Steinberg HALion 7.0 User manual

Operation Manual

The Steinberg Documentation Team: Cristina Bachmann, Martina Becker, Heiko Bischoff, Lillie Harris, Christina

Kaboth, Insa Mingers, Matthias Obrecht, Sabine Pfeifer

Translation: Ability InterBusiness Solutions (AIBS), Moon Chen, Jérémie Dal Santo, Rosa Freitag, GiEmme

Solutions, Josep Llodra Grimalt, Vadim Kupriianov, Roland Münchow, Boris Rogowski, Sergey Tamarovsky

This document provides improved access for people who are blind or have low vision. Please note that due to the

complexity and number of images in this document, it is not possible to include text descriptions of images.

The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on

the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License

Agreement and may not be copied to other media except as specically allowed in the License Agreement.

No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced, or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose,

without prior written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. Registered licensees of the product

described herein may print one copy of this document for their personal use.

All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. For more information, please

visit www.steinberg.net/trademarks.

HALion_7.0.0_en-US_2023-02-16

Table of Contents

5New Features

10 Introduction

10 Typographical Conventions

11 How To Contact Us

11 About the Documentation

11 Setting Up

14 HALion Control Panel

14 Setup Options

15 View and Tab Operations

16 Available Editors

18 Screen Sets

18 Opening Additional Windows

19 Locking Windows

19 Setting the Focus

19 Home Screen

22 Common Editing Methods

22 Knobs and Sliders

22 Multi Selection and Parameter Controls

23 Buttons

23 Value Fields

24 Key Commands Dialog

24 Presets

27 Global Functions and Settings

27 Plug-in Functions Section

29 Plug-in Name and Steinberg Logo

29 Toolbar

32 Keyboard Editor

33 Quick Controls

41 Options Editor

49 AI Knob Support

51 Automation

51 Automation Parameters

51 Automation Editor

52 Setting Up Automation

54 Managing Your Sounds

54 Programs, Layers, and Multi-Programs

55 Registering VST Sounds

55 Loading Programs and Layers

57 Load Dialog

62 Slot Rack

68 Managing and Loading Files

92 Working with General MIDI Files

93 Mapping Zones

93 Mapping Editor

96 Mapping Editor Context Menu

100 Sample Zones and their Root Keys

100 Moving Zones

100 Creating Fades and Crossfades

100 Setting Key Range and Velocity Range

101 Zooming

101 Selecting Zones

102 Importing Single Samples Using Drag And

Drop

102 Importing Multiple Samples Using Drag And

Drop

103 Editing Programs and Layers

103 Managing Sections

104 Main Section

105 Trigger Section

107 Voice Management Section

111 Variation Groups Section

112 Note Expression Section

113 Macro Page Editor

115 Editing Zones

115 Adding Zones

115 Zone Types

117 Adding Samples to Empty Zones

117 Absolute and Relative Editing

117 Zone Editor Toolbar

118 Zone Info Bar

119 Managing Sections

119 Voice Control Section

123 Voice Control Section for Organ Zones

124 Pitch Section

125 Oscillator Section

128 Sample Oscillator Section

136 Grain Oscillator Section

145 Organ Oscillator Section

146 Wavetable Section

154 FM Oscillator Section

167 Spectral Oscillator Section

180 Filter Section

183 Amplier Section

185 Envelope Section

196 LFO Section

201 Step Modulator

203 Modulation

221 Editing Samples in the Sample Editor

221 Loading and Previewing Samples

221 Zone Info Bar

222 Toolbar

226 Info Line

227 Overview Line

228 Waveform Display

230 Parameter Section

239 Sample Editor Context Menu

242 Markers

243 Setting up the Sample Range

243 Zooming

244 Editing Samples in an External Editor

244 Creating Loops

246 Creating Slices Automatically

247 Sample Replacement

248 Wavetable Synthesis

249 Wavetable Editor

269 Creating a Wavetable

269 Pitch Detection

270 Markers

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HALion 7.0.0

271 Replacing Samples

271 Importing Wavetables

272 Managing Wavetables

273 MIDI Editing and Controllers

273 MIDI Editor

275 MIDI Controllers

279 Mixing, Routing, and Effect Handling

279 Mixer Window

281 Audio Bus Architecture

286 Insert Effects

288 Loading and Managing Programs via the

Program Table

288 Program Table

289 Loading Programs in the Program Table

289 Conguring the Program Table

290 Program Table Context Menu

