Steinberg Backbone Drum Re-Synthesizer VST Instrument

Steinberg Backbone Drum Re-Synthesizer Plug-In

Product Overview

Steinberg Backbone is a drum sound design plug-in built for creating and transforming single hits like kicks, snares, hi-hats, percussion, and cinematic impacts by layering and reworking samples in a focused workflow. Programs are built from up to eight layers, letting you combine complementary elements (for example, tonal body plus noise texture) into one cohesive, hard-hitting result.

Each layer can be edited across dedicated pages for sample editing, spectral re-synthesis, pitch shaping, filtering, and amp/envelope control—so you can tighten the transient, reshape the tone, and refine the tail without leaving the instrument. When you want deeper reconstruction, Backbone can split samples into tonal and noise components for separate editing and recombination, opening up fast experimentation for modern electronic drums and sound design.

For generating new starting points, Backbone includes DrumGAN controls that can create and analyze drum samples (kick, snare, cymbal) and quickly produce variations—ideal for building unique drum hits from scratch or evolving an existing sample into multiple flavors. When you’ve dialed in the sound, you can drag-and-drop exports directly to your DAW track, system folder, or even back into another layer slot for iterative resampling and further design.

Key Features

• Up To 8-Layer Drum Design: Build programs from up to eight layers, each contributing a specific part of the sound for detailed, mix-ready drum hits.
• Tonal/Noise Decompose Workflow: Split samples into tonal and noise components to edit, rebalance, and recombine elements into entirely new drum textures.
• Spectral Re-Synthesis: Transform samples on a spectral level using the integrated resynthesizer for advanced, modern sound manipulation.
• DrumGAN Generation & Variations: Generate new drum samples and create controlled variations using Kick/Snare/Cymbal shaping plus Variation Depth for fast exploration.
• Two Flexible FX Busses: Route layers to two effect busses (up to four effects per bus) with multiple routing options, including serial and parallel workflows.
• Drag-and-Drop Layer Export: Export a single layer by dragging it to a DAW track, a folder, or another Backbone layer slot for quick resampling and iteration.
• Export Control & Tail Handling: Set export sample rate/bit depth and manage time-based effect tails using threshold, time, or silence-based tail modes.
• Pitch Analysis For Musical Tuning: Analyze a drum sample’s pitch and transfer it to the root key so hits can match the key of your project more reliably.
• Program Export With Samples: Export programs together with their required samples to share, move systems, or archive while keeping file references intact.

Technical Specifications

• Layer Architecture: Programs support up to eight layers.
• Layer Editing Pages: Sample, Resynth, Pitch, Filter, and Amp editing pages.
• Sample Loading: Load mono or stereo samples from disk into layer slots.
• Decompose Function: Splits samples into tonal and noise components for separate editing (not available if Resynth is activated for the sample).
• Effects & Routing: Two effect busses, up to four effects per bus; selectable bus routing including serial and parallel options.
• Export Formats (Rendered Audio): Configurable sample rate, bit depth, mono mixdown option, and tail modes for time-based effects.
• Supported Plug-In Formats: VST3, AU (macOS), AAX.
• Supported Operating Systems: macOS 10.14, 10.15, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; Windows 64-bit (Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11).
• Apple Silicon Support: Intel & Apple silicon natively supported.
• License/Content Management Utilities: Uses Steinberg Activation Manager and Steinberg Library Manager; eLicenser Control Center may be required depending on installation method.