Best Free Bell VST Plugins

16 Best Free Bell VST Plugins 2024

Last Updated on January 1, 2024

The sound of tubular bells or chimes, organic or synthesized, are a thing of beauty.

They can add a lot of character in the upper register of your mix, enhancing your tracks with a playful, mysterious, or even emotional quality.

In this guide, we look at the best free bell VST plugins.

LABS – Hand Bells by Spitfire Audio

LABS – Hand Bells by Spitfire Audio

Just as it sounds. Spitfire Audio’s LABS – Hand Bells is a high quality sampled virtual instrument. Vibrato and ghostly effects by the Spitfire Audio team for added interest.

The result is an instrument that could be at home in ambient, soundtrack, video game music, and a great deal more.

The glassy, organic, realistic quality of LABS – Hand Bells is rarely (if ever) matched by any other free VST plugin.

Download: Spitfire Audio

LABS – Christmas by Spitfire Audio

LABS – Christmas by Spitfire Audio

LABS – Christmas comes with all the essentials you need to create seasonal music, complete with sleigh bells, tubular bells, and a glockenspiel. Spitfire Audio even threw in icy glissandi, cheery whistles, and whisper-soft vocals, to build out the collection.

Perfect for spreading holiday cheer.

Download: Spitfire Audio

Medicine Bell by TDJaudio

Medicine Bell by TDJaudio

TDJaudio’s Medicine Bell is a versatile chime and bell virtual instrument.

The developer says the higher register is perfect for chime, the midrange ideally suited to leads and ambiance, and the lower register for surprise (almost gong like sounds).

The interface features controls for location, duration, impact, reverb, wave speed, wave intensity, impact, duration, and location. These sound-shaping tools can be used to produce some interesting results.

There are also switches for Gem (gong like sounds), Flower (organ like sounds), and Butterfly (marimba like sounds), which alter the character of the instrument’s timbre. These can be combined in some interesting ways too.

You can do some very strange things with wave speed and intensity, creating synthesizer style tones.

Medicine Bell is available for Windows and Mac.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

Sonatina Chimes by bigcat instruments

Sonatina Chimes by bigcat instruments

Sonatina Chimes is a sampled tubular bell virtual instrument. The samples, of course, came from the Sonatina Orchestra public domain library.

As with most entries of its kind, Sonatina Chimes is very basic. But there are ADSR controls as well as volume and pan knobs for fine tuning.

Sonatina Chimes shows some promise, and certainly isn’t the worst sounding bell virtual instrument out there. Its main weakness is probably that you can’t really control the dynamics of it.

Sonatina Chimes is available for Windows and Mac.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

BellsEbuth by Alan ViSTa

BellsEbuth by Alan ViSTa

How can you not love the name of this free virtual instrument?

BellsEbuth is a sampled modern glockenspiel / orchestral bells instrument with 40 stereo samples from the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios public domain library. The samples are all in 24-bit.

BellsEbuth also features controls for release time, sustain level, amplitude dynamic range control, and volume.

Overall, you will find that this VST has a very pleasant high end that you might even want to tame a little using EQ or filters. Not bad, guys.

Conveniently, Alan ViSTa’s BellEbuth is available for Windows and Mac.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

Miscellania II: Holiday Bells by Versilian Studios

Miscellania II: Holiday Bells by Versilian Studios

Versilian Studios’ Miscellania II: Holiday Bells features a six-octave range with chimes, bells, triangles, finger cymbals, pots, pants, and anything else that produces a metallic ding, ring, or clang. There are also 10 RR tambourines.

Altogether, you’re getting five bells, four triangles, three tambourines, and two finger cymbals. There are some new loops, featuring wind chime ambiance as well as bells tinkling ambiance.

Versilian Studios also equips you with some basic controls – ADSR, gain, pan, and reverb.

This should prove a fun little tool for Christmastime and the holiday season. Honestly, it sounds not half bad!

Miscellania II: Holiday Bells is available for Windows and Mac.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

B-2 BELLY by Quilcom

B-2 BELLY by Quilcom

Quilcom’s B-2 BELLY is a bells synthesizer with capabilities that go well beyond.

