![]() ![]() Strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion rolls, on the other hand, are capable of complex note dynamics. Percussive instruments derive their volume and tone from the initial hit and change little as the note decays. For example, in the vibraphone program, the “Body” Q-control adjusts weight while “Presence” controls the mallet attack, simulating soft or hard mallets. The performance and tone controls offer plenty of tonal variety. ![]() This can easily be fixed in the mix or avoided by recording trills separately. ![]() ![]() The other Combis, including the corresponding violin are well matched though. I found a small annoyance in the half-step trill of the solo viola xSwitch Combi, which was noticeably louder than the other articulations. Articulations are selected by holding a switch key outside the instrument range. The string “Combis,” for example, include short notes, long notes, tremolo and trills. The combination, or “Combi” programs, available in all instrument groups, are effective but require a little practice to get realistic performance variations. I played the alternating spiccato string programs in the solo violin and viola and was amazed at the realism and ease of use. 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. 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. 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. Capturing the nuances of a symphony orchestra in a sample library is no easy task but several products are aiming to do just that. ![]()
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