free_Instruments/Soft_Imperial
SoundPaint 1928 Vintage Steinway Grand Piano and Sampler ⭐⭐
A high quality grand piano sample library with a nice variety of patches. The SoundPaint sample player enables you to easily create your own patches/programs and delve into sound design possibilities and arpeggiator patterns .
FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE)
https://soundpaint.com/
The Creative Toolbox Piano ⭐⭐
A Steinway & Sons B-211 Grand Piano with 3 microphone positions.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/the-creative-toolbox-piano.html
Estate Grand Piano from Production Voices(for the free Sforzando player) ⭐⭐
This is a high quality developer that I am a customer of and I find makes excellent piano sample libraries and this is a really nice piano.
FREE/Donationware
FORMAT; SFZ
https://www.productionvoices.com/estate-grand-le-for-sforzando/
Heavyocity Foundations Piano ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful, soft grand piano with great effects. A must have, IMO. I recommend downloading every free library in the series.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://heavyocity.com/product/foundations-piano/
Sonic Atoms Novel Piano ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful warm sounding urpight piano with some great, very creative patches. It made me a fan of this developer and a customer.
FORMAT: FREE HALION SONIC SE PLAYER
https://sonicatoms.com/novel-piano/
The Experience Fazoli Piano ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful sounding, beautifully sampled Fazoli grand piano.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/the-experience-fazioli-f308/
The Experience Yamaha S6 Grand Piano ⭐ ⭐
One of the best piano libraries on Pianobook. A beautiful sounding, well sampled Yamaha S6 grand piano.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/the-experience-yamaha-s6/
Mason Hamlin Model A Piano ⭐ ⭐
A beautifully sounding, beautifully sampled Mason Hamlin grand piano.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/mason-hamlin-model-a/
Isolation Piano – Tubes and Tape ⭐ ⭐
I use the KONTAKT version and I love it and consider it one of the best pianos on Pianobook, arguably the best. It’s a sampled Model O Steinway grand piano.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/isolation-piano-tubes-tape/
Soft Piano (Spiifire Labs) ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful, gentle upright felt piano.
FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE)
https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest
Reel to Reel Tape Piano ⭐ ⭐
This comes from David Hilowitz, the very generous artist and developer behind Decent sampler. It’s a very lofi, retro piano sample library that captures that kind of Mellotron vibe that I love.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.decentsamples.com/product/reel-to-reel-tape-piano/
Death Piano Prepared Piano from Production Voices (for the free Sforzando player) ⭐ ⭐
I love this library. It is a prepared grand piano and the KONTAKT version has a reverse patch that I really enjoy.
FREE/Donationware
FORMAT; SFZ
https://www.productionvoices.com/death-piano-le/
Manthey Klaviano (PIANO) ⭐
This is a very nice sounding basic upright piano. It sounds like your average piano you’d see in a middle class home or at a school. It’s not a sophisticated sounding piano. I really like its humble character.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER, SFZ
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/manthey-klaviano/
StraIght Ahead Samples: The Real Piano ⭐
A 1903 Chickering grand piano, 6 microphone positions w/ user-controlled interface. A character piano with a vintage vibe.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.straightaheadsamples.com/the-real-piano
[Added 11/08/2023]
Yamaha Grand Palm Mute ⭐
If you’re looking for grand piano palm mutes, you should enjoy these.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/yamaha-palm-mutes/
Sterzov The Felt Seiler ⭐
A very nice felted piano library.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/the-felt-seiler-free-edition.html
Prepared Staccota Cartoon Piano
It’s a one-trick pony that does what is says on the tin.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/prepared-staccato-cartoon-piano/
VOCALS / CHOIRS
* Also see the orchestral section for more choir patches
Orchestratools: Manifold ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful sample library of male and female singers singing oohs and aahs and some unusual vocal sounds too.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER, Sine Factory
https://www.orchestraltools.com/sinefactory
Micah’s Choir ⭐ ⭐
I love this library. The samplist who made it has a great deal of talent. It’s a male soloist, but you can play it polyphonically. The singer’s tone is beautiful.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER (also available for Spitfire Labs)
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/micahs-choir/
SonicCouture Tape Choir ⭐ ⭐
A retro choir patch that sounds a lot like the choir pad sounds on the 70s 10CC song, “I’m Not In Love.” If I had a good voice, I would use this to cover the song.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/18-exclusive-free-content/p170-tape-choir/
Spitfire Labs Choir ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful choir recorded at Air Studios in London.
https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/choir
Heavyocity Emotive Choir ⭐ ⭐
A beautifully sampled choir.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://heavyocity.com/product/emotive-choir
New House Choir
A lofi choir patch reminiscent of 10CC’s “I’m Not in Love” vocal pads but more church choir-ish.
