Best Guitar Instrument Vst Plugins
Bias FX 2 is probably the best guitar VST plugin in my opinion in terms of value. It offers hundreds of different amp sims and effects pedals that you can mix and match in one convenient package. The user interface is the best I’ve seen in any amp simulator plugin. It’s clean, intuitive, and slick, making the learning curve seamless. Let’s take a look at some of the best guitar VST plugins you can try in 2020. What is the best guitar VST you need to try? As a guitar-specific tool, IK Multimedia’s Amplitube 4 is the one to beat. While Positive Grid’s BIAS AMP 2 arguably wins out purely on sound quality, the added effects and other tools make Amplitube 4 the full package. 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.
- Best Free Bass Guitar Instrument Vst Plugins
- Best Guitar Instrument Vst Plugins Download
- Best Free Vst Instrument Plugins
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.
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. Best free fl vst plugins. 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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An acoustic guitar is one of a member of the guitar family, it differs from an electronic guitar that uses an electronic amplification system, so, in the real world, an acoustic doesn’t rely on electronic amplification.
If you don’t want to go over the hassle of learning to play a guitar, tunning, adding effects, and setting up a good studio recording room, then you can opt-in for a virtual acoustic guitar that has been designed to work close to a professional guitar.
Before I recommend you to some of the best virtual acoustic guitars, here are some reasons you should use one…
- You don’t have access to a professional acoustic guitar
- Want to quickly lay down a track without the hassle of setting up a studio recording session, finding the perfect angle, and tuning a guitar.
- You have a guitar but want to use it as MIDI-Controlled guitar for electronic manipulation.
Helix synth vst plugin. That said, let us look at the best virtual acoustic guitar VST instrument plugin in the music production scene.
Starting with…
1.) Virtual Guitar Amber ($129.00)
First on our list is Virtual Guitarist Amber by Ujam. Amber features a vastly expanded realism guitar library, easy to use, intuitive, and built for musicians of all levels.
Practically, when setting up a real acoustic guitar for recording, you would want to make sure your mics are properly positioned, your guitar is properly tuned, and you are recording in a good studio recording room, I guess you can imagine how complex that would be if you are just getting started, with Amber, all you need is a laptop, your Daw, and to be creative. It is designed to produce a realistic great acoustic guitar sounds without distracting you from the complexity of setting up a real guitar.
The way Amber works is using patterns and styles, You press a key on the keyboard or a piano-roll, and then Amber play strum chords in designated phrases combined into styles & determined by the notes you play.
With over 600 phrases & 50+ styles, you can experiment and unleash the power of various playing styles and rhythmic sounds.
So, if you aren’t capable of owning a professional guitar, or you can’t record a live acoustic guitar professionally, then Amber is what you need. Keep in mind though, Amber is mostly based on strum chords.
Video Sneak Peek
Key Features
- Steel-string acoustic guitar strumming
- More than 50 Styles and 600 Phrases
- From full-bodied warm to metallic-sparkling bright
- Select or mix between a microphone and pick-up signal
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System Requirements
- Windows 7 or higher, Mac OS X 10.9 or higher
- VST/AU/AAX/NKS
- Minimum requirements of 4 GB of RAM, 6 GB of Disk Space and 1280×768 px Display
2.) Ample Guitar M III ($169.00)
Ample Guitar M III is an acoustic guitar by Amplesound and a model of Martin D-41 acoustic guitar, which is where the M comes from. It features an astonishing library of more than 3800 sound samples in 24-bit / 44.1kHz.
Unlike Amber that is mostly based on Strum Chords, Ample Guitar M III includes complete strum samples for each chord and every music style, which can either be played by fingers or picking. What makes this guitar stood apart from other virtual guitar is the way you can control the resonance sound, Legato Slide, Slide in & out, Palm Mute, Pop, Natural Harmonic, and many more you won’t think of.
Another super interesting feature of Ample Guitar M is the Random Riff Generator, which is built to summarize the rules through analyzing a bunch of music scores, this could quickly give you the inspiration to lay down a good track.
Video SneakPeek
Key Features
- Strum, Finger two sample libraries.
- 14 Strum notes + 28 ways to play for every chord.
- Strum Legato – legato articulations can be played while strumming.
- Strum SEQ with customized rhythm.
- 4 humanization settings.
- Controllable Resonance Sound.
- Rich Fingering Sound.
- Multiple Capo Logics – providing various options of automatic fingering logic to cover different performances such as solo, chorus, and so on.
- CPC (Customized Parameters Control) – any controller can be controlled by MIDI CC or Automation.
- and so much more
System Requirements
- Windows 7/8/10, 64-bit only (32-bit not supported) and Mac 10.9 or higher.
