instrument
Generates audio, usually in response to notes. The complement of an effect.
8ridgelite— James Stubbs
8 string guitar virtual instrument with one extra octave below for good measure!
Achord— Danny Ayers
Modern Stradella-style Launchpad chord controller with transport-aware trigger modes.
ADLplug— Jean Pierre Cimalando
FM Chip Synthesizer — OPL & OPN — VST/LV2/Standalone
ADLplug— Jean Pierre Cimalando
FM synthesizer based on OPL3 and OPN2 sound chip emulations. Synthesis of melodic and percussive instruments, support for dynamic parameterization and automation.
ADSR— Florian Mrugalla
A plugin that transforms MIDI input into an ADSR modulator audio output, usable as a modulation source for other plugins.
amsynth— Nick Dowell
Simple software synthesizer for Linux
amsynth— Nick Dowell
Simple software synthesizer for Linux, macOS and Windows, inspired by classic analog hardware monosynths.
Andes— Artem Popov
Andes is a software synthesiser plugin in early stages of development. The core of Andes is an original oscillator which uses a pseudo-3D version of Perlin noise to produce distinctively digital sound.
Audible Planets— Greg Recco
An expressive, quasi-Ptolemaic semi-modular synthesizer.
AVL Drumkits— Glen MacArthur
Black Pearl and Red Zepplin drumkits recorded with 5 velocity layers per kit piece.
AVL Percussions— Glen MacArthur
11 percussions instruments (Cajon, Woodblock, Handclap, Fingersnap, Bongos, Maracas, Tambourine, Cowbell, Claves, Waterglass) recorded with 5 velocity layers per piece.
ayumi-lv2— Atsushi Eno
ayumi AY-3-8910 and YM2149 emulator for LV2
B-Step— Surge Synthesizer Team
The MonoPlugs b-step sequencer
Banana Split— Jesús Valdez
An FM synthesizer with one oscillator (sine/saw/triangle/square), ADSR envelope, and built-in reverb, delay, chorus, and distortion effects.
Basic Harmonica— michael02022
Basic harmonica.
BassLineMatrix— OTODESK
Algorithmic MIDI sequencer and built-in synthesizer that generates genre-specific basslines and chord progressions across 23 electronic music styles
BassPreamp— Guillermo Moñino Cánovas
Bass preamp plugin blending ideas from multiple bass preamp effects — noise gate, MarkBass-inspired character/VPF control, and tone shaping
BeatCrafter— Innermost
Intelligent MIDI drum pattern generator VST3 designed for live performance with foot controllers. Generate authentic patterns across multiple styles with dynamic intensity control.
BeatMD— Paul Jones
A simple sampler plugin modelled on an old piece of analog gear, available as VST3, AU, and AAX.
Beatrec— Thomas Brok
Open source rolling sampler (VST3/CLAP audio plug-in), built with Rust
BespokeSynth— BespokeSynth
A live-patchable, modular synth environment that can host VST/VST3/LV2 plugins internally, with sequencing, MIDI controller mapping, and Python scripting.
Bifractalizer— Andrew Kotov
An audio plugin that fractalizes and defractalizes sound 😺
Billie Drum— EwonRael
SFZ drum kit inspired by the sound of Michael Jackson's Thriller album, blending acoustic and digital drum samples at 44.1kHz
Black and Green Guitars— DSmolken
Black Hofner Club and Green Gretsch Anniversary electric guitars.
BlackBird— Dmitry Khrykin
Analog-inspired software synth with its own voice, filters. modulation and envelope.
Braids VST— masseyis
Polyphonic VST3/AU plugin porting Mutable Instruments Braids macro-oscillator
BSEQuencer— sjaehn
A multi-channel MIDI step sequencer with a variable-size pattern matrix (up to 32x16), per-pad randomization, musical scale/drumkit support, and a built-in scale/drumkit editor.
Chipper— Austin Naremore
A multi-chip retro synth VST3 emulating classic game and computer sound chips (NES, Game Boy, SID, YM2612, OPL, and more), with register-aware, emulator-backed chip behavior.
ChordMatrix— OTODESK
MIDI chord sequencer combining music theory with algorithmic assistance — lookahead voice leading, smooth fingering, and context-aware modulation suggestions
Chorus Ex Machina— Peter Eastman
Physically modelled chorus synthesizer, able to sing realistically in a variety of languages.
