NAMM 2019: Steinberg Absolute 4 instrument collection is in excess of 100GB

24 Jan 2019 by Robin Vincent | Approximate reading time: 1 Minute

Steinberg Absolute 4 · Source: Steinberg

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You need to factor in the cost of a new hard drive these days with the size of instrument libraries. IK Multimedia’s SampleTank 4 comes in at 250GB and Native Instruments Komplete Collectors Edition racks up something in the region of an eye-watering 900GB. Steinberg is having a go with the update to their Absolute instrument bundle but 100GB seems positively light in comparison – which is of course ridiculous. What’s important is that there’s a lot of new stuff in here.

Absolute 4

Absolute brings together all the full versions of Steinberg’s current virtual instrument roster. It’s largely based around HALion 6 and much of the 100GB is taken up with instrument content for that. HALion 6 features a deep sampling and sound design system. You can build your own instruments with the Macro Page Designer. Alongside is HALion Sonic 3 which is the more synthy version focusing on deep-sampled instruments and synths.

Then we have the brand new Groove Agent 5 plus Prime Cuts and Rock Essentials. Familiar titles such as The Grand 3, Padshop Pro 2 (expanded with Granular Guitars), Retrologue 2, Dark Planet, Hypnotic Dance and Triebwerk. And some less familiar ones such as SkyLab, Auron and HALiotron.

Steinberg Absolute 4

There are some other improvements too. All the plug-ins are now AAX as well as VST compatible and all the GUIs can handle high-density displays and scaling.

It’s a great collection of workhorse synths and instruments that you could find yourself using every day.