- VST2, VST3, AU, AAX, and Standalone host.
- 10 GB Hard Disk, Intel i5 or higher.
3.) Taylor Acoustic Guitar ($15.00)
Taylor Acoustic Guitar is the most affordable guitar, it is around $15, but what do you get for this price?
Best Guitar Instrument Vst Plugins Download
The answer is a sampled model of the Taylor 810 Acoustic guitar for its pristine and soothing sounds. According to the manufacturer:
We sampled Taylor Acoustic Guitar with the excellent Lawson Tube microphone and it sounds amazing. To top it off we have included more than just single note samples. We’ve also included fret noise, harmonics, up and down strummed chords, and muted chord “chunks”.
This is one of the most popular virtual guitars out there, and honestly, I was forced to try it after seeing a couple of great reviews about it, for the price point, you won’t see anything better.
Key Features
- A model of Taylor 810 Acoustic Guitar
- Fret noise, harmonics, up and down strummed chords and a muted chord
System Requirments
- Windows 7 or higher, and OS X Version 10.8 or higher
- Minimum 2GB RAM, 4GB Recommended
- A VST 32/64 or AAX 32/64 compatible host application
- A FREE iLok account & manager is required for authorization of this software – no iLok USB key is required
4.) Fractured: Prepared Acoustic Guitar ($99.95)
Fractured is a Kontakt Instrument by Big Fish Audio. Whether you would be using it musically or sound designing, Fractures is the right Prepared Acoustic Guitar for you. It isn’t just an acoustic guitar instrument but an innovative new collection of instruments featuring creative and esoteric samples and manipulations of various acoustic guitars.
Big Fish Audio Fractured features 2.3GB of compressed samples and more than one hundred new instruments with numerous variations and effects built into each. One feature I dig about Fractured is the playable and dynamic rhythmic loops and patterns. If that isn’t enough for you, you still have multitimbral arpeggiated creations, huge cinematic impacts, gritty electronic drums, gnarly and much more.
What makes Fractured stood apart from others is the built-in Drum Kits made with mallets, fingernail scrapes, metal scrapes, cardboard scraps, and pouring rice over the guitar.
Video SneakPeek
Key Features
- Sub-divided Instruments: Chromatic Kits, Drum Kits, Melodic, Pads & SFX and Tempo Synced
- You can tweak the instrument further using: Quantization, Envelope controls (attack and release), Stereo spread, Effects (reverb, delay, drive, flanger, vibrato, rotator, wobble, and others), AutoPan and more
- 2.3GB of Compressed samples.
- Over 100 patches of creative and esoteric samples and manipulations of various acoustic guitars.
- The library includes the free Kontakt Player 5
System Requirements
- Windows 7 Intel Core Duo or higher, and Macintosh OS 10.6.8 Inter Core Duo or higher
- A minimum of 2GB Ram and requires at least 3GB of free hard drive space.
- Fractured will run in standalone mode and is also compatible with the Major DAW such as Fl Studio, Apple Logic & GarageBand, MOTU Digital Performer, Digidesign Pro Tools (8 and higher), Steinberg Cubase and Nuendo, Ableton Live, and more.
5.) Blue Cat’s Re-Guitar ($99.00)
The last acoustic guitar on the list is the Blue Cat’s Re-Guitar, which is design to emulate many kinds of guitar tones, be it an acoustic or an electric guitar, this is especially handy in a project where you wouldn’t like to be switching various guitar instruments.
The way Blue Cats Re-Guitar works is letting you choose from a selection of popular guitar pickups, and it emulates the electric guitar pickup without you needing to modify them. You can also dig and expand the body “in the box” to craft your own hollow body guitar tone thanks to the body simulator. In addition to that, it includes a selection of acoustic guitar simulations, and you can craft your own too.
Video SneakPeek
Key Features
- Guitar tone modeler with electric pickups, acoustic guitars, and hollow body emulations.
- Built-in single-coil pickups: single hot, vintage, modern, active, tele, neck+mid, bridge+mid, P90, P90J.
- Built-in humbucker pickups: vintage, classic, ricky, modern, rails, bright, wide, wide(jazz), jazz box.
- Built-in piezo & acoustic guitars: solid body piezo, acoustic sim pedals, modern & vintage dreadnought, jumbo, mini jumbo, 000, small.
- Create your own electric pickups or acoustic guitar emulations with the custom electric and custom acoustic models.
- Adjust hollow body thickness and amount.
- Adjust simulations brightness and gain.
- Built-in virtual volume and tone pots.
- No latency.
System Requirements
- Windows Vista or higher (Pentium 4 or newer), and Mac OS 10.7 or higher(intel processor.).
- Any VST/AAX/AU compatible host software (32 or 64 bit).
- Any sample rate supported.