I currently have the trial version of HSO 16 bit Symphonic Edition (from Cubase 5) and the HSO VST Sound Instrument Set (from Cubase 6) on my eLicenser respectively. I want to upgrade however, I’m not sure which version to upgrade to.
Both are around the same price but am I right in believing that if I bought the HSO 16 bit version, I would still be entitled to the free upgrade to use the HSO VST Sound Set in Halion Sonic SE?
YEP! and very nice it is too! 
was having a mess with it earlier… i’m liking the HSE engine… it does sound NICE!!!
When i ordered my copy of C6 online last week i was sent two emails… one for the C6 purchase and one for the HSO upgrade… basically they sent the same email again that they sent originally last year when i purchased the 16Bit se version… confused me a bit at first cos i thought i’d been charged another 90 quid again or whatever it was…
it all integrates very well into the HSE engine too… pretty impressed with what i’ve seen and heard of it so far…
They are both exactly the same thing. It’s actually even easier to answer now, you can only buy one option since the release of Cubase 6. From within Cubase 6, Help menu, Unlock Trial Versions, “Buy HSO VST Sound Instrument Set online”.
Well thats what I thought, but the link to “Buy HSO 16-Bit Symphonic Version” is still there.
Plus having both trial versions, the 16 bit version from C5 is 11GB while the VST Sound Set from C6 is only 2.18 GB…
I guess that makes sense … non-upgraders should have the option too! In our case, we get to use both versions with the same license!
My C6 version is 6.17GB … in the folder “VST Sound - HSO”
Ahh yes sorry my version is also 6.17GB, guess I’ll buy the C6 version but I wonder what was cut as 11GB - 6.17GB = alot of GB lost!
I think it’s possibly not a good idea to judge the quality of a sample library by size! Perhaps the new HSB format uses lossless compression? It certainly loads faster than HSO.
From Cubase 6 FAQ by Chris Bauermann:
“I bought the HALion Symphonic Orchestra 16-bit Special Edition included with Cubase 5. How does the deal with the new HALion Symphonic Orchestra VST Sound Instrument Set work?
If you bought the HALion Symphonic Orchestra 16-bit Special Edition included with Cubase 5 you can simply install the new HALion Symphonic Orchestra VST Sound Instrument Set and you are ready to go!
As the new HALion Symphonic Orchestra VST Sound Instrument Set uses the same license as the old HALion Symphonic Orchestra 16-bit Special Edition, you don’t need to activate anything.”
That is answering the initial question by Daniel, or am I missing something?
Does that mean I can remove 11GB of content (HALion Symphonic Orchestra 16-bit Special Edition) from my hd after installing the new HALion Symphonic Orchestra VST Sound Instrument Set?
Does that mean I can remove 11GB of content (HALion Symphonic Orchestra 16-bit Special Edition) from my hd after installing the new HALion Symphonic Orchestra VST Sound Instrument Set?[/quote]
Why not keep both? if you are using the 32Bit version under a 64Bit OS then you have the option to rewire the standalone version… of course if you’re all 64Bit then this is not an issue… kinda nice to have the best of both worlds though IMHO.
Good point! I think I’ll be all 64bit, but I’ll guess I have to think that through before removing anything. Thanks!
Why would one want to keep 2 versions of the same content? I don’t understand.
so is it safe to remove the old 11gb content once the new one arrives, and will older hso projects open with the new one?
Like i said IF he is using 32Bit cubase under a 64bit OS as many people do then he has the advantage of being able to rewire HSO rather than use up the RAM available in cubase… makes a LOT of sense… under a completely 64Bit system though, unless there is a difference in functionality/sounds etc then yes there would be nothing to gain.
ok I think I get it, so it’s impossible to rewire the new version. I use both 32 and 64 and I’ll be deleting the old one but I see the point now, thanks.
yes… the new version is just a set of sounds that run inside the new HSE synth so it has to be run inside cubase as a plugin.
ahhhhhhh NOW I get it. so that’s why it’s just called a sound set now… thanks for the clarification.
I purchased the HSOrchestra 16-bit upgrade with Cubase 5. Now when I install the new HSO VST set, the VSTi graphic is the old Halion Player-type graphic, rather than the Halion Sonic SE graphic. Is this what other people are seeing?
Steve
yes that’s correct… from the quick look i had at it, it seems simpler for articulations and there seem to be one or two additional options in there also… had a quick listen to a few sounds yesterday and it sounded great!
I don’t see an answer to this part of Samicide’s question… I have a number of pieces using the old VSTi, will the new HSE map the same way with that newer soundset? Or are the samples configured some other way in the sound set?
I do like the re-wire option, trouble is most of my orchestral stuff was done in C5-64.
Not quite sure I fully understand the new HSE application of HSO! 
That’s your original HSO VSTi. The new soundset is not a seperate or updated VSTi … it’s an additional set of sounds (content) for HALion Sonic SE, which was created from the original HSO VSTi content. Use them via Synths/HALion Sonic SE and load them as progams into one or more of the 16 slots.
Assuming you didn’t uninstall your existing HSO, then the project will open exactly as before in Cubase 6; it will load the original HSO VSTi in exactly the same way … no change.
What has changed is that you now have the option of loading HALion Sonic SE, loading the updated HSO content into one or more of the 16 slots, and enjoying the better GUI. You’d have to manually change your MIDI tracks to point to the equivalent instrument in HSSE, then you could unload the HSO VSTi and save the old project under a new name.
HSO cannot load the updated content, and HSSE cannot load the original HSO content. They are seperate sets of files on your harddisk.