Sampling help for a beginner (HALion/Cubase)

Cubase
1

Hello, I’m not sure if I’m in the correct forum for this, but:

I want to start creating my own instruments and samples so I just purchased HALion 5 to use with Cubase Pro 8 and got myself a recorder to go crazy with. I’m all new to this (I have mostly worked with VST synths and ready-to-use loops and shots before), so of course I have a lot of questions and I can’t find much info or tutorials on HALion anywhere online.

First of all, I need some guidelines about how I should organise my sample library and prepare my samples for use with Cubase/HALion. If I have understood it correctly, HALion doesn’t overwrite the samples if I make changes to the pitch, start point/ending point of the loop etc, so how would you recommend me to prepare my samples before I start using them? I want to audition them, rename them, organise them in folders, find/tune the pitch, cut out the part(s) that I want to use etc before I start using them in HALion, so I have the ready-to-use samples organised on my computer, not just in HALion.

I guess there are lots of articles and tutorials out there about sampling in general, but I’m not the best googler and I thought it could be good to ask here if some of you guys have some good tips or links to articles about sampling related to Cubase/HALion. