Preferences Dialog

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

MIDI Page

MIDI Input Ports

Use this pop-up menu to specify a MIDI input.

Channel Filter

Determines whether MIDI events are recorded on all MIDI channels, or only on one specific channel.

Filter ‘All Notes Off’ Controller

Activate this parameter to avoid unwanted “All Notes Off” messages. Such messages are sent by some keyboards when the last key is released. This causes HALion Sonic to stop playback, even when the sustain pedal is still in use.

Outputs Page

You can use the Audio Output Ports pop-up menus to assign different audio outputs. You can assign different audio outputs for each channel.

  • To map an output to a channel, select it from the pop-up menu.

  • To set the front and rear channels to incrementing audio output ports, hold down Shift, and select an audio output.

  • To assign the audio outputs to the front and rear channels in pairs, hold down Alt/Opt-Shift, and select an audio output.

Metronome Page

On the Metronome page, a number of settings can be made regarding the use of a metronome.

Mode

Activates/Deactivates the metronome or sets it to Count In mode.

Accent

Accentuates the first beat of each bar.

Level

Adjusts the volume of the metronome.

Connections

Allows you to select a separate stereo output for the metronome.

General Page

Don’t prompt for confirmation when quitting HALion Sonic

If you want the plug-in to close without prompting when you quit the program, activate Don’t prompt for confirmation when quitting HALion Sonic.

High DPI Mode

  • If High DPI Mode is activated, the plug-in uses high-resolution bitmaps when it is displayed with a scaling of 150% or higher on a high-resolution monitor, such as 4K (UHD), 5K, etc. This allows for sharper images on high-resolution displays.

    Note

    Windows systems currently only support scaling factors that are multiples of 100. For example, if you use a scaling factor of 150%, in HALion Sonic, the scaling factor is set to 200%.

    High DPI Mode may not be compatible with some combinations of software and hardware. If you experience display issues with your setup, you can deactivate High DPI Mode.

  • If High DPI Mode is deactivated, the native monitor resolution is used.

ASIO Driver Page

From the ASIO Driver pop-up menu, you can select your audio hardware driver.

Release Driver when Application is in Background

Activate this option if you plan to use several audio applications simultaneously.

Input Latency/Output Latency

The input and output latency values for your audio hardware are displayed. Latency is the amount of time it takes for your system to respond to any messages that are sent to it. High latency results in a noticeable delay between pressing a key and hearing the sound.

You can change the latency via the Buffer Size parameter in the control panel for your driver, which you open by clicking the Control Panel button on the Advanced tab.

Sample Rate

Below the latency values, you can set the sample rate for the connected audio hardware.

Audio Priority

Determines which of the HALion Sonic processes gains priority when accessing processor resources on your computer.

  • In Normal mode, non-audio processes and audio playback get roughly equal priorities.

  • In Boost mode, audio precedes MIDI in priority. Try this mode if audio playback problems occur when playing back MIDI and audio material.

Activate Steinberg Audio Power Scheme

If this option is activated, all power safe modes that have an impact on real time processing are deactivated. Note that this is only effective for very low latencies, and that it increases the power consumption.

Advanced Page

Once you have selected the driver, you can specify which inputs and outputs to use and name these on the Advanced page. Click the Control Panel button to open the control panel for the audio hardware, and adjust the settings as recommended by the audio hardware manufacturer.