14 Best Violin VST Plugins 2024

From the haunting beauty of a violin solo in a somber acoustic classic like “Dust In The Wind” to the playful violin filling the spaces in the lusty 80s Celtic folk pop of “Come On Eileen,” the violin is a powerful instrument, whether used in a gentle singer-songwriter tune, full orchestra, or to complement a dark metal track.

As a producer, you’re sure to find plenty of opportunities to use violin in your mixes. Naturally, VST plugins offer certain conveniences you can’t otherwise access.

So, in this guide, we look at the best violin VST plugins.

Hyperion Strings Solo Violins by Soundiron – Best Overall

Soundiron calls their Hyperion Strings Solo Violins a “universal solo violin library,” striking the perfect sonic balance between polish and humanism. With two complete solo violin libraries in one, you can layer the instruments how you see fit, and create lovely duets too.

Hyperion Strings Solo Violins features six master presets (1st violin master, phrases, and legato; 2nd violin master, phrases, and legato), multiple articulations (sustains, staccatos, true legato, sordino, phrases, and dynamic expressions), and 9GB of 9,538 stereo samples in 24-bit, 48 kHz stereo lossless NCW format.

It also comes with 1,900 phrases in a variety of keys and styles, special articulations (harmonics, ponticello, flautando, detache, colle, Bartok pizzicato, col legno, sordino, and others), expressions with a variety of lengths, timings, and dynamics (crescendos, decrescendos, sforzandos, swells) with time-stretching, tempo-syncing, and automatic release.

It even includes free soundstage positioning (dozens of custom rooms, halls, chambers, and FX environments), adaptive play assist, and an arpeggio system.

There is so much to this plugin that demo, and review videos tend to go for nearly 30 minutes (as is the case with the video below). Just as you would expect, it’s full of great sounds you can use in a variety of genres in a variety of ways.

With a stellar sound and built-in flexibility, all at an affordable price, Hyperion Strings Solo Violins is a shoo-in for our best overall selection.

Hyperion Strings Solo Violins is available for Windows and Mac and requires the free Kontakt Player.

Learn more: Plugin Boutique

NOVO Modern Strings by Heavyocity – Best Premium Option

Heavyocity’s NOVO Modern Strings is undoubtedly a thing of beauty. As our best premium option, this baby comes with realistic, breathtaking, mind-bending, and versatile sounds perfectly suited to composition and sound design applications. Its artistic graphical user interface reflects this too.

If you’ve read violin and strings VST plugin product descriptions, then you already know the deal here – NOVO Modern Strings was recorded with the best players, in the best rooms, using the best gear, with the best producers and engineers at hand, all to deliver powerful sounds in high-definition glory.

Look, it’s not for everyone. If you’ve been thinking to yourself that you need a strings library that’s going to “make the cut” for big budget professional projects, then you’ve found yourself a viable option. But it could either be too much power or not the right kind of versatility, depending on the project.

But NOVO Modern Strings is great. It comes with 21,254 samples (38 GB), 308 snapshot presets, 57 NKAs, eight NKIs, six traditional sections (violin, viola, cello, bass, high ensemble, low ensemble), string designer, loop designer, sample browser, CYCLE page (for advanced granular and rhythmic playback), and MACRO knob for dynamic multi-parameter control.

NOVO Modern Strings is compatible with Windows and Mac and requires Kontakt Player 5.6.6 or later.

Learn more: Plugin Boutique

Hyperion Strings Micro by Soundiron – Best Budget Option

Soundiron’s Hyperion Strings Micro comes with five NKI Kontakt instrument banks, 2,950 samples (2.5 GB), 24-bit, 48 kHz stereo lossless NCW format, and five master presets (ensemble, violin, violas, cellos, and basses).

It also comes with multi-dynamic sustains, multi-dynamic staccatos, spiccatos, and pizzicatos with 2x round-robin, dynamic auto-release and tempo syncing for crescendo and decrescendo expression, free soundstage positioning for each section (plus dozens of custom rooms, halls, chambers, and FX environments), adaptive play assist, and arpeggio systems.

