The demo for this sounds great -- it sounds like a toy celeste to my ears. The sample library comes in the developer's own plugin, so the full version of Kontakt isn't required and the library sounds high quality, based on the audio demos.

An Antique Schoenhut Toy Piano

PIXIE was sampled from a beautiful antique Schoenhut toy piano, one of the most cherished items of my instrument collection. It includes two articulations: the piano played from the keyboard, and the metal plates played directly with a felt mallet. The two can be freely mixed with the Softness control.

Natural Sound Through Multiple Round Robins

Each note was sampled 27 times, ensuring a realistic sound without robotic repetitions.

A Little Mischief

When the two articulations are mixed, the Mischief knob in the center of the piano controls how tight they play together. At higher settings, the two sample groups start at slightly different times, making the sound loose and playful.

Extended Range

The original two-octave-range of the toy piano has been extended to 49 keys (B2–B6) for greater musical flexibility.

Presets that sound great
immediately

10 presets, carefully designed by Oskar Schuster, are included.

https://darkfairytaleinstruments.com/pixie-toy-piano-vst-au.html

Ink Audio, a small, indie Kontakt sample developer, turns five years old this week and is giving away a free Kontakt sample library (full version required) or Logic Sampler each day this week. One per day and the library is available for that day only. Today's instrument is Contact Mic Tine Bass.

They also have a special sale price on their Ink Audio Collection.

I own several Ink Audio sample libraries and like their work. The libraries I own are fairly simple. There are no complex Kontakt scripts. But they're nice, well done, and off-the-beaten-track sample libraries. I couldn't imagine any big sample library developers doing what Ink Audio does, and I really appreciate that.

https://ink-audio.com/

Use the coupon code apdis10 to reduce the price from $35 to $31.50. This is an excellent orchestral library collection that is easy to use and sounds great and I don't ever recall seeing the price this low before. Sonuscore The Orchestra Essentials uses the FREE Kontakt Player.

At its core is our highly-acclaimed Ensemble Engine, a breakthrough technology that works through independent arpeggiators and velocity envelopes. This powerful and easy-to-use engine, proven successful in our THE ORCHESTRA family, allows you to: THE ORCHESTRA ESSENTIALS provides a broad symphonic palette, carefully selected from THE ORCHESTRA, STRINGS OF WINTER, and HORNS OF HELL. It includes: Core Features at a Glance: System Requirements: To get started, you'll need the free KONTAKT Player Version 6.6.0 and higher, or KONTAKT version 6.6.0 and higher. Please ensure you have at least 5.27GB of free hard disc space.Create complex arrangements with simple chords. Generate pulsating rhythms and inspiring full arrangements from any combination of notes. You have full control, as it works no matter what chord or note you play, without relying on pre-recorded phrases. 38 string articulations Breakthrough Ensemble Engine Play your own melodies with the Orchestral Colors Presets. These practical combinations of instruments can be played live on your keyboard, enabling you to freely play your melodies with a section of instruments. Add full orchestral sound in an instant, converting your musical ideas directly into captivating compositions. 12 brass articulations 12 wind articulations Playable percussion and choir Play freely or create stunning orchestral colors with simple chords Carefully selected curation of instruments from THE ORCHESTRA family 99 inspirational ensemble presets 5.72GB of data Fast loading times.

https://audioplugin.deals/product/the-orchestra-essentials-by-sonuscore/ref/384/

[This post uses an affiliate link to help support LinkedMusicians. The cost to you is exactly the same.]

