It would be great to use the sounds in the software sampler products I use regularly in my DAWs, i.e. Halion Sonic and SampleTank. I've fiddled around with BIAB's VST Synth setup but I haven't succeeded. Has anyone got this working? Thanks.
I'm guessing you want the program's default VST soft synth to be either Halion Sonic or IK Multimedia's SampleTank 2, 3 or 4; is that correct?
If my assumption is correct then the answer is yes, it is possible. However, you should realize that is not how the programs are intended to be used so the results are inconsistent at best.
The issue is Halion Sonic and SampleTank do not follow the general midi (GM) or general midi 2 patch specifications. Those specifications assign instrument or sound effect names to either 128 (GM) or 256 (GM2) patches. The specifications also state midi channel 10 is reserved for drum and percussion patches as well as assigning what note equals which patch. These assignments allow standard midi file players to load and use the correct instrument patches during playback. The specifications are what determine a guitar is a guitar, bass is a bass, piano is a piano and so on. Band-in-a-Box expands on that idea by assigning midi channels to instrument tracks. You can see and alter the midi channel assignments by pressing Ctrl + E and then selecting the "Channels" button. The MIDI Settings window you see below will open. If you press the GM Patches button on the MIDI Settings window the list of 128 GM patch names will be displayed as seen in the second screen shot.
Sonic and Sampletank allow you you load multiple patches. The expectation is first you load the VST into the program and then load the instrument patch(es) into the VST. SampleTank 2(don't know about 3 and 4 and I think Sonic but I'm not sure) lets you create a list of patches that the VST will automatically fetch and load when the VST is loaded. Someone has to create a list of patch names for the program to load.
Fiddler got me motivated to try Halion Sonic as a default synth and it works great in biab 18. I have to agree with him that the sounds are far better than any other default synth I have tried.
No problem with general midi either as there is a an option to select GM in Halion options.
Keeps that setting too.
As regards Sampletank I am on version 2.5 there and have the Omnisynth 2 sounds, which are pretty good as a default synth, but does require loading a patch map every time, you open biab.
But at the moment its Halion all the way as a default synth.
There are a few recent threads about Halion and how to download the .dll file and get it working on here.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Note there is no sounds with the above, but the .dll file for Halion from the above opens fine in biab for me.
As Steinberg doesn't really give you much of a choice as to where to install it, I actually found the.dll in the cakewalk plugin folder rather than the Steinberg plugin folder.
I do have jbrdge as well on my computer, so not sure if that has any bearing on Halion working ok.
I am on biab 18 but I think Fiddler2007 has it on 19 as well.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
Halion needs to find the *.vstsound file that it uses, usually installed here: C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Content\HALion (SONIC SE?)\VST Sound. Get the latest version, reinstall it, the older had some problems maybe.
I finally got around to trying out Halion today, using BIAB 2019 (622), Win 10, here are some details.
Initially, I installed CUbase LE, and Halion is included with it. The plugin showed up in the following directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Steinberg\Shared Components\HALion Sonic SE\HALion Sonic SE.dll
For the default Synth in BIAB, I pointed it to that location, but it wouldn't recognize it as a valid plugin in the 64-bit BIAB 2019. Yet it was working in Cubase. So I tried downloading the free version in the link, it's HALion Sonic SE 3.2.15
It updated the .dll file at that location, and it was then recognized as a valid plugin. Tested it with a number of MIDI files, and it's working great. I noticed a better sound especially on the pianos. Also found that it works solidly with Reaper.
I didn't know about the "GM mode" either, thanks for the heads up on that one!
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I've got it working. But for a piece that has, say, bass, piano and guitar, I have to load the Halion Sonic sound separately for each, i.e. each track/channel seems to need a separate instantiation of Halion Sonic. Isn't there a way of loading one instantiation of HS and loading bass, piano and guitar into channels 1,2 and 3, i.e. as I would in a DAW?
If you put Halion Sonic in GM mode and set it as your default synth, it will respond on all the tracks; however, you will then only get the GM designated sound patches. That's the tradeoff between selecting higher quality sound patches in Halion Sonic (in which case you would have to load separate instances on each track, as you are currently doing).
John
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We quickly interrupt your regularly scheduled thread to bring new folks the following message
For those, mainly new folks, reading this thread but that do not have HALion Sonic SE or have it but haven't figured out out to get GM sounds to use in it, read the following recent thread on that topic. I would suggest you get the "combo" before Steinberg figures out they are really, in essence, giving away a free GM player WITH a GM sound set and yes Halion Sonic SE, when set to GM mode, is GM compliant (maybe not fully GM2 or GS)
If you you mean has anyone got SampleTank 2.5 and Halion Sonic (or HALION full or Halion SE) to work in GM mode in BIAB? Short answer is yes I have but, as mentioned above, with ST 2.5 you need to load up a config file each time. An you have to manually select drums on Channel 10 in ST even when using Omnisynth2 in ST 2.5. While you can load Omnisynth 2 ST 3 and ST 4 as a sound set - it will not work as a GM set. ST 3 and ST 4 DO NOT HAVE ANY GM modes or sound sets, other than Omnisynth 2, so no way (yet) to use then as GM "players" or module. You can use ST 3 and ST 4 in BIAB but you have to manually set each sound on each part for each channel.
If you you mean within the VSTi version of BIAB, has anyone got SampleTank 2.5 and Halion Sonic (or HALION full or Halion SE) to work in GM mode? I have no idea I don't use it but from a previous thread I'm fairly certain you have no control over what it uses, its a fixed GM set and it sounds like the BIAB CoyoteWT (aka MS GS wavetable) set.
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Has anyone got this working? Thanks.
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