BEST FREE SAMPLE LIBRARIES & SOFT SYNTHS - CURATED LIST OF REVIEWED & RECOMMENDED INSTRUMENTS

[PavlovsCat]

A Curated List of More Than 170 Of The  Best Free Sample Libraries, Plugins and Free Soft Synths  (UPDATED JUNE 2024)

All libraries have been  tested and a brief review is provided before each link.  

I am not in agreement the new policies and practices of BandLab and will not be participating in this forum moving forward. Consequently,  I have deleted my list from this forum and will be moving it elsewhere enabling me to regularly update it. You can PM me for information on the new location of this list. 

This list will be regularly updated. I've also created a list of my favorite free sample libraries for KONTAKT:
 

  

Edited August 1 by LinkedMusicians
Updates / additions

[Niky Serrano]

Thanks a lot! ?
I will review your list and I will add my "recommended" libraries

[PavlovsCat]

17 minutes ago, Niky Serrano said:

Thanks a lot! ?
I will review your list and I will add my "recommended" libraries

Of course,  everyone can do it however they want but I kind think it would be useful if you did something like a bold headline across any posts with your recommended libraries like this:

NIKY'S LIST OF  RECOMMEDED FREE SAMPLE LIBRARIES 

Then you could come back from time to time and update that post. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[Niky Serrano]

6 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

Of course,  everyone can do it however they want but I kind think it would be useful if you did something like a bold headline across any posts with your recommended libraries like this:

NIKY'S LIST OF  RECOMMEDED FREE SAMPLE LIBRARIES 

Then you could come back from time to time and update that post. 

Thanks for the suggestion
Great idea!

[ralfrobert]

Great. I've always been looking for a list like this.

[Fleer]

You da man, PC!

[Dorondon]

Thanks, 

More great libraries for the free Kontakt Player:

World Colors Clar-Duduk by Evolutionseries : https://www.evolutionseries.com/product/world-colors-clar-duduk/

The Free Orchestra by PROJECTSAM : https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra/

Sirens by Sonixinema (vocal), they also have 3 more free kontakt player libraries in their site :  https://sonixinema.com/collections/freebies/products/sirens-freebie

Pipe Organ by Sonuscore : https://sonuscore.com/shop/free-pipe-organ/

Edit:

Also a fun free Kontakt Player library is Carousel (fairground organ) by sonokinetic : https://www.sonokinetic.net/products/instruments/carousel/ 

A kind of  game and a library -  Arcane by Embertone - a little eccentric but i really like the vocals and it's a really fun one, also used this one to get a large discount and crossgrade to the full Kontakt : https://www.embertone.com/instruments/arcane.php

A really unique Free (dontationware so can put 0 in price)  Kontakt Player piano is the 88E by impactsoundworks (what if you tuned every note on a piano to "E") https://impactsoundworks.com/product/the-88e/

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Dorondon

[JoeGBradford]

@PavlovsCat - top work thanks!

I'll add mine in due course ?

[PavlovsCat]

On 12/2/2022 at 8:54 AM, Dorondon said:

Thanks, 

More great libraries for the free Kontakt Player:

World Colors Clar-Duduk by Evolutionseries : https://www.evolutionseries.com/product/world-colors-clar-duduk/

The Free Orchestra by PROJECTSAM : https://projectsam.com/libraries/the-free-orchestra/

Sirens by Sonixinema (vocal), they also have 3 more free kontakt player libraries in their site :  https://sonixinema.com/collections/freebies/products/sirens-freebie

Pipe Organ by Sonuscore : https://sonuscore.com/shop/free-pipe-organ/

 

 

 

 

 

All great recommendations that should have been in my list! I love the SonusScore Pipe Organ and Project Sam and everything else you added. They'll definitely be in my updates. Hopefully,  this thread will be something that brings some joy to people on a tight budget or with no budget. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[InstrEd]

Wow that is an impressive list.  I feel like you just gave me homework for the weekend ?

[PavlovsCat]

I've updated the list. BTW, when I see people mention freebies that I find are worthy of recommending -- that I simply didn't recall when making my list -- I'll add them to my list. But please don't let that stop you from making your own list. The value here is that it's not just a list of freebies, it's a list of free sample libraries that you have downloaded and installed and are personally telling others, this is a good quality sample library that is worth downloading and installing. That's the value of having a curated list as compared to a list of everything we've ever found that's free. These lists should help others to easily find what we believe are the better/best freebies. 

[Dorondon]

31 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

Those should have been in mime top! I love that SonusScore Pipe Organ and Project Sam. and everything you added. They'll definitely be on my updates too. All really good sample libraries. Hopefully,  this thread will be something that brings some joy to anyone on a tight budget or with no budget. 

Really appreciate the  effort you put into this post, Its a great idea , it's amazing how many free quality libraries you can get if you look.

Pianobook really opened my eyes on what sample libraries can be (actually bought kontakt with a large discount with the Embertone crossgrade route which i'll also add to my post right after i discovered about Pianobook )

Many libraries probably wouldn't have been commercially viable but are unique and have many have stories and background to them  that really contributes to the experience of playing them

Also some of the libraries in Pianobook are really unique and incredibly fun to play ,for those who don't know about Kontakt even if you don't own Kontak you can install the free Kontakt Player and try try the pianobook libraries (even if they are meant for the paid kontakt) for 20 minutes without restrictions, take for example - panjo, a pan-drum and banjo instrument that is just so fun to play or many piano's that have such a unique feel to them 

[PavlovsCat]

2 hours ago, Dorondon said:

Really appreciate the  effort you put into this post, Its a great idea , it's amazing how many free quality libraries you can get if you look.

