I may have paid and installed wrong update for Halion 6

Noob here so go easy on me

  • I recently upgraded to Cubase 9 to 9.5 elements without problems… when I use Halion it says “Halion Sonic SE 3” in the top left hand corner.
  • I bought the Halion 6 on Saturday with slow internet (30gig)
  • I can’t get the key Licence to work. I’m seriously worried I bought the wrong one.
    My email activation key says it’s for " HALion 6 Upgrade from HALion Sonic 3"
    I think I bought the wrong one.

Can someone confirm if I have or haven’t?

Is Halion Sonic 3 not the same as Halion Sonic SE?

How can I fix this?

You have indeed bought the wrong upgrade.

HALion Sonic 3 and HALion Sonic SE 3 are not the same. HALion Sonic SE 3 is the “cut down” free version of HALion Sonic 3, and as such has only a very limited number of sound presets, that varies with the version of Cubase you have (Cubase Elements has the smallest number of presets).

You cannot upgrade HALion Sonic SE 3 to HALion 6, or even to HALion Sonic 3. If you want to do an upgrade path, you first have to buy HALion Sonic 3, and then upgrade at a later time to HALion 6. I did that myself and kept things a bit affordable that way.

The best you can do is contact AskNet/Steinberg and explain you bought the wrong upgrade. Maybe they can do something for you.

If everything fails, you can consider to keep the upgrade license and buy HALion Sonic 3 at a later time. After that you can Install HALion Sonic 3, and then use that license to upgrade it right away to HALion 6.

Halion Sonic SE and Halion Sonic are obviously not the same. One quick look at the store page will show you that the Halion Sonic 3 content is completely different.

The store page always clearly states which versions you can upgrade from. If your version isn’t listed, you of course can’t upgrade from it.

From what I have seen, Asknet will do a refund on a case where the buyer bought the wrong upgrade and can’t use it.

As with any store, it’s with them you should take it up. The contact info is on the receipt.