The sampler was the first real casualty of the plugin revolution, and for obvious reasons: samplers have always been software-powered, even when they came in physical form.

The world of virtual samplers is reigned over by a handful of popular commercial products, but there are a few options on the freeware front. Thanks to SynthEdit and SynthMaker, the internet is peppered with free 32-bit, Windows-only sample-playback efforts, but there are far fewer coded-from-the-ground-up options. However, we've ferreted out a few of the finest.

For more on making music with freeware, check out the March 2015 issue of Computer Music (CM214), which is in sale now. Also be sure to browse our round-ups of the best free plugin synths, free mixing plugins and free creative effect plugins.