I’ve had some more time to spend with H5 this weekend and yes, small (well, in appearance anyways) add-ins, like the new MIDI Module BeatBox is fantastic. It simply takes me back to the drum machine years and it is SO easy to create your own and any which way you want them too. With the engine flexibility of HALion, this makes BB one of the coolest new little toys in a long time.
I really only play with it (BB), in terms of the new features. I had originally intended to get into the grain oscillator, but I got completely blown away with the hidden similarity between BB and traditional drum machines, and so I got stuck there basically all Saturday, making beats and importing samples from the old drum machines. Ingenious thing this MIDI Module!
Oh and just FYI for those who don’t fiddle around with all the buttons…
You can create any number of “Init” drum player sub-preset by using the disk icon on the “Drum Player” MIDI module title bar, that you can then use as starters for your actual full VST presets, for better consistency.
Have you had much time to check out the instruments like voltage, cant remember the other ones, that come with it? I really like them as well as dark planet and hypnotic dance ( I bought the vst collection upgrade) but I would like to be able to just load up an blank init patch rather than loading a media bay patch. Cant do it with the standalone versions of dp and hd in cubase either. Surely Im missing something simple. And I agree, that beat box seems pretty cool. Haven’t had enough time to get into it much tho. I assume you can load your own samples tho correct?
Basically BB seem to be a MIDI Module (in the “MIDI Mod” tab) that seemingly plays sounds from your HALion “tree”. I have not had any time breaking down the BB tree yet, to see how much of the original structure is needed, but presumably there will be some requirements for BB to operate properly, then again perhaps not. Need input!
I think the individual outs is a god send and being able to drag the midi map to the midi channel then separate each drum is wicked .
I know the case with the individual outputs is available in GA but im loving the BB so much more , can’t come across one problem yet which is remarkable in it’s self . LOVE IT
The requirement for organization purposes is to create layers for each element and have those elements in their respective layers. Kicks in kick layer, snares in snare layer etc. Besides that, it is up to you and yes, you can always dissolve the midi dumps in Cubase once they have been dumped to a midi track. I love BB too!
not even scratching the surface of H5 possibilities after few hours , im very impressed with its modules(except the ethnic which is somehow weak IMO…) its feels great, all duck/unduck windows are perfect, looks very impressive sampler…
the workflow looks good
makes me feel doing my own sample libraries too… now just need to learn what it can do to help me with my own sounds… musicians nowadays should live for 240 years to learn all those stuffs !
As far as I can tell (please let me know if I am off the mark here) the “Drum Player” (MIDI Module) can utilize 16 “playable” notes for 16 simultaneous sounds in each of the 8 variations.
There seems to be no apparent limit the amount of layers, even though the layer selector initially show options up to “Layer 99”, which seems unnecessary since it allowed me to add up to “Layer 102”.
In case someone is wondering, any of the Zone Types (Synth, Sample, Grain and Organ) can be used inside of the Drum Player layers. Also, you can have two (or more presumably) Drum Players in one HALion program and in combination with any other H5 sound source, like Auron or other arbitrary (i.e. your own concoction of) HALion elements.
So here’s a tool experiment of the original “Miami Beat - 121” programs from H5 with, 102 layers for the initial B-Box/Drum Player, a second Drum Player using a Synth (on every beat you can hear the humming bass with a bit slower decay) and Grain element (this is the crackly sound a’la granular).
Please, there was no particular goal for this sound, but merely a dive into HALion’s capabilities. Demo.mp3 (35.8 KB)
Here’s another snippet, showing a re-arrangement of 5 separate H5 factory programs into one program, and I also added a Retrologue program too (on a second track, that is).
Again, no particular goal other than learning H5. Elmo.mp3 (1.02 MB)
I have to say I was very undecided on whether to purchase Halion 5 or not.
I own Komplete 9 Ultimate and also owned Komplete 8 Ultimate and I put off buying Halion for ages as I thought I had all I need.
i cant explain what it is about Halion 5 but there’s something about it that makes it my go to synth at the moment. Whether that’s because its new to me hence exciting and that will wear off in time I don’t know, what I do know is that the sounds out of this are absolutely first class and I love it.
I really didn’t feel that much for HALion in the past, even though I’ve used it since inception. There is just something with H5 that really tickles my fancy. I cannot say what, but I’ve noticed that compared to the past, I now see little difference between creating a sound based on samples versus the synthesizer. I used to dread endeavoring on a sampler project, not so anymore. To me, the order of how I am putting together a sound now is absolutely fantastic, very fast, but above all, brilliantly fluid.
In Cubase, when composing, the expression functionality only makes it that much better. I would have a difficult time going back to MIDI channel controllers (modulation wheel), pitch bend and so on, from having used Note Expression. I hope with all my heart that the plugin vendors that have not made the transition to VST3.5 will do so, because to me, it seems like the beginning of the future of composing. Simple to use, and so elegant!
To be fair, my old hardware synthesizers are not (note) compatible with NE either…
I do it all 100% with the mouse. It is super easy and at first, I thought it would be overly complicated, so stayed away, but once I figured out how it worked, it is THE ONLY way I do automation now. I never automate in dedicated lanes, everything is done on the notes themselves, so everything is self contained and easy to follow. I do anything from volume, pitch, modulation, tuning, down to assigning CC’s to individual parameters within HALion and drawing those in just the same. Bypass and un-bypass FX, automate filter cut off. You name it, it can be done. Right click on just about anything in HALion, assign it a CC and then in the NE tab of the track inspector, add that CC as an available option and draw away using the standard pencil and line tool.
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I GET STUCK ON THE FIRST TEN PRESETS OF AURON 
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