Any Halion 7 rumours?

This was in the german thread some time ago.

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Halion sounds are so outdated compared to other software out there. 2011 I believe is when it came out. Yamaha had so many Motiff sounds they could release to compete with Kontakt and other third party software. But it’s like Halion is an afterthought for them

Tbh alot of the stock kontakt sounds aren’t amazing. It’s the subsequent releases from NI and third parties that are good. Kontakt on it’s own is almost the same prices as Cubase.

…bump… :question: :wink:

I agree that a lot of the sounds of Halion are “dated”. A LOT of them are pure garbage. Some have so much terrible sounding reverb on them that they HAVE to be edited.

I also agree that Halion doesn’t seem like much of a focus for them. They aren’t dedicated to it like NI is to Kontakt for example. Don’t get me started on the CPU spikes using some of the sounds.

I really hope 7 fixes all the issues I have about 6. I usually stay away from the Full Halion because the interface is the most confusing design out of ALL of my VI’s. But I DO love some of the sounds. I’ve gone through and rated and sorted like 4000 plus. Gave the bad sounds zero or 1 star and set the sorting to only show 3 rated sounds and above. Instant synth Nirvana!

SpiderMix

The sounds are dated, and the UI is atrocious, but the power inside is great.

They do need to fix the analog additive synthesis engine, upgrade it significantly, adding more modulation destination flexibility, ability to connect LFO and user envelope to effect params, and to do some kind of flexible way to create evolving time series sounds.

So apart from a vague hint about an fm engine, there hasn’t been a peep about a Halion update? I’m surprised that Yamaha can’t bring some of their Montage mojo to the party.

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At this stage, I’d invest in Falcon instead. Halion is great but its getting a little stale now… UVI has been great at constantly introducing new features. Don’t get me wrong, I love Halion too but I wouldn’t hold your breathe for a update soon.

I’m pretty sure there’s an update due this year… I think it was hinted at by a dev or someone in a video, Greg Ondo vid maybe?

That’s not really a great rationale for getting Falcon 2 over HALion 6, IMO.

I think for Halion to really take off, it will have to have a user library developed for it like Reaktor has.
Not stuff for sale, but just things that are made by people who use the program, and uploaded to be shared freely.
A user community rather than a marketplace.

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Halion 7: NKS support please!

I thought that was the intention with the VST editor thingy. A song and dance was made about it when it was released. Not surprised it didn’t take off, Not exactly easy to get to grips with. User content aside, there isn’t even that much official content available either compared to its competitors. Thin pickings.

Thin pickings for SURE. I don’t understand why the libraries they release for Padshop and Retrologue can’t be opened in a player interface in Halion and Halion Sonic. It seems to be a “lets shoot our program in the foot”.

SpiderMix

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Exactly my thoughts! For every other VSTi they produce it should be possible to open it in HALion Sonic SE. Preferably, it should be just a content for HALion. This would also lower the development and maintenance costs.

Miloslav

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Oh yeah, I want 8 effects slots (and even 8 layers) per patch too! I run out of effects FAST when I can only put 4 per instrument channel.

Also, I wish that the library window where you select the multisamples would stay the size you make it and the last category you were picking from when you close and open it. It drives me MAD!

SpiderMix

Sadly, I have pretty much stopped using Halion 6. The wavetable engine is by far the most cumbersome I have ever seen. Compared to using Serum or Phaseplant, it’s far from intuitive. The Cross Mod oscillator waveforms in the synth engine are NO substitute for real audio rate modulation features & I have found them to be borderline useless. The sampler tracks in Cubase 11 have almost all the features I used to use in Halion (minus the ability to create multi-timbral instruments). The FX are basically all clones of the same dated native FX you already have within Cubase. The UI is a mess of tabs upon tabs upon tabs & navigation is a complete nightmare. Halion 7 will need to pretty much redesign the instrument UI from scratch, add flexible routing for FM/AM/RM between oscillator types (not just a basic 4 operator synth with sine waves) & add much more modern FX & filter types for me to part with my cash at this point.

As it stands Halion offers nothing new at all to a Cubase Pro 11 user, aside from multi timbral sampler patches & the ability to go under the hood & make changes to Halion Sonic instruments. You already have a more robust version of the Halion synth engine, with a better UI in Retrologue 2 & Padshop 2 is far superior to use than the granular oscillator in Halion. As for Wavetable, you’re better off just downloading Vital for free. Much easier to learn & use. Not once have I used the organ engine. Seems a bit of a backwards addition considering Halion has no FM capability yet.

Phaseplant blows it away in every regard, aside from not having a dedicated granular oscillator. But you can emulate granular due to the fact you can load unlimited sample oscillators & use them to create separate grain streams. PP isnt quite as good as a sampler as Halion, but in every area of synthesis & with its multiband FX chain possibilities, its way ahead.

Going back to Halion after using Phaseplant just feels like a chore

what additive synthesis engine? correct me if im worng but isnt the synth engine in Halion a substractive synth. If there are options for FM synthesis in Halion, aside from those lame cross mod waveforms in the oscuillators, then please fill me in.

Maybe he means the organ/drawbar additive module :stuck_out_tongue:

Seriously though i agree with your above points. If they end up shipping a basic 4 OP FM module that is gonna be a bit disappointing. A way to route FM freely across different oscillators/modules will be much more interesting.

editable flex phraser presets would be a big help to me