If you’ve ever used Kontakt, then you probably know how powerful the software is.
When producers start using Kontakt, one of the first things they do is start searching for free libraries to compose and make beats with. The good news is that there are plenty of quality free libraries out there.
The downside is that you often have to search through plenty of low-quality free Kontakt libraries to find them.
Luckily, we’ve done the research for you so you can spend less time sifting through forums online and more time making music.
Sample Logic - Taste The Fury
No matter what kind of music you produce, percussion is always an important element.
This unique Kontakt plugin is a Taiko drum ensemble with more than 100 different hand drums and percussion instruments to play around with. Whether you want to add a touch of drama to your music or make action-packed movie scores, Taste The Fury is an incredible plugin!
The interface is very robust yet straightforward, offering built-in effects, refined controls, and quality samples. Each of the two “hands” available for playing the percussion has many dynamic layers with parameter adjusters like a velocity randomizer, pitch adjustment, filter, and an amp envelope.
You’ll also find an onboard equalizer, reverb, and delay, which you can manipulate to dial in the perfect sound for your mix. The library also comes with a unique energy slider that adds a bit of grittiness to your sound, as well as a polisher slider that smooths out the sound by rounding off the edges.
Fine Cut Bodies - Gombulator
Gombulator’s Fine Cut Bodies is a unique Kontakt instrument built off of an 80s-style synthesizer, the Yamaha PSR-165. It comes with six presets and a drum set, as well as a strikingly unique interface.
The sounds are exactly as you’d anticipate, perfect for retro synthpop and ambient tunes. Each of the samples has been meticulously sampled as well, so you can expect to get the highest quality from the instrument.
Heavyocity - Foundations Piano
The Foundations series from Heavyocity is one of the best instrument series out there. This free piano library is the flagship instrument in the series, offering a beautiful piano sound with soft dynamics. It’s great for soft piano parts in pop songs or quiet underscore, all thanks to its warm textures and sounds.
However, we love that Heavyocity took it a step further, adding an arpeggiator on the interface to allow users a bit more flexibility with their creativity.
The plugin uses dual layers to employ its deeply-sampled grand piano sound without overly loud hammers typically found on felt piano emulations. The second layer delivers synth textures to layer up with your piano. Overall, there are ten presets to get you started.
Beyond the arpeggiator, you’ll find a few usable effects, including delay, reverb, and punch. We love that this piano focuses on the softer side of dynamics, giving you something unique in your arsenal to craft a cinematic sound.
Impact Soundworks - Shreddage 3 Stratus
The Shreddage 3 Stratus electric guitar library from Impact Soundworks is one of the most deeply-sampled free electric guitar emulations out there. You’ll find an array of built-in articulations, including choke, palm mute, and sustain, as well as three octaves of range to play with.
You’ll also find a wide variety of performance options and 24 samples per note. It’s honestly surprising how convincing this plugin is compared to other electric guitar plugins. The latest version of the plugin includes a new strumming tab to make custom rhythm guitar parts, articulation mapping, and a modular rack/mixer section with more than 30 effects!
In our eyes, it’s pretty unreal that this is available for free.
Rigid Audio - Drum One
If you need high-quality electronic drum parts in a pinch, Drum One from Rigid Audio is a great choice. This unique instrument blends a synthesizer and sampler engine to help you craft modulated drum takes and extensive loops.
You get control over seven separate synth engines with this plugin, as well as a number of processors to add saturation, grit, and body to your drum samples. You get all of the parameters you might expect, including velocity settings, modulation, filters, and amp envelopes.
Each of the seven instruments can be manipulated separately with a variety of settings, while the overall kit can receive compression, saturation, and reverb. There are 64 kits to choose from, giving you plenty of options, though you can also import your own if you’d like!
Beyond that, Drum One delivers MIDI mapping and a high-end Mix page as the cherry on top. It’s one of the best free electronic drum engines around.
Samplephonics Sonas Ronroco
If you’re looking for something unique, the Sonas Ronroco VST from Samplephonics is a great choice. This instrument contains 3,996 multi-samples and 893 Ronroco loops, all of which were recovered in a professional studio in Manchester by Dominik Johnson, one of the industry’s premier world music experts.
For those who don’t know, the Ronroco is a beautiful stringed instrument, very similar to the mandolin. You’ll find everything from one-shot samples to textures to playable picking grooves and five microphone positions to find the perfect mix. There’s even a handy onboard mixer to dial your Ronroco sound in with the rest of your tracks.
If you’re looking to add an organic essence to your mixes, this Ronroco plugin is a great choice!
Rigid Audio - Metawave
If you make ambient or experimental electronic music, then having a quality VST with atmospheric tones is a must. Metawave is somewhat of a granular synth that uses multiple synth layers and manipulated samples to create out-of-this-world soundscapes. There are 64 soundscapes built-in and a robust engine that allows you to customize the samples.
