Halion Sonic vs. Kontakt ??

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layzer wrote:
Sampleconstruct wrote:
Googly Smythe wrote:If all you're after is sample libraries, HALion/Sonic is a waste of time. 3rd party libraries are all but non-existent. The "real" sounds in HALion are barely ok. Eg, the only choir (that sounds anywhere near human) is the mellotron one.
I love HALion and use it on every project but when I want "real" instruments I go elsewhere.
Not so true...

Multisampled wahwah trombone in HALion.
https://soundcloud.com/sampleconstruct/ ... xperiments
that may sound like a real trombone, but that is one of the most Gad Awful noises
i've ever heard. I can't imagine using it in any song and expect anyone to like it. :o
LOL, what's so awful about a wahwah trombone :)
I don't expect you to use it in any of your freeware songs so please hate it as much as you like.

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Sampleconstruct wrote:I don't expect you to use it in any of your freeware songs so please hate it as much as you like.
Sampleconstruct? More like Savageconstruct, amirite?

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shidostrife wrote:Great choice!

I suggest to start digging from this page for freebies. 70% of those are Kontakt.

http://bedroomproducersblog.com/categor ... -shootout/
Thanks mate! Will be exploring that and various others known to me.

Really enjoying my choice so far. Even better than expected.
~Cheers!

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BillyBoyKVR wrote:Hi zzz00M... Thanks for suggestion. DLed the ST3 thing a while back. Couldn't even find the free instruments! Was so put off by the intrusive nature of the "Shop" in your face, besides no clear info on where to see/find these "free instruments" -- just deleted the whole thing within hours.

So you figure I missed out, hey? Haha. Well, how much was it with the bump up to full magical instruments anyway?
Sorry to hear you had those issues. They put the download links in your user area in your account for all registered products so when you sign on, you can locate them.

IK recently ran a promotion that if you bought ANY of their iRig hardware products, you would get the full ST3 added to your account. That offer even applied to their iRig Keys Mini ($79.99). :D
Last edited by zzz00m on Fri Jul 28, 2017 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Windows 10 and too many plugins

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BillyBoyKVR wrote:
Then there's the 3rd party instruments! -- Yeah Baby! -- starting right away with Strummed Acoustic 2. Session Horns and Session Strings to follow (OR the beautiful World Suite for UVI; whatever order; we'll see).
FYI, if you go with Kontakt, and think that you may eventually end up with the upgrade to Komplete 11, check out what's currently included in Komplete. Many of those expansion libraries (exception, Strummed Acoustic 2) are included in Komplete, so you will end up paying for them twice. Might want to hold off on the extras until you decide on your long term upgrade path!
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/p ... -products/
Windows 10 and too many plugins

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Honestly even with the newer versions available today and new libraries released by Steinberg, Halion is no match for Kontakt in any way. The sounds that comes with Halion Sonic 3 SE together with Cubase is just as old as the Kontakt free factory library. You have imense posibilities in Kontakt, but a horrible small interface (up to ver. 6) Think they have made it able to scale better in ver 7. Still if your not very technically it isn't likely you'll ever get to make your own sounds in Kontakt. Halion full version is much more user friendly, but if you are comparing the Free versions, Kontakt may have a slight edge over Halion .. not very much tho. If you are looking for good bread and butter sounds, your better off buying a used jv1080/2080/5080 or an Integra. The ver 3 SE with cubase library is only barely on par with what you find in those 20+ year old romplers with a few exceptions here and there. I remember back with Cubase 5.0 It could hardly beat a Roland Super GS model in being just somewhat coherent in all the Sound quality.

