Steinberg Studio Case VST Instruments Operation Manual
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VST InstrumentsD’cota SE 6 – 121 ENGLISH Tips and tricks The following sections provide a few useful tips on how to make good use of the many features in D’cota SE. Deep modulations The Controller strip in D’cota SE is extremely versatile, allowing you to modulate almost any parameter from a number of sources. Here are some examples: Modulating Pan Take advantage of the fact that the Pan parameter can be modulated like most other parameters! You could modulate it with an LFO (for continuous auto-pan effects), with an envelope (for panning sweeps), with Keytrack (for a “piano-like” stereo effect), etc. Modulate the rate of the LFOs •By modulating the rate of an LFO with an envelope, you can create cool modular synth-like flutters and sweeps. You could also consider modulating both the rate and the level of an LFO with envelopes – for example adding a “filter flutter attack” to each note played. •Modulating the LFO rate from the other LFO can create continuously fluctuating modulations. If both LFOs are synced to MIDI with slightly different rates, you modulate a parameter with LFO 1 and modulate the rate of LFO1 with LFO 2, you will get interesting poly- rhythmic effects. You can also get similar results with the “S&H” waveform and the LFOs synced to MIDI. •Having the LFO rate follow the keyboard (KeyTrack modulation source) can also give unusual effects, especially with the LFO rate turned up into the audio frequency range. This will make the LFO work almost like a (poorly tuned) oscillator, useful e.g. as an ad- ditional FM source.
VST Instruments6 – 122 D’cota SE Making use of the envelopes D’cota SE’s two envelopes can be put to good use – here are some examples: •In the synthesis section, you could assign two different envelopes to the two oscillator level controls in the Mixer section. This would let you have the oscillators enter gradually one by one, create multi-phase attacks, arpeggio-like chord or chase effects, etc. •Similarly, you could assign an envelope to the Noise level. This would let you add noise to the very beginning of a sound, like a blowing noise for wind instruments, for example. •You can modulate envelope times, for example with the KeyTrack source. This could make e.g. the decay faster for treble notes and slower for bass notes. •Two envelopes could modulate the same parameter. This would in effect give you a multi-stage envelope, allowing a quick attack and decay followed by a slow, second attack, for example. Velocity tricks While the Velocity button in the Control strip modulates parameters “directly” in relation to how hard you play, the envelopes and the LFOs also have “V” buttons. These determine how much the envelopes and LFOs should affect their destinations, depending on the velocity. The “V” buttons affect modulation totally independently from the “direct” envelope or LFO modulations. •You can for example set up an envelope to always modulate level (“di- rect” modulation, set up with the Envelope button) but also modulate filter cutoff if you play hard (set up with the “V” button). •You can also have the direct and velocity controlled modulations affect the same parameter. For example, you may want an envelope to modulate the filter cutoff when you play soft but not when you play hard. Set up the envelope modulation so that it sounds as it should do when you play soft. Then add “V” button modulation for the same envelope to the same parameter – but negative.
VST Instruments 7 – 124 HALion SE Introduction HALion SE is the little brother of HALion 3.0, the professional 32-bit software sampler of Steinberg. It loads and plays all HALion format li- braries designed for HALion and comes with a great all-purpose com- poser library from Wizoo. You can tweak basic parameters such as filter cutoff, attack, decay or LFO speed. Each HALion SE module that you load adds a high-quality software sampler with up to 24 voices and 4 channel multi mode to Cubase SE! These are HALion SE’s most prominent features: •24 Voices, 4-way multi-timbral, 32 programs per HALion SE unit. •HALion SE supports files in HALion format, SoundFonts 2.x, LM4, LM4 Mk2 and REX file formats as well as standard audio file formats such as Wave, AIFF and SD2 (Mac OS only). •8-/16-/24-/32-bit file support. •Stereo output. •Notch/hi-pass/lo-pass/band-pass filter with selectable 12 dB or 24 dB slopes. •Additional Waldorf filter types developed by the famous German synth manu- facturer. •Based on the HALion sampler engine, the editing features have been stripped down to one page of essential playback parameters. •Includes a professional sample collection from Wizoo.
VST Instruments HALion SE 7 – 125 ENGLISH HALion SE overview The following sections provide you with basic information about the HALion SE functions and settings. How HALion SE plays samples Unlike other samplers that have to load the entire samples into RAM, HALion SE can play back samples of virtually any length, regardless of the amount of RAM installed in your computer. This is because HALion SE can play back audio directly from the hard disk, similar to hard disk recording systems. Since samples can’t be triggered instantly from disk (there would be a delay between pressing a key and the sound playing back), the initial portion of the samples (i.e. the start of the sample) is preloaded into the computer’s RAM. This way only a small fraction of a longer sample will reside in RAM, while the rest is streamed directly from disk. About program banks and programs For HALion SE to produce a sound, you first have to load either one or more audio files (i.e. samples), a program (a collection of samples) or a program bank (a collection of up to 32 programs): •HALion SE always contains a “program bank” which in turn contains 32 program “slots”. Even if only one program containing samples and parameter settings is currently loaded, there are still 32 program slots, although in this case, 31 of these slots will be empty. Only one program bank can be loaded at a time. •A program references any number of samples and contains all para- meter settings associated with the samples. Within a program folder, samples can be arranged in any number of subfolders, which makes it easy to organize and handle multiple samples.
