Steinberg HALion - 1.0 Owner's Guide

English

FREEFILTER

- 1

Operation Manual by Ludvig Carlson, Anders Nordmark, Roger Wiklander.

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does
not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies AG.
The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and
may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication may be copied,
reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without
prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies AG. All product and
company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. Windows 98,
Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows NT are trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, and Power Macintosh are
trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.

Steinberg Media Technologies AG, 2001.
All rights reserved.

FREEFILTER

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HALion – Table of Contents

6 Introduction

7 Register your software!

8 System Requirements

and Installation

9 System Requirements

(PC version)

9 Installation (PC version)
10 System Requirements

(Mac version)

10 Installation (Mac version)

11 Preparations

12 Setting up HALion as a VST

Instrument in Cubase

14 HALion Overview

15 How HALion Plays Samples
16 About Program Banks and

Programs

22 The HALion Page Views
27 Common window sections

44 Editing in the Channel/

Program Page View

46 Selecting a Program for a

Channel

47 Selecting the Output for a

Channel

48 Editing in the Keyzone

Page View

50 Window Overview
51 Selecting Samples
54 About the “ALL/SELECT”

Status Button

57 Setting Keyzone and Velocity

Range

59 Moving Samples
59 Deleting Samples
60 Setting the Root Key
61 Importing Samples
63 Overlapping Keyzones
66 Context Menu Items in the

Keyzone Window

35 Editing in the Macro

Page View

37 The Filter Section (DCF)
40 The Envelope Section
41 The Amplifier Section (DCA)
42 Tune Section
42 Glide
42 The LFOs
43 The Options pop-up menu

CUBASE VST

4 Table of Contents

72 Editing in the

Waveloop Page View

74 Setting the Start and End

Points for a Sample

75 Setting the Velocity Start

Point

75 Zooming the Waveform
77 Setting a Sustain Loop
79 Setting the Release Loop
79 Loop Tuning
80 Waveloop Context Menu

Items

81 Editing in the Enve-

lope/Filter Page View

82 The Envelope Section
86 The Filter Section (DCF)
87 The Amplifier Section (DCA)

89 Editing in the Modula-

tion/Tune Page View

91 The Modulation Section
95 MegaTrigg
99 LFO Section
100 Tune Section
101 Glide
101 Grouping
102 Play Raw/Drum Mode

103 Settings in the Options

Page View

105 Import Options
111 Master Settings
111 Preload and Memory Options
113 Key/Control Options
113 Quality

114 Automation, MIDI

Controllers and Key
Commands

115 Recording Dynamic Control

Settings

116 Using MIDI Controllers
117 HALion Keyboard

Commands

118 Index

Table of Contents 5

CUBASE VST

1

Introduction

English

Congratulations and thank you for your decision to purchase HALion.
This professional VST Instrument software is a complete 32-bit Sample
Player, providing extensive modulation and editing features.

You can load and use a VST Instrument within the framework of any
VST 2.0 compatible host application. Cubase VST, for instance, offers
facilities for loading up to eight VST Instruments.

Each HALion module that you load adds a high-quality instrument with
up to 256 voices and 16 channel Multi mode to your VST 2.0 compati­ble host application! You can separately make different settings for
each of the 16 simultaneously playable channels of a HALion unit.

These are HALion’s most prominent features:

• 8-/16-/24-/32-bit file support

• HALion supports Akai S1000/S2000/S3000, EMU 3/3X/ESI/4/4K/E64/E6400/
ESynth/Ultra, SoundFonts 2.x, Giga, LM4/LM9 and REX file formats (in addition
to all standard audio file formats)

• 12 virtual outputs (4x stereo/ 4x mono) per HALion unit

• Drag and Drop support

• 16 Part multi-timbrality and 128 Programs per HALion unit

• Settings can be applied individually for selected sample(s) – or globally for the
Program

• Notch/Hi-Pass/Lo-Pass/Band-Pass Filter with selectable 12 dB or 24 dB slopes

• Extensive, chainable modulation features

• Complete Automation from within Cubase VST or Nuendo

• Includes several professional sample collections

We hope you will have a lot of fun with your new VST Instrument!

The Steinberg Team

Register your software!

Please fill out and send in the registration card that you have received
with your software package. By doing so you are entitled to technical
support and kept aware of updates and other news regarding HALion.

Introduction 1 - 7

HALion

2

System Requirements and

Installation

System Requirements (PC version)

To be able to use HALion you will need at least:

• Pentium 266 MHz (400 MHz recommended).

• Cubase VST 5.0 or higher, Nuendo 1.5 or higher or other VST compatible host
software.

• 128 MB RAM (512 MB recommended).

• Windows 95, 98, ME or 2000.

• Approved MME or ASIO compliant Sound Card.

❐

Please also observe the system requirements of your host application!

Installation (PC version)

Proceed as follows to install HALion:

1. Insert the HALion CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive, launch the Explorer or
open the “My Computer” window and double click on the symbol for the
CD-ROM drive that holds the HALion-CD-ROM.

If Autostart is activated the CD contents will open in a new window automatically.

English

2. Double click on the HALion Installer symbol to launch a special installation
program and follow the instructions on the screen.

HALion

System Requirements and Installation 2 - 9

System Requirements (Mac version)

To be able to use HALion you will need at least:

• Power Macintosh or compatible system.

• 604e/250 MHz (G3 or better recommended).

• 128 MB RAM (512 MB recommended).

• Mac OS 9.0 or higher.

• Cubase VST 5.0 or higher, Nuendo 1.5 or higher or other Virtual Instrument
compatible host software.

❐

Please also observe the system requirements of your host application!

Installation (Mac version)

Proceed as follows to install HALion:

1. Quit all other applications so that you return to the Finder. Disable any
system activity monitoring software or extension, in particular anti-virus
software. Then insert the HALion CD into your computer’s CD-ROM drive.

2. If needed, double click on the HALion icon to open the CD window.

3. Double click on the HALion Installer symbol to load the installation soft­ware. Follow the instructions on the screen.

HALion

2 - 10 System Requirements and Installation

3

Preparations

Setting up HALion as a VST Instrument in Cubase

❐

The information in this chapter refers to using HALion within Cubase VST.
We assume that you have correctly set up both Cubase VST and your avail­able MIDI and audio hardware.
Should you wish to use HALion within another host application such as
Nuendo, then please read its documentation.

Proceed as follows to activate HALion:

1. Make sure that Cubase VST receives MIDI data that you generate with your
external MIDI Master keyboard.

2. In Cubase VST, open the “VST Instruments” window.

3. Select “Halion” from the pop-up menu in the VST Instruments window.

4. Clicking the “Power” switch in the Rack will deactivate/activate HALion.

By default this is automatically activated when VST Instruments are loaded.

HALion

3 - 12 Preparations

English

5. Click on the “Edit” button to open the HALion window.

By default, the “Macro” Page View (“Page Views” are user interface panels con­taining parameters) is shown. In this Page View, the parameters affect all the
samples in a Program. In addition to this, there are six other Page Views. See the
next chapter, “HALion Overview”, for a brief description of all the Page Views.

The HALion “Macro” Page View.

6. In Cubase VST, select a MIDI Track and set its Output setting to “Halion”.

This way, HALion will receive MIDI data from the selected Track.

• HALion receives MIDI data in16 channel multi-mode. It is therefore not
necessary to assign a specific MIDI receive channel in HALion.

However, you should make sure that the MIDI channel of the currently selected
Cubase VST track is set to the channel on which HALion is to receive MIDI data.

When set, you are ready to load some samples and start using HALion!
In the next chapter you will learn how to load programs.

HALion

Preparations 3 - 13

4

HALion Overview

This chapter contains an overview of the basic concepts and opera­tional procedures, including brief descriptions of the different HALion
Page Views.

How HALion Plays Samples

Unlike other samplers that have to load the entire samples into RAM,
HALion can play back samples of virtually any length, regardless of the
amount of RAM installed in your computer. This is because HALion can
play back audio direct from hard disk, like hard disk recording systems.
But due to the fact that samples can’t be triggered instantly from disk
(there would be a delay between pressing a key and the sound playing
back), the initial portion of the samples (i.e. the start of the sample) is
preloaded into the computer’s RAM. This way only a small fraction of a
longer sample will reside in RAM, while the rest is streamed directly
from disk.

English

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 15

About Program Banks and Programs

For HALion to produce sound, you first have to load either one or more
audio files (i.e. samples), a Program (a collection of samples) or a Pro­gram Bank (a collection of up to 128 Programs):

• HALion always contains a “Program Bank” which in turn contains 128
Program “slots”.

Even if only one Program containing samples and parameter settings is cur­rently loaded, there are still 128 Program slots, although in this case, 127 of
these slots will be empty. Only one Program Bank can be loaded at a time.

• A Program references any number of samples and contains all parameter
settings associated with the samples

Within a Program folder, samples can be arranged in any number of sub-fold­ers, which makes it easy to organize and handle multiple samples.

❐

Samples are not stored in the Program file, but are “referenced” to a loca­tion on disk.

• You can load or save Program Banks containing up to 128 Programs but
also single Programs from the File pop-up menu in the VST Instruments
Rack.

The corresponding functions are called “Load/Save Bank” and “Load/Save Instru­ment”. It is also possible to load Banks, Programs or individual samples via drag
and drop (see page 62).

.

When you save your Cubase VST Song file, the following information is
stored:

• The number of HALion units used in the Song.

• The Bank and/or Programs used.

• The changed settings of edited Programs.

❐

However, if you wish to use the edited version of a Program in another Song,
you must save it using one of the Save functions in the File pop-up menu on
the VST Instrument Rack.

HALion

4 - 16 HALion Overview

Working with Program Banks

A Bank is a collection of up to 128 Programs.

Use the “Load Bank” option in the File menu to load a Program Bank.
Program Banks have the extension “.fxb”. Loading a new bank unloads
all previously loaded banks.

Together with HALion 1.1 a default sound bank is installed. If you wish
you can create your own default sound bank by saving your preferred
bank as “haliondef.fxb” in the HALion folder. We recommend to back
up the original “haliondef.fxb” file for future use.

