Free Virtual Instruments

Chimera

Chimera is a free software synthesizer developed by Majken. Available format(s): VST for Windows.

Chimera is a noise-driven synth. All the sounds coming from Chimera are based on white noise filtered into notes using resonant bandpass filters. The result is organic sounds ranging from warm pads to atmospheres with elements of wind and water.

Features:

Unique synthesis method.

More than 50 included presets.

Built in soft clipper distortion and 2-tap stereo delay.

Wide range of modulation options with three envelopes and three LFOs.

Cross-modulation with free routing.

Freely assignable MIDI CC controls.

http://www.majken.se/

ChillerScapes

ChillerScapes virtual instrument is a free sound bank for Kontakt, by Resomonics.

ChillersScapes is a collection of 18 chilling Atmospheres & Drones which an ‘Intensity’ dial to increase the complexity of the sound. This allows you to create the right atmosphere for your composition.

It also feature the ability to introduce a nightmarish pulsing if required as well as a distort option for even more intensity.

ChilerScapes requires the full version of Kontakt 5.7+ and is free for anyone to download from the Resomonics website.

This video features 2 Soundscapes and 1 Drone from the library: {See video at top of page}

http://www.resomonics.co.uk

Cherry Snare

Cherry Snare is a free rompler VST, Audio Unit plugin developed by VST4FREE. Compatible OS(s): Windows, macOS.

Cherry Snare is a sampled acoustic snare drum.

This custom snare drum was hand crafted by Ebenor Percussion into cherry wood. This is a warm sounding 14×7 inches snare drum with a 1/2 inch thickness and a 45 degree chamfer, mounted with triple flange hoops dressed by a 2 plies coated drumhead.

It was recorded using 5 microphones (2 on top, 1 at the bottom and a stereo matched pair for the room sound), giving the possibility to mix the final sound from 4 channels. Top and bottom condenser mics were recorded through a tube preamp using NOS vintage 12AX7 tubes driven to a class A digital converter. Top dynamic mic and the stereo room condenser mics were picked up from a top notch soundcard’s transistor preamps.

Each channel features a Punch knob which controls the sustain level set with a fix decay setting, this mimics what can be expected from a compressor or an expander to sculpt the transient sharpness. Release and Pan controls are also available on the 4 strips. The master section features a Velocity Dynamic knob to adjust the amplitude range delivered in function of the MIDI velocity.

A tuner is provided to pitch the snare drum up or down and a Vari-pitch (a LFO aplied to the pitch) can produce from very subtle to totally unrealistic pitch variations:

208 samples, 24-bit / 44100 Hz.

5 stroke techniques.

Up to 3 velocity layers.

Up to 5 round-robin samples by layer.

{See video at top of page}

http://www.vst4free.com/?dev=VST4FREE

Cheeze Machine 2

Cheeze Machine 2 is a free software synthesizer developed by 2getheraudio. Available format(s): VST, Audio Unit, AAX for Windows, macOS.

FREE String Machine virtual instrument.

Back by popular demand comes a remastered version of the extremely popular Cheeze Machine virtual instrument byBig Tick Audio. Cheeze Machine 2, from 2getheraudio, bring you an extra cheesy, extra saucy string box in the style of the original vintage string machines.

Over 60 patches of synth string ensembles, pads, leads, brass, basses, effects and more.

Cheeze Machine 2 includes an expanded oscillator section, convolution reverb, a vintage ensemble chorus, and 64-bit compatibility for VST, AU, AAX and Standalone applications.

Also included, bonus preview presets for Cheeze Machine Pro, an upcoming release with additional filters, pitch envelopes and performance controls.

https://www.2getheraudio.com

Charlatan

Charlatan is a free software synthesizer developed by BlauKraut Engineering. Available format(s): VST for Windows.

Charlatan, a freeware polyphonic, subtractive virtual analog (VA) synth with focus on sound quality and easy usability. It comes with a flexible, yet not overwhelming feature set which encourages artists to start tweaking instead of just relying on presets. Inspite of it’s simplicity, Charlatan’s architecture is flexible enough to create both classic sounds and rather experimental noises. While making no compromise about sound quality, the sound engine has been highly optimized for efficient CPU usage making Charlatan well suited as a “bread and butter” synth even in projects with a large number of plugin instances.

Key Features

2 oscillators with shape modulation.

Oscillator hard synchronization and ring modulation.

Unison mode with upto 7 voices and stereo spread.

Stereo noise generator.

2 ADSR envelope generators.

LFO with host tempo synchronization.

3 filter types modeled after classic analog hardware: 4-pole (24 db/oct) and 2-pole (12 db/oct) lowpass, bandpass.

3 voice modes: Monophonic, Monophonic Legato and 8-voice Polyphonic.

Ultra-low CPU usage.

http://www.blaukraut.info/

Chau Gongs

Chau Gongs is a free rompler VST, Audio Unit plugin developed by Alan ViSTa. Compatible OS(s): Windows 64b, macOS.

http://www.alanvista.com

Charlatan – Time Capsule

Charlatan – Time Capsule is a free software synthesizer preset pack for Charlatan, made by Ghostwave Audio.

Time Capsule is a free bank for Charlatan featuring 90 quality patches.

Its concept is related to my love for cassette tapes: 60 presets for 60-minute cassettes (some of my Sony Metal XRs are shown in the artwork) in 2 banks of 30 patches corresponding to sides A & B and an extra 30-preset bank, The Lost Side.

This bank is very diverse and can be used for any kind of electronic productions.

You can download the bank on the product page.