292 Program Tree

292 Program Tree Elements

295 Program Tree Toolbar

297 Program Tree Columns

300 Program Tree Context Menu

305 Color Scheme

305 Importing Samples

310 Replacing Samples

311 Exporting Samples

316 Exporting Programs and Layers with Samples

320 Exporting Programs and Layers as HALion

Sonic Layer Presets

322 Exporting Programs and Layers as VST 3

Presets with Files

322 Sliced Loop Import

326 Selections in the Program Tree

327 Navigating in the Program Tree

327 Setting Up the Program in the Program Tree

327 Renaming Elements

331 Parameter List

331 Toolbar

332 Columns

334 Sample Recorder

335 Main Tab

338 Options Tab

339 Auto Trim

340 Recording From an Audio Track That Contains

Multiple Drum Sounds

341 Recording the Output of Another Plug-in

342 Monitoring the Input Signal

343 Included Instruments

343 Auron

358 Trium

372 Voltage

385 Model C

391 HALiotron

393 B-Box

401 World Instruments

412 World Percussion

416 Anima

441 Skylab

460 Raven

462 Eagle

463 Hot Brass

481 Studio Strings

497 Macro Pages

497 Macro Pages, Templates, Controls, Resources,

and Libraries

498 Getting Started

502 Macro Page Designer

521 Editing and Assembling Elements

537 Libraries

537 Connecting Macro Page Controls to HALion

Parameters

539 Collaboration on Macro Pages

540 Cleaning Up and Consolidating Your Macro

Pages

541 Saving Macro Pages

542 Library Creator

542 Libraries

547 Library Creator Editor

557 Unassigned VST Sound Containers

558 Consistency Check

560 Effects Reference

560 Reverb Effects

564 Delay Effects

566 EQ Effects

570 Filter Effects

577 Distortion Effects

585 Pitch Shift Effects

586 Modulation Effects

597 Dynamics Effects

606 Spatial and Panner Effects

607 Surround Effects

609 Tools Effects

610 Legacy Effects

621 MIDI Modules Reference

621 Common Functions

624 FlexPhraser

634 Trigger Pads

637 MIDI Player

642 Drum Player

647 Mono Envelope

649 Mono LFO

651 Mono Step Modulator

653 True Pedaling

654 MegaTrig

662 Layer Alternate

664 Key Switch Alternate

666 Key Switch Remote

667 MIDI Randomizer

668 CC Mapper

669 Velocity Curve

670 Tuning Scale

671 Lua Script

675 Key Commands Reference

678 Using the Standalone Version of the Plug-in

678 Preferences Settings

678 Preferences Dialog

680 Selecting the MIDI Input and the Audio Output

681 Scratch Pad

682 Loading a MIDI File

683 Saving a MIDI File

683 Master Volume

684 Index

Table of Contents



4

HALion 7.0.0

New Features

The following list informs you about the most important improvements in HALion and provides

links to the corresponding descriptions.

New Features in Version 7.0.0

Highlights

MediaBay

● The MediaBay has been redesigned to allow for an easier and quicker search. You can

choose from lter tags that are proposed by the MediaBay based on your search settings,

you can congure attribute menus to narrow down the search results, and you can save

your search settings as presets to use them when looking for similar content. Furthermore,

with the Synchronize Filter Settings with Selected Slot button, you can instruct the

MediaBay to use the search settings last used for the selected slot, which makes it easier

to exchange a program with a similar program, for example. See MediaBay.

Spectral Synthesis

● With the new spectral zones, you can use spectral re-synthesis as a sound source. See Zone

Types.

● You can now re-synthesize your samples by means of spectral zones and the spectral

oscillator. This allows for a wide range of creative sound editing. See Spectral Oscillator

Section.

FM Synthesis

● With the new FM zones, you can use frequency modulation as a sound source. See Zone

Types.

● In the FM Oscillator section of the Zone Editor, you can set up the new FM zones. See FM

Oscillator Section.

Envelope Editing

● The Envelope section has been redesigned, and several new editing functions are

available. The new Shaper envelope mode has been added. Furthermore, the Pitch and

User envelopes now have a Bipolar button, allowing you to switch the envelopes from

unipolar to bipolar, and vice versa. See Envelope Section.

● With the Edit tool, you can now edit multiple selected envelope nodes much more

conveniently than in previous versions. See Node Editing.

Modulation

● The entire modulation concept has been improved. For example, parameters that can be

modulated are now indicated by small triangles in the Zone Editor, making it easier to

locate them. See Modulation.

● You can now assign and edit modulation sources and destinations not only in the

modulation matrix, but in dedicated modulation rows in the Zone Editor. See Modulation

Rows in the Zone Editor.

● In the Zone Editor, you can create modulations using drag and drop. See Creating

Modulations Using Drag and Drop.

● You can now directly jump to the edit section for a modulation source or destination from

within the modulation row. See Modulation Parameters.

5

HALion 7.0.0

Wavetable Synthesis

● You can now use multi-channel wavetables. See Wavetable Synthesis.

Macro Page Designer

● In the Templates Tree, templates with attached scripts are shown in a different color.

Furthermore, you can edit the script parameters in the Properties section, open a

connected script for editing, or create a new script for a template. See Templates Tree.

● You can now use SVG graphics in your macro pages, allowing for smoother scaling of

elements. See Resources Tree Elements.

● You can use decors in the Macro Page Designer, that is, denable rectangles of a xed or

scalable size that allow you to create simple graphical switch states without the need for a

bitmap resource, for example. See Resources Tree Elements.

● You can create color resources in the Macro Page Designer and use them in Font and

Decor resources. See Resources Tree Elements.

● Via the Resources Tree, you can now export SVG graphics to a folder in your system, to use

them on other macro pages. See Resources Tree Context Menu.

More New Features

Load Dialog

● When loading programs, layers, and multi-programs, you can now switch between the

MediaBay and the File System pages. See Load Dialog.

Wavetable Oscillator

● The following new functions have been added to the wavetable oscillator: Acceleration

and Target Speed allow you to further modify the Speed parameter. Hold allows you to

hold the last spectrum. The display now offers a channel selector. Furthermore, a Filter

section was added. See Oscillator Tabs.

X-LFO

● In addition to the two polyphonic LFOs, HALion 7 offers an X-LFO for synth, sample, grain,

FM, spectral, and wavetable zones. This can be used to modulate two-dimensional XY

parameters. See X-LFO.

Decompose

● The Decompose function allows you to split your samples into their noise and tonal

components and to edit those components separately. See Decompose Page.

Wavetable Editor

● The Sample tab in the Wavetable Editor has been redesigned, and several new functions

have been added: You can now show a spectrometer in the waveform display, the

Wavetable Creation Sensitivity parameter was added for the modes Spectral and

Spectral Voiced, and the Zone Info Bar was added at the top. Furthermore, the Fixed

Mode option was replaced by the new Window Size option, allowing you to manually

specify the window size for the wavetable markers, either individually for each channel or

for all channels. With the Include Window in Range option, you can instruct HALion to

cover the entire sample when importing wavetables. See Sample Tab.

● The Spectrum Analyzer tab was added to the Wavetable Editor, allowing you to show

the frequency spectrum of the oscillator output. Furthermore, a channel selector is now

available for the 3D Map, 2D Wave, and Spectrum Analyzer tabs. See 3D Map, 2D Wave,

and Analyzer Tabs.

● Several new parameters were added to the Spectrum tab of the Wavetable Editor. You

can now switch the view between linear level and dB level. You can specify whether you

want the frequency display to be linear or logarithmic. You can show/hide the spectral

envelope, and you can set the formant resolution. Furthermore, you can copy and paste the

phase spectrum across different waves, or randomize the phase spectrum. See Spectrum

Tab.

New Features



6

HALion 7.0.0

● The Wavetable Editor now contains a Filter tab, allowing you to apply lters to individual

waves or to the entire wavetable. See Filter Tab.

● The parameters Pitch Envelope Playback and Channel Conguration were added to the

wavetable overview section. See Wavetable Overview.

Effects

● The REVerence effect now allows you to import and use your own impulse response les.

See REVerence.

● The new Bass Tape Ducking Delay effect was added in the Delay category. See Bass Tape

Ducking Delay.

● The new Studio EQ 24 effect was added in the EQ category. See Studio EQ 24.

● The new Bass Envelope Filter effect was added in the Filter category. See Bass Envelope

Filter.

● The new Bass DI Driver effect was added in the Distortion category. See Bass DI Driver.

● The new Bass Overdrive effect was added in the Distortion category. See Bass Overdrive.

● The new Clipper effect was added in the Distortion category. See Clipper.

● The new VST Bass Amp effect was added in the Distortion category. See VST Bass Amp.

● The new Bass Octaver effect was added in the Pitch Shift category. See Bass Octaver.

● The new Bass Chorus effect was added in the Modulation category. See Bass Chorus.

● The new Bass Phaser effect was added in the Modulation category. See Bass Phaser.

● The Compressor effect in the Dynamics category has a new High Ratio parameter. See

Compressor.

● The new Oscilloscope effect was added in the Tools category. See Oscilloscope.

Last but Not Least

Section and Module Presets

● You can now step through the available presets using the new Previous Preset/Next

Preset buttons. See Handling Section and Module Presets.

User Interface Improvements

● At the top of the Options Editor window, a navigation bar now allows you to show/hide

and lock/unlock the different sections. Furthermore, the layout and spacing of the editor

were optimized. See Options Editor.

Options Editor

● The Performance section in the Options Editor now contains the streaming settings.

Furthermore, the parameter Host Automation Resolution has been added. See

Performance Section.

● In the Edit section, the following parameters were added: Apply Modulation Destination

Depth in Live Displays, Home Screen, Pop-up Value Meter, Maximum Number of

Results in MediaBay/Browser, External Bitmap Editor, and External SVG Editor. See

Edit Section.

Slot Rack

● When empty slots are hidden, you can now click the plus sign under the lowest slot in the

Slot Rack to open the Load Program dialog. See Loading Programs into Slots.

Loading Init Programs

● You can now load one of the available Init programs via the Slot Rack context menu. See

Slot Context Menu.

User Icons

● You can assign your own user icons to programs, so that they are displayed in the Slot

Rack and in the program slot section at the top of the window. See Adding User Icons to

Programs.

New Features



7

HALion 7.0.0

Tagging Editor

● You can now edit the attributes of the selected program in a dedicated editor. See Tagging

Editor.

Sound Editor

● In the Sound Editor for programs and layers, you can now show and hide the different

sections. See Managing Sections.

Fingered Glide Mode

● The Fingered parameter has an additional option: Any. This allows you to glide the pitch

between any new note that is played legato. See Voice Control Section.

Note-off Trigger

● You can now trigger samples at note off-events instead of at note-on events. See Voice

Control Section.

Zone Editor

● The Sample Oscillator section now has two pages: Mode and Sample. The AudioWarp

functions have moved to the Mode page. All sample-related parameters can be found on

the Sample page. See Sample Oscillator Section.

Sample Oscillator

● You can now adjust the markers for Loop Start, Loop End, Start Range, and Release Start

by dragging the corresponding marker lines in the waveform display. See Sample Oscillator

Section.

Grain Oscillator Waveform Display

● You can now adjust the markers for Loop Start, Loop End, Start Range, and Release Start

by dragging the corresponding marker lines in the waveform display. See Sample Tab.

Sample Editor

● The Sample Editor toolbar now only shows the tools for the selected tab. See Toolbar.

● You can now show a spectrogram behind the waveform. See Waveform Display.

● To change the sample range, you can now move the Sample Start and Sample End

markers together. See Setting up the Sample Range.

Loop Range

● To change the loop range, you can now move the Loop Start and Loop End markers

together. See Setting up a Loop.

MIDI Controller Assignments

● You can change the MIDI controller for a MIDI controller assignment in the MIDI CC editor.

See MIDI CC Editor.

Program Tree

● The Program Tree toolbar offers a text lter to search the list. See Program Tree Toolbar.

● The Program Tree offers a prelisten section for sample and granular zones. See Program

Tree Toolbar.

● You can now open the editor for the selected Program Tree element using the context

menu command Open Editor in New Window. This function is also available in the Edit

category of the Key Commands dialog. See Program Tree Context Menu.

Sample Import

●Velocity $ was added as a new Pattern in the Mapping Options section of the Import

Samples dialog. It allows you to import samples that only contain the high velocity in the

le name. See Import Samples Dialog.

New Features



8

HALion 7.0.0

Parameter List

● A lter bar has been added to the parameter list, allowing you to search for parameters

containing specic text strings. See Toolbar.

Library Creator

●Clear Sub Preset Names was added to the Options section. This allows you to remove all

sub preset names from all sub preset selectors before creating a VST3 preset container.

See Options.

Trigger Pads

● You can create MIDI parts from the chords that are assigned to trigger pads by dragging

the pads into your DAW. See Creating MIDI parts from Trigger Pads.

Browser

● The Browser has been redesigned to allow for an easier and quicker search for les. The

Filter by Sound Component pop-up menu was added to the toolbar of the results list. See

Toolbar.

New Features



9

HALion 7.0.0

Introduction

This is the Operation Manual for Steinberg’s HALion. Here you will nd detailed information

about all the features and functions in the application.