Loading a Program Bank

As explained on page 15, when samples are loaded the initial portion of
the samples will be preloaded into RAM. When you load a Bank, all the
samples belonging to the Programs assigned to HALion’s 16 MIDI
channels will be preloaded into RAM. If you don’t intend to use some of
the channels, you should load an empty program (see page 46).

Working with Programs

For now, we assume that you have the “Macro” Page View open. This
Page View contains parameter controls that are global, i.e. they affect
all samples in the currently selected Program.

English

The Macro page view.

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 17

• Click in the number display of the Program selector and hold down the
mouse button. This brings up a pop-up menu with all Program names of
the current Bank. Which MIDI Channel (1 to 16) each Program is currently
assigned to is shown in parentheses.

Select the desired Program by clicking on it.

• Programs can not be selected using the Program buttons in the VST
Instruments Rack.

Please use the Program selector in the HALion window.

Loading individual Programs

• You can use “Load Instrument” in the File pop-up menu to load a single Pro­gram from disk. Programs have the extension “.fxp”. It is loaded into the
currently selected HALion Channel and overwrites any previously loaded
Program.

For better overview, only one Channel at a time is visible in the HALion window.

❐

Please note that the previous sections about loading Banks and Programs
describe just one possibility of loading by using the VST Instrument “File”
pop-up menu. There are several alternative ways of loading Banks, Pro­grams and samples into HALion, which are described later in the manual.

HALion

4 - 18 HALion Overview

Playing a Program

• Check out the currently selected Program by playing notes and chords on
your MIDI keyboard.

As an alternative, you can create a Part on a Cubase VST Track and fill that with
notes and MIDI Controller data by using the mouse.

• If you notice considerable latency times (delay) when you play HALion via
MIDI keyboard, the sound card that you use and/or its driver are the
source of the problem.

If the problem occurs within your system and you want to record by playing in
real time, you should replace your sound card and its driver with a fast audio
card and an ASIO driver, that have been optimized for the smallest possible la­tency time. When playing back HALion data from a Cubase Track, this problem
does not exist.

• The audio signals that are created by a VST Instrument are automatically
routed to the VST Channel Mixer. Open any of the VST Channel Mixers
(1 or 2). In the Channel Mixer, four stereo channels and four mono chan­nels, named “Hal 1” to “Hal 12”, are assigned to each open HALion unit.

By using the Output controls in the HALion window, you can route the Program
(or any sample within the Program) to any of these 12 audio channels - see

page 87.

English

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 19

• Record a few Tracks and watch the channel level meters in the Mixer. Play
with the volume or EQ settings of the channels that receive a signal.

Using the VST Mixer, you can thus mix the sounds created by HALion and pro­cess them in the same way as other Audio Tracks by using plug-ins, effects or
external studio equipment.

• If needed, you can transform any or all HALion Tracks into an audio file. To
do so, simply use Cubase’s “Export Audio Tracks” function.

Saving a Program

Proceed as follows:

1. Select the desired Program.

2. Change the Program settings as desired.

Read the corresponding chapters of this manual to find out what you can do
with the various controls.

3. When you have finished editing, click the name in the Program display
and enter a new one via your computer keyboard.

You have three options to save an edited Program:

• You can save it as a single Program file, using the “Save Instrument” function in
the File pop-up menu on the VST Instruments Rack.

• You can save it together with its Bank, using the “Save Bank” function in the File
pop-up menu on the VST Instruments Rack.

• You can save the Cubase VST Song. If you do this, the changed Program is only
available within this particular Song. If this is not what you want, use one of the
two options above.

HALion

4 - 20 HALion Overview

About MIDI Channels and Programs

HALion is 16 channel multi-timbral. This means that each MIDI channel
(1-16) can be assigned a separate Program.

• The settings for one of the 16 Programs/channels can be selected for view­ing.

By simply selecting another Program/MIDI output channel, its corresponding
settings are shown. In the HALion window this is called “Channel”.

The Channel selector.

• Each of these 16 Programs separately gets its notes via one of the 16 MIDI
channels (Channels).

• Remember: The MIDI data that your MIDI Master keyboard sends to Cubase
VST (and thus to HALion) is always routed via the MIDI channel of the Track
that is currently selected in Cubase VST.

• You should therefore always make sure that the currently visible HALion
Page View is set to the same Channel number as the Track currently active
in Cubase’s Arrange window. Additionally, the Output setting for this
Track must be set to “HALion”.

By keeping these rules in mind, you make sure that it is the correct channel
(of the available 16 channels) that you edit and hear when playing your Master
keyboard.

English

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 21

The HALion Page Views

When you open HALion, the afore-mentioned “Macro” Page View is
shown by default. In addition to this there are six other Page Views each
containing various parameters and controls. These six Page Views have
common sections like the Navigation Controller (see page 31) and the
Program List (see page 27).

Selecting Page Views

You switch between the different Page Views using the row of buttons
always present at the bottom of the HALion window. You can also use
the function keys [F6] to [F12] (if set in the Cubase Preferences) to se­lect the Chan/Prog to Macro Page Views, respectively.

The Page View selector buttons.

On the following pages you find a run through of the different Edit
Page Views available in HALion.

Global Commands Context Menu

You can open a Global Commands context menu by right-clicking on
the background of the Macro View or on the top or bottom of any of
the other Page Views.

Parameter Description

Clear All This will remove all loaded programs. A warning message

will be displayed.

Help This brings up the online help for HALion (in pdf-format).

Halion Website This launches your web browser application and opens

Steinberg on the Web… This directs your web browser to Steinberg’s Website.

About HALion… This brings up information about the program.

HALion

4 - 22 HALion Overview

To be able to read it, you need to have the Acrobat Reader
installed. This software is included on the program CD.

the dedicated web site for HALion.

The Channel/Program Page View

The Channel/Program Page View contains settings for HALion’s 16 MIDI
channels and the 12 virtual outputs. Here you can set which Program
should be assigned to each of the 16 MIDI channels, and to which of
HALion’s 12 virtual outputs each channel should be assigned.

• For information on how to make Program/Channel settings see page 46.

• For information on how to make Output assignments see page 47.

English

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 23

The Keyzone Page View

The vertical “strips” indicate the velocity range for each sample, and the
horizontal width of each strip indicates the keyzone range for each sam­ple. In the picture above, all samples have a keyzone range of one note.
The rightmost group of samples are selected, indicated by the handles
at the top and bottom of each strip.

The Keyzone Page View offers a graphic overview of all samples in a Pro­gram, their keyzones (the note range across the keyboard which sam­ples are mapped to) and velocity settings. The Keyzone Page View has
many powerful features, and is where the majority of sample-oriented
editing takes place.

For a full description of the Keyzone Page View, see page 48 onwards.

HALion

4 - 24 HALion Overview

The Waveloop Page View

In this Page View you can set loop points for a sample. It is possible to
set up both a sustain loop, that governs what portion of the sample
should loop when a key is held down, and a release loop which governs
a separate independent loop activated after a key is released. You can
define loops graphically in the sample waveform, or numerically. The
Waveloop Page View is described on page 72 and onwards.

The Envelope/Filter Page View

English

The Envelope/Filter Page View contains two Envelope generators with
up to eight stages each, a multi-mode Filter section (DCF) and an Ampli­fier section (DCA). This Page View is described on page 81 and onwards.

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 25

The Mod/Tune Page View

The Modulation/Tune Page View contains an extremely powerful mod­ulation section, where a source modulator can be multiplied by one or
several modulators and/or values and finally applied to a destination
parameter. In addition to the Modulation section, this Page View con­tains the two LFOs, a Tune section and a Voice Grouping section. This
Page View is described on page 89 and onwards.

The Options Page View

The Options Page View is used for importing external audio file formats,
making memory settings and various other options that govern global
HALion functions. The “Settings in the Options Page View” chapter be­gins on page 103.

HALion

4 - 26 HALion Overview

About the Macro Page

The main difference between the Macro Page View and the other Page
Views is that the Macro parameters always affect all samples in a pro­gram. Hence, there are no window sections that relate to settings on a
“sample level”. Also note that the Macro parameters are not separate
parameters. The Macro Filter section governs exactly the same parame­ters as the Envelope/Filter Page View – the difference is solely that all
samples in the Program are always affected.

The following section describes the common window sections for all
other Page Views (although the Keyboard, the MIDI channel/Virtual
Output/Page View selectors are also present in the Macro Page View).

Common window sections

Each HALion Page View is subdivided into several logical sections, com­mon to all Page Views. Here follows a description of all the common win­dow sections. To bring these sections into view you have to first select
any Page View (see page 22) except Macro.

The Program List

English

The Program List is located on the right side of the HALion window. This
list has many important functions. First and foremost, it is where you de­cide whether the current Page View parameter should affect all or only
the selected samples in a Program.

You can also use it to select samples or Programs, drag samples from the
list into the Keyzone window, create subfolders for organizing samples
and much more.

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 27

The Program List contains the following:

• The current Program Bank (i.e. 128 Program folders which may either be
empty or contain samples).

A Program’s associated samples reside in the Program folder (or in sub-folders).
Empty folders can not be opened.

Program Folders. A plus sign before the name indicates that
the folder is closed, a minus sign that it is open. Clicking on a
Program name selects it and all the samples in the Program.
Use [Shift] + click to select multiple samples. [Alt]-clicking on
a plus sign will open/close all Program folders.

The currently selected Program is indi­cated by a red border.

The currently selected samples
are highlighted. A yellow border
indicates the currently “View Se­lected” sample - see page 52.

These samples belong to the same
Program, but are currently not se­lected. Use [Shift]+click to select a
range of samples, use [Ctrl] (Win­dows) or [Command]+click (Mac)
to select multiple samples.

This button toggles between All
or Select mode. In Select mode,
only the selected samples are af­fected when editing. In All mode
all samples in the Program are af­fected - see page 54.

HALion

4 - 28 HALion Overview

This indicator displays whether All
or Select mode is active (see below).
In Select mode it also indicates
whether one or multiple samples
are selected - see page 54.

This button toggles between
Absolute and Relative editing –
see page 55.

