Steinberg Media Technologies has announced a new update for its HALion Symphonic Orchestra VST instrument that provides support for 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, as well as new 'light' programs for customers using 32-bit versions of Windows. HALion Symphonic Orchestra is the latest Steinberg product to be made available in a 64-bit version, coming after the release of Cubase 5 for 64-bit Vista. Cubase 5 and HALion Symphonic Orchestra fully support VST Expressions, a new technology that offers dramatically enhanced handling of large sample libraries. The update is available now at www.steinberg.net.

"Producers and composers using Cubase 5 and HALion Symphonic Orchestra 1.5 together will fully benefit from all the advantages a 64-bit environment has to offer," says Helge Vogt, Steinberg's Marketing Manager for Cubase and HALion. "The huge increases in the amount of addressable memory space in 64-bit systems mean that many more instruments and articulations can now be used simultaneously, freeing up more creative potential. And with the new VST Expression technology in Cubase 5, all those articulations can now be used much more productively and intuitively. This can potentially revolutionize the way that large orchestral libraries like HALion Symphonic Orchestra are used in a creative context," Vogt adds.

The update also includes a new soundbank featuring 'light' versions of each instrument. Specially engineered to use less memory than the full versions, it allows customers running 32-bit systems to employ even more articulations and instruments.

Cubase 5 includes a 90-day trial version of HALion Symphonic Orchestra 16-bit Special Edition, which Cubase 5 owners can upgrade to the full 16-bit version for €99.00 in the Steinberg Online Shop.

Improvements in v1.5:

• HALion Symphonic Orchestra 1.5 is available as a native 64-bit plug-in and should work in any VST 2.4 compatible native 64-bit sequencer, like Cubase 5 or Cubase Studio 5. The dramatically enhanced memory address space gives new possibilities for really large setups and very detailed sampled instruments.
• New HALion Symphonic Light Bank: This bank features one program for each instrument with all articulations available – but reduced RAM requirements.
• New entry available in the file menu: "Save as default Bank" allowing to save the current bank as default bank.
• Improved resampling algorithm quality.
• Preload time settable as global default by clicking on the apply button with Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (OS X) pressed.
• Changes in the disk-streaming engine: under specific circumstances HALion Symphonic Orchestra 1.5 features more reliable play back of disk streamed voices.

Availability

The update to HALion Symphonic Orchestra 1.5 is now available as a download to all registered owners of HALion Symphonic Orchestra, including customers with the 16-bit Special Edition, at the Steinberg website.

Important Note:

• Due to several changes needed for 64-Bit compatibility Projects created with HALion Symphonic Orchestra 1.5 can not be loaded with any prior version (of course you can load projects created with versions before in 1.5).
• For 32-Bit and OSX Users it is recommended to continue using HSO 1.3, except you need compatibility to HSO 1.5 64-Bit version. For example in dual boot configurations with 32/64-Bit Vista you need to install HSO 1.5 on the 32-Bit machine as well to keep compatibility between both.