Steinberg HALion 6 & HALion Sonic 3

[Echoes in the Attic]

So what is it that you can do with HALion (+Cubase) that you can't do with Kontakt, sound/feature wise?

Does Kontakt have a VA engine, and granular synthesis?

Can Kontakt re-synthesize/wavetable-ize samples and create/use wavetable?

For that matter.... Does Kontakt have an organ oscilator? Does Kontakt have a drag and drop customization macro interface? Can Kontakt sample incoming audio? Does Kontakt come as VST3 with note expression? etc. etc. etc.

On the other hand, is Halion used as the platform for all the best sampled instruments? Nope. So there's a place for both I think.

[Echoes in the Attic]

In what reality could one company make you forfeit the license of another company? This is in no way remotely possible and no company would ever ask that of someone.

I am thinking about the offers like used to be back in the day:

"Trade in your old computer, and get our new model for $100 off"

Yeah software works a little differently. No trade ins to other companies.

[TMW]

Is it that HALion is geared towards sound design and synthesis and Sonic is more of a rompler/sample player?

Pretty much, at least the way I look at it.

Thanks wagtunes.
I'm looking at HALion, Falcon or Zebra 2 to replace a digital synth rompler (XP-30), but I'm starting to think HALion Sonic 3 + Zebra 2 may be a good option (I don't really want to buy into the Kontakt platform, as great as it seems to be).

[EvilDragon]

as DAW users do not wish to deal with the specific annoyances of Windows 10 such as forced reboots, forced configs, forced drivers, as well as the audio specific performance hits that Windows 10 brings.

I have none of that. Forced reboots are not a thing with W10 Pro (set to Defer updates and you don't get every "patch Tuesday" update, you can update whenever you want). Forced configs? Spybot Anti-Beacon if you will. Forced drivers? There's an option to disable that. Performance hits? I see none with Reaper. In fact W10 over here performs better than W7 ever did. So I'm happy.

[wickfut]

Here's what's installed over the regular Halion 5.

[fmr]

OK, some issues that I am finding strange:

1. HALIon 6 completely deletes HALion 5 license. In consequence, although I kept HALion 5 32-bit, I cannot use it, because it says that there is no license. This is new. In all other upgrades, the new license was valid for the older versions. I don't know if this is intentional or a bug in the license, but I will fill a ticket about this.

2. I am experiencing some issues loading the special macro libraries that came with HALION. Everything loads fine in HALIon Sonic, and when I select one fo the special instruments (clicking in the button rhat says "All Instrument Sets" appears a window with miniatures of each of the special instruments) - many don't show any preset in HALion.

What's even more strange. Studio Strings wasn't showing anything in HALIon, then I tried in HALion Sonic and it worked, then I returned to HALion and it worked this time. The same thing happened with Skylab. However, Anima, that worked the first time, now doesn't show any patch. Eagle and Raven (the two pianos) work fine in Sonic but don't show any preste in HALion. The same applies to Voltage, Trium, Model C, the World Instruments and World Percussion, B-Box, Auron and Trip. All of these work fine in Sonic.

I will fill a ticket for this issue too, but I'm afraid that, once I say that I am running it in Windows 7, they will answer that HALion is not supported (of course, I don't believe that has anything to do with this issue).

[Numanoid]

1. HALIon 6 completely deletes HALion 5 license. In consequence, although I kept HALion 5 32-bit, I cannot use it, because it says that there is no license. This is new. In all other upgrades, the new license was valid for the older versions. I don't know if this is intentional or a bug in the license, but I will fill a ticket about this.

Do you use the soft eLicenser or the dongle ?

[wagtunes]

OK, some issues that I am finding strange:

1. HALIon 6 completely deletes HALion 5 license. In consequence, although I kept HALion 5 32-bit, I cannot use it, because it says that there is no license. This is new. In all other upgrades, the new license was valid for the older versions. I don't know if this is intentional or a bug in the license, but I will fill a ticket about this.

2. I am experiencing some issues loading the special macro libraries that came with HALION. Everything loads fine in HALIon Sonic, and when I select one fo the special instruments (clicking in the button rhat says "All Instrument Sets" appears a window with miniatures of each of the special instruments) - many don't show any preset in HALion.

What's even more strange. Studio Strings wasn't showing anything in HALIon, then I tried in HALion Sonic and it worked, then I returned to HALion and it worked this time. The same thing happened with Skylab. However, Anima, that worked the first time, now doesn't show any patch. Eagle and Raven (the two pianos) work fine in Sonic but don't show any preste in HALion. The same applies to Voltage, Trium, Model C, the World Instruments and World Percussion, B-Box, Auron and Trip. All of these work fine in Sonic.

I will fill a ticket for this issue too, but I'm afraid that, once I say that I am running it in Windows 7, they will answer that HALion is not supported (of course, I don't believe that has anything to do with this issue).

