Steinberg HALion Symphonic Orchestra Operation Manual

ENGLISH
HALion Symphonic Orchestra
31
Here you can set tune and volume globally for HALion Symphonic Or-
chestra. You can tune up/down in Hertz, and set the master volume 
from silence up to +6 dB. The Voices field dynamically displays the 
number of voices currently used. The Steinberg logo in the bottom 
right corner of this section provides an Internet link to the Steinberg 
home page. An Internet connection and a suitable browser application 
are required for this to work.
Global Commands context...

HALion Symphonic Orchestra
32
The Keyboard
The keyboard logically spans the entire range that you can assign sam-
ples to, from C-2 to G8. It is used to quickly audition samples by click-
ing a key to which a sample is assigned. A blue dot indicates the key 
where you last clicked.
 Use the scrollbar below the keyboard to scroll up or down the keyboard 
range.
 You can use the +/- buttons to the right of the scrollbar to zoom the 
visible range of the keyboard.
 You can audition samples with varying...

ENGLISH
HALion Symphonic Orchestra
33
 The keyboard indicates for each key whether it has a sample mapped 
to it by displaying a green or blue colored strip at the top of the key.
The length of the strip, i.e. the number of keys it touches, indicates the key zone range 
for a particular sample. The color of the strip alternates for each new key zone mapped 
across the keyboard, allowing you to see the start and end of each key zone.
 Right-click (Win)/[Ctrl]-click (Mac) on a key to open a little info...

HALion Symphonic Orchestra
34
The Disk LED
The disk LED to the left of the HALion Symphonic Orchestra on-
screen keyboard will light up green when samples are streamed from 
disk, and red when samples cannot be loaded from disk in time. To in-
dicate that samples could not be streamed, a red circle will be dis-
played around the disk LED until you click on it. In such a case you 
should increase the cache size and/or the preload time of the samples 
in the Player Options dialog.
Disk Activity LED
 The...

ENGLISH
HALion Symphonic Orchestra
35
Performance issues
When handling content as big as that for HALion Symphonic Orches-
tra, making the most of your computer’s system resources is very im-
portant. In the following sections you will find some suggestions that 
should help you to optimize your computer performance.
16-bit vs. 24-bit content
All HALion Symphonic Orchestra content comes in two versions: as 
16-bit files and as 24-bit files. The difference between the two is sim-
ple: the 24-bit programs...

HALion Symphonic Orchestra
36
Make sure you increase Preload into RAM in small steps only (not ex-
ceeding 0.1 seconds)! When setting this option to too high a value, you 
may “eat up” all of the RAM available to your system. The less RAM you 
have, the shorter the Preload into RAM time should be.
 The value for Preload into RAM also directly affects the time it takes 
for HALion Symphonic Orchestra to load its programs.
If it is of no importance to you how long it takes to load a program, you can set...

ENGLISH
HALion Symphonic Orchestra
37
Content Description
The following sections describe the general structure of the installed 
content.
Using the content in HALion
You can open the HALion Symphonic Orchestra content files in 
HALion. This lets you take full advantage of the features of Steinberg’s 
modern software sampler when working with this library.
Upgrading from HALion String Edition
If you are a user of HALion String Edition 1 or 2 and purchased 
HALion Symphonic Orchestra using the upgrade...

HALion Symphonic Orchestra
38
With bowed instruments, this is totally different. Strings need expres-
sion control all the time, and most of it is happening after the initial at-
tack. 
We have introduced a special Crescendo controller allowing you to 
continuously control the expression while you are working. It not only 
controls the volume, but also the choice of the layer played according 
to the controller value (i.e. the actual pianissimo, piano, … forte, fortis-
simo recording). 
From now on bear...

ENGLISH
HALion Symphonic Orchestra
39
Xswitch
The Xswitch programs are the economical alternative to the Xfade ver-
sions. They behave identically but the expression controller switches 
from layer to layer rather than blending them into each other. Volume, 
however, is controlled continuously. 
The disadvantage of audible transitions yields an unbeatable advan-
tage: Only one stereo voice per note is used, so these programs can 
be used on slower systems.
Velocity (Vel)
In these programs, only velocity...

HALion Symphonic Orchestra
40
Instrument-specific programs
Violins A and B
For legato as well as spiccato articulations, there are always two pro-
gram versions called A and B. These use completely different samples 
and can be used for both doubling the section size (from 16 to 32) or 
for doubling voices without any typical layering artefacts such as phas-
ing or sterile sound character. Actually you will get the most realistic vi-
olin section sound when you play each violin track twice, with separate...