Updating to HALion 6 - frequently asked questions



Hey,

Please sent me a PM with your ticket numbers and I’ll talk to the support team.

I was about to get the HS 5 to HS 6 upgrade. From reading the discussion here I take it that up"grading" actually sets you back in regards that one can’t easily use HS 5 besides HS 6. One has to remove HS 6 and “reinstall” HS 5 to get older projects working. Unless this issue has been solved i think i will have to pass on HS 6 for now, too much time consuming hassles in my case … F

No, H6 is compatible with H5 projects. All the content packs of previous versions are still there, and work the same way as before. You can even download and use true legacy HALion content in the old formats (from the ftp site) if needed, and use that in H6. You simply get new content, better stability, and a long list of new features/abilities.

It should not be a problem unless you need to use a 32bit host, or run on a really old OS such as Windows XP. That should be the only reason you’d need to downgrade to older HALion versions. If this is you…then you’d simply apply for a legacy ‘add-on key’ for your dongle.

Example…
I can load all my old Cubase 7 and 8 projects (even if they were made with 32bit versions) that were made with HALion 4 and 5 in my existing Cubase 9/HALion 6/Windows 10x64 or Mac setups without issue. All the old content packs stay with me…all the old fxb plugin set-up information kept in older daw projects still work, etc.

Example…
I can still load old Sibelius 7.5 - 8.x projects that I made with HALion 5. Because the plugin id is the same…Sibelius doesn’t know the difference…H6 loads where H5 did before. It loads the project and parses my default HALion setup as it always did. I just double Check HALion to make sure it has the program table and other settings I want (I store these as multi-presets), and keep right on working as before.

Example…
All my old 64bit Bidule setups that I created with H5 still work with H6 as they did before.

Example…
I can NOT get HALion 6 to work with Finale 2012 and Sibelius 6 on my old 32bit Windows XP laptop. In this case, I simply apply for an H5 add-on key for my Steinberg dongle, and roll back to whatever 32bit version of HALion works best for my old XP Laptop.

So…unless you need to roll back to support a 32bit Host or and old OS etc…you just use H6…even with your ‘old projects’ that may have been made using previous versions of HALion.

Occasionally I fire up an old 32bit DAW or sequencer on my 64bit Windows 10 system. Rather than uninstall H6 and roll back, I just use a virtual MIDI loopback port, reroute audio through the DAW, and run HALion in stand alone mode (or better yet, host it in Bidule and use rewire and reastream).

Really great that there is an update for Halion 6. Also it fixed my issue for Halion 6 in a Very Small Window not Sizeable. I hope that does not happen again, it was unworkable.

My question is, Why does Halion 6 or Steinberg Update software does not see or warm about this update to me as a user. It also happened with Wavelab 9 pro Update last time. I have to find out there is an update for Steinberg software available myself each time by looking at the support site or forum here ? If i log into my steinberg account no warmings about updates. If i use Wavelab 9 , halion 6 or C9pro, no warnings about new updates…

Is it really so every users must find out themselves by going to support or the forum to look themselves for updates ?

Have fun

Denis

I downloaded the Halion 6 Trial and put it in my USB-eLicenser.

Today I purchased Halion 6, put it in my e-Licenser and registered it in my My Steinberg account.

Should I now delete the Halion 6 Trial license from my e-Licenser?

Thanks!

I have Halion5 and will purchase Halion6 update from Halion5.
Wouls you mind telling me can I select soft-elicence?

Dear Matthias

Just upgraded to Halion Sonic 3 and realized that this has erased both the HS2 licence, plus the Hypersonic 2.exe files.

Not nice at all!!!

I checked the forum and I found out that you help other members with similar problem to get an additional licence, so I can have HS2 up and running.

Please let me know what to do…

Login to your MyStienberg account and file a support ticket. Explain that you have Sonic 3, but need a Sonic 2 add on key for the reasons you state above.

I needed one for H6 and did this. In my case it took a couple of days since I filed it at some weird hour on a Friday night.

Thanks Brian for the lead…

A Steinberg moderator sent me the add on licence and everything works fine!

Ats

I have been using Halion Sonic 2, then 3 - just updated to Halion 6 and now all my projects using Sonic 2 or 3 are trashed. My authorizations for those instruments are gone, the project doesn’t load Halion 6 in their place, my sounds and settings are lost. I’m about to have some very unhappy clients. Any suggestions? I still have Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 installed, but they won’t load because my authorizations are gone.

gantt

Sonic SE instances are not going to be replaced with H6 or Sonic 3 instances; however, True Sonic and HALion instances should, as the plugin ids are identical. In short, things should be a seamless transition. If you have projects that are trying to use Sonic SE, you’ll want to update that as well with the free SE player.

