Steinberg Absolute 3 is a software collection with virtual instruments, a sampler, and a workstation, all designed to offer inspiring and deep-level functionality for sound designers, composers, electronic musicians, and producers in studio-based production and live performance applications. It boasts over 6800 presets and 70GB of sounds covering everything from realistic instrument recreations to custom-made sonic concoctions. Absolute 3 supports Audio Units, VST2, and VST3 plug-in formats and is compatible with macOS and Windows.

Included in this software collection are the HALion 6 sampler and sound design system, the HALion Sonic 3 workstation, HALion Symphonic Orchestra, and the Groove Agent 4 virtual drum instrument. Other bundled instruments (Padshop Pro with the Zero Gravity expansion, The Grand 3 Piano, Retrologue 2, Dark Planet, Hypnotic Dance, and Triebwerk) deliver a massive variety of sounds and sound-creation capabilities.

Over 6800 Presets and 70GB of Sounds    HALion 6 Sampler/Sound Design System    HALion 3 Sonic Workstation    Groove Agent 4 Virtual Drum Instrument    Padshop Pro with Zero Gravity Expansion    The Grand 3 Piano, Retrologue 2 Synth    HALion Symphonic Orchestra, Dark Planet    Hypnotic Dance and Triebwerk Soft Synths    Audio Units, VST2, VST3    Mac, Windows

What's New in Version 6

• Anima: A wavetable synthesizer with two wavetable oscillators, a flexible modulation section, and a powerful arpeggiator
• Hot Brass: A high-energy multi-sampled brass section library with a fat, tight, and authentic sound well suited for contemporary pop, funk, reggae and soul productions
• The Raven: A grand piano featuring a range of nuances, harmonic richness, and a natural, precise, and smooth playing feel
• The Eagle: A grand piano offering a rich, transparent, and brilliant sound suited not just for traditional classical, but also modern pop, rock, and jazz productions
• Studio Strings: An out-of-the-box string ensemble sample library tailored to film scores, pop arrangements, and live performances
• Skylab: A granular synthesizer with a vast sample library filled with analog circuitry sounds and futuristic textures
• Combi library: Combine acoustic instruments and synthesis patches to make rich sounds and multifaceted new instrument creations
• A 3-band Resonator and eight new effects including the Vintage Compressor, Tube Saturator, and more
• Phrase Editor: Create your own patterns and phrases, set velocity and pitch for sounds in up to 32 steps, and use the power of two controller lanes to drive even more parameters like filters and effects
• Create custom user interfaces with the what-you-see-is-what-you-get Macro Page Designer
• Record directly into HALion from any internal or external source and have your samples cut, mapped, and ready to play in no time with the new live-sampling editor
• Use HALion Script to multiply your sound design opportunities with advanced instrument behavior and custom script modules
• Create and export VST sound libraries of your custom instruments with the help of the Library Creator

General Features

• Over 3400 instrument sounds created by top sound experts at Steinberg and Yamaha
• Powerful multi-timbral audio engine with disk-streaming sample playback and high-end virtual-analog, granular, and wavetable synthesis
• Unlimited buses per program, each with level, pan, mute, solo, and eight insert slots
• Up to 192 kHz sampling rate
• 32 stereo outs and 6-channel surround outputs
• 64 MIDI channels
• Nine high-end filter types, 24 filter shapes, and X/Y control
• AudioWarp for time-stretching and pitch-shifting control
• Multiple virtual synthesizers
• World Instruments sample library of instruments from around the world
• World Percussion sample library of drum and percussion sounds from around the world
• HALiotron keyboard model of classic unit from the '60s and '70s
• Model C drawbar organ
• B-Box 16-step beat sequencer
• Slicing
• Supports all major library and sampler formats
• Backwards compatibility to HALion 3, 4, and 5
• Full VST Expression 2 support for smart articulation editing in Cubase
• Supports AAX, Audio Units, VST2, and VST3 plug-in formats and standalone use
• Includes a wide variety of audio effects

