KVR Audio

basslinemaster · Post by **basslinemaster** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 8:54 am

Hi, does anybody here use Halion Sonic 2, or do you know of any reviews of it? I've searched on the internet but can't find any reviews.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 1:44 pm

Yeah, no review either at MusicRadar or SoundOnSound, weird that it didn't reviewed

There is one here, but in german: http://www.bonedo.de/artikel/einzelansi ... -test.html

Any particular aspects about HS2 you want to have illuminated and tested?

BERFAB · Post by **BERFAB** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:10 pm

I believe that ComputerMusic did do a review, but I can't recall which issue ATM.

I'll give you my brief take:

It's Excellent. It's a huge leap from HS 1 and is extraordinarily powerful. By far my favorite plug since getting it.

There is not much that it can't do, and it's chock full of great sampled instruments, presets and effects, suitable for just about any genre. The two most visible changes to this version are the improved effects, and the (8 or so?) included instrument programs: There's a fantastic B3 organ, a beatbox arranger/sequencer, and old school synth (simlar to Retrologue), a pad creator, world percussion instrument, and more.

I use Cubase as my DAW, so integration there is very transparent, but I can't imagine it would be much different with any other DAW. My biggest problem with it is that I no longer use my other plugs as much as I did. HS2 now has my go-to piano ("Mellow Piano"), my go to basses, my go-to B3 ("classic rock 2"), my go to nylon and steel guitar leads, my go to Rhodes ("suitcase"), and a bunch of drum kits and beats.

FX are made very easy, as each instrument patch has an "easy" editor featuring the most popular controls for the most prominent effects in the patch. If you want to dig deeper, you can by just going to another page.

The FX are excellent also. I'm used to going with my favorite outboard 3rd party plugs for delays, reverb, chorus, etc. But the onboard stuff in HS2 is so good that I find that I don't really need anything else.

Easily worth the money, IMHO, and upgradeable to the full Halion 5. I personally don't need another sampler, but HS2 is so good that I've been mulling the upgrade anyway.

Cheers
-B

BERFAB · Post by **BERFAB** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:16 pm

http://www.musicradar.com/us/news/tech/ ... wed-581426

Well, not a review, but a nice overview.

I may have been mistaken about the CM review. I'll keep looking.

Cheers
-B

UltimateOutsider · Post by **UltimateOutsider** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 2:24 pm

There is at least one video review:

EDIT: OOPS, sorry, that review's for the previous version! I'd recommend a look at the Halion-related videos on Steinberg's channel:

And there are a number of tutorials and demos on YouTube as well. No idea why it isn't talked about more. My own purely unsubstantiated theory is that people who don't use Cubase aren't generally as familiar with Steinberg instruments as Cubase users are, even though the ones sold as standalone instruments work with any VST-compatible DAW. And people who DO own Cubase already have the "lite" version of Halion Sonic, so don't maybe consider a fuller-featured "pro" version of it that big a deal.

It's definitely on my "to buy" list, though. The lite version included with Cubase 7.5 has a lot of fantastic sounds, and the full version is just more of everything, plus a number of instruments and tools.

I'm actually planning to get the Absolute VST Collection, as that includes full HS2 now.

Numanoid · Post by **Numanoid** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 3:17 pm

To me the content is too much all-round

I was tempted to buy it during the Vday sale because of Voltage and the other synths included.

But then there is also Haliotron, World Instruments, World Percussion Module, and Model C. Stuff that I would hardly use, for me that is mostly bloat-ware.

BERFAB · Post by **BERFAB** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:17 pm

OK, I realize my mistake.

http://www.musicradar.com/us/reviews/te ... n-5-584735

Halion 5 was reviewed in CM 196 (Autumn issue). Halion Sonic 2 is included in Halion 5 (other than the sampling capabilities, the content is virtually identical). So you can go there to check out that review if you like.

Cheers
-B

basslinemaster · Post by **basslinemaster** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:34 pm

Thanks for all your replies, most appreciated. I use Hypersonic 2 a lot, and really wanted to know what the synth in Halion Sonic 2 was like - I downloaded the manual from the Steinberg site, and from a brief look saw that it can use the normal 'synth' waveforms, sawtooth, square and sine, but can it use the included samples from Halion Sonic 2 as well?
I am after a Hypersonic 2 replacement - an all in one workstation type VST, so that's what I really wanted to know about Halion Sonic 2. Isn't it odd that it hasn't been reviewed by Sound on Sound, or have they reviewed Halion 5?