Typographical Conventions

In our documentation, we use structural and markup elements to present information according

to its purpose.

Structural Elements

Prerequisite

Describes any actions or conditions you must have fullled before starting a

procedure.

Procedure

Lists the steps that you must take to achieve a specic result.

Important

Informs you about serious issues; for example, issues that affect the system, the

connected hardware, or that risk data loss.

Note

Informs you about issues or other relevant information.

Tip

Adds further information or useful suggestions.

Example

Provides you with an example.

Result

Describes the result of the procedure.

After Completing This Task

Informs you about actions or tasks that you can perform after completing the

procedure.

RELATED LINKS

Slot Rack on page 62

MIDI Editor on page 273

Program Tree on page 292

Editing Programs and Layers on page 103

HALion Control Panel

Available Editors

17

HALion 7.0.0

Editing Zones on page 115

MIDI Modules Reference on page 621

Mapping Editor on page 93

Editing Samples in the Sample Editor on page 221

Wavetable Editor on page 249

Sample Recorder on page 334

Macro Page Designer on page 502

Mixer Window on page 279

Keyboard Editor on page 32

Quick Controls on page 33

Trigger Pads on page 634

Loading and Managing Programs via the Program Table on page 288

Parameter List on page 331

Automation Editor on page 51

MIDI Controllers on page 275

Tagging Editor on page 80

Screen Sets

You can save the control panel setup as a screen set. This allows you to congure HALion for

different workows and editing situations.

HALion comes with a set of screen sets for different setups and work scenarios.

● To load, save, and delete screen sets, click the Load/Save/Delete Screen Set button on

the toolbar in the plug-in functions section, and select a screen set or the corresponding

command from the pop-up menu.

NOTE

Factory screen sets cannot be deleted.

Opening Additional Windows

You can open new windows that are based on presets, or you can create new windows by

dragging existing views or tabs out of the window.

CHOICES

● To open a window preset, click Open/Save/Delete Window in the plug-in functions section,

and select the preset from the pop-up menu.

HALion comes with several precongured window presets.

● To open a window from a view or a tab, do one of the following:

●Click in the upper left corner of an existing view or tab, and drag it out of the current

window.

●Use the Undock command on the tab context menu or the View pop-up menu.

This opens the editor in a new window.

HALion Control Panel

Screen Sets

18

HALion 7.0.0

NOTE

Creating a new window in this way does not remove the tab or view from the original

window.

Locking Windows

If you open an additional window, HALion shows the settings of the focused program, layer,

zone, etc. This way, all editors and separate windows relate to the same material. However, in

some cases it might be necessary to show different objects in different windows, for example, to

compare the parameter sets of two zones or layers. This can be achieved by locking a window.

CHOICES

● To lock a window, click the Lock button in the upper right corner.

RESULT

The window no longer follows selection and focus changes in the main plug-in window. Instead,

it displays the settings of the program that was selected when you clicked the Lock button.

Setting the Focus

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.

CHOICES

● To set the focus on a specic view, use one of its controls, edit a parameter, or click on the

frame or in an empty background of a view.

Home Screen

When HALion is loaded and the user interface opens, the Home Screen is shown. This window

helps you to nd a good starting point for your work, so that you do not have to set up the

window from scratch each time you start a new project.

In the Home Screen, you can select a screen set, create a program that is based on a particular

layer type, visit the Steinberg websites, or watch Steinberg videos on YouTube.

HALion Control Panel

Locking Windows

19

HALion 7.0.0

Play

In this section, you can choose from different screen sets.

●Single Instrument is useful if you want to load and play one sound per plug-in instance.

● Use Multi Instrument if you want to load and play multiple sounds within one plug-in

instance, either to create complex sounds containing multiple layers or to use HALion as a

multi-mode sound device.

●Default Screenset loads the factory default screen set.

●User Screen Set allows you to select one of your user screen sets.

Create

In this section, you can open the Init programs for the available sound sources. Init programs are

templates that contain the necessary settings and components for the selected synth engine or

instrument sound source. They allow you to get started without having to congure the program

and the HALion window rst.

News

Here, you can nd useful information about new expansions or new video tutorials.

Bottom Section

Don't Show Home Screen on Start

Activate this option if you do not want to see the Home Screen when you open HALion.

You can open it at any time via the Show Home Screen button on the toolbar.

HALion Control Panel

Home Screen

20

HALion 7.0.0

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Steinberg HALion 7.0 User manual

Steinberg HALion 7.0 User manual

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