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Best Free VSTs: Orchestral Strings

Posted November 8, 2021

No virtual instrument collection is complete without a symphonic string section crammed onto your hard drive. Do the free offerings measure up to expensive, feature-packed commercial string libraries? Let’s find out…

Buongiorno! Survive the excessive Italian in this post with my VST articulation guide.

Some instruments may offer more articulations than what’s listed here, but their version isn’t the best free available option (IMO).

String section

Ensemble legatos/staccatos/pizzicatos/tremolos
SCC Expressive Strings SFZ
Ensemble sustains
Marco Ianello’s NFO Alternative Chamber Strings NKIdspreset (account)
Ensemble swells
Dan Keen’s NFO: Orchestral Swells NKIdspreset (account)
decent|SAMPLES Box Violin Swells & Sustain is suited for icy, soft string ambience. The library is based on a violin, but ranges from C2-C7 and makes a passable cello at the lower frequencies. NKISFZALPEXSdspreset (newsletter)
WMD Strings VSTAU
Dark Reaven’s Orchestral Evo Pad dspreset (account)
Ensemble bartok pizz
Spitfire LABS Strings 2 has just such a patch. VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)
Ensemble sul ponticello + sustains
KLANG Bodega Strings for Kontakt or Ableton NKIALP (account or none)

Kontakt illustration of a man playing a violin while people dance on top of a giant vinyl record.Violins

The golden retriever of string instruments.

Solo normale/sordino + legatos/sustains/staccatos/tremelos
Embertone Arcane has a demo of their first violin library, the Friedlander Violin, in the “Individual Patches” folder. The demo ranges from G3-G5 and has shapeable vibrato with speed/depth controls. NICNT (Cartloom)
Solo sustains
decent|SAMPLES Lewis E. Pyle Violin (Lite) has rebowed sustains with tasteful vibrato and a decent range. Set the High EQ knob to 0 after you load it up. NKISFZALP (newsletter)
Nice Strings PlusOrchestra includes the allegedly public domain “All Around Violin” (listed as “Violin 1 (all around)”). It has three velocity layers with very strong vibrato. SF2
Solo pizzicatos
Virharmonic Soul Capture Violin Freebie is a non-Kontakt option which also includes pre-recorded spicatto rhythms. UFS
Alpine Project has two violins to choose from. NKI (newsletter)
Solo flautandos
Jacob Maloney’s Scary Flautando Violin NKI (account)
Solo glissandos (up)
Fernando Canedo’s Violin Gliss NKIdspreset (account)
Solo col legnos/bartok pizz/pizz glissandos/pizz tremelos
Philharmonia’s Strings MP3
Solo body percussion
Tiago Cunha’s Intimate Percussion kit SFZ
Ensemble sustains/tremelos/spiccatos/pizzacatos
VSCO2 Violin Section VSTAU
Ensemble sustains/staccatos/pizzicatos
Westlund 3 Violin Trio as a Kontakt instrument/SFZ (same download) or plug-in (“Westlund 3 Violins”) NKISFZVSTAU (attribution @ Mattias Westlund and “ldk1609 @ freesound.org”)
Ensemble sustains
Jasper Blunk’s Maestoso 18 Violin Ensemble NKI
Ensemble swells
Dan Keen’s NFO: Orchestral Swells includes a violin swell patch. NKIdspreset (account)
Ensemble sordino + sustains
ProjectSAM The Free Orchestra‘s “Sordino Violins” patch. NICNT (account)

Fiddles & viols

Erhu
Kong Audio MiniErHu has sustains, arcs, and wholetone slides. Win VST
DSK Asian DreamZ is the not-quite-as-good alternative for 64-bit and macOS. VST AU
Haegeum (Korean fiddle)
36Play Samhyeon-Yukgak has a haegeum patch. NKI
Hurdy-gurdy
Soundbytes HurdyGurdyLE Win VST
Morin khuur (Mongolian horsehead fiddle)
MNTRA Instruments Rasa is a free collection for their MNDALA plugin that features a few raspy morin khuur drone patches. VST AU (newsletter and Wix)
Rebab (Egyptian fiddle)
TAQSIM Free includes the somewhat cheesy-sounding “Rababa” patch. NKI (newsletter OR account)
Stroh violin
Impact Soundworks The Stroh Violin NKI (Woocommerce)
Viola organista
boscomac VIOLA ORGANISTA ENS

Viola

The parsley of string instruments.

