Steinberg Halion Sonic 2 Manual
Have a look at the manual Steinberg Halion Sonic 2 Manual online for free. It’s possible to download the document as PDF or print. UserManuals.tech offer 523 Steinberg manuals and user’s guides for free. Share the user manual or guide on Facebook, Twitter or Google+.
121 World InstrumentsThe Amp Section Filter Envelope 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. The Amp Section Amp Parameters Key Delay Delays playback of the notes. This parameter can be used when working with multiple programs or layers. Setting up different key delay values for the different layers allows you to spread the notes, so that they do not all begin at the same time. 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. Amp Envelope Attack Controls the attack time of the amplifier envelope. Decay Controls the decay time of the amplifier envelope. Sustain Sets the sustain level of the amplifier envelope. Release Sets the release time of the amplifier envelope.
122 World InstrumentsThe Pitch/LFO/MW Sections The Pitch/LFO/MW Sections Pitch Section Pitchbend Up/Down Here, you can set the range of the pitch modulation that is applied when you move the pitchbend wheel. Coarse Adjusts the tuning in semitones. Fine Adjusts the tuning in cents. LFO Section Freq Controls the frequency of the modulation, that is, the speed of the LFO. Sync When Sync is active, the frequency is set in fractions of beats. Pitch Controls the modulation depth of the pitch modulation. Cutoff Controls the modulation depth of the filter cutoff modulation. MW Section Vib Freq Controls the frequency of the second LFO which is used for pitch modulation, or vibrato. Vib Depth Controls the depth of the vibrato modulation. Cutoff Controls the influence of the mod wheel on the filter cutoff. The Oriental Scale Section Scale On/Off Activates/Deactivates the influence of the scale settings on the played notes. Note Switches Activate a switch to decrease the tuning of the corresponding note by a quarter note.
123 World InstrumentsThe Arp Page The Arp Page This page contains the same parameters as the FlexPhraser, see “The FlexPhraser” on page 64.
124 World Percussion Introduction World Percussion delivers a great variety of ethnic percussion instruments and associated MIDI phrases. The instruments can be globally fine-tuned with filter and amp settings which in turn can make use of envelope settings. The built-in MIDI player allows you to use the included MIDI phrases or to import your own MIDI phrases. MIDI Player Parameters On/Off button Activates/Deactivates the MIDI player part of the World Percussion Macro page. Variation buttons You can configure up to 8 different variations of your sounds and switch between them with the variation buttons. This works in the same way as for the FlexPhrasers, see “Working with FlexPhraser Variations” on page 73. ÖTo avoid switching variations in the middle of a beat or measure, use the trigger modes “Next Beat” or “Next Measure”. Loading phrases •To load a phrase, click in the Phrase field and select a phrase from the selector. Exporting MIDI phrases You can export your MIDI phrase as MIDI file using drag and drop.
125 World PercussionIntroduction Loop Defines whether the phrase is played once or continuously in a loop. When this is activated, the phrase plays in a loop. Hold With the Hold 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: Trigger Mode The Trigger Mode determines at which moment the player changes the phrase when you select another variation. You can select one of the following options: Restart Depending on the selected Restart mode and your playing, you can restart playback from the beginning of the loop. You can select one of the following options Start This parameter allows you to shift the start of the loop in steps of 1/4 notes. The length of the loop is shortened accordingly. Option Description OffThe phrase changes immediately when releasing a key. The phrase stops immediately when releasing all keys. OnThe phrase plays to end even when the keys are released. When the Loop option is activated, the phrase plays continuously in a cycle. GatedThe phrase starts playback with the first key being 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. OptionDescription ImmediatelyThe phrase changes as soon as you switch to another variation. Next BeatThe phrase changes on the first new beat after switching to another variation. Next MeasureThe phrase changes on the first new measure after switching to another variation. OptionDescription OffThe loop runs continuously and will not restart upon note changes. First NoteThe loop restarts when a note is triggered and no other notes are already held. Each NoteThe loop restarts each time a note is triggered. Sync to HostSelect this to align the loop with the beats and measures of your host application. The loop aligns to the beats and measures each time you start the transport. Follow TransportPlayback starts and stops automatically together with the transport controls in your host application.
126 World PercussionIntroduction Length This parameter allows you to shorten the length of the loop in steps of 1/4 notes. ÖThe control range of Start and Length varies with the original length of the loop. Tempo When Sync is deactivated, use the Tempo control to set the internal playback speed of the loop. The playback speed of the loop is specified in Beats Per Minute (BPM). In addition, Tempo Scale gives you further control over the playback speed. The Tempo control is inactive when Sync is activated. Sync To synchronize the loop to the tempo of your host application, activate Sync. The Tempo control is disabled when Sync is activated. ÖFor the modes “Sync to Host” and “Follow Transport”, synchronization to the host application is established automatically. In these modes, the Sync parameter cannot be edited. Play Click this to start playback of the phrase. Low Key This defines the lowest key on which the phrase is triggered. High Key This defines the highest key on which the phrase is triggered. Center Key This parameter determines the MIDI note that is used as the central position for the Key Follow function. Pitch Drums in Relation to Center Key Activate this to set the pitch of the drum sounds according to the center key. The Performance section Tempo Scale This parameter 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. When the Tempo parameter is 1/16 and you set this value to 1/8, for example, the speed is cut to half. When you set it to 1/32, the speed is doubled. Other values increase or decrease the speed accordingly. Swing Use this parameter 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 This parameter allows you to shorten or lengthen the notes of the phrase. At a value of 100 %, the notes play with their original gate length.