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/new-house-choir/
DRUMS
Steven Slate Drums 5.5 Free ⭐ ⭐
A high quality, production ready rock drum kit. I think this is the best-sounding, deep sampled free acoustic drum plugin on the market. It includes a mixer and beats. It’s a no-brainer to install and download, IMO.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://stevenslatedrums.com/ssd5/#SSD5FREE
BFD Player ⭐ ⭐
I think this is easily one of the best FREE acoustic drum plugins on the market, but I don’t really love the presets and I’m not in love with the sound of the snare drum samples, so I’m only giving this two stars as a freebie. Personally, I deleted it from my hard drive shortly after going through the sounds and trying it in a production. The snare drum sounds thin and the heavy effects on most of the presets overwhelm the snare, it just gets lost in the mix. Still, these are 5GB of deep sampled drums with a built in mixer — it’s not extensive, but you can always route the outputs to use your own effects and mix the drums exactly as you like, and that’s a pretty nice option for a free deep sampled acoustic drum kit; but it’s also a bit of work. BFD Player also works with a large number of electronic drum kits and features more than 300 beats. I don’t think it sounds as good or as professional as Steven Slate Drums, but it has enough going for it for a free drum plugin, that I’m still giving it my highest rating. Download it and judge for yourself.
https://www.bfddrums.com/drum-software/bfd-player.html
The Creative Toolbox: Drums and Percussion ⭐ ⭐
An acoustic drum kit, two drum machines (Roland TR08 and Behringer RD6) and percussion (bongos, congas, castanets, shakers, agogo, clave, chimes, cowbell and rototoms.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/the-creative-toolbox-drums-and-percussion.html
IK Modo Drum Kit 1.5 ⭐ ⭐
A realy nice sounding hybrid modeled/sampled drum kit.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/mododrum/#nl_form_area
Spitfire Labs Drums and VIntage Drums ⭐ ⭐
I love the sound of this drum library. The only down side is that it only has two toms. The 1975 kit also sounds really good and has three toms.
FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE)
https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest
Orange Tree Samples free Funk Drum Kit Sample Library ⭐ ⭐
A nice little jazz/funk drum kit. It sounds good.
FORMAT; SFZ
https://www.orangetreesamples.com/blog/free-jazz-funk-drum-sample-library
Soft Drums ⭐
This is a really nice, very usable traditional drum kit sample library. The drums are hit softly using Promark Broomsticks, which gives a sound like when a rock drummer plays hard with brushes, giving the drums a thwack type sound! I think these would be very useful for indie or folk rock.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/soft-drums/
Lorenzo’s Drums ⭐
I love this small drum kit. It just has a great sound to it. The caveat is that the hi hat doesn’t close properly. If you can deal with that, I think the sound of this is really special.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/lorenzos-drums-v1/
ML Drums Free
A complete drum kit using the developer’s plugin.
FORMAT: Developer’s Proprietary Plugin
https://ml-sound-lab.com/products/ml-drums-free
Drum Gizmo
This entry is the exception to the rest of the list. I haven’t used this library. It was recommended to me by a very talented KONTAKT developer who uses it. Based on his recommendation, I am adding it to the list. Drum Giznmo is a drum sample player system and a series of acoustic drum sample libraries. I am told that they are good to very quality. Note that the kits are unprocessed, so you’ll need to apply your own effects, which is desirable for some and less desirable for others.
https://www.drumgizmo.org/wiki/doku.php?id=start
ELECTRIC PIANOS
Steinberg Taped Vibes ⭐ ⭐
This is a lofi library with DI, taped, and pre-amp samples of a Wurlitzer 200A (Wurly) electric piano. While it’s not a detailed library, it sounds very good, and the presets are really nice.
https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/taped-vibes/
Fracture Sounds: Blueprint Electric Keys ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful, and well-sampled 1969 Rhodes Mark I Electric Piano library that’s, unquestionably, good enough to be a paid library. It allows you to adjust the key noise. It doesn’t have a bunch of presets, but it lets you choose between direct input and amped and has controls for stereo spread, reverb, chorus, and atmosphere. It’s pretty obvious to see the developer’s rationale for giving this away free. Once you use it, you’ll be interested in their other libraries.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT 7 Player
https://fracturesounds.com/product/blueprint-electric-keys/
The Electro-Acoustic ⭐⭐
Samples of an acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes electric piano layered. I love the sound!
