The dynamic effects of Halion (compressor, limiter, expander, gate) exhibit audible latency. Whereas the Cubase versions of the same effects have a “Live” button to switch off latency, this is not possible within Halion. Also the built-in dynamic effects of the MixConsole of Cubase are completely latency-free.
To make things even worse, these latencies are NOT compensated during playback. It is a pain if you are mixing within Halion. For example a drum track with an inserted compressor sounds delayed to the other tracks! Has really nobody ever noticed this?
Steinberg, why can’t we have the latency-free versions of MixConsole, or at least the “Live” button???
STILL applicable to this day in version 7. I was in the process of trying to create a basic FM bass arp with a few effects. Took me a while to figure out but I was perplexed why Halion was so laggy. The chorus effect is the worst culprit. Even EQ adds enough latency where zero attack on a very fast fm synth part is almost not usable.
Just remember to not use any or very minimal Halion effects or only use sends. The factory Cubase chorus or cloner does a great job with no latency.
Great sampler/synth, unusable built-in effects right now.
I just tried this in halion 7. I made two identical instances in Renoise. One without effects and one with effects inside of Halion. Same patch on both of them (a simple fm lab patch.. a short transient sound). And i tried the various compressors. But i don’t hear any delay? Playing side by side they double in volume. I’m on Windows.
Maybe it’s the FM engine and not using delay compensation? I started wondering about that but have not compared or have issues with effects in other engine types.
It’s just the chorus effect adds some inherent latency. Even the factory StudioChorus has a minimum of 10ms at 100%. So, it’s just keeping that mind.