Best VST’s for Reggae and Dub

[peterdh]

Hi KVR,

I am interested in producing Reggae and Dub. What sort of instruments and effects do you recommend and from which manufacturers?

For the very important off-beat guitar chords I am using AAS String Studio VS-1 and Rob Papen’s RG. The guitar chords from RG are more realistic sounding than the ones from String Studio VS-1. For trumpets and saxophones I am using Halion Sonic SE 2. I really like those sounds from Halion Sonic, maybe I will upgrade to the full version. For drums and vocals I mostly use one shot samples from Loopmasters triggered in Geist 2. For the delay effect I am using RP Delay and the free TAL Dub 2 and 3. RP Delay is great and versatile, but I also read positive comments on Audio Damage Dubstation. For big reverbs I mostly use Valhalla VintageVerb. Oh, and I am not interested in using sampled loops, besides vocals.

I am new to Reggae and Dub, I hope you got some advice for me, especially for realistic Reggae guitar chords.

Thanks for your time.

[sqigls]

actually you can use any plugin for any style.

the AAS plugins are great, they have a rhodes/wurly piano and the string studio which can cover a lot of ground. i use WiviBand for brass and flute... there are a number of organ plugins around... I can recommend nusofting Peti for harmonium type sounds... big dub bass you can do with any synth that has a solid resonant filter, but some bass saturation is good to throw in.

i really don't think that you need any specific plugins though.
2 different artists can use the same acrylics & pencils and come up with very different works of art.
It depends on your taste as to what synths and effects. What type of reggae/dub do you want to make?
i can go into more detail if you want to contact me privately anytime.

[zvenx]

Whilst I live in Jamaica, and have had for years for clients to do reggae and dub stuff for their projecgts, I am by no means a reggae producer.
That said, I would be surprised there is a guitar software that can do it properly. I also play guitar so have never had to search for one. However I would instead suggest a clavinet sound (actually my favourites are in Halion Sonic, SE may even have them too (Phaser Clavinet) instead of the guitar sound....Clearly won't sound the same but often used the same here in Jamdown.
For the piano bang, nothing beats the Korg M1 to this day....

I am sure you will get good enough horns in HS SE too, but personally I much prefer Session Horns from Native Instruments using Kontakt/Kontakt Player.

For drums..NI 70;s Drums has some nice patterns and sounds... so too does Drums on Demand which has a few Reggae libraries in Rex format (I use them in Stylus RMX)...for use in Superior Drummer 2, AD2.... Xln Audio has a reggae library which isn't too too bad and toontrack has a midi reggae library which tbh I dont' remember much of how it sounds..Platinum Samples also has some nice Reggae drum grooves...


I have used Tal Dub and it isn't bad at all, but you will need that Roland Space Echo sound... I assume you don't have UAD-2? They have a decent one so too does AudioThing (but I have never used this one)

Sorry now seeing your stuff about sampled loops... my bad. ignore the rmx stuff then.... does this include midi drum loops too? If so then ignore that too .. Sorry.
rsp

[Aloysius]

Toontrack ave sum gud reggae products.

Reggae EZXDrums
Reggae EZkeys MIDI
Reggae EZmix FX Pack

Likkle More

[peterdh]

Thanks for the quick input guys

..What type of reggae/dub do you want to make?..

I really don't know much about Reggae/Dub. I've been making Reggae/Dub ringtones for a month now and I've got the foggiest what kind of style they are.

..For the piano bang, nothing beats the Korg M1 to this day...

...but you will need that Roland Space Echo sound... I assume you don't have UAD-2?..

Got the M1 plug-in. Don't possess UAD.

[mcbpete]

... you will need that Roland Space Echo sound... I assume you don't have UAD-2?..

Got the M1 plug-in. Don't possess UAD.

That's OK get AudioThing's ace emulation of it instead - https://www.audiothing.net/effects/outer-space/

[layzer]

actually you can use any plugin for any style

yeah, this is like asking whats the best beer to get drunk.... answer???? - drumroll....... any beer if you drink enough!