Things to check:

  1. Make sure your dongles are plugged in, go ahead and reinstall your eLisencer software to the latest version and reboot. Even if you already have the ‘latest’…Just do it again. For me this resolves issues more often than not.
    https://www.steinberg.net/en/company/technologies/elicenser.html

If that didn’t fix your issues…open that elisencer app, and make sure you have the proper keys for Sonic and HALion on your dongle or soft elisencer. Be careful if you want to keep things on the software elisencer, as once you put it on a usb dongle, it can never go back to a software elisencer. You can move it from dongle to dongle, but never back to software eLisencer. So, be careful to put the key where you want it! If you did ever put it on a usb dongle, then that MUST be plugged in for anything to work properly.

Note…older HALion stuff will not work from a software eLisencer at all. Those MUST be run from your usb dongle. So…if you have upgraded to HALion 6, Sonic 3, and have a need to run HALion 5, Sonic 2 plugins, or older…you should contact support for a special ‘add-on’ key that works with those old plugins. I believe the special roll-back add-on key has to be on a dongle, and you’ll also need the H6/Sonic 3 keys properly set up somewhere on the system. Also note, that you should not really need to do this unless you’re trying to run some old 32bit host(s). Personally, I bridge instead of trying to roll things back in the rare case I need to run HALion in some ancient 32bit host. Options for bridging 64bit plugins to old 32bit hosts include jBridge, or running a 32bit instance of Bidule hooked up over ReWire.

  1. If you still have plugins for older versions of HALion on the system, it’s probably best to uninstall them (or move the dll and/or VST3 wrappers to a VST directory that your DAW is not scanning for plugins). Keep all the content, but get rid of the apps and plugin wrappers.

I.E. I’ve got legacy HALion content going back to version 1. I’ve also got stuff I imported from AKAI and Roland Sampler disks. I’ve got HSO, and other things as well. I did not touch any of that ‘content’. I just uninstalled HALion 5, Sonic 2, while leaving all the content alone and then installed H6 and Sonic 3, which added new content, registered the old, and keeps plugging right along with my older projects.

Exceptions being really old projects that still try to call up HALion ONE. In those cases, I need to redirect the track(s) to H6 or Sonic 3 and manually set it up to use the old sounds.

  1. Double check your plugin directory for your DAW. Make sure it is finding your H6/Sonic 3 plugins. Make sure it is NOT finding older versions of HALion and/or Sonic.

By Default, I believe the newer retail HALion and Sonic releases like to place their plugins in one or more of the following locations:
“%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Common Files\VST3” (VST3 variants)
“%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins” (VST2.x variants)
“%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\VSTPlugins” (VST2.x variants)

So…make sure your DAW is finding the plugins.

Matthias Quellmann.
Is the add-on license dependant on having previously purchased Halion v5?

Hi, Is “HALion Sonic 3” the same product as “Halion Sonic SE 3” which comes with Cubase Pro 10?

I can’t really tell by the FAQ links.

No, it’s 2 different products.

Quite different. Sonic 3 comes with a lot of extra content that might be of interest to people who will primarily use it in a DAW, and having lots of instances of a plugin isn’t an issue (so the UI advantages may seem minimal). There are more things you can edit and change up in the UI.

Aside from the gigabytes of extra content…for live performing, or in hosts where you don’t really want to mess with a lot of individual instances of the same plugin to get complicated layered or split effects…the UI offers some power user features that SE doesn’t have.

It has some interesting features for using it as a live performing instrument, either stand-alone, or in the host of your choice. I.E. Assigning entire multi-programs to a MIDI program change event. It has more tools for layering programs and/or splitting the keyboard (up to four per channel I think), and in ‘some cases’ it’ll even let you change up some sounds (load and manipulate raw layers instead of full Sonic ‘programs’) that don’t have a special macro (in this case, you’re using HALion layers that are basically mapped out samples or synth-tone genorators to build your own new program, and it looks and feels a bit more like the full blown HALion product).

The best way to know if it’s worth the money to you is to demo it. Info on how can be found here: Try HALion Now for 30 Days | Steinberg

Yes, the demo link is for HALion 6, but that bucket includes Sonic 3, so you get to try both.

Hi, friends. I want to know if Halion 6 and Absolute 4 work with Pro Tools 10 and iOS Mavericks 10.9.5. Thank you very much.

I’m actually having a lot of problems with Halion 6, It seems to of started since the last update to 6.4, I get no presets at all, but Halion sonic 3 works fine, I’ve tried reinstalling several times, everything shows up in the library manager that the sounds are registered, but still nothing, not even the synth macro icons in the browser page,
has anyone else had this issue?

PS
I’ve even tried to go back to Halion 5 but can’t because the license has been overwritten

Hi, cubase 10.5 pro comes with halion sonic 3 , if I want to upgrade to halion 6 do I just buy the update or do I purchase the complete version of halion 6?