Here are the best free orchestral VST plugins online that can be used with FL Studio, Reason, Ableton Live, and other music programs.
I’ve compiled free orchestral plugins, including features, screenshots, and videos. This is the ultimate collection of orchestra instruments, including violins, cellos, horns, grand pianos, woodwinds, harps, flutes, and more.
What Is An Orchestral VST Plugin? Orchestral plugins are virtual instruments designed to help you imitate the sound of an orchestra. Musicians and composers usually use these plugins to add realism to their music projects. These can include a variety of instruments, such as string, brass, pianos, and percussion instruments.
Best Orchestral VST Plugins
- Chamber Orchestra 2
- One Track Orchestra
- Sonatina Orchestra
- Total Composure Orchestra
- The Free Orchestra
- Symphony Orchestra Discover
- Orchestral Tools Layers
- Big Bang Orchestra
- Virtual Playing Orchestra
- Edirol Orchestral
- DSK Overture
- Amplified Cello Quartet
- Upright Piano
- Orchestral Strings One
- TruePianos
- Serpo
- Grand Piano XXL
- Etherealwinds Harp
- DSK The Grand
- DSK ChoirZ
Some of these plugins are specifically designed for composers or producers who want to create music for film and television. Others are designed for musicians who want to produce their own compositions or arrangements.
I’ve personally downloaded and tested hundreds of free VST plugins, and here are the top free orchestral ones.
Tutorial: How to Install VST Plugins
Instructions: Click the links below to visit each orchestral VST plugin. Look around each website for the download link or button. Do not install any suspicious software.
Chamber Orchestra 2
VSCO2 Rompler is a complete orchestral instruments rompler. This plugin includes over 2000 samples for 25 instruments with articulations and round-robin samples, depending on the instrument. The sounds of this plugin are comparable to many paid orchestral plugins.
It is an excellent alternative to paid add-ons like Big Bang Orchestra by Vienna Symphonic Library, EastWest Hollywood Strings, Spitfire Symphonic, and Garritan Orchestra.
Features
- 25 Virtual Orchestral Instruments
- ADSR Controls
- Intuitive Interface
- Orchestral Instruments & Free Orchestral Sounds
- Reverb & Panning Controls
- Entire Orchestra
- Completely Free
- MIDI Keyboard Support
VSCO2 Rompler | PC & Mac
One Track Orchestra
One Track Orchestra is a simple and free orchestral plugin created to help you sketch/prototype your orchestral arrangements and productions easily and quickly.
One Track | PC
Sonatina Orchestra
The Sonatina Orchestra Module is a complete orchestral instruments rompler. There are 20 instruments and over 50 articulations, including a soloist for every major instrument except the Viola and Double Bass.
There are sections for all the essential instruments, including the Viola and Double Bass.
Articulations include Pizzicato for the string sections and Staccato for the strings, brass, and flute sections. There are also plenty of percussions and an acoustic piano, harp, and choir—a great alternative to Diamond Symphony Orchestra.
Sonatina | PC
Total Composure Orchestra
The Total Composure orchestra (TCO) is an entire orchestral sample library, and symphony orchestral created using only samples that are in the public domain.
Total Composure is the first to offer such a sizeable symphonic library exclusively for the Kontakt format, using Kontakt’s scripting capabilities to significantly enhance these public domain samples’ playability, realism, and functionality.
Total Composure | PC / Kontak
The Free Orchestra
The Free Orchestra VST plugin includes orchestral samples from ProjectSAM and offers a variety of cinematic orchestral sounds that have been taken from their expansive symphonic library.
The Free Orchestra features a wide selection of string instruments, horns, brass clusters, choirs, and percussive instruments, which offer the modern composer many options.
These orchestral sounds work with the Native Instruments Kontakt Player and include multiple articulations, expressive controls, and an innovative interface that makes it extremely easy to operate.
The Free Orchestra is a great alternative to Spitfire Symphonic, EastWest Hollywood Strings, and Garritan Personal Orchestra. One of the top picks in my list, this orchestral plugin stands out with its clean design and great sounds.
