Steinberg Halion 3 Manual
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Global Functions and Settings Quick Controls 21Unassigning Quick Controls PROCEDURE •Do one of the following: •To remove a quick control assignment, right-click the parameter in the Quick Control Assignments editor and select Remove Assignment. •To remove all assignments of the selected quick control, open the context menu and select Remove All Assignments. •To remove all quick control assignments for all 8 quick controls, select Remove All Assignments of All Quick Controls. Quick Control Assignments Editor •To open the Quick Control Assignments editor, right-click a quick control and select Edit Quick Control or open the Edit page for a program and select the QC tab in the lower part of the page. Bypass All Quick Control Assignments Allows you to hear a sound without quick control assignments. Quick Controls List The eight quick controls are listed on the left. The assignments of the selected quick control are listed on the right. You can edit the parameters for each assignment separately. Quick Control Parameter Displays the parameter assignment for the selected quick control. Affected Layers/Modules Displays which program, layer, or module is affected by the quick control. Bypass Single Quick Control Assignment Bypasses the corresponding quick control assignment. For example, if a quick control is assigned to several layers, this option allows you to bypass the quick control assignment for one of the layers only. Mode Determines the mode that is used for changing the parameter values.
Global Functions and Settings Quick Controls 22Minimum Value Sets the minimum value for the quick control assignment. Curvature Sets the curvature. You can also set the curvature by clicking and dragging in the curve display. Maximum Value Sets the maximum value for the quick control assignment. Bypass All Quick Control Assignments Bypasses all assignments for the selected quick control. RELATED LINKS Setting the Mode for the Quick Control Assignment on page 23 Adjusting the Curvature on page 22 Bypassing Quick Controls on page 23 Managing Quick Controls The Quick Control Assignments editor allows you to manage and edit assigned quick controls. •To rename a quick control, click in the Name column and enter a new name. •To change the order of quick control assignments, drag an assignment between two other quick controls. When a line is shown, release the mouse button to insert the quick control assignment. •To replace a quick control assignment, drag it onto another quick control. When a rectangle is shown, release the mouse button to replace the quick control assignment. Adjusting the Curvature You can adjust the curvature of each assignment in the Quick Controls Assignment editor separately. PROCEDURE •To adjust the curvature, do one of the following: •Select the quick control that you want to edit and specify a value in the Curvature value field. Positive values change the curvature towards logarithmic behavior and negative values towards exponential behavior. •Click and drag the curvature in the display on the right.
Global Functions and Settings Quick Controls 23Setting the Mode for the Quick Control Assignment A quick control behaves either as continuous control or as a switch. In addition, it remote- controls a parameter either in relative or absolute mode. You can specify a mode for each assignment. You can set the behavior in the context menu for the control itself or via the pop-up menu in the Quick Control Assignments editor. Absolute Remote-controls the parameter values continuously. Absolute mode changes the assigned parameters by overwriting them with the current quick control value, that is, parameter changes are overwritten. Relative Remote-controls the parameter values continuously. Relative mode changes the values of the assigned parameters without losing their relative settings, that is, parameter changes can still be heard. Switch Relative Switches between the minimum and maximum value. Parameter changes can still be heard. Neutral Setting If you adjust the range of a quick control assignment, it can become necessary to change its neutral setting, to prevent the resulting sound from changing. If you adjust the range of a quick control that has a single assignment that uses Absolute or Relative mode, HALion Sonic adjusts the setting of the quick control automatically so that the sound does not change. Likewise, if you assign multiple parameters to the same quick control, HALion Sonic sets the range of this quick control assignment automatically. However, if a quick control has multiple assignments and you change the range of one or more assignments, the neutral setting cannot be set automatically. In this case, you can specify the neutral setting manually using the Set Quick Control to Neutral Setting command on the context menu for the quick control. Bypassing Quick Controls Bypassing quick controls allows you to hear a sound without quick control assignments. 1.To bypass a single assignment for one quick control, click Bypass Single Quick Control Assignment in the Quick Control Assignments editor. 2.To bypass all assignments for one quick control, select the quick control in the Quick Control Assignments editor, and click Bypass All Quick Control Assignments in the upper right of the parameter section.
