Does Halion have many new age, space and symphonic sounds

[fsgregs]

I am a 60 year old amateur home composer of new age/space music and I greatly enjoy playing dramatic movie soundtracks (think Hans Zimmer). I am not very skilled and although I can recognize written musical notes and write notes on scores one note at a time, I cannot speed read music. I play almost entirely by ear.

I use a Yamaha DGX 205 music keyboard with MIDI capability, 400 voices, a variety of effects, etc. My keyboard has onboard recording capability (up to 8 tracks), but unfortunately, does not allow me to edit any mistakes in notes. As a result, I wish to connect my music keyboard to a Windows computer with recording software via MIDI. There are many software vendors, each selling different software with different levels of complexity. Hundreds of sound editing features are available in some programs. As a home user who is simply trying to get some reasonably priced software without a huge learning curve, I don’t need the top-of-the-line program.

This is to be my wife's Xmas present, so we desperately need your advice. I would like to restrict my budget to under $300 and I fear I will buy the wrong program that will not meet my needs.

1. My biggest single issue is sound voices. I play symphonic new age and movie soundtrack music. I DO NOT NEED lots of rock, hip hop, techno or country/western instruments, bases, drums, guitars, rhythm loops, etc. What I need are lots of symphonic voices (pianos, synth pads, strings, horns, chorals, etc.). I also seek good environmental and special effects sounds (deep booms (e.g. - walking dinosaurs), winds, warbles, birds, space sounds, etc.) Thus, the recording/voice software I buy must have available a large set of symphonic/new age type voices and samples (several hundred or more). If these voices are not part of the base software but can be bought or downloaded as an addon, that is OK, provided their purchase + the purchase of the base recording software, does not exceed $300 or so. I have been trying to see the voice list in Halion 1 and Halion 3, but have been unable to find a list of them. I also doubt that i can buy Cubase 5 and Halion Symphonic Instruments for under $300.

Does Halion 1 have LOTS of symphonic and new age sounds and special effects? If not, would my purchase of Halion 3 be sufficient, or are there other VST sets (even if they are not Steinberg) that will load onto recording software that are better suited for me?

My wife and I thank you so much for any advice you can give me.

Please reply here, or to my email at fsgregs@comcast.net
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[Darwin Darker]

HALion is a sampler program.
While it does come with some soundbanks, it's intended use is to import and modify sounds for musical use.

By your description, what you're after is not a sampler but a software syntheziser.

For new age/ambient/soundtrack music, Omnisphere by Spectrasonics is the king.
It will definetely do the job and keep you happy into your 90's.
http://www.spectrasonics.net/instruments/omnisphere.php

It's a gigantic synth 50gb and requires a reasonably powerful computer.
And its about $150 more than your total budget....

But, combine that with Cubase 5 Essentials ($150) for multitrack midi and audio recording, and you'll be totally set.
It might be double your budget, but you won't regret the extra investment.


DD.
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XPPro SP3, W7, P5Q Pro, Q9400, 4G, GTS 250, MOTU FW, C4.5, HALion3, Hypersonic2, HALion Sonic, WL6e, Atmosphere, Omnisphere, Philharmonik, Absynth

[el-russo]

Hi,
You could also try free Kore player by Native Instruments. It comes with just the sounds you described plus there are downloadable sound packs, most of which are designed for electronica and ambience.
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(Setup: AMD Phenom II x4 955 Processor 3.21 GHz, 8Gb DDRIII 1333, GA-MA790XT-UD4P Motherboard, Edirol FA-66 audio interface, Win 7 64 bit.
Cubase 5.5.1, VSL, NI, Steinberg virtual instruments.)

[enroe]