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER (Also Available for the Full Version of KONTAKT)
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/the-electro-acoustic-piano/
Sonokinetic EMP Mark II ⭐
A Rhodes Mark II electric piano. Excellent quality sampling and it sounds very good.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT 7 Player
https://www.sonokinetic.net/products/contemporary/emp/
Electric V LE from Production Voices (for the free Sforzando player ⭐
A very well-sampled Rhodes Mark V.
FREE/Donationware
FORMAT: SFZ
https://www.productionvoices.com/product/electric-v-le/
Worlitzer ⭐
Anyone who knows me at this forum is probably aware of my love of Wurli / Wurlitzer electric pianos. For a free sample library, this is really nice done and contains several patches.The samplist that made this clearly put some heart into it and it shows.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/worlitzer/
Wurli
A modest Wurli library. It really misses the dynamics that make a Wurli so special, but it otherwise, does have that trademark Wurli sound, but seems like a one velocity layer instrument.
FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE)
https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest
Anne-Marie The Hohner T ⭐
A nice sampled Honer T, just try it.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/anne-marie-the-hohner-t/
GUITARS and BASS
Cinematique Instruments Guitar Harmonics Essential
A small, but very nice library of guitar harmonics. Cinematique instruments makes some beautiful sound design libraries, IMO. Even their freebies are gorgeous and worth getting, like this one.
PLAYER: HALion Sonic Player (free)
https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/guitar-harmonics/
Fracture Sounds: Blueprint Feedback Guitar ⭐⭐
An ambient pad featuring two articulation options. I highly recommend getting every freebie from Fracture Sounds.
https://fracturesounds.com/product/blueprint-feedback-guitar/
IK MODO Bass ⭐⭐
This isn’t a sample library, it’s a modeled bass plugin, but it sounds very good, and is lightweight. It emulates a 1960’s Fender Precision Bass. For free, I think this is highest quality choice for an electric bass guitar.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PLUGIN
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/modobass2/?pkey=modo-bass-2-cs
Heavyocity Foundations Nylon Guitar ⭐
A beautiful-sounding nylon guitar.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://heavyocity.com/product/foundations-nylon-guitar/
Ample Guitar M Lite ⭐
I have A LOT of paid guitar samples libraries and I’ve tried all of the free guitar and bass multisample libraries out there (and am open to any suggestions anyone has on new ones; I’m set with Evolution for guitar libraries, but want to at least test out libraries in order to maintain this list) and I find that no other free sample library or vst plugin can match Ample sounds freebies. To put it mildly, this developer is pretty generous in what they give away free and they are a top quality sample developer. (One of their employees posts in this forum and has always been a class act, so really, nothing but respect for these guys).
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=7
Ample Bass P Lite ⭐
For sampled electric and acoustic bass guitars, I’m set with Orange Tree Samples’ libraries, but I’ve tried this out and think for free, it’s the best quality free electric bass library that I know of. It’s really well done and I can easily recommend it.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=19
RJS Electric Guitar ⭐
A sampled Stratocaster electric guitar with the following patches: long notes with vibrato, palm muted notes, dead notes and feedback. Impressive.
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/rjs-guitar/
MELLOTRON
Plogue Sforzatron (Mellotron Sample Library) ⭐ ⭐
Some of the most popular Mellotron samples including cello, celli, strings, flute, woodwind sections, string sections, choir, pads, koto, and steel drums. The sample libraries were taken from the fantastic and freely distributed Taji Guy Mellotron samples that have been available online for two decades. This is easily as good as a commercial Mellotron library. In fact, if this wasn’t free and I paid, say $35 USD for the library, I would be extremely satisfied with my purchase. This is one of my all time favorite freebies.