Thanks for the link to the MusicRadar page, this Youtube video tells me that it's very much like Hypersonic 2:

From 3:20 onwards - "programs are combinations of up to four layers, Halion Sonic provides five different layer types, you can choose between synth, sample, instrument, drums, and sliced loop layers." That's exactly what I was hoping for.

I wonder if anybody has brought out, or ever will bring out, soundbanks for it?

aMUSEd · Post by **aMUSEd** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:47 pm

The synth part is nothing like the synth in Hypersonic, more of a basic VA really, rather than the sophisticated hybrid VA/wavetable synth that powered Hypersonic. On the other hand Halionsonic does have a granular engine that Hypersonic didn't have, although you can't really get into the guts of it without upgrading to the full Halion (but then it's more of a Rompler whereas Halion is a fully fledghed sampler/synth).

quantum7 · Post by **quantum7** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 4:58 pm

I wonder if I can sell my copy of HS2? I like it, but I have soooo many libraries and soft-synths already that HS2 has nothing new to offer me. It was kind of an impulse buy.

basslinemaster · Post by **basslinemaster** » Tue Apr 22, 2014 5:02 pm

aMUSEd wrote:The synth part is nothing like the synth in Hypersonic, more of a basic VA really, rather than the sophisticated hybrid VA/wavetable synth that powered Hypersonic. On the other hand Halionsonic does have a granular engine that Hypersonic didn't have, although you can't really get into the guts of it without upgrading to the full Halion (but then it's more of a Rompler whereas Halion is a fully fledghed sampler/synth).

Oh, I thought that might be the case, judging from what I read in the manual. Hypersonic 2 has a very sophisticated synth.

charrinho · Post by **charrinho** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 4:54 pm

Hello,
I'm searching more HS2 sounds. ( timpanis, reverse cymbals... )
Could someone tell me on what site it is possible to find shared user presets ?
thanks by advance for your help.

Touch The Universe · Post by **Touch The Universe** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 5:46 pm

If you want hypersonic sound, go for air instruments vsti's. They created the hypersonic. Halion Sonic is good, but not a hypersonic replacement-- soundwise. I did the same thing, hoping it was an enhanced Hypersonic 2, but it was not. It is still good though.
Xpand2 has that hypersonic sound but without the editability. Haven't tried the other ones too much yet, but check out the videos of their other stuff and you should hear 'that sound'. Try hybrid 3 demo, etc...

lotus2035 · Post by **lotus2035** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:50 pm

Personally, I think that the GUI for both Halion Sonic 2/Halion 5 are fantastic. But to be honest, the included libraries sounded quite thin IMO.
A couple of the expansions were better quality soundwise, such as Hypnotic dance and triebwerk and they proved that Halion Sonic 2/Halion 5 can sound great if enough work is put into the patches. But the majority of sounds don't have the presence of say stuff from Omnisphere.
In the end I sold my license for Halion Sonic 2/Halion 5 because, as a Cubase user, I found that most of the sounds I was using, with the exception of a couple of patches, were also included in the cut-down Cubase version of Halion Sonic. There is less tweak-ability but I can live without that in terms of what I was doing with the sounds. I do miss the GUI of both though.

lotus2035 · Post by **lotus2035** » Fri Aug 21, 2015 6:57 pm

Tjgoa wrote:If you want hypersonic sound, go for air instruments vsti's. They created the hypersonic. Halion Sonic is good, but not a hypersonic replacement-- soundwise. I did the same thing, hoping it was an enhanced Hypersonic 2, but it was not. It is still good though.
Xpand2 has that hypersonic sound but without the editability. Haven't tried the other ones too much yet, but check out the videos of their other stuff and you should hear 'that sound'. Try hybrid 3 demo, etc...

I have the AIR expansion pack, the sounds in Structure are very nice but the included library is disappointingly small. I couldn't believe it when I clicked through the presets, "That's it?"

Any reviews of Halion Sonic 2?