Features:
- 1 GB Orchestral Sound Library
- Wide selection of instruments
- Innovative, easy interface
- Works with Kontakt Player
- Multiple articulations
Pros:
- 100% free to use
- High-quality sounds
- Professional sound control
- 16 cinematic instruments
Cons:
- Requires Kontakt Player
- Might be complex for beginners
- Specific to orchestral sounds
Link | PC & Mac
Spitfire Audio Symphony Orchestra Discover
Spitfire Audio Symphony Orchestra Discover offers 33 instruments such as strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussions, and is compatible with most major music creation software like Garageband to Pro Tools. Great for creating orchestral arrangements and sound design.
You can find a Free link under the Add to Cart button.
- Orchestral Sound Libraries
- Intuitive Interface
Spitfire | PC & Mac
Orchestral Tools Layers
Orchestral Tools Layers is a free orchestral VST instrument that makes adding orchestral sounds to music compositions easy.
- 17GB of Samples
- Recordings of Strings, Woodwinds, & Brass
- Orchestral Sound Libraries
Layers | PC & Mac
Vienna Symphonic Library Big Bang Orchestra
The Big Bang Orchestra offers a massive orchestral download of 1.4 GB of free symphonic sounds.
Big Bang | PC & Mac
Virtual Playing Orchestra
The Virtual Playing Orchestra is a free orchestra sample library, including section and solo instruments for woodwinds, strings, brass, and percussion instruments.
The orchestral library offers a variety of articulations on most instruments for an authentic sound.
Link | PC & Mac
Edirol Orchestral
The Edirol Orchestral plugin features premium acoustic sounds for an entire orchestra, focusing on Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion. It offers realistic articulations such as vibrato, tremolo, pizzicato, and spiccato.
Link | PC
DSK Overture
Classic free Orchestral plugin includes Harpsichord, Church Organ, Celesta, Glockenspiel, Vibes, Harp, Flute, Piccolo, English Horns, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba, Cello, Contra Bass, Viola, Violin, Orchestral Drum Kit, Full Sections. Great alternative to IK Multimedia Miroslav Philharmonik.
- Amp. envelope
- MIDI channel selector
- Panorama control
- Level, gain, and mute control
- Advanced multimode filter (HP, LP, BP1, BP2, notch)
- Filter amp. envelope
- Fx (Reverb, Delay & Chorus)
- Midi automation
- Simple User Interface
DSK Overture | PC
Amplified Cello Quartet
There are a lot of great cello instruments out there, but the Amplified Cello Quartet is by far the best. Christian Henson Harry Wilson recorded it in two rooms, one for the cello and the other for the amplifier.
As a result of the amps being driven hard, the strings could be turned up to 11. You can also use effects pedals to achieve a particular sound. Spitfire Audio’s collection of VST plugins offers unique instruments and high-quality samples.
- Single Interface
- Reverb Effects
Amplified Quartet | PC & Mac
Upright Piano
Upright Piano is a grand piano instrument. It’s sampled at four notes per octave and has six dynamic layers for each note.
Link | PC & Mac
Orchestral Strings One
Orchestral Strings One was recorded utilizing the legendary acoustics in the famous Berliner Hall – home of the world-class Berliner Philharmoniker.
This full-string orchestral contains 14 violins, 10 Violas, 8 Cellos, and 6 Double Basses.
Link | PC / Mac / AU
TruePianos
TruePianos is a plugin designed to give inspiration to musicians who play keyboards. It’s made up of five modules that are optimized for real-time performance.
Link | PC & Mac
Serpo
Serpo offers a wide selection of virtual orchestral instruments. It provides Violins, Trumpets, Vocals, Organs, Rhodes, Grand piano, etc.
Serpo | PC / Mac / AU
Grand Piano XXL
The Grand Piano XXL is a sampled Yamaha C5 Grand Piano with 16 velocity layers.
The attack and release control allows for adjusting the volume over time, which is important to simulate a piano performance as it can be more subtle and delicate on certain parts of the song than others.
