Sidroe


Marley used a lot of Hammond organ !

Yep - some great and unmistakable Hammond, "No Woman no Cry" for example. However the days when I was into Reggae pre-date Marley's international fame and transistor organs like the Farifisa were more common.
 
 

Tripecac


What soft synth (and perhaps kit) would you recommend for getting those nice snare rim shots, timbale, etc.?

Well - I see you have also posted on the NI forums and got zero replies.  You ask there about Komplete.
 

• I reckon a combination of 60's Drummer for the main kit and Battery for the percussion will be as good as it gets. However I concur with Bitflipper that Wavesfactory's Tea Towel Drums would fit well. (IIRC they are a Kiwi company)
• Vintage Organs Farfisia Vox Continental or one of the Hammonds depending on the era of Reggae you are after.
• Vintage Keys for Rhodes and Clavenett.
• Scarbee Pre Bass is not in Komplete, but the MM bass would be serviceable.

 
Guitars - I am not sure. Orange Tree Evolution has Reggae presets, but if you don't have it try the mute guitar patches from TTS-1 and put them through Guitar rig.

Perhaps the best Farfisa emulation around, and it's  FREE: 
http://www.martinic.com/combof/downloads/

Reggae was very big in England (with a certain crowd) when I lived there 1969-1972. Vox Continentals were what I saw most. But the fellow who wrote the Farfisa referenced above also made us a killer Continental too.
http://www.martinic.com/combov/

bitflipper

Reggae was very big in England (with a certain crowd) when I lived there 1969-1972. Vox Continentals were what I saw most. 

I stand corrected- Vox Continental was the classic Reggae/Rock Steady Organ. The organ was a important part of the rhythm section on a lot of that early stuff.
 
 
 
 

Glyn,

I didn't know about the Orange Tree productions. Had a listen at the demos and they sound really good. Thinking of getting at the least the guitars....
thank you
joni

djoni


Glyn,

I didn't know about the Orange Tree productions. Had a listen at the demos and they sound really good. Thinking of getting at the least the guitars....
thank you
joni

Yes - they are excellent, but remember, the full version of Kontakt is required.

Glyn Barnes

Hi, yes I know.

I have had Kontakt 5 for sometime and tomorrow the new Komplete Ultimate 9 arrives at my door.

I am getting the Orange Tree stuff tonight.

Thanks,

joni

djoni


Glyn,

I didn't know about the Orange Tree productions. Had a listen at the demos and they sound really good. Thinking of getting at the least the guitars....
thank you
joni

Yes - they are excellent, but remember, the full version of Kontakt is required.

I'm having a very hard time trying to get my instruments to match that classic reggae sound. No matter what I do, they always end up sound either like hard-rock or new age. So either my instruments are limited (which I doubt), or my patch selection or effects tweaking ability is limited (more likely).

Here's a well known reggae song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8GCc8OhTz8 -- I chose it because it has a short intro, is relatively spacious and slow (good as an example), and has the standard organ/guitar interplay. You can't hear the bass very well, though.

Another well-known example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3UqvWk8-uw -- you can hear the bass clearly, but I think more instruments are playing in unison than is typical.

What Komplete or Sonar patches would you use to match the main rhythm section: guitar, bass, organ, guitar? What effects would you use?

I'd love to hear (or watch) some examples of soft synths being used to match those sounds!

The reverb is a huge part of that Bob Marley sound. It's beautiful. 

For drums, I tried the Abbey Road 60s kits (with Komplete). The early 60s kit doesn't seem to have a heavy enough kick drum. The late 60s kit has a nicer kick.

However, the kit as a whole seems to have too much reverb or something; it sounds too much like a real drum set rather than a drum set on a record or CD. I know that sounds like a strange complaint (similar to people's complaint about 48 fps in the Hobbit movie), but the "realism" of the Abbey Road late 60s kit makes it sound different from traditional reggae.

I tried compression, but it didn't make it sound closer to the record.

So then I tried sending the kit through Guitar Rig (Komplete's amp simulator). I went through dozens of effect templates, mostly at random, but didn't find anything that sounded right.

So I'm a bit at a loss...

Is the Abbey Road 60s kit not a good starting place? I tried Studio Drummer (another Komplete kit), but that didn't sound right either.

Any tips on how to at least get the drums sounding consistent with that 70s Marley sound?