FORMAT: Sforzando
https://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando-banks.html
ORCHESTRAL
Sonuscore The Orchestral Elements ⭐ ⭐
Thirty orchestral presets, with 4+ GB of “25 string-, 9 brass- and 12 wind-articulations, plus playable percussion and choir.” This sounds great and is a lot of fun to play with sequenced string and horn / woodwind parts. I recently tried it out and definitely am now watching for the next sale on a paid version of the product. But if you’re budget is zero, this alone is wonderful. Just download and install it. It’s a no-brainer.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.sonuscore.com/shop/the-orchestra-elements/
Orchestral Tools Layers ⭐ ⭐
A really nice, lush orchestral patch.
https://www.orchestraltools.com/store/collections/layers
BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover ⭐ ⭐
A complete orchestra that sounds very good. It’s not up to the level of a paid high end orchestral library, but it’s amazingly good for a completely free orchestral library and it is pretty small in size in terms of data and won’t tax on your computer resources.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.spitfireaudio.com/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover
The Free Orchestra by PROJECTSAM ⭐ ⭐
A collection of orchestral related libraries including a choir, strings, and organ. It all sounds beautiful.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra/
The Free Orchestra 2 a by PROJECTSAM ⭐ ⭐
Project Sam’s Free Orchestra series continues as each month, starting in late 2023, they’ve been releasing a new free library for their Free Orchestra 2 collection. As I write this, they’re on month two and have strings and brass. Everything this developer puts out his very high quality. Their freebies, IMO, are must-haves. Great stuff.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra-2
VSL Big Bang Orchestra ⭐ ⭐
Looking for large orchestrations with huge sounding tutti layers? Staccatos, sustains, marcatos, swells and runs — if you’re looking for the bombastic sound of a big orchestra, I think you’re going to be pretty happy with this.
FORMAT: Developer’s FREE Propietary Player
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/BBO_Map/BBO
ORGANS
SoundIron Aquae Organ
Aquae Organ is not a regular pipe organ sample library. SoundIron created this library using a stereo pair of high-grade hydrophones recording three organ stop combinations with two pipe organs in unison. They then alterered the result using sound design techniques into something quite different and appealing in its own way.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://soundiron.com/collections/free/products/aquae-organ
Sonuscore Pipe Organ ⭐ ⭐
It contains several pipe organ patches that sound really nice. I love this freebie.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://sonuscore.com/shop/free-pipe-organ/
Sonokinetic Carousel Organ ⭐ ⭐
If you want a carousel organ, you’re in luck! It sounds great and it’s a lot of fun to play around with.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.sonokinetic.net/products/instruments/carousel/
Collab3 ⭐
This is a Hammond B3 emulation and I snuck this in because I picked this up a while back and just thought it was really good for a free B3 emulation with a Leslie rotary speaker effect. B3 perfectionists won’t be satisfied, but it sounds really good and for the price (free), I don’t think anything matches it. Listen to it yourself.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLUGIN
https://sampleson.com/collab3-free-tonewheel-organ.html
Cassette Tape Organ
A lofi cassette recording of a Wurlitzer organ that has a very Mellotron type vibe to it. I absolutely love this library. A lot of samplists attempt to get that Mellotron lofi vibe and, IMO, most don’t hit the mark. This one does. Very well executed.
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/cassette-tape-organ/
PERCUSSION
World Colors Clar-Duduk by Evolution Series ⭐ ⭐
A very well sampled clar-duduk library.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.evolutionseries.com/product/world-colors-clar-duduk
SONIXENIMA Christmas Bells ⭐ ⭐
Three different-sized sleigh bells, multiple round robins, 3 preset rhythms; this is a nice little freebie.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://sonixinema.com/products/christmas-bells
Orchestratools: Gearbox ⭐ ⭐
A collection of studio percussion instruments including various drums, tambourine, claps, congas, etc.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER, Sine Factory
https://www.orchestraltools.com/sinefactory
Hunter’s Percussion – World ⭐ ⭐
A really nicely sampled set of percussion instruments. Djembe, conga, bongo, udu and various taiko drums.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER (also available for the full version of KONTAKT)
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/hunters-percussion-world/
VSL Small Percussion ⭐ ⭐
A nicely done library of various small percussion instruments including: boobams, tambourine, woodblocks, castanets, claves, caxixi, shaker, , splash, triangle, finger cymbals and crotales.
