1) Impakter by de la Mancha With over 300 eclectic drum samples modelled after drum machines such as Korg KPR-77, Yamaha MR-10, and Antonelli Organ 2377 rhythm box, Impakter is a phenomenal drum tool and one of the best free drum VST plugins on the prowl.

• “VST is the “overall” name of the technology; VSTi is to differentiate VST instruments from VST effects (although confusingly there isn’t really an equivalent abbreviation for effects.” “VSTi – Virtual Studio Technology instrument – a sound patch or sampler/rompler.
• The Shortcircuit sample player is arguably one of the most powerful and best free VST sampler you can get your hands on!

Sometime you just need a plain good old sampler VST plugin for your tracks :
just load a .wav sample, tweak some envelope, maybe adjust pitch, and add some loop points. No more no less.
You don’t need the bells & whistles of Kontakt, nor gigabytes of library => just load some samples and come on !

So here’s a selection of 6 FREEWARE sampler in VST format:

1. TX16Wx VST

download 100% free : http://www.tx16wx.com/

Available for Windows (32 & 64 bit) & Mac (VST & AU 64 bit)
This one is more than a simple sampler for loading & playing audio files!
It’s the more complete & full featured free sampler.
Tons of modulations & envelope, powerful keyboard mapping…
You can choose between 4 sizes for the UI (from 800X600 to 1280X768)
and the plugin can record from its own inputs (DAW inputs).
This is also the more “up to date” plugin.
It can load wav, aiff ogg, flac + sf2 soundfonts and sfz.

2. Grace : Sampler

Grace Sampler

download : http://www.onesmallclue.com/plugin/grace/

Available for Windows in 32 & 64 bit VST format.
I find it more good looking than the TX16Wx!
It’s also very powerful; with keyboard mapping, envelope & modulation.
like the precedent, it can preview sounds, the browser is very nice.
can load wav, aif & snd + sfz bank sounds.
On the website you can also download library with good sounds.

3. ShortCircuit 2

download 4 free ! http://vemberaudio.se/shortcircuit.php

Availbable for Windows , 32 bit VST.
Sadly, Shortcircuit is discontinued.
But if you’re still using 32 bit VST, it’s one the best VST sampler around.
The Keyboard mapping (on a vertical view ! unlike the others), the modulation & evelope options, it’s very complete, and should work without any problems (you can also download older version if you experience some bugs)

can load wav files + AKAI sample file (AKAI S5000/S6000/ Z4 Z8) + sf2 files + Recycle REX files.

4. Paax 2 sampler

Paax 2 VST

Free Vst Sampler Best Buy

direct download : http://www.behringerdownload.de/UCONTROL/p2_app.zip

Available for Windows 32 bit only VST.
Unfortunaly, the paax sampler has vanished from the internet, and is no longer developed.
The paax 3 was free for some time, and the paax 2 was always freeware.
The UI is small, but all the features are here.
Not the fastest workflow, but some like it like that.

5. EZ-Sampler

download : http://sbaudio.org/ez-sampler

Available for Windows, 32 bit VST only.
This one is simple, you can load only one sample, so no keyboard mapping.
Sometimes it’s just what you need ! and with EZ-Sampler, it’s fast and without troubles.
Acoustic guitar vst plugin. can load wav, aiff, ogg, flac, snd, wma & mp3 (need Lame Encoder).

Free Sampler Vst Best

6. Helios VST !

Best Free Vst Sampler

Tobybear Helios VST

dowload : http://www.tobybear.de/files.html

Best Free Sampler Vst Reddit

Available for Windows, 32 bit VST only.
From the Tobybear “insbag” VST collection. This one is old school !
ADSR on volume + filter + delay + LFO + loop. Just load a wav file and let’s go!
drop some LFO on the loop start : instant funkyness!