Steinberg VST Sampler HALion 3 Operation Manual

							HALionThe Browser page view 10 – 161
Browsing sample discs
When you click on the “Disc” button, HALion automatically searches for 
compatible discs in all installed or connected drive locations. This is 
particularly important for storage media using a generic sampler file for-
mat (as opposed to standard audio file formats such as .wav or .aif). All 
compatible sample CDs/DVDs found will be opened in the Browser.
The CD/DVD contents in the Browser (in this case two Akai compatible CDs have 
been loaded).
The contents of the sample disc are displayed in the same way as 
when browsing your hard drive, with the left column displaying the 
root partitions.  
						

							HALion10 – 162 The Browser page view
Import
You select what to import using the Browser. This can be anything 
from a single sample to a complete partition containing any number of 
volumes. Make your selection and simply click the Import button.
•When you click Import, a file dialog opens where you can designate a 
target directory.
This folder is where the imported data will be copied to on your hard drive. Choose a 
directory, and click OK. 
The Import dialog appears, containing the following options:
Option Description
Choose the first 
target ProgramUse this pop-up menu to select a first target Program.
Merge into existing 
ProgramsIf this is checked, the samples in the imported Program will be 
merged into the existing Program, and the existing Program will 
keep its name. If this option is unchecked, the imported Program 
replaces the current Program.
Insert at target 
ProgramThis will place the samples in the selected first target Program 
slot.
Use empty Programs 
from target ProgramIf several .fxp files have been selected, the first Program will be 
inserted at the selected first target Program and the following 
Programs will be inserted into the next empty Program slot(s) fol-
lowing the target program.
Create folders in 
target ProgramThis will create a new folder for the imported Programs/samples 
inside the currently selected Program folder.  
						

							HALionThe Browser page view 10 – 163
When you select Import, the selected Programs/samples will be cop-
ied to disk, and a progress meter is shown. 
Let’s say that you have decided to import one single partition from a 
CD, using the options exactly as set in the figure above. This would 
end up looking something like this in the Program List:
The designated Program folder with the border is at the top. Below it, the imported 
partition folder is shown. It is open to display all volumes belonging to the partition 
arranged in subfolders. When a volume folder is opened, Programs are shown as 
subfolders within the volume folders etc.
In the future, you can load the whole partition as a HALion effect 
Program that was automatically created while importing to disk.
Create sub-directories 
for imported filesThis will create a subfolder structure on your hard-disk that 
matches the selected item (partition/volume/Program etc.).
Share samples 
between ProgramsIf this is checked, the samples will only be imported once to your 
drive. If unchecked, all samples will be copied to disk again if you 
select the same samples for import at some later stage.
Create Halion 
Instrument fileThis will create a HALion Instrument file for all imported files. 
One Program will be created, containing separate folders for the 
imported volumes/Programs. Option Description  
						

							HALion10 – 164 The Browser page view
HALion content handling
HALion uses the .hsb (“HALion Sound Bank”) format to provide an ar-
chiving format that includes both Program files (.fxp) and the sample 
files the Programs reference. The HALion content files supplied on 
the program DVD are archived using this format.
To be able to use the content, this has to be copied to your hard disk. 
This can be done automatically during the installation of HALion or 
manually at a later point in time.
To locate and use the HALion content files, proceed as follows:
1.Copy the desired HALion sound bank(s) (.hsb files) to your hard disk.
You cannot use content directly from CD, DVD or other media.
2.Load HALion.
You now have two options: either use the Browser page view file browser window to 
manually locate the .hsb files and load the corresponding Programs, or have HALion 
list them for you in a dedicated folder:
3.On the Browser page view, right-click (Win)/[Ctrl]-click (Mac) the 
HALion Content folder at the bottom of the File Browser folder list and 
select “Locate HALion content…” from the pop-up menu that appears.
A file dialog appears.
4.Locate and select the desired file(s) and click “Open”.
The files appear in the HALion Content folder and the samples and Programs can now 
be used in HALion.
•When you select a bank, Program or sample file in the Browser page 
view, the file name and additional information about this file (e.g. sam-
ple size or Program supplier) are displayed in the parameter display. 
						

							HALionThe Browser page view 10 – 165
Archiving
You can use HALion to produce your own Programs or HALion con-
tent files. In the Global Commands context-menu (which is opened by 
right-clicking (Win)/[Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) on the background of any of 
the HALion page views) you find a number of options for saving Pro-
grams or HALion content files. 
To save one or more Programs and the samples referenced by these 
Programs as a .hsb file, proceed as follows:
1.Select the desired Program(s) in the Program List and in the Archiving 
sub-menu of the Global Commands context-menu, select “Save 
HALion Content File…
If you wish to save only Programs using 16 channels, choose the corresponding option.
2.In the standard file dialog that appears, enter a location and a name 
for the file and click Save.
3.A dialog opens in which you can supply additional information about 
your .hsb file.
Name, short name and manufacturer will be displayed in the parameter display of 
HALion
❐Please note that it is not possible to export samples from a .hsb archive 
file. 
						

							HALion10 – 166 The Browser page view
Assigning Program Categories
You can assign Program files (.fxp) and folders containing Programs 
and/or samples to an instrument category and a sub-category. This 
makes finding instruments and related samples a much more immedi-
ate and intuitive process, as it allows you to filter the contents of the 
Browser to display only the items that match certain criteria.
Here’s how it works:
1.Select a Program file or a folder containing Programs in the Browser 
page view.
If a folder is selected, all programs (including sub-folders inside the selected folder) 
will be assigned to the chosen category.
2.Right-click (Win)/[Ctrl]-click (Mac) the Program or folder, and select 
“Assign to Category” from the pop-up menu that appears.
The menu contains a list of instrument categories with each category having a sub-ca-
tegory menu. The list features a suitable sound category/sub-category for just about 
any type of sound/instrument. The “–” option means no category assignment.
3.Select a suitable category and sub-category from the menu.
The Favorites item at the top of the list is for assigning Programs simply as favorites un-
related to any instrument category. The Favorites/Loops items on each sub-category 
menu are simply additional options you can use if appropriate for the Program content.  
						

							HALionThe Browser page view 10 – 167
•You can also assign Categories from the other page views (except the 
Macro page view) by using the two pop-up menus located in the top 
left corner (next to the Program pop-up).
Click the top arrow to select a category and use the lower pop-up to assign a sub-
category.
4.When you have assigned a category, save the Program.
Category assignments are stored in the .fxp file.
Filtering in the Browser page view
The Browser allows you to filter the contents of a selected folder ac-
cording to Program category, file type(s), text strings or a combination 
of all three:
•With the file format buttons (see page 158) you can select which file 
types should be shown.
•Selecting a category and sub-category from the pop-up menus in the 
Filter section (below the Import button) will filter the Browser contents 
to display files that match the specified category settings.
•Entering a text string in the text field in the Filter section containing the 
file name or part of the file name will filter the Browser contents to dis-
play files that match this text.  
						

							HALion10 – 168 The Browser page view
About the separate Browser window
If you click the magnifying glass icon next to the Import button, the 
HALion File Browser window opens.
Click here…
…to open the HALion File Browser window.
You can also open the HALion File Browser window from any page 
view by [Ctrl]-clicking (Win)/[Command]-clicking (Mac) the Browser 
page view button.   
						

							HALionThe Browser page view 10 – 169
Apart from the Import button and the Auditioning section, the HALion 
File Browser window contains the same settings as the Browser page 
view, and all Category or Browser Favorites settings are mirrored in 
the HALion File Browser window. The file format button settings are 
however separate from the settings in the Browser page view.
The big advantage of having a separate Browser window is that you 
can have Browser access from all page views. This is especially useful 
when the Keyzone page view is selected. You can then select sam-
ples in the Browser window and drag them directly into the Keyzone 
page view.
What sampler formats are supported?
The following sampler formats can be imported:
• Akai S1000/S2000/S3000
• EMU 3/3X/ESI/4/4K/E64/E6400/ESynth/Ultra
• Roland S770
• Emagic ESX24
• SoundFonts 2.x
• Giga
• Native Instruments Kontakt
• Kurzweil
• Zero-X Groove files
About the “Merge Multi-Files (Giga)” option
Use this option (which appears when selecting to import files of this 
format) to import Giga sample libraries that are stored on multiple 
CDs/DVDs. 
						

							HALion10 – 170 The Browser page view