The 9 Best Brass VSTs: Huge Horn Sounds For All Budgets

Aaah, brass. Whether it’s a majestic horn in a Beethoven symphony, or that goosebumps moment in a blockbuster film where the brass section is in a rousing crescendo, there are few musical instruments out there that combine so much raw power with emotional heft and versatility. With that said, recording a full brass section, or even just one seasoned professional player, can leave an epic-sized hole in your bank account.

Fortunately, brass VSTs just get better and better, and their use throughout film music, pop music, and other examples is now widespread. Stay tuned for the end of the article on a trick professional film composers use to make sure their use of VSTs sounds authentic and brilliant by bringing in one or two real players.

That said, the most premium brass VST packs can get very expensive, so we’ve ensured every budget is covered, including free! So let’s dive in — on your marks, get set (trumpet fanfare), go!

BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover Edition

Fancy harnessing the symphonic power of the Beeb for free? When it comes to orchestral VSTs, there are few names that have more weight in the game than London’s Spitfire Audio. And this full orchestra package gives you VST brass for free, as well as a total of 34 symphony instruments. Let’s be clear: the paid-for versions of BBC Symphony Orchestra, the most expensive being £/$899, do sound several leagues better than this free version, understandably. The brass here does have that MIDI sound feel, but if you’re looking to start your VST brass journey and your budget is £0, this is a fantastic starting point.

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Epic Brass and Woodwinds

Sticking with Spitfire, purely because they offer the next best VST brass up in the budget price range. And, as the name suggests, this pack puts woodwinds like flutes, clarinets, oboes, and bassoons at your disposal. But regarding the all-important brass, at just £/$29, this orchestral brass plugin really does sound fantastic for such a low price. There’s a noticeable jump in quality from the free Spitfire entry previously, so if you can afford this price jump, we do recommend it.

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Impact Soundworks Mega Brass

Rounding out the ‘best VST brass that could be considered affordable’ section (costing approximately £/$49) is the aptly titled Mega Brass from Impact Soundworks. If subtlety isn’t your thing, and you’re really looking to replicate that Hans Zimmer Inception trombone ‘BWAAAAH’ sound, then this could be the friend you’re after. The exciting thing about Mega Brass is it’s a hybrid brass plugin, also offering nine synth sounds, making it fantastic for contemporary film scoring. As long as said film isn’t an understated indie film starring Kate Winslet. Self described as “ridiculously huge and epic!”, this brass plugin wears its over-the-top stylings loud and proud.

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EastWest Hollywood Pop Brass

Price jump! We weren’t kidding when we said we’d be ditching the affordable brass plugin territory with the last entry, as we now find ourselves in £/$200 territory. Thankfully, Hollywood Pop Brass from EastWest comfortably lands in the best VST brass discussion, especially if your productions are seeking a jazzy big band sound, whether that be for pop, rock, soul, funk, latin, or what-have-you. It’s engineered by Grammy-winner Moogie Canazio, so no wonder those soulful trumpets, trombones, saxophones (covering alto, tenor, and baritone), and the rest are sounding so crisp and stage-worthy. Perhaps this award-winning brass plugin’s biggest claim to fame is featuring on Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson’s mega-hit Uptown Funk.

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Session Horns Pro

Session Horns Pro is another brass plugin from a big name, Native Instruments. It’s also a very strong contender for the best VST brass plugin if you’re after punchy sounds that will bring life to pop music productions such as funk, jazz, or pop itself, among many others. It boasts a four-piece brass section, spanning trumpets, trombones, and saxophones, and is designed to fit seamlessly into a variety of genres. A huge feature is the Smart Voice Split, which automatically assigns notes to instruments for dynamic, lifelike performances without requiring a PhD in MIDI programming. There are also lovely details like articulations including staccato, legato, and swells. The intuitive interface is a breeze to navigate, making it a very fun experience all around.