English

You can drag the Program List to the left, thus extending the width of the
list in order to view longer Program/sample names in full.

Proceed as follows:

1. Select the Keyzone Page View.

This function is only available when this Page View is selected.

2. Click anywhere on the left border of the Program List and drag it to the left.

Extending the horizontal view of the Program List.

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 29

The Program List can also be “hidden” behind a blank panel. There is no
functionality attached to this feature - it is merely a viewing option.

Click anywhere on
the right side of the
list to hide it.

Showing/Hiding the Program List.

Click anywhere on the
panel to show the
Program List again.

For more detailed information about the Program List please refer to the
chapter “The Keyzone Page View”. Other functions, like scrolling the Pro­gram List is described in the next section.

HALion

4 - 30 HALion Overview

The Navigation Controller

The Navigation Controller is used for scrolling or zooming. Besides scroll­ing up/down and left/right, it also functions a bit like a joystick in certain
Edit Views, in that it can move over two axes simultaneously. To use the
Navigation Controller, simply click in the middle of the light blue area
and drag in any direction.

• The speed of the scrolling or zooming is determined by the position of the
pointer.

If you drag it further away from the Navigation Controller, the speed increases
and vice versa.

English

The Navigation Controller always affects one of the following areas:

• The currently selected Page View (Edit mode).

The functionality varies depending on which Page View is selected.

• The Program List (List mode).

Selecting any item in the Program List automatically switches the Navi­gation Controller to List mode. Selecting any item in one of the Page
Views to the left of the Program List that is zoomable or scrollable auto­matically selects Edit mode.

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 31

Let’s take a look at how the Navigation Controller can be used in the
Program List, for example:

1. Make sure List mode is active.

2. Click and hold down the mouse button at the center of the Navigation
Controller and drag the pointer up or down.

This scrolls the Program List. Notice that the Navigation Controller’s blue light
moves up and down as you scroll. If you move the pointer further away, the list
scrolls faster. This functionality requires the “Advanced Navigation Ball” option
to be set in the Options Page View.

3. Hold down [Ctrl] (Windows) or [Command] (Mac) and scroll the Program
List.

This increases or decreases the size of the text in the Program List. This can also
be done by typing [H] or [G], respectively (given that List mode is selected).

❐

What the Navigation Controller controls in different Page Views is de­scribed in the relevant Page View chapter.

The Keyboard

The Keyboard logically spans the entire range that you can assign sam­ples to, from C-2 to G8. It is used to quickly audition samples by clicking
a key to which a sample is assigned. A blue dot indicates the key where
you last clicked.

• To scroll up or down the keyboard range, drag the Navigation Controller
(set to Edit mode) left or right.

This is true for all Page Views except the Macro and the Waveloop. As the Macro
Page View doesn’t contain a Navigation Controller you can instead use the little
arrow buttons to the left of the keyboard to scroll.

• By pressing [Ctrl] and dragging the Navigation Controller to the left/right
you zoom in/out to change the size of the keys and thus extend or de­crease the visible range of the keyboard.

❐

This function also affects the visible size of the keyzones in the Keyzone
Page View.

HALion

4 - 32 HALion Overview

English

• You can audition samples with varying velocity values using the mouse.

The further down on a key you click, the higher the velocity value, and vice
versa. For more information on Velocity, see page 41.

Click here for
maximum velocity.

Click here for
minimum velocity.

The Playback Indicators/Channel Selector Buttons

Playback indicators

Each of the 16 MIDI channels can play a separate Program. When you
select one of the channels 1 to 16 in HALion, it automatically switches
to the Program currently assigned to that channel.

There are several ways you can change the currently selected Channel/
Program.

Channel selector buttons

• By using the up/down arrow buttons beside the Channel indicator.

• By clicking the Playback Indicators - they light up when a sample is played back
on the respective channel.

• By selecting any Program assigned to Channels 1 to 16 in the Program List.

HALion

HALion Overview 4 - 33

The Program Output Selector

The Program Output selector is used for setting which of the 12 virtual
outputs a Program is routed to. The options are “PROG”, “St. 1 + 2”, “St. 3
+ 4”, “St. 5 + 6”, “St. 7 + 8” and the four mono outputs “9“ to “12”. “PROG”
is by default set to “St. 1 + 2”.

Setting the output for individual samples and defining where the Pro­gram output is routed to is done in the Envelope/Filter Page View, see

page 87.

The Program Selector pop-up

This pop-up allows you to select one of the 128 Programs (Presets) in
the Program Bank and assign it to the currently selected Channel (MIDI
output channel). To rename a Program, click in the name field and type
in a new name.

The Sample Selector/Numeric Edit Fields

The Sample selector allows you to select one sample in the current Pro­gram and always displays the currently “View selected” sample (see

page 52). The fields to the right can be used to set the Keyzone range

(LO/HI KEY), the Velocity range (LO/HI VEL) and the Root Key. The differ­ent parameters and how you can edit them is explained in the chapter
“Editing in the Keyzone Page View”.

HALion

4 - 34 HALion Overview

5

Editing in the Macro Page View

The Macro Page View represents HALion’s basic operational mode.
Here you adjust the basic parameters like filter and envelope settings
and apply these settings to the Program as a whole. All parameters in
the Macro Page View affect all samples in the current Program. The pa­rameters in the Macro Page View are the same as in the various other
Page Views, but some (like the Envelopes) are more basic. Also, the
other Page Views contain parameters not found in the Macro Page
View.

The Macro Page View parameters are described on the following pages.

HALion

5 - 36 Editing in the Macro Page View

The Filter Section (DCF)

❐

It is worth mentioning that the filter is described as one entity. In the Macro
Page View this is true - there is only one filter (per channel) that will affect all
samples in the Program assigned to the channel. But by using the Envelope/
Filter Page View, each sample can have its own filter settings. The same ap­plies to other parameters described in this chapter. So in reality with
HALion you have access to an arbitrary number of filters/envelopes etc.

A filter removes certain frequencies from an audio signal. The filter in
HALion offers five filter modes.

The Filter section contains the following parameters:

Filter Type

English

Clicking the “Filter Type” field opens a pop-up menu where you can se­lect one of the following filter types:

Low Pass (24dB/12dB)

Low pass filters let low frequencies pass and cut out the high frequencies. This is
the most commonly used filter type in synthesizers and samplers. The Low Pass
filter in HALion can be set to either 24 dB/Octave or 12 dB/Octave roll-off slope.
A 24 dB roll-off slope dampens the frequencies above the Cutoff frequency
more than a 12 dB roll-off slope.

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Editing in the Macro Page View 5 - 37

High Pass

A high pass filter is the opposite of a low pass filter, cutting out the lower fre­quencies and letting the high frequencies pass. It has a 12 dB/Octave roll-off
slope.

Band Pass

A band pass filter cuts both high and low frequencies, while midrange frequen­cies are not affected. Each slope in this filter type has a 12 dB /Octave roll-off.

Notch

A notch filter can be described as the opposite of a band pass filter. It cuts off
frequencies in a midrange band, letting the frequencies below and above
through. This filter type also has a 12 dB/Octave roll-off slope.

Filter Cutoff

Perhaps the most important parameter for a filter is its cutoff frequency,
which is the setting that determines where in the frequency material it
should start cutting. If the cutoff frequency in a low pass filter is set to a
very low value, only the lowest frequencies will pass through. If you raise
the cutoff all the way up, all frequencies will be let through.

❐

The Filter Cutoff may also be affected by the Filter Envelope Amount set­ting (see page 39) and the Filter Velocity setting (see page 86).

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5 - 38 Editing in the Macro Page View

Filter Resonance

For low pass filters, raising the filter Resonance value will emphasize the
frequencies around the set filter frequency. This produces a sharper fil­ter cutoff sweep, but a thinner overall sound. The higher the filter Reso­nance value, the more resonant the sound becomes until it produces a
whistling or ringing sound. When you use the Band Pass or Notch filter,
the Resonance setting adjusts the width of the band. When you raise
the Resonance, the band where frequencies are let through (Band Pass),
or cut (Notch) will become narrower.

Filter Envelope Amount

English

This parameter determines how much the filter cutoff should be af­fected by the Filter Envelope (see below). Raising this value creates
more drastic results. The Envelope Amount parameter, the Filter Enve­lope and the set filter frequency are related.

Both positive and negative percentage amounts can be set. If negative
amounts are set, the way the envelope affects the cutoff will be inverted.
For example, if a positive value causes the Decay parameter to lower the
filter cutoff, a negative corresponding value will instead raise it.

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Editing in the Macro Page View 5 - 39

The Envelope Section

The Filter Envelope and the Amplifier Envelope.

An Envelope determines a chronological sequence for changes that
can affect the pitch, timbre or level of a signal. This sequence is trig­gered by notes that are either played on the MIDI keyboard or sent
from a sequencer track.

In the Macro Page View, HALion has two Envelope Generators with
controllable Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release (ADSR) per channel. En­velope 1 creates the Filter Envelope which controls the Cutoff parame­ter. Envelope 2 is assigned to the DCA (Digitally Controlled Amplifier)
and affects the volume of the Program.

Parameter Description

Attack Controls the time it takes for the signal to reach its highest

level.

Decay Controls the time it takes the signal to decay to the sustain

level.

Sustain Controls the signal level after the Decay phase, while the

key is still held down on the MIDI keyboard.

Release Controls the signal after a key is released.

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5 - 40 Editing in the Macro Page View

The Amplifier Section (DCA)

This section controls the volume of the Program.

Amplifier Amount

This parameter determines how much the volume should be affected
by Envelope 2 (see above). Normally this is set to 100%. If this is set to
0%, no sound will be produced.

Amplifier Volume

English

This parameter can be used to boost the sample’s level to up to a max­imum of 6dB.

Amplifier Velocity

This dial controls how much the volume should be affected by Velocity.
Velocity is a value determined by how hard or soft you play notes on
your keyboard. With Velocity set to 0%, the volume will be constant no
matter how hard or soft you play. Increasing this value progressively will
make the volume more and more sensitive to how hard or soft you play.