[peterdh]

Thanks for the input guys!

Anyone for a realistic emulation of the off-beat Reggae guitar chords? Tried the clavinet sounds of my vst's and kind of like it, but I probably will still prefer an electric guitar emulation. The upstroke and downstroke chords of Rob Papen's RG sound really nice, but I like some variation in my arsenal.

[CircuitTree]

Thanks for the input guys!

Anyone for a realistic emulation of the off-beat Reggae guitar chords? Tried the clavinet sounds of my vst's and kind of like it, but I probably will still prefer an electric guitar emulation. The upstroke and downstroke chords of Rob Papen's RG sound really nice, but I like some variation in my arsenal.

You’re probably better off using guitar samples instead. There’s plenty on splice and you can search for individual genres of samples as well.

[tddwlcx9]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2rXVfK51TM
found tutorials on setting up organ for bubble useful, I use vintage organ by Native instruments as well but this should apply to any decent organ emulation.
I use the Toontrack Reggae EZX for EZdrummer2 which works great
I play guitar so no suggestions but Im sure there are Kontakt instruments out there that will work, Ive never looked

[hugoh]

Hi,
I am producing reggae/dub for 5 years and here are the VSTs I use:

drums: Ezdrummer (+reggae ezx) or samples
skank: Korg M1 for the piano and mostly samples if I want a guitar
bass: ableton preset hip hop sub bass & 4front bass vst or massive
horns: kontakt session horn pro
organ: kontakt vintage organs

I like omnisphere too (mostly for dub) but it is expensive

[NAD]

Don't forget to add a harmonium or melodica. This one is free if you have Kontakt:
https://www.wavesfactory.com/product/freelodica/

[michu]

Thanks for the input guys!

Anyone for a realistic emulation of the off-beat Reggae guitar chords? Tried the clavinet sounds of my vst's and kind of like it, but I probably will still prefer an electric guitar emulation. The upstroke and downstroke chords of Rob Papen's RG sound really nice, but I like some variation in my arsenal.

honestly i think the cheapest and easiest way would be to get yourself some cheapo guitar and record it yourself. raggae 2tones ain't exactly rocket science - with some editing and maybe some playing around with tuning to get more mileage from one finger play you should get results easier than with programming

[peterdh]

...honestly i think the cheapest and easiest way would be to get yourself some cheapo guitar and record it yourself...

No real guitar for me, too difficult. And samples, don't they have the negative "transpose" effect if not every note/chord is sampled separately? Rob Papen RG, which only produces minor and major chords, sounds nice to my ears. I read on the internet that a Fender Stratocaster guitar is often used for the Reggae rhythmic guitar. Is that right?

[Obsolete236871]

Typically, instruments and instrument plugins are not made to suite only one genre of music, but can be used for different musical styles. The rather adequate question would be: which VST / plugin covers the sort of sounds that are typically used in the kind of music I want to make? The same is true for effects!

Dub is obviously heavily delay based, so some plugins / impulse responses that cover classic tape delay and spring reverbs would be adequate.

Reggae - there is the classical Roots Reggae, then you have the kind of more poppy Lovers Rock style. There is Dancehall and Raggamuffin - that's essentially Dance / Bass music that uses the same instruments that Electronic music styles use internationally: synths, drum machines etcetera.

For the classical Reggae Sound you of course need a plugin version of the typical sounds that can be heard: piano, bass guitar, trumpets / horns (brass), electric organ, acoustic drums etcetra. So you should just search for plugins that cover these individual instruments.

A good solution for a start would be .sfz / soundfont samples which you can use with a free sample player VST like Sforzando. There are plenty of free .sfz / soundfonts on the web for the kind of instruments you would need.

Check this thread for links to free sampled sounds (warning: it's huge, focus on finding the kind of instruments that are useful for your genere!):

https://bedroomproducersblog.com/catego ... -shootout/

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