This is a hand selected and curated list of sampled music instrument libraries for software samplers that musicians can use without worrying, but which are also free and open source. This is also a text about licensing. Through strict requirements and thorough research we hope that this list can be trusted.
There seem to be many lists on the internet that catalogue virtual musical instruments on a sample basis. This list is, as far as I know, unique in terms of what is included, or better: excluded. Some (much!) explanation is needed. If you just care about music-production you can scroll down and visit the links. However, I believe knowing the following is important as well:
We want the greatest possible freedom, not only in usage but also in modification and re-distribution. For this our goal is to give the musician unambiguous clarity as to what is allowed with these instruments. In short, the answer to „May I use the instrument in/for...?“ must always be „Yes“.
The strict constraints mean that this list will never be very large. Creating sampled instruments is a time-consuming and expensive task and is usually undertaken with the intention of making money from the result, thus not distributing the instrument as free and open source. This is by no means condemnable, but in this case it is simply not our topic.
That said, we do not even try to become a comprehensive list, quite the opposite: everything is hand picked, so instruments are actual recommendations, not just a neutral database. They either have to be of decent quality, or at least be the only ones of their kind. If you have a suggestion for another instrument please send it by e-mail to nils@hilbricht.net. A short note and a link are sufficient. All suggestions will be reviewed by me.
To be included in this list, the following conditions must be met, with no exceptions:
The instrument libraries can be used without the musicians having to worry about license agreements. There are no conditions and restrictions for playing or recording music. No fees, no attribution, no limitations.
The instrument files may be further copied and distributed by anyone, without any restrictions, even for money.
The file format follows an open specification. The sound files are uncompressed. or lossless compressed. Such as .sfz or pure audio files, as .wav or .flac format.
If there are no alternatives, binary formats may also be included, provided they are usable through open source libraries. For example the legacy formats .sf2 soundfonts and .gig
Verified origin and authorship. Who recorded the instruments and produced and edited the files, and when? Is it credibly explained that these authors also had all necessary rights?
The instruments can be edited and modified and these modifications can be distributed and sold as well. This includes trivial conversion of file formats (.wav -> .flac), as well as cutting, retuning, editing with audio engineering and effects, and mixing and supplementing the existing instruments with other existing or new recordings. In summary: The type and extent of editing is not restricted. We only distinguish whether this editing is subject to copyleft or not. The copyleft must not affect music production.
Conditions are defined by the licence of the sample libraries. Not an entry on their websites, but included in the downloaded files. This includes both standard licences, but also self-written licenses, e.g. a README file that explicitly allows all conditions of this list, if not in legal language then with unambiguous intention.
Most popular licences for audio data, such as CC-By-Sa, do not cover the special case of a sampling library in which the actual music production is to be licence-free, but the instrument as such is subject to copyleft. In this case, this additional freedom must be explicitly granted through additions to the licence.
It is also possible that a licence of a different domain is used, such as the GPL, which is for software and source code. In this case, the intention of the authors must again be made clear through further written explanations. For example, the GPL was chosen to emphasise that the instrument data itself may only be changed under copyleft, but that the resulting music is not subject to licensing. This is analogous to documents produced in LibreOffice or images created in GIMP, which, after all, are also not subject to the GPL copyleft. But a software licence is not transferable 1 to 1 to audio data of sampled instruments.
If the wording of the licence is unclear and the terms of use could not be clarified, even after direct enquiry by us, an entry in this list must unfortunately be rejected.
I am not a lawyer, nor trained in legal matters. This is not legal advice.
My personal experience leads me to believe, that the following license combination is the optimal solution if you want to create and release your own free and open source sample based library. This assumes you actually have every right to the recordings, not that you collect & reassemble „stuff found on the internet“. You made, or sub-contracted, the recordings, sample files (e.g. sfz) and all other attached resources.
But maybe you want to protect your sample library from unfair exploitation. This requires some form of Copyleft. In the context of this list you also want resulting works (music etc.) to be not bound to any constraints or requirements. This conflict needs to be resolved without modifying court-tested existing licenses through exceptions, which makes them more unreliable and not as legally safe. Or by redefining meanings, such as choosing the GPL, which is made for software, and pretending „source code“ now means „samples“. Which it does not.
Instead choose a dual licensing solution, based on two unmodified, well-understood and well-trusted Creative Common licenses:
Choose CC-BY-SA as your base license. This is the Copyleft-protection for your sample library and ensures nobody can use modify/integrate your instrument and keep the changes private.