ChowKick— Chowdhury DSP
Kick synthesizer based on old-school drum machine circuits
Continuous Risset Scales— James Morris
NJL plugins by Nick Lamb ported to the LV2 specification
Convolution's Kick Synth— minburg
Versatile kick drum synthesizer plugin for crafting sounds from deep, clean 808s to aggressive, textured, distorted kicks for modern electronic music
CRASSHHFY— Cal Goheen
Neural drum sampler plugin that uses a diffusion network to generate drum samples, with priming ("Drumify"), inpainting ("Variation"), and a kick/snare/hihat classifier
Dexed— Pascal Gauthier
Synthesizer closely modeled on the Yamaha DX7.
DigiDrie— Bart Brouns
A monophonic vector-synthesis synth with 4 phase-locked CZ-style oscillators, morphable macros arranged in a 3D cube, and per-parameter left-right stereo difference control.
dm-GrainDelay— Dave Mollen
A granular delay effect, written in Rust and compilable to LV2 or MOD Audio plugin formats.
dm-TimeWarp— Dave Mollen
Granular delay, looper & sampler plugin with time stretch capabilities
Double Bass— DSmolken
1958 Otto Rubner double bass played arco and pizzicato with additional miscellaneous noises.
Drawwave Vocoder— 008takeshi
Vocoder instrument where the carrier wavetable, band gains, and LFO shape are all hand-drawn with the mouse
Drops— Clearly Broken
Drops is a single audio file sample player. Load an audio file, play it, loop it, pitch shift it, and make it into something entirely new.
DrumCraker— Wamphyre
Free drum sampler VST3 plugin optimized for Linux, FreeBSD, Windows and macOS, fully compatible with DrumGizmo drum kits.
DrumGroovePro— InToEtherion
A free, open-source MIDI drum groove sequencer VST3 plugin. Create, organize, and play custom drum patterns with an intuitive interface. For Windows, MacOS & Linux.
Drumlabooh— Peter Semiletov
A drum machine supporting Hydrogen, Drumlabooh/Drumrox, and SFZ drumkit formats, with a built-in mixer, per-instrument filter FX, and round robin/cycle random sample modes.
Duck Sampler— Jesús Valdez
A JUCE-based C++ sampler plugin featuring sample playback, ADSR envelope, LFO amplitude modulation, distortion toggle, and output volume control.
Duck Synth— Jesús Valdez
A JUCE-based C++ synthesizer plugin implementing basic additive synthesis with two oscillators, ADSR envelope, waveform selection (sine, square, triangle), reverb effect, and output volume control.
EP-MK1— Miguel Moreno
Real-time physical model of an Electric Piano.
Equinox— Oliver Rasmussen
Subtractive synthesizer and sampler plugin
Experiments in Representation (LV2)— James Morris
NJL plugins by Nick Lamb ported to the LV2 specification
Fasttracker II (FT2) Plugin— Blamstrain/TPOLM
Multi-instance-aware VST3/AU/LV2 plugin rewrite of 8bitbubsy's Fasttracker II clone, using JUCE
Firefly Synth 2— Sjoerd van Kreel
Semi-modular synth.
FluidSynth.clap— Cannery Coders
A clap-plugin bridge to fluidsynth.
Funky Moose Rootflow Synth— Uwe Arthur Felchle
Organic synth with bio-sequencing, reactive visuals, and ambient modulation for evolving textures, pulses, and plant-like motion
Fxme Sampler— Olivier Doaré
Sampling instrument with a flexible multi-channel mixer, built-in convolution reverb, and advanced velocity mapping, configured via a portable mapping.xml file
Gamelanizer— Luke M Craig
A real-time audio effect plugin inspired by the processes of traditional Indonesian Gamelan music. Accompanying material for the DAFx19 paper.
Geonkick— Iurie Nistor
Geonkick is a free software synthesizer capable of generating a wide range of percussive sounds, including kicks, snares, claps, hi-hats, shakers, and also unique effect sounds.
Geonkick Single— Iurie Nistor
Geonkick is a free software synthesizer capable of generating a wide range of percussive sounds, including kicks, snares, claps, hi-hats, shakers, and also unique effect sounds.
