List of free sample libraries

[sig-ex]

String ensembles, brass ensembles and woodwind ensembles

http://sig-ex.com/free/

In the beloved SFZ format.

Enjoy!

[lfzawacki]

Really nice forum and list you got going here! I'm the creator of https://musical-artifacts.com and I made it out of love for free (also as in freedom) sample libraries and other such files. Any feedback on the site is appreciated and feel free to post you own libraries or other freely licensed ones there

I have a list of some stuff here in 'Potential Artifacts' https://trello.com/b/ExTElvLv/musical-artifacts . Not everything is a sample library, but you might find something cool there.

[Mattias Westlund]

(07-08-2016, 01:27 AM)lfzawacki Wrote: Really nice forum and list you got going here! I'm the creator of https://musical-artifacts.com and I made it out of love for free (also as in freedom) sample libraries and other such files. Any feedback on the site is appreciated and feel free to post you own libraries or other freely licensed ones there

I have a list of some stuff here in 'Potential Artifacts' https://trello.com/b/ExTElvLv/musical-artifacts . Not everything is a sample library, but you might find something cool there.

Thanks lfzawacki, and welcome aboard! I was delighted to discover your site, as the slow demise of the sf2 format has resulted in a lot of very good freebies disappearing from the web. It's great to see someone trying to preserve and in some cases bring them back.

If you happen to be looking for some particular oldies from back in the day, let me know. I have a ton of soundfont stuff that I've gathered over the years and I'd be happy to have a look if there's some gem that you're missing.

[Paul Battersby]

Has anyone seen this collection before?

http://beats.codenamehippie.com/

Direct access to the directory listing here:

http://beats.codenamehippie.com/samples/SoundFrontz/


There is a loooooong list of free .sf2 samples. Orchestral instruments and a lot more. What I've tried so far sounds useful to me.

[kmlandre]

Hi All-

Some more freebies I've been meaning to post, but have been to lazy until now:

http://www.microforj.com

That'll redirect you to a Google AppSpot site, which will have to do while I get the Google Domain redirect crap worked out...

Anyway, the instruments (all Kontakt format) available are:

• Van Houzen Trumpet - Based on the U of Iowa samples.
  
• Fiedler Tin Whistle - Based on somebody named Fiedler's public domain samples.
  
• Mourning Violin - Mercilessly stolen from the evil genius behind SSO... ;-)
  
• Melodic Sopranos - Works best in lower volumes as it gets a little crackly when it gets too loud.
  
• Samulis Recorder - Generous plopped out on Freesound.org by our very own Samulis several years ago, I believe.  Contains an alto, soprano, tenor, and bass recorder.  The last three are just pitch shifted altos, but it's surprisingly effective in this case.
  
• Westerkerk Carillon - Public domain samples from a museum site I found a while back.
  
• Keyed Fiddle - Someone on VI Control posted these a while back and I thought they'd made a great ragged fiddle sound.
  

If you find anything useful and good in these libraries, it's because of the samples themselves and Big Bob Villwock's (RIP, Bob) WIPS scripts, so all credit is due to the appropriate parties...

Enjoy!

  --  Kurt

[Samulis]

Might want to update VSCO to be VS Chamber Orchestra 2, in the formats of SFZ and .NKI (the latter by Bigcat)-
http://vis.versilstudios.net/vsco-community.html

[Terry93D]

(07-08-2016, 12:52 PM)Paul Battersby Wrote: Has anyone seen this collection before?

http://beats.codenamehippie.com/

Direct access to the directory listing here:

http://beats.codenamehippie.com/samples/SoundFrontz/


There is a loooooong list of free .sf2 samples. Orchestral instruments and a lot more. What I've tried so far sounds useful to me.

A lot of the instruments here come from the Emu Proteus 2 - the Arco Violins, Violas, Celli, and Basses, the French Horn 1 and French Horn 2. It brings me the nostalgia - I've many a fond memory of listening to the soundtracks of Vandal Hearts and Vandal Hearts 2, which used - effectively exclusively - the Proteus 2. I expect a lot of other soundfonts on there - not all of them, but some - are also from the Proteus 2.

[Mattias Westlund]

Just for shits and giggles I've been working on a track the latest days using just free samples -- old and new -- and I was reminded of this thread as well as this one started by Terry93D. I don't mean to step on anyone's toes but I think it would be a great idea to put together a be-all-end-all list of free orchestral samples that have been released over the years. If there's one community that can do it it's us, given the wide range of knowledge and experience on here.

To be clear, I'm not talking about just samples/libraries that are around today (which tends to be a moving target) but also the ones from yesteryear that have sadly disappeared from the face of the web. If you're a stubborn type of person you can usually track them down, so I think they are all worth a mention.

The question is of course: where do we draw the line? Does a random bedroom recording of a trumpet on Freesound qualify? I would say yes, as long as it's fit to be used in an orchestral scenario. I thought at first "well, typing up a list of the good stuff available can't be that hard", then I looked in my Samples folder -- with some freebies dating back more than a decade -- and quickly realized it's going to take some kind of group effort.

[bigcat1969]

I love free instrument lists! If you want to go all in the lists would likely need to be divided up into subpages. Some lists I need to update, but might help?

https://freedigitalinstruments.wordpress...ent-links/
https://freedigitalinstruments.wordpress...nth-links/
https://freedigitalinstruments.wordpress...struments/

[Terry93D]

(06-29-2019, 10:44 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: Just for shits and giggles I've been working on a track the latest days using just free samples -- old and new -- and I was reminded of this thread as well as this one started by Terry93D. I don't mean to step on anyone's toes but I think it would be a great idea to put together a be-all-end-all list of free orchestral samples that have been released over the years. If there's one community that can do it it's us, given the wide range of knowledge and experience on here.

To be clear, I'm not talking about just samples/libraries that are around today (which tends to be a moving target) but also the ones from yesteryear that have sadly disappeared from the face of the web. If you're a stubborn type of person you can usually track them down, so I think they are all worth a mention.

The question is of course: where do we draw the line? Does a random bedroom recording of a trumpet on Freesound qualify? I would say yes, as long as it's fit to be used in an orchestral scenario. I thought at first "well, typing up a list of the good stuff available can't be that hard", then I looked in my Samples folder -- with some freebies dating back more than a decade -- and quickly realized it's going to take some kind of group effort.

You know, I totally forgot about that thread - I've been busy with schoolwork up until recently, and finding information about the history of a lot of those sample libraries is difficult, so it's been sitting on the backburner... but I guess that history really isn't necessary. I would definitely like to come back to that project. Maybe not a book out of it, but a website dedicated to it, with audio examples and so on.

That's an impressive project, though. A be-all-end-all list! Tough stuff, and especially when there's such a weird selection out there, and a lot of stuff isn't available anymore (or at least not available as its maker originally intended: see EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Free Edition). I'll see if I can't post a list or something to get started with, including links.