Halion 4 Coming soon ! Are you excited ?

[muziksculp]

Hi,

According to Steinberg Halion 4 is just around the corner, more info. will be posted shortly !

So... how excited are you about the new Halion 4 ? and what are your general expectations ? Future Soundware development for Halion 4 ? ...etc.

My guess is it will be announced at the upcoming Muzikmesse show.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

[paulwr]

I've started using some of the included Halion sounds that came with Cubase 5 now and then. I'm not sure if I want to spend for the full new version, but if it had enough sounds that I'd use, it would be nice to have the VST3.5 expression capabilities on occasion.

-Paul

[Animus]

I am not exited one but. About 5 years too late. No faith in continued support. And availability of third party content is a killer for any sampler engine, which in case of Halion is damn near zilch. Kontakt has it pretty well wrapped tight.

[MattiasNYC]

Am I excited? Not at all. More like I'm annoyed actually.

The way I see it there are two options:

1) Halion is not making Steinberg any significant amount of extra money.

If this is the case it is very poor judgment to spend resources on this and iPhone apps instead of making sure the Sequencer hosts run properly.

2) Halion IS making them significant money.

That's worrisome because then it leads to the question of if they'll ever improve support of Nuendo for example. I mean, their motive is to make a profit so they'll spend the money where it brings a return.


As far as me as a pure consumer and not "a pro" I'd say that I couldn't care less about Halion. Seems like a waste of time/effort to me. Why should I bother with it when I have Kontakt? And there are tons of libraries that uses that software as a sample player host. More software just complicates my DAW so no thanks.

[Daryl]

Nothing exciting for me either. I think I tried a few of the sounds once, but they were so awful I didn't bother after that. A bit like deleting EW Colossus the day I got it. ;>)

D

[paulwr]

A bit like deleting EW Colossus the day I got it. ;>)

D
LOL! Well, too bad about paying for it for the previledge of deleting, though. I have never even opened the box for EWQLSO Platinum Play version and won't until they have a working player that allows for making banks or other comprehensive method of creating the keyswitches I want so I can have all the instruments/articulations loaded at once. It may be that by the time they do, I'm using all other libraries anyway and won't need it. Time will tell. I'm in no rush for Hollywood Strings. Loving LASS too much to bother. Their Hollywood Brass may be good when it comes out, but then there is the player to deal with again...........

-Paul

[muziksculp]

Could I be the only one excited about 'Halion 4' release at Muzikmesse :eusa_think: ?

Oh well, .... I feel that Steinberg might have done a great job with 'Halion 4', possibly offering some tight-integration features when using it with Cubase 6. Hopefully the included sample library will be quite comprehensive, and very high-quality. I'm sure we will begin to see some new third-party libraries in 'Halion 4' format, and possibly from Steinberg/Yamaha as well.

I'm also hoping that some new expansion libraries for 'Halion Sonic' will be announced in the near future.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

[paulwr]

Could I be the only one excited about 'Halion 4' release at Muzikmesse :eusa_think: ?

Oh well, .... I feel that Steinberg might have done a great job with 'Halion 4', possibly offering some tight-integration features when using it with Cubase 6. Hopefully the included sample library will be quite comprehensive, and very high-quality. I'm sure we will begin to see some new third-party libraries in 'Halion 4' format, and possibly from Steinberg/Yamaha as well.

I'm also hoping that some new expansion libraries for 'Halion Sonic' will be announced in the near future.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

It isn't that there aren't usable sounds there. I've heard several live demos in competent hands. But for me I do more orchestral or orchestral with customized synth sounds and since I don't play guitar, I look for specialized libraries with interesting playing techniques with pings and pops and other treatments like you may hear on crime shows, etc...

But I've had fun playing with Halion stock version in Cubase 5.5 and have grabbed an element from it now and then to double an orchestral instrument and things like that.

Any of the guys here that write for tv and/or film have enormous sound libraries and Halion is hard to get excited about when you already have many thousands of specific sounds at hand already.