Since it’s not uncommon to mix organic, sampled sounds with synthesized sounds, Quilcom was sure to add a sample player to the interface. The sample player can be routed through a dynamic filter if you wish. You can also isolate individual hits within a loop and played at their pitch or chromatically.

Sounds can be exported with the recorder. These can be saved as WAV files, which you can load up in your sample player, drum machine, or sample player.

B-2 BELLY features a range of standard controls for control over your sounds. There are parameter sections for strike, strike env, body, short env, mid env, long env, all envelopes, sample, mixer, filter freq env, filter, recorder, and more.

Naturally, a synthesizer isn’t supposed to offer an organic sound. It’s supposed to prove a synthesized sound. That said, achieving a bell like quality with the synth is relatively easy.

Its usage could be a little limited – it’s not like other versatile synths emulating vintage hardware, but when you need synthesized bell sounds to complement the organic ones, it’s sure to come in handy.

B-2 BELLY is for Windows only.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

Christmas Belly by Quilcom

Christmas Belly by Quilcom

Christmas Belly was created to model the sound of wind chimes (specifically, a set of wind chimes). The module includes a sound generator section on the right and a strike section on the left.

Christmas Belly uses FM synthesis to produce sounds, along with a random wind sound generator and a ringing filter.

Altering the wind intensity will give your strikes a more random quality.

The three sound sources can be mixed in any way you please, while controlling its overall ambience as well.

This virtual instrument lets you have up to eight bells, and each can be tuned and selected. You can set a scale and even shift it up or down an octave, or even in semitones. Mistuning and scale dissonance can be added with positive stretching or negative compression.

Overall, Christmas Belly has an icy, delicate, synthesized sound to it. But because it is a synthesizer, you can create some neat lead and FX sounds too.

Christmas Belly is a Windows only VST.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

MObells by Stardust Audio

MObells by Stardust Audio

MObells is a bit of an oddball FM synth. Whether music boxes, church bells, or some way out there glitchy and video game like bitcrushed lead and FX sounds, there’s quite a bit you can do with this virtual instrument.

The interface features sections for oscillators A, B, C, FM mods, output, EG4, mod1, mod2, mod3, LFO, spacedelay, and EXP glide. So, as with most synths, there are plenty of fine-tuning controls you can use to craft funky sounds.

MObells comes with a FL Studio and FXP Presets Library and is compatible with Windows and Windows alone.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

Carillon by Tweakbench

Carillon by Tweakbench

Tweakbench’s Carillon is a physical modeled bell and chime synthesizer.

Carillon is split into three main sections – chimes (with strike, metal, length, ring, and loudness), chorus (with amount, rate, depth, and delay), and reverb (with amount, size, wide, damp, and !!!).

Having listened to Carillon, I’m not sure how useful it is for anything besides FX, but it is cool that it’s got built-in chorus and reverb effects, which add some cool ambience.

You can get Carillon for Windows.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

Sonatina Glockenspiel by bigcat instruments

Sonatina Glockenspiel by bigcat instruments

As the name would suggest, Sonatina Glockenspiel is a sampled glockenspiel, derived from the Sonatina Orchestra public domain library.

The interface comes with the standard ADSR control, as well as a volume and pan function.

Sonatina Glockenspiel has a relatively small range, but it doesn’t sound half bad.

Sonatina Glockenspiel is available for Windows and Mac.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

VSCO2 Glockenspiel by bigcat instruments

VSCO2 Glockenspiel by bigcat instruments

VSCO2 Glockenspiel takes full advantage of Versilian Studios glockenspiel samples.

The VSTi comes with ADSR envelope controls, as well as volume, pan, and reverb parameters.

VSCO2 Glockenspiel is limited to the higher register, but overall, it features a very usable sound.

You can get VSCO2 Glockenspiel is compatible with Windows and Mac.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

Breezy Day by Malaclypse the Younger

Breezy Day by Malaclypse the Younger

As we come further down the list, you’re going to notice more oddities and obscurities, which include this – the Breezy Day wind chimes rompler.

In developing this VST, Malaclypse the Younger sampled the wind chimes pictured in the interface. You can either play it at the original sampled pitch, or across a tuned region.

There are also downward and upward sweeps for the small chime tree. You can choose from three speeds.

