I’m surprised this hasn’t gotten more attention. IMHO this is a game changer. I got it yesterday, as a $99 upgrade (a 840 MB download) to Halion Sonic. No new content (same content as Halion Sonic, about 12 GB of patches), but…
Halion Sonic: 16 programs, 4 layers per program, only internal sounds, 12 GB of sounds
Halion 4: 64 programs, unlimited layers per program, resizeable screens, unlimited bus/routing configuration, Megatrig scripting environment, Loads 3rd party libraries (AKAI, E-MU, Roland, Kurzweil, GIGA, Kontakt, EXS24, SF2, LM4, LM4 MkII, REX, ZeroX BeatCreator, WAV, AIF, SD II (Mac only), ISO & Nero Disc Image, Toast CD-Image).
I have Kontakt 4/Komplete and Mach V (Also have Halion 3 which was not worth using). This is a whole new ball game. Every layer (and you have unlimited layers to play with) has a full featured synth section, at least as good as my Motif. I’m blown away by this, and haven’t even scratched the surface of what it can do.
It won’t be a Kontakt killer because I don’t think it can read encrypted .nki libraries, but I have Kontakt for that. This is something different altogether.
My only disappointment is that it seems that, like Halion Sonic, you can’t program your own arpeggios. But every layer can have it’s own arpeggio, and there are something like 1500 to choose from. You have to see this in action to believe it.
BTW it runs (on my Mac Pro) in 64 bit mode in Logic, Cubase 6, and Nuendo 5.5 (also just released recently), and of course as a VST3 plugin in Cubase/Nuendo. Halion Sonic is 32-bit only I think.
I tried to import the Gigapiano from Gigastudio 3 and it loaded and played, but one of the notes just sounded as hiss. But G-Player can’t load it at all, so that’s something of an improvement.
I guess you can tell I’m pretty excited by this software! The interface is going to take some time getting used to though. Also I now wish I had an 88-note controller because all of the key-switching is in the low register.