Plugin | PC
Etherealwinds Harp
Etherealwinds Harp is a sampling of a diatonic folk harp recorded by the Newgrounds musician Etherealwinds.
- Diatonically sampled, 2x RR, three velocity layers
- Celtic Lever/Folk Harp with a delicate, warm tone
- Full Decays Sampled
- Samples are mono
- NKI version included
Etherealwinds | PC & Mac
DSK The Grand
If you’re looking for grand piano sounds without paying for a real piano, this is a great plugin with four different velocity layers, ADSR envelope controls, and reverb effects.
It is one of the best grand piano VST plugins on the market is a powerful and straightforward plugin and is one of the best in its category.
DSK The Grand | PC & Mac
DSK ChoirZ
Choirs and vocal VST instrument by DSK Music.
- 3 Layers with 32 Choir & Pad sounds
- ADSR, Finetuning and Pan control
- 3 Advanced Filters
- 3 LFO routing to Cut, Pan, Level, and Pitch
- Chorus effect
- Reverb Effect
- Velocity response
- Midi automation
DSK ChoirZ | PC
Keyzone Classic
The Keyzone Classic plugin is a free sample-based piano VST plugin on Windows and Apple OS systems.
- Yamaha Grand
- Steinway Grand
- Electric Piano
- Rhodes Piano
Keyzone Classic | PC & Mac
DSK Strings
There are two layers and 22 waveforms in DSK Strings, a powerful strings plugin. You can customize the delay and flanger effects using MIDI automation with the strings. Fine-tuning can be accomplished by selecting an octave and using the micro-detuner.
DSK Strings | PC
Orchestral Bells
BellsEbuth is a sampled orchestral bell. It contains 40 stereo samples from the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios public domain library.
- 40 stereo 24-bit samples
- Release time
- Sustain level
- Amplitude dynamic range control
- Main volume
BellsEbuth | Mac & PC
Cello Freebie
This cello VST plugin has a 1,372 sample pool and 4 round robins. Using this method, the cello can be played with a more realistic feeling, as the sound will be different each time the instrument is played.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced musician, this is an excellent option. Adding a cello to music without hiring a cellist is easy with its realistic and natural sound.
Link | PC
Iowa Tuba
The Iowa Tuba plugin is a free brass tuba made by the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios. It can be used to create sounds such as deep horn blasts, heart-piercing notes, and haunting melodies.
Iowa Tuba | PC & Mac
Piano One
This piano plugin allows you to play pianos in a variety of styles. The note duration limit of 18 seconds should be plenty of time to create an elaborate soundscape.
Link | Mac / PC
VibroMaster
VibroMaster is a sampled vibraphone. It contains 42 stereo samples from the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios public domain library.
You can use a sustain pedal to play with full release notes, but if you don’t have one, you can switch from Short to Full release with the midi notes A2 (57) for short and B2 (59) for full. These two notes can be triggered from the GUI.
- 42 stereo 24-bit samples
- Two groups: Short / Full release
- Release time control for the short group
- Sustain levels for each group
- Amplitude dynamic range control
- Main volume
VibroMaster | PC & Mac
Labs Soft Piano
The Spitfire Audio Labs Soft Piano is one of the best Grand Piano plugins because it has an easy-to-use interface, produces soft tones perfect for a wide range of musical styles, and versatile sound design allows it to be incorporated into a wide range of music genres.
Labs | PC & Mac
Iowa Tenor Trombone
The Iowa Tenor Trombone is a sampled tenor trombone from the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios.
This instrument has been designed to behave like a traditional brass instrument, but with some important differences: higher dampening and richer timbral dynamics.
Iowa Tenor | PC & Mac
Kettle Drum
The kettle Drum is a timpani orchestral percussion.
Kettle Drum | PC
DSK Brass
DSK Brass is a free brass plugin that offers several orchestral instruments, 23 waveforms, audio effects, etc.
Brass | PC
Labs Micah’s Choir
A collection of vocal choir performances is offered by Micah’s Choir by Spitfire Audio. Great free alternative to the BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover plugin.
