Soundfingers : 4 Reggae VSTs for Bob Marley, Protoje & Chronixx

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Would you like to produce reggae beats with a vintage sound worthy of coming out of Jamaica? Here is our best selections of Free and Paid Reggae VST Plugins made by Soundfingers : ideal for Bob Marley, Chronixx, Protoje, Jesse Royal, Cali P… and Alborosie type beats

First,where does Reggae come from?

Reggae is a musical genre derived from ska and rocksteady that emerged in the late 1960s in Jamaica as one of its most popular musical expressions. The name of this music comes from the title of a song by Toots and the Maytals called Do the Reggay (1967).

Reggae became world famous in the 1970s in the wake of Bob Marley’s success and established itself as a musical style with its own culture. Addressing themes often related to political and social issues, reggae has earned a reputation as the music of the oppressed. Intimately linked to the Rastafari movement, itself born in Jamaica, reggae is not inseparable from it and is even rejected by some followers of this faith. Having taken on a global dimension, reggae is now played by groups of diverse origins, sung in a wide variety of languages and is composed of different sub-genres. In 2018, UNESCO classified this music as an intangible heritage of humanity.

Reggae was launched in Jamaica at the end of the 1960s in a context of strong competition between small music producers . It is the result of numerous encounters and crossbreeding: The evolution of ska and then rocksteady, it has its roots in the colonial white rhythms and music that slaves were made to play (polka, mazurka, scottish, quadrille, but also military-type music with fifes and drums), the cultural and musical forms of the nineteenth century such as the Kumina, Junkanoo (en) or the Zion Revival, which are reflected in traditional Caribbean music (mento and then calypso), but is also very influenced by Rhythm and blues, jazz and soul music (American music was very fashionable in Jamaica at the time).

To these influences are added those of African music, the Rasta movement and nyabinghi songs, which use drums derived from Afro-Jamaican Buru ceremonies. This crossbreeding will not stop there: nowadays, many styles are inspired, integrate or take back the reggae style all over the world. Reggae is now a universal music, as its main ambassador, Bob Marley, wished.

Reggae Dub : Famous Subgenre

Dub is a derivative of reggae, and has meant “remixing” since 1968. It has its roots in the addition of jazz soloists over pre-recorded beats, such as The Return of Django by Val Bennett & the Upsetters, a 1968 British hit produced by Lee “Scratch” Perry. In the early 1970s, sound engineers King Tubby and Errol Thompson significantly deepened this pioneering genre, skillfully refining and perfecting it.

King Tubby was an important and influential creator, teaching his practices to a number of disciples, including King Jammy, Scientist and Lee “Scratch” Perry. In the late 1980s, dub began to have a significant impact on all popular dance music worldwide , which adopted the remixing principle that had originated in Jamaica.

The work of dub sound engineers consists of remixing the songs on the A side of vinyl singles and releasing them on the B side. The side A being the original piece and the side B the version dub. The style is characterized then by its rhythmic accentuation, heavy and stripped, a bass and a very present drum. The voice disappears most often. Effects like echoes, reverb and other appearances and disappearances of tracks are added.

These instrumental variations allow the toasters (reggae disc jockey) to develop their improvisations in the dance parties of the sound systems. This new practice was also a pioneer. It was exported to New York and was at the origin of American rap. Dub became a style in its own right, and developed throughout the world independently of the reggae from which it originated, to the point that the current dub audience is often unaware of its origin.

1. Le Skank : Reggae Guitar VST(35$ USD)

First, Sounfingers is an audio plugin company specialized for the reggae music genre. On its site, it offers you free and paid plugins of quality virtual reggae instruments and great effects to try only available via Kontakt.

The first audio plugin we present is a great virtual guitar created by Soundfingers with many options.

It will surely be the perfect instrument for the base of your next reggae beat.

Features :

• Filters
• Tape Echo
• Modern Delays
• Reverb
• Special FX
• 1710 chord samples
• 3 Velocity Layers
• Midi Learn
• Automation

Purchase Le Skank Guitar : here

2.BassTone : Reggae Bass VST(29$ USD)

Soundfingers offers a bass guitar ideal for your reggae beats worthy of the 70s.

Features

• Real Tube Amp
• Filters
• Chorus
• Phaser

Purchase BassTone : here

3.Subass : Reggae Sub VST(Free)

What is a reggae without sub ? Well, Soundfingers has understood it well. Download the free reggae sub VST you need.

Features

• Saturation
• 122 wave samples
• Filters
• LFO
• Glide

Download Reggae Sub VST for free : here

4.Reggae FX : Dub Siren VST (Free)

Ideal for live Reggae Dub sessions, Soundfingers offers as 4th audio plugin, an interesting Dub Siren FX VST to try.

Features :

• LFO
• FX
• Delay
• Reverb

Try for free Dub Siren VST : here

Discover all Soundfingers VST collection : here

Bonus : Roots Reggae VST : All in one (120$ USD)

Created by Ueberschall, Roots reggae VST is an all-in-one plugin including 21 kits with guitars, bass, keyboards, drums and more ready to be integrated into your studio workflow.

Features :

• Real recorded drums.
• Deep basslines
• Slammin’ guitars.
• Synths
• Pads and organs
• Real percussion
• Piano and clavinet
• FX and atmospheres

Download Roots Reggae VST : here

Our Audio Plugins for Reggae : Afrokeyz and Afroplugin (Free)

We have created 2 audio plugins VST ideal for reggae beats

Afrokeys VST synth with 40 instrument presets : download here

Afroplugin drum VST with 10 presets : download here