Best Free Ethnic Vst

  1. Best Free Ethnic Vst Software
  2. Best Free Ethnic Vst Plugin
  3. Best Free Ethnic Vst Plugins
  4. Best Free Ethnic Vst Presets
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MegaVST is a free VST plugins archive, download free audio plugin for musician or sound engineer. We allow you to download freeware VST, both audio effects and virtual instruments (VSTi). This plugin can be used in audio software (DAW) that supports VST including: Steinberg Cubase, Nuendo, FL Studio (Fruityloops), Ableton Live, Adobe Audition, etc. Best Free VST Instruments (2020/2021) Spitfire Audio – Labs Although the Labs series has been available for a while now, new library keeps turning up and continues to bring us a host of new, creative, and esoteric sounds.

The marimba is a pitched keyboard percussion instrument(similar to a xylophone) that resides in symphonies, percussion ensembles, orchestras, commercial music, and more.

Finding an excellent-sounding marimba VST isn’t a walk in the park — many sound cheap. Not to worry, as I have discovered five exceptional libraries that I will share with you today.

Table of Contents

  • Things to Consider When Looking for Marimba VSTs

1) Vital Series: Mallets (Paid)

I’ve already mentioned Mallets in a previous post (xylophone VSTs), but it happens to fit perfectly with marimba VSTs.

Vital Series: Mallets is an excellent pitched-percussion plugin from Big Fish Audio, the creators of Electri6ity, Mojo 2, and Apollo: Cinematic Guitars.

The plugin includes patches for marimba, xylophone, bells, chimes, vibraphone, and others.

The sample quality is incredible — when I listened back to my studio monitors, I felt like I was listening to real performers.

Vital Series: Mallets comes with multiple mallet types allowing for more flexibility and better dynamic emulation.

Mallet types included are as follows:

  • Soft
  • Medium Soft
  • Medium Hard
  • Hard
  • Rods
  • Bow

Vital Series: Mallets is available at Plugin Boutique.

2) Marimbaphonic (Free)

For all the composers and producers looking for a free option — rejoice. Marimbaphone is a surprisingly decent-sounding free marimba plugin.

The instrument contains 122 samples from the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios public domain library.

The most disappointing flaw in this marimba VST is the limiting two velocity layers(hey, what can you expect, it’s free?).

Here are Marimbaphone’s main features:

  • 122 mono 24-bit samples
  • Two velocity layers
  • Release time control
  • Amplitude dynamic range control
  • Basic reverb

3) Short Marimba VST/AU from Flintpope (Free)

Here’s an interesting (and free) marimba VST from a website called Flintpope.net.

The Short Marimba is a cool-sounding free instrument that won’t stand up to significant orchestral recordings but does work for many styles like pop and hip hop.

Have a listen below:

4) Soniccouture Grand Marimba (Paid)

I have a hard time distinguishing between Grand Marimba and Vital Series: Mallets’ marimba. They both sound so unbelievably realistic.

Grand Marimba is a fantastic marimba VST that features a 5-octave Yamaha 6100, designed with the legendary Keiko Abe.

The 6100 is a flagship instrument with precision tuning, Honduran Rosewood bars, and welded resonators (rattle-free).

Grand Marimba is a Kontakt Player instrument, meaning you do not need the full version of Kontakt to use it in your DAW.

5) Marimba by Frontline Producer (Paid)

Marimba by Frontline Producer is a great-sounding, and very affordable, marimba VST from Producer Loops.

The significant difference from the others on the list: it includes loops. Frontline Producer includes 343 marimba loops at tempos between 100 and 127 (which can be warped to your liking).

In addition to loops is a software sampler patch, which you can use to create your parts and melodies.

Marimba by Frontline Producer is available at Plugin Boutique.

6) Fine Mallets Bundle from Cinematique Instruments (Paid)

Fine Mallets is an armory of seven mallet percussion instruments including marimba, vibraphone, metallophone, glockenspiel, kalimba, and more.

The marimba patch sounds much dryer than others I have previously listed in this article.

There is also much less sustain, but I think it still sounds excellent and has commercial production potential.

The articulations included for the marimba patch include hard mallet, felt mallet, and big-soft mallet.

Note: the full version of Kontakt is required to use Fine Mallets.

