Orchestral VSTs have never been more accessible to producers.
Soaring strings, fluttering woodwinds, and deep brass will bring an epic and emotional quality to your tracks and enhance their dramatic energy.
Orchestral libraries can contain thousands of samples and several instrument specific articulations. It’s not surprising that many paid orchestral plugins can cost upwards of a thousand dollars.
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You get what you pay for when it comes to plugins, but the quality of free has been on the rise.
That’s why I’m rounding up the 6 best free orchestral VSTs capable of emulating a real orchestra.
Let’s get started.
1. Spitfire LABS
Spitfire LABS is a top contender when it comes to free plugins.
LABS is an ongoing series of free software instruments made by musicians and sampling experts in London. It’s updated with new sounds constantly, and sports an easy to use user interface.
Their soft piano plugin is still a go-to piano sound for many professional composers. Some musicians have used it to write entire albums of solo piano music.
LABS offers top quality string samples, warm brass samples, and several other unique additions of the orchestra.
LABS offers top quality string samples, warm brass samples, and several other unique additions of the orchestra.
2. Orchestral Tools Layers
Orchestral Tools is a high quality orchestral library creator. It’s no surprise that their free offering packs some of the best free orchestral sounds you can get.
Layers’ packs 17 GB of orchestral samples. It includes four different microphone positions and a variety of articulations.
It allows you to generate full chords with one touch of a button. It’s also capable of MIDI keyswitching, which gives you tons of control to blend instrument sections and shift dynamics.
Layers’ was recorded on the Teldex Scoring Stage in Berlin. This recording environment gives it a professional sound with top quality acoustics. It’s one of the most realistic sounding free orchestral libraries available.
3. The Total Composure Orchestra
The Total Composure Orchestra is a full orchestral sample library. It was created by using samples that are in the public domain.
The public domain consists of creative work that has no exclusive intellectual property rights. All the 1500 samples in the total composure orchestra are pre-cleared for use in your music.
The public domain consists of creative work that has no exclusive intellectual property rights.
The Total Composure Orchestra uses Native Instruments Kontakt as a sample loader. That means you’ll get access to the advanced Kontakt scripting features that make samples sound even more realistic.
Kontakt isn’t free, but it’s a worthwhile tool to invest in if you plan on using more orchestral libraries in the future.
4. Project Sam’s The Free Orchestra
The Free Orchestra by Project Sam is a collection of samples from many of their paid products. It’s the high quality sample platter of orchestral libraries.
The Free Orchestra’s samples range from epic string staccatos to dystopian sound design.
The Free Orchestra’s samples range from epic string staccatos to dystopian sound design.
The best thing about this orchestral VST is that it runs in the free version of Kontakt—the Kontakt Player. This is perfect if you want to get started with Kontakt libraries without the commitment of buying the full version.
The Free Orchestra features incredible options for sound design. Parameters such as envelope controls, effects, octaver, and reverse make it one of the most versatile plugins on this list.
The Free Orchestra is the perfect entry level orchestra for any genre.
5. BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover by Spitfire Audio
BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover is another incredible offering from Spitfire Audio. Discover was designed to make orchestral scoring accessible to all music creators.
In the past, you would have to make an investment of hundreds of dollars or more to begin composing with an orchestra.
Discover includes 35 instruments and 47 techniques. All the instruments are premixed into one mix signal. This gives you a bit less control than a paid library, while still boasting a professional sound.
Discover includes “mode switching” which allows you to share your compositions with others. Composers that have different editions of the Spitfire Symphonic Orchestra can play and edit your music. This is also convenient if you plan on upgrading from Discover to one of Spitfire Audio’s paid offerings.
6. Versilian Chamber Orchestra Community
Versilian Chamber Orchestra Community is an open source version of Versilian Chamber Orchestra 2. It was created for musicians that want to create better sounding music using sample libraries without the cost.
The VSCO Community edition comes with 19 unique instruments, and 3000 individual samples. The library includes the basic articulations of the orchestra. It allows you to create realistic mockups right out of the box.
You’ll need a sample loader to run this library. Luckily, this library is compatible with the free sample loader Sforzando, which runs .sfz files.
This is a helpful non-proprietary format that stores instrument data for software synthesizers.
VSCO Community is also compatible with the full version of Kontakt.
Fork over the Orch
Free orchestral libraries used to ‘sound’ like they were free. Now, you can get a pro orchestral sound in your DAW with no financial commitment.
These libraries are a dime a dozen. Try them out in your DAW and make an epic banger.
They’ll be a good indicator of what will come next on your shopping list.
Last Updated on December 15, 2020.
What better way to add some embellishments to your songs than with an orchestral plugin? Even better if its free, right?
Orchestral samples, and samples in general, have come a long way.
They were practically unusable back in the day, but now, even though you can hear the difference between a sample software and the real deal, they sound astoundingly similar.
I love finding free software that actually works, so in this post I will go into each of the ones I found and tried, this way you won’t have to do any of the research and try the ones that sucked, like I did!
All of the download links are included!
The Best Orchestral Plugins are:
Best Free Full Orchestra VSTs
While every single one on this list is a good plugin overall, there are two which stand out.
Layers by Orchestral Tools
Layers is an ultra realistic orchestral sample library that features a full orchestra, Brass-, Woodwinds-, and Strings sections.
You can choose between a couple different mic positions and it also features different articulations; different chord types, staccato and sustain unison, and more.
In total, the sample pack is about 17GB and runs on Windows 10 and Mac OS.
Lastly, Layers works with Orchestral Tools’ SINE Player.
You can download Layers here.
Total Composure Orchestra (Windows, Mac, Linux)
Total Composure Orchestra is a full orchestral sample library created using only samples in the public domain.
