Best Flute VST Plugins in 2024 (Free & Paid)

Unlike other plugins, this uses simulation and synthesis rather than samples – although the tones still sound incredibly realistic – just like a real flute!

Because this plugin uses synthesis it requires minimal hard drive space, unlike sample library-based plugins. Included are four flute-type instruments – Flute, Sampled Alto Flute, Bass Flute, and Piccolo. These four patches give you a nice range of exciting sounds.

While some may be apprehensive about going down this synthesized route I’ve found it to be one of the best-sounding flute VST plugins out there, especially when it comes to the aspects of articulation, it can fit all the playing styles out there. All with the added benefit of being kind to your storage space!

The SWAM flutes plugin has an incredibly intuitive and fun-to-use interface which is impressive considering how deep into the editing you can get. It includes dedicated tabs that give you control over, expressivity, different play modes, timbre, pitch, and some more advanced features as well. These tabs include control over a Range of articulations and expressions. Including vibrato, flutter tongue, and breath and wind controllers.

This exciting professional-grade flute plugin doesn’t rely on huge sample libraries like traditional virtual studio instruments.

This  Vertigo Flute by Kontakt instrument is a highly versatile tool for music production and features 16 individual flute articulations. It also has 6 reverb types and 6 additional FX giving a great deal of control.

This plugin lets you sculpt a realistic and human-sounding flute performance with ease.

The 16 parallel voices are quickly blended to create your custom balance of flute textures. Mixing these different voices in addition to the expansive FX selection can create traditional flute sounds, but also works well for more modern approaches and textures.

With the right crafting, you can create warm and texturally diverse pads or otherworldly atmospheres to add to your compositions.

The sound sets, include Regular, Fragile Taped, Avant-Garde, Resampled, Blow (airflow without tone), and more. In addition to this Vertigo also includes 13 presets so you can jump right into creating right out of the box.

The full version of Kontakt is needed for this plugin which may be a big drawback for some. If you don’t already own the full version of Kontakt and have just been using Kontakt player then the added cost of Kontakt may not be worth it.

Each section of this chamber quartet is an ensemble with dynamic layers, the ability to move microphone positions, and a generous helping of different articulations.

Zephyr Virtual Instrument by Capsule Audio is such a versatile collection of exciting flute sounds and can be used for a wide variety of applications. I’ve put it through its paces and its sounds just as good in a hip-hop beat as it does for a classical score.

My favorite feature about Zephyr is the round-robin layers knob. Round-robin essentially plays different recordings of the same note, varying over time, ensuring that every time you play the same note you still get a slightly different sound keeping your melodies dynamic and exciting.

The two mixable microphone positions give even more realism to the flutes and added control over your creations to fit them tightly into a mix.

Not only can you use the microphone positions to give added depth and character to the mix but there is also a stereo width knob to help give you an immersive, full, and wide composition.

You might want to check out the Capsule Subscription deal ($7.99/month) which gives you access to their entire library of instruments.

For those more modern beat-driven compositions this is an amazing tool for generating dynamic and awe-inspiring leads reminiscent of traditional wind instruments.

I played around with Exhale for hours and any skilled sound designer can have endless fun recreating traditional woodwind instruments such as a flute but with a modern and ethereal edge that cannot be found with other basic flute sound libraries.

Even if you are not a talented sound designer or music producer (yet!) you can get stuck in straight away and explore some of the best out-of-the-box presets I’ve ever heard from a plugin.

This plugin comes with a huge array of presets and a great range of effects. The presets for this plugin are immense and were created by 25 sound designers at the top of their field working for months to tweak their presets to create the perfect sounds.

While this VST plugin can produce plenty of flute-like woodwind sounds that can be dropped into modern arrangements it’s extremely versatile and has a lot of capability in creating vocal-led tones that’s why we also included this in our article about the best choir VST plugin.

This plugin provides a great bang for your buck and is suited to those that want a lot more control and sounds beyond just that of your traditional flute found in an orchestra or wind quartet.

The interface is intuitive but deep and lets you customize sounds in a huge level of detail. It has a range of fast, single slider effects for tweaking sounds, but also has an underlying loop, sample, and slice selector for more detailed editing.

It might not be ideal for traditional flute sounds but is highly effective for more modern wind textures.

Not only does this plugin Little Wooden Flutes include these beautiful flutes for an already great price but they’ve also added a whole bunch of texturally rich atmospheric pads to add to the versatility of this instrument. The sound of the Indian flute captured my attention and has an intriguing spiritual tone.

The best thing about these pads is that they’ve been crafted from the original flute recordings meaning that despite them being modern and otherworldly their origin lies in the authenticity and beauty of the original flute sounds.

This plugin’s strengths lie in creating music that does not abide by strict western formulas and I’ve had great fun getting outside my comfort zone and composing pieces with an eastern influence.

However, with that being said I’ve had just as much fun using this plugin in modern western styles of music with great success! The sound of an Indian flute can work in many musical contexts.

The full control over the attack, sustain and decay with the built-in envelope coupled with Legato or staccato articulations and two simultaneous microphone positions means I had full control over the dynamics and texture of everything I was creating. It gave me the unadulterated freedom to sculpt my sounds to the vibe of whatever piece I was creating.

This plugin requires the full version of Kontakt, so if you don’t own it already you’re probably better off looking elsewhere. Although if you do have Kontakt Full, this is a nifty little flute VST library that gives you dynamic and expressive flute sounds at a low cost. This is one of the better flute Kontakt libraries out there.

This plugin VSL Synchron-ized Traverso is centered around a Baroque flute, a particular style of the historic woodwind instrument from the 12th century. These antique instruments were the predecessor to the modern concert flute and are made of wood rather than metal.

The Baroque flute has a unique sound that differs from modern flutes, with a soft, warm, woody tone that has a similar texture to a recorder.

The samples recorded for this plugin were captured dry, but it includes a convolution reverb modeled from the main hall of the Viennese Synchron Stage, to add a shimmering and authentic ambiance.

The interface is fully featured and lets you tweak patches quickly and easily without hiding anything in complex menus. I really like the humanization controls which merge the samples and add vibrato for a more realistic performance.

VSL has a bunch of other flute-related VST instruments, including an orchestral woodwinds VST and a free VST, check them out below:

• VSL Synchron Woodwinds
• VSL Free Fujara Flute
• VSL Big Bang Orchestra: Orion

The sound of a Chinese bansuri flute is an immediately recognizable one, using just any old flute VSTs for this very specific timbre won’t do.

If you’re after the best recreation of this specific flute in a VST plugin then look no further, this will do the trick. However, if you’re after a wider variety of flutes with more professional quality then this might not be for you.

This plugin comes with a range of effects: filter, reverb, wind, glide, dynamics, ADSR envelope, and more. These effects are pretty standard with most of the flute plugins I’ve reviewed here and the glide and reverb aren’t the best here so you may be turning to other third-party plugins for your reverb needs.

It also includes a filter and dynamic control to help you find the sweet performance spot for your mix as well as 7 presets including; Flutes Sustain, Flutes Staccato, and 5 extra phrases.

This great little plugin only requires low CPU usage and takes up little hard drive space, so you can probably run it on your microwave.