Menu
What's new
By:
Filters

A new perspective on the sound of Falcon

liquidlino said:
Glad you like it! I've added the patch to the post above with the audio. Basically, it's a wavetable (one of the stock ones from falcon), with a couple of filters on top (one of which is the new VCF-20 filter, which honestly sounds nothing like an MS-20 filter, but its good in it's own right.). The real magic is "Magnetic Bass Shaper" and I've got 3 band compression at different points in the layer and final output.
Click to expand...
Thanks for making the patch. I'm not always making this type of stuff but it helps to hear the range of Falcon.

Cameron from Venus Theory seemed to be very happy with the MS20 filter though. I've never owned one personally.

Would you say the bass in this track is an MS20? Do you think it can be achieved with Falcon?

 
Bee_Abney said:
I just don't know for sure. My working hypothesis is that it does make a difference, that the engines don't playback samples with a neutral tone. SFZ instruments sound pretty much like their WAV files sound on their own. Falcon definitely doesn't.

In any case, once you start applying processing within the player, then the character of its effects resources will start to show.

The Omnisphere version of Baltic Shimmers sounds like Omnisphere, and not like the HALion version. But that's a bit different as Omnisphere wouldn't be able use nearly as many samples.
Click to expand...
You know, maybe it's the timestretching algos?
 
@Pier
Filters & modulation are better in Falcon
Falcon includes 1200 presets + 1GB factory library vs
HALion's 14 instruments, 40GB + 3,400 presets
HALion's granular engine handles twice max grain length and 100% position randomization
(1 second/full sample vs Falcon's 500ms max)
HALion's patch management is better than Falcon's
HALion has a macro page designer
Steinberg has confirmed a new FM engine will be included in Halion 7 among other things. H6 was released at NAMM Jan 2017. Rumour has it H7 will be released between now and then. Who know?
synthmorph.com

Steinberg HALion | Behind-the-Scenes Developer Interview

Steinberg HALion team leader Michael Ruf explains the story and the challenges they are facing during the HALion development.
synthmorph.com synthmorph.com

For slightly more $ Absolute 5 includes:
  • 130GB of production-ready content
  • Over 7,500 presets
  • HALion 6
  • HALion Sonic 3 packs synths, deep-sampled acoustic instruments
  • Amped Elektra, Backbone, and Electric Bass instruments
  • Sounds of Soul, Polarities, and Future Past Perfect expansions
  • Groove Agent 5
 
Last edited:
Pier said:
I did in fact check Halion but very superficially to be honest. My quick impressions were that it seemed like a great sampler but so so synth. The effects of Falcon seemed better, I think?

Any third party libraries you can recommend?
Click to expand...

Iconica (Orchestral Tools) runs in HALion
www.steinberg.net

Iconica: VST Orchestra Library

Iconica was recorded in legendary Funkhaus Berlin and brings exceptional modern orchestral expression to professional composers.
www.steinberg.net www.steinberg.net


Poly & Wave by Danny Lux ("Manifest")



Materials Metal and Ice (just released)



RAST-A



Vertigo Cello
www.steinberg.net

Vertigo Cello: Dark Cello VST Library for HALion

Dive deep into solo cello and trio playing techniques, with an electrifying range of articulations. The result is a rich, dark, layered sound world.
www.steinberg.net www.steinberg.net


T-Guitar (Acoustic Samples)
 
digitallysane said:
Got it. So it's an internet rumor rather than "Steinberg has confirmed".
Click to expand...
FM has been confirmed by Steinberg, a release date has not, however a HALion update is overdue and inevitable and they have the resources to easily meet or surpass Falcon with H7 features. Consider they are collaborating with OT. UVI's orchestral instruments are pathetic in comparison to Iconica! Meanwhile they're razor focused on rehashing antique synths. Don't get me wrong, I love Falcon but I'm confident Steinberg will rejuvenate HALion and surprise us.
 
Last edited:
Alchemedia said:
FM has been confirmed by Steinberg, a release date has not, however a HALion update is overdue and inevitable and they have the resources to easily meet or surpass Falcon with V7 features. Consider they are collaborating with OT. UVI's orchestral instruments are pathetic in comparison to Iconica.
Click to expand...
You posted an interview from March 2018 (almost 4 years ago) above.

Can you compare the rate of development of Falcon vs Halion in those 4 years?
 
digitallysane said:
You posted an interview from March 2018 (almost 4 years ago) above.

Can you compare the rate of development of Falcon vs Halion in those 4 years?
Click to expand...
I can only speak on the last ten months that I've been watching with any confidence. Falcon has received a number of updates, including the latest one last month which added incredible new features - I was particularly taken with the sequencers, others have noticed the new filter more. it is definitely an evolving, well-maintained product. Sadly, for me, UVI do not seem interested in making life easier for third-party developers.

