Ursa Major

Also known as: Ursa Major Inc, Ursa Major Audio

Unclaimed

4 Products · Used by 20 Artists

Ursa Major Space Station SST-282 Effects Processors

4.5 (3)

19 artists using

Ursa Major SST-206 Effects Processors

$3,960.29

1 available store

Ursa Major Stargate 323 Effects Processors

5.0 (2)

1 artist using

Ursa Major Stargate 626 Effects Processors

Ursa Major was a Massachusetts-based digital audio company founded by Christopher Moore in 1977 to produce affordable studio reverberation hardware. The company's debut product, the SST-282 Space Station, launched in 1978 and was among the earliest digital reverbs to reach the market after the EMT 250 and Quad Eight CPR-16. Rather than implementing reverb mathematically the way later units would, the SST-282 used a single delay line with multiple summed and dithered taps to synthesize a stereo reverberation effect from a mono input, achieving decay times up to roughly 3.5 seconds.

The SST-282 became a widely-used effect on guitars and vocals throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, prized for its distinctive shimmering character and looser, more diffuse tail than its competitors. Moore followed it in 1984 with the Stargate 323, which extended the same multi-tap topology with a longer delay buffer for more conventional room and hall reverbs. A smaller MSP-126 multi-effects unit and the rare 8x32 digital reverb were also released under the Ursa Major name.

AKG Acoustics acquired Ursa Major in 1986, after which the original product line was discontinued. The hardware has remained sought-after on the used market, and the algorithms have been revived in software and reissue form — including Eventide's UltraReverb-derived Space Station plugin, Audiority's Space Station UM282, and Greybox Audio's SG-323 emulation of the Stargate.

Ursa Major has 4 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Effects Processors. Their gear is featured by 20 artists, with the strongest followings in Electronic, Rock, and Pop. Notable users include Robert Fripp, Adrian Utley, and James Murphy.