I wonder what this new ANX engine is gonna be? I wonder if it’s gonna be based on the VA inside of Halion? Further more…Halion is kinda AHEAD of Yamaha’s workstations so I wonder if they will port the engine to us or only to the Hardware.
And SPEAKING to that…are Halion and the Motif based on the same “Engine”? Is Halion’s Sampling AWM2 or is it something different? Is it better? I have an old school Motif ES…and it’s hard to tell. Wondering how the MODX/Motif compare engine wise.
I’m pretty new to Halion, since I’m rather focused to FM-X I only tested a few of my handmade 90s Samples so far, but Halion seems to react different compared to my Montage, is fortunately getting along with my handmade (within an audio editor, for Soundcards with sample RAM ) samples much better than the AMW2 Engine, they’re usable on a much larger keyboard range.
Thanks for the feedback. So am I understanding you correctly that Halion is different but “better?”. To me it would seem like Halion would be AWM taken to the MAX since there are no real DSP restrictions.
Different, yes …Halion 7 seems to react better if you create sounds that consist of a single sample, I guess this isn’t making much of a difference when it comes to multi sampled sounds. Had similar problems with other software I tried, so this might be simply a differences in the used pitch shifting/interpolation algorithms.
I would rather assume that the developers influence each other function wise but the used code differs, since I’m even able to spot a few differences behaviour/sound wise between Montage and Halion 7 FM Engine.
The Halion “Analog Synth”/Synth Layer kind of has a few similarities to the AN1x but is function wise missing as well as adding features from/to that End 90s VA Engine. It might be inspired but not trying to replicate the AN1x, even so I would like to see an FS1R/AN1x Filter model and and the Oscillator Edge (overtone reduction) Parameter
I guess the usage of HW has changed over the last 20 years, I guess it’s more dedicated to live performance or being a toy now.
Thank you for that informative post friend. I have a EX5 and a Motif ES and I hear a lot of sonic similarity even from that era. It could be just the samples. But similar topologies in regards to the end result sound: i.e. Sound at the DAC.
Sound at the Dac. I just patented it. I want $1 for each mention.
Do you agree that the Halion VA has more “Body” than the AN1X? Like the AN1X (when I owned one, and the one inside my EX5) can’t really do deep analog style bass. The Halion VA Engine can.
Also, Steinberg, you should give those engines proper names.
The VA becomes: The QUADRIX ENGINE (Quad analog Power)
The Wavetable: : AFX FLEXICON (cause it’s flexible in the morning, and so on)
I’m still owning an AN1x and an AN200, it’s the one 90s VA I like most, probably since it shares the filter algorithms with the FS1R beside having feedback instead of Input Gain Saturation and I kind of like the character of the -18db LP. I got them both used in the 00s, when it was possible to get them for a very reasonable price.
It’d say it’s more a pad synth - well the 5 Voices of the PlG150AN (or especially the duophonic EX5 Version) might be a bit limited when it comes to this, but if you’re not trying to tweak saturated minimoog basses the AN1x does imho fine analog type Bass Sounds. But I must admit that I hardly tried and never tweaked/modified the factory presets, always started my sounds from scratch.
When it comes to the Halion VA and Wavetable Synth Engine, after so many years with complex Synths at my disposal, I’m a bit picky with needed functions - at least when it comes to my personal needs, so I only had a short look so far.
I’m not sure what I should be judging. Im lost. But I WILL say that new Montage has MO POWA! than I thought it would! Dang they cranked up the elements! THIS is what I wanted. I need to have a lot of layers. Like a LOT.
The sound quality is totally different to Halion. Halion sits somewhere between “raw” and refined. This machine is all the way refined. Like you may not even need to do a lot of mastering with it in your mix.
How would reading the manual give me a window into the sound? Maybe you were saying compare the specs. I’m not Evil Dragon where I dork out into the specs. But I appreciate your reply!
One thing I WILL say is that workstations have a “sound”. My EX5 is TOTALLY unhinged. Like you have to tame that beast. But the new workstations are more tame.
It’s a “finished” sound. Almost frequency limited in some ways? Anybody else feel this?
If I had the cash I would buy that Montage in a New York Minute! It sounds Fab!
I probably stay with the Montage 6 for a while, I already have a bunch of VAs to chose from and FM-X hasn’t changed much so far. I might go for the announced plugin Version of the M, in case they don’t restricted it to HW owner.
That’s the first thing I tend to do before I buy a synth, checking if all the required synthesis engine parameters are in place.
You could check the Kurzweil PC4 - it tend to sound pretty harsh, especially when importing DX7 Sounds (I did a test with some of my old sounds) or my own samples, but has issues with translating fast DX Pitch Envelopes.