Halion 6 is due for a a revamp if they intend to keep it a live option for developers. I'm just not sure if they are intending that. It was certainly the intention four years ago... I don't know if it has had an updates this year; but if it did, they must have been fairly minor as I haven't found a discussion of it.

Falcon isn't really a good alternative to Halion if your purposes are deep sampled instruments. But MSoundFactory might be. Falcon is easy to use (though some don't get on with it) and does sampled instruments pretty well with great synthesis on top.

I'm not sure any of these are better or as good as Kontakt for deep sampled instruments for commercial developers. But for musicians making instruments for themselves without wanting to learn scripting, I think that Kontakt can be a little frustrating.

Being in the fortunate position of having Kontakt and Falcon, I don't think I really need anything more for my purposes right now. It's just that, with so much to learn, I'd like to spend that time on whichever platform is the most likely to have the best legs for future developments in both my skills and its capacities.

Soundpaint is looking for experienced commercial developers and should be opened up to more personal, individual developments next year. But, like Kontakt, it contains limited (albeit exciting) capacities for synthesis. Really, other than a suite of cool effects, it offers only re-synthesis via morphing. Although that does happen to be the very bestest thing in the world ever!
 
Alchemedia said:
@Pier
Filters & modulation are better in Falcon
Falcon includes 1200 presets + 1GB factory library vs
HALion's 14 instruments, 40GB + 3,400 presets
HALion's granular engine handles twice max grain length and 100% position randomization
(1 second/full sample vs Falcon's 500ms max)
HALion's patch management is better than Falcon's
HALion has a macro page designer
Steinberg has confirmed a new FM engine will be included in Halion 7 among other things. H6 was released at NAMM Jan 2017. Rumour has it H7 will be released between now and then. Who know?
synthmorph.com

Steinberg HALion | Behind-the-Scenes Developer Interview

Steinberg HALion team leader Michael Ruf explains the story and the challenges they are facing during the HALion development.
synthmorph.com synthmorph.com

For slightly more $ Absolute 5 includes:
  • 130GB of production-ready content
  • Over 7,500 presets
  • HALion 6
  • HALion Sonic 3 packs synths, deep-sampled acoustic instruments
  • Amped Elektra, Backbone, and Electric Bass instruments
  • Sounds of Soul, Polarities, and Future Past Perfect expansions
  • Groove Agent 5
Click to expand...
Thanks for the detailed comparison!

I'm mostly interested in Falcon as a very powerful synth. All the sampler stuff is welcome and will open up many interesting possibilities, but it's not really the main reason why I want to get into it.

For the past year or so I've been working on a couple of libraries for Zebra (some still unreleased) and I've hit some limitations. And let's face it, Zebra is pretty outdated in some aspects. Before deciding on Falcon, the other contender I considered seriously was Phase Plant.

I own other synths I adore like Dune or Bazille, but Falcon has a couple of unique features which will allow me to experiment with ideas I've had for many years and couldn't put into practice.
 
Steinberg was founded in 1984 and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha since 2005 valued at $400+ bil and has 28,000 employees. Steinberg created several industry standard music technologies including VST and ASIO protocols not to mention Cubase.

In contrast, UVI is a very small company. They are apparently not interested in promoting 3rd party development despite not possessing Steinberg's industry standard tech and deep pockets.

Between the two the choice is obvious for a dev considering a Kontakt alt platform however the market is miniscule in contrast. If you are disinterested in developing for Kontakt the best alternative is HISE.
 
Alchemedia said:
Steinberg was founded in 1984 and has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha since 2005 valued at $400+ bil and has 28,000 employees. Steinberg created several industry standard music technologies including VST and ASIO protocols not to mention Cubase.

In contrast, UVI is a very small company. They are apparently not interested in promoting 3rd party development despite not possessing Steinberg's industry standard tech and deep pockets.

Between the two the choice is obvious for a dev considering a Kontakt alt platform however the market is miniscule in contrast. If you are disinterested in developing for Kontakt the best alternative is HISE.
Click to expand...
Excellent advice. HISE or something similar (depending on where I end up heading) would be something I'd be looking into if I was doing commercial sample libraries. My idea would be that those that have bought Kontakt can afford better than anything I'd have to offer; and the licensing for the Kontakt Player rules out nominal paying-for-the-bandwidth prices.

Unlike some others on here, I'm still very much at the beginning of learning sound design and am just making instruments for my own music. It likely won't go further than that.

My thinking, incidentally, is that soft synths like Falcon could be used in the sound design chain for instruments that end up in Kontakt or HALion, or a vst. At the moment I'm planning to sample sounds out of Falcon that use CPU heavy effects and reload them in a less CPU-intensive form - either back into Falcon (most likely) or Kontakt for easier use. I've got some layers of glass sounds, all using IRCAM stretch in high quality. I can't play them all at once that way without everything breaking up (or is that down?); but if I sample the stretched versions and reload them as separate samples across the keys, I should be able to get the sounds I want in a more usable form.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom