Steinberg Universal Sound Module
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| Type | GM software VSTi synthesizer |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Steinberg |
| Release date | 2000 |
| Standards | General MIDI |
| Parts | 16 [1] |
| Max polyphony | 96 [1] |
| Normal presets | 128 [1] |
| Drum presets | 1 |
Steinberg Universal Sound Module is a General MIDI synthesizer VSTi that was introduced in Cubase VST 5 in 2000. It's a very basic implementation of a General MIDI synthesizer, and is exclusive to Cubase (will not legitimately work in other DAWs)[2].
Universal Sound Module was introduced in Cubase as a General MIDI solution for the DAW, to ensure playback of MIDIs had a consistent sound between Cubase users, because the implementation of General MIDI, regardless of the same type of sounds assigned to program numbers, still varied sound-wise on different modules and sound cards.
It features 70MBs of wave samples, 4 stereo outputs[1], and has only 3 editable front panel parameters (Master Volume, Pitch Bend Range & LFO Speed), and nothing more - program changes and other MIDI messages will have to be sent exclusively over MIDI.
Oddities
- Universal Sound Module responds to very few types of MIDI messsages. It only responds to the following:[1]
- Note On/Off (with Velocity)
- Volume
- Pan
- Pitch Bend (up to 12 semitones)
- Modulation
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cubase VST "Included VST Instruments" Manual, pg. 22
- ↑ "Fourteen new plug‑ins are provided with Cubase 5.0, though sadly Steinberg have followed Emagic by making these compatible only with Cubase. They get installed in a separate 'vstplugins' folder inside the Cubase application folder. If you drag them into your main 'vstplugins' folder and try to use them in another application a 'Sorry, XXX requires Cubase 5.0!' message pops up. " - SoundOnSound Article; Steinberg Cubase VST5.0, September 2000 by Martin Walker