Round robin variation groups Halion -- how?

I can’t for the life of me figure out how to create an instrument in halion that uses round robin to avoid machine gun effect. I have set up zone that have variation group 1 and also enable variation group 1 and set it to Round Robin in the Sound menu. Still they play simultaneously and no alternatively. Any inputs?

Cubase 12, Halion 6.4, Mac

Are all the zones set to the same variation group?
Variation Group.vstpreset (4.8 KB)
You could also use the Layer Alternate midi module.
Layer Alternate.vstpreset (8.8 KB)