Absolute 6

When we will see an Absolute 6 in which all the plug-ins have been updated to take full advantage of Apple Silicon ?

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Could this show up at NAMM??

My wish is to see Absolute 6 being dongle free!
:crossed_fingers:

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If Absolute 6 is a product SB releases, it will be licensed using the new system, as will all new products. New Steinberg Licensing FAQ | Steinberg

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I’d like to see updates to the very dated instruments. The majority of the instruments are already included with Cubase Pro (Padshop, Retrologue, HALion Soncic, GrooveAgent), albeit the latter 2 with reduced content.

The extra content is so dated (e.g. all the pianos - including the Grand, HSO, Hypnotic Dance) that I tend to use them purely out of convenience for sketching ideas before replacing each instance with better quality instruments. Some of this stuff is over a decade old.

There are lots of new, good quality instruments that Steinberg produce but are not included.

Plus the fact they give no discounts for existing Cubase users where a lot of the content is included. For example, I wouldn’t be surprise if they were to include the Verve in Absolute 6.

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It is looking like there will be a new version of HALion (and therefore HALion Sonic).

Retrologue 2 and Padshop 2 gained Apple Silicon support and Steinberg Licensing support as part of the Cubase 12 release. Groove Agent 5 has just gained Apple Silicon and Steinberg Licensing support. Backbone is on the list to get Steinberg Licensing support and it is certain Apple Silicon support will be added at the same time. That just leaves The Grand 3, which is an older VSTi that might get Steinberg Licensing and Apple Silicon support, or perhaps the content will be moved over to HALion/HALion Sonic.

I think, therefore, that Absolute 6 will be Absolute 5 with HALion 7 / HALion Sonic 4, also some additional content. It is important to remember that quite a bit of the content Steinberg sell is on behalf of third-party developers, meaning Steinberg cannot include that content in Absolute without agreement with the developer to do so.

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Quick google shows that
Feb 2017 - Absolute 3
Jan 2019 - Absolute 4
August 2021 - Absolute 5

Absolute 5 isn’t even a year old, so not sure how they’re going to work this if HALion 7 arrives soon.

In particular the new licensing, and if H7 is the only way of using the new licensing, and H6 remains eLicenser indefinetly.

It’ll be annoying as an Absolute (+Cubendo) owner to wait 18 months to have everything on the new licensing in that instance. Even though GA5 is on the new licensing, I don’t think we can use it as the license is tied to Absolute, not GA.

A new HALion release in 2022 was mentioned in the original Steinberg Licensing announcement. (The link is to the official Dorico blog, and the author of that post is a Steinberg employee). In yesterday’s Cubase Hangout on YouTube, Greg Ondo opened Steinberg Activation Manager on his Mac and there was a HALion 7 licence alongside his Cubase Pro 12 and Nuendo 12 licences.

Absolute 5 always felt like an interim release - more like Absolute 4.5, to be honest. It added Backbone, and some content packs (Future Past Perfect, Amped Elektra, Electric Bass, Polarities and Sounds of Soul). Of these, all but Amped Elektra and Electric Bass were older packs if I remember correctly.

A new HALion release is sufficient to justify a new Absolute release. Absolute 5 users would presumably get a cheaper upgrade than owners of earlier Absolute releases. There is some additional content Steinberg could add to sweeten the deal. Why would Steinberg prevent users of their premium instrument bundle from upgrading to HALion 7 and Steinberg Licensing just to fit in with the release pattern of previous releases?

This is what I’m wondering too, My hope is that H7 was scheduled to be part of Absolute 5 but with the forthcoming licensing it was held back, so those already established packs made up the collection.

So, maybe there’s a slim possibility that H7 gets added to Absolute 5.

I don’t mind paying for an update earlier than the 2 year cycle if H7 brings some nice additions (FM/GUI Refresh). But having to wait for the cycle to complete for a year or more with H7 in the wild would be frustrating.

I just want to know how long it’s going to be before I can use Absolute without a dongle within my dongle free Cubase 12?

Also - anyone know why there is no ‘Absolute’ section for the forum?
Halion is here, but it’s a part of Absolute.

Slowly getting to all Apple Silicon support. We have Backbone and Groove Agent now. :slight_smile:

Backbone just updated to v1.5 … Halion 7 next??

Backbone 1.5 is rather nice - and is a free update for existing Backbone/Absolute 5 owners. Standalone Backbone licences can be moved to Steinberg Licensing, also.

It sounds as if HALion 7 is not imminent, though.