Steinberg HALion Sonic SE 2 Operation Manual

Operation Manual

Matthias Klag, Michael Ruf

Revision and quality control: Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Christina Kaboth, Insa Mingers, Sabine

Pfeifer, Kevin Quarshie, Benjamin Schütte

This PDF provides improved access for vision-impaired users. Please note that due to the complexity and number of images in this document, it is not possible to include text descriptions of images.

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. 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 GmbH. Registered licensees of the product described herein may print one copy of this document for their personal use.

All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective holders. For more information, please visit www.steinberg.net/trademarks.

4 Introduction

4 Window Overview 5 Instrument Track vs Instrument Rack 5 About Programs, Layers, Multis, Macro

Pages, and Presets

7 Common Editing Methods

7 Presets

9 Managing Your Sounds

9 Loading Programs 9 Multi Program Rack 10 Slot Context Menu

12 Editing Programs

12 Macro Page 14 Trip Macro Page

24 MIDI Editing

24 MIDI Page 25 Editing the Key Range 25 Editing the Velocity Range 25 Filtering Controllers 26 MIDI Controllers

29 Mixing and Effect Handling

29 Mixing 30 Effect Handling

32 Effects Reference

32 Reverb and Delay Effects 36 EQ Effects 38 Filter Effects 43 Distortion Effects 46 Modulation Effects 56 Dynamics Effects 61 Panner Effects 62 HALion 3 Legacy Effects

74 Performance Section

74 Performance Controls 75 Quick Controls 76 Trigger Pads

80 Global Functions and Settings

80 Plug-in Functions Section 82 The Plug-in Name and Steinberg Logo 82 Toolbars 83 Options Page

89 Index

Window Overview

The application interface follows a fixed-size single window concept.

Introduction

The window is subdivided into several sections:

• The Multi Program Rack on the left.

• The edit display on the right. It contains the Edit, MIDI, Mix, Effects, and Options pages.

• The performance section at the bottom. It contains the trigger pads, the quick controls, the performance controllers, and the sphere control.

• The plug-in functions section at the top.

• The toolbars above the edit display.

Introduction

Instrument Track vs Instrument Rack

View Options

You have 2 view options: the full-size editor view and the smaller player view. In the player view, only the plug-in functions, the trigger pads, the quick controls, and the performance controllers are visible.

•Click the p button in the toolbar above the edit display to switch between the views. When the player view is active, the button changes to e, indicating that clicking again lets you return to the editor view.

Instrument Track vs Instrument Rack

HALion Sonic SE can be used on an instrument track or it can be loaded into the VST Instruments rack. In both cases, you can load up to 16 programs simultaneously.

However, when you use HALion Sonic SE on an instrument track, all 16 slots are routed to the main output. By setting multiple program slots to the same MIDI channel, you can create split and layer sounds that can be used on an instrument track.

About Programs, Layers, Multis, Macro Pages, and Presets

Programs

A program is a complex instrument or sound that can consist of up to 4 layers. Often, a program contains a single layer that comes with all necessary components, such as the synthesis part or insert effects. Programs add the possibility of combining different layers to build up more complex sounds, or to create combinations of sounds that you want to load as a unit. A typical example is a bass/piano split sound or a piano/string layer sound.

Multis

HALion Sonic SE is a multitimbral plug-in that can load up to 16 sounds (or programs) and combine them. This combination is called a multi program, or multi for short. You can use multis, to layer several programs or to create split sounds by setting several programs to the same MIDI input channel, for example. However, the most common usage is to create sound sets with different instruments set to individual MIDI channels.

Presets

You can save and load all types of sounds as presets, that is, you can create presets for single programs and for multis.

Introduction

About Programs, Layers, Multis, Macro Pages, and Presets

Content Files and Folder Structure

HALion Sonic SE is supplied with a huge amount of ready-to-use sound content. This content, made up of hundreds of multis, programs, and layers, is write-protected. This means that you can edit files while they are loaded, but you cannot overwrite the factory content files to make your changes permanent.To save any edits to the factory content, you must save the files under a new name and to a predefined location. These files have the extension .vstpreset, and are referred to as “user content”. You can categorize and search for them in the same way as with the factory content.The user content is saved in a predefined folder structure on your hard disk (the exact path depends on your operating system). You can create subfolders within this structure, to facilitate moving or exchanging content.

Presets

NOTE

Common Editing Methods

HALion Sonic SE offers two types of presets: section/module presets and VST presets. VST presets contain all information necessary to restore the complete state of the plug-in. Section and module presets store and recall the setup of a specific component on the HALion Sonic SE panel.

During setup, the factory presets are installed in a dedicated folder and a user folder is created for your own presets. The handling of presets is the same throughout the program.

Factory presets are write-protected, but may be overwritten when a software update is executed. Presets in your user folder are never changed by the software.

Handling Section and Module Presets

The preset controls can be found throughout the program. The handling is always the same.

• To save a preset, click the Save button (the disk icon).

You cannot overwrite factory presets. If you want to save changes made to a factory preset, save the preset under a new name or in a new location.

• To load a preset, click the arrow icon and select a preset from the list.

• To delete a preset, click the Delete button (the trash icon). Note that factory presets cannot be deleted.

Common Editing Methods

NOTE

Presets

Handling VST Presets

Loading VST Presets

1) In the header of the plug-in panel, click the Preset management button next to the preset name field and select Load Preset.

2) Select a preset to load it. Double-click a preset to load it and close the preset loader.

Saving VST Presets

In the header of the plug-in panel, click the Preset management button next to the preset name field and select Save Preset.

For more information on VST presets, see the Cubase/Nuendo Operation Manual.

Managing Your Sounds

NOTE

Loading Programs

There are several ways to load programs:

• Via drag & drop from the MediaBay or the Windows Explorer/Mac OS Finder.

• Via the slot context menu in the Multi Program Rack.

• By clicking the Load Program button at the right of the slot.

Programs containing lots of sample data may take some time to load.

Multi Program Rack

The Multi Program Rack provides 16 slots. Each slot can contain a program.

Managing Your Sounds

Slot Context Menu

Each slot has a Mute button and a Solo button. You can mute and solo several programs at the same time. The slot number to the left of the slot lights up if incoming MIDI data is detected.

When you select a slot in the Multi Program Rack, the available settings and parameters for this program are shown on the different pages of the edit display.

The trash button at the top right of the Multi Program Rack lets you remove all currently loaded programs. This does not reset any parameters that are independent of programs, such as effect or slot settings.

Slot Context Menu

The context menu provides a number of functions for managing programs.

Load Program

Opens the program loader. Double-click a program to load it into this slot.

Save Program

Saves the program. If you try to overwrite write-protected factory content, a dialog opens that allows you to save the edited program under a new name.

Save Program As

Allows you to save the program under a new name.

Save All Programs

Allows you to save all programs as a VST preset.

Remove Program

Removes the program from the slot.

Revert to Last Saved Program

Discards any changes that you made to the program since the last time it was saved.

Cut Program

Copies the program and removes it from the slot.

Copy Program

Copies the program.

Paste Program

Pastes the copied program into the slot. If the slot already contains a program, it is replaced.

Rename Program

Allows you to rename the program.

Reset Slot

Resets the slot to the default values.

Managing Your Sounds

NOTE

Slot Context Menu

Reset All Slots

Resets all slots to the default values.

You can also cut, copy, and paste programs from one plug-in instance to another.

Macro Page

The factory content features a Macro page for each layer in a program.

This page allows you to adjust the most important parameters. If a program consists of multiple layers, you can access the different layer pages by clicking the layer buttons (L1, L2, L3, L4) in the title bar of the Macro page.

The Macro page is divided into the following sections: Voice/Pitch, Filter and Amplifier.

Editing Programs

Voice/Pitch Section

This section gives you access to the tuning parameters.

Octave

Adjusts the tuning in octaves.

Coarse

Adjusts the tuning in semitones.

Fine

Adjusts the fine tuning in cents.

Editing Programs

NOTE

Macro Page

Filter Section

Pitchbend Up/Down

Sets the range for the modulation that is applied when you move the pitchbend wheel.

Polyphony

Determines how many notes can be played at the same time.

Mono Mode

When Mono mode is active, you can only play one note at a time, and the Polyphony control is not available.

This section allows you to adjust the filter settings. These parameters work as offsets, that is, they raise or lower the actual values.

This section is only available when a filter is used.

Cutoff

Adjusts the timbre of the layer.

Resonance

Emphasizes the frequencies around the cutoff frequency.

Attack

Increases or decreases the attack time of the filter envelope.

Release

Increases or decreases the release time of the filter envelope.

Amplifier Section

This section gives you access to the level and pan settings. Furthermore, you can adjust the attack and release times of the amplifier envelopes individually.

Level

Adjusts the level of the layer.

Pan

Sets the position of the layer in the stereo panorama.

Attack

Offsets the attack time of the amplifier envelope. Positive values decrease and negative values increase the attack time.

Decay

Offsets the decay time of the amplifier envelope. Positive values decrease and negative values increase the decay time.

Editing Programs

NOTE

Trip Macro Page

Trip is a virtual analog synth that comes with three oscillators, a sub oscillator, a ring modulator, and a noise generator.

Accompanied by a flexible filter section that offers 13 different filter shapes and 5 filter modes, Trip provides a highly flexible sound architecture while still being easy to use. With the integrated arpeggiator and step sequencer that comes with 4 different pre-configured arpeggio styles per preset, Trip is a real source of inspiration.

Oscillator Page

In addition to the classic synth wave shapes, such as sine, triangle, saw, and square, the 3 oscillators provide additional sync versions with integrated master oscillators.

Activate the oscillators by clicking their On/Off buttons.

Deactivate the oscillators when they are not needed, because they use CPU cycles even if they are not heard, such as in a situation where the level is set to 0 %.

Editing Programs

NOTE

Trip Macro Page

OSC 1/2/3 Type

The Oscillator Type defines the basic sound character of the oscillator. The pop-up menu lists the wave shapes, followed by the type of algorithm. The following algorithms are available:

• The PWM (pulse width modulation) algorithm is only supported by the

square wave shape. The Waveform parameter sets the ratio between the high and low of the square wave. A setting of 50 % produces a pure square wave. With settings below or above 50 %, the oscillator produces rectangular waves.

• The Sync algorithm provides different hard-sync oscillators where each

is a combination of a master and slave oscillator. The wave shape of the slave oscillator (sine, triangle, saw, or square) is reset with each full wave cycle of the master oscillator. This means that a single oscillator can already produce a rich sync sound without utilizing other oscillators as slave or master. The waveform parameter adjusts the pitch of the slave oscillator producing the typical sync sound.

Waveform

Modifies the sound of the oscillator algorithm. Its effect depends on the selected oscillator type.

This parameter is only available for oscillator types that allow waveform modulation.

Filter Envelope Wave Amount

Specifies how much the modulation of the filter envelope influences the oscillator waveform.

This parameter is only available for oscillator types that allow waveform modulation.

Level

Adjusts the output level of the oscillator.

Octave

Adjusts the pitch in octave steps.

Coarse

Adjusts the pitch in semitone steps.

Fine

Adjusts the pitch in cent steps.

Filter Envelope Pitch Amount

Here you can specify the modulation amount of the filter envelope on the oscillator pitch.

Editing Programs

NOTE

Trip Macro Page

Sub Page

The Sub page contains the settings for the sub oscillator, the ring modulation and the noise generator.

Activate the sub oscillator, the ring modulator, and the noise generator by clicking their On/Off buttons.

Deactivate the sub oscillator, the ring modulator, and the noise generator if they are not needed, because they use CPU cycles even if they are not heard, such as in a situation where the level is set to 0 %.

Sub Oscillator

The pitch of the sub oscillator is always one octave lower than the overall pitch. The overall pitch is determined by the Octave setting in the Trigger and Pitch section.

Sub Oscillator Type

The wave shape of the sub oscillator. You can choose between Sine, Triangle, Saw, Square, Pulse Wide, and Pulse Narrow.

Sub Oscillator Level

Adjusts the output level of the sub oscillator.

Ring Modulator

Ring modulation produces the sums and the differences between the frequencies of two signals.

