None of the HALion VST Instruments will preview

I upgraded to Cubase 12.0.60 from 12.0.52 and now I can’t preview any HALion sounds. Other plugins work, such as Padshop and Retrologue. Also all the loops and samples seem to work. For some reason when I select a HALion sound, the VST instrument doesn’t load. It works fine if I create a track using the sound, but the preview no longer works. I tried reinstalling HALion 6, but it didn’t help.

You are right. Same here, no preview from mediabay. Maybe it has something to do with HALion 7 instruments and their new mediabay system.

Same here. Very big letdown. I love the new array of sounds that Halion 7 offers but now it’s such a pity to browse them

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Try this if Instrument Preview or Mediabay not working as expected after Halion 7/Sonic install.

FIX - Uninstall Mediabay and reinstall. (Through windows App UNINSTALL) I used the Halion 7 single installation to re install and no issues so far.

Worked for me.

Now it also runs much faster for instrument selection.

This may fix other MediaBrowser issues as well.

Regards

Neil

Update -

I installed Halion Sonic 7 and the error re-occurred.

My older version of Halion Sonic 3 was uninstalled along with all versions of Halion 7.

The mediabay program was uninstalled as well.

I then reinstalled Halion 7 and Halion sonic 7. The preview error was still there.

I uninstalled the Mediabay program and then reinstalled Halion 7 again. (to setup mediabay)

This time the preview and mediabay all worked as it should.

There seems to be some priority over the installation order and the mediabay interaction.

I think removal of any previous or older versions is necessary before install.

Kind regards

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Indeed… More informations here (even if a post in it links to this exact thread…) :

No preview sound from HALion Sonic in media browser after reinstallation - Cubase - Steinberg Forums

Hi there,
I´m afraid I still have this issue, so I´m bumping this old thread again.

@Niel_MusicTech, I´ve read your last post but it´s still not realy clear for me. You uninstalled the Mediabay program, but did you reinstall it before or after reinstallation of Hal 7?

Hi
The MediaBay issues are still ongoing. You need to get a clean install of the MediaBay without having duplicate installations from application packages. A few weeks ago 80 percent of my MediaBay inventory way unplayable in Preview or instrument. So I tried this which worked.

Uninstall APPLICATIONS - (Cubase-whatever version, All versions of Halion (Halion 7 , Sonic etc) only remove the application components. Uninstall MediaBay through windows if still showing.
Restart Computer.
Re install in this order -
Cubase Application
Halion 7
Halion Sonic 7

Restart Computer.

Do not install any Halion Sonic 7 versions of the application previous to Halion Sonic 7.
Halion Sonic 7 should see all instrument library’s when it builds the database.
I did test and found out that previous versions really mess up the MediaBay .

If you get a message that says cannot find MediaBay, download separately and install.
Avoid re-Installing Halion applications when they are already installed.

Give that a go and let me know if that works. Good luck.

Hi and thanks for your reply,

All this is a bit tricky, so sorry for my need of extra clarifications to follow here…

When you say uninstall applications only, do you mean that the Cubase and Halion CONTENT does not need to be uninstalled? I have older versions of both Cubase and Halion sonic installed, so I guess it works better if everything is uninstalled then? And about the content, I don´t really understand how it works. The installation instruction for HalSonic7 says if the content of HalSonic3 is alredy installed, then installation of HalSonic7 content is not necessary. I then asume these two content packages are the same. However, in my Steinberg Download Assistant (SDA) it looks like I have the content of both HalSonic 3 and HalSonic 7 installed. I don´t know if it so or if it just looks that way. But maybe it messing things up.

And finally, you are using the SDA for the reinstallations, right? When opening the SDA the latest version of the MediaBay automatically gets installed , as I understand it. So the reinstallation of MediaBay occur before the reinstallations of Cubase and Halion?

Yes don’t remove the large content files. Previous versions of Cubase should be OK with the latest. Remove Previous versions of Halion SONIC.
Halion Sonic content will be active with the latest Halion Sonic 7. Halion Sonic 3 content and Halion sonic 7 content will be read by Halion Sonic 7 as these are just sound files that are accessed from the Halion Sonic application.
The re-installation of media bay will reinstall but may not update the sound file database that it sets up when it scans for sound files.
TIP - In the download assistant - For applications or content - where it says INSTALL AGAIN select the down arrow and OPEN THE FOLDER.
If the folder is empty then KEEP THE FOLDER OPEN and click INSTALL AGAIN.
It will download to the folder. As soon as the download completes COPY the FILE to your own STEINBERG downloads folder.

This gives you a copy of the download to run locally without having to download the files again.
Running the file will give you options to Reinstall, Uninstall. etc.
The instrument/soundfiles open with the application - Steinberg Library Manager. Use OPEN WITH in file type .

Thanks again for your reply.

OK, was a bit eager so I removed the content also before you answered… Anyway, uninstalled HS3 and HS7 and both their contents (still don´t understand if there is any difference between those content packages) and the Mediabay. I did not uninstall Cubase here (Run Cubase 11 Pro). Then restarted the computer, reinstalled Mediabay and HS7 (but not the content). The result after that was at least a step forward. The media rack preview sound worked with most HALion Sonic plugins like the synthezisers, piano, choir, strings, brass, beats etc. The preview did however not work with HS Library and HS Collection.

After that I did a second try. Uninstalled HS7 and Mediabay again. Also uninstalled Cubase this time. Then restarted the computer, reinstalled Mediabay, Cubase, HS7 and the HS7 content. Unfortunately this did not give any different result. The preview sound works with all HALion Sonic plugins, but still not with the two big ones, HS Library and HS Collection.

Didn´t understand how to use your tip. To uninstall the MediaBay the Download Assistant need to be off, otherwise it will automatically install the MediaBay again. And to be able to reinstall the MediaBay first in line, the uninstall of apps and content needed to be done before that. And when the applications and content are uninstalled, the OPEN THE FOLDER option isn´t valid. So sorry, I did not get that.

HI

Good to hear somethings are working again.

I found that the non working = HS Library and HS Collection - Only seem to be working with HALION SONIC 7.
Try installing this last and see if you can preview the HS Library and HS Collection.
Also check the LIBRARY MANAGER for any detected duplicates.

The folder options are only accessible in the Download Manager after a completed install.
Where it says INSTALL AGAIN click the down arrow, OPEN folder. This takes you to the download location of the Steinberg downloads for install. Some files delete themselves after install. From the open folder, copy the downloaded files and save in another location. You can then run these files with the full options.

Hope you get it working as it should.

Same issue here. Anyone know if this is resolved in Cubase 13?
None of my Halion programs will preview in MediaBay now.
FMLab works fine, but I think that is about it.
Not working are the expansions, Novel Piano, Lamps on the 18th, Sonic Selection, Trip, Roehrich etc…

update:
I tried the above steps
uninstall cubase and halion core programs (including mediabay)
restart and reinstall in order Cubase, Halion7, HS7
It fixed all the smaller problems but I still can’t preview the ‘Sonic Selection’ patches in MediaBay. They work fine when browsing patches within the plugin themselves but not within MediaBay.

update 2:
After installing Cubase 13 it all works good in C13, but still the same in C12.