Steinberg updates The Grand to v3.0.1 and HALion Player to v3.5 (incl. x64) (and releases Compatibility Patches for HSO and GA3 for Mac)

Steinberg has released its final set of compatibility patches and updates for its VST instruments, thus completing its transition to supporting the latest operating systems Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6.

The Grand

The Grand v3.0.1 maintenance update for Windows and Mac OS X includes several minor feature enhancements and ensures that The Grand 3 is fully compatible with Snow Leopard.

New features and enhancements:

• The Grand 3.0.1 is fully compatible with Snow Leopard (Mac) and Windows 7 (PC).
• An additional input MIDI filter was added to the standalone version. The MIDI filter in the display of the standalone version now only selects the MIDI channel which should be used during MIDI playback. This new input filter is located on the preferences dialog box under the MIDI Routing tab, allowing the user to adjust the MIDI channel to receive MIDI events at its input in The Grand 3.
• The MIDI input ports settings in the Preferences dialog box under the MIDI Routing tab now allows the user to select "All MIDI Inputs". This makes it possible, for example, to use a master keyboard controller in combination with an independent MIDI pedal controller unit connected to different MIDI inputs.
• A new MIDI filter setting under the MIDI Routing tab in the Preferences dialog box has been added. Set"Filter 'All Notes Off' Controller" to avoid unwanted"All Notes Off" messages which may be sent from a few keyboards when the last keys are released, making The Grand 3 stop all notes even when the sustain pedal is held down.
• Switching the modulation for Chorus and Flanger to"On" behaved like a "slow fade-in". This has been changed, making it behave more like a switch.

Fixes:

• Possibility of crashes on Windows Vista 64-bit edition and Windows 7 64-bit edition if working with the 32 bit version of The Grand 3 has been fixed.
• ASIO buffer size-dependent latency problem which occurred when using the convolution reverb engine has been fixed. The reverb now works independently of the buffer size, and the dry signal is no longer delayed.
• Issue of unwanted level decrease occurring at times when the sustain pedal was released and quickly depressed again (during activated "Repedaling") has been fixed.
• The sample mapping for the upright piano model has been optimized to create a more homogeneous behavior around F1, F2 and C3.
• Issue that MIDI channel information is set to channel 1 when saving MIDI files from the scratch pad has been fixed. The recorded MIDI channel information remains unaltered.
• Issue fixed regarding recorded and replayed songs with the idea scratch pad (included in the standalone version only) had the audio volume reset to 0 and the room position of the piano was set to the very left by adding filtering of unusual controller data.
• High frequencies could cause problems with the Chorus or Flanger effect. This problem has been fixed.
• Don't prompt for confirmation when quitting The Grand 3 (applies to Mac computers only). The setting was not correctly restored when starting the standalone version on Mac. It can be found under "Preferences"
  "Settings" and will now be set as saved.
• For the Bösendorfer grand model some sample envelopes have been optimized to avoid clicks in rare situations.
• Issue where the folder, which includes the Bösendorfer plug-in presets, is not available on Japanese PCs (applies to PCs only) has been fixed.
• Bug fixed regarding the loading of all samples after turning off the RAMSave Mode.

HALion Player

The HALion Player v3.5 update ensures full compatibility with Snow Leopard and comes with a 64-bit version for Windows 7 including an additional sound bank with 128 sounds, as a little reward for your patience.

Improvements:

• HALion Player 3.5 is available as native 64-bit plug-in and should work in any VST 2.4 compatible native 64-bit sequencer, like Cubase 5. The greatly enhanced memory address space gives new possibilities for really large setups and very detailed sampled instruments.
• New HALion Player 3.5 Factory 5 Content bank with 128 brand new sounds available.
• 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 Player 3.5 features more reliable play back of disk streamed voices.

Known issues:

• Due to several changes needed for 64-Bit compatibility Projects created with HALion Player 3.5 can not be loaded with any prior version (of course you can load projects created with versions before in 3.5).
• Mac OS X Snow Leopard Installation: HALion Player 3.5 will install the plug-in and all necessary files but no Content. To manually install the Content, please follow these steps:
  • Copy the Content HSB files from the Original HAlion Player 3 DVD manually to your HD.
  • Open HAlion Player and locate the Content HSB files in the Options dialog.

HALion Symphonic Orchestra

With the release of version 1.5.0.592 for Mac, HALion Symphonic Orchestra now also runs on Snow Leopard.

Groove Agent 3

Groove Agent 3 users may also download a new installer which makes Groove Agent 3 Snow Leopard compatible.