Not many entrants to LudumDare get a chance to finish a song for their game, but for those who do, I thought I’d compile a list of free samples you can use. Some of these are soundfonts compressed with sfArk – just drag the file on to sfArkXTc.exe to generate a self-extracting executable that will create the sf2 file when run. Others are compressed using sfpack.exe. This is a cross-post from my blog.

Instrumental
000_Florestan_Piano
198-StratocasterVS
MIS Stereo Piano [ SoundFont | Directwave ]
MIS Orchestra Samples [Requires Directwave]
SGM-V2.01
Nylon Guitar 1
Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra SF2 (original SFZ)
HQ Orchestra Samples

Percussion 1
Percussion 2
Strings 1
Strings 2
Strings 3
Brass/Woodwinds

Choir/SFX
Bank 1
Bank 2
Bank 3

Vowel Ensemble
070 Bassoon Ethan Nando
Roland Sound Canvas
Tubular Bells

Percussion
SAMPLES – 5000 DRUMHITS
1400 Samples Drum Kit
mhak kicks [Part 1 | Part 2]
drums_industrial
drums_ken_ardency
RolandOrchestralRythm
JD Rockset 5
Ellade Drums

VSTi
While not samples, these are free VSTi plugins, compatible with most modern DAWs.
Bitcrusher
Tube Screamer
Rez v2.0
Reaktor 5 (free version)
Reaktor 5 Factory Selection
Mikro Prism [Requires Reaktor]
dmiHammer
Jug Drum (free version) [Requires Kontact]
Dryer Drum [Requires Kontact]

The SimulAnalog Guitar Suite is very nice, but is for non-commercial use only.