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Best Free VSTs: Pianos, Organs & Keyboards

Posted November 5, 2021
  • #piano

Pianos! Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without ’em! But did you know there’s another way? That’s right. You can replace them with robots.

See also: 6 Piano VSTs You Need & Where to Find Them

Standard pianos

Piano character is a bit “to taste,” so if you’re not satisfied with these choices, especially for classic and intimate pianos, Pianobook has many more options (account).

Photo from an old comic ad. A man asks a woman seated at a piano, "How long have you been studying?" to which she replies, "Just a few weeks"

Classic/grand piano
bigcat Instruments’ The Iowa Piano NKISFZVSTAU
Splendid Grand Piano is a lightweight option around at 80 MB. SFZ (Github)
Production Voices Estate Grand LE is a fully fledged bank for Plogue Sforzando. SFZ (Woocommerce)
Dance piano
mda Piano (or the less buggy but Windows-exclusive Dead Duck Software DPiano-A version) VSTWin VST
Yingchun Soul’s 4th House Piano SF2
Honky-tonk piano
FreePats Old Piano FB SFZSF2
Sample Modern Detuned Upright NKI
“Ice” piano
Christian Henson’s Triple Felt Experiment EXSdspreset (account)
Spitfire LABS Modular Piano‘s “06 Tank Piano,” “07 Pipe Piano,” and “11 Tape Piano” patches. VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
Nami Audio Midnight Upright has layered octaves and noise texture… perfect for that “single haunting piano note” moment in your next generic epic trailer. NKI6dspreset (account)
Intimate piano
Spitfire LABS Soft Piano, my one and only! Confound you, Soft Piano! You make keeping that awful Spitfire download manager and LABS plugin just barely worth it! VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
Ted Kocher’s The Lounge Piano NKIdspreset (account)
Sonic Atoms Novel Piano vstpreset (FastSpring)
Toy/baby piano
Audio Brewers Piano Toy Mini NKI (newsletter)
G Guevara’s Toy Piano dspreset (account)
Precisionsound Red Grand SF2
Upright piano
Rudi Fiasco’s K18 Upright Piano as a SFZ instrument or plug-in SFZVSTAU (none or email)
VCSL‘s “Upright Piano, Knight” patch (SFZ and samples) SFZ (Github)

Prepared/extended pianos

Prepared pianos and extended playing techniques.

Solo prepared + sustains/tremelos
Xperimenta Project Preparato Piano โ€“ Free Edition includes some sustains played by hitting a brush against the strings. NKI (FastSpring)
Solo prepared + sustains
Andreas Busk-Jepsen’s Are You Prepared as a sample instrument or Blofeld soundset NKIEXSALPBlofeld
Jason Binnick’s Weber Upright with Wooden Mallets sounds more like a harpsichord, but it might serve as a good base ingredient for making prepared piano sounds with a bit of creative sound design… NKIdspreset (account)
Solo prepared + staccatos
Billy Palmer’s The Sneaky Piano NKIdspreset (account)
Solo muted
Christopher Scullion’s Tatak โ€“ Felt Piano is muted with a thumb on the strings, adding a little punch to the traditional “felt” piano sound. NKIdspreset (account)
Solo harmonics/body percussion
Matteo Pagamici’s The Quiet Piano for Decent Sampler or Kontakt has some natural harmonics and interesting piano hits in the “FX” patch. At 4-6 GB, it’s a pretty large download just for those two things, but, y’know, art. NKIdspreset (account or none)
Solo bowed sustains
Wandering Artist’s Ebow Piano sounds more like a synth pad. NKIdspreset (account)
Solo slams
HandHeldSound PianoBoom is made from the sounds of hitting piano strings with a gong mallet. It’s very dissonant and piano-slammy. NKI (Woocommerce + Pulse)
Solo slams/glissandos
RSSD01 FREE Dark Piano Sample Pack has some really excellent horror movie-style scrapes. WAV (newsletter)

Diagram from an old comic ad shows a hand playing at a piano with a few bars of music above it. The headline reads, "Doesn't it look simple? Yet it's from the famous 'Merry Widow' Waltz!"