Glasses Of Water— Freepats
Musical instrument made with glasses of water, recorded with an AKG Perception 120 microphone.
GlitchNexus— OTODESK
Granular glitch multi-effect plugin with a cross-modulation engine and a 16-step sequencer for controlled destruction
Grace— Shannon Oram
Sampler VST Plugin for Windows
gRainbow— Strange Loops Audio
Granular synthesizer that uses pitch detection to choose harmonically matched grain candidates from a sample, producing MIDI-playable, polyphonic textures without the inharmonic artifacts of typical granular synths.
Granola— Dylan Martin
Sintetizador granular estocástico. (VST3)
GuitarMidi— Gerald Mwangi
Analyses a guitar's audio signal with a bank of bandpass filters and a neural net to extract played notes and outputs them as MIDI, with velocity/expressivity tracking.
Hang D Minor— Freepats
Pitched steel percussion instrument tuned in D minor, recorded using a Zoom H1 portable recorder mounted on a tripod.
Harmonize— Sreya Saju
A Python app that converts vocal recordings into MIDI files. Transform your singing into digital music!
Helm— Matt Tytel
Polyphonic semi-modular synthesizer with a flexible modulation system.
Horse Pulse— DSmolken
Bass Tagelharpa played pizzicato.
Hungarian Zither— DSmolken
Hungarian 'prime' zither. A rectangular instrument with over a dozen strings, mostly tuned to G, with two melody courses and the rest as drones.
IEEE Single Precision Noise (LV2)— James Morris
NJL plugins by Nick Lamb ported to the LV2 specification
Inharmonic— mogesystem
A metallic-sound synthesizer using "piano inhamonicity model"
Integer Noise (LV2)— James Morris
NJL plugins by Nick Lamb ported to the LV2 specification
INTERSECT— tucktuckg00se
A nondestructive, time-stretching, and intersecting sample slicer plugin with independent per-slice parameter control.
jDrummer— Justin Ehrlichman
An open source drum plugin that is inspired by commercial plugins such as EZDrummer3 and the Logic Pro/GarageBand Drummer
jRhodes3c— Jeff Learman
1977 Rhodes Mark I Stage 73 piano.
JS80P— Attila M. Magyar
A MIDI driven, performance oriented, versatile synthesizer.
jSteelDrum— Jeff Learman
C Steel Drum (a.k.a. 'steel pan') hand-made in Trinidad.
JuceOPLVSTi— bsutherland
A VST instrument providing an emulated OPL sound chip, the Yamaha FM synthesis chip used in classic PC sound cards.
JuicySFplugin— Birch San
SoundFont synthesizer for playing General Midi music using sf2 files.
Just a Sample— Binyamin Friedman
A modern, open-source audio sampler
Key Repeat— Midilab
A lightweight beat repeat sampler.
Kotoist— Ales Tsurko
A VST plugin for live coding and algorithmic composition
LayerEngine— samplaman
Quad-layer granular synthesizer for sound design and atmospheric textures, with per-layer position/pitch/density jitter, filters, spatialization, modulation and a global FX suite (chorus, delay, phaser, limiter).
LIRA·8— Miguel Moreno
Virtual Lyra 8 in VST3, VST2, AUi, LV2 (Camomile) and Standalone (Pure Data) format. A digital attempt at emulating SOMA Lab's Lyra-8 signal flow.
Live Sampler— Arunas Cesonis
Records incoming audio into a buffer and plays it back looped, sample-accurately, entirely controlled by MIDI notes for recording, triggering playback voices at offsets, and reversing playback.
LooperPedal— Rafael Bormann Chuede
Guitar looper pedal plugin with MIDI control — record, overdub, play, and pause loops up to 120 seconds with seamless crossfade
Lost N' Found Piano— Matthijs Hollemans
A virtual instrument plug-in that combines updated versions of the classic mda Piano and mda EPiano with a new coat of paint
Lumen— Kazi Ahmed
Wavetable synthesizer that turns dropped-in images into sound — brightness becomes waveform, image structure becomes harmonics
Macro Oscillator— Reece Mitchell
Compact synthesizer built around the Mutable Instruments Braids macro oscillator engine, with multi-stage MSEG modulation
Magical8bitPlug2— yokemura
Magical 8bit Plug 2 is a software synthesizer to generate the tones like the old 8bit game consoles (NES / Game Boy style sounds). Developed from scratch with JUCE.
