There’s nothing like having some guitar sounds at our fingertips to add layers to our songs or even base an entire track around some chord strumming or leads. As seen in our best guitar VST plugins guide, these pieces of software can get pretty costly (especially if you’re like us and tend to just buy a few on a whim without thinking twice — they start to add up!). Today we’re continuing our journey down the free VST plugin world, and today we have the best free guitar VSTi for you.
- Best Free Vst Guitar Instrumental
- Best Free Bass Guitar Vst Instrument
- Best Free Vst Guitar Instrumental Music
- Best Free Guitar Vst Instrument
- Best Free Electric Guitar Vst Instrument
VST (Virtual Studio Technology) is a plug-in standard launched in 1997 created by Steinberg, initially included in Cubase. These plugins can serve to simulate an instrument, an amplifier or an impression. List of the The 6 Free Electric Guitar vst: Waldorf Q Tdm. The best free VST plugins 2020: must-have freeware synths, drum machines and effects By Si Truss ( Computer Music, Future Music, emusician ) 20 November 2020 Make music for nothing with our pick of the finest free sound makers and processors.
VST plugins play an essential part in modern computer-based music production -both as a result of the fantastic variety of different plug-ins to choose from, and as a result of the vast number of freeware and donationware VST's available on the Internet: Today there are more than 2.000 free VST plug-ins (virtual instruments and effects) to choose from, and more are being added every day! 7 Best Free Virtual Instruments – VST/AU Plugins for Mac & PC Virtual instruments are software emulations of traditional instruments or hardware electronic musical instruments. There is a staggering range of virtual instruments available nowadays, covering multi-timbral rompler modules to dedicated emulations of guitars, basses, drums. 6 Best Android Apps For Guitarists And Guitar Players; 5 Best Multi Effects Pedals For Guitar 2020, Full 17 Best Piano VST Plugins 2020 - Free & Premium Best 15 FREE Drum VST Plugins For Authentic Drummer Sounds.
We were actually pretty surprised at how rare an actual free guitar VST instrument is around the net. We couldn’t find many worth looking aside from about 2-3 plugins, so we’ll list those first. However, we also gave you a few of our favorite free guitar VST amps / FX software just in case you needed one of those as well.
Also because we’re big fans of using one of these few actual free guitar instruments, we recommend ridding their effects or processing and running that raw MIDI track through a more advanced guitar amp or FX rack. If you can make way with paid FX plugins, spending some money on something like Guitar Rig can exponentially help the quality of a MIDI track with some free guitar sounds on it.
Free Guitar VST Picks
The Best Free Guitar VST
Ample Guitar M Lite II
With really nothing out there to compare in regards to quality, it’s easy to see why Ample Guitar M Lite II is regarded by many as the best guitar VST for free. Its high ratings include criteria such as sound quality, ease of use, features, and presets. Naturally, it scored well for value for money since it doesn’t cost us a cent. All the musician needs is 6GB of free hard disk space to download this handy acoustic guitar VST on both Windows or Mac. You’ll then be able to introduce the sound of the Martin D-41 acoustic guitar into your studio and make it part of your recordings. Ample Guitar M Lite II gives us access to a myriad of choices of presets with drag and drop support, making their inclusion easy and convenient.
The easy to use keyboard has a blue line under the notes the VST can play. There is a yellow line under the keys that offer extra options for the user, which can be identified by hovering the mouse over them. Adjust the panorama and width to add a unique quality to the sound. Do the same using the release, FX, resonance, and fret sound toggles. Also noteworthy, the strummer tab gives us, among many other features, a humanization setting option making the guitar play sound less manufactured. The effects included in Ample Guitar M Lite II are compressor, overdrive, five-band equalizer, chorus, phaser, delay, and reverb. This free guitar VST is jampacked with even more features, and its user-friendly interface means you’ll soon master them.
Impact Soundworks’ Shreddage 3 Stratus Free
This plugin offers the user an extensive sample library for Kontakt, the host for hundreds of outstanding, realistic, detailed sample instruments. Because of its range and flexibility, and the high-quality samples it offers, Impact Soundworks Shreddage 3 Stratus Free is one of the best free guitar instrument choices available to users. The product boasts an updated version of TACT (Total Articulation Control Technology), which is essential for customizing the mapping and triggering of all articulations. With TACT, you can set your DAW up according to their customized preferences, giving the music they produce a unique, signature sound. The product also features Console, which is a modular FX rack and mixer with a pedalboard, providing full control over the produced sounds, and offering 30 effects modules.