Ring Modulation Source 1/2

This allows you to select the sources for the ring modulation. You can select OSC1 or Sub as Source 1 and OSC2 or OSC3 as Source 2.

Make sure the corresponding oscillators are activated when you select them. Otherwise, no sound can be heard.

Ring Modulation Level

Adjusts the output level of the Ring Modulation.

Editing Programs

Trip Macro Page

Noise Generator

Trigger and Pitch Section

Noise Type

The sound color of the noise. You can choose between standard and band pass filtered (BPF) versions of white and pink noise.

Noise Level

Adjusts the output level of the noise generator.

Polyphony

If Mono mode is not active, you can use this parameter to specify how many notes can be played simultaneously.

Mono

Activates monophonic playback.

Retrig

This option is only available if Mono is activated. It allows the retriggering of a stolen note. If Retrig is activated, a note that was stolen by another note is retriggered if you still hold the stolen note when releasing the new one. This way, you can play trills by holding one note and quickly and repeatedly pressing and releasing another note, for example.

Trigger Mode

Defines the trigger behavior for new notes. The following settings are available:

•In Normal mode, a new note is triggered when the previous note is

stolen.

•In Resume mode, the envelope is retriggered, but resumes at the level

of the stolen note. The pitch is set to the new note.

•In Legato mode, the envelopes keep playing and the pitch is set to the

new note.

Glide

Allows you to bend the pitch between two notes that follow each other. You achieve the best results in Mono mode.

Glide Time

Specifies the time needed to bend the pitch from one note to the other.

Editing Programs

NOTE

Trip Macro Page

Mod Page

Fingered

Activate this parameter to glide the pitch only between notes that are played legato.

Octave

Adjusts the pitch in octave steps.

Pitchbend Up/Down

Sets the range for the modulation that is applied when you move the pitchbend wheel.

The Mod page contains the LFO settings in the upper section and vibrato settings in the lower section.

LFO Settings

Freq

Sync

Pitch

Cutoff

Osc1/2/3 Wave

Controls the frequency of the modulation, that is, the speed of the LFO.

When Sync is activated, the frequency is set in fractions of beats.

Controls the modulation depth of the pitch modulation.

Controls the modulation depth of the filter cutoff modulation.

These parameters control the modulation depth of the waveform modulation of the three main oscillators.

These controls are only available if the selected oscillator type supports waveform modulation.

Editing Programs

Trip Macro Page

Vibrato Parameters

Arp Page

Vib Freq

Controls the frequency of the second LFO that is used for pitch modulation (vibrato).

Vib Depth

Controls the depth of the vibrato modulation.

Cutoff

Controls the influence of the mod wheel on the filter cutoff.

Osc1/2/3 Wave

These parameters control the influence of the mod wheel on the waveform of the three main oscillators. These controls are only available if the selected oscillator type supports waveform modulation.

The Arp page contains the settings for the integrated arpeggiator and step sequencer.

Variations

Click the variation buttons to switch between the available variations.

Loop

Defines whether the phrase is played once or continuously in a loop. If Loop is activated, the phrase plays in a loop.

Editing Programs

Trip Macro Page

Hold Mode

With this parameter, you can prevent the phrase from stopping or changing when the keys are released. In addition, the Gated mode plays silently in the background when you release the keys, and resumes playback at the current position when you press the keys again. You can select one of the following options:

•If you select Off, the phrase changes immediately when you release a

key. The phrase stops immediately when all keys are released.

•If you select On, the phrase plays to end even when the keys are

released. If Loop is activated, the phrase plays continuously in a cycle.

•If Gated is selected, the phrase starts playback with the first key that is

played. It plays silently in the background even when the keys are released, and resumes playback at the current position when you press any of the keys again. This way, you can gate the playback of the phrase.

Trigger Mode

This parameter defines when the arpeggiator scans for new keys that you play on the keyboard.

•If Immediately is selected, the arpeggiator scans for new keys all the

time. The phrase changes immediately in reaction to your playing.

•If Next Beat is selected, the arpeggiator scans for new keys upon new

beats. The phrase changes in reaction to your playing on each new beat.

•If Next Measure is selected, the arpeggiator scans for new keys upon

new measures. The phrase changes in reaction to your playing on each new measure.