Matsuri— Alexander Brandt
TR-606 drum machine emulation, available as a CLAP plugin and a Web Audio/WebAssembly module
MDA BeatBox— djshaji
Contains three samples (kick, snare and hat) designed to be triggered by incoming audio in three frequency ranges. The default samples are based on the Roland CR-78.
MDA ePiano— djshaji
Amp Rack is a Guitar / Voice Audio Effects Processor for Android. Amp Rack is an Open Source LADSPA Plugins Host for Android. More than 150 high quality audio plugins are available which can be added in any order to the
MDA Shepard— djshaji
This plug-in actually generates "Risset tones". Discrete stepping "Shepard tones" will hopefully be included in a future version.
MDA TestTone— djshaji
Amp Rack is a Guitar / Voice Audio Effects Processor for Android. Amp Rack is an Open Source LADSPA Plugins Host for Android. More than 150 high quality audio plugins are available which can be added in any order to the
MetreFiddler— Leon Focker
VST Plugin creative MIDI processing based on metre.
MIDI Markov Rebuilt— Matthew Yee-King
An AI improviser plugin that learns a Markov model from an incoming MIDI stream in realtime and improvises with what it has learnt — generating chords from monophonic input, playing slower/faster, avoiding the input's re
Mika Micro— tesselode
Small, expressive subtractive synthesizer.
Minaton-XT— AnClark Liu
A monophonic, subtractive, beefy analogue style bass and lead synthesizer. Ports the original Minaton by Nick Bailey to DPF (DISTRHO Plugin Framework).
Modern Distortion Synthesizer— Colin Raab
A polyphonic wavetable synthesizer featuring four sources (two wavetable oscillators, a noise generator, and a sampler) with per-voice, per-source filters, envelopes, and distortion.
Modern Kit— Samuel Santana
Modern drum kit sample library in SoundFont (SF2) format
Modular::Patterns— Rochen Sound Collective
A MIDI arpeggiator that separates a chord channel from a rhythmic pattern channel, so a chord progression's timing and voicing can be edited independently in the DAW's own MIDI clip editor. Bitwig-only for now.
Monique— Surge Synth Team
Monophonic, realtime, subtractive-synthesis bass-and-lead software synthesizer.
MonkSynth— Jon Taylor
Monophonic vocal synthesizer using FOF synthesis, inspired by Delay Lama
MyDrum7— realsigmamusic
High-fidelity virtual acoustic drum kit plugin in LV2 format, built natively for Linux with a focus on organic, realistic sound and low CPU usage
Naked Drums— Wilkinson Audio
Multi-mic drumkit, with 10 round-robins, up to 5 velocity layers and several mic layers (Direct, OH, Close room, Far rooms, Mid-side and Wide OH).
Niner— Hyperfocus DSP
Monophonic analogue kick drum synthesizer — 3 voices, compression, distortion, EQ. VST3/CLAP/Standalone for Linux, Windows, macOS
Ninjas 2— Clearly Broken
Easy to use sample slicer, quick slicing of sample and auto-mapping slices to midi note numbers.
Noizier— Michael Hurst
A Simple Noise Generator
Nyasynth— Aaron Kofsky
Nyasynth is a recreation / modern port of the famous Meowsynth (cat meow synthesizer). A fun, meme-inspired VST3 instrument with cat vocal synthesis. Available for Windows and macOS (ARM + Universal).
OB-Xf— Surge Synthesizer Team
OB-Xf is a continuation and modernization of the last open source release of OB-Xd by 2DaT and later discoDSP. It is inspired by the venerable Oberheim OB-X.
OBSIDIAN Neural— Innermost
AI-powered live performance tool (VST3/AU/Standalone with Ableton Link). 8-track sampler with real-time AI loop generation from text prompts using multiple models. Playable AI instrument for live sets.
OctaSine— Joakim Frostegård
Frequency modulation-based synthesizer plugin.
