MusicRadar

HALion Sonic's comprehensive yet user-friendly interface is one of its best features.

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• Review

In its time, Steinberg's Hypersonic 2 was a good workhorse synth/ROMpler plug-in. However, things move on. Four years later, we have HALion Sonic, which combines Steinberg's sampling/synthesis engine with sound design from Yamaha's Motif team to deliver over 1200 workstation-style synth, hybrid and acoustic sounds.

So is it just a revamped Hypersonic? Not really: visual similarities aside, this is a much deeper instrument. HALion Sonic is built around a framework featuring 16 program slots. You can use this system to control, balance and play up to 16 separate programs on different MIDI channels or, alternatively, stack them up to create complex sounds.

"The filters are one of HALion Sonic's most powerful elements: there are a whopping 23 different types."

The main area in which HALion Sonic overshadows its predecessor is its underlying sampling/synthesis engine. This uses technology from the forthcoming HALion 4 to deliver four modes - Synth/Sample, Drum, Loop and Instrument - and combined with the four layers per program, there's plenty of scope for sonic manipulation.

Additional features include four insert effects per layer and four per program, four global aux effects, LFOs, 24 filter types, envelopes (pitch, amplitude, filter and freely assignable), a 32-slot modulation matrix, a step modulator, eight preassigned quick controls, eight trigger pads and an X/Y controller that's cryptically dubbed The Sphere.

Finally, there's the FlexPhraser. This handles everything from basic arpeggiation to performance assistance for guitar, bass and drum parts, using a library of over 1400 phrases.

Under the hood

So, HALion Sonic clearly packs some serious horsepower. In use this is most obvious with the virtual analogue system, which offers three oscillators plus sub, noise and ring modulation. In addition to the usual sines, squares, saws and whatnot, HALion Sonic's oscillator types include cross-modulated, synced and the ring modulator-esque 'exclusive or'.

Also worth mentioning are the four LFOs, two monophonic and two polyphonic. The latter allow independent modulation per note, and also have additional shape-editing features.

The filters are one of HALion Sonic's most powerful elements. There are a whopping 23 filter types, all available in Classic and Tube Drive flavours. You can use them in serial and parallel modes, and morph between up to four filter shapes. The results are superb and you could easily get waylaid by them for some time.

Understandably, not all features are available in all modes, with the step modulator and the powerful filter configurations only found in the Synth/Sample mode. In contrast, the Instrument mode is for keyswitching multi-articulation patches, and offers a much simpler single-tab interface.

Similarly, the Drum and Loop modes share an interface, which is also less full on. However, it does include a keymap graphic and parameter adjustment for sounds assigned to each key, including effect send levels.