Steinberg Absolute 7 and Groove Agent 6

[Vagusuk]

I upgraded for £89, so I got a few things (instrument wise) and Amused -Carrier8 presets are great. So it was more about a couple of intstruments I wanted, rather than software update, which wasn't much of an update, to be honest. I can see why a lot of people aren't convenced.

[sellyoursoul]

I had a look at what's included in Absolute 7. It doesn't make good sense to me.

Halion seems like a powerful sampler (and synth), but the sounds I have heard from the factory library aren't anything that I would actually want to use. And there doesn't look to be much in third party content. It might be a good samapler for someone building their own libraries or as a synth with sampling for someone leaning heavily on the synth features, not so much as a collection of sampled instruments. But I guess other sampler's factory libraries aren't all that either. By contrast, Kontakt's factory library isn't anything special. But Kontakt does have a lot of third party content available. But who knows what the future of Kontakt is at this point. It's not looking good. The Halion factory library is all or nothing (like Kontakt).

How I understand it, most of the other included instruments in Absolute don't have scalable UI's (much like Komplete). And quality/usefulness of the other included instruments seems hit and miss (also like Komplete).

No VST effects included.

No demos.

Now that I think about it, big bundles don't make much sense in general. It's always a very mixed bag of some useful stuff, some less so, some junk. Usually with no trials, and it would take forever to trial a big bundle any way. And then having so much stuff, even a lot of the good stuff won't really get used. Having bought a few big bundles, the idea of getting a lot of stuff is better than the reality of it.

[IvyBirds]

I had a look at what's included in Absolute 7. It doesn't make good sense to me.

Halion seems like a powerful sampler (and synth), but the sounds I have heard from the factory library aren't anything that I would actually want to use. And there doesn't look to be much in third party content. It might be a good samapler for someone building their own libraries or as a synth with sampling for someone leaning heavily on the synth features, not so much as a collection of sampled instruments. But I guess other sampler's factory libraries aren't all that either. By contrast, Kontakt's factory library isn't anything special. But Kontakt does have a lot of third party content available. But who knows what the future of Kontakt is at this point. It's not looking good. The Halion factory library is all or nothing (like Kontakt).

How I understand it, most of the other included instruments in Absolute don't have scalable UI's (much like Komplete). And quality/usefulness of the other included instruments seems hit and miss (also like Komplete).

No VST effects included.

No demos.

Now that I think about it, big bundles don't make much sense in general. It's always a very mixed bag of some useful stuff, some less so, some junk. Usually with no trials, and it would take forever to trial a big bundle any way. And then having so much stuff, even a lot of the good stuff won't really get used. Having bought a few big bundles, the idea of getting a lot of stuff is better than the reality of it.

You can get 30 day demos for the major components if Absolute. You just need to download the Steinberg Installer and they are there. They are the full unrestricted instruments and will work for 30 days with no limitations

[Iernesto77]

I followed the route mentioned here and in another thread and managed to get a Cubase LE license. It includes Groove Agent 6 SE, which is a pretty capable plugin, and I can use it in other DAWs since it's a VST3. I like it.

[soulata]

I own Halion but can't say I have been very impressed with the GUI or workflow, even the latest version seems dated with lots of 'windows' to work in and tiny fonts, I guess I just don't like the way they do things (but it sounds great, especially the FM). I also have way too many drum VSTS so no real interest in GA and that seems to be the main new update, I'll stick with Superior Drummer ⁠3 for real drums, I have been very happy with it.

I own Halion as well and completely share your thoughts. I did, however, upgrade to GA6. It's decent now.

[sellyoursoul]

You can get 30 day demos for the major components if Absolute. You just need to download the Steinberg Installer and they are there. They are the full unrestricted instruments and will work for 30 days with no limitations

Good to know! I would think Steinberg would want to include that info on the page for their instruments.

[Igro]

I wish they improved the quality of the Halion envelopes. They are quite slow by today's requirements. You won't get the snappiness of Serum, PhasePlant or Pigments (7) and all the others.

I tested and compared Halion envelopes to Falcon, Kontakt, TAl etc., and many other DAW samplers. They can be exactly the same as within every other sampler. Phase cancel. They have tension curves, so they can be between logarithmic and exponential. Meaning they are as "fast" as any other out there. Not sure what your problem is. I have yet to hear someone complain about that in practical terms.

Though I did notice two Samplers had faster envelopes of all of them, and it was actually to my surprise - MuLab sampler, and BitWig sampler, but that's probably because of the fact that by the nature of MuLab environment itself (all instruments and samplers are pieces of modular parts - sam as Bitwig), it carried envelopes from synths into the sampler. I did notice drums are punchier in their attack phase within some scenarios and shapes. Is that what you are after?

Yes, that's correct. But you will hear it even better when you have the filter Envelope applied to the LowPass filter. Just set the envelope amount to the maximum and crank the filter all the way down. Or just experiment with the values near to that to make fast pluck sounds.

I don't mind all that for pad sounds and anything considered as melow, but not for aggressive sounds.

[mothra]

Good to know! I would think Steinberg would want to include that info on the page for their instruments.

I don't know how they can make it any clearer. Right next to the big red glaring BUY button on every products page is a 'TRY FOR FREE' button.

[sellyoursoul]

I don't know how they can make it any clearer. Right next to the big red glaring BUY button on every products page is a 'TRY FOR FREE' button.

It's not there for all instruments. Halion is one exception. I'm not really interested in Halion, not needing another mid instrument library.