Today there are more great free plugins than ever before, but the freeware scene is always changing. How can you know which free VSTs are worth installing? We scoured the internet for the absolute best of the best free VST plugins available.

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SAMPLED INSTRUMENTS

EFFECTS

KOMPLETE KONTROL

SAMPLES

KONTAKT PLAYER

REAKTOR PLAYER

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I’ve been storing a list of websites where you can download a large number of free VSTs to play around with VSTs . Its not a complete list, but the amount of VSTs that are on all these sites combined should be enough to keep you pre-occupied for quite a while If you’re interested in getting more cool VSTs check out VSTBuzz – a music software deals website!

The starred ones are my favourites, but the other sites in the list are well worth checking out aswell for some great little gems.

Tweak Bench : Great site. Really nice clean lay out, and allows you to donate money towards any vsts you like.

VST Categories: Synths, Samplers, Percussion/Drums

KVR Audio: Absolutely excellent site. Probably the “Daddy” of all VST and audio technology sites. Has a news section with the latest news in music technology. Developers challenges – competitions for people to make the best VSTs, banks and patches, the ability to rate plugins, huge community on the forums. One stop resource for pretty much all of the plugins out there.

VST categories: All

Rekkerd : Rekkerd only hosts good plugins. Some of the best ones hosted on there are the DSK ones – well worth a look at.

VST Categories: Instrument, effects, synths

Delamancha : Really nicely laid out site – easy to search, easy on the eyes. Has a freeware section, and a paid section (with demos). NB – All software on here is Windows ONLY

VST Categories: All

Don’t Crack : Brilliant website – well laid out, easy to navigate, has all the VSTs you need. Has RTAS, and MAS formats aswell. Allows you to sort by OS. This site has a huge amount of information and options on it – well worth checking out!

VST Categories: All

VST4Free: Pretty well laid out website. Lots of great VSTs on it. Easy to sift through

VST Categories: Drums, Synths, Instruments, Samplers, Vintage

VST Planet: Nicely laid out site. Good range of popular vsts and an “Editors Choice” list of plugins which is cool

VST Categories: Synths, Drums, Piano, Bass Synths, Organ

Gersic: “The Giant Plugins List” – really does have quite a lot of VSTs on it. 1957 in fact. Contains VST effects aswell as VST instruments. Good description for each plugin and pictures of all of them.

VST Categories: Ambience, Analog, Bass, Beat Slicer, Chip/LoTech, Drum, Frequency Modulation, Granular, Other, Phase Distortion, Physical Modeling, Sample Based

GTG Synths: Nice short list of only about 15 VSTS – quality over quantity on this site.

VST Categories: Synths, samplers, drums/percussion

AM VST : Nicely laid out site – great feature is that it gives you minimum system requirements for each vst. Only about 10 vsts on here.

VST Categories: Synths

Home Musician VST plugins : 29 free vst plugins – mainly synths – some vst effects too.

VST Categories: Synths

Free Plugin List : Easy to navigate – can search for Mac OS, or Windows, which is handy. Has wide range of plugins – random plugin selection also.

VST Categories: Mixed

Sad Glad : 670 VST plugins. Not a very attractive website, but it does the job. No ads anywhere on it. Directs you to the original homepages of the plugins, so if you’re searching for something specific, you’re better off just going to its website, rather than here.

VST Categories: All

Free Music Software: Clean site, easy to navigate. Has a number of good plugins on it.

VST Categories: Bass, ,Bass Guitar, Brass, Drum Machine, Drums, Electric Piano, Emulators, Exotic Instruments, Flute, Guitar, Lofi, Mellotron, Music Generator, Nature Sounds, Organ, Percussion, Piano, Saxophone, Strings, Synths

Audio Mastermind : Has one of the largest collections of vsts out there. Has pretty much everything you could want on it – 17348 links and 1112 categories.

VST Categories: All

TPG : Small amount of plugins – only about 12 overall. Quite harsh on the eyes – lots of retro synths on here.

VST Categories: Synths

VST Central : I’m having a hard time deciding if this is laid out well or not. In some ways its good and in other ways its difficult to follow. Handy in that it lists the OS for each VST, but not easy accessible in that you can’t sort by category – you have to search for a keyword, and hope it brings up what you want. Most of the links are user submitted which is different from the rest of the sites.

VST Categories: All

Free Vst Plugins Download

Shuttlebug Records : Mainly VST effects – some good ones on here, not much to offer though.

VST Categories: Synths, Effects

Free VST Blogspot : Some good VSTs on here. Not a huge range to offer, but worth a quick look

VST Categories: All

Free Loops : Generic VST site – has all the usual vsts on it, raning from instruments and synths to effects.

VST Categories: All

Destroy FX : Some good plugins on here, not a huge range, but whats on offer is good.

VST Categories: Mainly synths

Jeroen Bree Baart : Well laid out – allows you to download all of the vsts in a free .zip bundle which is nice.

VST Categories: All

Numerisson : Only windows VSTs on here. A good selection of VSTs

VST Categories: Synth and FX

MDA : Well laid out – has a nice option to download all of the vsts in a bundle (one bundle for Windows and another bundle for Mac OS) – which is always nice

VST Categories: All

Free Vst Download Websites

There you have it – a list of plenty of plugins for you to play around with. Honestly, I can say I havent tried many at all. However, one of my favourites that is just a lot of fun to play around with is Toad by Tweakbench – recreate those classic Nintendo sounds!