Editing in the Macro Page View 5 - 41

HALion

Tune Section

The Tune section is used to control the tuning of the Program in either
Octave, Semitone (“Coarse”) or Cent increments. You can tune the Oc­tave range +/- 5 octaves, the Semitone range +/- 11 semitones and the
Cent range +/- 100 cents (Cent = 100th of a semitone).

Glide

By using the Glide dial, you can set a glissando (up to 3 seconds) be­tween successive notes.

The LFOs

The parameters in the LFO section allow you to vary the frequency and
the waveform of the two LFOs. The LFO section is described on page 99.

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5 - 42 Editing in the Macro Page View

The Options pop-up menu

Clicking in this field brings up a pop-up menu with the following op­tions:

High/Mid/Low Quality

The Quality setting provides a way of balancing audio quality vs. conservation
of computer power.

• High Quality uses the highest sample rate, using more computer power as a
trade-off.

• Mid Quality uses less CPU power. Depending on the type of sounds you are us­ing, this mode can provide adequate reproduction in many instances.

• Low Quality works with the lowest sample rate, producing a “Lo-Fi” sound.

English

Quality can also be set in the Options Page View - it is the same param­eter but can be set as a percentage value from 0 to 100% - see page 113.

❐

The Quality setting is global for all channels in a HALion unit. Programs
(or samples) cannot have different Quality settings!

Edit absolute/Edit relative

This option determines whether the global settings you make in the
Macro Page View should set the changed parameter to an absolute
value, or change values relative to the previously set value.

Absolute/Relative editing is explained more closely on page 55.

Editing in the Macro Page View 5 - 43

HALion

6

Editing in the Channel/Program

Page View

This Page View allows you to assign any Program in the Program Bank
to any of the 16 channel “slots” in HALion. You can also make output as­signments for the 16 channels.

English

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Editing in the Channel/Program Page View 6 - 45

Selecting a Program for a Channel

There are three ways to select a Program for a Channel:

• By using the Program pop-up menu for a Channel slot.

Click the arrow in the Program column for the Channel you want to select a
Program for, and select a Program from the menu.

• By sending a Program Change message via the same MIDI channel.

Any Program change message between 1-128 will change the currently assigned
Program to the Program with this number.

HALion

6 - 46 Editing in the Channel/Program Page View

English

The last example involves two steps:

1. Click on a Channel number to select the Channel.

Click here to select the Channel.

2. If you now click on a Program name in the Program List that is currently
not assigned to any of HALion’s 16 Channel slots, it will be assigned to the
selected Channel.

This Program is assigned to Channel slot 7,
and selected. Programs assigned to any of
the 16 Channel slots have yellow text.

This Program is currently not assigned to any
of the 16 Channel slots. Unassigned Pro­grams have blue text. If you click it, it will re­place the Program in Channel slot 7.

Selecting the Output for a Channel

Clicking in the Output column for a Channel slot opens the Program
Output pop-up menu. This allows you to select which of the 12 virtual
outputs the selected Channel/Program should be routed to. This is de­scribed on page 34.

Editing in the Channel/Program Page View 6 - 47

HALion

7

Editing in the Keyzone Page View

The Keyzone Page View takes care of all your sample mapping, layering
and velocity scaling needs. A graphic and intuitive user interface makes
it very easy to survey all the samples in a Program. This chapter covers
all the operations possible in the Keyzone Page View, but also all oper­ations involving the Program List, and general file handling issues such
as importing samples.

English

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Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 49

Window Overview

When you have loaded a Program, the Keyzone Page View displays all
the samples, mapped out horizontally over the Keyboard so you can
clearly see what keys have samples mapped to them. The range across
the keyboard that a sample is mapped to is called a key zone.

Both the Keyzone (Lo/Hi Key)
and the Velocity range (Hi/Lo
Vel) can also be edited in the
Edit fields.

The sample in the picture is both selected for
editing (indicated by a red border and the two red
“handles” in the top left and bottom right corner)
and “View selected” (indicated by a yellow border ­see page 52).

The vertical range indi­cates the Velocity range.

This sample has a key zone range from the C2 key to the D2 key.

A sample in the Keyzone window. Note that each key is superimposed in the Keyzone
window background, black keys having a dark blue outline and white keys a light blue
outline. This makes it easier to accurately scale and pinpoint ranges.

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7 - 50 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

Selecting Samples

The following methods can be used to select samples in the Keyzone
Page View:

• Clicking on a Sample selects it.

• Use [Shift] + click to select several samples.

Click somewhere in the window (but not on a sample) to deselect all samples.

• You can draw a selection rectangle by clicking and holding the mouse but­ton down in the window.

All samples encompassed by the rectangle will be selected.

English

Drawing a selection rectangle.

• You can select samples by clicking them in the Program List.

You can also select samples by using the up/down arrow keys in the Program
List.

See page 28 for a further description of selecting in the Program List.

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Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 51

About the “View Selected” Sample

As explained earlier, the Sample selector field in the top strip of all Page
Views shows the name of the selected samples. In the Program List or
the Keyzone editor, you will notice that one sample has a yellow or red/
yellow border. The yellow border indicates that the sample is currently
“View Selected”. It is this sample’s parameters that will be shown when
viewing any of the Page Views that show the settings for one sample at
a time (specifically the Waveloop, Env/Filter and the Mod/Tune Page
Views). The following determines which sample will be View selected:

• When you select samples using [Shift] + click, the last sample you click on
will be View selected.

If you draw a selection rectangle to select samples, the currently View selected
sample will continue to have the focus.

• If you [Shift] + click on a sample in the Keyzone window that currently has
a red/yellow border, it will remain View selected but not edit selected.

The sample will then have only a yellow border.

The sample is selected for editing, but not View selected, as indicated by a red border
in the Keyzone window, and by being highlighted in the Program List.

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7 - 52 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

The sample is selected and View selected, as indicated by a red/yellow border in the
Keyzone window, and by being highlighted and having a yellow border in the
Program List.

English

The sample is View selected, but not selected for editing, as indicated by a yellow border
in the Keyzone window and in the Program List.

HALion

Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 53

The currently View selected sample name is also displayed in the Sam­ple selector field. You can also use the Sample selector pop-up to select
another sample, but this will in turn deselect all other selected samples.

About the “ALL/SELECT” Status Button

There is one central functionality attached to virtually all editing opera­tions in all HALion’s Page Views (except Waveloop and Macro) that is
dependent on whether samples are selected or not. That is the “ALL/
SELECT” setting at the bottom of the Program List. You toggle between
the two basic modes by clicking the lower left button (it either reads
“ALL” or “SELECT”).

In this mode, only selected samples will be affected by parameter changes.
“MULTISAMP.” indicates that several samples are currently selected.

In this mode, a single selected sample will be affected by parameter changes.
“SAMPLE” indicates that only one sample is selected.

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7 - 54 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

In this mode, all samples in the Program will be affected by parameter changes,
regardless whether samples are selected or not. “PROGRAM” indicates that the whole
Program will be affected.

Edit Absolute/Edit Relative

In addition, by clicking the button that either reads “RELATIVE” or “AB­SOLUTE”, you switch between Absolute or Relative editing mode. This
is only meaningful if you have selected “ALL” or have several selected
samples, as the “ABSOLUTE”/”RELATIVE” setting doesn’t matter if only
one sample is selected.

English

The “ABSOLUTE”/”RELATIVE” setting determines whether the editing
you perform should set the changed parameter to an absolute value, or
change values relative to the previously set value for all or selected
samples. With the exception of Pitch and Volume, a certain percentage
of all values is changed. For Pitch and Volume, the values are changed
by adding or subtracting from the current values. Have a look at the fol­lowing examples:

Example 1 (Absolute mode)

For some of the samples of a Program a Volume of +2dB has been set in
the Env/Filter Page View, while all other samples in this Program have a
Volume of -2dB. When setting a Volume of +4dB in Absolute mode,
this setting is applied to all or all selected samples.

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Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 55

Example 2 (Relative mode for Volume and Pitch)

In Relative mode, changing the current Volume setting by 2dB will
change the Volumes of all or all selected samples by 2dB.

Example 3 (Relative mode for all remaining parameters)

For Sample 1 a Cutoff value of 60 has been set in the Env/Filter Page
View, while for Sample 2 Cutoff has been set to 80. When changing the
Cutoff setting by 20 for Sample 1, this corresponds to a change of 50%
with respect to the maximum value. For Sample 2 this change of 50%
with respect to the maximum value results in a change by 10 to a set­ting of 90.

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7 - 56 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

Setting Keyzone and Velocity Range

Using the Handles

The handles can be used to set both the keyzone and the velocity
range for a sample. You can only set the Keyzone range for one sample
at a time.

English

Using the top handle. When you click on a handle, the pointer changes to a double
arrow, and the sample itself becomes transparent.

You can use the handles in the following way:

• Click the top handle to either extend the keyzone by dragging to the left,
reduce the keyzone by dragging to the right or scale the high velocity by
dragging up or down.

Clicking on the left side or border of a sample allows you to set the keyzone
range in the manner outlined above, but not the velocity.

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Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 57

• Click the bottom handle to either extend the keyzone by dragging to the
right, reduce the keyzone by dragging to the left or scale the low velocity
by dragging up or down.

Clicking on the right side or border of a sample allows you to set the keyzone
range in the manner outlined above, but not the velocity.

• Hold down [Alt] and drag the handles up or down to set velocity Lo/Hi val­ues for several selected samples simultaneously.

Setting the Hi Velocity for several selected samples.

Using the Edit Fields

You can also set Keyzone and Velocity by using the Edit fields in the top
strip of the window. This only affects one sample at a time: the cur­rently View Selected sample. The following methods can be used:

• Click in one of the Edit fields to type in a new value. Click [Enter] to confirm.

• [Ctrl]-click (MacOS) or right-click (Windows) in an Edit field and drag up or
down to change values, like using an invisible fader.

• If you have a wheel mouse, this can also be used to change values by clicking in
the Edit fields (Windows only).

