Sonically and feature-wise, both resemble Steinberg's Retrologue, except that Trium boasts three oscillators and Voltage doesn't have oscillator unison, multimode filters or ring modulation.
"Macro interfaces use the existing under-the-hood engine in a faster, more intuitive way than the previous modular setup offered" Again, these are just macro interfaces with which to edit or program synth patches using the existing under-the-hood engine in a faster, more intuitive way than the previous modular setup offered. Making the virtual analogue synthesis engine introduced in HALion 4 much easier to handle, HALion 5 adds the Voltage and Trium instruments. Still on a rhythmic tip, the new B-Box interface connects with the Beats sub-category and takes advantage of the new Drum Player MIDI module - essentially a step sequencer for crafting funky beats, not too dissimilar to Beat Designer, found in Steinberg's well-known Cubase DAW. The World Percussions set impressed us just as much, boasting 32 patches' worth of professional percussion loops and one-shots from around the world, with enough controls on the interface to enable tweaking of all essential timing- and tuning-related parameters. It would be nice to be able to call up a simple 24-note octave, for example. Like all the new instruments, this one certainly speeds up workflow, and its presets are amongst the best sounding we've ever heard from a sampler/ROMpler, although we can't help but wish there were more detailed scale and tuning options on board. "Presets are amongst the best sounding we've ever heard from a sampler/ROMpler"