Labs | PC & Mac
Cellofan
The Cellofan is a simple virtual instrument. The plugin controls the sound production with attack and release and the expressive qualities with slide.
You can use this instrument as a supplement to the arsenal of a cellist or as a primary tool while playing a cello solo.
Cellofan | PC
IxoxFlute
IxoxFlute is a free sampled flute plugin where each flute octave was recorded. The plugin offers three octaves and three velocity layers.
Link | PC & Mac
Sonatina Choir
Sonatina Choir is a sampled male and female choir. Samples were edited from the Sonatina Symphonic Orchestral sample library.
Sonatina Choir | PC & Mac
LABS Frozen Strings
The LABS Frozen Strings is a free string VST plugin with six-string players recorded dry on a cold day in January by Christian Henson.
Labs | PC & Mac
DSK World StringZ
DSK World StringZ offers a variety of string instruments for your playing pleasure. You can choose from the Celtic harp, Koto, Dulcimer, Columbus, dobro, Kanun, Tar, and Turkish oud.
DSK World | PC
Sonatina Cello
Sonatina Cello is a sampled cello with an incredibly realistic sound. Four sample groups have been edited from the Sonatina Symphonic Orchestral library, and they sound great.
Sonatina Cello is a cello instrument that sounds realistic and is easy to use.
Sonatina Cello | PC & Mac
Labs Scary Strings
A small ensemble of string players performs haunting string sounds on Labs Scary Strings.
Labs | PC & Mac
Karoryfer x bigcat Cello ( Kontakt)
An extensive range of features can be found in this cello virtual instrument. Cello sustains are convincing, and pizzicato sounds realistic. It has four velocity layers that respond in different ways to how hard the strings are struck or plucked, which helps make it sound more natural.
The plugin offers four round robins to avoid repetition and good scripting for the vibrato, legato, and harmonics samples. Percussive noise samples are also available.
Karoryfer | PC & Mac
Virharmonic Violin Freebie
Virharmonic has created some free beautiful violin instruments. They can be downloaded with the UVI player on their website.
- Articulations Chromatically Sampled
- 4 Dynamic Layers
- Spiccato Rhythms
Virharmonic | PC / Mac / AU / AAX
Sonatina Flute
The Sonatina Flute is a sampled flute plugin edited from the Sonatina Symphonic Orchestral music library.
Sonatina | PC & Mac
DSK Virtuoso
With DSK Virtuoso, you can play great combinations of 6 layer instruments or play an orchestral composition of up to 6 different parts through the MIDI channel selectors.
- 6 Instrument layers.
- Midi channel is assignable to each one.
- ADSR, level, and Pan control for each layer.
- 40 instruments in 6 categories.
- 2 Send Fx (Chours & delay).
- 1 Master Reverb Effect.
- Velocity response.
Virtuoso | PC
VSCO2 Piccolo
The VSCO2 Piccolo plugin is a free sampled Piccolo flute plugin that features samples created by Versilian Studios and Sam Gossner.
VSCO2 | PC & Mac
pocketBlakus Cello ( Kontact )
This is a free plugin that can be used with any DAW. It was created with a Rode K2 valve mic and came with two patches – for long sustained notes and short, choppy notes.
The spiccato patch has a dynamic layer with velocity-controlled dynamics. Unconnected notes give an “on the bow” staccato feel, while connected notes have a more airy “off the bow” sound.
The library is dry, so you can make your reverb stand out by adding it to the cello.
PocketBlakus | PC
Section Strings
The Section Strings uses recorded cello and viola samples to cover 5 octaves for a 61-note keyboard. The plugin includes controls for gain, pan, ADSR, and a built-in reverb effect.
Link | PC
VSCO2 Violin
Versilian Studios is a free Violin VST plugin that has provided thousands of composer opportunities over the past half-decade to produce professional soundtracks.
You can create a new musical piece through different textures, timbres, and other musical compositional elements.
Chamber strings are a type of string instrument. They have a clean sound and are sometimes used for intimate concerts. They’re also rare in some cases.
