Best Organ VST Plugins
How to choose the best organ 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 organ 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 Vintage Organs
- 2. Spitfire Audio Union Chapel Organ
- 3. Toontrack EZkeys Pipe Organ
- 4. ARIA Sounds Organ
- 5. Soundiron Alpha Organ
- 6. Soundiron Traveler Organ
- 7. Hephaestus Sounds Italian Concert Organ 2
- 8. Marcos Ciscar Reed Organ
- 9. Samplephonics Sonas Philicorda
- 10. Soundiron – Microrgan
Please refer to the following table which contains important things that we should consider a piano 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.
| Rank | Name | Sustain quality (%) | Sound quality (%) | Sound depth (%) | Sound Naturality (%) | Blend/Mix Quality (%) | File Size | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Native Instruments Vintage Organs | 98 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 98 | 1.4 GB compressed | $99 |
| 2 | Spitfire Audio Union Chapel Organ | 97 | 99 | 100 | 99 | 92 | 7.27 GB | $149 |
| 3 | Toontrack EZkeys Pipe Organ | 84 | 86 | 82 | 92 | 82 | 802 MB | €155 |
| 4 | ARIA Sounds Organ | 93 | 98 | 88 | 99 | 92 | 1.86 GB | €49 |
| 5 | Soundiron Alpha Organ | 97 | 95 | 86 | 99 | 96 | 9.2 GB | $32 |
| 6 | Soundiron Traveler Organ | 95 | 98 | 90 | 100 | 94 | 3.78 GB | $32 |
| 7 | Hephaestus Sounds Italian Concert Organ 2 | 86 | 86 | 86 | 93 | 88 | 614 MB | £75 |
| 8 | Marcos Ciscar Reed Organ | 88 | 84 | 80 | 90 | 89 | 653 MB | £17.5 |
| 9 | Samplephonics Sonas Philicorda | 97 | 95 | 82 | 83 | 99 | 3.79 GB | $11.95 |
| 10 | Soundiron Microrgan | 91 | 90 | 84 | 86 | 80 | 652 MB | $19 |
what is Sustain quality of Organ?
Sustain is a special reverb effect. This is not a very important character of an organ, but we need to consider about this character because sustain quality is directly effect on the quality and the richness of organ sound.
what is Sound quality of Organ?
In this character, I measure how much clear that the listener can hear the sound. Actually, 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 organ VST plugin, both high and low octave should be able to listen clearly and separately.
what is Sound depth of Organ?
This is a very important charactor of organs. Sound depth of a organ specially depends on the quality of the low octave notes. There should be no clash or disturb sounds in low octave notes. It should be able to listen clearly and separately. Furthermore, if the organ is playing apart of other instruments (like a song), low octave notes should not clash with the sound of the bass guitar and kick drum.
what is Sound naturality of Organ?
In this character, I measure how much organ VST plugin can come close to a real sound of a real organ. This can measure by comparing the VST organ sound with a real organ.
what is Blend / Mix quality of Organ?
By looking at this measurement, you can choose the best organ VST plugin which can blend with other instruments. It means that, how much the organ 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 Organ vST plugins one by one in to action ...
1. Native Instruments Vintage Organs
This is rank number one which has a classic sound of the world’s most treasured 5 organs. Those 5 organs are Hammond B-3, Hammond C-3, Hammond M-3, vox continental II, and the Farfisa compact. This is the best organ VST plugin which I found at the moment when I am writing this article. You can use this plugin for any kind of song according to your taste because it has sounds of 5 organs. Talking about the customization and controls, this plugin has options to control drawbars, percussion, chorus/vibrato, overdrive, rotary effect, envelopes, EQ, and reverb. Furthermore, it has 2 sound categories which are transistor organ and tonewheel organ. Here I add an official soundtrack of Vintage organs from Soundcloud by Native instruments channel. Take your time to listen to it.
2. Spitfire Audio Union Chapel Organ
This is rank number two which offers the sound of the legendary organ built by the master Henry Willis in 1877. This is the second-best organ 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 and jazz music. The file size is 7.7 GB and you must have full Kontakt version 5.6 or higher to run this plugin. Here I add an official walkthrough video of Union Chapel organ from YouTube by Spitfire Audio channel. Take your time to watch it.