Restart Mode

Depending on the selected Restart Mode and your playing, you can restart playback from the beginning of the phrase.

•If Off is selected, the phrase runs continuously and does not restart

upon chord or note changes.

•If New Chord is selected, the phrase restarts on new chords. However,

the phrase will not restart upon notes that are played legato, for example, if you play additional notes to a chord you are holding already.

•If New Note is selected, the phrase restarts with each new note you

play. Here, the phrase also restarts upon notes that are played legato.

•If Sync to Host is selected, the phrase aligns with the beats and

measures of your host application, each time you start the transport.

Tempo Scale

Defines the rate at which notes are triggered, that is, the speed at which the phrase is running. You can specify a value in fractions of beats. You can also set dotted and triplet note values.

Editing Programs

NOTE

Trip Macro Page

Swing

Allows you to shift the timing of notes on even numbered beats. This way, the phrase gets a swing feeling. Negative values shift the timing backward, and the notes are played earlier. Positive values shift the timing forward, and the notes are played later.

Gate Scale

Allows you to shorten or lengthen the notes of the phrase. At a value of 100 %, the notes play with their original gate length.

Velocity Scale

Raises or lowers the note-on velocities of the phrase. At a value of 100 %, the notes are played with their original velocity.

Octaves

Extends the phrase playback to higher or lower octaves. Positive settings extend the playback to higher and negative settings to lower octaves. For example, a value of +1 first plays the phrase in the octave range you originally played. Then, it repeats the phrase one octave higher.

Working with Variations

Trip features 4 variations that allow you to set up different phrases or variations of phrases or loops.

To avoid that the variation switches in the middle of a beat or measure, use the trigger modes Next Beat or Next Measure.

Creating Variations

• To create a variation, click a variation button and set up the arpeggiator.

The variation is instantly modified and can be recalled by clicking the

Variation button.

Copying Variations

You can copy variation settings between the variation buttons using the corresponding commands on the context menu.

Assigning Variations to the Trigger Pads

You can assign the variations to the trigger pads using the corresponding commands on the context menu.

Editing Programs

Trip Macro Page

Filter and Amplifier Settings

The lower part of the Edit display contains the Filter and Amplifier settings.

Filter Section

Filter Shapes

• LP 24, 18, 12, and 6 are low-pass filters with 24, 18, 12, and 6 dB/oct.

Frequencies above the cutoff are attenuated.

• BP 12 and BP 24 are band-pass filters with 12 and 24 dB/oct.

Frequencies below and above the cutoff are attenuated.

• HP 24, 18, 12, and 6 are high-pass filters with 24, 18, 12, and 6 dB/oct.

Frequencies below the cutoff are attenuated.

• BR 12 and BR 24 are band-reject filter with 12 and 24 dB/oct.

Frequencies around the cutoff are attenuated.

• AP is an all-pass filter with 18 dB/oct. Frequencies around the cutoff are

attenuated.

Cutoff

Controls the cutoff frequency of the filter.

Resonance

Emphasizes the frequencies around the cutoff. At higher settings, the filter self-oscillates, which results in a ringing tone.

Distortion

Adds distortion to the signal. The following distortion types are available:

• Tube adds warm, tube-like distortion.

• Hard Clip adds bright, transistor-like distortion.

• Bit Reduction adds digital distortion by means of quantization noise.

• Rate Reduction adds digital distortion by means of aliasing.

• Rate Reduction Key Follow adds digital distortion by means of

aliasing, but with Key Follow. The rate reduction follows the keyboard, so the higher you play, the higher the sample rate.

Env Amount

Controls the cutoff modulation from the filter envelope.

Velocity

Controls the cutoff modulation from velocity.

Editing Programs

Trip Macro Page

Filter Envelope Section

Key Follow

Adjusts the cutoff modulation using the note number. Increase this parameter to raise the cutoff with higher notes. At 100

%, the cutoff follows the played

pitch exactly.

Attack

Controls the attack time of the filter envelope.

Decay

Controls the decay time of the filter envelope.

Sustain

Controls the sustain level of the filter envelope.

Release

Controls the release time of the filter envelope.

Amplifier Section

Level

Controls the overall volume of the sound.

