

HSO offers alternating up and down bowing programs, a feature that overcomes the “machine gun” sound you hear from keyboard strings. I focused on strings since they are so important in film music. My project was a short film score calling for both emotion and dynamics. A Yamaha Motif ES-8 and a 2-octave Oxygen 8 were used as MIDI controllers. I monitored through Mackie HR-824 speakers.
#SOLO HALION PRO#
I tested HSO with Logic Pro on a G5 Quad with 4GB RAM and Pro Tools on a G4 Dual 1GHz with 1.5 GB RAM. Examples include, attack velocity, bow sound, “body” and “air.” Room ambience was recorded with the samples but can be controlled separately in level and duration. The “Q Controls,” seen in previous HALion products, are a set of eight MIDI-assignable controls that vary by program. “Economy” programs, which use fewer samples, are available for some instruments. Users can selectively reduce the anti-aliasing quality in order to get more voices, for example, during recording, and then switch to a higher quality setting when bouncing or mixing tracks. The RAMSave™ feature frees memory by monitoring the notes played in sequenced MIDI tracks and dropping unused samples. RAM and CPU use can be managed through the number and size of voice buffers and the minimum sample memory settings.

#SOLO HALION SOFTWARE#
The percussion family includes timpani, bass, snare, tambourine, tubular bells woodblocks, temple block, finger cymbals, vibraslap, triangle, sleigh bells, cymbals and gongs.Īs with many sample players, the HSO software keeps a short bit of each sample in memory and streams the rest from disk.

Woodwinds include solo flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, piccolo and English horn. The brass section includes solo and tutti trumpets, trombones, horns and solo tuba. Articulations include legato, spiccato, pizzicato, tremolo, portamento, espressivo and trills. The strings include solo and ensemble violin, viola, cello and bass. The 1250 programs include solo instruments, ensembles and tutti sections all performed, according to Steinberg, by a leading European orchestra. A single device can be used for multiple Steinberg products.Īs the name implies, HSO includes strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. A Steinberg Key device (not included) is required to use the library. HSO also runs as a VST, Dxi and Audio Units plug-in. The stand-alone player is used for live performance and playback from ReWire applications. The 15,000 individual samples supplied on DVD-ROM require 27GB of disk space for both 16-bit and 24-bit versions. HALion Symphonic Orchestra (HSO) is a new product from Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, a subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation that offers real-time performance features found in some of the most expensive libraries at a price well under $1,000. The most compelling products offer multiple performance variations and controls. Manufacturers such as Vienna Symphonic Library, Garritan, East West, Miroslav Vitous and Steinberg are a few of the companies working on the challenge. Alchemist sample pack free.Capturing the nuances of a symphony orchestra in a sample library is no easy task but several products are aiming to do just that.