Console also makes it more convenient to save and load FX chains and presets, moving them between projects or integrating them with other Shreddage 3 products. When using Impact Soundworks Shreddage 3 Stratus Free, you have several options for editing and adjusting sounds, including bite, transposing, selecting up to four guitars at a time, picking modes, and articulations. With so many setup options, this product is popular, although it should be noted that it requires the full version of Kontakt, not Kontakt Player.
Spitfire Audio Labs Peel Guitar
Is there such thing as a free VST instrument guide without some Spitfire Audio LABS in it? Award-winning composer Christian Henson is the co-founder of Spitfire Audio, together with fellow composer Paul Thomson. The pair have produced several instrumental plug-ins, and the Spitfire Audio Labs Peel Guitar is just one among their countless high-end free VST instruments, let alone here is one of our favorite free guitar VST options right now in general. Recorded in 2006 by Henson himself using a Fender Telecaster, an instrument the composer has used frequently during his illustrious career, the VST offers a high-quality guitar sound that British indie music fans know and love. The recording was done using a 15w tweed amp, lending the sound an authenticity that few other VSTs can.
Together with the vibrato and tremolo, the Fender Telecaster play by Christian Henson gives a unique distortion factor that adds depth to any recording. The Spitfire Audio Labs Peel Guitar VST does not require Kontakt to function and is downloadable on Mac OS and Windows. They have their own standalone VST software that organizes all the plugins of theirs that you can use in your DAW (seriously, just download them all). One should not let the simplicity of Spitfire Audio Labs Peel Guitar’s user interface fool them as it still offers plenty of adjustability. As with all Spitfire Audio Labs products, it features a dial to set reverb, and two sliders, one for volume and the other for velocity elimination.
Amplitube 4 Custom Shop
Now we can start to get into some effects, because honestly the previous few were the only free guitar VST we found to be worth it. Let’s kick this off however, because AmpliTube 4 Custom Shop is a powerful and jam-packed program that offers us some of the best FX out there for guitars in a little easy-to-use portal, and many are free. AmpliTube 4 Custom Shop comes with 24 pieces of gear for the user to interact with and can be installed as a standalone application or a plug-in for Windows and Mac. Among the 24 plugins you get from the free download are nine stompbox models, four amplifiers, five cabinets, three microphones, two rack effects units, and a tuner. Each sound on AmpliTube 4 Custom Shop comes from authorized models of some of the world’s best guitars.
Use the amplifiers to adjust gain, bass, middle, treble, presence, and volume. The cabinet settings control threshold, release, depth, panorama, and volume. The rack effects allow for manipulation of gain, frequency, and equalization. The stompbox model settings include chorus, compressor, delay, flanger, diode overdrive, and graphic EQ options to experiment with. There are also options to adjust delay time, filter, feedback, and mix to get the sound you’re looking for. All this is possible using the AmpliTube 4 Custom Shop’s conveniently designed interface that will have even the newest music mixers onboard in no time. Definitely worth the look.
Ignite Amps Emissary
Emissary is one of Ignite Amps’ most popular products, and it is one of the best free guitar VST products when it comes to versatility and sound quality, especially if the sound you’re after is metal. If you’re looking to reproduce the sound of a dual-channel guitar tube amplifier, then Emissary is the product you’ve been looking for. Described as music for the moshpit, Emissary’s newest version has two significant improvements. The first is that the triode modeling engine has had a complete overhaul and recoded to produce better sound and performance while reducing CPU usage.
The second is the improved amp simulation sound the plug-in generates, making it even better than previous versions. You can use the clean function to make adjustments to the bass, mid, treble, and gain in the music. With the lead function, we’re able to manipulate gain, bass, low-mid, high-mid, and treble sounds. Using Ignite Amps’ Emissary, you can also make changes to the depth and presence of the sound, depending on your preference. Emissary has an easy-to-use interface and gives the user many options for sound modulation and reproduction.
Blue Cat Free Amp
The Blue Cat Free Amp delivers a legendary guitar amplifier performance. It covers a wide range of guitar amp tones, from classic clean to classic drive and modern drive, making it versatile and ideal for somebody who wants to experiment with guitar amp sounds. To install Blue Cat Free Amp, easily one of the best free guitar plug-ins available, you need a computer running Windows or Mac OS. Blue Cat Free Amp applies no CPU load to your system when it is idle, with processing terminating when you don’t feed it with sound. Regardless of which amp tone you choose, they can adjust the gain, drive, bass, mid, treble, and volume in each according to their preference. Blue Cat Free Amp also has several preset sounds, including 80s rock and 90s solo.
Featuring handy undo and redo buttons, the VST is easy to use when it comes to fixing mistakes. The user interface consists of three windows, depending on which amp tone you’ve decided to work with. Each is easy to operate and understand, and unlike many other VSTs, this one gives musicians a precise reading of their settings, such as the volume, gain, etc., making it easier to repeat music patterns without too much tweaking.