While Hyperion Strings Micro is an ensemble virtual instrument, if you stick to the higher notes and mostly play monophonically, you can easily access some nice violin sounds.

The sounds are quite good, and the pizzicatos are especially nice! To my ears, when you play chords, it sounds more like a synthesizer, but it is a pleasant sound, nonetheless.

Given its overall affordability and quality, our best budget selection is undoubtedly this.

Hyperion Strings Micro works on Windows and Mac and requires the latest version of Kontakt Player to work.

Learn more: Plugin Boutique

Vintage Strings by Big Fish Audio

Okay, so you’ve got all these virtual orchestral strings libraries in lush, full, vivid detail. And these are often perfect for compositional applications (film, TV, video games, etc.), and in mixes with organic instruments. But what if you want something that sounds a little grittier? Something a little more vintage?

Big Fish Audio’s Vintage Strings is a 60s and 70s violin section virtual instrument emulating the perfectly imperfect strings sounds captured on classic soul, funk, and R&B records of the era.

Vintage Strings was recorded with high quality vintage outboard gear, and comes with three group sizes (two, six, and 12 players), 11 articulations, auto harmonization, and IR options for the built-in convolution reverb. The plugin comes bundled with Kontakt Player 5.

Overall, Vintage Strings nails it. The strings sound stunning, and within the context of a fuller mix, you can’t tell that they’re samples.

Vintage Strings isn’t cheap. But if you’re looking for an alternative to the standard orchestral libraries, it’s well worth a look.

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Hyperion Strings Elements by Soundiron

Soundiron’s Hyperion Strings Elements comes with an insane amount of power – nine master presets (ensemble, violins, violas, cellos, basses), articulation maps, seating arrangements, arpeggio patterns, FX chains, and 20,148 samples (10 GB) in 24-bit, 48 kHz stereo lossless NCW format.

You also get multi-dynamic sustains (with control over vibrato and dynamic transitions), multi-dynamic long and short staccatos, spicattos, and pizzicatos (with loose / tight variants and 4x round-robin), and Bartok Pizzicato snaps and Col Legno bow string taps (also with loose /tight variants and 4x round-robin).

Additionally, a full suite of expressions (in a variety of lengths, timings, and dynamics), like crescendos, decrescendos, sforzandos, swells, time-stretching, tempo-syncing, automatic release, free soundstage positioning for each section (dozens of custom rooms, halls, chambers, and FX environments), adaptive play assist, and an arpeggio system.

Whether you want violin sounds, or any combination of strings, Hyperion Strings Elements can do it all. Plus, it sounds great. For the price, it’s well worth the money. If you’ve looked at other Soundiron products, then you already know the deal.

Hyperion Strings Elements works on Windows and Mac and requires the latest version of Kontakt Player.

Learn more: Plugin Boutique

Lyrical Violin Phrases by Sonuscore

Sonuscore’s Lyrical Violin Phrases promises to be the perfect tool for creative scoring and cinematic applications.

Lyrical Violin Phrases covers a wide variety of techniques and styles, with melodic passages, ethnic phrases, trills, double strings, sul ponticello, and more. Even better, the sounds can be adjusted via key, speed, length, succession, and connection of phrases.

In creating Lyrical Violin Phrases, Sonuscore worked with virtuoso Veer Csongor (known for his work with The Elder Scrolls Online series), as well as award-winning violinist Sebastian Caspar.

In total, Lyrical Violin Phrases comes with 310 phrases and 19 themes, and this virtual instrument sounds quite breathtaking. If you don’t want to have to come up with your own violin phrases, you will love this VST.

Lyrical Violin Phrases requires the full version of Kontakt.

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Oscillation Strings by Ben Osterhouse

Ben Osterhouse’s Oscillation Strings specializes in gentle repeated note swells. Violin, viola, cello, or bass can be used for all articulations. Strings were recorded dry and were doubled for a realistic chamber strings sound.