Velocity

Controls the level modulation from velocity. At 0, all notes are played with the same level.

Amplifier Envelope Section

Attack

Controls the attack time of the amplifier envelope.

Decay

Controls the decay time of the amplifier envelope.

Sustain

Controls the sustain level of the amplifier envelope.

Release

Controls the release time of the amplifier envelope.

MIDI Page

MIDI Editing

The MIDI page gives you access to the MIDI slot parameters of HALion Sonic SE. This includes MIDI channel, key and velocity range, and transpose and polyphony settings.

Parameters

Channel

Poly (Polyphony)

Transpose

Specifies the MIDI channel for the slot. You can set multiple slots to the same MIDI channel and trigger them simultaneously with the same note event.

Specifies how many notes can be played at the same time. Because programs can contain up to 4 layers, the resulting number of voices (stereo samples, synth voices etc.) can be much higher than the value specified here.

Allows you to shift the incoming MIDI notes by ±64 semitones before they are sent to the loaded program.

MIDI Editing

Editing the Key Range

Key Range (Low Key, High Key)

To switch between velocity and key range, use the Key/Vel switches above the range controls.

Editing the Key Range

Each slot can be limited to a certain key range. To show the key range, activate the Key button at the top of the MIDI page.

You can set the key range in the following ways:

• Set the range with the Low Key and High Key values or by dragging the keyboard range control at its ends.

• Move the key range by clicking it and dragging.

• To set the range via MIDI input, click in a value field and play the note.

Editing the Velocity Range

Each slot can be limited to a velocity range. To show the velocity range, activate the Vel button at the top of the MIDI page.

You can set the velocity range in the following ways:

• Set the range with the Low Vel and High Vel values or by dragging the velocity range control at its ends.

• Move the range by clicking it and dragging.

Filtering Controllers

You can filter out the most commonly used MIDI controllers for each slot separately.

When you set up a keyboard split with bass and piano playing on the same MIDI channel, both sounds receive the same MIDI controllers. However, you usually do not want the bass to receive the sustain pedal. To avoid that all sounds on the same MIDI channel receive the same MIDI controllers, you use the controller filter. Filtering out control change messages can also be used to avoid unwanted program changes on MIDI channel 10 (drums), for example.

MIDI Editing

PROCEDURE

NOTE

MIDI Controllers

Proceed as follows:

1. At the top of the MIDI page, activate the Ctrl button.

2. For each slot, activate the MIDI controllers that you want to filter out.

You can filter out the following MIDI controllers: Sustain #64, Foot Controller #4, Foot Switches #65-69, Control Change, Pitchbend, Modulation Wheel #1, and Aftertouch.

MIDI Controllers

You can assign the parameters volume, pan, mute, solo, send FX 1–4 and the quick controls of each slot to a MIDI controller. In addition to the slot parameters, you can also assign the parameters of the AUX FX and most of the edit parameters.

By default, volume, pan, send FX 1–4 and the program quick controls are already assigned. You can customize this factory MIDI controller mapping by assigning your own MIDI controllers. This way, you can adapt the mapping to your MIDI keyboard or controller.

To provide more control, you can set the minimum and maximum range for each assignment separately.

Assigning MIDI Controllers

To assign a MIDI controller to a parameter, proceed as follows:

1. Right-click the control that you want to control remotely.

2. On the context menu, select Learn CC.

3. On your MIDI keyboard or controller, use the potentiometer, fader, or button.

RESULT

The next time you right-click the control, the menu shows the assigned MIDI controller.

You can assign the same MIDI controller several times to different parameters. However, you cannot assign different MIDI controllers to the same parameter.

Steinberg HALion Sonic SE 2 Operation Manual

Table of Contents

Window Overview

Introduction

Instrument Track vs Instrument Rack

About Programs, Layers, Multis, Macro Pages, and Presets

Presets

Common Editing Methods

Managing Your Sounds

Loading Programs

Multi Program Rack

Slot Context Menu

Macro Page

Editing Programs

Trip Macro Page

MIDI Page

MIDI Editing

Editing the Key Range

Editing the Velocity Range

Filtering Controllers

MIDI Controllers