Hey guys,
I’m thinking about upgrading to HALion 6. Since I never really got along with Padshop, but would like to have a granular synth for pads, I’m kinda keen on Skylab.
Has anyone tried out Skylab yet and can tell me if it’s somewhat easier to use and has more modern sounds than Padshop? What’s your overall impression of these 2 synths?
Thank you very much.
I prefer using padshop pro to be honest. Skylab is like a regular sampler which allows multi samples across the keyboard, but then allows you to press a tab and switch from a regular sampler to a similar granular synthesis as padshop.
I’ve not delved too far into Skylab to be fair, but so far I’m not too thrilled by it after owning Padshop and Halion 5s Auron as it’s just more of the same with a different graphic overlay.
Let´s clear something out, Padshop and Skylab and Retrolouge 2, Hypnotic Dance and what else is using the same engine in Halion 5-6. So you need to see Halion as the mother ship here. You can do anything in Halion…Like ANY thing with almost no limits. So dive in to Halion, thats where you find what ever you feel you are missing or even if you need a better program understanding. It´s so much simpler in Halion and yet far more advanced 
So Padshop and all the other instruments are just presets for Halion, whats new is sampels and the wavetable editor and new macro pages like the piano.brass and strings and on. You can do the same in the macro editor now btw. You will find nothing more powerful than the Halion 6 sound engine I prommisse you!
But I realy love the Padshop patches, why did Steinberg not make padshop a macro page in Halion too?
because they are slightly different engines and aren’t as compatible as you seem to believe.
I’ve only spent a couple of hours with Skylab so my opinion my change over time, but I don’t see anything that stands out. For granular synths I wlll still use Padshop and/or Auron as my go-to’s. If anything Skylab seems to be geared more towards atonal sound FX, drones, and pads (background or support layer sounds).
I was surprised SB included another granular synth in HALion 6, Auron and Padshop are more than cover granular synth needs. SB should have used the time spent on Skylab somewhere else, like an instrument that makes sample slicing, manipulation, mangling more intuitive and fun.