Steinberg VST Sampler HALion 3 Operation Manual

HALionHALion overview 4 – 41
The Keyboard
The keyboard logically spans the entire range that you can assign 
samples to, from C-2 to G8. It is used to quickly audition samples by 
clicking 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.
This function also affects the visible size of...

HALion4 – 42 HALion overview
•Right-click (Win)/[Ctrl]-click (Mac) on a key to open a little info view 
displaying pitch and (depending where on the key you click) velocity 
information. The names of any samples mapped to this key are also 
displayed.
•When you [Ctrl]-click (Win)/[Command]-click (Mac) a key on the key-
board and keep the mouse button pressed, HALion will play this key 
and all following keys, with the same velocity, for as long as you press 
the mouse button. This serves as a test...

HALionHALion overview 4 – 43
The Program selector pop-up
This pop-up allows you to select one of the 128 Programs (presets) in 
the Program Bank. To rename a Program, click in the name field and 
type in a new name.
The Program category pop-ups
These two pop-ups, located to the left of the Program pop-up, allow 
you to assign the currently selected Program to a category and a sub-
category (not available in the Macro page view). Program categories 
are described on page 166.
The Sample selector/numeric...

HALion4 – 44 HALion overview
Master Tune/Volume settings/Voice number indicator
This allows you to set tune and volume globally for HALion. You can 
tune up/down 200 Cents, and set the master volume from silence up 
to +6 dB. The Voices field dynamically displays the number of voices 
currently used.  

5
Editing in the Macro page view 

HALion5 – 46 Editing in the Macro page view
Introduction
The Macro page view represents HALion’s basic operational mode. 
Here you adjust the basic parameters like filter and envelope settings 
and apply these settings to a Program as a whole. All parameters in 
the Macro page view affect all samples in the current Program. The 
parameters in the Macro page view are the same as in the other page 
views, but some (like the envelopes) are more basic. Also, the other 
page views contain parameters not found...

HALionEditing in the Macro page view 5 – 47
The Filter section (DCF)
❐It is worth mentioning that the filter is described as one entity. In the 
Macro page view this is true – there is only one filter (per channel) that 
will affect all samples in the Program assigned to the channel. But by us-
ing the Sound page view, each sample can have its own filter settings. 
The same applies to other parameters described in this chapter. Thus, 
with HALion you have access to any number of filters/envelopes etc. 
A...

HALion5 – 48 Editing in the Macro page view
High Pass
A high pass filter is the opposite of a low pass filter, cutting out the 
lower frequencies and letting the high frequencies pass. It has a 
12 dB/octave roll-off slope.
Band Pass
A band pass filter cuts both high and low frequencies, while midrange 
frequencies are not affected. Each slope in this filter type has a 12 dB/
octave roll-off.
Notch
A notch filter can be described as having the opposite effect of a 
band pass filter. It cuts off...

HALionEditing in the Macro page view 5 – 49
Filter Resonance 
For low pass filters, raising the filter resonance value will emphasize the 
frequencies around the set filter frequency. This produces a sharper fil-
ter cutoff sweep, but a thinner overall sound. The higher the filter reso-
nance value, the more resonant the sound becomes until it produces a 
whistling or ringing sound. When you use the band pass or notch filter, 
the resonance setting adjusts the width of the band. When you raise 
the...

HALion5 – 50 Editing in the Macro page view
In the Macro page view, HALion has two envelope generators with fa-
ders for Attack, Decay, Sustain and Release (ADSR) for every channel. 
The DCF creates the filter envelope which controls the filter cutoff pa-
rameter. The DCA (Digitally Controlled Amplifier) affects the volume of 
the Program.
The Amplifier section (DCA)
This section controls the volume of the Program. It contains the fol-
lowing parameters:
Amplifier Amount
This parameter determines how...