Halion VS Falcon.
- Thread starter Amadeus e.d.p
- Start date
Amadeus e.d.p
Member
Ha! I’m so torn! I guess what I’m trying to ask is, compared to Halion, is Falcoln Quality? What makes it a better option then say Omnisphere. Thanks! Sorry for the brain freezes and stuff.
Amadeus e.d.p.
Markrs
Complete Beginner
Might be worth changing the title, as there are quite a few on here with Falcon and Omnisphere. I only have Omnisphere which is fantastic and well supported with 3rd party patches. Falcon looks very impressive, really packed with features, however it also looks complex and overwhelming.
Halion has actually been on my list for a long time, and with version 7 looks to be even better than before.
Halion has actually been on my list for a long time, and with version 7 looks to be even better than before.
Alchemedia
Decomposer
They are top tier, the best IMO. I have both and Falcon is no more overwhelming than HALion. They are more similar in fact than any other two synths afaik. If you find one off-putting workflow wise you probably won't like the other. That's not to say they're not complex, they definitely are and there's a significant learning curve involved. I much prefer Falcon & Halion to Omni, however, I'd recommend Omni if I was mainly interested in preset surfing, which I'm not and so I sold it.
doctoremmet
Senior Member
Falcon and Halion 7 are the two best synths I have in terms of horsepower and just plain utility. They both sound great, although I am inclined to rate Halion slightly higher (and on par with Reaktor) and call it the GOAT in terms of sonic quality.
They are both basically not even synths but “platforms” that allow the user to create complete instruments. Halion is THE best sampler I have ever used (for the process of actually recording in samples that is). Falcon is great in that regard too.
Although I have a ridiculous number of synths, and I highly appreciate and acknowledge mister Eric Persing as one of the most important synth pioneers in history, I have never been tempted by Omnisphere. I know it sounds great, but the UI has never really enticed me to program my own things with it. This is not a dig; the fact that @pendle likes it and occassionally makes soundsets for it, speaks volumes. Omni and I just don’t seem to click.
So, to the OP: if you’re used to Halion and your aim is to create your own custom synth(s), the choice is easy: Falcon. Have a look at some of Simon Stockhausen’s creations for it, his soundsets make use of ALL synth engines Falcon offers, contain unique high quality samples out of his own personal collection and -importantly- are documented REALLY well. I recommend you buy one of the recent Falcon Singles over at Patchpool just to get a feel for what’s possible with Falcon in terms of creating one’s own creative sound design environments / instruments.
They are both basically not even synths but “platforms” that allow the user to create complete instruments. Halion is THE best sampler I have ever used (for the process of actually recording in samples that is). Falcon is great in that regard too.
Although I have a ridiculous number of synths, and I highly appreciate and acknowledge mister Eric Persing as one of the most important synth pioneers in history, I have never been tempted by Omnisphere. I know it sounds great, but the UI has never really enticed me to program my own things with it. This is not a dig; the fact that @pendle likes it and occassionally makes soundsets for it, speaks volumes. Omni and I just don’t seem to click.
So, to the OP: if you’re used to Halion and your aim is to create your own custom synth(s), the choice is easy: Falcon. Have a look at some of Simon Stockhausen’s creations for it, his soundsets make use of ALL synth engines Falcon offers, contain unique high quality samples out of his own personal collection and -importantly- are documented REALLY well. I recommend you buy one of the recent Falcon Singles over at Patchpool just to get a feel for what’s possible with Falcon in terms of creating one’s own creative sound design environments / instruments.
doctoremmet
Senior Member
@op no need to switch platform. Halion can do a whole lot, and i bet you haven't touched the depths fully yet... (it's a humongous monster of a platform)
so....
Halion and be done with it
(you can even export your own instruments, as standalone through Halion player, with your own gui etc, which you cannot with falcon)
so....
Halion and be done with it
(you can even export your own instruments, as standalone through Halion player, with your own gui etc, which you cannot with falcon)
Amadeus e.d.p
Member
Amadeus e.d.p
Member
Wow Alchemedia!
You had it and SOLD IT! Yikes!