Pianobook really opened my eyes on what sample libraries can be (actually bought kontakt with a large discount with the Embertone crossgrade route which i'll also add to my post right after i discovered about Pianobook )

Many libraries probably wouldn't have been commercially viable but are unique and have many have stories and background to them  that really contributes to the experience of playing them

Also some of the libraries in Pianobook are really unique and incredibly fun to play ,for those who don't know about Kontakt even if you don't own Kontak you can install the free Kontakt Player and try try the pianobook libraries (even if they are meant for the paid kontakt) for 20 minutes without restrictions, take for example - panjo, a pan-drum and banjo instrument that is just so fun to play or many piano's that have such a unique feel to them 

I'm totally with you, Dorondon. I mostly download Pianobook libraries in KONTAKT format, but I really wanted to do this for people who don't have the budget for KONTAKT (full version), hoping that someone whose budget was tight might come across this list and find a goldmine of really beautiful and free sample libraries. While most of these libraries aren't the extensively sampled libraries that I tend to purchase, many of them are still worthwhile because of their character, or as you wrote, their "unique feel" that even though I have a great deal of paid KONTAKT sample libraries, I'll use one of them if I feel their character fits the song I'm working on. Like VSL's Soft Imperial Piano, it sounds beautiful. I love it more than many of the piano libraries I've paid for.

I'm planning on doing a similar thread featuring recommended free KONTAKT libraries too. But I wanted to prioritize this list because it doesn't require a musician to have any budget so that those who may not have the money to buy a bunch of sample libraries can find some really nice ones without spending anything.  

Edited December 2, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[Starship Krupa]

This is a great list.

I'll add Soundpaint's Free Angels and ASMR. If you're doing ambient drone, these plus the 1928 Steinway will give you some amazing sounds.

Also, the Meldaproduction MSoundFactory Player has the excellent Monastery Grand piano.

For anyone who wasn't aware, there's a (curated) topic on this forum for favorite freeware instruments in general:

 

[PavlovsCat]

 

I want to tell the story of why I am so fond of Starship Krupa. 

Last year, I started attempting to play music again, 20 years after an injury kept me from being able to play for even a few minutes without pain.  Since I was a little kid, I was always focused on being a good musician and never had much of a voice. So, in my 50s, 20 years of not playing -- I did noodle around every so often over the years, but my last DAW PC hard drive  died, I went 10 years without another DAW PC. I wanted to at least record some songs I wrote for my kids when they were very young (they're now teenagers) and the pandemic gave me a heightened sense of mortality, to do it now  so in case I was gone they would have some reminders of how much I love them (and also what a crap voice their old man had!). I also thought it would be cool to redo the demos of songs I wrote that my original band was planning to record with a singer we never found. So, it's weird playing again when you even wonder if you could play.

While I've been making multitrack recordings since I was probably 12 or 13.  I've only showed them with musicians and immediate family (all musicians). In all those years, I never learned the art of mixing. Starship Krupa offered to mix one of the first songs I ever shared in the Songs subforum.  I thought about taking him up on his offer, but didn't think it was worth his time. But I'll never forget his kind offer and encouragement and every time I see his posts, I always feel  like this man is a true mensch. 

Edited March 20, 2023 by PavlovsCat

[JoeGBradford]

This forum really needs a heart emoji in the reactions ?

[PavlovsCat]

20 hours ago, JoeGBradford said:

This forum really needs a heart emoji in the reactions ?

I've had that same thought many times.

This forum is the music related forum I spend 90% of online forum time at. Why? The people. This forum the most helpful and friendly community of any forum of its kind that I know of. 

I've led digital marketing, including social media,  at a bunch of companies, including some very large global brands and also ran a couple of forums for my own sites and I realize that the forum ownership plays a significant part of the community culture, so Bandlab and the moderators here also deserve significant credit for fostering and maintaining a really healthy community. 

Other forums that are a lot larger, like KVR and VI Control have their strengths,  but they have very different forum cultures, which are the result of many factors, like the forum's policies and what the forum moderators encourage and discourage.  Some of the sites can be very clickish. VI Control has always had these weird hanger on personality cults where developers and pro composers are rockstars and the ownership prioritizes around the developers,  as opposed to users, because that's where they make their money. Whereas Bandlab's forum policies-- even while I've been critical of the one about not letting developers deep link-- reflect that Bandlab has a very user centric approach and that's rare for this space. Bandlab and their moderators deserve a lot of credit for the very helpful and friendly culture they've nurtured. We're not a big community,  but we're big enough to make it very useful and having @cclarryis pretty much like having 20 additional members scouting and posting deals. 

Edited December 3, 2022 by PavlovsCat

[JoeGBradford]

@PavlovsCat Well said

I have always found people here to be incredibly helpful (even when I have asked stupid questions) There is a real sense of community and support. 

[PavlovsCat]

@DorondonI'm totally with you on 88E by Impact Soundworks. I've even used that library in a song and love it, particularly one patch that's reminiscent of an 80s orchestra hit patch that was used in some songs back then. 

[fret_man]

These Amplesound freebies all use their own player:

Ample Percussion Cloudrum: https://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=27

Ample Guitar M Lite: https://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=7

Ample Bass P Lite: https://www.amplesound.net/en/pro-pd.asp?id=19