I don't think anything on my list is as lightweight was you're requesting, but they should be smaller and more lightweight than most modern orchestral libraries.

I don't know what sound you are aiming for, but I've found that I've never used a full orchestra in a pop song. More typically, I'll use strings and some solo instruments, such as violin, french horn and oboe.

Garritan Personal Library is an older library, and ran well on my older machines. It was sold to MakeMusic, and they haven't really been updating it. In the right context, it can still sound quite good. It uses the .sfz player. Since it's been years since it got any updates, I think it's a bit overpriced at $150. But it was my first orchestral library, and stopped me from spending all my time looking for good free samples on the Internet. So I've got a soft spot for it.

The Amadeus Symphonic Library is pretty lightweight and loads instruments up quickly. It's got some "all in one" symphonic library patches that are fun to play. It's not as realistic or detailed as most of the modern orchestral libraries, but it's very complete and easy to play. It uses the free Kontakt player. The sounds aren't as realistic as the other libraries I own, so I generally don't use it.

BBC Discover (as far as I recall) doesn't include solo instruments, only sections. It uses the free Spitfire player. Because I focus more on solo instruments, I haven't used it a lot.

Nucleus Lite also only has orchestral sections. It uses the free Kontakt player. I don't own it (yet), mostly because it's got a larger sound than what a typical pop song needs.

The Versillion Standard Chamber Orchestra is available in a Free Edition (.svz or Kontakt Full), Standard (Kontakt Full) and Professional (free Kontakt Player). There are some nice instruments in the collection, but the sound of the instruments doesn't seem to gel together well.

There's a list here of free orchestral plugins, which is:

  • BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover
  • SINEfactory
  • Synful Orchestra
  • Layers
  • VSCO 2 Community Edition
  • LABS
  • Big Bang Orchestra
  • Virtual Playing Orchestra
  • The Free Orchestra
  • Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra
  • One Track Orchestra


If you don't mind composing using notation (it's orchestral, after all), you could look at MuseScore. It comes with a relatively small .sfz library, but you can upgrade to the free MuseScore sounds, or purchase scaled-down instruments/sections from other commercial library vendors.

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?