Steinberg release HALion 7 – the flagship sampler VST gets a modern update with new synthesis & modulation tools
Steinberg has released HALion 7, the latest update to their flagship sampler VST. Now, HALion has a new FM and spectral synth engine, more advanced modulations, and more.
HALion 7 builds on everything that was great about the HALion 6 sampler VST, and now HALion 7 offers so many new features and improvements! In fact, HALion 7 has a new, pretty delicious user interface and gives you new synthesis & modulation tools.
HALion 7
Let’s start with the new interface on HALion 7. The new user interface update the sampler’s look whereas the HALion 6 looked somewhat dated. Now, it offers a fresh new look and feels with a redesigned interface, a redesigned MediaBay, and some workflow upgrades too.
Now let’s get into the nitty-gritty. The rise in multi-engine sound generators continues as Steinberg gives their flagship sampler a plethora of new tools, putting the tool on par with the likes of Arturia’s Pigments, UVI ‘s Falcon 2 & PhasePlant by Kilohearts.
For instance, HALion 7 now offers new frequency modulation and spectral synthesis blocks. Firstly, the new FM Zone is a new FM Synthesizer block that offers up to 8 operators that you can configure in various algorithms. In fact, you determine whether the eight operators behave as carriers or modulators, and you can even send them into feedback loops. In fact, Synth Anatomy reports that you can create sounds ranging from classic DX-7 tones to modern FM sounds.
HALion’s new Spectral Zone, on the other hand, is a spectral oscillator “powered by a time stretch and resynthesis algorithm”. In short, you can manipulate your sounds using parameters for formant shift, a spectral filter, inharmonicity, and more spectral settings just as you can on other spectral synths like Vital VST.
Speaking of wavetable synthesis, HALion 7’s built-in wavetable synth engine has seen an update too. Now, it supports wavetables with up to 1024 individual subtables. And the new spectral zone even has new spectral filters that you can use too.
As for modulation mapping, HALion 7 has a whole new workflow that you can make use of. The modulation engine has had a makeover, and now you can “shape, tweak, and animate your sounds more easily than ever with HALion’s new modulation concept,” Steinberg states in the press release, with its new shaper envelopes. In fact, the envelopes now give you a range of brush, pen, and eraser tools that allow you to draw and customize the envelopes in new ways.
Furthermore, HALion’s new modulation rows give you the ability to click on the modulation destination or source and easily edit them, while assigning modulation sources is made easier with a new drag-and-drop interface. And the addition of 10 new effects, an X-LFO, chord export from the trigger, pads, a decompose function, impulse response import, and a new oscilloscope make HAlion 7 a sampling force not to be reckoned with.
Availability
Steinberg HALion 7 is now available for $349, and users of HALion 6 can upgrade to 7 for $99.99 and owners of older versions can upgrade for $199.99. Meanwhile, users who activated HALion 6, Absolute 5, or earlier versions since November 1st are eligible for a free, downloadable grace period update to the latest version.