Steinberg VST Sampler HALion 3 Operation Manual

							11
Settings in the Options page
view 
						

							HALion11 – 172 Settings in the Options page view
Introduction
The Options page view contains a number of global settings and 
contains the following sections:  
						

							HALionSettings in the Options page view 11 – 173
Memory – Voice
Preload into RAM
This setting determines how many seconds of each sample are loaded 
into RAM. It should be set depending on the number of samples that 
you intend to use, and the amount of RAM you want to dedicate to 
HALion. The less RAM you assign, the more often HALion has to ac-
cess the disk. Since your sequencer is competing with HALion for disk 
access, this setting may also have an impact on audio playback of your 
sequencer.
Voice buffer
The voice buffer value should be set to the number of HALion’s voices. 
This setting determines the number of RAM buffers requested by 
HALion.
The Disk LED in the bottom left corner of the HALion window will light 
up red when samples cannot be loaded from disk in time. In such a 
case you can increase the number of voice buffers and/or the preload 
time of the samples.
The “Peak of allocated voices” field shows the maximum number of 
voices you have used e.g. for a song.
The Memory Used field displays the amount of RAM requested by 
HALion for disk streaming, and the Memory Free field the available 
RAM. 
						

							HALion11 – 174 Settings in the Options page view
Play/Edit Mode 
NoteOn Velocity to NoteOff
Some keyboards do not transmit Note Off Velocity messages. If this 
option is ticked, the played Note On Velocity value will be used to as-
sign a Note Off Velocity message to played notes.
Reset Key Switch
This acts as a global reset key for all samples assigned key switches. 
If this key is pressed, only samples not assigned key switches will be 
heard.
Use a Global Tempo
If this is ticked, parameters that use tempo sync will sync to this 
tempo rather that the tempo set in the host application.
Show samples range on keyboard
If this is ticked, all mapped key zones will be displayed at the top of 
the keyboard. Each adjacent key zone is alternately displayed in 
brown and blue to illustrate where each key zone begins and ends.
Route automatically to Prog FX
When this is ticked and you assign a plug-in in the first Prog FX slot, 
all sample output will be routed to the Prog FX input.
Concave MIDI volume curve
When this is ticked, the MIDI volume input is converted by a concave 
curve. 
						

							HALionSettings in the Options page view 11 – 175
Editing
Key activates sample
When this is checked, playing a sample from your keyboard will auto-
matically select it. This can also be set using the button to the left of 
the keyboard.
Move Only with Shift
When this is checked, you cannot move samples unless you press 
[Shift].
Show tooltips
When this option is enabled and you move the mouse pointer over a 
HALion user interface element, text information about this element is 
displayed in a little extra text field. The information is the same as in 
the parameter display at the bottom of the HALion window.
Edit Key Commands
This opens the Key Commands dialog, where you can add and re-
move Key Commands. This is described on page 200.
Reset all “Don’t Ask Again” Messages
This will reset all alerts, i.e. they will appear again, if you previously ac-
tivated the “Don’t Ask Again” option. 
						

							HALion11 – 176 Settings in the Options page view
Knob Mode
The following options can be set for knobs:
Slider Mode
This pop-up menu contains the following options:
Option Description
Circular To move a knob, you click on it and drag in a circular motion, much 
like turning a “real” knob. When you click anywhere along the knob’s 
edge, the setting is immediately changed.
Relative 
CircularWorks like the “Circular” option, but clicking does not automatically 
change the setting. This means you can make adjustments to the cur-
rent setting by clicking anywhere on a knob and dragging, without 
having to click on the exact current position.
Linear To move a knob, you click on it and drag up or down (or left or right) 
with the mouse button pressed – as if the knob was a vertical (or hor-
izontal) slider.
Option Description
Jump In this mode, clicking anywhere on a slider will make the slider handle 
instantly move to that position.
Touch In this mode, you have to click on the actual slider handle to adjust the 
parameter. This reduces the risk of accidentally moving sliders.
Ramp In this mode, clicking anywhere on a slider (but not on the handle) and 
keeping the mouse button pressed will cause the handle to move 
smoothly to the new position.
Relative In this mode, clicking anywhere on a slider does not automatically 
change the setting, but you can make adjustments to the current set-
ting by clicking anywhere on a slider and dragging, without having to 
click on the exact current position. 
						

							HALionSettings in the Options page view 11 – 177
Valuebox Mode
This pop-up menu contains the following options:
MIDI Controller List
This list shows all the available parameters and their assigned MIDI 
controller numbers. By clicking in the right half of the list for a para-
meter you can assign the parameter to a different controller.
Note that if the controller number is already assigned to another pa-
rameter, the new assignment will replace the other. The parameter 
previously assigned the controller will then be set to “No assignment”.
See page 198 for more information about using MIDI controllers.
The preset menu
At the top of the MIDI controller list you will find the MIDI controller 
preset menu. To select a preset, click the down arrow button on the 
right to open a pop-up menu that lists all the available presets.
•To create a new preset that contains all settings in the current MIDI 
controller list, simply click in the text field in the middle and type in a 
new name. Either click the plus button or hit the [Enter] key to save 
your preset.
•Factory presets cannot be changed. To change a user-defined preset, 
select this preset, make all desired changes and click the plus button. 
Option Description
Textinput on 
Left-ClickIn this mode, clicking a value box will open it for editing by typing.
Increment/Dec-
rement on Left/
Right-ClickIn this mode you can click with the left or right mouse button to de-
crease or increase the value, respectively. To edit values by typing in 
this mode, please double-click.
Increment/Dec-
rement on Left-
Click and DragIn this mode, you can click and drag up or down to adjust the value 
(much like dragging a vertical fader). To edit values by typing in this 
mode, please double-click. 
						

							HALion11 – 178 Settings in the Options page view
•Click the minus button to remove the current preset.
Factory presets cannot be removed.
Receive MIDI CC
This must be checked if you intend to use external MIDI controllers 
which access parameters such as Cutoff (CC74) or Resonance 
(CC71) directly, bypassing modulation (see page 198).
Quality
This is the same setting as the Quality setting available in the Macro 
page view, but here you can set it as a percentage value. There is also 
a “Full Quality during Export (Mixdown)” option. When this is checked, 
samples will be reproduced with full quality when the HALion tracks 
are exported to file, regardless of the Quality setting.
The lower the Quality setting, the more voices are available. As a 
trade-off, sound quality is reduced.
Fast/Good/Best Resampling
Resampling removes anti-aliasing artifacts, which can be especially 
noticeable in high frequency areas. The higher the setting, the better 
these artifacts will be suppressed. 
•The trade-off with higher settings is heavier CPU load. 
For samples with little high frequency content you can safely use the “Fast” option.
❐The Resampling setting is global for all channels in a HALion unit. 
Programs (or samples) cannot have different resample settings!
Smooth volume
This sets a short delay to smooth volume changes when automation 
or modulation is applied, to avoid clicks. 
						

							HALionSettings in the Options page view 11 – 179
Use Export Mode (AU format only)
When you use the AU plug-in format on a Macintosh and wish to mix 
down your project, you have to select this option before starting the 
export process. Don’t forget to deselect this option again after the ex-
port is completed.
Output configuration
This allows you to set the number of outputs you wish HALion to use. 
By default this is set to 4 stereo and 4 mono outputs plus one 5.1 sur-
round output.
•When you change these settings, click Apply, and reload HALion for 
the changes to take effect.
•To return to the previously set values after having made changes, click 
Cancel.
•Click Reset to return to the default output configuration.
❐This section is not available when using the AU version of HALion. 
						

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