Steinberg HALion 7

Steinberg's do-everything sample-based instrument now does a lot more, is easier on the eye and, importantly, is a lot easier to grapple with

Steinberg’s HALion (standalone, VST, AU, and AAX) is a do-everything plugin and features sampling, virtual instruments, a wealth of sound design and synthesis options and over 37GB of content. Version 6 was a big chapter in its story, a life which began as a humble virtual sampler way back in 2001. The Wavetable Zone was added to VA, granular and organ engines, the sampling options were increased and piano, brass and string instruments were included. Version 6 was designed to improve on HALion in some key ways. It had very much become a fabulous sound design tool, with plenty of elements to twist and turn the ingredients into something new, or create entirely fresh instruments. It did feel a little cumbersome, though – almost too powerful – and six years on, while HALion 7 adds extras, (it has 15 instruments in total and over 3700 presets), it thankfully, loses some deadwood along the way.

Up and running fast

The first cut here is the lengthy installation process that v6 put you through. We had v7 up and running from scratch in less than 20 minutes, including the 37GB download. Using Steinberg’s Download Manager, no dongle is required, and it couldn’t have been easier.