HyperION v1.0.3.0 — Online Setup, AI Runtime Management & Plug-in Host Reliability

HyperION 1.0.3.0 modernizes installation and updating, adds a dedicated AI model and runtime manager with resumable downloads, strengthens third-party VST3 and sidechain hosting, and delivers major workflow and interface upgrades across MasterLab, Home, Pattern, Arrangement, and Browser.

Highlights

New compact online setup: install, update, repair, or uninstall HyperION with a 51.3 MiB setup application instead of a multi-gigabyte monolithic installer.
New HyperION AI Setup application: inspect, install, and repair supported AI models, components, and isolated runtimes from one place.
Resumable, verified downloads: interrupted AI model and runtime downloads continue from saved progress and are checked before installation.
More reliable plug-in hosting: improved VST3 auxiliary-bus negotiation, real Pattern Mixer sidechain delivery, safer native editor handling, and reduced audio interruptions during plug-in changes.
Major MasterLab redesign: reorderable modules, editable mastering EQ, expanded maximizer controls, new balance controls, improved metering, and persistent A/B state.
Refreshed core workflows: a redesigned Home dashboard, persistent Pattern controls, better one-shot sample drops, cleaner library roots, protected media packages, and broad theme-aware UI polish.

What’s New

Online Setup and Distribution

Added a self-contained Windows x64 online setup application for install, update, repair, and uninstall operations.
The setup compares installed files with the current release manifest by file size and SHA-256, then downloads only files that are missing or different.
Downloads are staged and verified before the active installation is changed.
If applying an update fails, the setup restores the previous installation from its backup.
Added installed-version detection, available-version reporting, disk-space checks, obsolete-file cleanup, process shutdown handling, and Desktop/Start Menu shortcut creation.
Automatic downgrades are blocked to protect newer installations.
Uninstalling keeps projects, presets, license data, and user settings stored outside the application directory.
HyperION, HyperION Plugin Scanner, and HyperION AI Setup now share the centralized 1.0.3.0 product version and ship with distinct Windows application icons.
Bundled media now ships in integrity-checked protected asset packages and mounts transparently into a read-only versioned cache when needed.
The packaged application footprint was reduced substantially by removing duplicated and retired media trees and using one canonical deployment asset set.

AI Setup, Models, and Providers

Added HyperION AI Setup.exe, a dedicated utility for checking and installing supported AI components.
The utility can install all missing directly downloadable models and can install or repair:
- ACE-Step Prompt Audio
- HyperExpression factory sample instrument
- SoulX-Singer
- Private RVC runtime
- Isolated Stem, MIDI, and Pitch runtimes
Added prerequisite checks and guided installation support for Python 3.12, Git, and FFmpeg through Windows Package Manager where required.
Model and runtime downloads now support resume. Partial downloads are retained after cancellation or connection loss and continue from the saved byte on retry.
Added exact download-size validation, SHA-256 verification, retry handling, and protection against servers that ignore range requests.
AI download interfaces now show transferred bytes, total size, progress, and estimated time remaining where available.
Improved cancellation and progress reporting for ACE-Step, Eleven Music, Stability Audio, and generic AI endpoint downloads.
Normalized copied credentials by removing accidental quotes, whitespace, byte-order marks, and invisible characters.
Added clearer rejection of credentials used with the wrong provider and strengthened credential-vault synchronization.
Normalized hidden Unicode characters and line endings in prompts before requests are submitted.
Background AI work now scales with the available processor count while reserving capacity for the audio engine and interface.

Plug-in Hosting, Sidechains, and Audio Engine

Reworked VST3 auxiliary-bus negotiation to use each processor’s actual mono, stereo, or disabled sidechain layout instead of assuming fixed input channels.
Hosted processors now receive an exact flattened channel buffer matching the negotiated bus layout.
Added preallocated per-slot processing buffers to reduce allocation pressure during playback.
Pattern Mixer sidechain routes now participate in processing order and deliver real sidechain audio to insert effects, including effects on the master channel.
Sidechain dependency ordering now accounts for Pattern Mixer routes and avoids invalid routing cycles.
Added live sidechain diagnostics to the hosted plug-in interface, including route, bus, signal, and level status.
Protected sidechain source changes with the audio engine’s processing lock.
Added a Windows crash barrier around third-party native editor creation. If a malformed native editor fails during creation, HyperION can fall back to its generic parameter editor.
Hardened native VST3 editor attach, detach, and close behavior against late Windows UI Automation and provider callbacks.
Native editor creation is now deferred until the host window is visible and displays a loading placeholder while opening.
Redesigned the hosted plug-in window with a consistent canvas and footer showing developer, format, version, category, preset, and sidechain information.
The audio callback no longer blocks while a plug-in is being constructed or the graph is being changed.
If the graph lock is temporarily unavailable, HyperION smoothly ramps the last valid signal to silence and fades the next valid block back in.
Audio scratch buffers are preallocated instead of being expanded inside the real-time callback.

HyperION MasterLab, HyperEQ, and Analysis

Rebuilt HyperION MasterLab around a modular mastering chain:
- Equalizer
- Dynamics
- Exciter
- Imager
- Maximizer
Modules can be reordered by dragging, disabled, or removed. Module order and enabled state persist in saved state and A/B snapshots.
Added an interactive module canvas and a four-band mastering EQ with editable frequency and gain nodes.
Mastering Assistant tonal corrections are now applied to the visible, editable EQ nodes rather than hidden processing.
Added vocal, bass, and instrument balance controls.
Added four Maximizer styles: Clear Lift, Punch Guard, Dense Modern, and Warm Flow.
Added Maximizer character, transient, stereo-link, release, and ISP Safety controls.
Expanded analysis and control pages with improved live metering and correlation feedback.
Improved MasterLab responsiveness across window sizes, interface scales, and themes.
HyperEQ now displays dynamic-EQ ranges directly on the response curve with draggable range handles.
Added Dynamic Range choices for -12, -6, -3, 0, +3, +6, and +12 dB.
Improved SOLO, DYN, FOCUS, MID, and SIDE tags, stereo-mode labeling, context menus, and help text.
Improved Spectrum Matrix layout behavior at compact heights, including its terminal and recommendation areas.

Pattern, Arrangement, and One-Shot Workflow

Added a per-channel power control to Pattern Mini Mixer channels. Disabled channels skip their DSP processing.
Pattern Mixer channel enabled state is now saved with the project; disabling the master clears its output.
Added a persistent global On/Off control to Pattern Drum Pad. Turning it off stops preview and recording activity and displays a clear disabled state.
Right-clicking a Step Sequencer step now erases it directly, with right-drag erasing supported across steps.
MIDI-only lanes are protected from Step Sequencer erase gestures.
Audio samples dropped anywhere on an empty Instrument Track now load into that track’s one-shot sampler instead of falling back to Audio 1.
Explorer drop coordinates are forwarded correctly into the Arrangement, and empty Instrument Tracks are recognized beyond the strict header area.
Widened and reorganized Arrangement track headers so automation, record, monitor, mute, solo, pan, stereo, and fader controls remain readable.
Refined Pattern Mixer, Drum Pad, Arrangement headers, faders, buttons, scrollbars, cards, and high-contrast control states.

Browser, Libraries, and Bundled Assets

Browser libraries now preserve three distinct bundled roots:
- FactorySamples
- Default Samples
- Libre Sample Pack
The actual folder structure beneath each root is retained in the Browser.
Browser scanning now uses a single canonical deployment asset root, preventing duplicate entries from source and build copies.
Restricted Libre Sample Pack scanning to the maintained packaged library and excluded retired multi-gigabyte folders.
Added duplicate-path cleanup, cached-path migration, and automatic repair of duplicate cache records.
Corrected top-level Browser categories so content appears under the intended library root.
AIModels and AIProviders remain separate from packaged media assets.
Asset lookup, project serialization, and Instrument Suite now resolve bundled content through the protected mounted asset root.

Home Dashboard and Interface

Redesigned the Home screen around a fixed navigation sidebar with Home, Projects, Plugins, Audio Devices, Settings, and Help sections.
Added a new hero area, Recent Projects panel, Tools & Quick Access area, and an audio-device status card.
Added prominent New Project and Open Project actions.
Added direct Activate and Buy License actions plus official website and social links.
Added a Buy HyperION on Gumroad action to the activation dialog.
Redesigned the New Project dialog as a larger split hero/form layout while retaining the existing project options.
Applied broader theme-aware polish to the top bar, bottom status bar, studio deck, Pattern Mixer, Welcome view, Arrangement, status displays, cards, controls, spacing, and contrast.

Developer Tooling and Regression Coverage

Added an optional compile-time in-app visual UI designer with per-window and per-plug-in JSON layout overrides. It remains disabled in standard release builds.
Added or expanded regression coverage for exact external-sidechain bus delivery, main-input isolation, HyperEQ sidechain response, one-shot rendering, MasterLab module state and DSP, and Browser library-root behavior.

Fixed

Fixed hosted sidechain audio being delivered to assumed or incorrect channels.
Fixed Pattern Mixer sidechain selections that appeared configured but did not affect real processing.
Fixed sidechain audio leaking into a plug-in’s main input path.
Reduced crashes caused by malformed third-party native editor creation and late Windows UI Automation callbacks during editor shutdown.
Reduced clicks and playback interruptions while plug-ins are being inserted, removed, or initialized.
Fixed one-shot sample drops on empty Instrument Tracks being redirected to Audio 1 or creating a named track without playable audio.
Fixed disabled Pattern Mixer channels continuing to process or losing their enabled state after reopening a project.
Fixed duplicate Browser entries, incorrect bundled-library classification, and stale cached asset paths.
Fixed AI credentials failing because of copied quotes, invisible characters, or formatting whitespace.
Fixed ambiguous provider/key mismatch errors and improved credential-vault thread safety.
Fixed hidden prompt characters that could alter or invalidate AI requests.
Fixed incomplete progress and cancellation behavior during large AI responses and model downloads.
Fixed Dynamic EQ amounts being difficult to see or edit directly from the HyperEQ response graph.
Fixed compact Spectrum Matrix layouts clipping or crowding analysis content.

Release Artifact

Installer: HyperionSetup.exe
Platform: Windows x64
Installer size: 53,803,393 bytes (51.3 MiB)
SHA-256: 0CA51D32B8697097E1FD36D085FB33FD808940034815571A3497CA2CE75ED5C5
Managed online payload: 4,520 files, 1,248,391,125 bytes (approximately 1.16 GiB)
Packaged applications: HyperION, HyperION Plugin Scanner, and HyperION AI Setup — version 1.0.3.0

The online setup requires an internet connection. It verifies downloaded files before installation and keeps the existing installation recoverable while an update is being applied.

Upgrade Notes

Existing installations can use the same setup application to update or repair HyperION.
Only missing or changed managed files are downloaded.
Projects, presets, license data, and user settings outside the HyperION application directory are preserved.
Optional AI components are managed separately through HyperION AI Setup.exe.
Interrupted verified model and runtime downloads can resume instead of restarting from zero.