Steinberg Hypersonic User Manual

							 
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3. 
Make sure that your computer has a working internet connection. 
License download is made “online”. If the computer on which you installed Hypersonic 2 
is not connected to the internet, it is possible to use another computer for the online con-
nection – proceed with the steps below and see the help for the License Control Center 
application.
 
4. 
Launch the “License Control Center” application (found in the Windows 
Start menu under “Syncrosoft” or in the Macintosh Applications folder). 
This application allows you to view your Steinberg Keys and load or transfer licenses.
 
5. 
Use the License Control Center “Wizard” function and the activation 
code supplied with Hypersonic 2 to download the license for 
Hypersonic 2 to your Key. Simply follow the on-screen instructions. 
If you are uncertain about how to proceed, consult the help for LCC.
 
When the activation process is completed, you are ready to launch 
Hypersonic 2! 
Preparations
 
The following sections describe how to set up Hypersonic 2 for use 
with different interface formats.  
Setting up Hypersonic 2 as a VST Instrument in Cubase 
 
The following information refers to the use of Hypersonic within Cubase 
SX. We assume that you have correctly set up both Cubase SX and your 
MIDI and audio hardware. 
Should you wish to use Hypersonic within another VST host application 
 
such as Nuendo, please refer to its documentation.
 
Proceed as follows to activate Hypersonic: 
1. 
Make sure that Cubase SX receives MIDI data that you generate with 
your external MIDI master keyboard. 
2. 
In Cubase SX, open the “VST Instruments” window from the Devices 
menu, and select “Hypersonic” from the pop-up menu of a free VST 
Instrument slot. 
						

							 
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3. 
Clicking the “Power” button in the rack will activate/deactivate 
Hypersonic 2. 
By default this is automatically activated when a VST Instrument is loaded.
 
4. 
Click on the “Edit” button (“e”) to open the Hypersonic 2 window. 
• 
Make sure that the currently selected Cubase SX track is set to MIDI 
channel 1 or ANY.
When set, you are ready to start using Hypersonic 2! 
Setting up Hypersonic 2 as a DXi2 Synth
 
The following information refers to the use of Hypersonic 2 within Cake-
walk SONAR 1. We assume that you have correctly set up both SONAR 
and your MIDI and audio hardware. Should you wish to use Hypersonic 2 
within another DXi2 compatible host application, please refer to its docu-
 
mentation.
 
Proceed as follows to activate Hypersonic 2: 
1. 
Make sure that SONAR receives MIDI data that you generate with 
your external MIDI master keyboard. You can check this visually with 
the “MIDI In/Out Activity” tray icon. 
2. 
In SONAR, open the “Synth Rack” window from the View menu. 
3. 
Click the Insert button (or select the Insert option on the main menu). 
4. 
Open the DXi Synth submenu and select “Hypersonic 2” from the 
pop-up menu. 
5. 
By default, the “Insert DXi Synth Options” dialog appears. To create 
one MIDI track and connect an audio track to the outputs 1 and 2 of 
Hypersonic, activate the options “MIDI Source Track” and “First Synth 
Output (Audio)”. To create all available Hypersonic outputs, activate 
“All Synth Outputs (Audio)”. 
Refer to your host application’s documentation for further details.
 
6. 
Clicking the “Connection State” button in the Synth Rack will activate/
deactivate Hypersonic 2. By default this is automatically activated 
when DXi SoftSynths are loaded. 
						

							 
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7. 
Double-click on the “Hypersonic 2” entry or click the “Synth Proper-
ties” button in the toolbar of the Synth Rack to open the Hypersonic 2 
window.  
8. 
In SONAR, select the previously created MIDI track “Hypersonic 2”. 
Hypersonic 2 will now receive MIDI data from the selected track. Make 
sure that the MIDI channel of the currently selected SONAR track is set 
to the channel on which Hypersonic 2 is to receive MIDI data.
When set, you are ready to start using Hypersonic! 
Using Hypersonic in an AU compatible application
 
You can use Hypersonic in an AU host application (e. g. Logic) .
The Hypersonic 2 AU version is installed in the folder “Library/Audio/
Plug-ins/Components”.
For Logic Pro 7 proceed as follows: 
1. 
Open the Track Mixer and choose the desired Instrument channel. 
2. 
Click the I/O field and, in the pop-up menu that appears, choose 
Stereo, AU Instruments, Steinberg and finally, Hypersonic 2. 
Now Hypersonic 2 is loaded and ready to play.
 
