Best Free VST Plugins for Music Production 2024
In the world of music production, finding high-quality tools without having to remortgage your house can be tricky, but we’re here to help, and we’ve brought the best free VST plugins with us! Luckily, there are plenty of excellent VST plugins available for free, giving you powerful features and professional sounds, for free!.
Whether you’ve been in the game for decades, or just starting out, we’re going to show you how to level up any professional production without having to spend a penny! But before we show you our lists of the top free plugins, let’s look at the role that VSTs play in music production.
In this article
- The role of VST plugins in music creation
- Features of free plugins compared to paid plugins
- The best free synths plugins
- Samplers and Instruments free VSTs
- Other best free VST plugins
- Conclusion
The role of VST plugins in music creation
VST plugins play a central role in modern music creation by providing virtual instruments and effects that can be used within a digital audio workstation (DAW). They allow musicians and producers to create a wide range of sounds, from realistic pianos to epic synths, without needing physical instruments.
The best free instrument plugins offer high-quality sounds and FX, and can be installed on any computer and loaded up in the DAW of your choice. So let’s dive into the differences between the best free VSTs and their paid for counterparts.
Features of free plugins compared to paid plugins
When comparing the best free virtual instruments to paid plugins, it’s good to be upfront about the differences between them;
Free Plugins:
- Cost: No financial investment required.
- Variety: A wide range of sounds and instruments available.
- Community Support: Often supported by user communities with shared presets and can be open source, allowing you to get in on the future development of the plugin.
- Basic Features: Essential features are included, which makes them suitable for beginners.
Paid Plugins:
- Advanced Features: Extensive sound libraries and advanced functions.
- Professional Quality: Higher sound quality and more realistic emulations.
- Regular Updates: Frequent updates and improvements from developers.
- Customer Support: Dedicated support and resources for troubleshooting.
So there are advantages to laying down some of your hard earned cash on those premium VSTs, but some of the best free virtual instruments pack quite the unexpected punch, if you know where to look. So without further ado, let’s run down our best free VST plugins of 2024.
The best free synths plugins
Let’s kick things off with four of the best free synth VSTs out there today.
Tyrell N6
The Tyrell N6 is one of the best free VST synths available, featuring an analog sound inspired by vintage classic synths. It offers two oscillators, noise, ring modulation, and a monster 580 factory presets.
With built-in effects like chorus and overdrive, Tyrell N6 delivers more bang than you’d expect from a free synth, making it a favorite among music producers seeking powerful, free virtual instruments, and a mighty fine little brother to U-HE’s classic Diva synth.
If you want to sample the power of one of the biggest VST producers out there, but not have to part with your hard earned money, then the Tyrell N6 is one of the best free VSTs you could get your hands on.
OB-Xd
DiscoDSP’s OB-Xd is up there as one of the best free VST instruments and hits our list of best free VSTs in 2024, due its major new update . It emulates the iconic Oberheim OB-X, delivering the vintage sounds you’d expect from that synth.
Key features include two oscillators, extensive modulation options, and a variable filter with multiple modes. The plugin also offers built-in effects such as reverb and chorus to help out with sound design. Overall, the OB-Xd provides analog tones perfect for any genre.
It’s Been around for a few years, but unlike some free plugins, hasn’t just been dumped on the internet to stagnate, but is constantly updated, and remains at the top of the pile.
Dexed
An emulation of the vintage Yamaha DX7 synth, Dexed is one of the best free plugins for music production. Its features include six operators, a versatile modulation matrix, and a wide range of presets suitable for many different types of producers.
Dexed is one of the best VSTs out there for creating those classic FM synth sounds, so it’s the perfect place to start for producers of any kind of electronic music and hands down one of the best free VSTs on the market.
Helm
Helm is among the best free synth VSTs, known for its user-friendly interface and top of the range features. It has dual oscillators, a modulation matrix, and a truck load of excellent filters. Additionally, Helm includes built-in effects like reverb and distortion, making it a must have for any producer.