Fine Mallets is available at Plugin Boutique.

Things to Consider When Looking for Marimba VSTs

Depending on your production, you may pick a different plugin. Some digital audio workstations even have marimbas and other percussion instruments included with the software.

Using Marimba VSTs in Pop and Hip Hop Music

Because you’re working in pop or hip hop music, you may not need the highest quality samples. A free option may work just fine.

I use Cubase, and it comes standard with Halion Sonic SE 3 — a VST sampler and sound creation system.

Halion Sonic SE 3 isn’t the full version of Halion, but it does come with some decent marimba patches. The included presets work fine for pop and hip hop music.

Check if your DAW includes some free virtual instruments and see if they’re any good!

Using Marimba VSTs For Orchestral and TV/Film Composition

Composition for film, TV, and video games requires next-level libraries — your competition will be using them.

Blowing away music supervisors right from the get-go is imperative, as you may only get one chance.

Using high-quality instrument samples is, unfortunately, a must when working in the TV and film industry.

For orchestral music, quality is also crucial. Unless you plan to hire out an entire orchestra to play your piece and record it, you may want to save up for the best virtual libraries you can afford.

Compatibility of Marimba Virtual Instrument Plugins

Most digital audio workstations today support VST (virtual studio technology) — VST is the most common format today.

However, if you use a DAW like Pro Tools, you may have to use a format known as AAX or RTAS. There are workarounds, but they are obnoxious, requiring you to use Reaper inside Pro Tools to host VST plugins — a total headache.

Fortunately, most plugins today come in different formats.

  • VST (Virtual Studio Technology)
  • AU (AudioUnits)
  • AAX (Avid Audio eXtension)
  • RTAS (Real-Time Audio Suite)
  • TDM (Time-division Multiplexing)

Read your DAWs manual to see which format it supports.

Conclusion

Vital Series: Mallets remains to be my favorite mallet VST plugin bundle, though I have to say, Grand Marimba is coming in at a close second.

My best piece of advise when working with any plugins and instruments is to keep amassing them until you have an extensive library — like a painter’s color palette.

Best Free Ethnic Vst Software

The “best-sounding” marimba VST may not always be the best application for a given style of music, like hip-hop, lo-fi, or pop.

If you’re interested in recording and production, specifically relating to drums and percussion, check out some of my other roundups:

Have you tried out any of the marimba VST plugins I’ve listed here? What do you think? I’d love to hear from you in the comments down below.

Please share this article with your producer friends if you found it helpful.

Thanks for reading.

The largest collection of Chinese and Mongolian virtual instruments. A unique and exciting collection featuring the best Chinese musicians recorded in their country with modern equipment and deep sampling with 4 dynamic layers.

Ethnic Chinese orchestra, percussion section, two choirs and more in one package.
We learned so much about ethnic instruments when we sampled at the Balkan ethnic orchestra in 2017. After three years of improving the sampling process, Strezov Sampling finally offers you the next product from our Ethnic series.

Inspired by the special sound of Chinese instruments and Mongolian singers, we decided it was time to create an inspiring instrument in this area to fill a huge gap in today’s world of virtual instruments.

Consisting of more than 50 instruments distributed over more than 100 instrument patches, Jade Ethnic Orchestra gives you the opportunity to choose between several categories, such as ensembles of stringed strings, solo stringed bows, plucked strings, voices, woodwinds, percussion (based on our mechanism X3M)) and developed soundproof tablets created specifically for the library by Lyubomir Goshev. The library was co-produced by composer and multi-instrumentalist Seth Tsui, who conducted and recorded sessions in Beijing, China.

JADE Ethnic Orchestra is a huge collection of Asian ethnic instruments. Most of the instruments taken from the samples come from China, but along with them we included others, such as the Hoomai male choir, the Longsong Mongolian quartet, Moorin-Khuur, Shakuhachi and many others that Asia should be proud of. A detailed list of library contents, a detailed description of tools, and other technical information can be found at the end of this manual.

JADE is an absolute monster, and not only for composers who want to practice traditional Asian music. For those interested in modern hybrid, folk-punk-ethnic styles, JADE deserves serious consideration. The PADS instrument alone is an extremely deep collection of amazing textures that sound modern but with the texture of the old world. Amazing things.