VST Instruments 7 – 126 HALion SE •You can load or save program banks containing up to 32 programs but also single programs from the File pop-up menu. The corresponding functions are called “Load/Save Bank” and “Load/Save Instrument”. It is also possible to load banks, programs or individual samples via drag and drop (see page 139). When you save your Cubase SE project file, the following information is stored: •The number of HALion SE units used in the project. •The bank and/or programs used. •The changed settings of edited programs. However, if you wish to use the edited version of a program in another project, you must save it using one of the Save functions in the File pop- up menu. Working with program banks A bank is a collection of up to 32 programs. Use the “Load Bank” option on the File pop-up menu to load a pro- gram bank. program banks have the extension “.fxb”. Loading a new bank unloads the previously loaded bank. Together with HALion SE a default sound bank is installed. If you wish you can create your own default sound bank by saving your preferred bank as “halionSEdef.fxb” in the HALion SE folder. We recommend to back up the original “halionSEdef.fxb” file for future use. Loading a program bank As explained on page 125, when samples are loaded, the initial por- tion of the samples will be preloaded into RAM. When you load a bank, all the samples belonging to the programs assigned to HALion SE’s 4 MIDI channels will be preloaded into RAM. If you don’t intend to use some of the channels, you should load an empty program.
VST Instruments HALion SE 7 – 127 ENGLISH Working with programs The HALion SE user interface. •Click the down arrow to the right in the program selector. This brings up a pop-up menu with all program names of the current bank. Select the desired program by clicking on it. •Programs cannot be selected using the program buttons in the VST Instruments rack (the arrow buttons to the right of the Edit button). Please use the program selector in the HALion SE window.
VST Instruments 7 – 128 HALion SE Loading individual programs •You can use “Load Instrument” in the File pop-up menu to load a single program from disk. Programs have the extension “.fxp”. The program is loaded into the currently selected HALion SE channel and overwrites any previously loaded program. For a better overview, only one channel at a time is visible in the HALion SE window. Playing a program •Check out the currently selected program by playing notes and chords on your MIDI keyboard. As an alternative, you can create a part on a Cubase SE track and fill that with notes and MIDI controller data by using the mouse. •If you notice considerable latency times (delay) when you play HALion SE via MIDI keyboard, the sound card that you use and/or its driver are the source of the problem. If the problem occurs within your system and you want to record by playing in real time, you should replace your sound card and its driver with a fast audio card and an ASIO driver, that have been optimized for the smallest possible latency time. When playing back HALion SE data from a Cubase SE track, this problem does not exist. •The audio signals that are created by a VST Instrument are automati- cally routed to the Mixer, respectively to the stereo channel assigned to each open HALion SE unit. Using the Mixer, you can thus mix the sounds created by HALion SE and process them in the same way as other audio tracks by using plug-ins, effects or external studio equipment. •If needed, you can transform HALion SE tracks into an audio file using Cubase SE’s “Export Audio Mixdown” function.
VST Instruments HALion SE 7 – 129 ENGLISH Saving a program Proceed as follows: 1.Select the desired program. 2.Change the program settings as desired. Read the corresponding sections of this chapter to find out what you can do with the various controls. 3.When you have finished tweaking, click the name in the program dis- play and enter a new one via your computer keyboard. You have three options to save an edited program: •You can save it as a single program file, using the “Save Instrument” function in the File pop-up menu on the VST Instruments rack. •You can save it together with its bank, using the “Save Bank” function in the File pop-up menu on the VST Instruments rack. •You can save the Cubase SE project. If you do this, the changed program is only available within this particular project. If this is not what you want, use one of the two options above. About MIDI channels and programs HALion SE is 4 channel multi-timbral. This means that MIDI channel 1-4 can be assigned a separate program. •The settings for one of the 4 programs/channels can be selected for viewing. By simply selecting another program/MIDI output channel, its corresponding settings are shown. In the HALion SE window this is called a “program”. The Channel selector. •Each of these 4 programs separately gets its notes via one of the MIDI channels 1-4. •Remember: The MIDI data that your MIDI master keyboard sends to Cubase SE (and thus to HALion SE), is always routed via the MIDI channel of the track that is currently selected in Cubase SE.
VST Instruments 7 – 130 HALion SE Global Commands context menu You can open a Global Commands context menu by right-clicking (Win)/[Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) on the background (the dark gray area) of the control panel. Parameter Description Clear All… This will remove all loaded programs. A warning message will be displayed. Clear Current Program… This will remove the currently selected program. Help This brings up the online help for HALion SE (in pdf-format). To be able to read it, you need to have the Acrobat Reader installed, which is included on the plug-in DVD. Upgrade to HALion… This opens a website where you can find information about the upgrades to the full versions of the SE instruments. HALion Website… This launches your web browser application and opens the dedicated web site for HALion. Steinberg on the Web… This directs your web browser to Steinberg’s Website. About HALion SE… This brings up information about the program.