Steinberg VST Sampler HALion 3 Operation Manual

HALionEditing in the Keyzone page view 7 – 81
3.Without dropping the samples, move the mouse up and down.
As you can see, the samples are mapped chromatically and moving the mouse forward 
extends the keyzone for each sample.
•If you move the mouse pointer to the bottom of the Keyzone window 
the samples will be velocity switched (see page 85), indicated by the 
outline of the samples being placed on top of each other.
The first selected sample will get the highest velocity and the last selected the...

HALion7 – 82 Editing in the Keyzone page view
•If you press [Ctrl] (Win)/[Command] (Mac) and move the mouse 
pointer to the bottom of the Keyzone window, the samples will be 
layered (see page 84) on the key(s) you drop on.
•If you press [Ctrl] and point to a white key, the samples will be mapped 
to consecutive white keys only, and the keyzone range cannot be ex-
tended.
In the same way, pointing to a black key will map the samples to black keys only.  

HALionEditing in the Keyzone page view 7 – 83
•You can use the same techniques outlined above to map samples di-
rectly onto the keyboard.
The vertical position the mouse pointer points to on the key itself then determines the 
key zone range. The key zones to be created are displayed on the keyboard with an or-
ange outline, in the same manner as when dropping samples in the Keyzone window.
•You can drag and drop samples into any folder in the Program List.
Simply select the file(s), and drag them into...

HALion7 – 84 Editing in the Keyzone page view
Overlapping key zones
A key range can contain more than one keyzone, as any number of 
samples (each with its own key zone) can be layered on top of each 
other. This can be done in many different ways: 
Playing several samples from one key
You can simply map two or more samples to the same key range. This 
will play back all samples mapped to this key (or key range) simulta-
neously. When samples are layered, the color of the overlapping part 
becomes...

HALionEditing in the Keyzone page view 7 – 85
Velocity switching
You can use velocity switching to determine how samples mapped to 
the same key or key range will play back.
By setting different high/low velocity values for several samples, you 
can determine which sample is played by how hard or soft you strike a 
key. 
Four samples that are velocity switched. If you look at the velocity scale to the right, 
the lower sample will play back when triggered by velocities between 1 and 32, the 
middle...

HALion7 – 86 Editing in the Keyzone page view
Applying crossfades
❐Crossfades are selected from a context menu. All context menu items 
are described on page 87.
You can apply “crossfades” to overlapping key zones. There are two 
methods:
X-Fade Pitch
Example: Two samples overlap in a key range over one octave. For both 
samples the “X-Fade Pitch” option has been selected. A linear fade-out 
is applied to the sample with a lower value in the “Lo Key” field within 
the overlapping range as the pitch...

HALionEditing in the Keyzone page view 7 – 87
Context menu items in the Keyzone window
The Keyzone page view features powerful context menus, providing 
many functions and features. Context menus are opened by [Ctrl]-
clicking (Mac) or right-clicking (Win) in the Keyzone window, either di-
rectly on a sample or in an empty area of the Keyzone window. 
Sample specific context menu
Right-clicking (Win) or [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) on a sample either in the 
Keyzone window or in the Program List brings up the...

HALion7 – 88 Editing in the Keyzone page view
Mute This mutes (silences) the currently view selected sample. Muted 
samples are displayed in grey in the Keyzone window, and are 
listed in italics in the Program List.
Solo/Unmute All This mutes all samples except the currently view selected sam-
ple. Deselecting this unmutes all samples.
Bring To Front/
Send To BackThis allows you to access samples that may be hidden behind 
other overlapping samples. Bring To Front will bring the currently 
view selected...

HALionEditing in the Keyzone page view 7 – 89
Program specific context menu
[Ctrl]-clicking (Mac)/right-clicking (Win) either in an empty area of the 
Keyzone window or a Program folder in the Program List brings up the 
following context menu items:
Menu Item Description
New FolderThis will create a new folder inside the currently selected Program 
folder. This can in turn contain samples. In all respects a folder is 
the same as a Program, but you can import whole Programs into 
folders without...

HALion7 – 90 Editing in the Keyzone page view
Always Preload This allows you to preload a selected Program even when it is 
not assigned to one of the 16 channel slots. This is useful if you 
use program change messages to change Programs, so that the 
samples can be instantly triggered.
Always in RAM If this is ticked, the samples in the selected Program will always 
load into the RAM buffer, i.e. no disk streaming.
Mute  All/Unmute  All This mutes/unmutes all samples in the currently selected Program...