You can get Breezy Day for Windows and Mac, but it does not work with Windows XP.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

Celesta by Necromare

Celesta by Necromare

The Celesta is also known as a bell piano. Therefore, it has a very bell like tone that could be usable in place of a workable bell VST plugin.

Necromare’s Celesta comes with a four-octave range as well as body knock sounds.

This is the best free Celesta available, and its sound is quite beautiful and hypnotic. Given its sound, I think it’s well worth checking out.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

Marimbaphonic by Alan ViSTa

Marimbaphonic by Alan ViSTa

Alan ViSTa’s Marimbaphonic is a sampled marimba, with a total of 122 24-bit samples from the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios public domain library. The samples have been organized into two layers and are spread in stereo.

Marimbaphonic also features release time, amplitude dynamic range, volume, and reverb controls.

Marimba is more woody than metallic, so if that’s not your jam, move right along. Otherwise, this one could be worth checking out.

The interface might have you wondering about the sound a bit, but Marimbaphonic is a very capable marimba instrument with a warm, resonant tone.

You can get Marimbaphonic for Windows and Mac.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

VSCO2 Marimba by bigcat instruments

VSCO2 Marimba by bigcat instruments

This one probably doesn’t require a whole lot of explanation. VSCO2 Marimba is a sampled instrument with samples recorded by Versilian Studios.

You’ve got your basic ADSR controls, along with volume, pan, and reverb.

As with Marimbaphonic, this is a competent marimba virtual instrument.

VSCO2 Marimba is Windows and Mac compatible.

Download: PLUGINS 4 FREE

What Genre Would You Use Bell VST Plugins On?

As with most things in music, there may be certain pre-established rules for certain instruments, genres, arrangements, or otherwise. But rules are meant to be broken, and almost anyone who’s anyone has risen through the ranks in the music business by finding their own path.

So, there aren’t necessarily any limitations when it comes to using percussive instruments (like chimes, bells, glockenspiels, triangles, or otherwise), especially if you’re writing and composing your own projects.

But here are a few genres where you can bells being use, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Classical

Orchestral bells and glockenspiels are common in orchestral situations, and orchestras usually play classical music more than just about any other genre.

Classical pieces often show a degree of sophistication in melodic and harmonic content, and even structure. Bells often play a minor role in the grand scheme of things, but they do get interesting melodies, and are sometimes singled out in compositions (usually in sections) as well.

Seasonal

There’s nothing quite like the sound of bells (of all types) for the holiday season. They are practically synonymous for Christmas.

You can take just about any song in any genre and turn it into a more seasonal sounding track with the sound of bells – even punk rock.

Pop / Indie Rock

Hipster indie rock likes to incorporate a variety of instruments, especially those with a lighthearted, whimsical, thin sound. Bells are perfectly complementary to acoustic and electric guitars, even violins.

A lot of music in this vein is repetitive, and annoyingly “corporate,” making it as easy as possible for audiences to sing and hum along to. It has its place, but I don’t find it overly entertaining. The only reason I would record a song like that would be for the irony of it.

Don’t let me stop you from creating your own indie rock masterpiece though.

Progressive Rock

Canadian prog-rock drum legend Neil Peart was well known for his use of the MIDI marimba, but he’s certainly not the only one to use bell or bell-like instruments in progressive rock.

Given that prog-rock songs often cycle through different time signatures and musical styles, just about anything is fair game in terms of instrumentation. It’s all about what sounds good for the specific section you’re playing.

Ambient / Mood Music

Ambient music often features a mixture of synthesized and organic material (sometimes field recordings). Sometimes, it’s all organic material processed through a sampler / soft synth.

Either way, mellow bells and wind chimes sounds tend to work nicely with the genre, given their association with breezes and wind.

Top Free Bell VST Plugins, Final Thoughts

So, there you have it – a dozen plus free VSTs that could work. Some are certainly better than others, but without even having to turn to premium solutions (unless your project requires it), you’ve got some great sounding, competent virtual instruments to work with.

As always, we recommend some experimentation in getting used to each instrument, as it can take a bit of time to get used to the controls. The VSTs featured here are simple, but it’s nice to try setting up effects chains for them as well.

Happy recording!