Maybe this is the reason Windows 7 isn't supported. It hasn't been tested. There's no telling what bugs there are going to be. And yes, they're going to turn around and tell you that Windows 7 isn't supported and until they make their decision as to whether or not they'll ultimately test Windows 7 (Decision coming in a couple of days) they're going to tell you that you're SOL.

And this is why I'm NOT buying HALion 6 until that page officially says Windows 7 on it.

[Numanoid]

Maybe this is the reason Windows 7 isn't supported. It hasn't been tested. There's no telling what bugs there are going to be.

Yeah, better safe than sorry, test out the demo if possible on Win 7, before committing.

[aMUSEd]

1. HALIon 6 completely deletes HALion 5 license. In consequence, although I kept HALion 5 32-bit, I cannot use it, because it says that there is no license. This is new. In all other upgrades, the new license was valid for the older versions. I don't know if this is intentional or a bug in the license, but I will fill a ticket about this.

Do you use the soft eLicenser or the dongle ?

I hope it still supports Hypersonic 2

[BBFG#]

as DAW users do not wish to deal with the specific annoyances of Windows 10 such as forced reboots, forced configs, forced drivers, as well as the audio specific performance hits that Windows 10 brings.

I have none of that. Forced reboots are not a thing with W10 Pro (set to Defer updates and you don't get every "patch Tuesday" update, you can update whenever you want). Forced configs? Spybot Anti-Beacon if you will. Forced drivers? There's an option to disable that. Performance hits? I see none with Reaper. In fact W10 over here performs better than W7 ever did. So I'm happy.

I've set these this way also, but Windows does occasionally resets them all on its own for its own purpose. Still haven't figured out how it does that.

As far as it being better than 7? It's mostly a toss up and trade off for me.
I have both 7 & 10 and find that once I weigh the total system for my use, find them fairly equal. Ten would be nicer IMO if I could completely uninstall certain 'required' apps (e.g. 'Store') And I would be quite okay to move completely to 10 if Korg & Roland would update their drivers to include my hardware from them. (Radias & V-SynthGT). Not really major thing for them to do and anyone with common sense can see them not doing it as arbitrary and manipulative.

Bought the update, now trying to figure out to keep it working on the particular system I'm using that day. Looks like I'll be forced to upgrade 7 to 8 (without going to 8.1, which Korg & Roland also refuses to write drivers for).

But bottom line, there are quite a few reasons some of us are forced to stay Win 7.

[chk071]

Maybe this is the reason Windows 7 isn't supported. It hasn't been tested.

Well, of course. The reason why a OS isn't supported is because... they're not supporting it. Doesn't mean that the software will necessarily not work with it.

BTW, regarding the stats posted earlier in this thread, last thing i saw on Netmarketshare and Statista is that Windows 10 has overtaken Windows 7. The figures i saw are like 37 % market share for 10, and 35 % market share for 7. And as EvilDragon mentioned, Windows 7 is running out as an OS. It was released in 2009, and the enhanced support will be running out in 2020 (basic support, which means feature enhancement, and stuff like that, already ran out in 2015). You know, i do get that people are still using it, but, it won't get any younger... Steinberg will surely know what they do, when they're not supporting it anymore with their software plugins. I'd be damned if they don't have an ear on their customers.

And, if you're interested in my opinion, i consider Windows 10 better in any regard, ESPECIALLY regarding performance.

[trusampler]

I mismanaged to upgrade wrongly, so now I wait on Steinberg support! ;( I picked the wrong one, I was supposed to upgrade Absolute 1 to 2,but I chose the halion 6 upgrade. Ouch now I have to wait! Dont do what I did.

Lets hear some opinions on the patches in the meantime!!

[wagtunes]

Maybe this is the reason Windows 7 isn't supported. It hasn't been tested.

Well, of course. The reason why a OS isn't supported is because... they're not supporting it. Doesn't mean that the software will necessarily not work with it.

BTW, regarding the stats posted earlier in this thread, last thing i saw on Netmarketshare and Statista is that Windows 10 has overtaken Windows 7. The figures i saw are like 37 % market share for 10, and 35 % market share for 7. And as EvilDragon mentioned, Windows 7 is running out as an OS. It was released in 2009, and the enhanced support will be running out in 2020 (basic support, which means feature enhancement, and stuff like that, already ran out in 2015). You know, i do get that people are still using it, but, it won't get any younger... Steinberg will surely know what they do, when they're not supporting it anymore with their software plugins. I'd be damned if they don't have an ear on their customers.

And, if you're interested in my opinion, i consider Windows 10 better in any regard, ESPECIALLY regarding performance.

All the above may very well be true. I wouldn't know either way.

But here is what I do know with 100% certainty.

Not supporting Windows 7, they're going to lose sales. How many? No clue. But they will lose sales. There are enough people, like me, still using Windows 7 who will not buy HALion 6. And I was all ready to.

Trust me. I am not alone.

Stupid move for an OS that's still going to be around for 3 more years, especially since their very own product JUST released (Cubase 9) works on Windows 7.

The illogical decision on their part totally boggles my mind.

[chk071]

Dunno. They surely will have considered it, the one or the other way.