FORMAT: FREE VSL Synchron Player
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Free_Instruments/Small_Percussion
STRINGS
* Also see the orchestral section for more string patches
Sonic Atoms: Navia Harp Free ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful sounding harp.
Player: HALion Sonic Player (free)
https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/navia-harp-free/
Orchestratools: Helix ⭐ ⭐
A string ensemble library featuring sustains and spiccatos from combined solo violins with violas, celli, and basses.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER, Sine Factory
https://www.orchestraltools.com/sinefactory
Heavyocity Foundations Staccato Strings ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful, soft grand piano with great effects. A must have, IMO. I recommend downloading every free library in the series.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://heavyocity.com/product/foundations-staccato-strings/
STREZOV MINIMALIST VIOLIN LEGATO STRINGS ⭐ ⭐
A chamber string ensemble playing flautando with poco vibrato. Features auto divisi combined with Polyphonic True Legato. Sounds beautiful.
https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/afflatus-freebie.html
NFO CHAMBER STRING LONGS ⭐ ⭐
Chamber strings longs and drones. Excellent.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/nfo-alternative-chamber-strings/
NFO CHAMBER STRING SHORTS ⭐ ⭐
Short chamber string staccatos. Excellent.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/nfo-alternative-chamber-strings-shorts/
Spitfire Labs Strings and Strings 2 ⭐ ⭐
The first Strings libraries has soft, slow moving ensemble strings. Strings 2 features additional articulations, pizzicato, bartok pizz and swells ensembles. Spitfire really knows how to create quality string libraries and it’s evident even in this free library.
FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE)
https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest
Cello Moods ⭐⭐
While this library — and none of the Spitfire Labs libraries — have a bunch of velocity layers I would expect in a paid library, it sounds beautiful and for a free library, is well worth having.
FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE)
https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?types=strings&sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest
Spitfire Labs Scary Strings, Frozen Strings, Amplified Cello Quartet, Artic Swells, Tape Orchestra, Harmonic Flights ⭐⭐
These are all interesting and worth downloading, IMO, I think I bought some of these back when they were selling for $5USD each and if they were back at $5 each, I would still recommend them.
FORMAT: LABS PLAYER (SPITFIRE)
https://labs.spitfireaudio.com/?sortBy=prod_products_labs_latest
Soft String Spurs Dan Keen ⭐ ⭐
A collection of three beautiful viola libraries. I use the KONTAKT version. IMO, one of the best string libraries on Pianobook, if not the best.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/soft-string-spurs/
VSL Big Bang Orchestra, Celestial Strings and Violin Runs ⭐ ⭐
Very nice orchestral string libraries.
FORMAT: FREE VSL Synchron Player
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Product_Overview/Free_Instruments
Firefly Strings
A thick analog strings sound that sounds like it was mixed with a pipe organ and I’m a sucker for pipe organs.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/firefly-strings/
SYNTHS (sampled)
Steniberg X-Stream ⭐ ⭐
Steinberg refers to this as a “monophobic spectral synth for sound design and ambient music creation.” It sounds great and it’s a joy to play around with it. It’s very easy to lose track of time playing around with this. I find it pretty inspiring.
https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/x-stream/
Cinematique Instruments Color ⭐ ⭐
A very cool library made up of sound design and synth patches. They describe it as “sampled analog synth sounds, dusty lo-fi textures and colorful vintage keys. You can build your own sounds from scratch with four different layers, shaping tools and a clever modification engine, or hit the random button to get new sounds.” I love everything I have from this developer. They do excellent quality work,
https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/colors-free/
Revolution Cre-8 Lite ⭐ ⭐
This is a lite version of a larger library based on backwards samples and I just love it.
FORMAT: HALion Sonic (free)
https://www.samplefuel.com/revolution-cre8-lite
Arturia Analog Lab Play ⭐ ⭐
100 patches from various Arturia plugins. Organs, synths, piano…This is a great, must have plugin.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.arturia.com/products/software-instruments/analoglab/free
(added 11/06/23)
Syntronik 2 CS ⭐ ⭐
100 patches and 2.4 GB of vintage synth goodness.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/syntronik2/?pkey=syntronik-2-cs
Native Instruments: Analog Dreams ⭐ ⭐
3.6 GBs of vintage analog synth sounds.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/play-series/analog-dreams/
Heavyocity Foundations Synth Bass ⭐ ⭐
Good sounding analog synth bass with ARPs.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://heavyocity.com/product/foundations-synth-bass/
Asimov ⭐ ⭐
I love this collection of 15 Synthwave/Retrowave presets. As the samplist states, the presets have a “cinematic touch.”
