#Solo halion pdf#
#Solo halion series#
#Solo halion tv#

As with most modern orchestral libraries, however, HSO also includes a large number of key-switched programmes.

The Player Options dialogue provides options for configuring RAM use, sample quality, and MIDI controllers, with the latter including a Learn function for use with hardware controllers.For the majority of the instruments, the combination of program types covers the most frequently used performance articulations such as legato, staccato, spiccato, pizzicato, and trills, with a variety of other 'expression' style programs also included. While I can understand there being no piano (Steinberg have The Grand to plug that gap), the harp is perhaps a little more surprising. Do note, however, that instruments such as piano and harp - both often associated with classical and orchestral music - are not reproduced here.

#Solo halion pdf#

A full list of the instruments and program types is readily available as a PDF from the Steinberg web site, so there is little point in me reproducing these details here except to say that for the majority of orchestral work, HSO covers all the instrumental bases.

The brass programs include solo and tutti (usually based on a group of three) types, while the woodwind and percussion programs are generally based upon solo instruments. For the strings there are solo, tutti (large single-instrument sections), and ensemble (multiple sections mixing violins, violas, cellos, and double basses) programs provided. HSO provides instruments for all four major sections of a symphony orchestra: strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion. HSO covers all the major orchestral instrument groups in some 27GB of sample data, but isn't priced too far out of reach of the cash-strapped UK media composer, and as its title suggests, it is provided with a custom version of Halion Player as the front-end. There are, of course, products that sit between these two extremes ( EWQLSO Gold Edition, for example) and Steinberg's new Halion Symphonic Orchestra ( HSO) falls firmly into that camp.

#Solo halion series#

For more demanding composers, at the other end of the spectrum would be libraries such as EWQLSO Platinum Edition or, more recently, VSL's Vienna Instrument series (reviewed in SOS July 2006).

#Solo halion tv#

When writing music for picture, TV and film composers often need to mock up a convincing sampled orchestral score for the director to approve or, when budgets are limited (which is most of the time!), for use in the final audio mix.įor those with limited resources - financial or in terms of computer horsepower - products such as Garritan Personal Orchestra ( GPO) or East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Orchestra ( EWQLSO) in its cut-down Silver Edition format have provided a decent introduction. While synthetic versions of orchestral sounds still have their musical applications, many recording musicians and composers need their orchestral sounds to be as realistic as possible. Recreations of orchestral instruments have come a long way since the first fizzy string and brass patches appeared in our hardware synths. We find out how well Steinberg's new take on the virtual orchestra conducts itself.