UVI has given its free instrument host a new name and a significant upgrade. UVI Workstation is now UVI Player, and the biggest change is that it can now load and play every Falcon Expansion, which until now required a copy of UVI's flagship Falcon synth.
UVI Player is a free download for macOS (native Apple Silicon and Intel) and Windows, and runs as a standalone app or as a VST, VST3, AU, or AAX plugin in your DAW. The news comes shortly after UVI released Falcon 2027, a major free update to Falcon itself.
Falcon Expansions without Falcon
Falcon Expansions are UVI's sound packs built on the Falcon engine, each with its own custom interface, macro controls, and presets. In UVI Player, every Expansion now loads with that same interface and plays as designed, so you can use those sounds in a project without buying Falcon.
The difference between the two is depth. UVI Player is for browsing, loading, and playing presets, while Falcon opens the same Expansion all the way down to its oscillators, modulators, effects, and scripts for full sound design. If you start in UVI Player and later want to go further, the same Expansion opens directly in Falcon.
What else is new in UVI Player
Beyond the rename, the update brings a refreshed workflow:
- A redesigned browser with unified styling across the Library, FX, and Multi views, plus preset tags, text search, favorites, and instant audio previews.
- A new Single/Multi toggle with a Save as Default Multi option.
- An improved mixer with mute, solo, and VU metering.
- Instrument layering, added effects, and a built-in arpeggiator.
Existing UVI Workstation users don't need to do anything. Installed libraries and licenses carry over unchanged. New users can download UVI Player through UVI Portal, and the free UVI Starter soundpack is included. UVI lists support for macOS 10.14 through macOS 27 and 64-bit Windows 10 and 11.
UVI Builder Platform opens Falcon to other brands
Alongside UVI Player, UVI launched the UVI Builder Platform, which gives partner sound developers access to the engine behind Falcon, including its sampling, synthesis, effects, modulators, and Lua scripting. Instruments built on the platform will play in both Falcon and the free UVI Player.
UVI handles compatibility, copy protection, and distribution through UVI Portal, and says partners pay no upfront costs or encoding fees. For producers, the practical upshot is that UVI Player could become a home for more third-party libraries, not just UVI's own catalog, giving it a better shot at competing with other free sample players.
You can download UVI Player and read more on UVI's UVI Player page.
Images in this article are from UVI.