Virtual instruments are software emulations of traditional instruments or hardware electronic musical instruments.
There is a staggering range of virtual instruments available nowadays, covering multi-timbral rompler modules to dedicated emulations of guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, and more.
VolumeShaper 6 runs in Cableguys' ShaperBox 2 effects plugin. Use it on its own, or combine it with Time, Crush, Filter, Pan and Width Shapers for elaborate, multilayered effects. Find out more and download the free VolumeShaper 6 demo at the Cableguys website – try it in your tracks today. This plugin is available in VST and AU 32 bit formats. So you can use them with Windows and Mac DAW software which supports VST and AU. Download Ambiance free. Variety of Sound’s epicVerb. EpicVerb is a well known free reverb plugin. I have used it a few years ago and truly satisfied with this plugin.
Some of these VSTi plugins (as they’re also called) are free. So in this article we’ll take a look at some of the best free virtual instruments you can download today. Many of which are pro worthy.
Find more great gear here:
Intro: About Virtual Instruments
The benefits of virtual instruments are fairly obvious. They take up much less space than their hardware equivalents, they don’t overheat, and many of them have virtually unlimited polyphony. They are also much easier to edit and they almost never break down.
Here we run down some of the most intriguing virtual instruments currently available. Although some purists may scoff at the idea of these replacing their well-loved guitars or keyboards, there is no denying that they provide a surprising range of great sounds at a price that even professional musicians will appreciate.
Best Free VSTi Plugins
Volumeshaper Free Download
The List
The Roundup
Native Instruments’ Kontakt Player is arguably the Don of all free virtual instrument plug-ins. Based on the company’s own hugely successful Kontakt sampler, Kontakt Player effectively hosts all sample-based instruments developed for its more fully-featured big brother.
The compatibility goes the other way as well. All free instruments developed specifically for Kontakt Player will load up and play in the full version of Kontakt. Between the two, there is a staggering assortment of free and paid instruments, all boasting of the trademark Native Instrument quality.
To get budget-savvy musicians and producers started, NI offers a free Kontakt Factory Selection consisting of 50 premium instruments. Some of these are slightly cut-down versions of the instruments developed for Kontakt, while some are full versions developed specifically for Kontakt Player.
Volumeshaper 4 Au Vst Download Free Pc
While Kontakt Player focuses mainly on standard instrument libraries, Native Instruments’ Reaktor Player is geared more towards the synthesis side of things.
Demonstration
Reaktor is of course the full-blown modular synthesis environment that gives users unparalleled and unlimited opportunity to design virtually any type of synthesizer, sequencer, or signal processor they could think of from scratch. With Reaktor Player, users are able to play back a wide variety of instruments and effects developed in and for Reaktor, with a more modest set of editing capabilities.
As with Kontakt Player, there is a huge range of ready-made instruments available for use in Reaktor Player. NI even offers two free devices to get you started: the Blocks Wired pre-patched modular synth and the Mikro Prism synthesizer.
Reaktor Player obviously doesn’t come close to providing the depth of power and customizability offered by the full version of Reaktor. Nevertheless, it is a good introduction to modular synthesis. Furthermore, the availability of hundreds of Reaktor instruments cover a board range of sound-crafting options.
Ample Guitar M Lite is the free version of Ample Sounds’ popular AGM guitar simulator. Emulating the warm, rich tones of the Martin D-41 acoustic guitar, Ample Guitar M Lite is now on its second version.
For the price of a free download, you get an enhanced set of features that now match the capabilities of the full version. The note range now spans E1 – C5, and the plug-in now works as a standalone instrument. Even if you do opt to use the instrument in your DAW, multiple instances will take up much less resources than before, and they will load up faster as well.
Demonstration
As you may have guessed from the name, Ample Bass P Lite is Ample Sound’s free bass guitar sample player plug-in. A cut-down version of the full Ample Bass P II component of the company’s Bass Series product line, this plug-in has fewer samples and fewer round robin variations than the full version. It also has a smaller note range than the paid product, covering D1 to F4. Nevertheless, the Ample Bass P Lite does a good job of cranking out the distinctive tones of the Fender Precision Bass, which it models.
Manda Audio’s MT Power Drum Kit is a free drum sampler that has a fairly wide selection of acoustic drum kit sounds. Great care has been taken to record and process the original samples, giving users a range of high-quality drum sounds perfectly suited for pop, rock, and even metal.
Those who wish to process their drum sounds with their own plug-ins might not appreciate the fact that the MT Power Drum’s sounds are already processed. Nevertheless, EQ and compression were applied quite tastefully, and the sounds should fit in well in most mixes.
Demonstration
Togu Audio Line Betterzip 4 2 – archiving tool. has garnered quite a bit of acclaim for its excellent line of synthesizers and effects processors, a number of which are free. NoiseMaker is one of these, and it compares favorably to the company’s own paid emulation of the Roland Juno 106 analog synth, the TAL-U-NO-LX.
The NoiseMaker incorporates some of TAL’s more popular effects processors on board. There is the Juno-derived chorus with two modes for starters, along with a reverb, a delay, and a bitcrusher, all of which exist as free standalone plug-ins.
DistroCore’s DC Bazz::Murda is a bass and kick synthesizer that is capable of a surprisingly wide array of sounds. Although aggressive and distorted industrial sounds are its forte, it can be dialed back for more subdued tones as well. Even so, this is one plug-in that was obviously designed to get as loud and nasty as possible. For some users, that could be a good thing!
Top Pick
Native Instruments’ Kontakt Player and Reaktor Player are a couple of the best free virtual instruments that you can get, without a doubt. They provide a superb one-two punch that simply can’t be beat.
Between the two, you pretty much have all your bases covered, whether you need bread-and-butter rompler sounds, exotic World Music libraries, or synthetic sounds ranging from vintage to cutting-edge.
Given the wide range of sounds they cover and the trademark NI quality, these two are neck-and-neck as our top picks for best virtual instrument plug-ins.
CableGuys ShaperBox v2.0
Size 8.4 Mb
ShaperBox 2 – Five powerful Cableguys effects in one plugin. For modern mixes and infinite inspiration.
With five powerful Cableguys effects – TimeShaper 2, VolumeShaper 6, FilterShaper Core 2, PanShaper 3 and WidthShaper 2 – ShaperBox 2 creates amazing musical, rhythmic effects and helps solve complex mix problems.
Load any Shaper effect and simply draw the modulation shapes you need with our easily editable LFOs. Or use envelope followers that react to your audio. Control filtering, volume, panning, stereo width – even the flow of time.
Get inspired: transform loops, beats, vocals, melodies or basslines into addictive hooks to kickstart your next track. Then perfect your mix with sample-accurate sidechaining, punchy compression, stereo expansion and more.
Five Cableguys effects
Time, Filter, Pan, Volume and Width Shapers come together in ShaperBox 2. Analogue-like zero-delay feedback filters, compression based on classic British mixing consoles, sample-accurate volume modulation, mid-side expansion, and much more – all in one CPU-efficient plugin.
Time, Filter, Pan, Volume and Width Shapers come together in ShaperBox 2. Analogue-like zero-delay feedback filters, compression based on classic British mixing consoles, sample-accurate volume modulation, mid-side expansion, and much more – all in one CPU-efficient plugin.
LFOs that you design
At the heart of every Shaper is an LFO unlike any other. From choppy rhythms to organic pulsations, any wave shape you can imagine is just clicks away with Cableguys’ famous editing tools. Lock your LFOs to DAW tempo with sample accuracy, or trigger in any rhythm with MIDI notes.
At the heart of every Shaper is an LFO unlike any other. From choppy rhythms to organic pulsations, any wave shape you can imagine is just clicks away with Cableguys’ famous editing tools. Lock your LFOs to DAW tempo with sample accuracy, or trigger in any rhythm with MIDI notes.
Introducing Pens
New! Designing the ideal LFO just got even easier with three powerful, easy-to-grasp Pens. Draw crisp lines, smooth arcs and flowing S-curves. Redraw transients in a click, rapidly build rhythmic patterns, and more. Switch back to classic single-node editing anytime.
New! Designing the ideal LFO just got even easier with three powerful, easy-to-grasp Pens. Draw crisp lines, smooth arcs and flowing S-curves. Redraw transients in a click, rapidly build rhythmic patterns, and more. Switch back to classic single-node editing anytime.
Flexible envelope followers
New! Filter, Pan and Width Shapers can react automatically to the dynamics of your beats, loops, melodies – anything. Make filters open with each snare hit. Pan percussion dynamically. Widen synths as they grow louder. Trigger from other tracks in your project using sidechain routing.
New! Filter, Pan and Width Shapers can react automatically to the dynamics of your beats, loops, melodies – anything. Make filters open with each snare hit. Pan percussion dynamically. Widen synths as they grow louder. Trigger from other tracks in your project using sidechain routing.
Designer compression
New! With a high-quality, British-inspired compressor inside VolumeShaper 6, you see compression on the same large graph as your volume edits. Get that perfect punch and control for drums, basslines, vocals and more. Still not perfect? Grab a Pen and refine the gain curve till it is.
New! With a high-quality, British-inspired compressor inside VolumeShaper 6, you see compression on the same large graph as your volume edits. Get that perfect punch and control for drums, basslines, vocals and more. Still not perfect? Grab a Pen and refine the gain curve till it is.