Global Functions and Settings Trigger Pads 24Assigning Quick Controls in the Modulation Matrix In addition to assigning the quick controls directly to parameter controls, you can also assign them as source or modifier in the modulation matrix. This way, you can combine the quick control with other modulation sources. PROCEDURE 1.Open the layer editor and go to the modulation matrix. 2.On the pop-up menu in the Source/Modifier column, open the Assign Quick Control submenu and select the quick control. The submenu lists the quick controls of the layer. Trigger Pads You can use the trigger pads to trigger single notes or whole chords and to switch between FlexPhraser variations. Many of the programs that come with HALion Sonic make use of the trigger pads. If a note or a chord is assigned to a pad, this pad turns orange. If a pad switches between FlexPhraser variations, the line above the pad turns orange. •To trigger a pad, click on it. Presets Pad presets save trigger notes and chord snapshots, but not FlexPhraser snapshots. This means that you can exchange trigger notes and chords by loading presets without loosing your FlexPhraser snapshots. Bypass With the Bypass Pads button to the right of the trigger pads, you can bypass the entire pads section. This deactivates any functionality you assigned to the trigger pads. Assigning Trigger Notes to Pads You can assign a MIDI note to a pad and trigger the pad by playing this note. To define the trigger note, do one of the following: •Right-click a pad, open the Assign Trigger Note submenu, and from the further submenus, select the octave and note that you want to assign. •Open the context menu for a pad, select Learn Trigger Note, and play the note on your MIDI keyboard or click a key on the internal keyboard. The name of the assigned trigger note is displayed in the top left corner of the pad. On the internal keyboard, keys that serve as trigger notes are shown in blue. These keys do not play sounds, but trigger the corresponding pads instead.
Global Functions and Settings Trigger Pads 25•To remove a trigger note from a pad, right-click the pad and select Forget Trigger Note. Assigning Chords or Notes to Trigger Pads PROCEDURE 1.Right-click a pad and select Snapshot Chord. The pad starts blinking. 2.Do one of the following: •Play a chord or a single note and then click the pad that is blinking to assign the chord or note to the pad. •Drag a chord event from the chord track of your Steinberg DAW onto a trigger pad. This transfers the corresponding MIDI notes to the pad. If you drag a chord event onto the internal keyboard first, the corresponding chord is played back. This is useful to verify whether you selected the correct chord. If you define a chord that contains a key switch, you can trigger the chord with a specific instrument expression. If you add keys to a chord that also work as trigger notes, they trigger the underlying MIDI note instead of the trigger note. RESULT Triggering the pad now plays the chord or note. Default Trigger Note Settings Assigned trigger notes are saved with each program to allow for maximum flexibility. However, you can save a fixed set of default trigger notes to reflect an existing hardware setup, for example. •To specify a default set of trigger notes, set up the trigger notes for all pads, right-click a pad, and select Save Trigger Notes as Default. •To activate the default trigger note settings, right-click a pad and select Use Default Trigger Notes. Now, changing programs or multi-programs does not change the trigger notes anymore. If you deactivate Use Default Trigger Notes, the last set of trigger notes remains active. To return to the trigger notes that were saved with the program, reload the program. Assigning Key Switches to Trigger Pads To use the pads for switching between expressions, assign them to the corresponding key switches. PROCEDURE •Right-click a pad, select Snapshot Chord, and play the key switch.
Global Functions and Settings Options Page 26Removing Chords or Notes from Trigger Pads PROCEDURE •Right-click the trigger pad and select Clear Chord. Switching between Variations You can switch between variations using the trigger pads. Variations are available for the FlexPhraser and the B-Box, for example. PROCEDURE 1.Right-click the trigger pad that you want to use for switching to the selected FlexPhraser variations. 2.On the menu, select Snapshot Variation. The line above the pad turns orange to indicate that a FlexPhraser snapshot is assigned. RESULT If you trigger the pad, it switches to the variation that was selected when you made the snapshot. NOTE Instead of saving the variation settings themselves, the trigger pad saves only the variations that were selected when you made the snapshot. This allows you to modify variations after creating the snapshot. However, if you replace or add layers, you must first remove the assignment using the Clear FlexPhrasers command on the context menu and then take the FlexPhraser snapshot again. RELATED LINKS Creating FlexPhraser Variations on page 82 B-Box on page 139 Naming Pads Entering names for pads allows you to get a better overview of their functionality, for example. PROCEDURE 1.Right-click the pad to open the context menu and select Rename Pad. 2.Enter the new name and press Enter. Options Page The Options page contains global settings regarding performance optimization, global functions, and MIDI controllers.
Global Functions and Settings Options Page 27 Disk Streaming Section Some of the programs come with up to 1 GB of samples. That is a large amount of data and your computer cannot load all samples completely into the RAM, especially if you are using all slots. Therefore, HALion Sonic loads only the initial milliseconds of each sample into RAM. You can specify how much RAM should be used and how much HALion Sonic should rely on accessing the hard-disk. Balancing Disk vs. RAM Use the Balance slider to balance the hard disk versus the RAM usage. •If you need more RAM for other applications, drag the slider to the left towards the Disk setting. •If your hard disk is not supplying data fast enough, drag the slider to the right towards the RAM setting. NOTE The Disk vs. RAM setting always applies to all plug-in instances. It is not saved with the project. You set it up only once for your computer system. Used Preload and Available Memory These displays provide information of the memory load in MB according to the current balance slider setting. Max Preload Determines the maximum amount of RAM that HALion Sonic uses for preloading samples. In most cases, the default values are sufficient. However, it may become necessary to reduce this value, for example, when working with other applications or plug-ins that require a lot of memory. Expert Mode Activate Expert Mode if you want to adjust the Disk Streaming settings in greater detail.