Advanced Features

• All effects can be directly added to each program or layer, implemented as an aux effect send, or routed to the master output
• FlexPhraser for dynamically driving beats, arpeggios, and complex tonal phrases
• Stage-optimized workflows with dedicated player view, rapid building of keyboard splits or layers, and switching of entire multi-setups with a single command
• Eight SoftPads for triggering specific notes or phrase sequences from the FlexPhraser module, or taking snapshots of chords which can then be triggered in a different order to create new chord progressions
• SoftPads and Quick Controls feature MIDI Learn support and can be assigned to a MIDI controller

What's New in Version 3

• More than 700 new sounds in six new instruments with quick access macro pages
• Anima: A wavetable synthesizer with two wavetable oscillators, a flexible modulation section, and a powerful arpeggiator
• Hot Brass: A high-energy multi-sampled brass section library with a fat, tight and authentic sound well suited for contemporary pop, funk, reggae and soul productions
• The Raven: A grand piano featuring a range of nuances, harmonic richness, and a natural, precise, and smooth playing feel
• The Eagle: A grand piano offering a rich, transparent, and brilliant sound suited not just for traditional classical, but also modern pop, rock, and jazz productions
• Studio Strings: An out-of-the-box string ensemble sample library tailored to film scores, pop arrangements, and live performances
• Skylab: A granular synthesizer with a vast sample library filled with analog circuitry sounds and futuristic textures
• Combi library: Combine acoustic instruments and synthesis patches to make rich sounds and multifaceted new instrument creations
• A 3-band Resonator and eight new effects from HALion including the Vintage Compressor, Tube Saturator, and more
• Phrase Editor: Create your own patterns and phrases, set velocity and pitch for sounds in up to 32 steps, and use the power of two controller lanes to drive even more parameters like filters and effects

General Features

• Easy-to-use and powerful music production workstation for synthesized sounds and recreations of acoustic instruments
• Over 3200 instrument sounds created by top sound experts at Steinberg and Yamaha
• Powerful multi-timbral audio engine with disk-streaming sample playback and high-end virtual analog, granular, and wavetable synthesis
• 16 instrument slots, each loaded with presets that can be routed to the 16 stereo outs and saved as Multi presets for your next performance
• Trium virtual-analog synth
• Auron granular synthesizer
• Voltage two-oscillator analog synth
• World Instruments sample library of instruments from around the world
• World Percussion sample library of drum and percussion sounds from around the world
• HALiotron keyboard model of classic unit from the '60s and '70s
• Model C drawbar organ
• B-Box 16-step beat sequencer
• Simple integration with Cubase
• Full VST Expression 2 support for smart articulation editing in Cubase
• Multi-core support and resource-efficiency provided by sample compression technology and a RAM Save Mode
• Supports AAX, Audio Units, VST2, and VST3 plug-in formats and standalone use

Advanced Features

• All effects can be directly added to each program or layer, implemented as an aux effect send, or routed to the master output
• Blend between up to four out of 24 morphing filter types
• FlexPhraser for dynamically driving beats, arpeggios, and complex tonal phrases
• MediaBay sound management system for immediate access to sound libraries
• Each instrument comes with eight predefined Quick Controls, offering fast access to the most important settings for that sound
• Eight SoftPads for triggering specific notes or phrase sequences from the FlexPhraser module, or taking snapshots of chords which can then be triggered in a different order to create new chord progressions
• SoftPads and Quick Controls feature MIDI Learn support and can be assigned to a MIDI controller
• The Mix Page offers full access to the instrument slot settings, comprising level, pan, effect sends, and the output selector
• Each of the 16 individual outputs can be freely assigned to any of the 16 instrument slots, making routing and mixing smooth and convenient

Key Features

• Complete virtual drum workstation including three specialist Agents for drums, beats and percussion, combinable in four slots
• Large library including over 22,000 samples and more than 3800 grooves and patterns for any contemporary music style
• Acoustic Agent virtual drummer with detailed drum kits for realism
• Beat Agent drum sampler for electronic music production including advanced slice editing and automatic drum hit recognition
• Percussion Agent with more than twenty instruments to complete a virtual rhythm section
• Full pattern editor for groove editing on the fly
• Style Player plays in the desired complexity and intensity, generates auto fills, and much more
• Jam mode creates immediate backing tracks, including intro, fills, and ending
• Integrated mixing board with high-end audio effects for flexible control over all aspects of the drum sound
• Advanced Cubase integration with drag and drop, full automation, and automatic drum map exchange

