If you scroll all the way to the bottom of this page, you can get keys via email for the free sounds to enter into SDA. There are also a few free sounds you can grab that may not be obvious through the Steinberg Download Assistant (SDA) ‘update’ process. They will be added to your ‘voucher’ tab as they become available.
If you have any HALion expansion packs, keep an eye on your MySteinberg account for updated keys and content to go with the new dongle free Steinberg Activation Center. Need more? Set another program slot to the same MIDI channel and keep stacking! Start with the “Init Program”, click a Layer, and you also get access to a FlexP synth zone to tinker with, and you can layer up to 4 of these together in a single program slot.
I think there is a free synth zone to tinker with. Namely freedom from the old eLicenser/Dongle system, an improved Media Bay experience, and better native support for Apple Silicon. Sonic 7 does offer some extra features over HSSE. You get access to whatever HALion content comes with your Steinberg Hosts, plus whatever extra content you have keys to run. You are correct that the sounds pretty much remain the same. In most cases those Apple users can opt for the native AU or AAX variants and run with Sonic 7. I think Apple users with Apple Silicon might require Rosetta to use the VST2 variant as well. Finale/Sibelius on Windows)…you might want to keep HSSE 3.5.10 around. So…if you need a VST2 variant of Sonic (I.E. So…unless you’ve manually ‘uninstalled’ HSSE, such hosts/projects will still use it so long as that HSSE dll is in the scanned plugin path for the host. This exception comes about because there is no VST2 version of Sonic/HALion 7. Your rack might still say Sonic SE, but you’ll notice that when you open the UI it’s been replaced with Sonic 7.Īn exception to that rule is hosts that don’t support VST3, AU, or AAX plugins. In most cases, yes, Sonic 7 replaces any instance of HSSE in your older projects. And its onboard effects give you a few ways of making the sound bigger, brighter, and bolder.Accepting the upgrade ‘might’ also update some of the content libraries as well, insuring they are up to code for running ‘dongle/eLicenser free’. Its soft sound doesn’t need much in the way of editing to sound organic like you’re really playing a luscious piano. Here, you have an instrument that doesn’t try to be anything more than a clean-sounding piano – and that’s perfect for film scores, classical compositions, and so on. The final free HALion instrument I’ll talk about is Novel Piano. Its user interface has a dated aesthetic, the piano offers a dirty sound, and it even, and comes with chord pads and a number of onboard effects! Whether you layer them or write some counter melodies, these two instruments are not to be looked over! Meanwhile, LoFi Piano lives up to its name. Used together (with some LoFi processing on the glockenspiel instrument) they create a luscious blend of warm tones. And when you throw in some post-processing you’ll be able to make these sounds more your own.Īdditionally, the Alto Glockenspiel Essential instrument comes to life when used with the Sonic 7 LoFi Piano instrument. The Guitar Harmonics Essential instrument, for example, gives you a warm sound and texture perfect for creating many a chilled tune, so HALion Sonic 7 does give you a special bit of content.įurthermore, its warm tones are well suited to nice melodies and even some interesting sound effects with a bit of post-processing. Though the controls on HALion Sonic 7 are very limited, the sounds available in the software are worth awning over. HALion Sonic 7 is here, and it gives you a handful of free libraries with new presets and sounds made with the bigger HALion 7 sampler. All of HALion 7’s audio enhancements are included, of course, but users cannot make changes to any of the presets. It’s a slimmed-down version of the bigger virtual instrument and only provides access to HALion presets. HALion Sonic is essentially like the Player version of Kontakt. The latest update of Steinberg’s HALion 7 sample player offers many new tools for manipulating your sounds in addition to brand new FM & wavetable synthesis engines. The new sample player comes after the official launch of HALion 7 – Steinberg’s flagship sampler. Steinberg has released an updated version of the free HALion Sonic 7 sample player.