Oscillation Strings comes with 11,427 samples, multiple rhythms (energetic eighth notes, medium quarter notes, broad expressive half notes), swells, custom swells, custom compression system, polyphonic legato, two types of legato samples, and double or half-time stretching.

As with all Ben Osterhouse VST plugins, Oscillation Strings sounds quite nice out of the box. This plugin will not give you anything other than gentle repeated note swells (look elsewhere if you need more flexibility), but if that’s what you’re looking for, it’s a great choice.

Oscillation Strings requires Kontakt Full 6.3.1 or later.

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Secco Strings by Ben Osterhouse

With violin, viola, cello, and bass, Secco Strings allows for deep customization. Each instrument has been graced with three articulations (pizzicato, peck, and bounce), as well as three modes (single notes, rhythm, and texture).

If you want to import your own samples, you can! There are four built-in drag and drop user instrument slots that have been built with this in mind.

Secco Strings also features global controls for attack, decay, low cut, and saturation, eight convolution reverbs, preset system, 21 rhythm mode presets, 17 single note mode presets, 13 texture mode presets, 15 steps for each play mode, and an automatable XY pad (panning, direction, formant, and octave).

You also get 5,764 samples (1.1 GB), a dedicated tone control pad (crossfades between four layers for the pizzicato articulations and three layers for the arco articulations), proximity and velocity sensors, and eight NKI files.

In addition to being a great sounding virtual instrument, the included options allow for all kinds of sound design type elements. If this type of customization doesn’t interest you, though, you’ll probably want to look for another violin VST plugin solution.

Secco Strings requires the full version of Kontakt.

Learn more: Plugin Boutique

Sospiro Strings by Ben Osterhouse

If slow, emotive strings are what you’re looking for, then you’ll enjoy Ben Osterhouse’s Sospiro Strings. The swells come in two flavors – vibrato swells and non-vibrato swells – each with their own timbre. Both types have a single velocity layer.

There are also three types of sustains – cold sustains, warm sustains, and full sustains. From soft, fragile sounds to slow, heavy sounds, you can use each for different purposes.

You can also take advantage of the length in beats slider, length multiplier, smart release, sync feature, double control, and more, to further alter the qualities of the strings sounds.

Sospiro Strings works with Kontakt Full version 5.8.1 or later.

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Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS by ujam

Obviously, ujam’s Symphonic Elements STRIIIINGS is more than just a violin. This is a modern string ensemble offering access to Han Zimmer’s own sophisticated strings library. And it’s all wrapped in a highly intuitive, polished, and versatile interface.

STRIIIINGS comes with 60 playing styles, sound designer presets, Highlighter knob (multimode 24 dB synthesizer filter), controls for low and high strings (character, motion, focus EQ, and decay), finisher knob, ambience knob, and a crossfade control.

For reasons that should be obvious, STRIIIINGS is a great pick for compositional applications. Even if you aren’t a music theory expert, you can take advantage of the Key feature to force every note you play to play in key.

That said, in the video below, you will hear STRIIIINGS used in 80s pop, top 40 hit style music, 70s disco, dark rock, video game soundtrack music, and more. So, it is a relatively versatile virtual instrument, all things considered.

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ANALOG STRINGS by Output

Output’s ANALOG STRINGS is a really cool plugin, bringing together the best of organic sampled string sounds with vintage synthesizer string sounds. If you’re looking for a plugin that just does violin, this may not be it, but if you plan to incorporate strings in a more encompassing way, you will love this VST.

ANALOG STRINGS includes 500 presets, a dual-layer engine, preset menu with smart tagging, layer FX and global FX, four central macro sliders unique to each preset, dual arpeggiators, a built-in help menu, and tempo sync. The included sound library amounts to 39 GB.

The sounds you hear stem from a 60-piece string orchestra, a 22-piece orchestra, as well as several soloists, and of course, hard-to-find vintage synths with killer string sounds.