Offer the choice for CC-0 for the purpose of „non-sample-library works such as music, sound effects etc.“. Using CC-0 instead of just writing „Do whatever you want“ results in a well defined legal outcome. People can still opt to release their music under CC-By-Sa of course and ignore this second license.
Do not use unmodified CC-BY. While the license itself is fine it will create confusion because every musician, and possible re-distributers and remixers, MUST include the original sample authors credits, and this is not a well understood requirement of CC-By. In most cases this does not happen and is a violation of copyright and license. If you now say „But I don't care about that violation“ you could just choose CC-0 instead. If you absolutely want your name attached to every subsequent derivative musical work this is not a website for you in the first place.
Any open source program that does not contain recorded audio material (samples) but generates all sounds live from program code alone fulfills all of our conditions. However, they are not the scope of this list since they aim for a different kind of sound than sampled instruments, which typically try to simulate real, acoustic instruments.
If the synthesizer software is a convincing simulation of a real instrument, acoustic, (electro-)mechanical, it will be included in this list as well.
Yamaha C5: 16 Velocity layers Sampled in minor thirds from the lowest A. Hammer noise releases chromatically sampled in only one layer. String resonance releases in minor thirds in three layers.
A drum sample library I recorded in the garage! It’s meant to have an acoustic sound/feel to it. It turned out pretty well. [...]"
VSCO 2 Community Edition (CE) is an open-source, open-ended subset of the main VSCO 2 library designed for young composers, hobbyist sample library developers, and students around the world to create better sounding music for free and learn more about the process of sample library development. The library is under a Creative Commons 0 (i.e. public domain) license.
Miscellania I : Horror is a fun little plugin of six whole octaves capable of spooky effects and more... Includes percussive hits, chain rattles, bubbling cauldrons, creepy gongs, whistles, and more. // Miscellania II: If it makes a ringing, rattling, or metallic shaking sound, it's probably in here somewhere. // Both: Sounds under CC0 license via the VSCO 2 CE project. Freely reuse and build upon, including commercial works.
High Quality, Resource Efficient Drum Samples:[...] The two kits are quite different so it gave a nice variety of kit pieces to sample. Additionally while I was at it it I grabbed a bunch of hand percussion stuff we had laying around and sampled it too. The dealio with these kits are they have 5 velocity layers per kit piece and have a very small memory footprint so they are ideal for using with DAWs or Sequencers on computers new and old.
The FlameStudios Collection is my collection of samples that I am making. (News Entry 2008-08-17). This is [beginning of each instrument]: An acoustic guitar suited to bluesy rhythm -- Another acoustic guitar. This one sounds nice for fingerpicking arrangements. -- a very rounded sounding electro-acoustic bass -- a more muffled bass, suited for blending in or behind distorted guitars but useful for any situation when a bass sound without so much clarity is needed -- a 5 string closed back banjo -- a Japanese Fender Jaguar electric guitar played on the both pick-ups setting and is played through a Fender Bassman '59 Reissue withold valves in -- American Fender Telecaster electric guitar -- American Gibson Les Paul electric guitar -- a variety of percussion instruments -- solid body bass guitar that has a full deep sound -- Japanese Fender Jaguar [and more]
Aeolus is a synthesised (i.e. not sampled) pipe organ emulator that should be good enough to make an organist enjoy playing it. It is a software synthesiser optimised for this job, with possibly hundreds of controls for each stop, that enable the user to „voice“ his instrument.
Software synthesizer designed to imitate the sound and properties of the electromechanical organs and sound modification devices that brought world-wide fame to the names and products of Laurens Hammond and Don Leslie.
I've compiled another list which contains instruments that can be used with small restrictions. However, these are not „worry free“: You need to read license agreement texts yourself and follow them.
Other lists and databases exist for sampled instruments. Please be very careful and sceptical what you download and use. I think it needs even clearer words: Assume people are uninformed, lazy or outright lying when it comes to sampling copyright. Any place where anyone can submit changes (github lists, database websites, web-forums) should be treated as untrustworthy until the opposite is proven. Each download or library must be examined anew as an individual case.
If you could just trust any forum post that has the word „free“ in it's title there would have been no need for this research and list.
From all known sites only FreePats has similar ideals and scrutiny-standards as this list, albeit a different mission statement, that is recording these samples themselves.