HALion 6...

Virtual instruments HALion
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#1

With Kontakt being the talk of the industry and with the rise of “Falcon” from UVI, HALion 6 would really have to bring it. I mean REALLY have to bring it!

Better time stretching… I can’t get samples to span 2 octaves sometimes less without sounding gaggled and stretched no matter what audio warp setting I use.

More up-to-date sounds… I can’t find any beast out trap synths and other crazy, thick, interesting, out of the box 2015-2016 sounds like what you hear in “Nexus” by reFX… I know HALion is probably capable of making those sounds but you have to be in to sound design, for those of us who like to load a preset and go, we’re stuck with a bunch of old 80s-90s Yamaha keyboard sounding presets with a few usable ones for present day. Most of the presets sound too regular and uninspiring.

If you guys focus on those thing and great cpu usage HALion will be on top because I noticed thats where other plugins lack. They have all these feature and killer sounding presets but just playing a chord can max out the cpu.

HALion is a great Sampler/Workstation, so c’mon lets win the Sampler/Workstation market.

#2

I just realized what the problem is… Other plugins have a lot of layered presets so they sound thicker and more interesting, and HALion just have the sounds for us to create our own layers… Which I guess is ok.

#3

I would guess that Halion 6 shouldn’t be too far away. I wouldn’t be surprised if H6 was released during, or even before Summer 2016.

#4

No 5.5 this time?
That’s unique! Most of the time Steinberg’s unprecedented generosity and indisputable commitment towards its customers result in at least 4 updates before a product is put to rest.

#5

Great thread, though I can load just about anything I want into HALion…but they do need to give a little more love to such a fantastic product

#6

Would be good ready-to-use scripting system perhaps (for build your own devices).

#7

i would not be surprised if Halion 6 comes out with Cubase 9 together in the package. This will be their big upgrade incentive.

#8

I hope HALion 6 will be presented at the Musikmesse.

#9

The new UVI Falcon is a very powerful sampler, and synth, I just started learning, and using it, it kind of resembles Halion 5, I wonder what new features Halion 6 will offer, and if they have done further improvements to the GUI, and workflow, close integration with Cubase Pro, and Wavelab Pro.

Yes, It would be so cool if Steinberg presents Halion 6 at Musikmesse.

#10

Do you happen to know if Falcon accepts VST-XML drag and drop? So drop regions (sliced events) directly to the sampler.

#11

Hi Niles,

Falcon has what they call a ‘Slice’ Oscillator. Falcon is a very powerful Sampler & Synth. Quite deep, and offers lots of sophisticated effects, midi effects, granular Synthesis, …etc. Lots of info, and videos about it on Youtube, and on their website. I’m not sure what VST-XML drag and drop means when referring to Falcon, but you can surely drag and drop a .wav file into Falcon’s Slice Osc, and it will slice it for you.

Quote from the UVI Website regarding the Slice OSC. in Falcon

" SLICE
Ideal for rhythmic and percussive material, the Slice oscillator can divide samples into discrete keygroups to be resequenced. Adjust transient sensitivity manually or use embedded markers like those found in REX files. Drag-and-drop export of sliced file maps in a variety of ways including as a Falcon patch, discrete WAV files, or MIDI sequence."

Cheers,
Muziksculp

#12

Thanks Muziksculp, Slice OSC sounds interesting too.
I just received a notice from UVI about the new Falcon update supporting VST-XML. A shame they don’t have a demo version available.

#13

Cool !

What is VST-XML ? can you explain what this is ? and how is it useful to have ?

Thanks,
Muziksculp

#14

With VST-XML (or VSTXML) when you drop the audio event from the arrangement, you actually drop a code snippet on the VST instrument. The code informs the VST plugins where to find the sample file(s) and what regions to play. Also how the file should be treated, like: Tempo, quantize data, root note, region data (slice) etc.

A common single XML slice looks like this:

<vst-xml>
<region id="00000000216CEA30">
<filename>C:\SomeFolder\SomeFileLocationsomeFileName.wav</filename>
<start>0</start>
<end>102775</end>
<projectTime domain="quarterNotes">1</projectTime>
<tempo>77.236682072488449</tempo>
</region>
</vst-xml>

One of the benefits is you can slice your samples in your host (I use Studio One, but Cubase supports it too) and maintain the slices in the sampler, but still have the possibility to adjust the regions of the sample in the sample player. Also you can simply edit a sliced sample as a single file, because the sample player reads the entire file and maps it according to the regional data. So the file isn’t physically sliced.

It’s pretty convenient.

#15

Hi Niles,

That’s very interesting, and something I didn’t know. I’m guessing Halion 5 supports VST-XML.

Thanks for the explanations.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

#16

Yes, Halion 5 and GA4 both support it.
I just want to phase out all my Steinberg software. So if Falcon can replace Halion I’m a happy camper :slight_smile:

#17

I see. So you have jumped the fence to Studio One Pro. Cool DAW, just starting to learn my way around it.

imho. it is valuable to have both Cubase and Studio One, (Why Not ?) .

Hmmm… Why do you want to phase out all your Steinberg Software ? Halion, GA4 are great VSTs., and you can use them in S1Pro.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

#18

AAX support please!

#19

Let’s say I’m personally happier with products from other brands on the long run.

Have you tried the VST3 version of Halion in Studio One?

#20

No I have not tried using the VST3 or the VST2 versions of Halion 5 in S1Pro yet. I’m guessing you are having issues with running the VST3 version of H5 in S1Pro. I also read that S1Pro runs more efficient, and maybe more stable on PC than on Mac. (just like Cubase) :wink: