I have just done a clean install of Windows 10 on a new SSD, and am reinstalling all my plugs and everything. I have reinstalled Cubase and HALion, but I can’t for the life of me get HALion to load/register the VSTSOUND files associated with HSO, which originally installed via the DVD. It is on my samples hard disk, and I was kinda hoping that it would be possible to load these files, and maybe enter the registration details (but I shouldn’t have to, as it is on my dongle).
Not so! I have tried everything, including pasting shortcuts to the VSTSOUND files in the HALion folder in appdata, trying to import via the mediabay etc.
How on earth do I do this? I have paid for HSO, and I would like to continue to use it! It cannot possibly be the case that I need to do this via the old DVD?
First, make sure you’ve the latest Dongle related software, and that HSO is registered and showing on your USB dongle (if you have one). Run the clean up and all from inside Steinberg eLicenser Control Center.
If the key is ‘missing’, then it’s probably on your old hard drive…maybe stick it back in long enough to move the key using eLicenser? Or…just go through the reactivation process…
I think HSO might be one of those that can be installed without the hardware dongle. It can use a virtual area on your hard disk, or it can be put on your dongle (a choice the user makes when registering and managing keys in eLicenser). If it was registered on your hard disk rather than a dongle, and you didn’t release that key before reformatting/upgrading the OS, and it’s not on your dongle, I’m thinking you might need to check with your Steinberg account to see if it can be moved to your dongle, or reinstated, etc…you might even need to file a support ticket to get that fixed?
Some software titles can be installed without owning a USB key. HSO is one of them, and it keeps the keys in a virtual dongle on your hard drive (or you can choose to make it go on your USB key). If HSO is not on your USB key…when you dig around in your My Steinberg account, you should see your old key sitting in a listed 'Soft-eLicenser".
It might have mistakenly been stored on your old hard drive instead of on your USB key. In this case, you’ll click the ‘reactivate’ tab in your my steinberg account and jump through whatever hoops they have to get it sorted.
If you want the HSO GUI and it does not install by default…check the extras folder in the HSO installation package. The content can best be accessed through Halion 5, Sonic, SE, etc…
I’m not really sure what the big differences are in the different versions, but for what it’s worth, here’s a link pointing to a different version that might be relevant to you.
Also, if you purchased from the Steinberg Online shop there’s a chance you might can force a ‘resend’ of any invoices and download links for previous purchases, etc… https://shop.steinberg.net/c/shop?ml=EN&mode=info
One thing is certain…you need a key for it to work. Even ‘trial’ versions need registration and a key…
So that’s the first thing to double and triple check.
If that doesn’t get it sorted…
If it still doesn’t work even though you can verify that you have your HSO key showing in eLicenser…and you’re using Halion with Cubase:
Try a rescan…it just might work…
From inside Cubase…
Open Media Browser (Media/Media Browser from the top menu, or tap F5).
Use the icon at the bottom left of the Media Browser to “Set up Window Layout” (or tap shift F2 while Media Browser is topped).
Tick by the option to “Define Locations”.
Now you should see a directory tree in the left pane of Media Browser.
Go through the tree for your file system and make sure there are little check marks by any drives or directories you want. Any vstpresets, samples, MIDI files…anything and every thing that you want included in the Media Browser of anything Cubase or Halion related.
Halion related content packs are usually found in a hidden directory.
“C:\ProgramData\Steinberg”
and
“C:\ProgramData\VST3 Presets”
and
“%USERPROFILE%\Roaming\Steinberg”
These areas above should already be set for scans by default, but it won’t hurt to double check them to make sure they’re still active in Media Browser…
Be sure to include any folders that you’ve got your own custom made content in.
Right click the root disk(s) and force a rescan.
Note, since Halion 5 uses true file paths for your custom patches…if you’ve saved VSTpresets with links to samples rather than as packed VSTsound archives, and your directory structure has changed, you might be asked to locate some things manually when attempting to load and use a preset.
I.E. Say you’ve built a trumpet patch using your own set of wave files that used to be on “G:\Samples\My-Stradi”, but now they are in “F:\Old Halion Stuff\Samples\My-Stradi”. At the time you made that patch, if you did not create an archived VSTsound file that includes all the samples, but instead just saved a Preset that points to them…then opening that preset will cause a dialog to pop up that it can’t locate the samples, and you’ll need to redirect Halion to where they are stored.
If you do not use Cubase…
I’ll be back to make another post on that shortly…I’ve got to get to my DAW machine and look at some things to remember how to force a stand alone rescan from inside Halion 5.
In the case of HSO…if your dongle and all is set, and you do not have any other Halion based products (Sonic, Halion 5, Groove Agent, etc.) it might be easiest to just reinstall it from scratch.
If you’re using Halion 5 stand alone, or with a DAW system other than Cubase…
First read the post above…the concepts are similar for the Factory content, in that VST3 presets and VSTsound files need to be rescanned so Halion knows about them, and can give you access to samples and things that might be archived in them.
Launch Halion 5 in stand alone mode.
Locate the built in Media Browser. (There are several ways to get to this. If you don’t see it as a ‘tabbed’ option, you can pull it up as a stand alone window in the editors list).
Right click the drives/folders that host your VSTsound and VSTpreset files and rescan them.
Clicking on the root drives should be enough to scan for factory content (Usually found in C:\ProgramData\Steinberg)
If that doesn’t bring it all in, and you want to try forcing a rescan of individual directories in C:\ProgramData (which might not show up in the Halion Browser since it’s hidden)…then you’ll need to temporarlily unhide the directory.
This will show you how to see the hidden directory in Windows Explorer ( http://windows7themes.net/en-us/how-to-show-hidden-files-in-windows/ ) From there, you can right click the “C:\ProgramData”, choose ‘properties’ and untick the ‘hidden’ box.
At that point, H5 should be able to show you the directory in its Browser, where you can force rescans of the VST3 Presets (and any other directories that might have content you want) scanned.
Again, if you’ve made VSTPresets of your own with Halion and did not make a VSTsound file archive (including the samples), then Halion might ask you at some point to relocate user samples if they’ve been moved to a new drive or location.
Hopefully this will pull everything in for you.
Once done, you can go back and rehide that directory if you like.