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7 - 58 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

Moving Samples

Selected samples can be moved around in the Keyzone window:

• Clicking in the middle of a sample, so that the pointer becomes a four-way
arrow (Windows) or a Plus sign (Mac) allows you to drag the selected sam­ple(s) left or right (and up or down if the velocity range has been scaled
from the default 0 to 127 range) in the Keyzone window.

Note that when you move samples horizontally, they will be transposed. To
make moved samples play back at the right pitch again you have to change the
Root Key setting (see below).

English

Moving samples in the Keyzone window.

Deleting Samples

You can delete selected samples using the standard commands
[Delete] or [Backspace]. This means that the samples will no longer be
referenced by the current Program (if saved after deleting the samples).
Samples are not deleted from their current location on disk.

Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 59

HALion

Setting the Root Key

The Root key determines the pitch of the sample. Samples can contain
Root key information embedded in the file, which means that when
loaded, they will automatically be mapped to the corresponding key(s).

The sample collections included with HALion contain both multisampled
instrument Programs, with samples of a specific instrument (where often
there is one sample for each corresponding note across the keyboard),
and “single-shot” sample Programs, where different separate samples
are mapped across the keyboard without any key/pitch relationship. In
the former case (i.e when samples already have the correct root key and
are mapped to the corresponding key), it doesn’t generally make any
sense to change the Root key settings. But in the latter case, you may
want to move samples around, and the same applies to imported
pitched samples that do not have Root key information.

If you have moved samples in the Keyzone window, you can easily
make them play back at the original pitch by setting the Root key man­ually in the Root Edit field. If you set the Root key to the same key a
sample is mapped to, it will play back at the sample’s original pitch.

If you have loaded samples, refer to the next section - “Importing Sam­ples”.

• If the sample is mapped to a Keyzone stretching over several keys, you can
determine which key you want to be the root key according to whether it
is the low key, the middle key or the high key in the Keyzone.

This is explained on page 66.

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7 - 60 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

Importing Samples

Earlier we have explained how to load a Program Bank and individual
Programs using the File pop-up. But to make up your own Programs us­ing your own samples, you first have to import the samples into HALion.
This can be done in a number of ways:

• By dragging the samples (audio files) and dropping them into the Keyzone win­dow or the Program List (in any Page View) - see page 62.

• By using the Import Sample(s) Program List context menu item - see page 66.

• By using the Import Sample(s) Keyzone window context menu item - see page 66.

• By using the Import Audio Files dialog in the Options Page View - see page 105.

• By using the Import Ext. Format dialog in the Options Page View - see page 106.

What Audio File Formats can be loaded?

HALion supports the following File Formats:

English

Audio File Format/
Extension

Wave File/.wav The standard audio file format for the PC platform.

AIFF/.aif Audio Interchange File Format. The standard audio file format for

AIFC/.aif Compressed Audio Interchange File Format. Similar to AIFF, but

LM4/LM9/.txt Script files created for the LM4 or LM9 Drum modules.

REX/.rex ReCycle Export files. ReCycle is a program created by Propeller-

Sound Designer II/
.sd2 (MacOS only)

HALion Effect
Program/.fxp

HALion Effect Bank/
.fxb

Description

the MacOS platform.

compressed (32-bit float format only).

head Software that slices up music loops, and allows them to play
back at any tempo. To use the REX file with HALion, you also need
a MIDI file (created in ReCycle) to play back the slices correctly.

The native audio file format used by Digidesign software.

A Program containing samples and parameter settings.

A Program Bank, containing up to 128 Programs.

HALion

Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 61

❐

HALion can read 32-bit float files, in all compatible formats that support
this resolution, as well as other common bit resolutions (8-bit files ex­cepted). Files may also have any sample rate.

❐

By using the Import External Format dialog in the Options Page View you
can also import Banks, Programs and samples from Akai- and E-mu format
sample CDs and SoundFonts folders - see page 106.

Importing Samples using Drag and Drop

The following applies when using drag and drop to load samples:

• You can import samples to a specific key (or key range) in the Keyzone
window.

Simply select the file(s), and drag them into the Keyzone window. If the samples
do not contain Root key information, the key the mouse pointer points to when
“dropping” determines the keyzone the sample will be mapped to. If several sam­ples are selected, they will be mapped chromatically upwards from this key.

❐

If the sample(s) contain root key information embedded in the file, they
will be mapped to the corresponding key(s), regardless of what key they
are dropped on!

• You can drag and drop samples into any folder in the Program List.

Simply select the file(s), and drag them into the Program List. Remember that
the mouse pointer determines the ultimate destination. Point at the folder,
open or closed, that you wish to import the samples to when you “drop”.

❐

When you import several samples in this way, and the samples do not con­tain any Root key information embedded in the file(s), the samples will be
mapped chromatically from the selected key on the Keyboard (marked
with a blue dot). If this key is already mapped with a sample, they will be
mapped from C1.

❐

You can also import Programs or Program Banks using drag and drop.

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7 - 62 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

Overlapping Keyzones

A key range can contain more than one Keyzone, as any number of
samples (each with its own Keyzone) can be layered on top of each
other. This can be done in many different ways:

Playing several samples from one key

You can simply map two or more samples to the same key range.

This will play back all samples mapped to this key (or key range) simul­taneously. When samples are layered, the color of the samples change
from blue to turquoise (in the overlapping part), and the outline of
overlapping sample(s) is visible. However, if layered samples have iden­tical keyzone and velocity ranges, then layering is indicated by the tur­quoise color alone.

English

These two samples are layered (overlap) on the C3 key. Sometimes only the keyzone
currently “in front” will be accessible, making it impossible to adjust the handles for a
underlying keyzone. In such cases you have to use the context menu items “Send To
Back” and “Bring To Front”. All context menu items available in the Keyzone Page
View are described on page 66.

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Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 63

Velocity Switching

You can use Velocity switching to determine how samples mapped to
the same key or key range will play back.

By setting different High/Low Velocity values for several samples, you
can determine which sample is played by how hard or soft you play.

Three samples that are Velocity switched. If you look at the Velocity scale to the right,
the lower sample will play back when triggered by velocities between 1 and 40, the
middle sample when triggered by velocities between 41 and 80, and the top sample
when triggered by velocities higher than 80. Note that the velocity ranges set in the
picture are exclusive, meaning that only one sample at a time will ever play back. But
you could also have overlapping velocity ranges in which case two samples would be
played back in the overlapping range, which can produce a smoother transition
between two samples.

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7 - 64 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

Applying Crossfades

❐

Crossfades are selected from a context menu. All context menu items are
described on page 66.

You can also apply “crossfades” to overlapping Keyzones. There are
two methods available:

X-Fade Pitch

The overlapping range.

English

Crossfading according to pitch.

Example: Two samples overlap in a key range over one octave. For both
samples the “X-Fade Pitch” option has been selected. A linear fade-out
is applied to the sample with a lower value in the “Lo Key” field within
the overlapping range as the pitch increases (i.e. the higher the note
played within the key range). The sample that has a higher value in the
“Lo Key” field is faded in as the pitch increases within the key range.

X-Fade Velocity

This will crossfade samples by velocity in the overlapping range.

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Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 65

If X-Fade Velocity is applied, samples will be crossfaded according to
how hard or soft you strike a key in the overlapping range. The harder
the key is struck (in the overlapping range) the more of one of the sam­ples (determined by which sample is view selected when applying the
crossfade) and less of the other sample will be heard, and vice versa.

• It is also possible to apply pitch and velocity crossfades together.

Context Menu Items in the Keyzone Window

The Keyzone Page View features powerful context menus, providing
many functions and features. Context menus are opened by [Ctrl]-click­ing (MacOS) or right-clicking (Windows) in the Keyzone window, either
directly on a sample or in an empty area of the Keyzone window.

Sample specific context menu

[Ctrl]-/right-clicking on a sample either in the Keyzone window or in
the Program List brings up the following context menu items, which
are mostly applicable to the currently View selected sample:

Menu Item Description

Sample Name The top menu item displays the name of the currently View se-

lected sample. All items on the top half of the menu will apply to
the currently View selected sample.

Replace… This opens a standard file dialog allowing you to replace the cur-

rently View selected sample with another. The new sample will
have exactly the same properties (i.e. keyzone/velocity range, pa­rameter settings etc.) as the original sample. You cannot use the
Undo function to undo a Replace operation.

Rename… Allows you to rename the currently selected sample. Note that if

this sample is referenced to by another Program, it would have to
be re-referenced.

X-Fade Pitch This applies a pitch crossfade in the overlapping range between

the currently selected sample and one (or several) other sample(s).
This function can be turned on or off at will by selecting or dese­lecting it from the context menu. Pitch crossfades are described
on page 65.

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7 - 66 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

Menu Item Description

X-Fade Velocity This applies a velocity crossfade in the overlapping range be-

tween the currently selected sample and one (or several) other
sample(s). This function can be turned on or off at will by selecting
or deselecting it from the context menu. Velocity crossfades are
described on page 65.

Exclude from
Automation

Mute This mutes (silences) the currently View selected sample. Muted

Solo/Unmute All This mutes all samples except the currently View selected sample.

Bring To Front/Send
To Back

Center in Keyzone This will scroll the view so that the currently View selected sample

Edit in (Host
Application)

Unload/Load This will unload the preloaded portion (see page 15) of the cur-

Undo This will undo the last performed “destructive” operation in the

Cut/Copy/Paste/
Delete

By selecting this item you can exclude the currently View selected
sample from any recorded parameter automation changes. Auto­mation is described on page 114.

samples are displayed in grey in the Keyzone window, and are
listed in italics in the Program List.

Deselecting this unmutes all samples.

This allows you to access samples that may be hidden behind
other overlapping samples. Bring To Front will bring the currently
View selected sample to the front, Send To Back will send the cur­rently View selected sample to the back, and bring any underlying
sample to the front.

will be in the middle of the Keyzone window.

This will open the currently View selected sample in the Wave Edi­tor of your host application. If you use Cubase VST or Nuendo and
have specified WaveLab as your Wave Editor, HALion will access
WaveLab. Please refer to the host application’s documentation for
information about what you can do in the Wave Editor.

rently View selected sample from RAM. If you open the context
menu again, you can reload it. Unloaded samples are displayed in
dark blue in the Keyzone window, and are indicated by purple text
in the Program List.