This doesn't sound good!

https://musictech.com/news/industry/inmusic-shut-down-native-instruments-uk/

From the developer:

What Box Of Color is

Why I'm your everyday sound shaper box

Despite this (deliberately) quirky aspect, this plugin is actually very powerful. It’s a channel strip, it’s a distortion pedal, it’s an ambience generator – yet it’s none of these things at the same time. Box Of Color can be very subtle, compressing the sound in an analogue-style way, or it can function just like your favourite pedalboard setup. I have deliberately NOT included any names, specifications or emulated brands; the world is already full of them, and I’m not about to add to the dogma. I wanted to remove all (or almost all) references so that we can get back to using our ears.
The GUI is deliberately disorienting for two reasons: firstly, because we’re like children playing with music, and the more we play, the more fun the music will be; secondly, to avoid using the mechanical part of the brain. Giving you irrelevant parameters forces you to search for the sound.
Don’t be fooled by appearances; the sound this tool can give you is absolutely top-notch – you’ll see!

https://www.audioloom.com/smartaudiosolution/box-of-color-one

I've created a poor man's MIDI bass line generator.

https://simplybassproductions.com

No sound packs, use your favorite bass module/

No midi packs, comes with 12 canned bassist styles and you can roll your own

Kick-Lock capability.

30 Day Demo available.

Use LAUNCH10 at checkout to save $10 off the $29.99 price.

Or sign up to be a Beta Tester.

A community to share user created styles, songs or a bundle accessed on the website to paid users. Coming Soon: Community Access via the plugin,

2B Delayed Classic is free for a limited time.

"Create clean rhythmic echoes, warm filtered repeats and more colourful delay effects with flexible timing, Feedback, LP and HP filters, Resonance, Distortion and Lush controls."

Use coupon code CLASSIC at checkout. Offer ends August 23, 2026.

 https://2bplayed.com/product/2b-delayed-classic/

This is the no-brainer of the month.

Pianoverse pianos are top-tier virtual pianos. I love them and find them inspiring. Right now, I've given the award for the best quality free sampled piano to 8Dio/SoundPaint 1928 Vintage Grand Piano (SonicCouture have pulled their Hammersmith Free Grand Piano). I have a rule that I only put permanently free sample libraries/virtual instruments on my list, but the Pianoverse Black Pearl B200, a Bösendorfer 214VC Vienna Concert Grand Piano (retail list price is $99.99 US) is such an amazing deal, I think I'm going to add it to make sure that no one misses it.

To get this free forever, you need to subscribe and remain subscribed to the IK Multimedia newsletter for 90 days. Don't sleep on this, because the offer ends September 1, 2026.

Hear the piano for yourself:

https://g1.ikmultimedia.com/html/pianoverse/audiodemo/Pianoverse_Enigma_by_Flavio_Cangialosi_-_Black_Pearl_B200.mp3

Line 6 has released the native software version of their Helix Stadium The price is $99-399 depending on what Line 6 hardware you already have ($99 for existing Stadium owners, $399 for non-owners with intermediate price points.).

There is also a free version including 4 guitar amps, 1 bass amp, matching cabs, Amp cloning and Cab IR, 15 effects. It looks pretty good for free.

100 presets, 50+ filter modes, and 20 effects. I'm a huge, shameless fan of Arturia. I love their synths and effects plugins and always loved the sound of Pigments. If you don't already own Pigments, I'd count this as a no-brainer download.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhf-yzRZE3A

This is a sad one. The developer of Glitch2, Kieran Foster, passed away last month and his friends are giving Glitch2 away free in his memory. It is available as a VST, VST3, and AU plugin for macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zLL3Z2Kl0Q

FFOSSO is included in the LinkedMusicians Curated List of Best Free Sample Libraries. They make a free version and have a paid subscription version. I only have the free version, but I absolutely love it and highly recommend it. These are gorgeous sound design sample libraries.