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Guitar sounds in music is essentially expected, even in most genres some wouldn’t expect it to hear them. That’s why we always recommend our music makers to collect at least a few guitar virtual instruments to make sure their toolbox has some versatility. We remember when we first entered the virtual instrument game, it was really difficult to find a guitar VST that was actually worth including in our music. Either it sounded super cheap and digitally, or we couldn’t find any type of loop to match up with what we were grooving. Lately however in the past 5 years or so, we’ve seen a lot of heavy hitters in the VST game create some amazing guitar VST. Of course, buying a real acoustic guitar or electric guitar can always be the option. However, what if we just want a few sounds to work with? What if we want to learn an entire guitar VST engine? We found some to share with you today.
The Best Guitar Plugins
Native Instruments Session Guitarist – Strummed Acoustic
Strummed Acoustic, Native Instruments’ Session Guitarist VST, is the result of repeated deep multi-sampling of the iconic Martin D-35 acoustic guitar that was more commonly used in the early 1970’s. From ease of use to solid quality sounds and heightened flexibility, there is no understating the range of features that make this one of the best guitar VST models available in the current market.
![Electric Electric](https://support.musicgateway.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/20362-topshot4.jpg)
This 8 GB VST comes fully equipped with 102 patterns, all of which have been uniformly grouped into 31 songs that can easily be loaded into any of the plug-in’s 8 key-switched slots. Regarding navigation, pattern selection can be done using the ‘Pattern Browser’ that also includes sound play filters, rhythmic base filters, and a variety of pattern style selections. Another one of Strummed Acoustic‘s key features is its seamless chord changing which is made possible by the ‘Auto Chord’ mode that is easily operated by a single finger.
Music Lab Real Guitar
Real Guitar by Music Lab is a virtual instrument based on samples that take on a more innovative approach to modeling guitar sounds. As one of many masterful inventions by Music Lab, the Real Guitar allows users to bring to life live guitar performances from the comfort of their computers as it makes it possible to emulate guitar parts with expressions that are true-to-life. It comes in a package comprising of a 2-instrument combo, that is, the Real Guitar steel ring and the Real Guitar classic. The latter is made up of guitar models by Music Lab while the former entails 3 tuning selections and up to 5 patches all wrapped up in a single sample set.
More importantly, both instruments are built on a manageable user interface comprising of a virtual keyboard, a virtual fret board, and a setting panels. There are also a number of tabs used to control the plug-in’s song and performance modes, thus, allowing for added flexibility. Combined, these features make Real Guitar one of the best guitar virtual instruments of today in our opinion.
Amplesound Guitar
Ample Guitar by Amplesound is a realistic guitar VST emulation of the Martin D-41 guitar presented in an engine packed with numerous features. It allows for adjusting of numerous sound elements including release, velocity sensitivity, resonance, and release. On the other hand, it comes fully equipped with a rhombic sampling structure is designed to switch sample playbacks based on the note in a bid to humanize the entire sound. It has a 6GB library that includes a large variety of picked and fingered playing styles.
For a more realistic sound, these styles were recorded using two mono and another two stereo playback modes placed at two mic positions. Also, it features the Strummer — a built-in sequencer that makes it possible for users to develop their own strum patterns. In sum, Amplesound Guitar qualifies their series of VST as one of the best guitar virtual instruments in the game since they have so many options and how great it sounds.
Impact Soundworks Shreddage
Best Free Vst Guitar Instrumental
Shreddag is the latest installment in Impact Soundworks series. It features an aesthetic user interface with expanded access for easy editing in addition to a strumming tab that is not available in its earlier versions. The ‘Poly Input’ is another addition only available in this series. It allows users to create lifelike chords for enhanced sound production.
There are also several string and fret voicing algorithms. Despite its being ranked among the best guitar VST plugins of today, the Shreddag 3 Series falls short of its considerable high minimum requirements which include 6 GB RAM, 9 GB hard disk space, and a 5.7 Kontakt platform or higher.
SONiVOX Bright Electric Guitar
SONiVOX Bright Electric Guitar offers a pretty good guitar sound that is guaranteed to cheer up your jams with a true-to-life emulation of some Strat guitars. It features multi-velocity tones and mutes; 3 velocity mutes and 3 velocity tones. Its major triads include up strum, picked strum, down strum and choked strum, in addition to the respective minor triads.
There are also Major and Minor bar chords, down strum hard and up strum hard including down strum light, and up strum light. As such, it also qualifies as one of the best guitar VST instruments out there.
Native Instruments Session Guitarist – Electric Sunburst
After Native Instrument released the Strummed Acoustic VI guitar virtual instrument in 2016, a lot of people said that NI will most certainly release another guitar VI based on a different theme but with identical an identical basal engine. These speculations were accurate as two years later NI released another guitar VI bad on the legendary Les-Paul style — the Electric Sunburst. But what makes this one of the best guitar VST models available today? The answer lies in its polished guitar performances that use a Kontakt front-end. It includes an extensive list of style-based patterns in addition to its high levels of flexibility that allow music fiends to play these patterns at all tempos.
Best Free Bass Guitar Vst Instrument
Moreover, there are various chord types from which one can easily voice these patterns. From reggae vibes to Latin, rock, and mellow rhythms, these patterns cover all types of styles. This variety of Electric Sunburst added to the Swing Control makes for a solid guitar performance without an actual guitar!
Music Lab RealEight
Best Free Vst Guitar Instrumental Music
RealEight by Music Lab has been designed around the usual eight string guitar. It comes fully equipped with a very usable keyboard interface in addition to a switch system for key, velocity, or pedal tweaking. Its flexibility is what makes this one of the best guitar virtual instruments largely due to this switch system which allows music lovers to come up with as many distinct articulations as is humanly possible using an electric guitar. Examples include scrapping, pull-offs, bridge mute, harmonics, sliding, pinch harmonics, and mute, to name just but a few.
In addition to working as a Standalone plug-In, RealEight can also work on popular hosts including Pro Tools, Cubase, Sonar, Studio One, Digital Performer, and Logic. Noteworthy, its system requirements include a RAM of 2 GB, 5 GB hard disk space for its extensive library, Windows XP or higher, AAX support, and VST2 32 bit or higher. Generally, it is a solid choice in as far as guitar virtual instruments are concerned.
Native Instruments Scarbee Funk Guitarist
The “funk phenomenon” is what makes Scarbee Funk Guitarist one of the best guitar virtual instruments in the current market for us. Funk Guitarist‘s key funky features include 8 GB worth of tunes, a whopping 3411 chords, 80 preset maps, varied song templates, high-end editing, and instant playability. In fact, a lot of reviews describe the Scarbee Funk Guitarist as a breakthrough in guitar sampling largely due to it standout attention to details. It’s 3411 chords have been recorded in 11 articulations and various velocities with an aim of creating an authentic funky yet organic sound.
There are 152 samples for each chord, which makes it ideal for all kinds of pickup settings and playing positions. On the flipside, it is limited to Kontakt player version 5 or higher. It is also quite bulky with up to 14 GB when uncompressed, nevertheless a beautiful guitar VST to look into.
Electri6ity
A wise man once said, “always save the best for last” — Electri6ity is by far the best guitar VST in this list. It is basically made up of 8 classic guitars wrapped up in a single virtual instrument. It has been designed to meet all the needs of a modern electric guitar based on its intelligent and broad-gauge library. It contains at least 24,000 samples, all of which are 24-bit. Understandably so, it requires a huge chunk of hard disk space at 27 GB. Its primary playback engine is Kontakt 4 and its key switching controls can be used to manipulate all kinds of parameters. More importantly, its effect generators include a Screamer pedal that includes various modeling types such as British, Classic, and Metal.
The second effects generator of Electri6ity comprises of different variety effects including delayed algorithms, flanger, reverb, chorus, and phaser. Ideally, users get the chance to produce solid quality guitar sounds with undefeated realism due to its background scripting. However, it might take majority to get a hang of this guitar VST due to its grossly complicated user interface. In our opinion it’s well worth investing the time.
Concluding our Best Guitar VST Guide
Best Free Guitar Vst Instrument
Are you without a guitar but need to develop some quality guitar riffs? Worry not! Technology has made this possible by means of guitar VST plugins. You might find it odd to play a guitar from your computer/tablet but the sound quality produced by these software is more or less similar to that of an actual guitar. VST is an acronym for Virtual Studio Technology and refers to audio plug-ins that rely on digital signal processing to replicate traditional studio hardware. One could either use a standalone VST or alongside a DAW of his/her choice by simply loading up a GUI (Graphical User Interface) representation of the plugin in question. This way, you get to produce the required riffs and tinker with the settings as much as possible.
Ever since the advent of guitar VSTs in the mid-1990s, manufacturers have come up with hundreds of versions that have in turn made this one of the most competitive markets today. However, guitar VSTs tend to be a more delicate affair. To produce high quality riffs, you need a beefy plugin with immense computer processing power. This will go a long way in minimizing latency and improving final sound quality. To this end, we hope this list of the best guitar VST models available in the current market has helped you all today!