127 World PercussionIntroduction Velocity Scale This parameter allows you to raise or lower the note-on velocities of the phrase. At a value of 100 %, the notes are played with their original velocity. Quantize Note Value This pop-up menu allows you to set up a quantization grid, in fractions of beats. You can also specify dotted and triplet values. This way, you can force the timing of the MIDI note events to play back only at the selected note value. Quantize Amount This parameter defines how much of the quantization grid is applied. A value of 100 % means the MIDI note events play back only at the specified Quantize note value. Smaller values move the notes only partially towards the next Quantize note value. With a value of 0 %, no quantization is applied. The Filter section Cutoff Adjusts the cutoff frequency of the filter. Resonance This parameter emphasizes the frequencies around the cutoff. At higher resonance settings, the filter self-oscillates, which results in a ringing tone. Env Amount Controls the cutoff modulation from the filter envelope. Velocity Controls the cutoff modulation from velocity. Decay Controls the decay time of the filter envelope. The Amp 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. Decay Controls the decay time of the amplifier envelope.
128 MIDI Setup and Mixing The MIDI Page The MIDI page gives you access to the MIDI parameters of HALion Sonic. This comprises the MIDI channel, Key and Velocity ranges as well as Transpose and Polyphony settings. To switch between velocity and key range, use the Key/Vel switches above the range controls. MIDI Page Parameters Channel Here you can specify on which MIDI channel a slot should “listen”. You can set multiple slots to the same MIDI channel and trigger them simultaneously with the same note events. Poly (Polyphony) This setting is used to specify how many notes can be played at the same time. Since programs can contain up to four layers, the resulting number of voices (stereo samples, synth voices etc.) can be much higher than the value specified here. Transpose Here you can shift the incoming MIDI notes by ±64 semitones before they are sent to the loaded program. Key Range (Low Key, High Key) Each slot can be limited to a certain key range. You can set the range with the Low Key and High Key values or by dragging the keyboard range control at its ends. When you click and drag towards the middle of the keyboard, both values are moved at the same time. As an additional option, you can use the MIDI input to set the range. Simply click in the value field and play the note.
129 MIDI Setup and MixingThe Mix Page To set the key range, proceed as follows: 1.At the top of the MIDI page, click the Key button. 2.In the slot, set the key range with the keyboard range controls and/or Low Key/High Key value fields. Velocity Range (Low Vel, High Vel) Each slot can be limited to a velocity range. You can set the range with the Low Vel and High Vel values or by dragging the graphical velocity range control at its ends. When you click and drag towards the middle of the velocity range control, both values are moved at the same time. To adjust the velocity range, proceed as follows: 1.At the top of the MIDI page, click the Vel button. 2.In the slot, set the velocity range with the velocity range control and/or Low Vel/High Vel value fields. Controller Filter You can filter out the most commonly used MIDI controllers for each slot separately. For example, when you set up a keyboard split with bass and piano playing on the same MIDI channel, both sounds will 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, use the controller filter. To filter out the most commonly used MIDI controllers, proceed as follows: 1.At the top of the MIDI page, click the Ctrl button. 2.In the slot, click the button of the MIDI controller you want to filter out. The following MIDI controllers and messages can be filtered out: Sustain #64, Foot Controller #4, Foot Switches #65–69, Pitchbend, Modulation Wheel #1 and Aftertouch. The Mix Page The Mix page gives you access to the audio parameters of HALion Sonic. This comprises the level and pan settings, as well as the AUX effect sends and the output selector. To monitor the output levels, each slot also features a level meter.
130 MIDI Setup and MixingThe Mix Page Mix Page Parameters On/Off This switch allows you to turn the MIDI input of the slot on and off. In contrast to the Mute function that only mutes the audio output of the slot but keeps on processing the sound in the background, this switch interrupts the MIDI communication with the slot and prevents sounds from being processed. Level This parameter allows you to set the output level of the slot. Pan This parameter allows you to set the position in the stereo panorama. Meter The meter indicates the slot output level. FX1–4 Send Levels Here you can specify the amount of signal sent to the four auxiliary busses which host up to four effects each. Output This parameter defines to which of the 16 plug-in outputs the slot is routed. All slots are routed to the Main output by default.