If you really like this bank and would like to support my work, please consider making a small donation. This can be done from the product page.

Patch categories and count:

Arpeggiated (2).

Bass (11).

Brass (2).

Keyboards (6).

Lead (19).

Mallets (4).

Pads (21).

Plucks (11).

Synthesized (13).

Textures (1).

http://ghostwaveaudio.com

Chaosorus

Chaosorus is a free software synthesizer developed by DocNashSynths. Available format(s): for Windows .

A ‘deterministic chaos’ synth which produces complex sounds by distorting the phase of an oscillator by deceptively simple expressions. The expressions are a ‘circle map’ followed by a ‘doubling map’.

When you listen to the demo audio files, note that there is no ‘programming of notes’ or arpeggiation or MIDI note sliding or any other pre-set sequencing going on there – even though it may sound like it! And as with all the audio files of all my synths, there are no external effects applied either.

Changing the values of the Chaosorus sliders results in a different soundset being produced by each key of your MIDI keyboard, but the soundsets are not ‘random’ in the sense that if you like what you hear when you press a certain key, you can repeat it by pressing the same key again. That’s the difference between deterministic chaos featured by Chaosorus, and dynamic stochastic synthesis featured by Blowfly – which uses probability distributions to create each cycle of the waveform.

http://flexibeatz.weebly.com/

Chamber Orchestra 2

Chamber Orchestra 2 virtual instrument is a free clarinet, bassoon, cajon and cello sound bank for Kontakt, by Versilian Studios.

Versilian Studios Chamber Orchestra 2 is a chamber-style orchestral library (and then some) with a tight, detailed, and highly adaptable sound. It takes the speed and size-factor of a sketching library and combines it with the degree of detail and quality one has come to expect out of a modern orchestral library, with over 90 solo instruments. Designed and conceived by a team of working media composers, it brings quality to a budget-driven and neglected corner of the industry.

VSCO 2 is available in four versions:

VSCO 2: Community Edition (17 Instruments, VSTi/AU, Renoise, Raw files, & .SFZ, Free).

VSCO 2: Standard Edition (35 Instruments (128 .nki), Kontakt (.nki), $99).

VSCO 2: Professional Edition (92 Instruments (432 .nki), Kontakt Player/Full Kontakt Library, $229).

VSCO 2: Go Edition (” “, mounted on 32 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive, $249).

The Community Edition includes only the most essential instruments and articulations in full-resolution stereo .wav files, mapped as .sfz and a variety of other formats, ideal for beginners and hobbyist developers. As it is open source (CC0), anyone can build upon or develop libraries based on the Community Edition. It includes helpful introductory materials regarding orchestration, and several introductory projects to .sfz creation. Developers Bigcat1969, Paul Battersby of Virtual Playing, and the Alpine Project have all created versions or used the sample base in creating their libraries.

The Standard Edition includes all essential instruments, with most articulations, of a small orchestra, pre-mapped and ready to go, perfect for hobbyists. Comes as Kontakt .nki’s for Kontakt 5.5+.

The Professional Edition for Kontakt Player and full Kontakt 5.6.8+ realizes the total potential of the library with multiple mixable mic positions, extra articulations, numerous rare and unique instruments (including the only known deep sampling of a bass ophicleide, alto saxhorn, and more), realistic reverb, faux legato, and powerful stereo positioning controls. Now updated to version 2.6 with over 2.5 GB of new content, snapshots, and Kontakt Player compatibility!

The Go Edition includes the full Professional Edition (~15.5 GB) mounted on a high-speed 32 GB USB 3.0 flash drive, capable of immediate plug-and-play streaming with zero installation or hard drive space required. You can store all your projects, 3rd party sample libraries, and other materials on the remaining ~17 GB of space for composing anywhere Kontakt 5.6.8+ may be found.

http://vis.versilstudios.net/

CGC Shaker

CGC Shaker virtual instrument is a free percussions sound bank for Kontakt and Maschine and Mpc Essential and Sforzando, by Boyss-Sound-e-Scapes.

CGC Shaker is experimental percussion sounding similar to shaker. It’s made out of recordings of Camping Gas Cartridges (CGC) filled with sand (and small rocks). It’s not that very predictive when in use, making similar but always different sound so we used many round robins to emulate that un-predictivity.

There are instruments of 4 types of shakers:
Shaker 1 and Shaker 2: from 2 different cartridges and filled with 2 different types of sand (in the shaker 2 is more finer sand).
Shaker 1 & 2 are as the name suggests, moving both at the same time.
Shaker 3 is the most experimental sounding one, its the only one that was made of an empty plastic bottle filled with lots of small rocks and a little of sand.

CGC Shaker library is available in the following formats:
• Kontakt, SFZ and wav oneshots in 96kHz and 44.1kHz versions
• CGC Shaker Akai MPC (44.1kHz), for Akai MPC software, as an expansion or as projects and programs (2 projects with 4 programs in each), compatible with both full and Essentials version
• CGC Shaker Maschine (44.1kHz), 1 project and 8 groups
• bonus Organic Loops in 96kHz and 44.1kHz versions (over 200 wav loops)
Most instrument format versions use 880 samples each and 22 round robins per shaker type of movement.
All formats use 24-bit samples.
Instruments samples are “dry”.

Price is symbolic, while you can still go through payment process if you want to donate, it’s free for email subscribers.

Video demo (all formats brief preview and loops in the context of a track) {See video at top of page}

Audio demo in the context of a track (loops used)

https://SoundCloud.com/boyssound-e-scapes/cgc-shaker-demo

https://www.boyss-sound-e-scapes.com