Hypersonic stand-alone and ReWire
 
Hypersonic can be used as a stand-alone application, independently 
of any host application. This makes it possible to use Hypersonic in 
sequencer applications that do not support one of the provided plug-
in formats of Hypersonic (i. e. VST, DXi and AU), but allow for data ex-
change using ReWire.
ReWire 2 is a special protocol for streaming audio and MIDI data be-
tween two computer applications. When using ReWire, the order in 
which you launch and quit the two programs is very important, as the 
first audio application launched will capture the audio card resources. 
						

							 
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Proceed as follows: 
1. 
First, launch the sequencer application you wish to use (e. g. Ableton 
Live, ProTools). 
If your sequencer supports ReWire, it will provide a way to assign audio and MIDI chan-
nels for the exchange of data. See the documentation of your sequencer application for 
details.
 
2. 
Now, launch Hypersonic as a stand-alone application. 
You can launch the program just like any other application on your computer through 
the Start menu or desktop icon (Win) or by double-clicking the application symbol in 
the Applications folder (Mac). You can also double-click the Hypersonic program file 
in the installation folder.
 
When you now play with Hypersonic, the sound is streamed via ReWire 
to the assigned mixer channels in your host.
Note that you are now running two completely separate applications. 
When you save your sequencer project, this will include the overall 
channel and bus configuration, but none of the settings in Hypersonic! 
To retain your Hypersonic settings, choose the Save Bank command 
(in Hypersonic either from the File menu or from the context menu). 
You may want to choose a file name that indicates that the file con-
tains settings created for a particular sequencer project.
Similarly, when you re-open a project in your sequencer application and 
have launched Hypersonic, use the Load Bank command in Hypersonic 
to reload the Hypersonic settings pertaining to this particular project. 
The Preferences dialog
 
When running Hypersonic as a stand-alone application, you will find a 
Preferences item in the File menu in the top left corner of the applica-
tion window (Win) or in the Hypersonic menu in the top left of the dis-
play (Mac). When selected, a dialog with a number of options opens.  
• 
Select an audio card driver from the ASIO Device pop-up. 
• 
In the table below the ASIO device pop-up, click one of the entries in 
the ASIO Output column to change the assignment of virtual outputs 
of your VST Instrument to the physical outputs on your audio hardware. 
Click the ASIO Control Panel button to open a dialog with advanced settings for your 
ASIO device. 
						

							 
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• 
Use the MIDI Input pop-up to specify a MIDI input. Click the Reset 
MIDI button to reset all MIDI controllers. 
Clicking Reset MIDI is similar to pressing the Panic button on a MIDI keyboard.
 
• 
The Tempo and Time Signature fields provide Hypersonic with tempo 
and time signature information. 
In stand-alone mode, such information is not available from a host application.
 
The other items on the File menu (Save/Load Bank and Save/Load 
Program) are the same as on the VSTi’s rack menu.
Latency
Although Hypersonic is practically latency-free, high latency times 
(the delay between pressing keys on your MIDI keyboard and hearing 
a sound) can occur when you play Hypersonic via your MIDI keyboard 
in real time. 
This is often caused by the audio card or the MIDI interface, although 
it won’t be an issue when playing back a song with a Hypersonic 2 
MIDI track. To get rid of annoying real time latency, we recommend 
you to replace your current audio card with a professional audio card 
for which an ASIO driver is available. Most soundcards built into off-
the-shelf computers don’t use an ASIO driver and usually produce 
large latencies of up to several hundred milliseconds. 
						

