Steinberg VST Sampler HALion 3 Operation Manual

							HALionEditing in the Sound page view 9 – 131
The Destination column
The Destination column is where you select what to modulate. The 
options are:
The “Amount 1-12” options are internal, arbitrary amounts. When you 
select one of the Amount options, a slider appears above the field in 
the Modulation section, and the current value of the amount is shown 
to the right. 
•To set a value for the amount, use the slider or click the field to the 
right of the Amount field and type in a value.
The Amount values can also be modulated by other sources, see page 131.
Option Description
Cutoff The cutoff frequency of the filter.
Resonance The filter resonance.
Volume The DCA volume setting.
Pan The stereo panning of the sound.
Pitch The pitch of the sound.
Amount  1-12 These are the same Amount 1-12 options that are available as Source 
and Amount options. By modulating an amount, which in turn is used 
for modulating something else, you can create complex “modulation 
chains”.
Volume 2 A second volume amount (added to the normal volume).
Env. Attack The DCA envelope attack.
Env. Release The DCA envelope release.
Sample Start This allows you to apply sample start offset modulation. The range af-
fected by the modulation is determined by the Range Start parameter 
on the Loop page view. 
						

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Adjusting Modulators
When an external MIDI data type (e.g. Pitch Wheel, Mod Wheel, No-
teOn Velocity, NoteOn, etc.) is selected as Source or Amount, you can 
make further adjustments to how the value should affect the modula-
tion:
•Click the Edit (E) button in the Source or Amount column for a modu-
lation slot.
New parameters appear in the right half of the Modulation view.
The following settings are available:
Option Description
Offset Allows you to offset the incoming data. For example, if you set Offset to 10, 
an incoming MIDI event with the value 20 will result in the value 30 being 
sent as Source or Amount.
Range Allows you to scale the incoming values so that they fit within a specified 
range, set as a percentage. Set this to 100 to use the actual incoming 
values.
Function/
CurveThis is a pop-up from which you can select preset curves. The Source or 
Amount value is scaled according to the selected function or curve, allow-
ing e.g. logarithmic changes. The default option is Linear. See below for 
details of how to make user curves.  
						

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User curves
If you select “User Defined” from the Function menu a miniature curve 
diagram appears. By clicking the “Edit” button beside the diagram you 
open the Crossfade dialog. Here you can “draw” custom curves, or se-
lect from a range of preset curve shapes. Four curve points allow you to 
set up a curve of your liking. You can create logarithmic or linear curves 
using the same methods as in the Envelope display, see page 124.
A custom curve.
• If you have modified settings in the curve display click OK to update the set-
tings and close the dialog.
• See the Tutorials chapter for practical examples of how to draw user 
curves and apply these over several layers.
❐Any settings you make in this dialog affect all instances of the same 
Source/Amount option! For example, if you select a logarithmic curve for 
the modulation wheel, this will be reflected everywhere the modulation 
wheel is used as a Source or Amount. For some of the MIDI data types, 
there are additional options on the Source/Amount pop-up menus (No-
teOn 2, NoteOn Velocity 2, Mod Wheel 2, Pitch Wheel 2 etc.). These can 
have their own modulator adjustment settings.  
						

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Saving/loading modulation presets
You can store and recall modulation presets. When you recall a pre-
set from the preset pop-up in the top right corner of the Modulation 
view, you by default load all 12 slots in one go, even if the preset only 
contains one modulation routing. You can however load a single mod-
ulation routing by selecting a preset with [Shift] pressed. This will load 
the preset into the first empty modulation slot, and leave all other rout-
ings intact.
•Type in a descriptive name for the preset in the name field and click 
the plus sign to save the current modulator(s) as a preset.
•Saved presets are available from the pop-up.
•To delete a preset, select it and click the minus sign.
About the assignable controllers
If you have selected one of the “Contr. 1-4” options as Source or 
Amount, you need to assign a MIDI controller:
1.Make sure the Source/Amount parameters for this modulation slot are 
displayed by clicking on the Source/Amount Edit button (“E”). 
2.Click the MIDI CC pop-up to select a MIDI controller.
❐Your assignment setting affects all instances of the controller.  
						

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MegaTrig
MegaTrig is a feature that provides conditional sample triggering. It al-
lows you to define conditions that determine which particular sample 
will be triggered. You open the MegaTrig view by clicking the Mega-
Trig button at the top of the Modulation section.
To view the MegaTrig sub-page in a separate window, click the mag-
nifying glass icon in the top right corner of the Modulation page view.
Applying Conditions
The Condition fields 1 to 3 can be set to MIDI controllers 0-120, Key-
board Range, Key Switch or Second Strike.
To specify a triggering condition for a particular sample, proceed as 
follows:
1.Edit select one or more samples or a sub-folder containing samples, 
in the Program List.
Make sure that the All/Select button is set correctly (i. e. to “All” when you want to se-
lect all samples in a program, and to “Select” when you want to select one or more par-
ticular samples).
2.Click in the Condition 1 field at the top to open a pop-up menu.
From this menu, you can select either a MIDI controller (0-120), a Keyboard Range, 
Key Switch or Second Strike. Using the Min and Max Range sliders next to the selec-
tion field, you can set a range for the condition.
3.In the “Play if” section next to the Controller sections, you can combine 
your settings using AND/OR/AND NOT operators to define conditions 
for sample triggering.  
						

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“Play If” conditions 
Up to four “Play if” conditions can be applied simultaneously. Condi-
tions are set by selecting from the pop-up menus in the correspond-
ing fields. You can combine these “Play If” conditions using “AND”, 
“OR” or “AND NOT” operators.
The first “Play if” condition can be set to:
• Note On
• Note Off
• Pedal On
The other “Play if” conditions can be set to:
• Off
• Note On
• Note Off
• Pedal On
• Pedal Off
• Condition 1-3
Keyboard Range and Key Switch
“Keyboard Range” allows you to trigger the selected samples only if a 
key (or a key in the range) specified with the range sliders is pressed.
With the “Key Switch“ controller you can switch between samples by 
pressing a key switch specified with the range sliders. This works only 
if the key switches have no samples assigned. Assigned key switches 
are displayed on the keyboard.
Key switches on the D#-2 and the F-2 keys.
For example, you can assign a key switch, e.g. key C 0 to a folder con-
taining normal bass samples and another key switch e.g. key D 0 to a 
folder with slap bass samples. Press the C0 key once and you will 
play the “normal“ bass samples, press the D0 key and you will play the 
“slapped“ bass samples.  
						

							HALionEditing in the Sound page view 9 – 137
A basic example:
Here follows a basic example of how to use the MegaTrig function:
Say you have two Programs that you would like to switch between as 
you play by using the modulation wheel. This would be set up as fol-
lows:
1.Open the MegaTrig sub-page on the Sound page and select an 
empty Program in the Program list.
2.Open the Program context menu by right-clicking (Win)/[Ctrl]-clicking 
(Mac) the Program and select “Load Folder(s)”.
3.Select the two Programs you would like to switch between and click 
Open.
The Programs are loaded into two sub-folders.
4.Activate Select edit mode at the top of the Program list.
This is very important, as we need to apply different conditions to each sample sub-
folder.
5.Select the first sub-folder.
6.In the first Condition pop-up, select Modulation.
7.Specify the Min/Max Range from 0 to 63 using the sliders.
8.In the “Play If” section, set the first condition to Note On, the operator 
to AND and the second condition pop-up to “Condition 1”.
9.Select the second sub-folder and repeat the above steps, but this 
time setting the Min/Max Range to 64 to 127.
10.By moving the modulation wheel when you play you can now switch 
from one set of samples to the other!
• In the Tutorials chapter you can find further practical examples of how to 
use the MegaTrig function. 
						

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Second Strike
This lets you set up a condition so that when a note is played the se-
cond time with the damper pedal down (no note off), another sample 
will be triggered. You set this up as follows:
1.Place the two samples you wish to switch between on the same key 
zone so that they overlap.
You could also use folders containing samples, provided that the samples contained in 
the folders are mapped correctly.
2.Make sure Select edit mode is activated.
3.Select the sample (or folder containing the samples) you wish to be 
played the first time you strike the key.
4.Select “Second Strike” as the MegaTrig condition, and the “Play If” 
conditions to Note On AND Condition 1.
5.Set the Range for this sample/folder to Min 0 and Max 63 (i.e. dis-
abled).
6.Select the sample/folder you want to play back the second time you 
strike the key with the damper pedal down, and set this to the same 
MegaTrig conditions as in step 4.
7.Set the Range for this sample/folder to Min 64 and Max 127 (i.e. en-
abled).
8.If you now play the note twice with the damper pedal down you will 
trigger the first strike sample with the first note on message and the 
second strike sample the second time you strike the key. 
						

							HALionEditing in the Sound page view 9 – 139
The Alternate function
The Alternate function allows you to assign sample variations so that 
each time you play a given note, a slightly different sample will be trig-
gered. This is very useful for string and percussion instruments, where 
subtle attack variations are natural. 
Say you have several variations of plucked guitar string samples, orga-
nized in separate folders. If you loaded just one of these sample fold-
ers and repeated a note several times it would sound exactly the same 
each time (given no velocity variations or other modulation was used) 
as it is the same sample being played. The Alternate function provides 
a way of introducing subtle tonal variations by automatically alternat-
ing between samples each time you play a note. 
To view the Alternate sub-page in a separate window, click the magni-
fying glass icon in the top right corner of the Modulation page view.
How to use the function
The Alternate function uses key switching assigned on the MegaTrig 
sub-page and is set up as follows:
1.Organize the variation samples into separate folders and load these 
into an empty Program. 
It is not strictly necessary to place the samples in folders, but it is much easier to orga-
nize the samples this way. 
Next you should assign a key switch for each separate sample folder 
inside the Program folder. Proceed as follows:
2.Make sure Select edit mode is active. 
3.Select the first sample folder in the Program list.  
						

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4.Open the MegaTrig sub-page of the Sound page view.
5.Select “Key Switch” in the Condition 1 pop-up.
Set the Range to one note, e.g. D-2 using the sliders. The trigger key should not have 
a sample assigned.
6.Set Play If conditions to “Note On” AND “Condition 1”.
•You can also use the “Create Key Switches per Folder” and “Create 
Key Switches per Sample” items on the Program context menu (“Oth-
ers to selected” sub-menu) to automatically create a key switch assign-
ment. The first item will assign one key switch to a selected folder, the 
second item will set separate key switches for all samples contained in 
a selected folder.
The last key you pressed determines which key is assigned the key switch if “Create 
Key Switches per Folder” is selected. If “Create Key Switches per Sample” is selected, 
the key switches will be added chromatically from the last pressed key.
7.Repeat steps 1-4 for the other sample folders, but set the key switch 
to a different note for each folder.
Make sure the trigger keys are outside the sample range!
8.Click the Alternate button to open the Alternate sub-page.
9.Click the “Add Automatic” button.
The sample folders to which you assigned key switches are added to a list in the left 
half of the Alternate view, with each folder being assigned a number in the Id column.