Steinberg VST Sampler HALion 3 Operation Manual

							HALionEditing in the Sound page view 9 – 121
The Envelope section
To view the Envelope section click the “ENV” button to the left in the 
upper half of the window. You can also open the Sound page view 
with the Envelope view selected by pressing [Shift]+[F9].
The envelopes here offer more complex features than available from 
the Macro page view. You can have up to 32 points for each envelope, 
and you can set linear or logarithmic envelope curves. The envelopes 
can also be synchronized to the tempo set in your host application – 
this is described on page 126. 
The basic envelope parameters (Attack – Decay – Sustain – Release).
Above the envelope curve display you select which envelope should 
be visible by clicking the corresponding button. You can also switch 
between DCF and DCA by right-clicking (Win) or [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) 
anywhere in the Envelope display.
• DCF selects the filter envelope which controls the Cutoff parameter for all or 
selected samples. 
• DCA selects the amplifier envelope which controls the volume of all or selected 
samples.
• STEP selects the step modulation envelope, which is a freely assignable mod-
ulation source that can create rhythmic stepped modulation, see page 142.
•When viewing the DCF envelope, an outline of the curve set for the 
DCA envelope is shown in the curve display and vice versa. 
The sample waveform is also outlined in the display.
Attack
(time)Decay
(time)Sustain
(level)
Release
(time)
Key DownKey Up
Level
Time 
						

							HALion9 – 122 Editing in the Sound page view
•By clicking the Envelope Bypass button in the upper corner of the 
DCF or DCA section, the corresponding envelope is bypassed.
Setting the envelope curve
Positioning curve points
•You move the envelope points by clicking and dragging them in the 
desired direction.
When you click on a point, the current level and duration for the parameter are dis-
played. When Sync is enabled, the duration is displayed as note values, which allows 
you to set tempo related durations easily, see page 126.
Dragging the Decay point to the right sets the attack time.
•The maximum duration of each of the stages in the envelope is 10 
seconds.
When Sync is enabled, the maximum duration relates to the set note value, e.g. if this 
is set to 1/4 note, the maximum duration will be 20/4. 
• If you [Alt]-click on a point, only vertical positioning is possible (level).
Points 1-4 correspond to attack (level), decay (attack Time/max. level), 
sustain (decay time/sustain level) and release (time).The vertical axis displays the 
Level, the horizontal axis displays 
the Time.
Clicking the Zoom button and 
moving the mouse up and down 
vertically allows you to zoom in/
out on the envelope curve. 
The scrollbar scrolls the view.   
						

							HALionEditing in the Sound page view 9 – 123
• If you [Command]-click (Mac)/[Ctrl]-click (Win) on a point, only horizontal 
positioning is possible (time).
• If you hold down [Shift] and move a point, the resolution for the positioning is 
higher.
• If you hold down [Ctrl] and drag the mouse to the left or right, you can change 
the relative distance between all selected points.
•If “Fixed” is activated, only the selected point(s) will be moved.
Selecting curve points
•Clicking a curve point selects it.
Selected points are indicated with a white outline.
•You can use [Shift] to select several points.
Selected points will be moved together.
•[Ctrl]-[A] (Win) or [Command]-[A] (MacOS) selects all points.
Adding/removing curve points
❐You cannot remove the first, last or the sustain point! 
•You can add or remove points by double-clicking.
Add a point by double-clicking on the curve, remove a point by double-clicking the 
point. You can have up to 32 points per envelope.
•All points added after the sustain point will always affect the release 
stage of the envelope, i.e. after the key is released.
•[Delete] or [Backspace] removes selected points. 
						

							HALion9 – 124 Editing in the Sound page view
The “Fill Env” function allows you to add multiple envelope points from 
the currently selected point(s):
1.Select the number of points you wish to add from the pop-up. 
2.Select the point from where you want to add points.
The new points will be added to the right of the selected point. If several points are se-
lected, new points will be added to the right of all selected points.
•The interval of point placement can be set with the Sync value.
If Sync is selected (see page 126), you can specify the interval with the Sync note 
value. E.g. if 1/4 is selected, new points will be added at exact quarter note intervals.
3.Click the “Fill Env” button.
The points are added. 
Setting logarithmic curves
•If you click on a curve and move the mouse up or down (keeping the 
mouse button pressed) logarithmic curves can be set.
[Ctrl]-clicking (Win) or [Command]-clicking (Mac) a logarithmic curve resets it to linear.
Creating a logarithmic curve.   
						

							HALionEditing in the Sound page view 9 – 125
Additional envelope functions
Saving/loading envelope presets
You can store and recall envelope presets. HALion comes with sev-
eral presets with descriptive names ready for use.
•Type in a name for the preset in the name field and click the plus sign 
to save the current envelope curve as a preset.
•Saved presets are available from the pop-up.
To delete a preset, select it and click the minus sign.   
						

							HALion9 – 126 Editing in the Sound page view
Using Sync
You can sync the envelopes to the MIDI clock tempo set in your host 
application. This allows you to set envelope durations that will relate 
to musical time intervals (for example 1 bar), regardless of later 
changes of tempo.
1.Click the “Sync” button to activate sync mode.
A grid appears in the curve display.
2.Select a note value from the pop-up to the right of the Sync button.
This sets the resolution of the grid, i.e. the minimum note value the points will snap to 
when moved. E.g. if you specify a 1/4 note value, points positioned on the horizontal 
time axis will snap to 1/4 note steps.
•If the “T” button is activated, the note values correspond to triplet 
values.
•The zoom factor will be automatically adjusted to the set note value.
The shorter the note value the more the envelope will be zoomed out to accommodate 
the higher resolution (and vice versa).  
						

							HALionEditing in the Sound page view 9 – 127
Loop
When activated, the Loop function affects the Decay stage of the 
envelope.
When the envelope reaches the Sustain stage (Decay end) it will 
jump to the set Loop beginning (Decay start), and continue looping 
between the set loop range, which is indicated by a gray area in the 
curve display.
The envelope will be looped in this range.  
						

							HALion9 – 128 Editing in the Sound page view
The Modulation section
The modulation possibilities in HALion are very comprehensive. 
To bring up the Modulation view, click the “MOD” button on the left side 
of the upper half of the Sound page view, and then click the “MOD” but-
ton at the top of the Sound page view. You can also open the Sound 
page view with the Modulation view automatically selected by pressing 
[Shift]+[F10]. 
Modulation basically works as follows:
• The Destination governs what parameter the modulation is applied to. 
• The Destination is modulated by a Source. 
• How much this Source modulates the Destination is set by an Amount.
Here the Source of the modulation is incoming pitch bend data. The modulated 
Destination is pitch. The Amount setting has a range of +/- 12 semitones, i.e. up or 
down one octave. Negative values change the polarity of the pitch bend wheel.
•You can specify up to twelve different modulation routings. 
Use the scroll bar to view all different routings.  
						

							HALionEditing in the Sound page view 9 – 129
•To view all 12 modulation routings, click the magnifying glass icon in 
the top right corner of the Sound page view. 
This opens the Modulation view in a new window, showing all 12 available modulation 
slots. This window can also remain open in other page views.
The Source column
Clicking the text field in the Source column brings up a pop-up menu 
from which you can select a modulation source. The following modu-
lation options are available:
Option Description
OFF No modulation.
LFO 1-2 One of HALion’s two LFOs.
NoteOn 
VelocityUse this as source if you want the sound to change depending on 
how hard you play.
Pitch Wheel  Pitch bend data, typically sent out by a pitch bend wheel, bend lever 
or joystick.
Mod Wheel Modulation data, typically sent out by a modulation wheel.
Aftertouch Aftertouch (channel pressure) data.  
						

							HALion9 – 130 Editing in the Sound page view
The Amount column
The Amount parameter works by “scaling” the corresponding source 
by a bi-polar value. One example of this would be to have the modula-
tion wheel as source, modulating the destination pitch, with an LFO 
selected as amount. This would give you standard modulation wheel 
control over vibrato.
For many Amount options you can set further parameters (Offset, 
Range, Function/Curve). These are displayed to the right in the Mod-
ulation view. Click the Edit button (“E”) to view the Amount settings 
for a particular modulation slot.
MIDI Contr. 1-4 One of four assignable MIDI controllers (see page 134).
Output The output signal of the sample itself, taken before the main volume 
and pan settings. If the sample is in stereo, the left channel is used for 
modulation.
DCF Envelope The filter envelope.
DCA Envelope The volume envelope.
NoteOn Here the modulation source is the MIDI note number of a played key. 
The amount of modulation applied changes with the note number. 
This function is often referred to as “Key Follow”. 
Note Off 
VelocityRelease velocity data. Note that not all MIDI keyboards send note off 
velocity.
Glide Uses the signal generated by the Glide parameter as a modulation 
source.
Noise A built-in white noise source.
NoteOn 2, No-
teOn Velocity 2, 
Pitch Wheel 2, 
Mod Wheel 2These are the same as Key, Velocity, Pitch Wheel and Mod Wheel, 
respectively, but allow you to set up separate modulator adjustments. 
See below.
Amount 1-12 These are described below.
Step Envelope The step envelope. Option Description