Electric pianos

In case of emergency, break glass organ: hear the difference between a Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and Yamaha DX7 e-piano patch.
Hohner Pianet T
Ritvars Garoza’s Hohner Pianet T NKIdspreset (account)
Jen Pianotone J-600
SampleScience Pianotone 600 VSTAU (email)
Rhodes Mark I
Studiologic Numa Player‘s “EP-Mark I” preset VSTAU
NoiseAsh Sweetcase VSTAU
Learjeff’s jRhodes 1977 Mark I SF2 (account)
wavements Rose&Rhodes Free vstpreset (email)
Rhodes Mark II
Studiologic Numa Player‘s “EP-Mark II” preset VSTAU
Rhodes Piano Bass
Ken Harrison’s Sparkletop Bass NKI (account)
Roland JD-800 “Crystal Rhodes”
Elf of Happy and Love’s Crystal Rhodes SF2
Siel PX
Synth Magic Siel PX Electric Piano NKI (direct link)
Yamaha CP
Studiologic Numa Player‘s “CP E-Grand” preset (under Acoustic Pianos) VSTAU
Greg Sullivan’s The Y Piano as a Kontakt or Gigastudio instrument is a CP-80. NKIGIG
Yamaha DX7 E-Piano 1/FM Piano
4Front E-Piano VSTAURTAS
Dexed is a Yamaha DX7-based synth. You can find a number of FM pianos for it in the Dexed Cart 1.0 collection, compiled by Jacques Prestreau. Select the “CART” button in Dexed, right click โ†’ “Open location” to get to the cart folder, and drag the Dexed Cart collection into it. One piano that works is under Godric/piano04.syx, “ElecPian 1.” VSTAULV2 (none, account)
Studiologic Numa Player has four options ambiguously labeled “FM-EP” 1-4. VSTAU
Wurlitzer 200(A)
O’Grady’s Old Dirty Wurli NKI
Studiologic Numa Player‘s “Wurly 200” preset VSTAU
Spitfire LABS Wurli VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
boscomac WURLITSAR MK2 ENS
Wurlitzer 205
Studiologic Numa Player‘s “Wurly 255” preset is likely a 205. VSTAU

Organs

For accordions, harmonicas, and reed/pump organs, see Woodwinds: free reeds.

Barrel organ
Rossignol-Studios Barbariz 3 NKI
Sonokinetic Carousel NICNT (Sonokinetic)
boscomac BARROUSEL ENS
Clonewheel organ
Planet Botch Clonewheel VXH Win VST
Combo organ
boscomac TRANZISTORG MKII ENS
Farfisa Matador
Lostin70s Audio Torero has a free version. VSTAU
Farfisa Mini Deluxe Compact
Martinic Combo Organ F VSTAU
Nord organ
Fanan ScandiClavia 2 Win VST
Philips Philicorda
Woodencup’s Grumpy Phili Favourites EXS (account)
Vox Continental
Martinic Combo Model V VSTAU
Spitfire LABS Rare Groove Piano focuses more on the e-piano/harpsichord sound character. VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
Vox Continental II/Super Continental
Planet Botch The Undercult Win VST
Pipe organ
VCSL‘s Pipe Organ patch (SFZ and samples) SFZ (Github)
Jonas Krug’s Spooky Organ is a washed-out and ethereal version. NKIdspreset (account)
Jonas Kurg’s Eiersheimer Orgel sounds more “local grandma playing songs for mass” than “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,” so it’s good if you want a straight church organ without the drama. NKIdspreset (account)
Positive organ
Kalen Smith’s Little Organ NKIdspreset (account)
Renaissance organ
VCSL‘s Renaissance Organ patch (SFZ and samples) SFZ (Github)
Spinet organ
Michael Picher’s ElecOrg SFZ
Hammond L-102
Peter Corbett’s Hammond L102 (does not include rotary emulation) dspreset (account)
Tonewheel/drawbar/traditional Hammond organ
CollaB3 VSTAU
Michael Picher’s HamOrg SFZ
Wrongtools Trapeze Organ can be played straight or turned into an ambient pad. NKI (Woocommerce)
boscomac Orgamundo ENS
Hammond Extravoice F100
SynthMagic Extravoice NKI

Other keyboards

Celesta
See Idiophones ยง Celesta.
Clavichord
Quilcom Sim-Clav is a good modeled version. Win VST
Hohner D6 Clavinet
Studiologic Numa Player‘s Clavinet preset VSTAU
2getheraudio Ticky Clav 2 is a physically modeled clav. VSTAUAAX (newsletter)
SASamples Freeky Free Clav has distortion and auto-wah on by default, but you can turn them off to get a regular clav sound. NKI (Wix)
Harpsichord
VCSL‘s “Harpsichord, English” patch as a SFZ (with samples) or a Kontakt instrument SFZNKI
Studiologic Numa Player‘s “Harpsi” preset VSTAU
Rock-si-chord (electric harpsichord)
Soniccouture RMI Rocksichord NICNT (account + Soniccouture)

Comic ad clipping that reads, "Without knowing a single note of music, you play instantly on sight!"

Free virtual instrument series

View the main page or learn more about ๐Ÿ“• plug-in formats. licenses and download requirements.

  • ๐ŸŽน Pianos, organs, & keyboards
  • ๐ŸŽค Solo vocals, choirs
  • ๐ŸŽป Orchestral strings
  • ๐ŸŽธ Guitars, harps, lutes, & zithers
  • ๐ŸŽท Woodwinds & free reeds
  • ๐ŸŽบ Brass & horns
  • ๐Ÿ”” Idiophones
  • ๐Ÿฅ Drums, percussion
  • Synths & drum machines โ€“ Coming soon! (โ›โ—กห‚ฬต ฬ‘ฬ‘โœง)
  • DAWs, samplers, & FX โ€“ Coming soon! (โ›โ—กห‚ฬต ฬ‘ฬ‘โœง)

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Last updated on May 15, 2022

You may also like...

  • Best Free VSTs: Drums
  • Best Free VSTs: Woodwinds
  • Best Free VSTs: Guitars, Harps, Lutes & Zithers

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