Global Functions and Settings Options Page 28 •Preload Time defines how much of the start of the samples is preloaded into the RAM. Larger values allow for more samples to be triggered in a short time. •Prefetch Time determines the read-ahead capacity into the RAM while streaming samples for a voice that is playing. Larger values allow for better transfer rates from disk, and usually for more voices. However, this requires larger streaming cache in RAM. If you increase the Prefetch Time, it is recommended to also increase the Streaming Cache. •Streaming Cache determines the amount of RAM that is reserved for prefetching. The actually needed size depends on the prefetch time, the number of simultaneously streaming voices and the audio format of the samples. For example, higher sample and bit rates need more RAM. Performance Section The Performance section contains settings to optimize the overall CPU performance of the plug-in. Max Voices Determines the total number of voices that a plug-in instance can play back. As soon as this limit is reached, HALion Sonic starts stealing voices. Max CPU To avoid clicks from CPU overloads, you can specify a maximum limit for the CPU load of the plug-in instance. HALion Sonic steals voices automatically when this limit is exceeded. At a setting of 100 %, this parameter is deactivated. NOTE Because of the reaction time of the plug-in, it is possible that you get CPU peaks that exceed the set limit. This can lead to artifacts, such as audio drop-outs. Therefore, it is good practice to set the Max CPU setting at a value a bit lower than actually needed. Voice Fade Out Sets the time to fade out voices that need to be stolen because the Max Voices setting or the Max CPU setting have been reached. Osc ECO Mode Activate this option to run the oscillators of synth layers in ECO mode. In ECO mode, the oscillators use less CPU at the cost of producing more aliasing at higher pitches. If this option is activated, you can play more voices with synth layers.
Global Functions and Settings Options Page 29Multi Loading Normally, when loading multi-programs, the previous multi is kept in the RAM until the new multi has been completely loaded. Therefore, replacing a large multi by another can lead to RAM overload on 32-bit systems. •To clear a multi before loading a new one, select Clear before on the pop- up menu. Multi-Core On this pop-up menu, you can specify how many of the available CPU cores of your system can be used by the plug-in. This allows HALion Sonic to compute each program on a different core, for example. The best setting here depends on multiple factors, and varies from system to system, and project to project. A good starting point is to set this value to one core less than the available number of cores. NOTE If problems occur, reduce the number of cores, or set the pop-up menu to Off and load multiple instances of HALion Sonic instead. This way, the host application distributes the work load across the available cores. Global Section Here, you find common settings of HALion Sonic and the General MIDI mode parameter. NOTE The settings in this section are not saved with a project, but affect the plug-in as a whole. Show Tooltips If this option is activated, a tooltip is shown when you move the mouse over a control. Show Value Tooltips If this option is activated, parameters without a value field display their value in a tooltip when you use the corresponding control. Solo Mode •In Standard mode, you can solo multiple programs or layers to hear them combined. •In Exclusive mode, only one program or layer can be soloed at a time. Program Changes Determines how HALion Sonic handles incoming MIDI program change messages. •In GM Mode, program change messages are used to switch programs in the slots of the multi program rack. •In Multi Mode, program change messages are used to switch between the 128 multis that can be configured on the Multi page. •Select Off to ignore incoming controller change messages.
Global Functions and Settings Options Page 30General MIDI Mode Select General MIDI Mode to play back MIDI files that have been arranged for General MIDI sound sets. General MIDI mode supports MIDI program change messages and preloads a global chorus and reverb effect on AUX FX 1 and 3 for immediate use. If General MIDI mode is activated, all loaded programs are removed and the 16 slots are assigned to the 16 MIDI channels. As long as General MIDI mode is active, the 16 MIDI channels on the MIDI page cannot be changed. The MediaBay sets an instrument set filter and displays only the General MIDI sounds. The MIDI program changes 0–127 refer to the corresponding GM Sound attributes of the MediaBay. This means that you can make any of your sounds part of the General MIDI sound set by setting the GM Sound attribute on the corresponding sound. NOTE The General MIDI sounds that come with HALion Sonic are optimized for fast loading times. However, larger programs take longer to load. Key Commands Opens the Key Commands dialog, where you can view and assign key commands. Reset Messages If you click this button, all message dialogs that have been suppressed with the Don't Show Again option are displayed again. MIDI Controller Section Controller Assignment With the two buttons in this section, you can save your customized MIDI controller assignments as default or restore the factory MIDI controller assignments. NOTE Save as Default does not include any of the MIDI controller assignments of the AUX FX. The current MIDI controller mapping is also saved with each project. This way, you can transfer your settings to other systems. The project includes the MIDI controller assignments of the AUX FX as well. MIDI Controller Smoothing MIDI controllers have a maximum resolution of 128 steps. This is rather low. Therefore, if you use a MIDI controller as a modulation source in the modulation matrix or to remote-control a quick control, the parameter change may occur in audible steps, causing an effect often referred to as “zipper noise”. To avoid this, HALion Sonic provides MIDI controller smoothing, so that parameter changes occur more gradually.