Acoustic Agent

• Virtual acoustic drummer offers not only excellent drum sounds, but also an integrated player to create the perfect accompaniment for songs
• Three drum kits ready to be played by the Style Player that can generate over fifty different grooves in multiple genres including blues, punk, hip hop, and indie rock, perfect for any contemporary music style
• Retain full control over both intensity and complexity of the Style Player's drumming and over the sound via an included mixing board

Beat Agent

• Beat production instrument with all the tools and sounds to create beats for any type of electronic or urban music
• One-hundred drum kits included, alongside all the advanced features needed to edit existing ones and create custom kits
• Manipulate samples and loops with features like automatic loop slicing, one-click drum hit replacement, onboard FX rack, and more
• Vintage mode and tight integration with Cubase

Percussion Agent

• Specializes in instruments, grooves, and styles that feature percussive elements
• Plays perfect accompaniments for many Acoustic Agent grooves, while offering an ideal way to create custom percussion tracks with just a few clicks using the integrated Style Player
• Over twenty percussion instruments including bongos, congas, shakers, tambourines, and many more recorded in minute detail using multiple microphones
• Each sound available in 16-bit and 24-bit versions

• Granular synthesizer with two independent layers and separate oscillator, edit, and FX sections
• Up to eight grain streams per oscillator
• 10-stage modulation matrix with support for Note Expression
• 12 filter types per layer
• Two LFOs and ADSR for filters and amplifier envelopes
• Mono and Poly modes with legato and glide
• Drag-and-drop to import WAV and AIFF samples from Cubase, MediaBay, or the integrated browser
• 3-band parametric equalizer per layer
• Algorithmic reverb with EQ
• Includes Zero Gravity expansion pack with 250 new presets

• Virtual analog synthesizer
• Over 700 presets
• Three oscillators with up to eight de-tunable voices alongside sub and noise oscillators
• Arpeggiator with up to 32 steps and "Export to Host" feature
• 24 filter types
• Four LFOs plus filter, amplifier, and custom envelopes
• 16-stage modulation matrix with Note Expression support
• Five distortion modes including tube, clip, bit reduction, and rate reduction
• FX section with delay, chorus, flanger, phaser, vintage ensemble, reverb, and 4-band EQ
• 3-band Resonator with 14 filter configurations and integrated LFO

Featured Pianos

• Yamaha C7 grand piano
• Bösendorfer 290 Imperial
• Steinway D 
• Yamaha CP80 electric grand
• Nordiska Pianofabriken upright piano

Elaborate Recording Setup

• Recorded with high-grade Neumann microphones, customized high-end preamps and converters specially tuned for pianos in a large acoustic space
• Two different microphone positions (close and player) result from a 12-microphone setup used for the recordings

Authentic Sound Quality

• Up to 20 different velocity samples for each key, faithfully capturing the full extent of every note's envelope
• Supports sustain and sostenuto pedals

Eco-Efficiency

• ECO mode reduces RAM consumption and enhances CPU performance by freeing up power for other processing tasks, such as disk streaming

RAMSave

• RAMSave discards superfluous samples from the main memory in order to provide space for other tasks

High-Quality Reverb and EQ

• Convolution and algorithmic reverbs
• 4-band parametric EQ

All Tuned Up

• The enhanced tuning editor provides customizable scales and a wealth of presets for tempered and concert tuning
• Each tuning situation may be stored and retrieved as preset whenever required

• Symphonic orchestra sounds ideal for production in music, television, film, and game audio
• Over 100 patches and combinations including strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion with multiple playing techniques
• Extensive articulations such as crescendo, decrescendo, accents, half and whole tone trills, bowing, portamento, pizzicato, and espressivo
• RealAmbience feature provides recorded ambience with full control of mix and reverb time

• Virtual synthesizer designed for dance, techno, and trance music
• 300 synth programs and 100 Step Modulator presets
• Custom-designed macro page offers instant access to all sound-shaping parameters
• Mono and Poly modes
• Selectable number of voices
• Controls for filter cutoff, attack, decay, drive, and resonance
• Amplifier attack, release, and level knobs
• Customizable Step Modulator creates rhythmic patterns

