The Best Free Instrument Plugins

In this feature I share what I think are the best free instrument plugins that you can use in your GarageBand and Logic Pro projects.

ODIN II

With ODIN II you’re getting high quality emulations of legendary analog filters like the Moog ladder or the Korg-35.

Odin II’s easy to use UI makes tweaking those sounds really easy.

You can round your sound off with five onboard FX, or get crazy with modulation. Odin II strikes a good balance between ease of use and depth, and it’s fairly easy to get creative with its on-board knobs and switches.

Download ODIN II for free here

BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover

Spitfire Audio’s BBC Symphony orchestra discover is designed to make starting out with orchestral scoring more accessible.

You can go into full on classical mode and create large scale orchestral masterpieces with this plugin, or you can use it to compliment the sounds in a project in any genre.

What I think I like about it so much is it’s versatility and just how good it sounds regardless of how you choose to use it.

Download BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover here

VITAL

Vital is a ridiculously powerful wavetable synth that gives users several wavetable oscillators, filters, a wealth of modulation options, multiple effects and a whole lot more.

Everything is layed out in an easy to understand way, with the main section of the UI split into four tabs; Voice, Effects, Matrix and Advanced. You’ve got a whole host of other controls dotted around the UI that make dialing in your own sounds really easy.

In short, VITAL is fantastic!

Download VITAL free here

Love-Fi 3 Lite

Love fi 3 Lite offers a wide range of sounds categorized into Pads, Keys, Bass, Drums, Field Recordings, and Sound Effects.

Its user-friendly interface makes tweaking its dreamy synth sounds dead easy, with intuitive controls to shape your sound. You can easily adjust the ADSR envelope, low-pass/high-pass filter cutoff, LFO modulation, global volume, pan, and tuning.

Despite this free version having less presets than other instruments in this list, the quality of those sounds and how much you can edit them using Love Fi Lite’s controls means it actually has a lot of sound design potential.

Download Love-Fi Lite free here

Surge XT

Surge XT is a sound designer’s dream, giving users control over every aspect of their sound.

Each of Surge XT’s patches contain two scenes which are separate instances of the entire synthesis engine (except effects) that can be used to create layered or split patches.

This can result in some absolutely wild sounds, though Surge also does more conventional stuff really well too.

Immensely powerful once you understand it, Surge XT serves as a fantastic gateway drug into the world of synthesizer sound design.

Download Surge XT here

Game Boi

Game Boi aims to capture the essence of vintage gaming, infusing every note with the unmistakable charm of pixelated adventures.

It allows you to immerse yourself in a symphony of chiptune melodies, characterized by their distinctive lo-fi textures.

Game Boi’s deceptively simple UI actually gives you a decent amount of control over the included sounds and the four included FX modules let you tweak those sounds further.

A must grab for anyone into lo-fi and chiptune sounds, Game Boi doesn’t sound like anything else out there!

Download Game Boi free here

Synthmaster Player

Synthmaster Player is a simplified version of KV331 Audio’s Synthmaster 2 synth plugin.

Removing a lot of the full version of Synthmaster 2’s editing capabilities, Synthmaster player is targeted towards users who prefer to use presets over designing their own sounds. So if you’re the type of person who generally sticks to pre-made sounds, you’ll really like this.

If you’re not particularly interested in sound design and just want an instrument that will let you get on with creating some great sounding music, Synthmaster Player will be right up your street.

Download Synthmaster Player free here