Get some backbone

Absolute 5 includes Steinberg’s fascinating drum sampler, Backbone. This hard-to-define tool allows up to eight samples to be layered together, with per-layer filters, envelopes and modulation available, much like a conventional sampler. The clever bit is that Backbone can decompose these samples, a process that separates them into noise and tonal elements, which for most drum sounds equates to the transient and sustain portions, respectively. You can then work to rebalance these components within the sound, use one component without the other, or blend together decomposed components of different samples. This all adds up to a tremendously effective way to create utterly original drum sounds; it’s very effective at creating special effects too.

Although intended primarily for creating drum sounds, Backbone is excellent for creating special effects too. What Backbone isn’t though, is a drum machine. So while you could run multiple instances of it, each hosting a different drum sound in order to build up a full Backbone kit, the idea is that you would export your Backbone creations to audio files that could be then used as drum samples. You can also drag a Backbone sound directly to the timeline, or into a plugin that supports it, as Groove Agent and HALion do.