Keyzone window. Undoable operations are Cut/Delete/Replace.

These commands can be used for Cut, Copy, Paste or Delete oper­ations for all selected samples. You can use standard key com­mands for these operations.

English

HALion

Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 67

Menu Item Description

Sample Info At the bottom of the menu, information about the currently View

selected sample is shown. In addition to the info presented in the
Edit fields on the top strip of the Keyzone window, there is info
about the audio file format, length (in time units), size (in bytes),
mono/stereo status, sample rate and bit depth. The path to the
sample location is also shown.

The “Locate” and “Search in Directories” Items

There are two additional Items that appear at the top of the sample
specific context menu only when needed; “Locate” and “Search in Di­rectories”. These items appear when the path to the samples in a Pro­gram or Bank cannot be found or hasn’t been established.

If this warning message appears, one or more audio files could not be
found. In the Keyzone Page View, samples that were not found when
loading are displayed in a slightly darker color in the Keyzone window
and in violet letters in the Program List. Locate a missing sample and
[Ctrl]-/right-click it, either in the Keyzone window or in the Program
List, to bring up the context menu. Proceed as follows:

• Select “Locate” from the context menu to bring up a file dialog allowing
you to locate the sample you clicked on. Select it and click Open.

All missing samples belonging to the Program and located in this folder will
now automatically load.

• Select “Search in Directories” from the context menu to bring up a file dia­log allowing you to locate the directory (or folder) that contains the sam­ples belonging to the Program.

This function can search in sub-directories inside the directory you selected, in
up to four levels. When the samples are located they will load automatically.

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7 - 68 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

Program Specific Context Menu

[Ctrl]-/right-clicking either in an empty area of the Keyzone window or
a Program folder in the Program List brings up the following context
menu items:

Menu Item Description

New Folder This will create a new Folder inside the currently selected Program

folder. This can in turn contain samples. In all respects a Folder is
the same as a Program, but you can import whole Programs into
Folders without replacing the Program the Folder resides in. Orga­nizing samples in Folders (or sub-folders) allows you to load “Pro­grams into a Program”. Folders can be used to structure samples
in a Program (for example one folder per octave, or per velocity
layer). The advantage is that you can handle all the samples in the
folder as an entity, select them (directly by selecting the folder),
mute them, load them into another Program, save them as a Pro­gram (see below) etc. Samples that reside in folders inside Pro­gram folders are indicated by having dotted borders in the
Keyzone window.

Load Folder… This brings up the same dialog as using the “Load Instrument” File

pop-up item. The difference is that you can load a “Program”
(HALion Effect Program) into a sub-folder of the currently selected
Program without replacing it, by using this option. Bringing up
the context menu by clicking on a sub-folder and then selecting
Load Folder will import all the sample references stored in the im­ported Program to the sub-folder. If this menu item is used with a
Program folder selected, it will replace the current Program for
that channel, just like when using the File dialog.

Save Folder… This allows you to save and name the currently selected folder as a

“.fxp” (HALion Effect Program) file. This can then be used just like
any Program.

Import Sample(s)/
Import Sample(s)
(at Mouse position)

This menu item opens a standard file dialog where you can select
samples for import. The functionality differs according to whether
you bring up the context menu by clicking in an empty area in the
Keyzone window, or on a Program folder in the Program List. In
the first instance, selected samples will be chromatically mapped
from the key position you point at in the Keyzone window. The
menu item will then read “Import Sample(s) (C2)” (if that was the
key position you pointed to). In the second instance the sample(s)
will be mapped chromatically from the selected Key on the Key­board (marked with a blue dot).

English

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Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 69

Menu Item Description

Rename… This allows you to type in a new name for the currently selected

Program.

Preload Samples This allows you to Preload all samples for a Program if they have

been unloaded. All Programs that are assigned to the 16 channel
slots in the Chan/Prog Page View are automatically Preloaded into
RAM, so sometimes you may wish to unload them to save memory.

Always Preload This allows you to Preload a selected Program even when it is not

assigned to one of the 16 Channel slots. This is useful if you use
Program Change messages to change Programs, so that the sam­ples can be instantly triggered.

Mute All/Unmute All This mutes/unmutes all samples in the currently selected Program

or folder, respectively.

Set as Active Program If you [Ctrl]-click (Mac) or right-click (Win) an unselected Program

name in the Program List, you can use this item to select the Pro­gram without selecting the samples inside the Program folder.

Undo This will undo the last performed “destructive” operation in the

Keyzone window. Undoable operations are Delete, Cut, Expand
Selected and Map Chromatic Selected.

Cut/Copy/Paste Allows you to use Cut, Copy and Paste operations for selected

samples, Programs or Folders. Programs can be copied and pasted
into other Programs. If the destination Program is empty, the Pro­gram name will be changed according to the copied Program.

Select All Selects all samples in the selected Program.

Sort by Pitch This will sort all samples in the selected Program folder according

to which keys they are mapped to.

Sort Alphabetically This will sort all samples in the selected Program folder alphabeti-

cally.

Refresh Selected If you edit a file in another program, “Refresh Selected” may have

to be used when you import the file again. This is because audio
files hold the loop information, and these may have been reset
(deactivated) when editing in an external editor.

Expand Selected This will expand the selected sample(s) keyzones in the following

manner. If one sample is selected, its keyzone range will be
stretched across the entire range overlapping all other samples. If
all samples are selected, their keyzones will be extended to the
next adjacent sample, without overlapping.

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7 - 70 Editing in the Keyzone Page View

Menu Item Description

Map Chromatic
Selected

Root Key to Lo Key
Selected

Root Key to Mid Key
Selected

Root Key to Hi Key
Selected

Parameters to
Selected

Reset Selected This resets all parameter settings to default values for all selected

Info This tells you the number of samples and folders contained in the

Hide Others (only
subfolders)

Show Others (only
subfolders)

This will remap all selected samples chromatically from the se­lected key on the Keyboard (marked with a blue dot).

This sets the Root to the lowest key in the Keyzone range for se­lected samples. This means that if a sample is mapped to a
keyzone stretching over several keys, selecting this menu item
would set the Root to the lowest key in the keyzone range.

This sets the Root to the middle key in the Keyzone range for all
selected samples. This means that if a sample is mapped to a
keyzone stretching over several keys, selecting this menu item
would set the Root to the middle key in the keyzone range.

This sets the Root to the highest key in the Keyzone range for all
selected samples. This means that if a sample is mapped to a
keyzone stretching over several keys, selecting this menu item
would set the Root to the highest key in the keyzone range.

If you have made parameter settings for a sample (with edit mode
selected for this sample only), you can select other samples and
copy the parameter settings to these by using this menu item.

samples.

selected Program Folder.

This hides all other subfolders on the same level of the selected
program.

This shows all other subfolders on the same level of the selected
program.

English

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Editing in the Keyzone Page View 7 - 71

8

Editing in the Waveloop Page View

In this Page View you always edit one sample at a time, the currently
View selected sample, regardless of the ALL/SELECT setting in the Pro­gram List. The Waveloop editor allows you to set start and end points
for a sample, as well as a Sustain loop and a Release loop.

English

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Editing in the Waveloop Page View 8 - 73

Setting the Start and End Points for a Sample

If you want to change the Sample Start and/or End Points for a sample,
this can be done in the following ways:

• By moving the Start and End offset handles manually.

Simply click and drag the Start handle (marked S) or the End handle (marked E)
to where you would like the sample to start and end, respectively.

Changing the Sample Start point. The waveform is grayed out if outside the Start/
End range.

• By [Ctrl]-clicking (MacOS) or right-clicking (Windows) the Sample Start or
End Point numeric display in the lower left corner of the Waveloop window.

Move the pointer up and down with the mouse button pressed down to
change values. If you simultaneously press [Shift], values are changed with a
finer resolution. A wheel mouse can also be used to scroll values.

• By clicking in a value field and typing in a new value.

This functionality applies to all numeric displays in the Waveloop Page
View.

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8 - 74 Editing in the Waveloop Page View

Setting the Velocity Start Point

This parameter allows you to determine the way in which velocity af­fects the playback starting point for the sample. The higher the num­ber, the later in the sample playback will start relative to the velocity
(i.e. a high key velocity will start playback further “into” the sample).

Zooming the Waveform

You can zoom in on the waveform using the thumbnail display or the
Navigation Controller.

Using the Thumbnail Display

The thumbnail display contains a small overview of the whole wave­form. By dragging the red handles at the start and end of the range you
zoom in on the waveform.

• Dragging the red left handle to the right increases the zoom level and
shifts the visible range towards the end of the waveform.

English

• Dragging the red right handle to the left increases the zoom level and
shifts the visible range towards the start of the waveform.

The smaller the blue area is, the higher the zoom factor.

• If you click and hold down the mouse button between the handles (the blue
area), you can shift the visible range left or right across the waveform.

• If you click and hold down the mouse button between the handles and
move the pointer up or down, you can move both handles at the same time.

Moving the pointer up moves the handles further apart, zooming out on the
waveform and vice versa.

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Editing in the Waveloop Page View 8 - 75

Using the Navigation controller

• Click and hold down the mouse button at the center of the Navigation
Controller and move the pointer to the right to zoom in, with the visible
range shifting towards the end of the sample.

If you change the direction to the left, the zoom level remains but now shifts
the visible range back towards the start of the sample.

• By moving the Navigation controller up and down you increase/decrease
the vertical zoom of the waveform.

• If you drag the mouse pointer sideways in the Navigation Controller but
also move the mouse up or down, you can simultaneously scroll the cur­rent zoom level and increase/decrease the vertical zoom of the waveform.

• If you [Ctrl]-click (Windows) or [Command]-click (Mac) and move the pointer
to the right or left you can move the right handle right (to zoom in) or left (to
zoom out) to/from the current position of the left handle.

• By using the left/right arrow keys you focus the view on either the Start or
the End of the current loop, respectively.

