There are some amazing free plugin and standalone software instruments out there, if only you could find them. Luckily we have compiled a list of the top 55 - so now you can!

Cvpiano
Best Free Grand Piano Vst Mac

UVI’s instrument host is free to download and comes with a small selection of free demo instruments for you to test out, including electric piano, analogue strings, jazz drums, Spanish guitar and synth bass. These free VST work for Mac OS X, they don’t have UI, you’ll have to use the default interface supplied by your host. – Piano & ePiano are sample based synth, the ePiano is very good, it’s a kind of Rhodes emulation.

With so many free instrument plug-ins available it's impossible to download and use them all. (We've tried!) So, here's 55 of our top suggestions for FREEE Drum, Synth, Sampler, Real Instrument & Guitar based plug-in instruments.

DRUMS

TactileSounds TS-808

This Windows-only instrument takes original Roland 808 samples, analyses them and matches their waveforms as closely as possible to the real thing. You get 15 channels to create cool-sounding retro drum patterns with it. It’s simple to use and a whole bunch of fun to play with.

Windows VST

Audiospillage - Minispillage

This Mac-ony instrument has three fully editable drum pads that can create a range of drum and percussion sounds : bass drum, wood drum and electro hi hat. With a slick interface, it’s more advanced than you might expect from a free instrument and is capable of making some cool and unusual sounds.

Mac AU

Teragon Audio KickMaker

This unique free plugin is dedicated to one thing only – making kick drum sounds. Ideal for anyone wirking in EDM where a synthesized kick is the beating heart of your track, it uses four oscilators plus effects to work its magic. Each oscillator has its own ADSR curve for sound shaping so you can tweak and tailor indepent kick drum parts for your beats.

Windows VST

DSK Music - SynthDrums

Simple but fun, SynthDrums stores 12 patches and has selectable outputs and MIDI automation support for your DAW, as well as multiple effects including filters, stutter, distortion and EQ. Each of its sounds can be tweaked using the synthesis sections and patches can be copied and pasted, saved and loaded using the utility section at the top. A good way to get into synth drum programming.

Windows VST

Hahaha DS-01

Despite the name there’s nothing hilarious about this free drum synth, but it has the tools where it counts! With eight synth sections, you get one for each drum type ranging from kick and snare through hi hats and several toms. It sounds wonderfully 80s and each sound can be extensively tweaked plus they have panning and volume controls, so you can creatively submix any drum part.

Windows VST

MT PowerDrumKit 2

There aren’t so many “real” drum instruments around for free, but this one uses real samples mapped onto a virtual kit to provide rock, pop and metal fans something to work with. With built-in compressors and a groove library for inspiration, you can mix onboard and the developers have already pre-tweaked the patches for optimum sound character to suit different genres.

Mac and PC, VST / AU

Psychic Modulation Cubix

Cubix has both a drum synthesizer and sample player with an onboard arpeggiated bass synth, making it a smart little box for programming electronic sequences. The developer also makes Minimal, a similar beatbox that provides a useful alternative for making beats and basslines. It looks rather more slick than you might expect from freeware, and it sounds great too!

Windows VST

Groove Analogizer

Groove Analogizer is an 'audio controlled drum synthesizer', meaning that like a vintage electronic drum tone generator such as a Simmons, the percussion sound is triggered by an audio input, not by a MIDI message. This also means that it loads as a VST effect, usually in an insert slot and not as a VST instrument. With a bunch of controls and different ways to tweak the sound, it’s an unusual take on drum synthesis.

Windows VST

DigiDrum Pro

Surprisingly adept for a free instrument, this has a good selection of features including 5 separate parts with 5 user definable audio outputs, 27 classic drum and percussion waveforms, user wavefile import, layering of parts, a versatile filter setup capable of many different timbres, velocity modulation of amp, pitch and filter to 'humanize' the feel of the beat and full VST automation of every sound editing controls.

Windows VST

SYNTHS

Green Oak Software Crystal

Crystal has been around – and free – for years and is still regularly updated. A clever semi-modular synthesizer, it’s remarkably capable and lets you generate a wide range of cool synth sounds as well as providing some in-depth tools. Despite being a relative senior in tech terms, it still sounds fresh and unique even today.

Mac and PC, VST / AU

Cvpiano

u-he Triple Cheese

This proudly cheesy synth, a winner of the KVR Developer Challenge, doesn’t use classic synthesis techniques to make sound but rather multiple comb filters that produce very short, chromatically tuned delays. The three “cheese modules” can either generate their own sounds or process the output of the other modules. So don’t be afraid to be cheesy!

Mac and PC, VST / AU / AAX

Togu Audio Line TAL-NoiseMaker

This free synth sounds as cool as it looks. With three oscillators and up to six voices, it has a bunch of onboard effects to fatten up your sounds including chorus, reverb, delay and bitcrusher. With a simple layout that doesn’t use hidden menus it’s a great way to learn about synthesis by manipulating the different controls.

Mac and PC, VST / AU / AAX

Ichiro Toda Synth1

Modelled after the Nord Lead 2, Synth1 is a simply designed but powerful software synth with two oscillators, FM modulation, four types of filters and two LFOs. There’s an arpeggiator as well as onboard effects including tempo synced delay, a chorus / flanger and a portamento mode. Although the interface looks a bit retro, it will probably come back into fashion any time now.

Mac and PC, VST / AU

MiniMogueVA

Based on the classic Minimoog hardware synth, this free software version adds some bells and whistles not present on the original model. There’s 5-note polyphony, an arpeggiator and 16-step sequencer as well as an onboard chorus effect with oscillator drift and a programmable digital delay. It’s Windows-only, but a lot cheaper than buying a real Moog.

VST (Windows)

Steinberg Model-E

Although officially unsupported you can still download the Model-E synth for Mac and PC. It’s a classic analogue synth with a very low CPU load which makes it great for older machines. In fact you can see the DNA of Steinberg’s newer synths in this vintage model too, and it has plenty of controls to teach you about synthesis and make some cool sounds.

Mac and PC, VST

OB-XD Synthesizer

The OB-XD is based on the classic Oberheim OB-X synthesizer but also expands on some of its limitations. A mixer was introduced to blend the two oscillators and noise source which is much more flexible than the fixed levels of the original design. It’s been built to sound rich and full, though it doesn’t include any on board effects so you can add these yourself via additional plugins.

Mac and PC, VST / AU

TAL Elek7ro

This nifty little virtual analog synth sounds great and of course it’s also free! It has two oscillators with selectable waveforms, one sub oscillator and one noise oscillator. A fat low pass resonance filter helps with richnes and there’s mono or poly playback modes, envelopes and full MIDI learn. A bunch of free presets are also available to download.

Mac and PC, VST / AU

u-he TyrellN6

This free synth started off as a concept for a hardware unit modelled on Roland’s Juno 60, a project which was ultimately aborted. But the developer ported the core design into a software synth, with a cool design, dual oscillators, mixer and filter sections as well as dual LFOs and onboard effects. It has tons of functionality and a great sound. What more could you ask for free?

Mac and PC, VST / AU

Digital Suburban Dexed

Dexed is a free plugin synth that is modelled after the classic Yamaha DX7, a staple of music from the 80s and 90s. It’s also a cartridge librarian for a real DX7! Its sound engine has been based on the Yamaha hardware and you get 144 automatable parameters as well as access to many of the controls that would be found in real life for making classic digital tones. If you ha

Best Free Piano Vst For Mac