Today I would say, if there is any NI Equip you could make use of .. buy it. You get the budget Komplete 13 packet for free, and wait for summer or Black Friday and upgrade it at usually 50% off to any of the Standard or better packets, as many 3'rd party libraries need the full version of Kontakt. Komplete is a really good deal from Standard and up when they have a sale out. I would go for the Standard to enable all 3'rd party libraries and then get a sub on EastWest Sound Cloud. You get access to ALL their libraries in every sub plan and there are many good libraries for all kind of styles, even they are mostly known for their Orchestral stuff. Their Choir libraries is a MUST have imo. With their word builder they are just incredible.
Check out https://youtu.be/C5UUsZRHGIc for demonstration of how EastWest Hollywood choirs sound like when you learn to master phonetics :)

P.S. The fairly newly released Iconica library for Halion is a pretty massive enhancement from the old Strings Library and a fairly good 1st try for a "Pro" Orchestra library from Steinberg .. tho also as always from Steinberg at a premium price tag where you can get some of the best libraries out there at a cheaper price :)

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I own both.

1.Halions UI is a mess, compared to Kontakts workflow. I never find what I am searching or at once.
2.For Kontakt you have by fare more librarys to choose from.
3.Halions factory sounds are................well, sounding not very high qual.
4.Kontakts factory sounds are the same as Halions, not really the best, BUT as mentioned b4, there are countless libs to choos from and there are real diamonds out there.

Only thing that I think sounds better than the on in Kontakt is the timestreching and pitchshift in Halion, IMHO.

Just my oppinion.

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classic wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 5:58 pm I own both.

1.Halions UI is a mess, compared to Kontakts workflow. I never find what I am searching or at once.
2.For Kontakt you have by fare more librarys to choose from.
3.Halions factory sounds are................well, sounding not very high qual.
4.Kontakts factory sounds are the same as Halions, not really the best, BUT as mentioned b4, there are countless libs to choos from and there are real diamonds out there.

Only thing that I think sounds better than the on in Kontakt is the timestreching and pitchshift in Halion, IMHO.

Just my oppinion.
I have both also and I think that it depends on what you want to do with it. That said, if you have neither, then Kontakt is still the obvious first choice for most people and it really doesn't have anything to do with how it sounds or works, rather, it has to do with the availability of libraries.

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necro, only three years? amateur.

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Why barely no mention that HALion Sonic is more of a synth than a sample player? And a pretty capable one at that. imho. Anyways, forget Sonic, get its big brother.

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vurt wrote: Thu Oct 21, 2021 6:59 pm necro, only three years? amateur.
Indeed, the body is still warm.

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Halion (with the Raven and the Eagle) has much better factory pianos than Kontakt. You need to upgrade to Komplete to get somewhat decent pianos for Kontakt. Also from what I've heard on YT, Omnisphere has far better factory sounds than both Kontakt or Halion.
Orion Platinum, Muzys 2

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v1o wrote: Fri Oct 22, 2021 8:38 pm Halion (with the Raven and the Eagle) has much better factory pianos than Kontakt. You need to upgrade to Komplete to get somewhat decent pianos for Kontakt. Also from what I've heard on YT, Omnisphere has far better factory sounds than both Kontakt or Halion.
Except for pianos. Omnisphere needs Keyscape added to it for those. HAL and Omni both have great factory sounds. Wouldn't put one above the other in an over-generalized way. However, I generally feel HAL has a larger range of immediately usable sounds for my needs.

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The Kontakt World library I keep, the others I don't have the space for, never get used. I don't use that stuff at all frequently but it's good stuff.
For the future, Kontakt is not replaceable if one is going to rely on samples for a whole sound, the third party development is another universe to Halion Sonic. I have Sonic 3 but I don't think it's been used in a project (I don't get on with the GUI).

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I recently received Cubase, and with it came Halion Sonic SE.
I like its multi-making screen, where you can set the midi channel, key range, vel range etc.
You can find similar midi page in Korg M1 or in Korg Triton.
Since I have kontakt (from komplete), and other "workstation" plugins,
i don't think halion will remain too much time on my hard disk. Kontakt win the game, and if you have omni or triton , halion sonic se can't give you anything new...
At steinberg website in the webshop you can find the "competitive upgrade": if you have kontakt or omni, they give you the upgrade cheaper.... however, i don't see such thing at native instruments or spectrasonics...for me this clearly means halion has a weaker position. And I like the Kontakt gui better, but kontakt lacks the midi screen i like in halion. Anyway, i think Unify is also better than halion.

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