The four-grain layers allow you to create unpredictable sounds with the addition of volume and reverb controls. You can even add unique effects, such as phaser, flanger, and flair, which deliver pitched metallic overtones.
We love the randomize button, which allows you to swap the waveform for a different layer randomly. Having the ability to play with variations makes it such a great plugin for exploring the unknown.
Beyond all of that, you’ll find a flux control for speed adjustment and two sequencer lanes so you can let your atmospheric sounds run throughout the course of your track while they change on their own.
Impact Soundworks - Stroh Violin
Having a traditional instrument like a violin in your arsenal can come in handy when you want to add an organic element to your productions. The Stroh Violin from Impact Soundworks is a unique take on the traditional classic violin with a self-amplifying metal body and horn that resonates with power and purpose.
You’ll find custom-mapped articulations built into this plugin, including pizzicato, spiccato, and sustain, as well as a tri-layer sequencer and controls to change the overall sound, such as vinyl, dirt, and grit.
All of the sounds found in this plugin are quite incredible and the interface was very well done. It’s certainly one of the best and most articulate violin VSTs out there today.
Sonixinema - Medicine Man
The Indonesian tongue drum might just be one of the most distinct and unique instruments on the planet, offering a slight bit of much-needed peace and tranquility. The Medicine Man library offers deep samples of this iconic instrument with an atmospheric layer to give it space and air.
While there aren’t any controls on the interface, you never feel like you wish you had them. The instrument is so well-sampled with several dynamic layers, giving you more than you need to enjoy playing it on its own.
Not only do you get the wonderful sound of the instrument itself, but there are also red robins for adjacent sound elements, such as the sound of the ambiance around the instrument and the striking layer.
From peaceful textures to awe-inspiring chords, you can create wonderful atmospheric tones. The developers even added a relaxing nighttime environment sample when you play the C0 note, allowing you to create meditation music in a pinch.
Standalone Music - Neverland Lead
7 Skies and KSHMR came together to collaborate on this incredible free instrument, Neverland, which gives you access to all of the leads and layers found on the hit song. You get complete control over the shape of your sounds with killer synth leads that can cut through just about any mix.
The interface is simple yet beautiful. If you’ve ever listened to “Neverland” and thought, “man, it’d be awesome to have access to those sounds in my own productions,” then this VST delivers!
Wrongtools - Trapeze Organ
Organ can be used in mixes in so many ways, from crafting leads to the ambiance and beyond. The unique Trapeze Organ VST, as you may have guessed by the name, gets its roots from Eastern European circus music from the late 70s.
Within the plugin, you’ll find more than 100KB of organ samples, recorded through mini-Leslie amplifiers, spring reverbs, and internal speakers. The interface is sleek and easy to navigate. Plus, the GUI is totally resizable, which can’t be said for many free VSTs.
There are four mic channels you can blend with one another to craft the perfect sound, including the direct microphones, spring reverb microphones, room microphones, and spot microphones. You can even disable mics if you choose!
The library also provides a convolution delay and reverb, which have their own settings for more advanced control. Where it really gets wacky is the built-in XY pad, which can help you create unique pads and atmospheric sounds for endless sonic possibilities.
Output - Signal Free
Output has become one of the most popular names in VSTs over the past couple of years and Signal Free is one of the company’s instruments that producers often get started with. This unique synth instrument comes with 2GB of content, 25 pulse instruments, a looper, an arpeggiator, and multiple LFOs.
The interface is one of our favorites when it comes to free instruments, as it delivers a sleek, futuristic look with clean and easy-to-navigate controls. You’ll find plenty of sounds to take your breath away, great for all different kinds of music, such as ambient, electronic, or experimental.
All of these pulse instruments deliver an actual pulse, making them more rhythmic than most experimental electronic instruments. While they certainly won’t work in every situation, they can be incredibly useful in many.
ProjectSAM - The Free Orchestra
While ProjectSAM might be known for its True Strike and Symphobia VSTs, the developer also offers a high-quality free orchestra collection with more than 1GB of cinematic instruments for creating all kinds of music, including percussion, synths, brass, and strings.
Beyond your typical cinematic instruments, you’ll also find dark drones, eerie clusters, a bass ensemble with piano, harp, and bassoon, tutti hits, warm choir swells, and an eight-player French horn section that will absolutely rock your world.
Some of the instruments in this plugin provide two microphone positions, including a close mic and hall mic, so you can manipulate the sounds in more ways. You’ll also find several other features in this library, including a quick master EQ, a limiter, a low-pass filter, a volume envelope, an octaver, and a volume envelope.
If you make cinematic music in any capacity, the Free Orchestra plugin from ProjectSAM is a must-have.
Final Thoughts
There you have it, some of our favorite free Kontakt libraries in 2022!
Of course, we’ve merely scratched the surface with this list, as there are plenty of other great free Kontakt libraries out there. However, these should be more than enough to diversify your arsenal and get you started!
If you’re itching for more sounds to add to your arsenal, make sure to check out our collection of sounds over here at FL Tips!