KVR Audio

bobbybland · Post by **bobbybland** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:33 pm

Any more reviews, other Frank

how's your screencast coming out, keep us posted.. pweeze

djanthonyw · Post by **djanthonyw** » Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:37 pm

I would definitely appreciate a screen cast as well.

Dave Polich · Post by **Dave Polich** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:07 am

I'm Dave Polich and I was part of the sound design team for Halion Sonic.

I won't comment on the sampled sounds since I didn't really work on those. I did
a lot of the synthesizer stuff.

Here's my take on it - Halion Sonic has, to my ears, the best virtual analog
synth engine on the planet. I'd buy it just for the synth section. As far as its
workstation features go - don't ask me, I don't use workstations for music production. Just as sound sources.

I own a DSI Prophet 08, a DSI Mopho, and I was on the programming team for the DSI
Tetra. The closest I've gotten to the sound of my Dave Smith instruments is with
Halion Sonic.

Regarding implementation, how to set it up, CPU usage, or any of that, I'm not
the person to ask. I'm just posting a comment here on how the synth part of HS
sounds, and to my ears it sounds awesome.

I did a lot of "classic synth sounds" for HS, including stuff like The Cars "Let's
Go" sound, the intro sound to Gary Numan's "Cars", "Baba O'Riley", the "Won't get
Fooled Again" organ, the main breakdown sound from Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein",
ELP's "Welcome Back My Friends" bubbling sample&hold sound, the key sounds from
Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon", the lead and comp sounds from "Beverly Hills Cop (Axel F)", the bomb sounds from "You Dropped the Bomb on Me", the bassline sound from Earth Wind and Fire's "Let's Groove", the lead from "Abacab" and a lot more. I always find myself missing these sounds from VA products so this was my chance to provide them. They're not necessarily named according to the song or band they're associated with, due to copyright issues, but they are there.

I have yet to receive my complimentary production copy from Steinberg, so I'm not sure
how the sounds were named in the final version.

lotus2035 · Post by **lotus2035** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 2:34 am

Arrgh pissed off that I missed the deal on Halion player by a couple of days...

bobbybland · Post by **bobbybland** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 2:39 am

Dave Polich, We should all know who you are, your the brains behind alot of great stuff,for es,xs,sample libraries,Ni synth's,etc.. etc..sorry if I missed a bunch,but the list goes on. Glad to see you post here.. I too welcome the arrival of HS,and am eager to hear what you've done, glad to know you we're on this project!

danbroad · Post by **danbroad** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:11 am

Good to hear, Dave.

I'm still holding off, though, as I have all the synthesis I need [although what I want is a different matter... and the synth stuff you mention sounds tasty!]. What I'd like to hear is as others have said - the quality of the acoustic stuff and the integration of the 'auto-accompaniment' style features. If they're as good, then I'm sold.

bobbybland · Post by **bobbybland** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 3:30 pm

So who else here at Kvr has already purchased / installed Halion Sonic? I would think by now,there'd be alot more reviews.. As soon as it's available for me to buy,and once I install, you can trust I'll be posting

Steinberg/Yamaha lets get these packages over here to the states

I can't wait much longer

Caine123 · Post by **Caine123** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 4:36 pm

i tested it for about 30 mins in a shop so i cannot make a good decision, i just checked out some presets and the overview. it is heavily oriented on the native instruments kore player, combined with other newer vst guis!

i already have hypersonic 2 and wusikstation, it was only half an hour but i wouldnt have spend 99 euros for an upgrade now or 250 euros for the version. the sounds sounded sometimes bland and not rich. from what i heard i wasnt really impressed. i dunno... dont take it serious, it was just my first impression, i still think about getting it perhaps but my first impression was, if you have something like Hypersonic or wusikstation save your money and wait for some reviews or test it somewhere, or specialize in something and if you want synthstuff get omnisphere for example, orchestra, garritan and so on.