Helm is also open source, so you can head over to its Github Page and tweak the synth’s code, if that’s your thing!
Before we dive into our list of the best free VST instruments and samplers, why not check out that time when Sonic tutor, Bluffmonkey took us through the best free weird FX plugins he could find.
Samplers and Instruments free VSTs
Next up on our top VST plugins list, were going to have a look at a few of the best free VST samplers out there.
MT Power Drum Kit 2
This killer drum VST is spot on for anyone who wants to add that live drum sound to their tracks, without handing over hundreds of pounds for some fancy Kontakt Sample Packs. It features hundreds of preset grooves and fills that can all be sequenced into your own unique loops.
You can also send the MIDI from your loops and grooves to any other MIDI instrument channel in your DAW, making one of the best free VSTs for making killer live beats out there.
Sitala
Next up on our list of the best free VSTs, is this micro drum machine, which is an absolute banger for those looking to get one of the top free VST plugins for making beats. Its simple drag and drop interface, and straightforward controls, make a great uncomplicated starting point for beginners looking to work beyond the in-house plugins featured in their DAW.
LABS
Spitfire Audio have become household names for their groundbreaking sample packs over the last few years, and their free sample player, LABS, is hands down one of the best free instrument plugins out there today.
It’s a super easy sampler to use, but it really comes down to the amazing free sample packs that you can download and use straight away, as they are samples that just don’t sound like the average EDM sample pack, so if you;re looking for sounds that push the boundaries and don’t break the bank, LABS is the one.
LABS Percussion — FREE Realistic Drum Sounds
Before we continue, why not take a minute to check out Sonic Academy tutor and all round legend Haterade, take you through his choice of the best free vsts.
Other best free VST plugins
Finally here’s a few more of the best free vst plugins of 2024.
SA76
Okay were slightly bending the rules here, but our own amazing SA76 Limiter plug in is free to all our subscribers, so bounce over to the main site, grab a subscription that suits you, and you’ll get not only thousands of hours of the best tutorials in the world right now, but a FREE download of the SA76 Limiter plugin, which emulates the vintage 1176 compressors.
It’s simply one of the best free plugins out there right now.
Pancake 2
Pancake 2 is an example of doing just one thing, but doing it very well. It’s basically a panning plugin, but takes panning to ridiculous lengths, providing the ability to hand draw your own modulation curves, taking panning to insane places that other native DAW panning plugins dare not to tread!
A1TriggerGate
Alex HIlton has been making some amazing plugins in recent years, but his best free VST is undoubtedly the A1 Trigger Gate. As with Pancake 2, Trigger Gate does one thing very well, and that thing is applying rhythmic gate effects to any sound, way beyond the functions of most native gate plugins that you’ll find in your DAW.
You can also add built in FX such as delays and reverbs, and hit the random button to get the plugin to throw some randomized gate patterns in the mix.
Loudness Meter 2
This handy wee number gives you control over the overall loudness of your track, meaning that the final render is at the precise volume required for uploading to the major streamers like Spotify and Apple Music. It also helps to make sure that you’re not squashing your mixes with an overactive trigger finger on your DAWs native limiter and compressors.
There’s a paid-for version you can upgrade to for extra features, but the basic verison is lifetime free, making it one of the best free plugins for music production out there today.
MAutoPitch
Absolutely essential for fixing those wonky vocal takes, or just tweaking things a little after recording, as it automatically detects and corrects any pitch issues with your sound.. But that’s not all this free plugin can do, it can also act like a compressor with its auto gain control, so vocal takes don’t push tha track into the red.
Conclusion
Some may say that the best sounds come with a price, and that no one can make a stone cold professional sounding banger without installing hundreds of pounds of third party plugins onto your computer.
Well in our opinion, some would be wrong, as there are literally a plethora of free plugins out there, and some of the best free VSTs can offer functionality and sounds that rival even the best paid for plugins. Don’t just take our word for it, get downloading some of the VSTs we’ve mentioned above, and see what you think.
