Steinberg has announced the release of version 3.5 of its HALion 3 virtual sampler VST instrument (actually v3.5.593). The update adds native support for 64-bit editions of Windows Vista, as well as a new Factory Content sound bank consisting of 128 new electronic instruments and drum kits.
Adding compatibility to 64-bit Vista, HALion 3.5 can now address vast amounts of memory, allowing many more additional instruments to be loaded simultaneously.
Changes:
HALion 3.5 is available as a native 64-bit plug-in and should work in any VST 2.4 compatible native 64-bit sequencer, like Cubase 5 or Cubase Studio 5. The dramatically enhanced memory address space gives new possibilities for really large setups and very detailed sampled instruments.
New HALion 3 Factory 5 Content bank with 128 brand new sounds available.
New entry available in the file menu: "Save as default Bank" allowing to save the current bank as default bank.
New "Choose External Audio Editor" option in the global context menu to choose an external audio editor (like Wavelab or Sound Forge).
Improved resampling algorithm quality.
Preload time settable as global default by clicking on the apply button with Ctrl (Windows) or Cmd (OS X) pressed.
Changes in the disk-streaming engine: under specific circumstances HALion 3.5 features more reliable play back of disk streamed voices.
Due to several changes needed for 64-Bit compatibility, projects created with HALion 3.5 can not be loaded with any prior version (of course you can load projects created with versions before in 3.5). For 32-Bit and OS X users it is recommended to continue using HALion 3.3.2, except if you need compatibility to the HALion 3.5 64-Bit version. For example in dual boot configurations with 32/64-Bit Vista you need to install HALion 3.5 on the 32-Bit machine as well to keep compatibility between both.