Shapers that do more
New! Use 3 filters at once – including new Phaser types – with multiband FilterShaper Core 2. Get retro tape/vinyl ‘wow’ with TimeShaper 2’s Fine mode. Boost transients with VolumeShaper 6’s Gain control. And spread sounds wide with psychoacoustic Haas panning in PanShaper 3.
New! Use 3 filters at once – including new Phaser types – with multiband FilterShaper Core 2. Get retro tape/vinyl ‘wow’ with TimeShaper 2’s Fine mode. Boost transients with VolumeShaper 6’s Gain control. And spread sounds wide with psychoacoustic Haas panning in PanShaper 3.
Multiband made easy
Every Shaper can be split into 3 bands, for tightly focused processing. Compress the bass. Stutter the mids. Reverse the highs. No limits on your creativity.
New! Steep 24dB crossovers join the classic 6 and 12dB models, for even greater precision.
Every Shaper can be split into 3 bands, for tightly focused processing. Compress the bass. Stutter the mids. Reverse the highs. No limits on your creativity.
New! Steep 24dB crossovers join the classic 6 and 12dB models, for even greater precision.
Packs of inspiration
Explore 1000+ pro presets, and share patches via the Cableguys Preset Cloud.
New! Find inspiration with Packs, curated collections of the very best presets for lo-fi FX, compression, scratching, and more. Work even faster with 1-click Quick Presets for essentials like sidechain ducking.
Explore 1000+ pro presets, and share patches via the Cableguys Preset Cloud.
New! Find inspiration with Packs, curated collections of the very best presets for lo-fi FX, compression, scratching, and more. Work even faster with 1-click Quick Presets for essentials like sidechain ducking.
ShaperBox 2 contains:
TimeShaper 2
VolumeShaper 6
FilterShaper Core 2
PanShaper 3
WidthShaper 2
New Features
•New! Redesigned interface with larger editing areas
•New! Retina/HiDPI support for crisper, clearer graphics
•Built-in help – hover over any control for description
•Expandable LFO for detailed editing
•Set LFO length in beats and bars, Hertz, or by MIDI note
•LFO loop length from 1/128 to 32 bars, with sample-accurate sync
•Audio-rate modulation up to 5.24kHz for extreme sound design
•Trigger LFO in any rhythm using MIDI notes
•New! Trigger Smoothing to reduce clicks when MIDI Triggering
•Large, precise oscilloscope view with Freeze option
•New! Oscilloscope Magnitude mode for easy Envelope Follower setup
•New! Smoother, more accurate spectrum view
•New! Dedicated selection tool for multinode editing
•New! 2x/3x button – double/triple patterns in a click
•Flip/resize/move/randomize wave or selection
•Copy/paste waves between any Shapers
•Unlimited undo/redo for LFO wave edits
•9 slots to store User Waves, saved with the patch
•Switch User Waves via MIDI
•Dry/wet mix in every Shaper, to balance the effect
•Band solo and sidechain solo, for easy setup
•New! Increased multiband split range, now from 20Hz-20kHz
•New! External sidechain input for Envelopes/Compressor
•New! Envelope/Compressor input filters, for frequency-conscious response
•New! Envelope Follower Threshold, so only loud signals trigger envelope
•New! Depth x2/x4/x8 for Envelopes, to amplify modulation strength
•New! Adaptive Release mode for Envelopes/Compressor
•New! Retina/HiDPI support for crisper, clearer graphics
•Built-in help – hover over any control for description
•Expandable LFO for detailed editing
•Set LFO length in beats and bars, Hertz, or by MIDI note
•LFO loop length from 1/128 to 32 bars, with sample-accurate sync
•Audio-rate modulation up to 5.24kHz for extreme sound design
•Trigger LFO in any rhythm using MIDI notes
•New! Trigger Smoothing to reduce clicks when MIDI Triggering
•Large, precise oscilloscope view with Freeze option
•New! Oscilloscope Magnitude mode for easy Envelope Follower setup
•New! Smoother, more accurate spectrum view
•New! Dedicated selection tool for multinode editing
•New! 2x/3x button – double/triple patterns in a click
•Flip/resize/move/randomize wave or selection
•Copy/paste waves between any Shapers
•Unlimited undo/redo for LFO wave edits
•9 slots to store User Waves, saved with the patch
•Switch User Waves via MIDI
•Dry/wet mix in every Shaper, to balance the effect
•Band solo and sidechain solo, for easy setup
•New! Increased multiband split range, now from 20Hz-20kHz
•New! External sidechain input for Envelopes/Compressor
•New! Envelope/Compressor input filters, for frequency-conscious response
•New! Envelope Follower Threshold, so only loud signals trigger envelope
•New! Depth x2/x4/x8 for Envelopes, to amplify modulation strength
•New! Adaptive Release mode for Envelopes/Compressor