Total Composure is the first to offer such a library exclusively for the Kontakt format; making use of Kontakt’s scripting capabilities to greatly enhance the playability, realism, and functionality of these public domain samples.
This is a fantastic plugin, it comes with a huge array of instruments from pianos, to brass instruments, strings and percussion.
One bad thing about this plugin is that it runs both on Kontakt Player, which is free, and the full version of Kontakt, but on Kontakt player you can only use the samples for about 30 min before it stops working.
If you want to be able to use them to their fullest extent, you will need to purchase Kontakt.
You can download Total Composure Orchestra here.
Related: List of the best Choir VST Plugins available.
Spitfire LABS
I mentioned Spitfire in a couple of my posts simply because they have some of my top recommendations as far as free plugins go.
LABS is basically a collection of free VST and AU plugins that not only sound fantastic, but that is also being updated consistently, with new plugins being added over time.
Here you will find great-sounding samples of any orchestral instrument you can think of.
You can download LABS here.
The Free Orchestra by Project Sam
Project Sam is behind Symphobia, which is one of the best-rated libraries for film scoring, video games and TV, and they created the Free Orchestra library which contains bits and pieces of all of their paid products.
What struck me the most about this free library is how great it sounds as soon as you load it up; there is little to no tweaking required.
Now, it runs on KONTAKT (6.2. or higher), but luckily it works in the free version which can be beneficial to you if you’re interested in using KONTAKT but don’t want to purchase the premium version just yet.
Parameters such as envelope controls, effects, octaver, and reverse make this library very versatile to use.
All in all, if you’re a beginner tipping their toes into the whole orchestral world, this entry level library could just be what you need.
You can download the Free Orchestra here.
DSK Overture Orchestra (Windows)
DSK Overture is a full orchestral sample VST plugin.
It gives you the ability to choose between 40 different instruments and play 4 of those instruments in the same instance, through MIDI.
The included instruments are; Acoustic Piano, Harpsichord, Bassoon, Celesta, Glockenspiel, Vibes, Harp, Flute, Piccolo, English Horns, Oboe, Clarinet, French Horn, Trumpet, Church Organ, Trombone, Tuba, Cello, Contra Bass, Viola, Violin, Orchestra Drum Kit, Full Sections.
Honestly, what makes this plugin great is the variety of instruments, since there is no shortage of them, plus they all sound pretty damn good!
You can download DSK Overture here.
BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover by Spitfire Audio
Here’s another great addition by Spitfire.
The BBC Symphonic Orchestra Discover actually sells for $49, but you can fill out a form and they will send it to you after 14 days for completely free.
This library is clearly aimed at beginners since it is very simple to use and straight-forward, plus it already comes premixed into one mix signal which gives you less control over it, but makes things easier if you’re just starting out.
It features a total of 33 instruments and 47 techniques, and thanks to Spitfire’s new mode switching technology, you can share and collaborate with fellow composers, regardless of which edition they own.
Free Sound Kits For Fl Studio
You can download the BBC Symphonic Orchestra here.
If you’re also Interested in finding the best sounding Free Drum Vst Plugins, then read this article I wrote about the ones I think are absolutely fantastic.
One Track Orchestra (Windows)
One Track orchestra is primarily a sketching tool, meant to be used for songwriting and recording demos and aimed mostly at beginners and songwriters who need a simple tool to create and record music.
Therefore, the sound quality and usability aren’t the best ones out there.
The plugin was created using samples from VSCO Community Edition and assembled with Maize Sampler.
It is available as 32-bit & 64-bit VST plugin for Windows.
You can download One Track Orchestra Here.
Related: I love free plugins, so I put together a list of the best Free Synth VST Plugins out there which you can check out here,
Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra (Windows)
The Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra Module contains the full SSO by Mattias Westlund, in one simple VST plugin (32 & 64bit)
The SSO samples are stereo, 16 bit, 44kHz.
While it’s not the most professional Orchestral Sample Plugin out there, it will certainly provide the building blocks for creating some astounding virtual orchestra sounds.
Melodic instruments and chromatic percussion are sampled in minor 3rds and all samples have varying amounts of stage ambience, depending on their front-to-back placement.
SSO is the one plugin on this list that provides the highest number of instruments.
You get loads of String instruments, Brass instruments, Woodwind instruments, Keys and Choirs, Chromatic Percussion and Regular Percussion.
You can download it here.
DSK Virtuoso (Windows)
DSK Virtuoso allows you to play a combination of 6 layer instruments, or to play a composition up to 6 different parts, through the MIDI channels selectors.
The included instruments are;
Acoustic Piano, Harpsichord, Church Organ, Celesta, Glockenspiel, Vibes, Harp, Flute, Piccolo, English Horns, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, French Horn, Trumpet, Trombone, Tuba,
Cello, ContraBass, Viola, Violin, Orchestra Drum Kit, and more.
Free Sounds For Fl Studio 12
You can download DKS Virtuoso here.
You may also be interested in trying out some Free Bass Amp VST Plugins which should help you achieve a better sounding mix!
VSCO2 – Chamber Orchestra 2 (Windows, Mac)
Free Fl Studio Sound Download
The Community Edition, which is the free edition of these samples, comes with a total of 19 instruments, ranging from Woodwinds to Brass, Keys, Mallets, Strings and Percussion.
Decades of work have gone into creating these samples using nothing but the best equipment to capture them.
You can download the VSCO2 library here.
Learn how to Produce music
If you want to learn how to produce music at home the right way and without making too many mistakes, then I’d recommend that you read these posts;
Conclusion
The reason I like these kinds of plugins so much is that you can create complete song just by using virtual instruments.
You will need a good MIDI controller to do this properly and fast, even though you can manually add in every note in your DAW.
I hope this information was useful!
See you on the next one.