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Click the Steinberg logo in the top right corner of the control panel to open a pop-up menu containing items for getting additional information and help.

The documentation is available online and most of it can be downloaded in PDF format from steinberg.help.

You can use HALion as a plug-in in different host applications. Depending on the host application, you might have to make additional settings, or you might be restricted to a reduced parameter set, number of outputs, etc.

You can set up the control panel by determining the number of different views, that is, window sections, and by further configuring these sections, for example, by adding tabs. For the views and tabs, you can specify the editor that is displayed.

It is important to know which view, window, or tab has the focus. The focused section of the window is the area to which your actions, such as key commands, are applied. The view that has the focus is indicated by a blue frame.

The editors give you access to the parameters of HALion and its programs and modules.

Dials and sliders can be unidirectional or bidirectional. Unidirectional values, for example, level values, start at a minimum value and go up to the maximum. Bidirectional controls start from the middle position and go to the left for negative and to the right for positive values.

HALion contains two different types of buttons: On/Off buttons and push buttons.

You can enter or edit values in the available value fields using your keyboard or mouse. To enter key ranges or the root key, for example, you can use an external MIDI keyboard.

HALion offers two types of presets: section/module presets and VST presets. Section and module presets store and recall the setup of a specific component on the HALion panel. VST presets contain all information necessary to restore the complete state of the plug-in.

The plug-in functions section at the top of the window gives you access to global functions that affect both the currently loaded programs, and the general working of the plug-in.

The Keyboard Editor contains the wheel controls, the sphere control and the internal keyboard.

Quick controls allow you to remote-control any parameter inside the program.

The Options Editor contains global settings regarding performance optimization, global functions, and MIDI controllers.

HALion can be controlled with the AI knob of Steinberg’s CC121, CI 2, and CI2+ controller units.

All assigned automation parameters are shown in the Automation editor.

To be able to use the content from VST Sound containers, these containers must be registered in the MediaBay.

The Slot Rack has 64 slots. Each slot can hold a program, that is, you can work with 64 programs at the same time.

You can use the MediaBay and the Browser to manage, navigate to, load, and preview different file types.

The Mapping Editor allows you to view and edit the distribution of the zones within a program.

The Voice Management section allows you to control the maximum number of notes that you can play and to set conditions for note stealing and triggering.

To avoid the so-called machine gun effect that occurs when the same sample is triggered repeatedly, you can create programs that use several samples for the same key and velocity range. These samples can then be triggered alternately as variations. To define which samples are triggered as variations, you can assign them to variation groups.

This section allows you to manage and edit the assigned quick controls.

This section shows the Note Expression controllers on the left and the assigned modulation destinations on the right. This gives you a quick overview of how the Note Expression controllers are routed in the modulation matrix and what their influence on the sound will be.

You can add zones in the Program Tree. Which zone type to add depends on the type of sound that you want to create or work with.

Depending on the zone type, it can be necessary to fill the created zone with sample material. This applies to sample zones, granular zones, and wavetable zones.

The global section at the top of the Zone Editor allows you to set up basic zone parameters.

The Voice Control section contains the same controls for sample, synth, grain, and wavetable zones and a separate set of controls for organ zones.

On the Pitch section for synth, sample, grain, and wavetable zones, you can make settings for tuning and pitch modulation.

The Oscillator section is available for synth zones.

This section is available for sample zones. It contains various playback and loop parameters.

The Wavetable section in the Zone Editor gives access to the oscillator parameters of wavetable zones. The oscillator is a combination of two wavetable oscillators, one sub oscillator, and one noise oscillator that can be mixed with individual settings, such as level, pan, tuning, etc.

In this section, you can apply time stretching and formant shifting to the audio in your sample zones.

The Filter section for synth, sample, grain, and wavetable zones allows you to adjust the tone color of the sound.

The Amplifier section has two tabs: Main and AUX. The Main tab gives you access to the level and pan settings of the zone. The AUX tab allows you to send the zone to the four global AUX busses and to route the zone to one of the plug-in output busses.

The Envelope section gives you access to the envelopes of the zone. For synth, sample, grain, and wavetable zones, the Amp, Filter, Pitch, and User envelopes are available. For organ zones, the Amp envelope is available. Each envelope is a multi-segment envelope with up to 128 nodes.

Synth, sample, grain, and wavetable zones offer two polyphonic LFOs.

Synth, sample, grain, and wavetable zones feature a polyphonic step modulator for creating rhythmic control sequences.

The concept of controlling one parameter by another is called modulation. HALion offers many fixed assigned modulations, such as the amplitude and filter envelopes, or pitch key follow. In the modulation matrix, you can assign additional modulations.

The controls in the Sample Editor header allow you to load a sample and make preview settings.

The toolbar contains tools for editing sample markers, loop markers, and slices, for example.

The overview line shows the entire sample. The section that is visible in the waveform display is indicated by a rectangle. The current selection range in the waveform display is shown in brown.

The parameter section below the waveform display contains sample and sample zone parameters.

Markers specify important positions or sections in a sample.

The Wavetable Editor allows you to create wavetables by extracting waves from samples.

HALion’s Wavetable Editor automatically detects the pitch of samples that are added.

Markers in the sample display determine at which position in a sample a wave is extracted.

HALion can import wavetables that were saved as wave files.

The Wavetable Editor allows you to load, save, and delete wavetables.

The MIDI Editor provides access to the MIDI slot parameters. Furthermore, you can specify MIDI controllers to be filtered.

The Mixer manages all busses that are available in a HALion instance, that is, the 32 stereo output busses plus one surround bus, the 64 slot busses, the 4 AUX busses, and a dynamic number of program and layer busses depending on the current program architecture.

The audio signals of zones, layers, programs, and slots are managed via audio busses. You can load insert effects on any of the audio busses, for example, to process the audio of a single layer or an entire program.

The Program Table lists all programs that are loaded in HALion.

You can load a program into the Program Table without automatically loading it into the Slot Rack. This allows you to configure the Program Table.

You can configure the Program Table by showing/hiding and rearranging the columns.

The Program Tree shows all elements that make up the program that is selected in the Slot Rack.

You can use the tools on the toolbar to load or save a program, modify a program by adding elements, set up a selection filter, and more.

The first three columns in the Program Tree give you access to the Visibility, Mute, and Solo functions. In the Name column on the right, the selected program and its elements are displayed. They are organized in a hierarchical structure, with the program at the topmost level.

The color of the icons for program, layers, and zones offer additional information.

You can manually select samples to import or you can import complete folders containing samples.

You can replace the samples that are used by your sample zones. This is useful if you have modified your samples in an external editor or converted them to another format, for example.

You can export multiple samples and make settings for them.

You can export a program or layer together with the corresponding samples as a VST preset.

By exporting programs or layers as HALion Sonic SE Layer presets, you can make sure that they can be loaded correctly by HALion Sonic or HALion Sonic SE. This is particularly useful if you create content that will be part of a VST Sound container, because it lets you verify whether the preset contains all necessary resources.

You can export a program or layer together with its files to a new directory. This is useful if you want to use your programs or layers on another computer.

You can import sliced loops in the REX1 and REX2 formats or drag and drop sliced events directly from Cubase.

The selection in the Program Tree defines which part of the program can be edited in HALion.

If the Program Tree has the window focus, you can use the arrow keys for navigating between the elements.

You can set up a program by adding elements such as modules, layers, or zones, and by structuring them in the Program Tree.

On the Options tab, you can specify the sample format and the location for the recorded samples. Furthermore, you can define a naming scheme and make playback settings for the created sample zones.

How Auto Trim works depends on whether you start recording manually or automatically by specifying an audio threshold, for example.

Recording audio from a track in a Steinberg DAW allows you to save any processing, fades, etc. directly in the audio event.

Recording the output of another plug-in allows you to save the sounds that you created with other plug-ins, software or hardware, exactly the way that you set them up. This can be particularly useful if a plug-in does not allow you to create presets, for example.

The Sample Recorder can play back the input signal. This is useful if you have routed an audio track from the DAW to the side-chain input of HALion. In this case, the signal of the track is no longer sent to the master bus of your sequencer and cannot be heard.

The Auron synth uses granular synthesis with up to 8 grain streams to produce oscillator waveforms. With the integrated arpeggiator and step sequencer, you can create anything from sequencer lines to stepped chords.

Trium was designed to create modern and rich sounds. It comes with 3 oscillators, a sub oscillator, a ring modulator, and a noise generator. With the integrated arpeggiator and step sequencer, you can create anything from sequencer lines to stepped chords.

Voltage is a two-oscillator and noise synthesizer that can be used for synth basses, but it also allows you to create any kind of classic monophonic and polyphonic synth sound. With the integrated arpeggiator and step sequencer, you can create anything from sequencer lines to stepped chords.

Model C is a classic tonewheel organ emulation with 9 drawbars and 3 additional drawbars for the percussion.

HALiotron emulates the sound generation of the pre-digital sampling era.

B-Box provides you with a veritable drum computer inside HALion. It comes with 13 instrument lanes that can make use of up to 128 different sounds. You can set up your drum patterns, create variations, and modify each drum sound using a low-pass filter and several distortion modes.

World Instruments delivers a great variety of ethnic instruments that can either be played manually or use the integrated arpeggiator.

World Percussion delivers a great variety of ethnic percussion instruments and associated MIDI phrases.

The Anima synth is a wavetable instrument using HALion’s wavteable synthesis which crossfades the waves smoothly in real time based on an integrated wavetable envelope. This envelope makes it very easy to control the playback of the wavetable, because no further modulation settings are required. All you have to do is set up the Speed parameter. The modulation matrix allows you to control the playback position of the oscillator using one of the integrated LFOs, the velocity, or the modulation wheel, for example.

The Skylab synth is an instrument that produces a wide range of sounds that are perfectly suited to create cinematic or ambient soundtracks. It comes with a large number of multi-samples that provide a variety of evolving pads and soundscapes as well as typical orchestral sounds like strings, brass, and choirs, allowing you to create huge and epic sounds. Furthermore, percussive sample sets of orchestral percussion and taikos are available that can be used with the integrated arpeggiator to create rhythmic patterns, for example.

Raven provides the sound of a classical Italian concert grand with six velocity layers and adjustable sustain resonances. Its Tone control allows you to adapt the tonal range from very soft romantic to more intense colors. In addition, you can modify the character of the note-off behavior by adding a dedicated note-off layer.

Eagle provides the sound of a classical German concert grand with 12 velocity layers and adjustable sustain resonances. Its Tone control allows you to adapt the tonal range from very soft romantic to more intense colors. In addition, you can modify the character of the note-off behavior by adding a dedicated note-off layer.

Hot Brass delivers a broad range of brass sounds and articulations suitable for rock, soul, funk, and other music styles that need sharp and accentuated brass tone colors. This instrument is particularly suited to play concise licks and riffs.

Studio Strings delivers a broad range of string sounds and articulations comprising solo strings, small chamber, and full orchestra sections.

The general concept behind macro pages distinguishes between templates, controls, resources, and libraries.

To learn how to build your own macro pages, it is best to try it out step by step and get familiar with the system.

The Macro Page Designer is where you create and edit macro pages.

For your macro pages, you will use many elements that need to be placed on the canvas in a specific order, have a specific color and size, etc. You have many possibilities for adding, editing, scaling, and arranging the available elements on the canvas.

Libraries are identical to macro pages, except that they do not include a functional user interface. Libraries can contain templates and their resources, as well as any further useful content for macro pages.

To be able to use a macro page control, you must connect it to a parameter in HALion.

If you want to work on macro pages together with other users, you must make sure that you exchange all the added and required content.

Before finalizing your macro pages, you may want to remove any unused files, or consolidate names and locations of the resource files used in the macro page. HALion offers you several tools for cleaning up the macro page content.

Libraries are built as VST Sound container files that contain all the components that make up your instrument, such as presets, samples, macro pages, MIDI modules, scripts, and sub presets.

The Library Creator is available as a HALion editor.

When you add presets to your library that use samples referring to other VST Sound containers, these containers are added as required VST Sound containers to the Unassigned VST Sound list.

To avoid incomplete or nonfunctional libraries, the Library Creator performs several automatic checks when building libraries. As a first step, all presets are checked when they are added to a VST Sound container. If any issues are found, a red warning sign is shown in the Issue column of the corresponding preset and a global warning sign is shown in the list of unassigned samples/VST Sound containers. Existing issues will not prevent the Library Creator from building the VST Sound container, however. They should be understood as an indicator of the issues that you might want to fix before releasing the library.

HALion comes with a collection of high-quality studio effects.

Some functions and settings are available in several MIDI modules. These are described in the following sections.

The FlexPhraser is an arpeggio and phrase player.

You can use the trigger pads to trigger single notes or whole chords and to switch between FlexPhraser or arpeggiator variations.

The MIDI Player allows you to load up to eight different MIDI files. For example, you can load different variations of a MIDI file and modify these variations by using the performance parameters.

The Drum Player module allows for classic drum beat programming with up to 64 steps playing on up to 16 tracks. Each track can play a different sound.

This MIDI module triggers a monophonic multi-segment envelope that you can use as a modulation source in the modulation matrix of a zone.

You can add monophonic LFOs as MIDI modules to the program. An LFO module can be used for an entire program, or for specific layers.

You can add the step modulator as MIDI module to the program and use it as a modulation source in the modulation matrix of a zone.

This MIDI module produces a modulation signal from the sustain pedal that you can use to simulate true pedaling of grand pianos. Instead of switching between two layers, this module allows you to crossfade between layers when you press or lift the sustain pedal, which produces a more realistic sound.

The MegaTrig module allows you to control playing styles and articulations and to trigger release samples and instrument noises by setting up conditions. You can combine up to eight conditions into an expression using logical operations.

You can use this module to switch between different layers automatically. This is useful for alternating between the up and down bows of a string instrument or the left and right hand of drum strokes, for example.

This module allows you to switch automatically between different layers that are using MegaTrig key switches.

The Key Switch Remote module allows you to remote-control key switches that are used within the parent layer.

The MIDI Randomizer module allows you to trigger notes randomly.

This MIDI module allows you to map MIDI controllers to other MIDI controllers before they are passed on to the following layers and zones. You can also use it to transform incoming values using curves.

The Velocity Curve module allows you to map incoming velocity values to different output values using an adjustable curve.

This MIDI module allows you to create custom tuning scales, or apply one of the tuning scale presets.

The Lua Script module allows you to create and manage your own scripts.

The editor shows the Note Expression controllers on the left and the assigned modulation destinations on the right. This gives you a quick overview of how the Note Expression controllers are routed in the modulation matrix and what their influence on the sound will be.

You can configure the standalone version of HALion in the Plug-In Preferences dialog.

The Plug-In Preferences dialog has several pages on which you can make settings.

The scratch pad allows you to record and play back MIDI files in Standard MIDI File format. You can load existing MIDI files and you can record your own files and save them.

You can load MIDI files in Standard MIDI File format (file name extension .mid).