3. Toontrack EZkeys Pipe Organ
This is rank number three which delivers the sound of majestic organ found at historic church in Sweden’s Taby Kyrka in the thirteenth century. This plugin holds the third position in the list of best organ VST plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. The file size is 1.37 GB. Talking about the customization and controls, EZkeys pipe organ has three main controllers for ambiance, filter, and modulation. Here I add an official walkthrough video of Toontrack EZkeys Pipe Organ from YouTube by Toontrack channel. Take your time to watch it.
4. ARIA Sounds Organ
This is rank number four which delivers the sound of a real church pipe organ. This plugin holds the fourth position in the list of best organ VST plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. The file size is 2 GB. Talking about the customization and controls, Aria sounds organ has options to control pedals low, manuals higher, and octave extensions. You need full Kontakt version 5.5 or later to run this plugin. Here I add an official walkthrough video of Aria organ from YouTube by Aria Sounds channel. Take your time to watch it.
5. Soundiron Alpha Organ
This is rank number five which delivers the sound of the pipe organ of St. Paul’s church in San Francisco. This is the fifth-best organ VST plugin 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 file size is 9.2 GB. Alpha organ has 3 master presets for main, layered, ambiances, and 20 custom fx presets. This plugin is developed as a Kontakt library and you need free Kontakt player version 6.1 or later to run this plugin. Here I add an official soundtrack of Alpha Organ from Soundcloud by Soundiron channel. Take your time to listen to it.
6. Soundiron Traveler Organ
This is rank number six which featuring an early 20th century Clough & Warren flat-top reed organ. According to the standard measurements of characters, this plugin holds the sixth position in the list of best organ VST plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. The file size is 3.79 GB. Talking about the customization and controls, Traveler organ has options to control EQ, filter, phaser, flanger, delay, distortion, amp, and speaker simulation. You need full Kontakt version 5.5 or later to run this plugin. Here I add an official soundtrack of Traveler organ from Soundcloud by Soundiron channel. Take your time to listen to it.
7. Hephaestus Sounds Italian Concert Organ 2
This is rank number seven which provides the sound of real Italian organ. According to the standard measurements of characters, this plugin holds the seventh position in the list of best organ 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 classical, jazz, and ballad music. The downloadable file size is 614 MB. Talking about the customization and controls, Italian concert organ 2 has controllers for source, beat, IR level/ attack/ size, tuning and color, key-off noise, airflow, and customizable impulse reverb. You need full Kontakt 5.2.1 or newer to run this plugin. Here I add an official soundtrack of concert organ 2 from Soundcloud by Hephaestus channel. Take your time to listen to it.
8. Marcos Ciscar Reed Organ
This is rank number eight which delivers the sound of vintage Swedish organ. According to the measurements, this plugin holds the eight position in the list of best organ 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 classic, ballad, and jazz music. The downloadable file size is 653 MB. You need the full version of Kontakt 5.8 or later to run this plugin. Reed organ works almost like an accordion which includes the sound from the pipes. Here I add a video of Marcos Ciscar reed organ from YouTube by Loot Audio channel. Take your time to watch it.
9. Samplephonics Sonas Philicorda
This is rank number nine which brings the sound of classic Philips Philicorda electronic organ. This plugin includes 6493 sampled waveforms, a 3D modeled interface, a highly versatile collection of onboard effects, spring reverb impulse, Leslie cabinet emulator, synthesiser LFO’s, filters, envelopes, and chorus. According to the measurements, this plugin holds position number nine in the list of best organ VST plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. The file size is 3.79 GB. You need Kontakt 5 full edition to run this plugin. Here I add a soundtrack of Sonas Philicorda organ from Soundcloud by samplephonics channel. Take your time to listen to it.
10. Soundiron – Microrgan
This is rank number ten which features the sound of a rare Farfisa Microorgan electric reed organ. According to the measurements, this plugin holds position number ten in the list of best organ 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 country and jazz music. Talking about the customization and controls, Microrgan has options to control swell, pitch glide, attack, release, vibrato, and octave. This VST plugin has good sound quality even the whole file size is 652 MB. You need a minimum of 2 GB RAM and a full retail version of Kontakt 5.5.2 or later to run this plugin. Here I add a soundtrack of Microrgan from Soundcloud by Soundiron channel. Take your time to listen to it and feel the beauty of sound quality.