-Paul

[Daryl]

I'm sure we will begin to see some new third-party libraries in 'Halion 4' format, and possibly from Steinberg/Yamaha as well.


I doubt that. Why would a 3rd party developer waste time with a sample player that has traditionally been buggy, and that nobody uses? Even BBB is now using Kpontakt.

D

[muziksculp]

I doubt that. Why would a 3rd party developer waste time with a sample player that has traditionally been buggy, and that nobody uses? Even BBB is now using Kpontakt.

D

Because there is always a new beginning !

Optimistic ? Yes, I am.

I feel that Steinberg will not waste all their time, and money in developing a sophisticated sampler like 'Halion 4' for fun, they know the market they are competing in, Kontakt, Mach 5, Independence Pro, ...etc. Lots of competing products, Kontakt 4 being in the lead. They must have plans for soundware support, licensing, ...etc.. Hopefully, I don't sound naive, or overly-optimistic about 'Halion 4', but I feel Steinberg & Yamaha are not exactly the same as Steinberg alone. Things have been surely changing to the better. Steinberg is doing a wonderful job.

Oh ... and I think Kontakt 4's GUI, needs a major facelift/re-design. I'm sure 'Halion 4' will have a much more advanced GUI to work with than Kontakt 4.

Again, only time will tell.

Cheers,
Muziksculp

[Animus]

I doubt that. Why would a 3rd party developer waste time with a sample player that has traditionally been buggy, and that nobody uses? Even BBB is now using Kpontakt.

D


Or better yet support something that has no proven support. Hasn't there been 6 years since Halion 3? lol

[Rome]

I'm not exited as I just lost 10€ because of Halion 4. My bet was that Duke Nukem Forever would have been released first...

[Daryl]

Because there is always a new beginning !

Optimistic ? Yes, I am.

I feel that Steinberg will not waste all their time, and money in developing a sophisticated sampler like 'Halion 4' for fun, they know the market they are competing in, Kontakt, Mach 5, Independence Pro, ...etc. Lots of competing products, Kontakt 4 being in the lead. They must have plans for soundware support, licensing, ...etc.. Hopefully, I don't sound naive, or overly-optimistic about 'Halion 4', but I feel Steinberg & Yamaha are not exactly the same as Steinberg alone. Things have been surely changing to the better. Steinberg is doing a wonderful job.

Oh ... and I think Kontakt 4's GUI, needs a major facelift/re-design. I'm sure 'Halion 4' will have a much more advanced GUI to work with than Kontakt 4.

Again, only time will tell.

Cheers,
Muziksculp
There re only so many chances that I, a professional, can afford to give a company. Halion just isn't worth my time, when Kontakt does a satisfactory job. The only time that I seriously thought about getting it was for BBB, which I didn't buy in the end. Had it been available in Kontakt format at the time, I probably would have bought it, so they lost a sale, and I know I wasn't the only one.

EW is another company who have blown it as far as I'm concerned. I gave PLAY a good chance, and it was cr*p, and considering that the product was not much better than mediocre, it just wasn't worth my time. Therefore, no matter how good any new products might potentially be, I'm not going to get them.

My attitude is by no means unique, so this is what Steinberg is up against, and I don't see that they can win the battle, when you consider that many people are not even happy with the performance of their core products. Fix Cubase and Nuendo, start listening to their customers and then there may be a chance.

D

[MattiasNYC]

Because there is always a new beginning !

Optimistic ? Yes, I am.

I feel that Steinberg will not waste all their time, and money in developing a sophisticated sampler like 'Halion 4' for fun, they know the market they are competing in, Kontakt, Mach 5, Independence Pro, ...etc. Lots of competing products, Kontakt 4 being in the lead. They must have plans for soundware support, licensing, ...etc.. Hopefully, I don't sound naive, or overly-optimistic about 'Halion 4',

I'm sure it could turn out to be a wonderful product, but as you said (and others), why would people bother with Kontakt being so established already? And don't assume that just because a company has plans that they'll actually follow them through. That's not a given at all. With SB's track record some people would be "worried" about it.