Muziksculp · Post by **Muziksculp** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 5:11 pm

Caine123 wrote:i tested it for about 30 mins in a shop so i cannot make a good decision, i just checked out some presets and the overview. it is heavily oriented on the native instruments kore player, combined with other newer vst guis!

i already have hypersonic 2 and wusikstation, it was only half an hour but i wouldnt have spend 99 euros for an upgrade now or 250 euros for the version. the sounds sounded sometimes bland and not rich. from what i heard i wasnt really impressed. i dunno... dont take it serious, it was just my first impression, i still think about getting it perhaps but my first impression was, if you have something like Hypersonic or wusikstation save your money and wait for some reviews or test it somewhere, or specialize in something and if you want synthstuff get omnisphere for example, orchestra, garritan and so on.

30 minutes of HS testing/auditioning, and nothing impressed you ? That says a lot, and it also confirms my first impression of HS after hearing their audio demos. It's not a good first impression so far.

bobbybland · Post by **bobbybland** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 5:39 pm

Hey to those who would know ,
The group buy for Halion Sonic that will be happening soon here on Kvr,via jr shop, one question - will HS2 users be able to upgrade + with the group buy? Not sure if that's possible,but I figured I'd ask..

BJ · Post by BJ » Mon Jul 05, 2010 6:28 pm

bobbybland wrote:Hey to those who would know ,
The group buy for Halion Sonic that will be happening soon here on Kvr,via jr shop, one question - will HS2 users be able to upgrade + with the group buy? Not sure if that's possible,but I figured I'd ask..

That would be interesting to know ideed

zvenx · Post by **zvenx** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 7:28 pm

what halion sonic group buy?
rsp

danbroad · Post by **danbroad** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 7:43 pm

Jrr shop, run by Eric [UncleE] on here, are in a position to undercut rivals over in the US and offer good prices all around. If I lived over the pond, I'd be a regular. In fact, if I lived in SoCal, I'd probably live next to the shop....

Anyway, all the reviews and advance words so far seem to dance around the questions we're asking - flexphraser, acoustic instruments, workflow, arranger functions.....

If only Steinberg learned from Spectrasonics or Camel Audio or NI or, well, anyone else about how to piece together an informative advertising campaign.... talk about underselling a £200 instrument.....

bobbybland · Post by **bobbybland** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 7:55 pm

Yeah I noticed this too, I'm not sure if that's just a Steinberg Europe thing,or if it'll be the same once it gets here in the states as well.DON'T BE BASHFUL...SELL THE THING TO US! Dan, Perhaps IK could show'm a thing or two as well..

So yeah FlexPhraser and Acoustic Instruments are a huge

still.. I would think they would've,but who knows.. This is where the Motif shines vs. other workstations remember Steinberg/Yamaha, and yes I know Halion Sonic is supposed to be it's own thing and is, but one can't help ,but draw comparison's when Yamaha sound designers did the sound design.

It's unfortunate already,that Dave P. didn't get his hands on much of the acoustics by what he posted here, I have a few Motif XS libraries he's done, and he would've blessed it..I can only hope he's doing the 3rd party expansions!!

But to TAPE DELAY Dan's comments, yeah let's hear some stuff guys, some more feedback, more reps,more everything.. Let's do this,this is supposed sell time baby!

standalone · Post by **standalone** » Mon Jul 05, 2010 8:26 pm

zvenx wrote:what halion sonic group buy?
rsp

Yeah, I was shocked too. After searching the thread, this is what they mean:

Uncle E wrote:
djanthonyw wrote:So does anyone know if there is a release date for the US yet? I may just wait and get this Halion Sonic thingy...
We're supposed to have it in stock in two weeks. The normal version will be $249 and the Educational Edition will be $129, and they'll both be in the 'Group Buy' section of our site (meaning 15% off with the 'group' coupon ).

So it's a special price at JRR Shop (in the USA).