What's the deal with Halion Sonic SE

[Calcobrena]

Does Halion Sonic SE have no instrument content, or does it contain instruments that the full version of Halion Sonic DOESN'T include?

I've read conflicting explanations, which the last person in this thread claiming that Yamaha Motif sounds are found in Halion Sonic SE.

https://www.steinberg.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=127062

"The full version of Halion Sonic doesn't actually come with the Halion Sonic SE sounds, but yes."

if I buy Halion Sonic, can I get access to those General Midi sounds, or do I need to have Cubase?

https://soundcloud.com/steinbergmedia/s ... ound-demos

Do none of these sounds come with the full version?

[Examigan]

I just looked and I found Chirp Runner and Plastic Belt in the full version (HALion Sonic 3), but I didn't check for all those other HALion Sonic SE examples from Soundcloud.

[Romantique Tp]

All Halion Sonic SE content is exclusive to Cubase users, except for the General MIDI sound set which is also included with Halion Sonic and Halion.

The sample library is mostly completely different, except for a few presets that use cut down versions of samples from the full version (usually one velocity layer and no articulations), but even these presets are programmed completely differently.

The presets in that SoundCloud link are from the Halion Sonic SE "Trip" library. This is a simplified/cut down version of the Halion Sonic synth engine. Again these presets are Cubase-only.

If you own Cubase, the HS SE presets will also show up in the full Halion Sonic. Each Cubase tier adds more content.

It's the Halion Sonic SE that can be downloaded for free by anyone that doesn't come with factory content. This one is meant to be a free "player" for libraries made by the users and Steinberg.

[Calcobrena]

All Halion Sonic SE content is exclusive to Cubase users, except for the General MIDI sound set which is also included with Halion Sonic and Halion.

The sample library is mostly completely different, except for a few presets that use cut down versions of samples from the full version (usually one velocity layer and no articulations), but even these presets are programmed completely differently.

The presets in that SoundCloud link are from the Halion Sonic SE "Trip" library. This is a simplified/cut down version of the Halion Sonic synth engine. Again these presets are Cubase-only.

If you own Cubase, the HS SE presets will also show up in the full Halion Sonic. Each Cubase tier adds more content.

It's the Halion Sonic SE that can be downloaded for free by anyone that doesn't come with factory content. This one is meant to be a free "player" for libraries made by the users and Steinberg.

That's a bit of a pity, I liked the sound of the Synbreeze patch, but ah well.

Thank you for clarifying this, it makes a lot more sense now.

[felis]

I think that like most everything else from Steinberg, there are a couple of versions of SE.

I have several versions of Cubase. The least expensive version 'Elements', contains SE.
There is also a version of Cubase called 'AI' that is distributed with a lot of products.
I'm not sure if AI includes SE, but I think it does.
I'm biased towards Cubase, but IMO, the $99 version of
Elements (often on sale) that includes SE (with the content that includes the Trip synthesizer,)
is the best bargain available in software.

The free SE: https://www.steinberg.net/en/landing_pa ... _free.html
is as Romantique Tp says.
Several companies have 'players' that let you load and use content that was
created by and for more expensive versions. NI's Reaktor player, Kontakt player, and AAS's player are ones I know of that are similar.

From the Steinberg SE page: "....The streamlined VST workstation lets you load and play a plethora of sound content: the SE libraries shipping with Steinberg’s digital audio workstations, VST Sound Instrument Sets for HALion and the custom user libraries created within the HALion 6 sampler and sound creation system.

HALion Sonic SE 3 is available for free as a plug-in for any VST3, VST2, AU and AAX compatible host and as a stand-alone application for macOS and Windows...."

Here's a couple screenshots of SE content - one with Synbreeze from Trip and one with some pads from Basic SE - both within the entry level Elements version of Cubase: