Steinberg VST Sampler HALion 3 Operation Manual

							 
Operation Manual 
						

							 
Operation Manual by Synkron
Quality Control: C. Bachmann, H. Bischoff, S. Pfeifer, C. Schomburg
Tutorial background material provided by Rudi Cazeaux
Additional information provided by Pinkcanary 
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not rep-
resent a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The soft-
ware described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be
copied to other media. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or oth-
erwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by
Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.   
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© Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2004. 
All rights reserved.  
						

							 
Table of Contents 
						

							 
HALion
 
4 Table of Contents 
9System Requirements  
and Installation 
10The Steinberg copy 
protection key
11Before you begin installation
11System Requirements
(PC version)
12Installation (PC version)
13System Requirements 
(Mac version)
13Installation (Mac version)
15Installing the HALion content
15Register your software! 
17Preparations 
18Setting up HALion as a VST 
Instrument in Cubase
20Setting up HALion as a 
DXi2 Synth
22Using HALion in an AU 
compatible application 
23HALion overview 
24Introduction
24The Demo Songs
24How HALion plays samples
25About Program Banks and 
Programs
31The HALion page views
39Common window sections 
45Editing in the Macro  
page view 
46Introduction
47The Filter section (DCF)
49The Envelope sections
50The Amplifier section (DCA)
51Tune/Glide section
52The LFOs
52The Macro view area
53The Options pop-up menu 
55Editing in the Global  
page view 
56Introduction
57Settings in the Global page 
view 
61Editing in the  
Keyzone page view 
62Introduction
63Window overview
66Selecting samples
70About the “ALL/SELECT” 
status button
72Setting keyzone and velocity 
range
74Moving samples
74Deleting samples
75Setting the root key
76Importing samples
84Overlapping key zones
87Context menu items in the 
Keyzone window
93About the RAM Save 
function
94Searching for missing 
samples 
						

							 
HALion
 
Table of Contents 5 
97Editing in the Loop  
page view 
98Introduction
99Setting the start and end 
points for a sample
100Setting the range start point
100Zooming the waveform
101Loopsets
102Setting a sustain loop
104Setting the release loop
105Loop tuning
105Loop context menu items 
107Editing in the Sound  
page view 
108Introduction
109The filter section (DCF)
110The amplifier section (DCA)
116LFO section
118Tune section
118Grouping/Glide section
119Mode section
121The Envelope section
128The Modulation section
135MegaTrig
139The Alternate function
142The step envelope
147Using the internal Effects 
155The Browser page  
view 
156Introduction
157The structure of the Browser
161Browsing sample discs
162Import
164HALion content handling
166Assigning Program 
Categories
167Filtering in the Browser 
page view
168About the separate Browser 
window
169What sampler formats are 
supported? 
171Settings in the  
Options page view 
172Introduction
173Memory – Voice
174Play/Edit Mode
175Editing
177MIDI Controller List
178Quality
179Output configuration 
181Effect parameters 
182About this chapter
182The included effect plug-ins 
and their parameters 
						

							 
HALion
 
6 Table of Contents 
195Automation, MIDI 
controllers and  
navigation controls 
196Introduction
196Recording dynamic control 
settings
198Using MIDI controllers
199HALion keyboard com-
mands
200Setting up Key Commands 
205Tutorials 
206About this chapter
207Tutorial 1: Using Folders
210Tutorial 2: MegaTrig exam-
ples
213Tutorial 3: Using crossfades 
and curves 
221Content description 
222Introduction
224HALion content structure
225The content 
237Index 
						

							 
1
 
Introduction 
						

							 
HALion
 
1 – 8 Introduction 
Congratulations and thank you for your decision to purchase HALion. 
This professional VST Instrument software is a complete 32-bit sam-
ple player, providing extensive modulation and editing features. 
You can load and use a VST Instrument within the framework of any 
VST 2.0, DXi or Apple Audio Units (AU) compatible host application. 
Each HALion module that you load adds a high-quality instrument with 
up to 256 voices and 16 channel multi mode to your VST 2.0/AU/DXi 
compatible host application! You can separately make different settings 
for each of the 16 simultaneously playable channels of a HALion unit.
These are HALion’s most prominent features: 
• 256 Voices, 16-way multi-timbral, 128 programs per HALion unit.
• Supports Akai S1000/S2000/S3000, EMU 3/3X/ESI/4/4K/E64/E6400/
ESynth/Ultra, Roland S770, Emagic ESX24, SoundFonts 2.x, GIGA, LM4/
LM9, Native Instruments Kontakt, Kurzweil, ZeroX BeatCreator and REX file 
formats (and all common audio file formats and ISO/Nero/Toast Disc Image).
• 8-/16-/24-/32-bit file support.
• 5.1 surround support.
• Freely assignable number of virtual outputs (stereo, mono, or 5.1 surround).
• Notch/hi-pass/lo-pass/band-pass filter with selectable 12dB or 24 dB slopes.
• Additional Waldorf filter types developed by the famous German synth manu-
facturer.
• Comprehensive internal effects section.
• Integrated Browser with assignable categories, advanced file browsing/filter-
ing and location memory functions.
• Syncable envelopes, with up to 32 freely editable points.
• Syncable LFOs.
• Step envelope which can produce stepped modulation patterns.
• Megatrig functions to activate/switch samples via controllers or keys.
• Extensive, chainable modulation features.
• Drag & Drop support.
• All settings can be applied individually for selected sample(s) – or globally for 
the program.
• Integrated Loop Editor.
• Complete automation from within Cubase or Nuendo or any other VST host.
• Includes several professional sample collections.
 
We hope you will have a lot of fun with your new VST Instrument! 
The Steinberg Team 
						

							 
2
 
System Requirements and
Installation 
						

							 
HALion
 
2 – 10 System Requirements and Installation 
The Steinberg copy protection key
 
❐
 
Please read the following section before installing the HALion software. 
 
Included with the HALion package, you will find a hardware key (some-
times referred to as a “dongle”) that is part of the HALion copy protec-
tion scheme. HALion will not run if this key isn’t installed properly. 
• 
If you have a Windows PC and have never used such a dongle on 
your computer before, the installation routine may initiate a restart of 
Windows after installation of the dongle drivers. After the restart, the 
dongle must be plugged into the USB port for the installation routine 
to continue. 
• 
If you already own software that requires a dongle, the copy protection 
key should be plugged into the computer’s USB port after installing 
HALion and restarting the computer! 
When the copy protection key is plugged into the USB port, Windows will automati-
cally register it as a new hardware device and will attempt to find drivers for it – these 
necessary drivers won’t be present until HALion has been installed and the computer 
restarted.
Steinberg copy protection key
 
The Steinberg copy protection key is, in fact, a little computer on which 
your Steinberg software licenses are stored. All hardware-protected 
Steinberg products use the same key, and licenses can (within certain 
limits) be transferred between copy protection keys – which is helpful, 
e.g. if you want to sell a piece of software.