Steinberg Halion Sonic 2 Manual

111
HALiotron
Introduction
HALiotron emulates the sound generation of the pre-digital sampling era. Before the 
introduction of digital samplers, original instrument sounds were created by playing a 
pre-recorded tape for every key. HALiotron comes with seven different tapes from 
these days, which can be blended to create sound mixtures. In addition to its classic 
archetype, HALiotron offers a set of the most important synthesis parameters, 
allowing you to vary the shape of the sound. Furthermore, you...

112
HALiotronThe Filter Page
Attack
Adjusts the attack time of the sound.
Release
Adjusts the release time of the sound.
Velocity
Controls the influence of the velocity on the level of the sound.
Pitchbend Down/Up
Sets the range of the pitch modulation that is applied when you move the pitchbend 
wheel.
Coarse Tune
Here, you can adjust the sound in semitone steps. This allows you to play intervals 
with multiple layered HALiotron sounds.
The Filter Page
Resonance
Adjusts the resonance of the low-pass...

113
B-Box
Introduction
The B-Box provides you with a veritable drum computer inside HALion Sonic. It 
comes with 13 instrument lanes that can make use of up to 128 different sounds. You 
can set up your drum patterns, create variations, and modify each drum sound using a 
low-pass filter and several distortion modes.
The B-Box contains three pages: Pattern, Mix, and Aux. To open a page, click the 
corresponding button in the top section of the B-Box.
The Pattern Page
The Pattern page is where you create...

114
B-BoxThe Pattern Page
Selecting Sounds
•To select another drum sound for a lane, change the value in the Sound column. 
You can choose between up to 128 drum sounds, depending on the selected 
drum instrument.
•To preview a drum sound, click the trigger button to the right of the instrument name.
Adding Steps to the Pattern
•To add drum steps, click on the step fields in the pattern editor. 
•To set all steps at the same time, hold down [Shift] and click.
Setting up the Velocity
You can set each step...

115
B-BoxThe Pattern Page
Level
Adjusts the level of the instrument.
Removing Steps
•To remove a step, click it.
•To remove all steps, hold down [Shift]-[Ctrl]/[Command] and click a step.
•To remove all steps in a pattern, click the Clear Pattern button below the pattern 
editor.
Modifying the Pattern
•To move all steps of the pattern one step to the left or right, click the “Shift Pattern 
Left/Right” buttons.
This is useful if you have created a pattern that sounds the way you want but does 
not start...

116
B-BoxThe Mix Page
ÖThe parameters Loop, Sync, Hold, Trigger Mode, Restart Mode, and Input Mode are 
not part of the variations.
Switching Variations With the Trigger Pads
Variations can be assigned to the trigger pads, allowing you to switch variations on 
the fly, see 
“The Trigger Pads” on page 174.
The Mix Page
On the Mix page, you can add effects to the patterns. This page contains the following 
settings:
Level
Adjusts the level of the instrument.
Pan
Adjusts the panorama position of the...

117
B-BoxThe Mix Page
The AUX Page
On the Aux page, you can make global settings for the B-Box and the included 
effects. It is divided into two sections. The left section gives you access to the global 
performance settings, and the right section allows you to edit the integrated delay and 
reverb effects.
Performance
Loop
When this option is activated, the pattern plays in a loop.
Hold
Here, you can make the following settings:
Trigger Mode
The Trigger Mode determines at which moment B-Box changes the...

118
B-BoxThe Mix Page
Restart Mode
Determines whether the pattern playback is restarted when a note is triggered. The 
following options are available:
Input Mode
Keys that trigger the pattern are shown in green on the HALion Sonic keyboard. 
Keys that are assigned to an instrument sound are shown as regular black and white 
keys. Depending on the Input Mode, the black and white keys either trigger or mute 
the assigned instrument. The following options are available:
Sync
To synchronize the pattern to...

119
B-BoxThe Mix Page
Swing
Use this parameter to shift the timing of notes on even-numbered beats. This way, the 
pattern gets a swing feeling. Negative values let the notes play earlier, positive values 
let the notes play later.
Velocity Scale
This parameter allows you to raise or lower the note-on velocities of the pattern. At a 
value of 100
 %, the notes play with their original velocity.
Delay/Reverb
The delay and reverb effect have the same parameters as the Multi Delay and Reverb 
effects that...

120
World Instruments 
Introduction
The World Instruments deliver a great variety of ethnic instruments which can either 
be played manually or use the integrated arpeggiator.
On the Sound page, the instruments can be fine-tuned with filter and amp settings. In 
addition, you can use the built-in micro-tuning functionality, which allows you to 
decrease the pitch of each key by a quarter note, to realize typical oriental scales.
The Filter Section
Filter Shape
The filter shapes are the same as on the...