• Synthesizer with 430 presets for pop, electro, house, and dance music
• Over 700MB of sample content
• Drum and percussion kits, synth sounds, loops, and Flex Phrases
• Macro page for immediate access to major parameters
• Selectable polyphony and mono mode
• Adjustable glide
• ADSR controls for filter and amplifier
• Customizable Flex Phraser with multiple hold, trigger, and restart modes

• Synthesizer with more than 800 preset sounds, including loops, basses, leads, pads, drums, percussion, and effects
• Over 2GB of uncompressed samples
• Macro page for immediate access to major parameters
• Integrated MorphFilter for X/Y-style filter manipulation
• Adjustable distortion and time-based effects

Related Questions and Answers

Q: 1. Does this include the Avid Complete Plug-in Bundle / will i have to pay more to use Avid plugins after support expires?

A: The Avid Pro Tools Studio Perpetual with 1-Year Updates and Support Plan Audio and Music Creation Software includes a download with the most recent version of Pro Tools Studio with one year of updates and customer support. It includes one year of access to the Complete Production Bundle (over 115 plug-ins) and HEAT add-on. Once your one year plan for updates and support lapses, you no longer have access to the Complete Production Bundle unless you renew or re-subscribe. You do get to perpetually keep the 55 included virtual instruments, effects, and sound-processor plug-ins, but HEAT is not included.

Q: 2. Is the 15V 1.2A power adaptor included?

A: No. The power adapter for the Native Instruments TRAKTOR KONTROL Z1 - DJ Mixing Interface, would not be included in the box.

Q: 3. The description does not say what's in the box. How many paper types/textures?

A: The Moab 8.5 x 11" General Sampler BH #MOSP8512 includes 2 sheets each of: Entrada Rag Bright 190, Bright 300, Natural 190, Natural 300, Textured 300, Juniper Baryta Rag 305, Lasal Photo Matte 235, Exhibition Luster 300, Moenkopi Unryu 55 and Kozo 110, Slickrock Metallic Pearl 260 and Silver 300

Q: 4. Can this be used with a DDJ 800?

A: The Pioneer DJ DJS-1000 Standalone DJ Sampler is compatible for use with Pioneer DJ NXS and XDJ players that feature a LAN Link connection. It is not compatible for integration with the Pioneer DJ DDJ-800 2-Channel rekordbox dj Controller.

Q: 5. Which power adapter exactly to use with the Kontrol Z1? Please show a link.

A: The replacement power supply for the Native Instruments TRAKTOR KONTROL Z1 DJ Mixer Interface for TRAKTOR Software is the Native Instruments Power Supply for TRAKTOR KONTROL (B&H # NANIPS8D2). Here is a link to the item page: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1257057-REG/native_instruments_23975_power_supply_for_traktor.html When using the Z1 with your computer, the device will be powered by the standard USB connection.

Q: 6. Will this work with the Pro 100?

A: yes. download icc profiles from Moab

Q: 7. Does the Educational version limit any of the features of the retail version?

A: No. The educational version of Steinberg Cubase Pro 12 Music Production Software is exactly the same as the retail version, just offered at a discounted price to teachers, educators, and students of universities, public and private (music) schools, and SAE Institutes. Teachers must be employed by an eligible institution, while students must be currently enrolled at an eligible institution. Proof of current educational status is required.

Q: 8. Hi! Is the quantization tool in the Studio version the same as in the Ultimate version? Does it have all the modes?

A: Yes, the quantization tool included in the Avid Pro Tools Studio Audio and Music Creation Software and the Pro Tools Ultimate Audio and Music Creation Software are the same.

Q: 9. What is the UD Educational Edition Multi? Do I need to submit any verification to receive this? Thanks.

A: The price for Educational is $59.99. It does require registration with our B&H EDU Department

Q: 10. Is this compatible with Sibelius?

A: VST and Audio Units virtual instruments are supported in Sibellius starting from version 5. MOTU MachFive 3 includes Audio Units, VST and RTAS formats as well as standalone operation.