Solo legatos/sustains/staccatos/pizzicatos/tremelos
Alpine Project has two violas to choose from. The longs are pretty flat and without vibrato. NKI (newsletter/Alpine)
Solo harmonics
Roland Roberts’ Spooky Viola Harmonics NKIdspreset (account)
Solo trills/bartok pizz/glissandos
Philharmonia‘s Strings has samples. The trills do not loop. MP3
Ensemble sustains/tremelos/spiccatos/pizzacatos
VSCO2 Viola Section VSTAU
Ensemble swells
Jon Meyer’s Woven Strings features two violas and a violin in various soft arcs and some decorative licks you can layer in to add realism. NKI (email)
Dan Keen’s Soft String Spurs NKIEXSSFZdspreset (account)

Cello

The snuggie of string instruments.

Solo legatos/sustains
pocketBlakus Cello ranges from C2-A4. NKI
Embertone Facebook Cello Lite has a smaller range (C2-G3) than the pocketBlakus, but it does have the shapeable vibrato I love so much from their Intimate Strings series. (You can’t get this instrument from liking their Facebook page anymore, but if you use it, it would be nice to give them a like anyway…) NKI (Cartloom)
Solo sustains
Ethan Winer’s Cello Solo is a little wet, but overall has a good sound. SF2
Fitchsounds Claire Fitch Cello has sustains of varying lengths, with the shortest being a kind of tenuto staccato. SF2EXSRFL
Solo rebowed sustains/staccatos/glissandos (up)/pizzicatos/tremelos
MSLP Cello Lofberg for Kontakt and Reason is a cello recorded in mono. NKISXT (optional attribution @ MSLP/Erick Kvist & Anders Löfberg)
Solo spiccatos
pocketBlakus Cello’s spiccato patch is very good. (Click “Download Now”1 and then “pocketBlakus Spic.”) NKI (account)
Solo pizzicatos
Virharmonic Soul Capture Cello Freebie is a non-Kontakt option which also includes pre-recorded spicatto rhythms. UFS
Solo sul ponticello + sustains
Wavelet Audio Cold Sul Ponticello will work if you really need the job done for free. NKI (account)
Solo sul ponticello + pizzicatos
Matt Constantine’s Pont Pizz — Cello NKIdspreset (account)
Solo trills/col legnos
Philharmonia‘s strings has a few samples. The trills do not loop! MP3
Ensemble sustains/staccatos/pizzicatos/tremelos
VSCO2 Cello Section VSTAU
Ensemble swells
Dan Keen’s NFO: Orchestral Swells includes some celli swells with rebowing. NKIdspreset (account)
Ensemble tremelos
Spitfire Amplified Cello Quartet features various patches of cellos played through amps, including a decent tremelo patch. VSTAUAAX (Spitfire)

Double bass

The unapproachable uncle of string instruments.

Solo sustains/staccatos/pizzicatos
MSLP Bass Lofberg for Kontakt and Reason is a bass recorded in mono with a very nice slappy pizzicato sound. NKISXT (optional attribution @ MSLP/Erick Kvist & Anders Löfberg)
Solo sustains/pizzicatos/body percussion
Karoryfer Samples Meatbass SFZ
Solo bartok pizz/body percussion
Phillip Jay Cohen’s Standup Bass NKI
Solo pizzicatos
AS Free Collection includes Kontr, a decent upright for jazzy basslines. UFS (OpenCart)
Past to Future Reverbs Vinyl Fairchild Upright Bass offers a good walking bass sound under 10mb. NKI (email)
Solo tremelos
VSCO2 Double Bass VSTAU
Solo col legnos
Philharmonia‘s Strings has some samples. MP3

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Footnotes

  1. Do not download the main “pocketBlackus Cello” patch from VSTBuzz. Their version (170 KB, last updated 10/23/2020) is broken and will freeze Kontakt on loading. Use the Dropbox mirror under “Solo [cello] legatos/sustains” for the main patch.

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Last updated on February 13, 2022

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