My hunch is that they are trying to compete by offering a complete solution. I think that's sort of pointless however (until their sales figures convince me of the opposite), and I think they should focus on the stuff they've done well, which in my opinion is inventing new technology and functionality.

The reason people here are pessimistic about SB and their products is that the base that these "peripheral" products run on, Cubase and Nuendo, don't get the resources they need. Why muck around with a sample-player when the flagship Nuendo that - we are told - is focused on media post production STILL has a video playback engine that doesn't run properly?

Priorities.


I feel Steinberg & Yamaha are not exactly the same as Steinberg alone. Things have been surely changing to the better. Steinberg is doing a wonderful job.

I think things are better as well. But consider the following:

~ Flagship app still released with fundamental problems, and months later still has video player issues
~ Beta / internal testing that miss these problems
~ After having been owned by Yamaha for so long (relatively speaking) there still isn't a pro controller for Nuendo / Cubase (which is a bit "weird" because Yamaha had some successful digital mixers out there)


Again, only time will tell.

True. And for those of us who bought Nuendo version 1.x and has been with it for a decade or so, time has told us certain things.

Here's something to consider for perspective:

In the old forum there were a lot of discussions about functionality, bugs etc. Many people who were labeled "whiners" really only wanted a great product that worked as advertised. And many people actually made very sensible suggestions about how Cubendo could change for the better. But rather than that, people were told that SB did it their way, and if people complained too much, or the wrong way, they were banned. So now SB thinks that it has turned a new leaf and is listening to its customers in the "Nuendo Inside" session. Well, look at the participation! It's about 15 people talking in there. That's it.

My guess is that people simply had enough, and when PT 9 came out they found an alternative.

Don't get me wrong, Nuendo is fantastic in principle, and it would be great if Halion 4 is awesome and brings in lots of revenue, because then it can be spent on making Nuendo better (which is obviously something I care about - i.e not Halion 4 in itself)….

[TAFKAT]

HALion 4 will be DOA IMO !

Place it in the same basket as Structure , or better still Gigastudio 4 ... LOL !

What an absolute waste of time and resources when they can't even get their Hosts sorted, can't wait for the BETA drones masquerading as Shills to roll out to try and pump some blood into this dead horse.. !!

Dead end o !

[zephonic]

Well, if Halion4 would allow use of Kontakt libraries it could be interesting. I did love the drag & drop functionality between Cubase's arrange page and older Halions. I miss that.

[paulwr]

Well, if Halion4 would allow use of Kontakt libraries it could be interesting. I did love the drag & drop functionality between Cubase's arrange page and older Halions. I miss that.

Actually, I think the Kontakt import functionality was discussed at a club cubase meeting. The best Kontakt libraries rely on a lot of special features in Kontakt, and that could be hard to implement fully via importing.

-Paul

[Daryl]

Actually, I think the Kontakt import functionality was discussed at a club cubase meeting. The best Kontakt libraries rely on a lot of special features in Kontakt, and that could be hard to implement fully via importing.

-Paul
Of course if the Kontakt libraries are protected, then I doubt that they would import anyway.

D

[paulwr]

Of course if the Kontakt libraries are protected, then I doubt that they would import anyway.

D

Right.

I certainly don't see Halion catching on at the pro level for composers particularly. But...... it can possibly be a strong factor in getting the newbies to purchase Cubase and then expand into the full Halion. What the hell, a beginner has to start somewhere. I don't use Garritan, nor did I use it very long, but it got me started when I got back to doing pro music.

-Paul

[Animus]

They should just make Halion a loss leader and include it free with Cubase/Nuendo. THat would make Steinberg more competitive in the DAW market.

[blob]

They should just make Halion a loss leader and include it free with Cubase/Nuendo. THat would make Steinberg more competitive in the DAW market.

Exactly. Include some kick ass libraries as part of deal.
Why not some nice post production libraries (IR, or better own version of Altiverb :) ) for Nuendo if they want it to be Avids competitor?.

[muziksculp]

Halion 4 Has Arrived !


http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/vst/preview_halion_4.html