I’m owning Cubase Artist 9 which includes Groove Agent SE 4. At the current Holiday Sale I bought the Hallion-Extension “Vibrant”. I had to open the Download-Assistant to install it and everything worked fine. It catched my eyes that the Download-Assistant suggested me to update Groove-Agent to SE 5, so I did it. This was an error, because Cubase now prompting me that I don’t have a valid License for Groove-Agent. The main problem is now that I can’t go back to SE 4 because I don’t have the installation files and they aren’t available at the Cubase-Site. I did a support-ticket but no one answered. At the moment I’m using the 30 day trial license for Groove Agent, but in January I will have a big problem.
So, why Download-Assistant suggesting me to update to SE5 when I didn’t have a license for it!?
Perhaps there is a way to get a key for the newest version supported by the Steinberg Activation Manager?..see this link.
HALion Sonic SE: Download for Free | Steinberg
If you need to roll HSSE to a version that uses the old eLicenser system you could find it here. I think it’ll be the lastest version for eLicenser, and it should work fine in Cubase 9/9.5 variants…
Cubase Artist 11 Downloads | Steinberg
If you want to go back even further…
Installers for older versions of Cubase can be found here:
Cubase | Steinberg
I might be wrong, but I think such an installer includes all the plugin installers for that release as well. I.E. Launching it might lead to a dialog saying everything is already installed. You could then ‘reinstall’ the parts you’d like to roll back.
If you get/use any content that requires the new licensing system you’ll need the very latest HSSE?
Meanwhile, if everything you need is on Dongle or soft eLicenser, I think HSSE version 3.5.10 is probably the best one to use?
As for content packs…over time Steinberg seems to be issuing vouchers to update/register everything for the new system. That is done in your mysteinberg account. Applying the vouchers marks any keys stored on your dongle somehow (but they will still work from dongle too), while supplying a key for the new Activation Manager.
Ooops, GA, not HSSE…my bad. I should have read closer…
Again, it’s possible to roll back to the last version based on eLicenser.
Groove Agent SE 5.0.50 if you cannot get 5.0.51 to activate.
As far as I know is Groove Agent now licensed via the Activation Manager, so you probably need to activate it there. Have you done that?
Groove Agent 5 is.
Groove Agent SE could be different, as it comes with Cubase.
If one has Cubase 12, then yes. It comes with version 5.0.51, which can be unlocked via Activation Manager. I’ve yet to see exclusive GA SE keys? So my assumption is that it looks for a qualifying Steinberg Host. At this time those are Cubase 12 and maybe the latest Nuendo?. Not sure about Dorico 4…it doesn’t ship with GA SE but ‘might’ unlock it.
If you’re running 11.5 or earlier, it gets confusing?
Thus I say, if you can’t get the very latest version working with Cubase 9, then personally, I’d try version 5.0.50. AFAIK that was the last release before the new licensing system was launched.
To be clear, the OP is about SE.
I don’t have a solid answer really, but here’s what I would do if it were my machine:
Presuming you’re on Windows, since you didn’t say
Uninstall Groove Agent 5 from the Program Manager and check if you can launch GA SE.
If not, I would try downloading one of the 9.5 installers, and look in the zip file for the Groove Agent SE and try to install that. (you can use the Le installer, it’s quite small.)
Failing that, maybe someone else knows where to find that download.
Thank you Brian.
I’ve found the whole Cubase Artist 9 Download page.
So I unistalled GrooveAgent SE 5, installed SE 4 and updated it to SE 4.2.40 and everything works fine!
And again the Download Assistant suggests to update to SE 5, but I will not dare again.
I’m curious, what was the message that suggested you update to GA SE 5? I’ve never seen something like that.
The main benifit to running 5 is you get a stand alone version I think.
If for some reason you wish to try version 5, I’m thinking version 5.0.50 is a safe bet. It ‘should’ run fine in Cubase 9.
Same for HSSE. You should be able to update as far as 3.4.40 before you run into activation issues.
Yes, HSSE was also a suggested update, but for this it seems I have a valid license.
Oof. I wonder how it “detects” the need for the update…
maybe this is a new business-model to sell more licenses 
I haven’t checked, but maybe 5.1.11 works with all ‘supported’ versions of Cubase? That’d be 11.5 and 12.
I’m considering rolling back a bit. Ever since I took these ‘Activation Manager’ variants, it takes like 10 minutes to open anything HALion or Groove Agent (Even reopening the UI for an instance that’s obviously loaded and plays fine. Stand alone version takes forever to open too. Ugg. Used to be lightning fast!).
I’d never had that issue before and wonder if it has something to do with the new Activation system.
Hey Takoon, the same thing just happened to me today. I’m using Cubase Artist 9.5 and upgraded to Groove Agent SE5 due to the recommendation you also received. Where exactly did you download and reinstall Groove Agent SE4? Did you have to reinstall Cubase altogether? I hope you can help me out 
Edit: is the license included in the Cubase license on the dongle? I can’t seem to find a single license for GE 4 or GE SE4.
Hi, you’ll find the download here:
The license should be included in your Artist-license. (I can’t see a seperate Groove-Agent license on my system, neither at Activation Manager nor at the eLicenser.)
'hope this helps