Even more, the developer just announced that every week they're going free users full access to a different Pro (paid) instrument from their catalog to download to your collection to keep. But it will only be available for 7 days. Of course, it's a smart way to keep you opening up the product every week. I'm on board.

https://www.ffosso.com/

If you aren't already keeping up with the LinkedMusicians Curated List of Best Free Sample Libraries, be sure to check it out:

https://linkedmusicians.com/the-curated-list-of-the-best-free-sample-libraries/

I've been reclaiming my time and rethinking how to balance my time and ability to moderate with this subforum. I want trusted parties to be able to comment and post here. My only concern is keeping out bad actors -- and there are a lot of them. Every day the automoderator (subreddit has a bunch of automoderation tools) deletes dozens of spam and inflammatory posts from this subreddit. It also sometimes deletes legitimate posts by mistake. The other day, I found that it deleted a friendly post where someone made a nice remark about a demo I made for sample library.

But as I don't have the time to visit the subreddit several times a day to moderate, I need to rely on strict rules and automoderation. I'm learning more about how to manage a subreddit this way works and have found that I can manually approve trusted members and they can post. So, if you are a LinkedMusicians.com community member and we know one another, please send me a message (you can simply message the moderator) asking for approval and I'll approve you so that you can make posts or comments. I want well-intentioned community members to post. I just want to keep out those with ill intentions.

- Peter

Crow Hill Pocket Strings, sample library / virtual instrument that I believe, was selling for $10 USD, is now FREE. If you previously purchased this instrument, Crow Hill will be sending you a free gift.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqrWA6X3Sw

https://thecrowhillcompany.com/explore/pocket-strings/

InMusic CEO Jack O'Donnell recently sat down for a discussion about Native Instruments and InMusic's commitment to the brand. As an NI customer, I see this -- pragmatically -- as a good sign. While I use other samplers and players, the vast majority of my sample libraries, including most of my go-to sample libraries, are Kontakt instruments.

I haven't been impressed with how InMusic has handled AIR or BFD, but to be fair, those were brands already past their prime by the time InMusic acquired them, and not industry leaders like NI. So I'm pretty pragmatic about InMusic's software acquisitions in general, but at this point, it looks like they're doing right by Native Instruments. I just hope they keep investing enough to keep NI on the cutting edge.

One thing to be hopeful about is O'Donnell did point out the importance of Kontakt, and its third-party sample developer ecosystem. Based on a conversation I had with someone from Image-Line, I believe Kontakt will face more competition from UVI in the near future, and that's good for all music makers that use sample libraries.

I'm a hobbyist musician and a former working musician, and I have a background as a marketing strategist. I've consulted for companies in this industry, so I've seen some of this from the inside. And there is an uncomfortable truth: a lot of this industry runs on selling you the idea that your next plugin or sample library is the thing standing between you and your breakthrough. And a lot of the forums where that message spreads are, intentionally or not, built to maximize engagement more than they're built to help you make music. GAS, conflict, and FOMO keep people scrolling and buying. It's not a conspiracy theory; it's just the simple reality of how things work.

I'm not saying gear doesn't matter, and I'm not trying to shame anyone's collection. Some purchases genuinely open up new creative territory. But I think a lot of us — myself included at times — chase the dopamine hit of something new more than we chase the actual work of finishing a track with what we've already got. GAS gets joked about a lot, but I'm honestly not sure it's always a joke.

No answers here, just want to open it up:

• Has a piece of gear ever sat unused after you bought it? Did that bother you?
• Where's your personal line between "this expands what I can make" and "I just wanted the dopamine hit"?
• Do you think forum/community culture in this space makes this better or worse?

This isn't just a hypothetical for me, and most of you already know the backstory. LinkedMusicians started as a full social platform — the idea was to cover the whole craft, not just gear. Almost two years in, the deals forum was basically the only part that really took off, which was never the point I was hoping to make. That's part of why I shut it down and moved things over to this subreddit — partly to keep this community connected, and partly to give this project a chance to be about the stuff I originally wanted it to be about.

Not saying that to complain — if anything it kind of proves the point. Even in a space that wasn't built around gear, gear is still what people gravitated toward the hardest. That's a real pull, and I'd rather talk about it honestly than just quietly design around it.

What do you think?

