Westwood Instruments has relaunched Roots, its series of free virtual instruments, in the developer’s own plugin format.
We have covered the Roots series several times on BPB while the instruments were available for Kontakt Player, including Untold Strings and Dust Piano.
My favorite one was Dust Piano, but overall these are very cool instruments with character, which I always appreciated, but more so than ever in this age of copy-paste AI plugins.
And to be perfectly honest, I think this is a great move from Westwood Instruments. Kontakt Player is free, but not everyone has it installed, and the whole process can be a bit cumbersome if Kontakt is not already part of your setup.
Previously, if you wanted to use these instruments, you had to install Kontakt Player just to load them.
Now, Roots is built into Westwood’s own plugin, so Kontakt is not required. You can load the instruments like standalone plugins in your DAW, which is much more convenient.
The first three Roots plugins are Dust Piano, Untold Strings, and Choral Fragments. Dust Piano is a lovely piano instrument with a grainy vibe, Untold Strings focuses on transformed violas, and Choral Fragments is an experimental vocal ensemble.
The developer says the older Kontakt versions will continue to work and remain supported. If you already have serial numbers for the Kontakt Player versions, you can still redownload them through Native Access, but there is no direct update path to the new plugin versions. You simply add the new Roots instruments to your cart and complete the free checkout.
I also think Westwood captured the same kind of vibe in these new plugins, but they look much better to me. The interfaces keep the same general layout as before, just with a nicer overall look.
This is the kind of thing I love seeing. A developer takes something they released for free, makes it better, and still keeps it free.
Roots also fits nicely alongside instruments with character like the old LABS releases or Fracture Sounds’ Blueprint series. If you like slightly imperfect and super inspiring sounds that do not overwhelm you with options, these are absolutely worth downloading.
Each Roots instrument uses the same simple interface and includes presets, with the option to save your own. Westwood’s whole idea here is that creative limitations can help you get past decision paralysis and start making music faster.
To download Roots, add the free instruments to your cart and complete checkout with no payment required. Westwood will then send the download installer.
Roots supports macOS Monterey 12 or higher and Windows 10 or higher. The instruments are available in VST, VST3, AU, and AAX formats, require around 1 GB of disk space per issue, and need internet access for download and activation.
Download: Westwood Instruments Roots (FREE)
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Last Updated on July 23, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