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8 - 76 Editing in the Waveloop Page View

Setting a Sustain Loop

A sustain loop determines which range within a sample should be
looped when you hold down a key. To set a sustain loop, proceed as
follows:

1. Make sure that the Loop button is activated (the box should be displayed
in light blue with black text).

If it isn’t, click it.

2. Click in the waveform and keep the mouse button pressed.

The pointer takes on the shape of a double arrow indicating that you can drag
in both directions to create a loop area.

3. Select an appropriate loop range in the waveform.

The selected loop area is indicated by a light blue background.

English

4. To audition the loop, click the Play button, under the Loop button.

The loop will repeat until you click the Play button again.

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Editing in the Waveloop Page View 8 - 77

5. You can move the loop in the display by dragging it with the mouse, or
change the range by dragging the edges of the loop during auditioning.

The Loop start and end points will automatically snap to zero crossings. A zero
crossing is where the wave crosses the zero level axis. This helps to avoid clicks
and pops when setting loops. If you, for some reason, don’t want the loop to
begin and end at zero crossings you can disable this function, by pressing
[Command] + [Shift] (Mac) or [Ctrl] + [Shift] (Windows) when setting the loop.

Crossfading the Loop (Smooth)

If you press [Alt] while clicking in the loop and moving the mouse pointer
out of the loop range at either edge, you will add crossfades at both ends
of the loop. This makes the loop seamless and “smooth”, which is also the
name of the function. To remove crossfades, [Alt]-click inside the loop, in
an area that is not part of the crossfade.

Setting Loop Playback

When you are happy with your loop, you can set how it should play
back by clicking the Mode field in the box to the right of the Loop and
Play buttons. This opens a pop-up menu with the following items:

• Loop Until Release - this will play the loop for as long as you hold down a key.

• Loop Once - this will repeat the loop once and then play to the set End point.

• Play Until End - this has nothing to do with the Loop, it will simply play the
whole sample until the set End point.

• Play Reverse - this will play the whole sample reversed.

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8 - 78 Editing in the Waveloop Page View

Setting the Release Loop

The Release Loop determines which range within the sample should
loop after the key is released. Setting the Release Loop is done using the
same methods as for the Sustain Loop, except that you should have the
Release Loop button activated instead. When you switch to the Release
Loop mode, the Sustain Loop becomes dark blue. The currently selected
Loop is always shown in light blue. You can switch selection between
the Loop and the Release Loop using the [1]/[2] keys (not on the numeric
keypad).

• The Mode setting allows you to set either a Continuous or a Single Release
Loop.

A continuous loop will repeat until the release portion of the DCA Envelope
begins.

Loop Tuning

English

You can tune the Sustain and Release Loop independently up or down
a semitone (in Cent steps) by using the Loop Tuning parameters.

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Editing in the Waveloop Page View 8 - 79

Waveloop Context Menu Items

[Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) or right-clicking (Windows) in the Waveloop win­dow brings up a context menu with the following items:

Option Description

View Right Channel For stereo files only. This switches the view between the right and

left channel.

Rename… Allows you to rename the current sample.

Zoom to Loop Zooms the view to the currently selected loop.

Zoom Full Zooms the view to the whole sample between the Start and End

Handles.

Start/End Offsets
to Loop

Loop to Start/End
Offsets

Copy Loop to
Release Loop

Edit in (Host
Application)

Unload Unloads the preloaded portion of a sample from RAM. When a sam-

Select Loop Selects the Sustain Loop.

Select Release Loop Selects the Release Loop.

Locate Start Loop Focuses the view on the Start of the current Loop.

Locate End Loop Focuses the view on the End of the current Loop.

Undo Allows you to undo the last Cut, Copy, Paste, or Delete action.

Select All Selects the whole sample as the current loop.

Sample Info At the bottom of the menu, information about the currently View

Sets the Start/End Offsets to the Sustain Loop.

Sets the Sustain Loop to the Start/End Offsets.

The Start and End values for the Loop are copied to the Release
Loop.

This will open the sample in an external audio editor, depending on
your host application.

ple is unloaded, this option changes to “Load“.

selected sample is shown. In addition to the info presented in the
Edit fields on the top strip of the Waveloop window, there is info
about the audio file format, length (in time units), size (in bytes),
mono/stereo status, sample rate and bit depth. The path to the
sample location is also shown.

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8 - 80 Editing in the Waveloop Page View

9

Editing in the Envelope/Filter Page

View

This Page View is used for making Filter and Envelope Settings for all or
selected samples. The parameters are largely the same as the parame­ters described for the Macro Page View, with a few exceptions.

The Envelope Section

The Envelope section offers more complex features than available from
the Macro Page View. You can have up to 8 points for each Envelope,
and you can also set linear or logarithmic envelope curves.

• Envelope 1 creates the Filter Envelope which controls the Cutoff parameter for
all or selected samples.

• Envelope 2 is assigned to the DCA (Digitally Controlled Amplifier) and affects
the volume of all or selected samples.

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9 - 82 Editing in the Envelope/Filter Page View

Envelopes - General

Level

Sustain
(level)

Key Down

Attack
(time)

Decay
(time)

The basic Envelope parameters (Attack - Decay - Sustain - Release).

Setting the Envelope

Release
(time)

Key Up

Time

The vertical axis displays
the Level, the horizontal
axis displays the Time.

The right Slider is used to
zoom in on the envelope
curve, and the left slider
scrolls the view.

English

Points 1-4 correspond to Attack (Level), Decay (Attack Time/max. Level),
Sustain (Decay Time/Sustain Level) and Release (Time).

• The maximum duration of each of the stages in the Envelope is 10 seconds.

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Editing in the Envelope/Filter Page View 9 - 83

• You move the envelope points by clicking and dragging them in the desired
direction.

When you click on a point, the current level and duration for the parameter are
displayed.

Dragging the Decay parameter to the right sets the Attack Time.

• If you [Alt]-click on a point, only vertical positioning is possible (level).

• If you [Command]-click (Mac) / [Ctrl]-click (Windows) on a point, only horizontal
positioning is possible (time).

• If you [Shift]-click on a point, the resolution for the positioning is higher.

• You can add or remove points by double-clicking.

Add a point by double-clicking on the curve, remove a point by double-clicking
the point. You can have up to 8 points per envelope.

Adding a point before the Decay parameter gives you additional control over the
Attack phase of the envelope.

❐

You cannot remove the first, last or the Sustain point!

• All points added after the Sustain point will always affect the Release
stage of the envelope, i.e. after the key is released.

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9 - 84 Editing in the Envelope/Filter Page View

English

• If you click on a curve and move the mouse up or down, keeping the mouse
button pressed, logarithmic curves can be set.

[Ctrl]-clicking (PC) or [Command]-clicking (Mac) a logarithmic curve resets it to
linear.

Creating logarithmic curves.

By clicking the Bypass button in the upper right corner, the corre­sponding Envelope is bypassed.

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Editing in the Envelope/Filter Page View 9 - 85

The Filter Section (DCF)

The Filter section has the same basic parameters as described for the
Macro Page View - see page 37. The main difference is that in the Enve­lope/Filter Page View, you can make Filter settings for all or all selected
samples in a Program.

In addition, the Filter section here contains three parameters not present
in the Macro Page View:

Velocity

Normally this is set to 50%. This will produce a brighter timbre if keys
are struck harder, like many real instruments.

Fatness

This parameter adds a tubelike distortion to the signal.

Bypass

This bypasses the Filter Section.

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9 - 86 Editing in the Envelope/Filter Page View

The Amplifier Section (DCA)

The Amplifier section contains a number of parameters only available
in this Page View. Again, all or all selected samples are affected.

• The Env. Amount, Velocity and Volume parameters are the same as de­scribed in the Macro Page View chapter - see page 41.

Out

This lets you route all or selected samples to any of the 12 virtual out­puts.

English

• If the main Program Output is set to “PROG”, and you adjust the output
setting with Select “ALL” button activated, this will define the main out­put for the Program.

This will change the output for the whole Program to 3+4, if selected.

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Editing in the Envelope/Filter Page View 9 - 87

Once you have set the main output, you can route individual samples
to separate outputs by using the output menu.

This will route the currently selected samples to output Mono 10, while the
remaining samples will be routed to the set main Program output.

Panorama/Spread

The Panorama parameter sets the stereo position for the currently se­lected samples.

Spread is an automatic Panner. The function distributes the signal of
each single note randomly within the stereo spectrum:

• If the dial is turned fully left, the signal is played back at the position defined by
the Panorama dial. The more you turn the dial to the right, the wider the signal
will be distributed.

• If the Panorama dial is set to its middle position, Spread will distribute the signal
across the whole stereo spectrum. If it is set to “10 o’clock”, Spread will distribute
the notes between the extreme left and the middle of the stereo spectrum etc.

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9 - 88 Editing in the Envelope/Filter Page View

10

Editing in the Modulation/Tune

Page View

This Page View offers complex modulation possibilities, as well as LFO,
Tuning and Polyphony Grouping settings. All parameters can affect all
or selected samples.

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10 - 90 Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View

The Modulation Section

The modulation possibilities in HALion are as simple or as complex as
you want them to be. The basic structure works as follows:

• The Destination governs what parameter the modulation is applied to.

• The Destination is modulated by a Source.

• How much this Source modulates the Destination is set by an Amount.

Here the Source is incoming Pitch Bend data. The Source modulates the destination
Pitch, and the Amount specifies the pitch bend range - 2.0 semitones in this case.

• You can specify up to twelve different modulation routings.

While any combination of these can be active at the same time, only six modu­lation routings are shown in the window. Use the Page 1 and Page 2 buttons to
toggle between viewing modulation 1-6 and 7-12.

The Source column

English

Clicking the orange label in the Source column brings up a pop-up
menu from which you can select a modulation source. The following
modulation sources are available:

Source Description

OFF No modulation.

Lfo 1-2 One of the HALion’s two LFOs.

Velocity Note-on velocity data. Use this as Source if you want the sound to

change depending on how hard you play.

Pitch Wheel Pitch Bend data, typically sent out by a pitch bend wheel, bend lever or

joystick.

Mod Wheel Modulation data, typically sent out by a modulation wheel.

Aftertouch Aftertouch (channel pressure) data.