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Cinematic Studio Brass

The name suggests being film scoring specific, but Cinematic Studio Brass is such a realistic and versatile brass VST that it should sound incredible, whatever you throw it at. We dare say these are some of the most lifelike brass instruments in this list, the result of three years of recording in Australia on a professional scoring stage. The interface is a great, common-sense experience that is easy to wrap your head around. As you’d hope from one of the best brass VSTs, french horns, trumpets, trombones, tubas, and more are covered, with stunning levels of detail. Articulations are on plentiful offer too, with legato playing, staccato, mutes, flutter tongues, sustains, and more. People who play a brass instrument in real life will be delighted.

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Spitfire Studio Brass Professional

It would be remiss to only feature Spitfire Audio in the free and budget section of our best VST brass list, as they are no mugs when it comes to premium-priced orchestral VSTs. An important thing to note here: we are including the Professional version of Studio Brass rather than the cheaper version of the brass VST, simply titled Studio Brass. Because, as with the mention that there is a noticeable quality jump from the free BBC Symphony versus the paid-for versions, there’s enough of an audio shift here to justify paying almost £/$200 more for the Professional version. That said, it is subjective, so be sure to listen to both before making your own decision. With a brass section recorded at the famous AIR Studios in London, this is a brass VST with enormous detail, depth, and raw power. Equally brilliant for classical sounds, or OTT epic film moments.

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Sample Modelling Brass Bundle

A unique prospect in this brass VST compendium is the Sample Modelling Brass Bundle — as it says on the tin, it stands out from the crowd by using innovative sample modelling technology to achieve the outrageously realistic and authentic brass sounds, that often do not translate into the world of MIDI well at all. Where brass VSTs, and other MIDI instruments in general fall short, is a lack of dynamic realism when pushing the instruments to different volumes, but Sample Modelling comes dangerously close to solving that problem entirely. That versatility means this brass VST translates into different genres with ease. There is also the Smart Vibrato, bringing a realistic vibrato to the instruments, something else you rarely find in other MIDI instruments.

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Orchestral Tools Berlin Brass

Got £/$800 to burn on a brass VST?! Then here are the tools that money will get you. Dynamic, equal parts majestic and gritty, and full of character, Berlin Brass shares many of the qualities as the great city it is named after. Recorded at the renowned Teldex Studio in the German capital, you won’t be short on epic sounds if you opt for this one. The solo instruments and full brass sections all sound formidable, and there are lots of great features, such as different microphone positions, instrument articulations, and an interface that makes it a joy to use. That said, for this kind of money, you could put together an amateur orchestra and record them yourself, but this brass VST would probably give those musicians a run for their money, as controversial as that is to say.

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A Top Tip from Professional Film Composers

As hinted at in the intro, as phenomenal and realistic as some of the above horn plugins are, you can’t really replace a real-life section of brass players with their years of perfecting their practice on their instrument, and all the emotion they bring to a performance — whether that be a trumpeter, horn player, saxophonist, or what-have-you.

If you’re reading this, it’s probably a safe assumption you don’t have the budget to record a full brass section for your project. If you’re wondering how the pros get around this when the budget is small to medium, there is a trusty trick. On the very common occasions where a movie or TV scene didn’t use a full orchestra — perhaps the music had to be completed very last-minute for an edit, or the budget had been used up by that point — there are other ways to get brilliant results.

What many top composers do is create a hybrid score between VSTs and a few professional players. In the case of a brass section, you would use one of the best brass VST plugins from above, and create a sonic ‘bed’ for a real trumpeter, horn player, trombone, or whichever instrument you wish to highlight for that section of music. With some clever mixing, the organic playing of the real player will mix wonderfully with the high-quality VST sounds, thus mimicking a real brass section.

That said, it’s also pretty common for more pro-VST composers to just stick with their MIDI instruments, such is their quality. Whichever way you feel about it, we hope you’re ready to create fanfares and rousing epic moments of your own with the best brass VST for your needs. Go out there and blow your own trumpet without any shame. 

Further reading:

Best orchestral VSTs