Software that emulates its hardware counterpart, especially music production software, is clearly the wave of the future. Steinberg’s HALion fits that model: It's a solid, feature-packed, and versatile software sampler with only a few minor dings.
HALion uses the same VST plug-in architecture as several digital audio applications, including Cubase VST and Logic Audio. For the uninitiated, a sampler plays back audio waveforms you can map out across the range of a MIDI keyboard. HALion supports six stereo channels and three mono-channel VST outputs, so you can, say, apply reverb to the snare drum without affecting the rest of the drum kit.
In Macro mode HALion works (and looks) like a synthesizer. To access the guts of HALion, press one of the six view buttons: Chan/Prog for assigning programs; Keyzone for mapping samples across MIDI keys; Waveloop for editing a sample’s start, end, and loop points; Env/Filter for envelopes and filters; Mod/Tune for modulating sounds and tuning; and Options for general settings.
Chan/Prog view is where you assign programs (instruments) to your MIDI channels. We had difficulty loading some files from the four CDs of extra instruments HALion included — the program couldn’t find some of the necessary audio files. Loading files via drag and drop (instead of using the Load command) solved that problem.
In Keyzone view, you can map samples intuitively to the MIDI keys. The process involves dragging a sample (characterized as a block with control handles) to the graph, where adjusting the horizontal controls sets the key span — for instance, C3, or middle C, to A#3 — and adjusting the vertical length sets the sample’s velocity so samples play back differently depending on how hard you press a key on a MIDI keyboard.
The Options view has several functions. One of the most important is memory settings, where you control how HALion uses samples — specifically, how much of a sample it loads into RAM. The rest of the sample plays directly from the hard drive, so you can load more sounds than is possible with a sampler based only on RAM.
From the Options view, you can also import samples from most commercial sample CDs, including Akai, E-mu, and SoundFont formats. Initially, HALion couldn’t import half the samples in our collection. Cubase.net’s forums quickly revealed an easy solution: replacing Apple’s CD-ROM and DVD 1.4.x driver with an older (1.3.5) version.
Another home remedy solved HALion’s curiously slow File functions (Open and Save); saving our test song took up to a minute, even with a minimal song arrangement, but turning off Cubase’s autosave feature eased that annoyance.
Bottom line: At $399 list, HALion costs half what a hardware sampler does. It’s more versatile, and it’s certainly more convenient.
Tokuda, Andrew. (January 2001). HALion 1.1. MacAddict. (pg. 46).
Steinberg Soft- und Hardware GmbH
Applications
out of 10 (0 vote)
88 / 
2014-04-14 / 
2023-05-05 / 
dc15a52a4673f570bb9a85a0f7bcf6fa1ac0992d / 
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halion.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
SheepShaver