Contr 1-4 One of four assignable MIDI controllers (see page 95).

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Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View 10 - 91

Source Description

Output The output signal of the sample itself, taken before the main volume

and pan settings. If the sample is in stereo, the left channel is fed to the
Output parameter.

Envelope 1-2 One of HALion’s two envelope curves.

Key The key (note number) of the incoming MIDI note. A typical use for this

would be to have the filter track the keyboard.

Note Off Release velocity data. Note that not all MIDI keyboards send Note off

velocity.

Glide Uses the signal generated by the Glide parameter as a modulation

source.

Noise A built-in white noise source.

Key 2, Velocity 2,
Pitch Wheel 2,
Mod Wheel 2

Amount 1-12 These are described below.

These are the same as Key, Velocity, Pitch Wheel and Mod Wheel, re­spectively, but allow you to set up separate Modulator Adjustments.
See below.

The “Amount 1-12” options are internal, arbitrary amounts. When you
select one of the Amount options, a slider appears above the field in
the Modulation section, and the current value of the Amount is shown
to the right.

• To set a value for the Amount, use the slider or click the field to the right of
the Amount field and type in a value.

The Amount values can also be modulated by other sources, as described on

page 93.

• If you right-click (Windows) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) the slider area, a dialog ap­pears in which you can set an Offset and a Range for the Amount.

See the section about Adjusting Modulators below for a description of Offset
and Range.

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10 - 92 Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View

The Amount column

The Amount parameter works by “scaling” the corresponding Source
by a bi-polar value. One example of this would be to have the Modula­tion Wheel as Source, modulating the destination Pitch, with an LFO se­lected as Amount. This would give you standard mod wheel control
over vibrato.

Clicking the orange label in the Amount column brings up a pop-up
menu, from which you can select an Amount option. The available
options are the same as in the Source column (see above).

The Destination column

The Destination column is where you select what to modulate. The
options are:

Option Description

Cutoff The Cutoff frequency of the filter.

Resonance The filter resonance.

Volume The DCA volume setting.

Pan The stereo panning of the sound.

Pitch The pitch of the sound.

Amount 1-12 These are the same Amount 1-12 options that are available as Source

and Amount options. By modulating an Amount, which in turn is used
for modulating something else, you can create complex “modulation
chains” if you like.

English

Adjusting Modulators

When an external MIDI data type (e.g. Pitch Wheel, Mod Wheel, Velocity,
Key, etc.) is selected as Source or Amount, you can make further adjust­ments to how the value should affect the modulation:

Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View 10 - 93

HALion

• Right-click (Windows) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) the greyed-out “slider area” just
above the orange label in the Source/Amount column.

This opens the Adjust Modulator dialog.

The dialog contains the following settings:

Setting Description

Offset Allows you to offset the incoming data. For example, if you set Offset to 10,

an incoming MIDI Event with the value 20 will result in the value 30 being
sent as Source or Amount.

Range Allows you to scale the incoming values so that they fit within a specified

range, set as a percentage. Set this to 100 to use the actual incoming values.

Function/
Curve

This is a pop-up from which you can select a function or curve. The Source
or Amount value is scaled according to the selected function or curve, al­lowing e.g. logarithmic changes. The default option is Linear.

❐

Any settings you make in this dialog affect all instances of the same Source/
Amount option! For example, if you select a logarithmic curve for the Mod
Wheel, this will be reflected everywhere the Mod Wheel is used as a Source
or Amount.
For some of the MIDI data types, there are additional options on the Source/
Amount pop-up menus (Key 2, Velocity 2, Mod Wheel 2 and Pitch Wheel 2).
These can have their own Modulator Adjustment settings.

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10 - 94 Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View

About the Assignable Controllers

If you have selected one of the “Contr 1-4” options as Source or
Amount, you need to assign a MIDI Controller:

1. Right-click (Windows) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) on the grayed-out slider area
above the orange label in the Source/Amount column.

2. In the Assignable MIDI Controller dialog that appears, use the slider to se­lect a MIDI controller.

The name of the controller is shown below the slider.

3. Click OK to close the dialog.

❐

The assignment you make affects all instances of the Controller.

English

MegaTrigg

This feature provides conditional sample triggering. You can define
conditions that determine which particular sample will be triggered.

Three “Play if” conditions are available simultaneously:

• The first “Play if” condition can be set to:

Note On
Note Off

Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View 10 - 95

HALion

• The second condition can be set to:

Off
Note On
Note Off
Pedal On
Pedal Off
Controller 1-3

• The third condition can be set to:

Off
Pedal On
Pedal Off
Controller 1-3

The CONTR fields 1 to 3 can be set to MIDI controllers 0-120, Keyboard
Range or Switch Key.

You can combine these “Play if” conditions using AND or OR operators.

To specify a triggering condition for a particular sample, proceed as fol­lows:

1. Edit select one or more samples, e.g. in the Program List.

Make sure that the All/Select button is set correctly (i.e. to All when you want to
select all samples in the program, and to Select when you want to select one or
more particular samples).

2. Change to the Mod/Tune page view. In the Modulation section, click on
the MegaTrigg button on the bottom left.

The MegaTrigg dialog is displayed.

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10 - 96 Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View

English

3. In the CONTR 1, CONTR 2 and CONTR 3 sections, click in the dark field at
the top to open a pop-up menu.

From this menu, you can select either a MIDI controller (0-120), Keyboard
Range or Switch Key. Using the Hi and Lo sliders below the selection field, you
can set a range for the selection.

4. In the “Play if” section below the CONTR sections, you can combine your
settings using AND or OR operators to define conditions for sample trig­gering.

Keyboard Range and Switch Key

“Keyboard Range” allows you to trigger the selected samples only
while the key (or a key in the range) specified with the “Lo“ and “Hi“
sliders is pressed.

With the “Switch Key“ controller the selected samples will be triggered
only if previously the key (or a key in the range) specified with the “Lo“
and “Hi“ sliders was pressed. This works only if the switch keys have no
samples assigned.

For example, you can set the “Switch Key“ controller with key C0 for
normal bass samples and for bass with slap effect with the key D0. Now
just press the C0 key once and you can play a “normal“ bass line, press
the D0 key and you can play the “slapped“ bass line.

Examples

The following two examples describe conditional sample triggering
with HALion:

Example 1:

In this example we use two tambourine samples, one for the sound
when the tambourine hits the player’s hand and one for the reverse ac­tion. Both samples are set to the same note in the Keyzone page view.

In the “Play if” section of the MegaTrigg dialog, set the first sample to
be triggered by “Note On” and the other sample by “Note Off”. In this
example we will leave the other two trigger conditions set to “Off”.
Now you can easily imitate the back and forth movement of a tambou­rine player’s hand by making a similar hand movement hitting and re­leasing the key on the keyboard.

HALion

Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View 10 - 97

Example 2:

Load several different samples of talking drums (or bongos, congas,
etc.). In the Keyzone page view, map them all to the same note and the
full velocity range.

In the “Play if” section of the MegaTrigg dialog, set all samples to be
triggered by the “Note On” event. This condition is now combined with
a second condition which determines which particular sample is to be
triggered by “Note On”.

In this example we use the Mod Wheel (Modulation [1]) as our device for
choosing the different samples while playing. In the CONTR 1 section,
open the pop-up menu and choose “Modulation [1]”. Then, in the “Play
if” section, set the field for the second trigger event to “Controller 1”.

We want the combination of “Note On” and the “Modulation [1]” events
to determine which sample is triggered. Therefore, we set the operator
field between the “Note On” field and the “Controller 1” field to AND.
Now we distribute the various samples evenly across the range of the
“Modulation [1]” controller using the range sliders in the “CONTR 1” sec­tion below the selection field for the controller.

The reward for all this work is a talking drum that is fantastically con­trollable.

HALion

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LFO Section

HALion features two LFOs (Low Frequency Oscillators). The most com­mon use of an LFO is to modulate pitch to produce vibrato.

The LFOs in HALion have the following parameters:

Parameter Description

Freq This controls the frequency of the modulation, i.e. the “speed” of the

LFO. The range is 0 to 30Hz for LFO1 and 0 to 10Hz for LFO2.

Delay This allows you to set a delay before the LFO modulation starts. You

can also set negative values, in which case this parameter controls the
duration of the modulation. Range is +/- 3 seconds.

Waveform
types

Sync This will sync the LFO to the tempo set in HALion’s host application.

This sets the LFO waveform type, which governs the shape of the mod­ulation. The available waveforms are described below.

The Freq dial is then used to specify the base note value for the modu­lation speed (i.e 1/4 note, 1/8 note etc.) Dotted and triplet note values
can also be set.

English

LFO Waveform types

The available waveforms have the following characteristics:

Option Description

Sine This produces smooth modulation, suitable for normal vibrato or tremolo.

Triangle This is similar in character to Sine.

Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View 10 - 99

HALion

Option Description

Pulse This produces stepped modulation, where the modulation switches

abruptly between two values (the ration is 50:50).

Sawtooth This produces a “ramp up” cycle. The modulation sweeps up to a set point

(governed by the Amount setting), after which the cycle immediately
starts over.

SawPulse Similar to Sawtooth.

Pulse15 This produces stepped modulation, where the modulation switches

abruptly between two values. This waveform “holds” longer on one of the
values (the ration is 15:85).

Pulse30 This also produces stepped modulation, where the modulation switches

abruptly between two values. Similar to Pulse15 (the ration is 30:70).

SineComplex Three sine waves overlap to produce complex sine modulation.

Log Pos This produces a logarithmic “ramp up” cycle. The early part of the modu-

lation cycle rises slowly but rises faster higher up in the cycle.

Log Neg Same as Log Pos but inverted.

Tune Section

This section allows you to tune all or selected samples in either Octave,
Semitone (“Coarse”) or Cent increments. You can tune the Octave range
+/- 5 octaves, the Semitone range +/- 11 semitones and the Cent range
+/- 100 cents (Cent = 100th of a semitone).

If the “No Transpose” option is ticked, samples will play back at constant
pitch across the Keyboard.

HALion

10 - 100 Editing in the Modulation/Tune Page View