Congratulations. The most unintuitive interface ever.

I have been using either Cubase, Logic or Nuendo with every major soft-synth known for over 15 years. I can honestly say that Halion 4 sets new standards in the “incomprehensible user interface” Previous interfaces by such market leaders as NI are completely done away with in a dark, stupid colour scheme, in which it’s not easy to do anything. How to enable multiple outputs? How to import samples from common formats? How to determine where the samples are saved? How to edit effects per sample easily? This is hands down the worst example of how to make a GUI that I have seen in a long time. No wonder you need Halion Sonic. You should force the lead design team to go and work for Volkswagen or Apple and not come back until they’ve learnt their lesson. Nothing should be this difficult to use, unless it’s free.

I never opened the manual once and figured out Halion 4 quite easily actually. To me, it was quite intuitive and straight forward. You say you used Cubase and Nuendo? If that were the case the mixer section should be quite familiar to you. If you don’t like the way Halion 4 is set up by default, it is fully customizable you know. Make your windows, tabs etc the way you like so you will find it easier to use. Short of all this, read the manual if you are having that hard of a time finding your way around this very easy to use plugin.

I admit, Halion 4 does have some short comings and I hope to see many of these things remedied in future updates, but the user interface is something I am glad they got right the first time.

What are you - a advert for Steinberg? Have a look around the web. Someone had to post in a blog on how to enable the audio masters! FYI, I read the manual (not the one they left off the DVD - the crappy one that’s hidden under the Steinberg logo) and it’s hopeless. That manual says “Extra outputs can be enabled from the standalone version or in the plugin preferences” Wrong. Updates won’t fix this, unless they put contextual menus into the interface like a real vsti. What about the Akai import? And what was so wrong with the design of Halion 3? Have a good look at the posts right here in this thread. Do you see lots of folks saying “Oh yes. This is easy to use”. No. You don’t. I’m so glad you find it easy to use. Unfortunately, I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to Michael Ruf.

Unfortunately this little corner of the Steinberg forums we call Halion 4 is quite dead. Not many posts at all. If you look closely, you will see MANY threads started by me with complaints about how things are in Halion 4 in this very forum. I am far from a Steinberg advert, just calling it how it is. What is hard for you is easy for me, what may be hard for me is easy for you. Can’t please everyone it seems.

I agree on the Akai import. It is a downfall. Again, look and you will see a started a very thread on this. If you took the time to search you would see it is being worked on for a future update. Not all hope is lost, the sky is not falling.

BTW… when you post in a public forum it is for everyone to see, including me. I don’t care if you were talking to me directly or not, I was only trying to help in my own way. If you like, you can borrow my name for a day, it certainly suits you.

Do you see an old woman? Or a young lady?

Interesting how individuals can look at the same thing and see something different.

I personally find the GUI of H4 to be very elegant and relatively intuitive to use. In my case I did have to rtfm having never used previous versions of HALion.

On the other hand I once used MachFive v2 (which I sold) and still use Kontakt 4 which has an excellent library but in my opinion, a really unintuitive interface.

Agreed that there are areas that need improvement, but the hope is that as H4 matures, all features needed to be competitive will be in place.

my 2¢

Oh yes, this is easy to use! Ha ha!

Definately could be improved though.

I for one couldn’t believe there wasn’t a simple load multi button that you could use to navigate to where you had saved a multi with samples in the project location & load it.(tell me I haven’t missed something). I found in the end I had to drag & drop it(so I had to navigate there anyway outside the programme).

Regards,

Codsworth



There’s something fishy going on here…


(I like the interface - find it very easy on the eyes.)

My 2c … having not used HALion prior to V4, I’ve had no major difficulties. In particular, as a Cubase user I had no problem whatsoever with either the mixer or enabling individual outputs. There’s a good video on the web (I think it’s Greg Ondo) explaining how to create instruments from tracks in Cubase, and that was all I needed. I have read the manual, but not all of it, and compared to Kontakt I find the GUI much more pleasing and infinitely more customisable. Yes, there are omissions here and there but after 4 weeks of use I haven’t run into any show-stoppers yet.

As they say, YMMV.

I have been using Cubase since the Atari days and have been using HAlion since day one (yes I still remember those feeble filters they put in version 1!)

Maybe it’s because these days I am a casual user (I have a full-time day job and don’t have the dedication I’d like to) but this really is the most heavy going version of HALion I’ve used.

If I wanted to build a sampler or synth I’d have bought N.I.'s Reaktor (is that still going?) but honestly this how HALion feels like to use. It’s like everything’s kinda modular!

I don’t know how anyone can say it’s intuitive - unless they’re just loading up presets! It’s almost as if it’s a seperate program from Cubase, rather than a VSTi. I like the customisability but until I feel more confident with the beast, right now it feels out of control! They are beginning to get it right with the 4.5 beta but we’re still a long way off calling it intuitive! If that makes any sense!

Just my two penneth!

It’s amusing to read how on their website the Steinberg blurb for HALion 4 reads: “Creating your own individual sounds and innovative instruments has never been easier.”

“With the help of the newly developed engine found in HALion 4”, it continues,“you are able to realize your sonic visions faster and more efficiently than ever before.”

"Its advanced usability makes HALion 4 the most user-friendly software sampler in the world — allowing you to stay on top of things, no matter how large the project. " What an odd statement! How does being more advance make it the easiestto use software sampler in the world?

Has the marketing department actually used the software product before making these statements? What is the basis of these claims?

I’m sorry but I really don’t see the big problem with it & really enjoy using Halion :smiley:

It’s not perfect, but for me, it’s nearer perfect than the competition.

Regards, Codsworth

The very dark color scheme is my main complaint and I wrote about here but didn’t got a reply in this regard.
The GUI is too dark, especially when you’re on a multi monitor setup - you don’t stare on one screen but change between screens and then it’s searching time for little symbols to click on in a dark universe. The user must have a choice at least to choose a lighter grey!
I fear often programmers use note books to program these things and never test it on multiple screens with 30" screens which are common in professional studio environments.

I actually don’t have an issue with the colour scheme.