• Uncompressed content 220 GB (compressed content size – TBA!)
• Instant ethnic sound inspired by Chinese music
• More than 50 instruments in the largest collection of samples of Chinese and Mongolian instruments
• All content is recorded with several Round-Robins and in several dynamic layers
• 3 microphone positions – Close & Decca (Tweak Tone Labs), Hall (“chamber” reverb tracked by Sofia Session Studio) + custom convolution reverb
• True legato selection for all instruments
• Powerful Syllabuilder engine with CONNECT and MORPH modes that allow you to create Kontakt’s own content samples, along with never-previously sampled sounds like Mongolian artists Hoomai and Longsong Quartet
• Ability to load and save your texts, built-in preset manager
• X3M engine equipped with a percussion section for maximum flexibility and customization options
• Integrated Help
• Additional features such as the Velocity Dynamic Influencer, polyphonic true-legato, known from the famous choirs of the Stresov sampling and Afflatus Series

BOWED STRINGS SOLO

INSTRUMENT NAME DYN RANGE RRs
Erhu 1 Soloist Legato + Trem 4 D3-D6 –
Erhu 1 Soloist Stacc 4 D3-D6 8
Erhu 1 Soloist Pizz 4 D3-D6 8
Expressive Erhu Legato 3 D3-E6 –
Expressive Erhu Stacc 3 D3 -D6 8
Expressive Erhu Pizz 3 D3-D6 8
Village Erhu Legato + Trem 1 D3-D6 –
Village Erhu Stacc 1 D3-D6 8
Village Erhu Pizz 1 D3-D6 8
Zhonghu Solo Legato + Trem 4 G2-G5 –
Zhonghu Solo Stacc 4 G2-G5 8
Zhonghu Solo Pizz 4 G2-G5 8
Morin Khuur Solo Legato + Trem 2 F2-F4 –
Morin Khuur Solo Stacc 2 F2-F4 8
Morin Khuur Solo Pizz 2 F2-F4 8
Bass Morin Khuur Solo Legato + Trem 3 Bb0-B2 –
Bass Morin Khuur Solo Stacc 3 Bb0-B2 8
Bass Morin Khuur Solo Pizz 3 Bb0-B2 8
Banhu Legato + Trem 3 F3-C6 –
Banhu Stacc 3 F3-C6 8
Banhu Pizz 3 F3-C6 8
Dan nh Sus + Trem 2 D3 -D6 –
Dan nh Stacc 2 D3-D6 8
Dan nh Pizz 2 D3-D6 8
Jinghu Legato + Trem 3 A3-A5 –
Jinghu Stacc 3 A3-A5 8
Jinghu Pizz 3 A3-A5 8
String Chuur Legato + Trem 2 F1- F3 –
String Chuur Stacc 2 F1-F3 8
String Chuur Pizz 2 F1-F3 8

Best Free Ethnic Vst Plugin

BOWED STRINGS ENSEMBLES

INSTRUMENT NAME DYN RANGE RRs
Erhu 1 Ens Legato + Trem 4 D3-D6 –
Erhu 1 Ens Stacc 3 D3-D6 8
Erhu 1 Ens Pizz 3 D3-D6 8
Erhu 2 Ens Legato + Trem 4 D3-D6 –
Erhu 2 Ens Stacc 4 D3-D6 8
Erhu 2 Ens Pizz 4 D3-D6 8
Impressionist Erhu Ens 2 D3-D6 –
Zhonghu Ens Legato + Trem 3 G2-G5 –
Zhonghu Ens Stacc 3 G2-G5 8
Zhonghu Ens Pizz 3 G2- G5 8
Morin Khuur Ens Legato + Trem 3 F2-F4 –
Morin Khuur Ens Stacc 3 F2-F4 8
Morin Khuur Ens Pizz 3 F2-F4 8
Bass Morin Khuur Ens Sus + Trem 2 Bb0-B2 –
Bass Morin Khuur Ens Stacc 2 Bb0 -B2 8
Bass Morin Khuur Ens Pizz 2 Bb0-B2 8

