HALO Melodic House Suite by Oliver River Review: The Melodic House Sound Design Master Has Done It Again

It’s been a little while since we checked in on Oliver River.

Last time we talked about him, we were discussing his preset pack Living Electronics II, which I instantly fell in love with. Since then, he’s launched a specific Instagram page for his Gumroad packs and has been releasing more and more great music on his own. And now, he’s released what may be his biggest pack yet.

He’s just released the HALO Melodic House Suite, a new melodic house preset + sample + MIDI pack for Serum 2. Consisting of 35 Serum 2 presets, 64 MIDI files, and over 300 samples (including drums, melodic loops, and vocals), this is his most ambitious project to date under the Living Electronics moniker. And, the moment that I listened to some of the presets in his walkthrough video, I had a feeling that he had struck gold once again.

Of course, I got my hands on a copy, and my honest thoughts are below. I’ll also drop a link to his walkthrough below – take a look and a listen, and then come back to hear what I think about this pack.

More Than Ever Before

You know what you’re getting into with Living Electronics packs: high quality serum presets made specifically for melodic house. And yes, there are a lot here. But this time, as mentioned earlier, you also get samples and MIDI files in this pack, so you’re already getting a lot more bang for your buck.

The presets this time are warmer than ever. While I found Oliver River’s last pack to truly excel in its plucky leads and basses, I find this one to have better pads, sustained leads, and textures. That’s not to say the plucks here aren’t good – they are. But the keys, leads, and pads are even better, and some of his best sound design work. I seriously don’t know how he got them this warm in a virtual synth.

Every preset in the pack makes extensive use of the effects panel and the macros. With this, the only knobs you really need to worry about are in the bottom left. You can handle reverb, cutoff, and more on many of the presets available. This is the same case as it was last time, so I won’t go too far into the macro section.

I continue to be impressed by how much love and care goes into each of these presets. Just like last time, they feel truly alive: little things will happen every time you hate a note, whether the pitch is a cent different or the envelope is slightly adjusted. That attention to detail and level of care really makes any preset pack Oliver River puts out a must-get.

I also love the little jokes he continues to put in the descriptions of each plugin. Based on those jokes alone, you can just tell that he really enjoyed putting these together. You can really feel that these sounds were made with love. Sometimes, it’s the little things (like simple jokes) that make me love a preset or sample pack even more. In this case, it helps the pack feel more like a passion project (which I’m under the impression it is) than just a thing to sell and a way to print more money.

But it’s not just a preset pack! You can also find a TON of samples in this suite, from melodic loops & one shots (many of which were recorded using the presets), to drums and vocals. I’ve noticed that a lot of the loops and samples are geared towards people producing at 124 BPM and up, but they’re recorded at such a high quality and sound great slowed down a little bit, so don’t be afraid of that. I think the claps and vocal loops are particularly impressive here – the vocal loops are processed in a very stutter-y, modern manner. Think Romain Garcia, oskar med k, that sort of thing.

I don’t really use MIDI packs, but I took a look through that as well. For those of you who enjoy MIDI packs, you’ll love this one: there are a lot of great song starters and idea-inspiring melodies in there.

The inclusion of these two extra packs in this suite feels like a bonus. The presets are already reason enough to love this pack, but now you get top high-quality samples AND MIDI files? Just shut up and take my money at this point.

How Do They Sound?

As usual, I have a demo track for you. I wrote all the melodies but the HALO suite provides everything else. Note that there is very little external processing (aside from some EQ and sidechaining) added to these sounds: what you hear is what you’re getting from this pack.

You can really hear what I’m saying here: Oliver has created a batch of sounds that are warm, modern, and pleasant to listen to. This took me 20 minutes – with a bit more time and effort, I could really create something special using this pack.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

It’s top quality.

Just like last time, the presets are plug-&-play, and sound great while doing so. I don’t know if I’ll ever understand how he got these sounds to be so warm and pleasant just using Serum. The samples are of similar pristine nature. You will not be disappointed by the quality of this pack. Just listen above if you have any doubts – yes, the stock sounds really do sound like that.

It’s ridiculously well priced.

Do you want the entire HALO Melodic House Suite? Nice! That’ll be 39 euro. Do you want just the presets? That’ll just set you back 17 Euro. Maybe just the samples? 30 Euro. But, considering the entire suite is only 9 Euro more expensive than the samples by themselves, why would you even consider getting just one of the parts of the suite when you can get all 3?

I can’t overstate how good of a deal this is. Not only are you getting incredible sounds, but you’re getting incredible sounds at an unbelievable bargain – AND you can directly support Oliver River by purchasing. Plus, Black Friday is on the horizon, so keep an eye out for a potential sale coming soon.

But, even before the potential Black Friday sale, this is a good enough price to where I’d recommend getting it now. It’s a steal.

Cons:

Once again, this is for melodic house producers.

You know the pack is good when this is my only complaint: if you don’t produce melodic house (or some other adjacent form of house), you’re not going to be able to find too much use in this pack.

That’s seriously my only con. He’s outdone himself here in all facets.

Conclusion: Should you get it?

You are actively doing yourself a disservice by not grabbing this pack. It’s high quality, it’s budget friendly, and getting it supports a truly incredible creator.

Oliver River has made magic once again. The only question I have: how is he going to top this?

Buy the HALO Melodic House Suite here.