About the factory content update for HALion Sonic 6 and 7(July 2026)

On July 3, 2026, we released factory content updates for:

• HALion Sonic 7
• HALion Sonic SE 7
• HALion 7
• HALion 6

If you have one of these versions installed on your system, you will find the updates "HALion 3 Combis" (29.60 GB) and "HALion Sonic Factory Content" (10.07 GB) in the Steinberg Download Assistant under Updates → VST Sound. 

Apart from minor fixes, the updates resolve inconsistencies in the naming of factory libraries by renaming 

• HALion Sonic Factory Content to HALion Sonic and
• HALion Sonic 2 Combis to HS2 Combis.

Required manual fix for user presets

After the updates have completed, even though the factory content has been correctly renamed to "HALion Sonic" and "HS2 Combis", you might notice the following: Your user presets are now represented separately by tiles that still have the old library names. These tiles might have a blue USER or the dark HALion icon. The libraries might even appear twice: once with the old library name and once with the new one. 

This is a cosmetic issue only. Unfortunately, for technical reasons, it can only be fixed manually. If you want to correct it, please follow these steps: 

Option 1: Save dialog

This option is fine if you only have a few user presets. If you have many of them, you should skip to option 2. 

• After the content update is complete, close all programs. 
• Start HALion / HALion Sonic.
• Load an affected user preset from the content with the old name and/or wrong icon.
• Right-click on the "Save Program" icon and select "Save Program As..." from the drop-down menu.
  
• In the right side of the save dialog, scroll down to "Library Name".
  
• If it still reads "HALion Sonic Factory Content" or "HALion Sonic 2 Combi", click on the name and select the updated library name from the appearing drop-down menu. As mentioned above, replace"HALion Sonic Factory Content" by selecting "HALion Sonic" and "HALion Sonic 2" by selecting "HS2 Combis". 
• Click on [OK] to save the updated library name. 
• Please repeat this for each user preset.

Option 2: Result columns

If you have many user presets, this is the preferred way to assign the correct library name. If you set the result columns to show the "Library Name", you can change multiple programs at once. 

• After the content update is complete, close all programs. 
• Start HALion / HALion Sonic.
• In the MediaBay, click on the gear icon to set up the result columns.
• In the setup menu, select Media → Library Name.
  
• Double-click on a content tile that still has the old name and/or shows the wrong icon.
• Select your affected presets. By holding down Shift, you can select a range of presets. By holding down the command key, you can select multiple presets. 
• While the presets are selected, scroll horizontally to the "Library Name" column.
• Click on the old library name ("HALion Sonic Factory Content" or "HALion Sonic 2" ) and select the updated library name from the appearing drop-down menu. As mentioned above, replace"HALion Sonic Factory Content" by selecting "HALion Sonic" and "HALion Sonic 2" by selecting "HS2 Combis". 
• The change will take effect immediately. 

In case options 1 and 2 don't seem to work

If there are still incorrectly assigned icons left and/or the tiles still have the old names, please close HALion / HALion Sonic and initialize the preferences file "ContentManager.xml" as follows: 

The next time you start HALion / HALion Sonic, all tiles should have the correct icon and the new name. The file "ContentManager.xml" will be recreated. If everything is working fine, you can delete the renamed backup copy.