VSCO2 | PC & Mac
4Front R-Piano
The 4Front R-Piano plugin offers a digital recreation of the classical Rhodes, with its signature gentle overdrive and characteristic sound.
This module is not based solely on samples but instead uses 127 continuous layers to create a smooth vintage Rhodes sound.
These are not just simple samples but instead act as 127 individual layers that can be used, changed, controlled, and manipulated separately from each other to create a unique sound.
4Front | PC & Mac
DVS Saxophone
This saxophone plugin was designed to emphasize expressive playing, so the velocity and pitch bend is carefully tuned to affect the filters significantly. Furthermore, the reverb has been configured to complement the saxophone sound.
Link | PC
DSK SaxophoneZ
DSK SaxophoneZ offers three types of Saxophones: Soprano, Alto, and Tenor.
Link | PC & Mac
Bigcat Cello
This plugin is designed to be as flexible as possible. The Bigcat instrument incorporates controllable and expressive vibrato and legato controls that can be applied to close-miked samples.
Sustain, staccato, and pizzicato samples are included with up to four velocity layers and four round-robin variations. Great for orchestral productions.
To use Kontakt libraries, you need to have the Kontakt player. The Kontakt interface makes it easy to tweak and customize sounds.
Bigcat | PC & Mac
Matnitron
Matnitron is a strings module with an amplitude envelope generator that allows for real-time control of the amplitude and pitch of the instrument via automation.
Matnitron | PC
Orpheus
The Orpheus plugin is a string and organ machine that offers 128 voice polyphonic, vibrato, chorus effects, delays, and more.
Orpheus | PC
Upright No. 1
The Upright No. 1 piano is a clean sampling of an upright with a broad dynamic range and a bright, clear tone. It is perfect for those who are looking for a lightweight sketching piano that can be used for orchestral music.
Upright No. 1 | PC & Mac
Flutelab
The Flutelab is a free flute VST plugin that offers audio effects such as reverb, overdrive, chorus, and more.
- 24 Audio Presets
- 3 Oscillators / 2 LFOs / 2 Envelopes
Flutelab | PC
LABS Cello Moods
Music from cellist Alice Allen is featured in Cello Moods. Great for orchestral scoring.
Labs | PC & Mac
Skerratt London Piano
Skerratt London’s Piano is a sampled upright piano with an extensive range of features that make it simple and easy to use. It has a warm and mellow tone, perfect for various music styles.
Skerratt London Piano | PC & Mac
LABS Tape Orchestra
Tape Orchestra offers a range of free orchestral and synth recordings that were processed through tape processors to add distorted textures.
Labs | PC & Mac
Aerophone
Aerophone is a modern app that offers a variety of lip valve instruments, including trumpets and trombones.
By modeling the lip valve with an oversampled mass-spring, it is possible to simulate the expressive acoustic performance that would have been present had the instrument been played by a live musician.
Aerophone | PC
LABS Mandolin
LABS Mandolin offers orchestral elements of picked and fingered instruments. Great free Labs BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover alternative.
Labs | PC & Mac
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is an Orchestral VST?
An orchestral VST is intended to create the sounds of an orchestra. They often include instruments in an orchestra such as strings, brass, woodwinds, percussions, pianos, and more. They are often used by composers, film scorers, and game music composers.
What Is the Best Free Orchestral VST?
The top 6 best free orchestral VSTs are the Chamber Orchestra 2, One Track Orchestra, Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra, Total Composure Orchestra, The Free Orchestra, and Virtual Playing Orchestra. These plugins have a great selection of high-quality and realistic instruments.
These options provide professional sound quality that can rival that of a real orchestra, making them a great choice for sound designers, music producers, and other creatives. With world-class musicians behind the development of these orchestral sound libraries, they are a great option for anyone looking to add a great-sounding orchestral instrument to their sound design toolkit.
While there are other options out there, these virtual instruments provide a great orchestral sound without breaking the bank.
These plugins are great free alternatives to paid orchestral plugins such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover, and UVI Orchestral Suite.
I hope you enjoy these free orchestral VST plugins.
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