I had access to Omnisphere once on a friends PC and I remember it sounding very good. But kinda "static". Like you press the key and the same thing kinda happens. I THINK that's because a LOT of it relies on its sample base instead of it's VA engines? It DID however sound amazing.
I just already had Halion Sonic and caught the sale and it was a NO BRAINER. Halion is very very deep. It was not a pleasant jump for me at first but I'm getting better. Steinberg is college grad level hard!
I do have the original UVI Synth Anthology...and version 4 is on sale.....so tempting. I LIKE the updates and all the sound ware available for Falcoln. It's demo sounds are not exactly to my personal liking I think.
Plus I'm on Haion 6 and THAT needs to be updated as well. So many choices!
Amadeus e.d.p.
Amadeus e.d.p
Member
Good stuff Mate and thank you!
Yep, I've actually already used Haion to kinda create my own Workstation. It's called SkyFall. I broke all the rules and I think I'm gonna get branded a Synth Edge Lord!
To me it LOOKS like Omni is EASIER to use than Halion....but you mentioned you didn't like its interface. What specifically may I ask?
Amadeus e.d.p.
Bee_Abney
How long have I been out?
Falcon is the synth I know best, but I have created patches in both of the other two. Falcon is a lot like Halion to use, but with somewhat different options. Whether due to familiarity or otherwise, I find it very easy to use and very intuitive - but not everyone does! I largely learned synthesis on Falcon.
Falcon has more effects and really interesting ones too; it has great sequencing options too - which you can record and drag onto the timeline for use with other instruments, or for further editing.
Omnisphere is very simple and direct to use once you've found your way around. The sound is powerful and clear, and there are lots of options for shaping oscillators. The collection of samples it comes with are truly excellent, even if the library never seems to have what I want! It is harder to import samples than it is with Halion or Falcon.
Originally, I did not like the sound of Omnisphere, though it is very popular with others. But it has grown on me somewhat. With both Omnisphere and Falcon, if I want a more analog sound, then I will add some further effect as an insert. Neither of them quite do analog saturation to my taste.
I'm inclined to agree that Halion's basic sound is better than Falcon's. Both as a matter of taste, and also as a matter of blending into context. Halion is also better than Omnisphere in that latter respect.
I like to use Falcon for samples as a first port of call, but I'm considering learning Halion better and switching to that. I prefer both of them to Kontakt; though that has some very nice options of its own.
With Omnisphere, the user cannot create multisampled instruments in a straightforward way, and even using multis it runs up against limits in the number of oscillators/samples per program and the number of programs per multi. So I would certainly not recommend it for that. It's granular effect sounds very nice, though, so it is a good option if that is of interest to you.
Certainly, they are all different. Whilst they all have lots of options and create a huge variety of sounds, they cannot sound like each other. Their basic sounds are different. And that, more than anything, is the reason I'm happy to have all three.
I will just add that MSoundFactory is a serious competitor to the three you've mentioned. It is not good for presets, but it is great at creating patches, or even complete instruments for export and use in the free player (like Halion). So, you could always look into that if you want to make your life more complex. Obviously, there are other super synths; but MSoundFactory is great in the ways that Falcon and Halion are. And I don't think any synth can match its quality of effects.
Falcon has more effects and really interesting ones too; it has great sequencing options too - which you can record and drag onto the timeline for use with other instruments, or for further editing.
Omnisphere is very simple and direct to use once you've found your way around. The sound is powerful and clear, and there are lots of options for shaping oscillators. The collection of samples it comes with are truly excellent, even if the library never seems to have what I want! It is harder to import samples than it is with Halion or Falcon.
Originally, I did not like the sound of Omnisphere, though it is very popular with others. But it has grown on me somewhat. With both Omnisphere and Falcon, if I want a more analog sound, then I will add some further effect as an insert. Neither of them quite do analog saturation to my taste.
I'm inclined to agree that Halion's basic sound is better than Falcon's. Both as a matter of taste, and also as a matter of blending into context. Halion is also better than Omnisphere in that latter respect.