Adjust the tones, layer on effects, and create amazing sounding sequences. ANALOG STRINGS is an inspiring, musical tool you can incorporate into a variety of projects, be it your latest electronic masterpiece or chilling cinematic score.

ANALOG STRINGS works on Windows and Mac and requires Kontakt 5.6.5 or higher (free or full version).

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Senfine by Wavelet Audio

More than a mere violin VST, Wavelet Audio’s Senfine features an extensive sound library, ranging from ambient keys, guitars, and orchestral warps to synths and even full drums. These sounds are perfect for atmospheric composition and sound design uses.

In creating Senfine, the developer took inspiration from the likes of Tony Anderson, Hammock, Jon Hopkins, Lights & Motions, Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Ros, and others.

Senfine comes with 130+ instruments, 9.92 GB of original sample material, 3,600+ samples, an equalizer, atmosphere designer, macros, LFOs, and other tone shaping tools.

The included sounds are excellent, and they are ready to use out of the box. Of course, you can still adjust all of them to achieve desired results.

If a simple violin sound is what you need, then obviously Senfine is perhaps more power than you’re looking for. But it’s still worth checking out the video below to hear the many sounds you can create with it.

Senfine requires the full version of Kontakt to work.

Learn more: Plugin Boutique

Vertigo Strings by Cinematique Instruments

Cinematique Instruments’ Vertigo Strings comes with 16 sound sources – four violins (ponticello-pianissimo, arco, draft, harmonics), one arco viola, two celli (ponticello-pianissimo, harmonics), two upright basses (draft, arco), bowed guitar, psaltery, vintage harmonium, synth string patch, resampled Zilhouette Strings, bowing noises, and tape machine re-recorded strings.

Since it works wonderfully as an ensemble tool, the developer has included 15 ensemble presets to start you off with. You can even randomize using the Dice control.

Vertigo Strings also includes various effects, including a tone control, Fog and Retro dials, and six reverb types.

This virtual instrument is useful for a variety of applications. You can mix the various instruments however you see fit, and of course you could isolate the violin sounds if desired. Ambient and atmospheric string sounds are but a preset away with Vertigo Strings, making it a great tool for composition too.

Vertigo Strings requires the full version of Kotakt 5.6.8 or higher.

Learn more: Plugin Boutique

Solina V by Arturia

Here’s something a little different. As you can tell from its name and appearance, Arturia’s Solina V was designed to emulate Eminent’s Solina MK1 string machine. As such, it comes with rich and warm synthesized violin, viola, cello, horn, and trumpet sounds. It might not be of interest if you’re looking for pure, authentic violin sounds, but what Solina V does, it does incredibly well!

Arturia has done it again by nailing a near authentic sound of the original Solina. But they also added features like Vox Humana and resonators from the 1978 Moog polysynth, new polyphonic modes, a 24 dB octave filter on the bass, LFO, arpeggiator, and more to spice things up.

Altogether, Solina V features all the original parameters of the string machine, Vox Humana, paraphonic operation, polyphonic mode, resonator section on upper section, 24 dB octave resonant filter on the bass section, arpeggiator on the bass section, LFO for vibrato, tremolo, and filter, aftertouch, and velocity level controls.

You also get MK1 and MK2 ensemble modes, three-mode stereo chorus, stereo dual phaser, analog delay, digital sync delay, convolution reverb (24 modeled reverbs), 150 presets, an extensive preset browser, and more.

Solina V sounds great. If you like classic organs and mellotrons, you’ll love this. With the ensemble function, Solina V can offer up some beautiful, ethereal, mysterious sounding pad sounds too. This baby is versatile and high quality.

Learn more: Plugin Boutique

What Should I Look For In A Violin VST Plugin?

We’ve covered multiple types of plugins in this guide, all featuring the violin in some capacity – some more prominently, some more subtly. Most of the virtual instruments offer a way to single out or highlight just the violin section, but some do not.