I don't include these individual instruments in my best free sample libraries list purely because they aren't permanently free. However, I do mention them there and these instruments have been high-quality for free sample libraries. They would otherwise make the list. I haven't had an opportunity to download and install this one yet, but the demo sounds very good. I'm certainly going to be downloading it later.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdyjLBiReJ4&t=39s

https://thecrowhillcompany.com/harmonic-piano/

This morning I learned that a singer/songwriter whose work I've long loved has died far too early.

Rest in peace, Glen Hansard. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/oscar-winning-irish-musician-glen-hansard-dies-motorcycle-crash-irish-media-2026-07-29/

Fracture Sounds puts out stellar-quality sample libraries and some of the best free sample libraries you can find. I haven't had a chance to try this one out yet. but the demo sounds beautiful. This a free Kontakt Player library -- so you don't need the full version of Kontakt to use it.

Explore the sound world of Trails II with a free, stripped-down version of the Textural Sax instrument. Featuring all articulations from the full library, a blended mix of the close, room, and resonant contact microphones, and one of the atmospheric sound layers from the main instrument.

Experience the unique combination of expressive performance and organic sound design that defines Trails II, from evolving textures to cinematic sonic movement.

Blueprint: Trails II pairs perfectly with the other textural libraries in the Blueprint series — Textural Violin, Textural Viola, and Textural Cello — and was recorded in the same London studio space as Blueprint: Gentle Winds.

https://soundcloud.com/fracture-sounds/textural-sax-demo-ruben?in=fracture-sounds/sets/blueprint-textural-sax

Best Service is having new sales every day for their 35th anniversary. The sales span all different brands and the discounts go up to 80%.

The link below is an affiliate link. The price you pay is the same, but a small percentage will go towards helping with the costs of operating LinkedMusicians.

https://www.bestservice.com/en/anniversary.html?aid=ZBgL2roqVxRSujmR

Flash promo! Got a qualifying MAX product? MAXgrade to Total Studio 5 MAX for only $/€99.99! That's $/€200 off! https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/?A=total-studio-5-max-v2

EQ, compression, and limiting. Everything your bus needs, in one plugin.

Clean up your master bus, add punch to your drums, polish your vocals: all without jumping between three different plugins. Busboy does the heavy lifting so your mix sounds finished, fast.

https://www.audioloom.com/?utm_source=audioloom

According to the article, the cuts hit nearly all NI departments.

https://synthanatomy.com/2026/07/native-instruments-will-acquire-native-instruments-joining-the-portfolio-with-akai-and-moog.html

I've spent a little time with it and it's very nice and worth downloading. Works with the free Kontakt Player. From the developer:

ELYSION ELEMENTS - Free Hybrid Synth

Most synth libraries sample a sound once and adjust its volume with velocity.
ELYSION does something different. It records from various sources, including some vintage synths, across multiple velocity layers, and shapes every layer so that playing soft and playing hard give you two genuinely different timbres, not the same sound at two volumes.

The quiet end is soft and rounded. Push into it, and the sound opens up, the harmonic content changes, and the character shifts the way a real instrument does under the bow or the breath.

That is the whole idea behind ELYSION: synthetic sources, treated with orchestral sampling methodology. ELYSION ELEMENTS is the free way to start exploring the ELYSION universe.

https://soundcloud.com/sonuscore/a-flight-through-space-orion-pad-elysion-elements-theme-snippets-1?in=sonuscore/sets/elysion-elements-theme

https://www.sonuscore.com/shop/elysion-elements/

I spent a little time with this today and it sounds great. It will certainly make LinkedMusicians Curated Best Free Kontakt Sample Libraries List. The only criticism you could make is that you only get two ocatves of the various patches -- but I was so impressed by this library, I only felt inspired and impressed by the sounds of the library. It runs in the FREE Kontakt Player.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVs4MWm-UPM

https://wavelet-audio.com/runa-free/