Does anyone own the HALion Sonic 3? Does it work with BIAB 2017?

With Halion Sonic 2, probably 64bit too, loaded from "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins\HALion Sonic", you can set it to GM here, and it seems to load default in these settings when you start BIAB. (picture below no 1). I'll give a try if i like it. Curious if version 3 works too ....

For the past couple of years i preferred Hypersonic 2 over Coyote and other GM VSTs, as it is easy to install and loads quite fast and sounds OK. Some years ago i bought Sampletank's Omnisynth, but that's a real drag to install and keep rolling, though it sounds OK too.

BTW I have Halion 5; the 64bit dll i think, stored in "C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins\HALion 5", loaded OK and it works, but i could not find how to set it to GM. BTW you cannot load the interface page properly though since BIAB doesn't allow it due space needed for it's own plugin pages' settings, maybe a redesign needed? See picture 2 below. -F

fiddler2007 thank you for your response with the infor. on Halion Sonic.

How good is the sound of Halion sonic 2 compare to Softsyn TTS-1?

Quite better LoL, but it's more guite expensive too IMO. Halion Sonic SE comes free with cubase versions above 6 i think, but i don't know if it's embedded in the cheaper versions. Hypersonic 2 is one i'd prefer over most "cheap" other GM synths, for sound and ease of use mainly, alas only avail in 32bit, and you'll have to find a used license. F

Thank you

My mind was set to buy the Halion Sonic3, but some one brought up to me to check out the SampleTanks3.

How are the sounds between the two packages ?
Thanks for your inputs

I don't know about SampleTank 3, as i have ST 2.5: the sounds from 2.5 are OK, also bought the Omnisynth expansion for GM, but i abandoned ST 2.5 since it's a drag to keep working properly; every time you have to reset and address the sounds again. Others might have a different opinion though ... F

I don't have Halion Sonic 3 (but I do have Sonic 2 and the full Halion 4 - waiting for a sale to go to Halion 6); to my ears, Halion in general sounds better than what I find in Sampletank, but that's truly subjective. Steinberg products also require a dongle (their own proprietary dongle, so even if you have an iLok, it won't work with it).

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Just signed up to received the email and going to give this a try tomorrow.

Thank you everyone for your inputs, based on your inputs I'll go with Halion Sonic 3/Halion 6.
I'm very appreciated your inputs

Thanks

Do they have another option to activate the licence without using their dongle?

In looking more closely, I believe they have a soft eLicenser where you can license it to a particular computer (although I don't know if all products support the eLicenser). However, I believe if you do that and your hard drive crashes, you have to pay to re-authorize the software. The advantage of the dongle, however, is that you can install the software on multiple computers, but you can only run it on one at a time (based on inserting the dongle).

I've not had any problems using the dongle or switching back and forth between my three computers, but it's just a pain. Granted, if the dongle dies, it costs to get back your licenses then too.

Demos & trials come with a soft elicenser, and all data including elicenser hardware numbers itself are registered, and you can release all licenses to another dongle if needed. No, a dead dongle will be acknowledged by steinberg, all will be transferred; their help desk can tell you more. For pro users they will even give you temporary licenses in case of exchange problems, that if you have your stuff registered with your "my steinberg" account. F

Yep, all my stuff is registered (Halion 4 and Cubase Artist). That being said, I've never had a problem with the dongle. it's just a pain sometimes if I launch a DAW that scans VST's but forget to put in the Dongle, even if I'm not going to use the Steinberg VST's, as the scan process hangs until I insert the dongle.

I've just downloaded and installed the Halion sonic3, it won't run/load with BiAB 2015

Vihnson,

In the first post in the thread you talk about HALion Sonic 3 and BIAB 2017 and now you mention BIAB 2015 in the above post.

Does this mean it runs in 2017 but not 2015? Also, did you try the HALion Sonic 3 SE (free version) to see if that worked before you got the full version?

From what I can see, Sonic 3 is a 64 bit plugin and Steinberg's site doesn't seem to make reference to a 32 bit version (which BIAB needs to use). I may have missed something though so I could be incorrect. If it turns out that I'm right, you will need to get JBridge ($10 for the version that works with BIAB from PG Music) to interface with the VST plugin.

Regards,
Noel

• my latest song : What A Crazy Thing (cowritten with floyd jane)

Noel96,
The first post I mentioned BiaB2017 and Halion sonic3, if Bias2017 works fine without Jbridge I'll update my BiaB2015.
I tested on my Biab2015, it doesn't work. I do have Jbridge but it does not work properly

Ahh, I see.

Let's just wait and see if someone who has the program has some thoughts.

Hi Y'all. As said i got HS2 SE and HS2, and Halion 5 running on BIAB 2017, all 64bit versions. Running on a 64bit Win10, without adaptations for the 64bit versions. Dunno what i am doing wrong LoL. Maybe something has changed with SE3? -F

When I add the Halion sonic3 VTSi , BiaB2015 popup a msg: Req Jbrigde to run.... I've few issues with Jbridge running 64bits dll in the past, I have to remove Jbridge. ( cause Biab hung most of the time)

Maybe Halion Sonic3 has changed therefore it does not work with Biab2015/ 2017 ?

Well, with BIAB i never used Jbridge, only with Cubase 64bit, converting some old 32 bit plugs. Just worked with HS2 in BIAB set to GM mode, no problems. You will need the latest Jbridge with windows 10 BTW. Maybe you can download HS2 (SE?) and give it a try, if you have a license for HS3 you're entitled to. Also I found with windows 10 that sometimes this permission settings thing is a mess again and can cause problems, especially when programs and program resources are installed in the windows Documents and Program Data folders, actually i have to run "takeownership" there quite a bit. Probably after windows update messes things up again. - F

I don't know if this is your problem, but this has come up a few times before.

When you install jBridge, did you just install the one you download from the jbridge site, or the one that was emailed to you based on your registered account. If the first, it will not work with BIAB; you have to use the one that is emailed to you. It is a different screen from the jbridge site to request the most current copy. You then get an email with an attachment that is in 7-zip format. If you don't have 7-zip, then just download it and install 7-zip (it's a free open source data compression program). Anyway, once you decompress the 7-zip file, you then end up with a Zip file. Just use 7-zip again to decompress that one. You'll then end up with an EXE file. Just run the EXE file to install 7-zip.

I don't know why they double compress it, but I suspect it's a way to get it through email systems or file scanners that don't allow certain file types.

Just read that HS2 has still the option of installing either 32bit or 64bit versions. I use the 64bit version as installed by steinbergs installer on my Win10 64bit system. I noticed it loads in the Jbridge interface automatically, so i guess BIAB arranged this?? I haven't converted the 64bit HS2 VST manually, which i do with 32bit plugins to Jbridged (64bit) versions. But i read HS3 is 64bit only, no more 32bit versions available, maybe that's the cause? As said HS2 in GM mode works flawlessly on my system, and IMO sounds even better than Hypersonic 2, which i used before. I think i prefer it a lot over Sampletank, both for sound and ease of use. F

Thanks for your info.

I've bought Jbridge 2 years ago, Do I have to pay after 1 year for update new version? Anyone know ?

nope, you're stuck for life with jbridge, no way out ...