Hey guys, in this video we’re going to look at 3 free string VST instrument plugins.
These are plugins that are available for Windows that can be added to a digital audio workstation.
We’ll look at the controls available for each, and we’ll compare the sound we get
out of them by comparing them with a MIDI clip we recorded.
There aren’t too many good free VST string plugins available, so we selected a few that
are useable, and one that is actually a really good option.
The first plugin on our list is Matnitron.
This is a simple string plugin that can be used to create a few background chords, but
not much more than that.
One of the problems with this plugin is that is has a bit of a click and bad transition
between the chords, preventing it from being very smooth.
This is fine is it’s low in a mix, but other than that it can cause some problems.
As for controls, the plugin has attack, decay, sustain and release controls.
Next up we have DSK Strings by DSK Music.
This has a bunch of different string presets we can use anywhere from individual stringed
instruments to a full string section.
I’ll be demonstrating the sound of the string section for this video.
This plugin has controls for attack, decay, sustain and release once again.
We also get level and stereo spread, flanger, delay, octave, and reverb controls.
The DSK Strings plugin has two string sections that play simultaneously.
This sound is a little better than the previous plugin because it’s a lot smoother and there’s
no abrupt chord changes.
However, it does sound very electronic, like as if there’s just a lot of wave generators
being layer without the crisp sound of natural stringed instruments.
The best free string VST instrument plugin we’ve found is the Studio Instruments Strings
Section included in Cakewalk by BandLab.
It is included with this program, but it can be used by other digital audio workstations
as well.
This plugin does the best job replicating the acoustic sound of stringed instruments
out of any that we’ve tried so far.
It’s also got a lot of different options to it.
If we click the dropdown at the top left, we can switch between a bunch of different
string sections that sound completely different.
From there, we can tweak the levels of the bass, cello, and violin, and then the overall
attack and release.
We also get chorus and reverb controls, plus a tune and tone knob.
Here’s a few different sounds that we can get out of it.
Thanks for checking out this video on free string VST instrument plugins.
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