Best VST and Kontakt Plugins For Jazz Music
How to choose the best VST plugins and loops which are most suitable for your jazz music track? In this scenario, we need to consider about 2 types of VST plugins. They are loops and instruments. In this article, I am listing some marvelous VST loops and VST drum instruments that can push your jazz music track to the next level. I will try my best to update this article every month when the arrival of competitive new products.
I do not discuss details about VST drum instruments because I already discussed some of them in the article under the best VST instruments category. So, let’s consider the loops. Loops are live recorded instrument parts or arpeggios which can adjust according to the tempo of your music track. By using quality and suitable loops, you can increase the quality of your music track or song up to a professional level.
Please refer to the following table which contains important things that we should consider about jazz VST loops. 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 Naturality (%) | Blend/Mix Quality (%) | File Size | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Fish Audio Suite Grooves 2 | 100 | 99 | 6.9GB | $99.95 |
| 2 | Big Fish Audio Latin Jazz By Peter Michael | 98 | 97 | 2.48GB | $69.95 |
| 3 | Big Fish Audio Big Bad Horns 2 | 96 | 95 | 21GB | $129.95 |
| 4 | Big Fish Audio Acid Jazz City 2 | 95 | 94 | 3.45GB | $99.95 |
| 5 | Big Fish Audio Impressions Jazz Constructions Kits | 92 | 94 | 5.3GB | $99.95 |
| 6 | Big Fish Audio Suite Grooves | 90 | 93 | 4.36GB | $99.95 |
| 7 | ProjectSAM Swing More! | 99 | 100 | 37.4GB | €399 |
what is Sound naturality of Loops?
In this character, I measure how much the instruments of the loops can come close to the real sound of real instruments. This can measure by comparing the loop sounds with real instruments.
what is Blend / Mix quality of Loops?
By looking at this measurement, you can choose the best VST loop which can blend with other instruments. It means that how much the sound of the loop can hear separately and clearly when it playing with other instruments especially in songs. This is a very important character because mix quality is a major factor that affects the quality of a music track.
Let's take the best Jazz VST and Kontakt plugins one by one in to action ...
1. Big Fish Audio Suite Grooves 2
This is rank number one which includes the styles of smooth jazz. This is the best jazz VST loop which I found at the moment when I am writing this article. This plugin includes 28 construction kits with the sound of musical instruments of drums (live and programmed), pianos, bass (upright and electric), guitars (electric and nylon), Rhodes, organs, saxophones (tenor, soprano, and alto) and trumpets. The file size is 6.9 GB and you can run this plugin using Kontakt player or Momentum plugin. Here I add an official overview video of Suite Grooves 2 from YouTube by Big Fish Audio channel. Take your time to watch it.
2. Big Fish Audio Latin Jazz By Peter Michael Escovedo
This is rank number two which includes the sound of authentic Latin jazz construction kits by Peter Michael Escovedo. This is the second-best jazz VST loop which I found at the moment when I am writing this article. This plugin includes 40 construction kits and 807 wav loops. The file size is 2.48 GB and you can run this plugin by using Kontakt player. Here I add the cover image of Latin Jazz from Big Fish Audio web site. Click here to listen to demo tracks of this plugin.
3. Big Fish Audio Big Bad Horns 2
This is rank number three which is designed as a collection of horns, drum, keys, guitar, and bass loops. This plugin holds the third position in the list of best jazz VST loops at the moment when I am writing this article. The file size is 21 GB. This plugin includes the sounds of drums (204 audio files), bass (177 audio files), electric rhythm (89 audio files), electric picking (81 audio files), electric lead (9 audio files), wah electric (16 audio files), banjo (15 audio files), piano (144 audio files), electric Piano (16 audio files), tuba (17 audio files), trombones (154 audio files), saxophone (171 audio files), trumpets (156 audio files) and some more instruments. You need the full version of Kontakt 4.2 or higher to use the KLI version of this product. Here I add an official introduction video of Big Bad Horns 2 from YouTube by Big Fish Audio channel. Take your time to watch it.
4. Big Fish Audio Acid Jazz City 2
This is rank number four which delivers retro and free jazz styles infused with a Hip Hop groove. This plugin holds the fourth position in the list of best jazz VST loops at the moment when I am writing this article. The file size is 3.45 GB. This plugin includes the sounds of drums, guitars, basses, saxes, scratches, vocals, pianos, flutes, synths, congas, bongos, trumpets, and rhodes. You can run this plugin by using the Kontakt player. Here I add the cover image of Acid Jazz City 2 from Big Fish Audio web site. Click here to listen to demo tracks of this library.
5. Big Fish Audio Impressions Jazz Constructions Kits
This is rank number five which delivers swinging rhythm section and jazz trumpet solo. This is the fifth-best jazz VST loops at the moment when I am writing this article. This plugin includes 454 loops covering the instruments which are drums, bass, guitar, piano, saxes, clarinet, trombone, trumpet, and vocal scatting. The file size is 5.3 GB. You can run this library by using the Kontakt player. Here I add the cover image of Impressions Jazz Constructions Kits from Big Fish Audio web site. Click here to listen to demo tracks of this plugin.
6. Big Fish Audio Suite Grooves
This is rank number six which delivers 20 massive kits of country-pop songwriting styles. This plugin holds the sixth position in the list of best jazz VST loops at the moment when I am writing this article. The file size is 4.36 GB. This plugin includes loops of many instruments such as drums, piano, saxes, trumpets, bass, congas, bongos, strings, guitars, rhodes, moogs, ep’s and percussion. You can run this library by using the Kontakt player. Here I add the cover image of Suite Grooves from Big Fish Audio web site. Click here to listen to demo tracks of this plugin.
7. ProjectSAM Swing More!
This is rank number seven which delivers the sound of all jazz instruments in one library. I put this into rank number seven because this is not a loop library. But I believe that this plugin should hold the first or second position in the list of best jazz VST loops/plugins at the moment when I am writing this article. The file size is 37.4 GB. This plugin includes sounds of many instruments such as solo saxes, jazzy clarinet, full big band chords, drums, basses, jazz guitar, piano, strings, vibraphone and, small percussion. You need the full version of Kontakt 6.1 or higher to run this library. Here I add an official soundtrack of ProjectSAM Swing More! from Soundcloud by projectsam channel. Take your time to listen to it. You will feel, how excellent is this VST plugin by yourself.
Let's Look At Some Drum Libraries To Enhance Your Jazz Track...
There are hundreds of VST drum plugins in today’s market. Their sound color, feel and characteristics are different from each other. Due to that, we have to choose the drum library very carefully to our jazz music track because the beat is the major factor to shape the color of your music track. Here I added some VST drum libraries which are specifically designed for jazz music.
| Number | Name | File Size | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | XLN Audio Modern Jazz Sticks | - | $89.95 |
| 2 | XLN Audio Modern Jazz Brushes | - | $89.95 |
| 3 | BFD Jazz & Funk | 55GB | $149 |
| 4 | BFD Jazz Noir | 23GB | $99 |
| 5 | BFD Jazz Maple | 1.2GB | $70 |
| 6 | Toontrack Jazz EZX | 1GB | €75 |
| 7 | Jazz Drums Vol1 Mark Fletcher | 2.26GB | $52.28 |
