Can Halion SE be run as a standalone?

Hi - Title says it all Can Halion SE (as bundled with Elements 8) be run as a standalone instrument and if so how please?

Cheers

No. SE will not work in stand alone, nor as a plugin in a host other than Cubase.

It IS possible to run Cubase all loaded up with your favorite plugins in the background and sync it up with some other DAW/Sequencer/Host though. I.E. You could trigger sounds and effects hosted via Cubase with something like Sibelius or Finale. For this you’ll want a virtual MIDI port driver loopMIDI or rtpMIDI (free) if you’re on a PC (Macs have ways built into the OS to route MIDI around). loopMIDI would allow you to create special virtual MIDI ports in order to send MIDI data between multiple apps running on the same Machine/Desktop. rtpMIDI will allow MIDI communication between different apps from different computers/desktops on the same LAN/WAN (or over the internet if you know how to tweak your router/modem). With such a setup you can simulate the essence of running Halion SE (and all your other Cubase bound plugins) in stand alone mode.

If for some reason you need to also get ‘audio streams’ to link up across different apps, have a look at the free reaStream plugin.

If you want true stand alone mode, or the ability to host Halion in any host, then you’ll need a full version of Halion Sonic 2 or Halion 5 for that. Trial versions exist for both products that will work with your Cubase USB Dongle if your version of Cubase has one. They also offer a VSTi plugin Absolute 2 collection that might be of interest.

Great reply - thanks!