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/asimov/
Beat Zampler and Free Synth Libraries ⭐
From the publisher of the German magazine Beat (there’s an English version too), Zampler is a free sampler and contains several very nice free synth libraries that mostly have a 90s vibe to them.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.zampler.de/
Isometra Venus Theory ⭐
It comes from a talented patch maker and YouTuber and it’s a distorted analogy electric piano-ish library and I like it a lot and the GUI lets you easily modify the library and I have gotten good results very quickly. Well done.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.decentsamples.com/product/isometra-by-venus-theory/
Organic Orchestra Venus Theory ⭐
A slow attack pad with a sound that seems like rain. It basically sounds like you’re in a rain forest. It’s very new-age-ish. Dead serious, if you’re into ASMR or looking for the kinds of sounds that you here in the music while playing Minecraft, this would be a really good choice.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.decentsamples.com/product/organic-orchestra-free-edition-by-venus-theory/
Malevolence Venus Theory ⭐
Just my opinion, but I would recommend downloading everything Venus Theory uploads. He’s talented. This contains synth pads and basses and it’s good.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://venustheory.com/product/876165
TUNED PERCUSSION
* Also see the orchestral section for more tuned percussion patches
Cinematique Instruments Alto Glockenspiel ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful sounding, beautifully sampled instrument.
FORMAT: FREE HALION SONIC SE PLAYER
https://www.steinberg.net/vst-instruments/alto-glockenspiel/
Cinesamples Tongue Drum ⭐ ⭐
A beautiful sounding, beautifully sampled tongue drum that is a joy to play.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://cinesamples.com/product/tongue-drum
Smiley Drum (Tongue Drum) ⭐ ⭐
An unusual-sounding tongue drum with a bright, crisp clank to it. It’s quite different from the character of the Cinesamples Tongue Drum and the SoundPaint sampler gives you an arpeggiator and excellent effects to delve into sound design possibilities.
FORMAT: FREE SOUNDPAINT PLAYER
https://soundpaint.com/products/smiley-drum?variant=42680673173675
Cinesamples Create Series: Toy Xylo ⭐
A children’s xylophone. Sounds great.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://cinesamples.com/product/create-series-toy-xylo
Cinesamples Create Series: Kalimba ⭐
Sounds great. If you love the sound of the Kalimba, download it!
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://cinesamples.com/product/create-series-kalimba
Cinesamples Mister Rogers Celeste ⭐⭐
A sweet celeste that was used on the American children television show Mister Rogers Neighborhood (1968-2001)
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://store.cinesamples.com/products/mister-rogers-celeste
SoundPaint Polyphon ⭐⭐
I had no idea what the heck a Polyphon is. It turns out it’s an ancient music box — and I love music boxes. It sounds lovely and the sound design patches and possibilities for you to adjust this to whatever is in your imagination are virtually endless.
https://soundpaint.com/products/polyphon?variant=42942318969003#specifications
SonicCoture Music Boxes ⭐ ⭐
Two music boxes from a superb sample developer for free. If you like the sound of music boxes, just get it.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.soniccouture.com/en/products/p43-music-boxes/
Spring Chimes ⭐ ⭐
This glorious library takes 14 existing Pianobook bell and mallet libraries and layers them together and the result is absolutely wonderful.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/spring-chimes/
Gentle Vibes ⭐ ⭐
A well sampled vibraphone played softly with soft, medium and hard mallets. I am a sucker for a nice vibraphone or glockenspiel library and this is very nice.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/gentle-vibes/
SoundPaint Copperphone ⭐ ⭐
Somewhere in between bells and a marimba, this is a lovely-sounding tuned percussion instrument played hard mallets, soft mallets, wooden mallets, fingernails, and a distinct muted option. It’s another instrument from SoundPaint where it’s surprising it’s free. SoundPaint always provides a great deal of patches with their instruments and the sound design patches and the ability to easily program your own creations.
FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE)
https://soundpaint.com/products/copperphone?variant=42692692869291
Vintage Glockenspiel ⭐
A beautiful sounding, beautifully sampled instrument. I love the tone of this glockenspiel library. There are some imperfections with the library, but it’s a keeper for me.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/vintage-glockenspiel/
Yamaha Glockenspiel ⭐
A nice sounding glockenspiel with every note sampled and two dynamic layers. It’s well sampled, but, unfortunately, lacks round robins.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/yamaha-glockenspiel/
Schulmerich Handbells ⭐
A nicely sampled handbell lbrary made by Jon Meyer, a member of Pianobook who has produced some very good sample libraries.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/schulmerich-handbells/
Wineglass Tool Kit ⭐
This is much more than straight wine glass samples. The samplist created 5 patches from samples of wine glasses: melodic ‘ping’; a soft pad; a set of percussive sounds; a synth; and a textural pad.
FORMAT: DECENT SAMPLER
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/wine-glass-tool-kit/
Mini African Xylophone
True to its name. A nice little library.
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/mini-african-xylophone-max/
Ample Sound Cloud Drum
A beautiful sounding steel tongue drum sample library contained in Ample Sounds own plugin.
https://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=27
Harpsimachord
A 1970s two-manual, three-rank (8/8/4) Douglas Van Dyck Brown harpsichord sample library. The samples have noise that a pro samplist would have cleaned up and I hope someday the samplist denoises the samples, but I still love this library.
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/harpsimachord/
BRASS / WOODWINDS
* Also see the orchestral section for more brass / woodwind patches
Roots: Drifting Winds ⭐⭐
Several beautiful sounding patches of clusters made from 5 solo woodwinds. It’s creative and in the realm of sound design, not a straight orchestral library.
FORMAT: KONTAKT PLAYER (FREE)
https://www.westwoodinstruments.com/roots/
Bell and Bone
A sampled trumpet and trombone.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S PLAYER (Rhapsody)
https://librewave.com/product/bell-and-bone/
Distant Brass
This isn’t a realistic-sounding brass library, it’s very lofi and I think it’s pretty cool. I don’t do hip hop music, I sound bad enough singing rock, but if I did do hip hop, I think this could be especially useful.
https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/distant-brass/
MULTIPLE INSTRUMENT PACKAGES
These are multiple sample libraries from a developer that include different sampled instruments.
Native Instruments KOMPLETE START ⭐⭐
If you’re on a tight budget or no budget, download this. If you don’t have anything from Native Instruments, you need to! These guys make argubly the best multisampler on the market. I own the full version of KOMPLETE, and outside of my DAW, it’s the most important music-related software I own. This free version includes a bunch of different synth libraries, piano, acoustic drums, electronic drums, guitars, bass, keyboards, an Irish harp, a Chinese hammered dulcimer , effects, a guitar amp sim… If you’re on a super tight budget and can’t afford Kontakt or the standard version of Komplete, get this.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/bundles/komplete-start/
SoundPaint Sampler and Various Free Instruments ⭐⭐
The beauty of SoundPaint is that things load fast, its effects sound great, it’s a lot of fun to use and you can easily create your own programs/patches. If KONTAKT, UVI or SampleTank have this level of capabilities to create your own presets, I’m not aware of it. I’ve heard developers compare it to Omnisphere. There’s a grand piano, tuned percussion and a number of ambient libraries for free. You can easily layer the various libraries. It’s a great sound design playground
FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE)
https://soundpaint.com/
Spitfire Labs and Freebies ⭐ ⭐
If you haven’t already downloaded them, go do it… Guitars, bass, pianos, electric pianos, drum kits, strings, brass, woodwinds, synths, vocals/choris, orchestra instruments, percussion, tuned percussion… Get them all!
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.spitfireaudio.com/pages/free-instruments
SampleTank 4 CS ⭐ ⭐
50 sample libraries that all sound good and professional.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/st4cs/?pkey=sampletank-4-cs
VSL HELLO Free Instruments ⭐ ⭐
Excellent strings and orchestral libraries and a gorgeous free piano that I love that quickly became one of my favorite sampled pianos, Soft Imperial.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.vsl.co.at/en/Product_Overview/Free_Instruments
Orchestral Tools Sine Player and Instruments ⭐ ⭐
Piano, bass, drums, strings… Some very nice, beautifully sampled libraries in the developer’s proprietary sampler plugin.
