Backbone 1.5 is Steinberg’s latest update to their drum re-synthesizer, marking their foray into integrating artificial intelligence with modern music production.
Backbone 1.5 creates its drum sounds using Sony Computer Science Laboratories’ DrumGAN (“GAN” stands for generative adversarial networks). The same technology can be used to generate photorealistic portraits of people; the humans generated in the photos do not exist outside of GAN.
The neural network in DrumGAN works via machine learning, meaning the networks help enhance the output of AI. DrumGAN’s processing result is a drum pattern unrecognizable to the original pattern on which the AI is trained.
“The ability to generate new samples with DrumGAN for kicks, snare or cymbals, or analyze existing samples and further re-synthesize and reassemble the components, gives producers unprecedented flexibility to design new sounds,” says Steinberg Senior Marketing Manager Florian Haack.
Backbone 1.5 is available through the Steinberg Online Shop for €149 euros. At the time of writing, Backbone is currently 40% off its original pricing until the end of July 2022.
A free upgrade to version 1.5 is available for current Backbone users. Find more information on Steinberg’s website.