PLUCKED STRINGS

Best Free Ethnic Vst Plugins

INSTRUMENT NAME DYN RANGE RRs
Pipa Ens + Bends, Trem 4 A1-D5 8
Pipa Ens (Chords) 4 A1-D5 6
Pipa Solo + Bends, Trem 4 A1- D5 8
Pipa Solo (Chords) 4 A1-D5 6
Yangqin + Bounces, Trem 4 G1-G5 8
Guzheng Ens + Bends, Trem 4 D1-D5 7
Guzheng Solo + Trem 4 D1-D5 7
Zhongruan + Trem 4 G1-D5 8
Zhongruan (Chords) – using similar to Distort engine 4 G1 -D5 5
Sanxian + Bends, Trem 4 G1-G4 8
Sanxian (Chords) – using similar to Distort engine 4 G1-G4 6
Liuqin + Bends, Trem 4 G2-A6 8
Liuqin (Chords) – using similar to Distort engine 4 G2 -A6 6
Guqin + Harmonics, Trem 4 C1-C4 5
Daruan + Trem 4 C1-C4 5
Daruan (Chords) – using similar to Distort engine 4 same 5

VOICES

INSTRUMENT NAME DYN RANGE RRs
Mongolian Longsong Quartet Ah Legato 2 G2-E4 –
Mongolian Longsong Quartet Eh Legato 2 G2-E4 –
Mongolian Longsong Quartet Syllabuilder 2 G2-E4 2
Mongolian Longsong Solo Ah Legato 2 G2-E4 –
Mongolian Longsong Solo Eh Legato 2 G2-E4 –
Mongolian Longsong Solo Syllabuilder 2 G2-E4 2
Hoomai Men Legato (Experimental) 2 A1-G2 –
H Men Syllabuilder 1 A0-B2 1
Hoomai Men Solo Legato (Experimental) 2 A1-G2 –
Hoomai Men Solo Syllabuilder 1 A0-B2 1

WOODWINDS

INSTRUMENT NAME DYN RANGE RRs
Alto Dizi Legato 3 C3-G5 –
Alto Dizi Stacc 2 C3-G5 8
Soprano Dizi Legato 2 G4-D6 –
Soprano Dizi Stacc 2 G4-D6 8
Piccolo Dizi Legato 2 D5-G6 –
Piccolo Dizi Stacc 2 D5-G6 8
Xiao Legato 2 D3-D5 –
Xiao Stacc 2 D3-D5 8
Xun Legato 2 C3-D4 –
Xun Stacc 2 C3-D4 8
Sheng Legato + HuShe, Flutter 3 G2-G5 –
Sheng Stacc 3 G2-G5 8
Alto Suona Legato + Flutter 2 D3-D5 –
Alto Suona Stacc 2 D3-D5 8
Soprano Suona Legato + Flutter 2 A3-A5 –
Soprano Suona Stacc 2 A3-A5 8
Piccolo Suona Legato + Flutter 2 C4-C6 –
Piccolo Suona Stacc 2 C4-C6 8
Wind Chuur Legato + Drone 2 Bb2-G4 –
Wind Chuur Stacc 2 Bb2-G4 8
Alto Hulusi Legato 2 F3-G4 –
Alto Hulusi Stacc 2 F3-G4 8
Soprano Hulusi Legato 2 D4-E5 –
Soprano Hulusi Stacc 2 D4-E5 8
Tenor Hulusi Legato 2 F2-G3 –
Tenor Hulusi Stacc 2 F2- G3 8
Shakuhachi Legato 2 D3-D5 –
Shakuhachi Stacc 2 D3-D5 8

PERCUSSION

INSTRUMENT NAME DYN RRs
Percussion
Ensembles (Dagu, Xiaogu / Dagu, Bangu / Xiaugu)
Solo percussion (Dagu, Xaogu, Zhonggu, Shougu)
Bo Cymbals (Large, Medium, Small)
Cha Cymbals (Large, Medium)
Peking Gongs (3 types)
Tam-Tam
Mallets, Misc. (Bangu, Paiban, Muyu, Ranat Ek, Zhuban)
Traditional rolls Min 3 – Max 6 Min 2 – Max 15

PADS

Best Free Ethnic Vst Presets

INSTRUMENT NAME DYN RANGE RRs
Pads 1 Full keyboard 1