Legitimately free VSTs, sample packs, and DAWs
8 products reviewed
The free wavetable synth that legitimately rivals Serum. Modern UI, deep modulation, and the Vital sample library. Completely free forever — with paid tiers available for expanded content.
Open-source hybrid synth with depth that shames plenty of paid synths. Wavetable, FM, PM, subtractive, and additive synthesis all in one plugin. Genuinely one of the deepest free plugins ever made.
Free instrument library from one of the top orchestral sample library companies. Piano, strings, choirs, guitars, and ambient textures — all professionally recorded and completely free with monthly new releases.
Native Instruments' free bundle. 2,000+ sounds across Kontakt Player, Reaktor Player, Massive, Monark, and more. If you install one free thing to expand your production setup, install this.
A single developer, dozens of free analog-modeled plugins. Compressors, EQs, saturators, tape emulations. If you want that analog warmth without paying Waves or UAD prices, start here.
The free dynamic EQ that competes with plugins costing $200. Four dynamic bands, sidechain, clean UI. Every mixer should have this installed as a first-line problem-solver.
Cymatics releases free sample packs weekly as email-signup lead magnets. Trap, drill, RnB, house, dubstep — all styles rotate. The catch is you'll be on their email list, which mostly announces sales.
Splice's free tier gives access to a rotating selection of free samples and Splice's project management tools. Not the full sample library, but enough to try before committing to a subscription.