So, before you do anything else, you’ll want to think about how you plan to use the violin VST. Will you be composing music for a film or video game? Do you want to craft a beautiful sounding acoustic singer-songwriter tune? Are you looking to incorporate violin / strings into your EDM tracks?

There are different things to look out for depending on the types of projects you plan to undertake. There certainly isn’t any harm in owning multiple sample libraries or virtual violins, but of course, budget is going to come into play if that’s the direction you go in.

We cover these considerations in more depth below – sound quality, features, and budget. Use the following as guide to help you decide on your next purchase.

Sound Quality & Tone

Producers have discerning tastes. Musicians are sometimes even pickier. Given this dynamic, the only sensible choice when shopping for a VST plugin is to examine the sound of the plugins available and choose the one(s) that offer quality sounds and tones.

If the only person you need to please is you, that’s easy. But if you’re working with clients, you’ll want to do right by them – whether it’s local rock artists, or a music supervisor halfway across the world.

The violin VST plugins featured here are the best available, but some are more specialized than others. Some were created as composition and sound design tools. Others were developed to emulate vintage string sections. Some are even more niche than that. None are exactly alike, and they each have their own sound qualities and characteristics.

We can’t necessarily choose a plugin for you without fully understanding your needs. But what we can say is the first person to please is always you! You’re the one that’s going to be working with the plugin, and that means you’re going to become intimately acquainted with its sound, features, strengths, weaknesses, and more.

If it works for you, it’s sure to deliver better results than if it doesn’t.

The first step is always to listen. Check out the video demos and reviews. Listen to sound samples. Listen broadly and widely and educate yourself. Although listening for too long can make it harder to decide, sound is still one of the key things you’re going to base your purchase decision on, and the only way to know is to do your homework.

Features & Parameters

Whether it’s samples, articulations, stage configurations, built-in effects, presets, or otherwise, string virtual instruments can come with a lot of different features and parameters. Again, what you need is going to depend a lot on your specific needs, but features are worth exploring.

Most violin VST plugins come with features and parameters that are suited to that plugin. So, that can automatically make your buying decision a little easier. The only thing to look out for, then, is to ensure you’re getting the features you want.

Something that can be worth thinking about is the fact that built-in effects may not be of much interest to you if you’ve already got highly capable effects in your VST library. Many producers take joy and pride in setting up their own effects chains.

This will depend on whether you’ve got the CPU power to handle such tasks, mind you, and the convenience of built-in effects can be hard to argue with.

Other than that, it depends on how deep you want to go. How many articulations do you need? Do you want to deep dive into customization mode, or do you want to get the plugin to do most of the heavy lifting? Do you want a raw violin sound, or do you want to transform it into something completely different? You can find VSTs of both flavors.

Budget

A lot of work can go into capturing the perfect violin sound. The best players, best gear, best production techniques, best facilities, best producers – all these cost money.

Of course, when reduced to plugin form, we’re the ultimate benefactors of all this hard work. We get access to incredible tools without having to pay thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars for them. It’s a win-win because developers can sell their works to a near limitless number of customers.

The VST plugins featured here still vary in price from $50 to $550, though, so while there are the “standard” cost savings, you would still do well to stick to your budget when shopping for musical gear. After all, buying VST plugins can be quite addictive!

So, this is a reminder to avoid going into debt for all purchases. Use your budget to determine your best fit, as it can help you arrive at a buying decision sooner. Save up for whatever you can’t afford right now. It will be worth it.

Violin VST Plugins, Final Thoughts

Violin VST plugins come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. Some are more specialized. Some are more general and can handle a variety of tasks. Which to buy is up to you, but I believe you’re now equipped with all the information you need to make a purchasing decision.

And now, it’s time to go make some music. Download and install the plugins you've purchased and get to work. You’re going to need to spend time getting used to them anyway, so dive right in and be like a sponge – soak up everything you can.

Happy recording!