This is one of the first songs I remember hearing on the radio.
After talking to @Narf, I’d like to share what I’ve come up with to reproduce the song.
It wasn’t easy to find out what was actually used on the recording so I made my own guess. Logic’s new stem splitter proved to be a real game changer for hearing what the individual parts play!
I removed the original keyboards in Logic and recorded mine in one take and slightly louder than normal into Logic using GPRelayer:
- It’s pretty probable that David Bryan’s Memorymoog was used for the intro. Since it’s loosely related to the 3-oscillator voice architecture of a Minimoog I used Arturia’s Mini V3 in polyphonic mode for the PWM pad at the beginning.
- The Triton serves to save CPU instead of using individual plugins for the not-so-important parts.
- For the hits I stacked Triton waveforms with a DX7 and a sound from the OB-Xa.
- The verse is a PWM string sound, maybe played on a Juno 6.
- The chorus sounds like a pad (Triton) layered with tweaked bells from the DX7.
Squeezing the sounds in 61 keys wasn’t easy because the played parts overlap in an unfavorable way. So I had to use five variations and scriptlets for chord generation and more. At least the variations advance automatically (if you play the right notes 
) except for the transition between verse/chorus and chorus/verse - I use C#1 for this.
However there’s one question I’ve got: On the reordering there is some percussion instrument jingling right at the beginning. And one right before the drums start. What are they called? I’d like to add them, too.
Here’s the rackspace (Arturia, KORG, Melda AUs). Don’t try to understand what’s going on…
Livin’ On A Prayer (Florian).rackspace (655.7 KB)
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I don’t know about the first part, but the end of that sample sure sounds like something you could get from In Session Audio’s Shimmer Shake Strike 2 Kontakt instrument (kind of like finger cymbals). FWIW, I think it has the most realistic and authentic shaker sounds available in a virtual instrument. For example, when a shaker is triggered, you get the pre-trigger and post-trigger sounds that a shaker would make (starting at 2:48 of the second video).
In Session Audio Shimmer Shake Strike 2
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I was always wondering how to reproduce the talk-box using plugins… 
I use
with MusicLab Guitars.
But to this day I haven’t found a sound that I’m 100% happy with for BonJovi. I usually use samples from different sound providers, e.g. Narfsound.
It seems that the GM Talkbox plugin is a collection of samples, not a Talkbox effect, right?
Yes, I think so, but you can tweak them a little bit. I wouldn’t recommend the talkbox for the price either, I bought it on a sale. Works with Uvi Workstation or Falcon.
There is a Talkbox effect plugin from Antares cold Articulator, but I couldn’t find any demo which shows that it could work for Livin On A Prayer…
Maybe it’s worth a try, they say:
“Articulator is a modern digital version of the classic talk box, made famous on recordings by artists like Peter Frampton, Zapp, and Bon Jovi. Perfect for talking guitars, singing synths, and a wide range of special effects.”
There is a Demo Version.