Best Violin VST Plugins
How to choose the best violin VST plugin which is most suitable for your composing? In this article, I am guiding you to choose it by analyzing the characteristics of them. Here is the best violin VST plugin list which I ranked according to their main characters. I will try my best to update this article every month when the arrival of competitive new products.
- 1. Native Instruments Stradivari Violin
- 2. Best Service Emotional Violin
- 3. Embertone Friedlander Violin
- 4. Best Service - Chris Hein Solo Violin Extended
- 5. Embertone Joshua Bell Violin
- 6. Kirk Hunter Studios Spotlight Strings 4D
- 7. Kirk Hunter Front Row Violins
- 8. 8Dio Solo Violin 2
- 9. EastWest Hollywood Solo Violin
- 10. Love Violin
Please refer to the following table which contains important things that we should consider a violin VST plugin. I explained each character one by one after the table. I am a sound engineer and please note that all of these rankings, scoring, and reviewing are done according to my own 10 year working experiences in the music composing field.
| Number | Name | Sound quality (%) | Sound Naturality (%) | Blend/Mix Quality (%) | File Size | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Native Instruments Stradivari Violin | 100 | 100 | 100 | 23.5 GB | $199 |
| 2 | Best Service Emotional Violin | 99 | 98 | 100 | 6.55GB | €199 |
| 3 | Embertone Friedlander Violin | 98 | 98 | 98 | 3.5 GB | $99 |
| 4 | Best Service Chris Hein Solo Violin Extended | 97 | 98 | 98 | 9.6 GB | €259 |
| 5 | Embertone Joshua Bell Violin | 95 | 96 | 97 | 8.86 GB | $199 |
| 6 | Kirk Hunter Studios Spotlight Strings 4D | 94 | 92 | 93 | 10 GB | $399.99 |
| 7 | Kirk Hunter Front Row Violins | 90 | 90 | 90 | 2 GB | $59.99 |
| 8 | 8Dio Solo Violin 2 | 89 | 96 | 89 | 5 GB | $198 |
| 9 | EastWest Hollywood Solo Violin | 86 | 92 | 88 | 5.2 GB | $79.34 |
| 10 | Love Violin | 86 | 82 | 90 | 345 MB | - |
what is Sound quality of Violin?
In this character, I measure how much clear that the listener can hear the sound. Sound quality mean, clear level of the sound. In here, specially we need to consider about high octave notes and low octave notes. In a good violin VST plugin, both high and low octave should be able to listen clearly and separately without any clash sounds.
what is Sound naturality of Violin?
In this character, I measure how much violin VST plugin can come close to a real sound of a real acoustic violin. This can measure by comparing the VST violin sound with a real acoustic violin. There are lot of things that we need to consider to measure the sound naturality of a violin such as spiccato, pizzicato, sustain, legato and tremolo. You can compare the scoring of sound naturality of best 10 VST violins by refering the above table.
what is Blend / Mix quality of Violin?
By looking at this measurement, you can choose the best violin plugin which can blend with other instruments. It means that, how much the violin sound can hear separately and clearly when it playing with other instruments specially in songs. This is a very important character because mix quality is a major factor which effect to the quality of a music track.
Let's take the best Violin VST plugins one by one in to action ...
1. Native Instruments Stradivari Violin
This is the rank number one which brings the sound of Stradivari Vesuvius violin, sampled in fine detail in Cremona, Italy. This is the best violin VST plugin which I found at the moment when I am writing this article. This plugin is designed for solo string composing. According to the feeling of the sound, my opinion is that, this plugin is most suitable for classic, cinematic and pop music. Talking about the customization and controls, Stradivari Violin has 20 articulations in total including long, short, expressive, dynamic and special articulations with up to three legato transitions and adaptive Virtuoso articulation. This VST plugin has a remarkable sound quality and sound naturality which is almost close to a real violin. To install, this plugin requires 23.5 GB hard disk space. You need free Kontakt player version 6.2.2 or higher to run this library. Here I add an official walkthrough video of Stradivari Violin from YouTube by Native Instruments channel. Take your time to watch it. You will feel the excellence of it by yourself.
2. Best Service Emotional Violin
This is the rank number two which offers extremely emotional violin sound. This is the second best violin VST plugin which I found at the moment when I am writing this article. According to the feeling of the sound, my opinion is that, this plugin is most suitable for film scoring, pop, songwriting and classical music. Talking about the customization and controls, this plugin has 100 articulations with variations and three master patches, including Emotional Violin and Intimate Violin. The file size is 6.55 GB and you must have Kontakt player 5.7.3 or higher to run this plugin. Here I add an official walkthrough video of Emotional Violin from YouTube by Best Service channel. Take your time to watch it.