I like to use Falcon for samples as a first port of call, but I'm considering learning Halion better and switching to that. I prefer both of them to Kontakt; though that has some very nice options of its own.
With Omnisphere, the user cannot create multisampled instruments in a straightforward way, and even using multis it runs up against limits in the number of oscillators/samples per program and the number of programs per multi. So I would certainly not recommend it for that. It's granular effect sounds very nice, though, so it is a good option if that is of interest to you.
Certainly, they are all different. Whilst they all have lots of options and create a huge variety of sounds, they cannot sound like each other. Their basic sounds are different. And that, more than anything, is the reason I'm happy to have all three.
I will just add that MSoundFactory is a serious competitor to the three you've mentioned. It is not good for presets, but it is great at creating patches, or even complete instruments for export and use in the free player (like Halion). So, you could always look into that if you want to make your life more complex. Obviously, there are other super synths; but MSoundFactory is great in the ways that Falcon and Halion are. And I don't think any synth can match its quality of effects.
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Akoustecx
Electro Acoustic Excursions.
How do Halion and Falcon handle polyphonic effects?
The main reason I'm inclined to turn to Phase Plant or, increasingly (though I'm still along way from feeling as comfortable in MSF as PP) MSoundFactory, is the per voice effect possibilities.
It seems to me that if you are remotely interested in the spectrum of weighty saturation, heading onwards through distortion and beyond, then unless it's a mono synth patch your creating, polyphony for the effects is a necessity.
The main reason I'm inclined to turn to Phase Plant or, increasingly (though I'm still along way from feeling as comfortable in MSF as PP) MSoundFactory, is the per voice effect possibilities.
It seems to me that if you are remotely interested in the spectrum of weighty saturation, heading onwards through distortion and beyond, then unless it's a mono synth patch your creating, polyphony for the effects is a necessity.
Bee_Abney
How long have I been out?
I don't think they can do that; I'm pretty sure Falcon can't. The idea of apply an effect separately to each voice is largely new to me, though. You might like to know that with Unify you could do that with any effect and any instrument.
I get how that approach can keep a level of clarity with extreme distortion, if that is something you wanted. I'd use separate instruments for that sort of thing.
The whole reason for power chords (first and fifth notes only) in rock is that complex chords become messy with heavy distortion. I'm pretty happy with that in synths as well as guitars.
Bee_Abney
How long have I been out?
I should add, though, that distortion and wavefolding can be applied per oscillator in Falcon.
Akoustecx
Electro Acoustic Excursions.
Really? I thought it was due to guitarists outsized egos assuming they should be venerated for their 2 note chords!
You are of course right, and it's as relevant for any other polyphonic, harmonically rich or polyphonic harmonically enrichened source as it is for guitar.
Fundamentally it comes down to me being a lazy bugger, who seeks the path of least resistance (honestly, it's me being more like water, my friend!) and who wants rich, thick, umami custard like sounds without having to spend significantly more time EQ'ing a patch than creating it in the first place.
PP is still my top dog in terms of intuitive sound design that makes full depth polyphony an absolute doddle, even though the effects themselves are a little lacklustre, with the exception of Faturator which royally fucks up any waveform unfortunate enough to pass through it, polyphonically or otherwise!
You are of course right, and it's as relevant for any other polyphonic, harmonically rich or polyphonic harmonically enrichened source as it is for guitar.
Fundamentally it comes down to me being a lazy bugger, who seeks the path of least resistance (honestly, it's me being more like water, my friend!) and who wants rich, thick, umami custard like sounds without having to spend significantly more time EQ'ing a patch than creating it in the first place.
PP is still my top dog in terms of intuitive sound design that makes full depth polyphony an absolute doddle, even though the effects themselves are a little lacklustre, with the exception of Faturator which royally fucks up any waveform unfortunate enough to pass through it, polyphonically or otherwise!
Bee_Abney
How long have I been out?
Lazy? No! You just have refined tastes for clarity and efficiency!
Akoustecx
Electro Acoustic Excursions.
History would suggest that you are very much in the minority with that opinion!
doctoremmet
Senior Member
Wait. You don’t have MSoundFactory or access to polyphonic FX per note?