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Overview
In this section we’ll show you around Hypersonic 2 and its various ar-
eas. If you’re impatient and want to start exploring on your own, skip 
this section and go to page 21.
The Part area
A “Part” in Hypersonic 2 is a slot that is assigned to a MIDI channel 
and holds a patch with its mixer and MIDI parameters. The 16 parts 
are displayed and editable in the Part area. Here you can select a 
patch for a MIDI channel, mute patches, or link them.
The Mute buttons flash to show MIDI activity.  
						

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The Level Strip
The Level strip is a volume mixer for the 16 parts. Under the hood, it fea-
tures meters for audio level, polyphony and velocity (explained below).  
						

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The Display 
The Display area is like an editor window that can switch to one of the 
seven editor pages, using the page selector buttons to the right.
Here you can load patches, edit them, set MIDI and Mixer settings for 
parts, tweak the FX, create Combi Chains and adjust your global set-
tings in the Setup page.
The Hyper Display
The Hyper display is a context-sensitive text display. When you browse 
or select a patch, it shows the patch description. It also displays con-
troller assignments and parameter values. You can edit patch descrip-
tions when creating or editing user patches.   
						

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The Expansion Bay
Clicking on the three lines at the bottom of the Hyper display opens a 
lid, revealing the expansion bay. This holds the Hyper modules, which 
expand the standard instrument with more synthesizers or sound librar-
ies. Slot 1 holds the built-in Wizoo Wave ROM, Slot 2 holds the GM4 
General MIDI module. 
The 3 demo expansions
In addition to the Wizoo Wave ROM and the GM4 General MIDI mod-
ule, Hypersonic 2 comes with three Wizoo demo expansions. To use 
these demo versions, you must activate them using the corresponding 
30 day trial licenses.
Attention! If you already own Expansions please don’t install the expan-
sion demo licenses on your dongle!
Clicking on the empty slots takes you to a web page (assuming your 
computer is connected to the internet) with current info about available 
Hyper modules.
The three demo modules are:
•US-1 Ultra Synth
High-end analog synth with fat and powerful sound, flexible modulation options, 3 oscil-
lators with analog waveforms, wavetable synthesis, sync, and unison mode, Multimode 
filter with osc audio modulation and overdrive envelopes, 3 LFOs, Modulation matrix for 
easy modulation control and expressive playing, expert page for detailed adjustment of 
various sound parameters. Includes 256 patches from professional sound designers.
•GP-2 Grand Pianos
Two outstanding piano models with character adjustment knob (soft/ natural/ bright/ 
hard). Three versions of each piano are optimized for different amounts of available 
host RAM, adjustable velocity curve with three preset buttons.  
						

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•NB-3 Virtual Tonewheel Organ
9 drawbars, unique tonewheel emulation (variable from the original sine wave sound to 
a dirtier, more complex timbre), buttons for percussion on/off, loud/soft, short/long, 
3rd/2nd harmonic, virtual rotary speaker cabinet with valve preamp, controls for speed, 
color and overdrive, authentic rotor horn display. Rotary cabinet can be an FX element 
in any patch. Includes 64 patches by Peter Gorges.
For more information about the Expansions refer to the Hyper Modules 
manual PDF file on the Hypersonic 2 DVD.
The Hyperknobs
The six Hyperknobs are probably the most effective editing options 
ever offered by a synthesizer. For each patch, each Hyperknob can be 
assigned to a specific function. The Hyperknobs have names indicat-
ing the parameters they control.
Hyperknobs provide an optimized combination of quick but in-depth 
access to the most important elements of each patch. Finally, you can 
create customized “signature sounds” without having to spend hours 
tweaking the many and often confusing parameters. Learn more in the 
section “The Edit page” on page 58.
The MIDI keyboard
Hypersonic 2 features a built-in MIDI keyboard with pitch bend and 
modulation wheels. You can use it as a substitute for a hardware MIDI 
keyboard when editing sounds, or to monitor incoming MIDI notes.