Odin— TheWaveWarden
12-voice polyphonic semi-modular synthesizer. Earth shattering basses, exquisite leads or mad FX, Odin's got them all! Use the classic sound of analog waveforms - or draw your own.
Odin 2— TheWaveWarden
24-voice polyphonic synthesizer with filter emulations and a modulation matrix, supporting classic analog waveforms and custom-drawn waves.
Oi, Grandad!— Modular Samples
Four-voice granular sampler with modulation and resynthesis capabilities, built with HISE.
OmniAmp— ArborealAudio
Multi-purpose audio tool.
OPNplug— Jean Pierre Cimalando
FM Chip Synthesizer — OPL & OPN — VST/LV2/Standalone
OPNplug— Jean Pierre Cimalando
FM synthesizer based on OPL3 and OPN2 sound chip emulations. Synthesis of melodic and percussive instruments, support for dynamic parameterization and automation.
Orbital Bass Engine— Tanguy VIVIER
An open-source bass guitar audio plugin built with JUCE, providing a complete signal chain for bass tone shaping — analog-modeled compression, vintage-style drive amplification, and a post-amp effects rack.
Otodesk Sampler— OTODESK
Multi-slot sampler with intelligent pitch detection, real-time RubberBand time-stretching, and a deep modulation engine
OwlBass— PentagramPro
An additive single voice bass synthesizer.
PAPU— Roland Rabien
Gameboy PAPU sound chip emulation, available as a VST2/VST3/AU/CLAP/LV2 plugin.
Perlin Noise Mod— Florian Mrugalla
Synthesizes Perlin noise for use as a modulation source in DAWs that allow audio or MIDI CC signals to modulate other plugins' parameters, such as Bitwig and Reaper
PianoForte— Carlos Tarjano
Piano Forte Audio Plugin
Pro Punk Drums— Paul Jones
JUCE simulation of my drum kit with mixing tools
Psy Melody— EDEN
MIDI generator plugin for Psytrance production — generates melodies, basslines, and chord voicings from scales, chord progressions, and subgenre-specific rhythm patterns
Punk Boost— Guillermo Moñino Cánovas
A JUCE audio plugin that pretends to emulate the behaviour of a bass preamp pedal effect.
Quetzalcoatl— Modular Samples
Quetzalcoatl is an 8-layer sample playback plugin (rompler) for Mac, Windows & Linux. Features multi-stage crossfading, wavetable mode, wavefolder, extensive modulation/sequencing, filter, and a large built-in sound libr
RdPiano— Giulio Zausa
Low-level emulator for SA-synthesis pianos, such as the Roland MKS-20, RD1000 and the Rhodes MK-80 electric piano
Recall Sampler— ummshsh
VST plugin that records everything, you can drag recoreded parts anywhere
Resonarium— Gabriel Soule
An expressive, semi-modular, and comprehensive physical modeling/waveguide synthesizer
RetroTrax— Mukkemann1972
A tracker plugin and standalone app in the spirit of ProTracker, FastTracker II, and OctaMED, with Amiga sample sound and C64 SID chip emulation.
RP2A03— Roland Rabien
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) sound chip emulation, available as a VST2/VST3/AU/CLAP/LV2 plugin.
Salamander Drumkit— Rytmenpinne
Drumkit recorded in the garage with an acoustic sound/feel.
Salamander Grand Piano— Alexander Holm
Yamaha C5, recorded with two AKG c414 disposed in an AB position ~12cm above the strings.
Sam's Sonor— Sam Greene
Sonor Force 3001 drum kit sampled with 4 velocity levels for each part.
Scale Remapper— xivilay
Remaps MIDI input (e.g. the white keys of a keyboard) onto a chosen musical scale before sending it out as MIDI, so any controller can play in-scale.
Sfizioso Player— Patrizio Rullo
An open-source SFZ sample player (VST3/AU/Standalone) with MPE support, built on the sfizioso engine — an independent, MPE-capable fork of sfizz.
sfzq— Steve Folta
SFZ/SF2 Player CLAP plugin for Linux
Sick Beat Betty— Jason Howard
A MIDI drum machine and pattern generator, available as a VST plugin and standalone application.
SID— Roland Rabien
Commodore 64 SID sound chip emulation, available as a VST2/VST3/AU/CLAP/LV2 plugin.