FORMAT: DEVELOPER’S FREE PROPRIETARY PLAYER
https://www.orchestraltools.com/store/get-sine
Stezov Diamond Jazz ⭐
A free set of instruments including a free upright piano that sounds really nice, a nice upright bass and saxophone libraries. The sax libraries are meh.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://www.strezov-sampling.com/products/view/Diamond-jazz-trio.html
Sonixinema Assorted freebies – vocals, cello, acoustic bass, violin, medicine drum…
I like these taster libraries, they’re high quality but you’re only getting one articulation of a library and it really isn’t enough to pull off a performance with the sampled instrument.
FORMAT: FREE KONTAKT PLAYER
https://sonixinema.com/collections/freebies
AMBIENT
SoundPaint Adastra Ambiences ⭐ ⭐
A gorgeous set of patches of string-based ambient sounds. Violins, violas, cellos and basses. With nearly 2GB, this is a library I easily would have paid for if it weren’t free.
FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE)
https://soundpaint.com/products/adastra-ambiences?variant=42905988366507
SoundPaint Free Angels ⭐ ⭐
Over 7GBs of ambient sounds including drones, vocals, marimba, guitar, piano, bells, synths, ukuleles, risers, etc.
FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE)
https://soundpaint.com/products/free-angels?variant=39295526502571
Free ASMR ⭐ ⭐
Nearly 9GB of ASMR type sounds. This is really different and it’s easy to find yourself playing around with this library. There are a good deal of synth sounds, human whispers, papery crunches, woody rattles, metallic scrapes and more. If you’re looking for ASMR sounds, this is a no-brainer.
FORMAT: SOUNDPAINT SAMPLE PLAYER (FREE)
https://soundpaint.com/products/free-asmr?variant=39295531352235#parts
FREE SAMPLE LIBRARIES FROM PIANOBOOK
Pianobook has many KONTAKT (paid version) free mutisample libraries and Decent Sampler (free) mutisample sample libraries. I wanted to create a list of their free Decent Sampler libraries I find worth recommending. These are often smaller, simpler sample libraries than the ones made for KONTAKT.
https://www.decentsamples.com/product-category/publishers/decent-samples/
Free Decent Sampler Formated Sample Libraries on Pianobook
I made this list when going through each library opened in my DAW, so you’ll need to search Pianobook to find them. Simply use the site’s search function with the library name. I’ll try to update this later and add links in the future.
Busy Bee Analog Oscilator
A nice simple analog synth patch, actually two, one is lofi and I like it.
Classic Dance Synth
This is your classic 80s House Piano sound. If that’s what you’re looking for, download and install this.
Cream Soda Atmos Pad
Antoher very pad that I like that has a very slow attac.
Guffland Ukulele
This isn’t an Orange Tree Samples kind of detailed sample library. It’s very simple. But the ukulele has a lovely tone.
Ideal Bouzouki
Nice, simple. Worth installing. Multiple articulations. I love the plucked and fingered patch. If you’re not concerned about emulating the sampled instrument, the plucked and fingered patch has a harpsichord like quality about it.
Melodic Ping – Wine Glass Tool Kit
Nicely sampled wine glass hits.
Mixing Bowl ⭐
It sounds cool. It’s bold. It’s fun. I like it.
Musical Stones
It’s basically a xylophone featuring stones. It’s nice but the samples are a bit noisy. Still I like the character of the tone of the instrument and the noise doesn’t put me off as I see it as a bit lofi.
Rob’s Andean Quena Flute
Think lofi Mellotron flute. I really like this.
Saraswati Vena
Simple, nice. I like it.
Shivering Keys
A really interesting lofi analog piano that almost sounds like it could work in a horror soundtrack, but I think it’s slightly too sweet for that.
Shivering Waves
A lofi pad that sounds a bit like Shivering Keys in a pad.
Signals
Sound effects that are perfect for sci-fi.
St Kathrin’s Bell
It sounds great, like a church bell. But there’s a lot of noise in the samples.
Synimer ⭐
A very 80s/synthwave-type pad that sounds very good. I don’t know the song, but it sounds a lot like the synth pad from one of the songs in the 80s movie, “Breakfast Club.”
Timpani Hits
Nicely sampled, good sounding timpani hits.