3. Embertone Friedlander Violin
This is the rank number three which has a very deep tone color. This is the third best violin VST plugin which I found at the moment when I am writing this article. According to the feeling of the sound, my opinion is that, this plugin is most suitable for classic, pop and slow ballad music. Talking about the options, Friedlander Violin has 40 NKI files including 4000+ recorded samples. The file size is 3.5 GB to install and you need Kontakt Player 5.3.1 or higher to run this plugin. Here I add an official overview video of Embertone Friedlander Violin from YouTube by Embertone channel. Take your time to watch it.
4. Best Service Chris Hein Solo Violin Extended
This is the rank number four designed as a collection of 4 violins which are Modern violin, the Italian violin, French violin and Original 1826 violin. This is the fourth best violin VST plugin which I found at the moment when I am writing this article. By listening to the sound of this guitar, my opinion is, this plugin is more suitable for classic, film scores, gypsy, jazz, folk and pop ballads. Looking at the customization and controls this plugin has 38 articulations including flautando, flageolets and ponticello. The file size is only 9.6 GB and you need Kontakt player 5.6.8 or later to run this library. Here I add an official sound track of Chris Hein Solo Violin from Soundcloud by ChrisHein channel. Take your time to listen to it and measure the quality of this plugin.
5. Embertone Joshua Bell Violin
This is the rank number five which features the sound of the violin instrument by Mr. Joshua Bell. This is the fifth best violin VST plugin which I found at the moment when I am writing this article. According to the feeling of the sound, my opinion is that, this plugin is most suitable for soft music such as classic and ballad. The library need 8.86 GB of disk space for installation and you must have Kontakt player 5.6.8+ or Kontakt full 5.4.1+ to run this library. This VST violin library has a very beautiful tone. Here I add a sound track of Joshua Bell violin from Soundcloud by Embertone channel. Take your time to listen and feel the beauty of this plugin.
6. Kirk Hunter Studios Spotlight Strings 4D
This is the rank number six which designed as strings collection. This plugin holds the sixth position in the list of best violin VST plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. This plugin includes 4 independently mixable soloists per instrument. Due to that, my opinion is, this plugin can use for any type of music according to the taste of the composer. The installation file size is 10 GB and you must have full version of Kontakt 5.7.1 or higher to run this library. Here I add an official overview video of Kirk Hunter Studios Spotlight strings 4D from YouTube by Kirk Hunter channel. Take your time to watch it.
7. Kirk Hunter Front Row Violins
This is the rank number seven which providing a full section of 16 players scalable down to a single soloist in one instrument. This plugin holds the seventh position in the list of best violin VST plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. According to the feeling of the sound, my opinion is that, Front Row violins plugin is most suitable for classical and pop music. The installation file size is 4 GB and you must have full version of Kontakt 5.7.1 or higher to run this library. Talking about the customization and controls, this library has options to choose and control bow changes, bow connections, rebow, dynamics, vibrato and attacks. Here I add an official sound track of Front Row Violins from Soundcloud by Kirk Hunter Studios channel. Take your time to listen and feel the unique color of the sound.
8. 8Dio Solo Violin 2
This is the rank number eight which provides the sound of renowned concert violinist Thomas Yee’s instruments. According to the measurements, this plugin holds the eight position in the list of best violin VST plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. According to the feeling of the sound, my opinion is that, this violin plugin is most suitable for country and folk music. The installation file size is 4 GB and you must have full version of Kontakt 5.5 or higher to run this library. Talking about the customization and controls, this library has options to choose and control key/pitch, tempo, dynamics, attack and release. Here I add an official sound track of 8Dio Solo Violin 2 from Soundcloud by 8dio productions channel. Take your time to listen to it.
9. EastWest Hollywood Solo Violin
This is the rank number nine which is a part of hollywood orchestra series. According to the measurements, this plugin holds the position number nine in the list of best violin VST plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. According to the feeling of the sound, my opinion is that, this VST instrument is most suitable for classic, pop and cinematic music. Talking about the customization and controls, EastWest violin has 5 main articulations which are long solo, long, short, keyswitch and legato. Here I add a sound track of Ample L III guitar from YouTube by Caleb Faith channel. Take your time to watch it.
10. Love Violin
This is rank number ten which is a very lightweight library comparing to other violin VST plugins. This plugin holds position number ten in the list of best violin VST plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. According to the feeling of the sound, my opinion is that this plugin is most suitable for a ballad and classic music. Talking about the customization and controls, Love violin has options to control speed, reverb, and pan. The most amazing thing and the most special reason that I need to highlight in this plugin is all these features are included in the size of just 345 MB. You can run this plugin with a minimum of hardware requirements such as 2 GB of RAM. Here I add a demo video of Love violin from YouTube by Music pro channel. Take your time to watch it.
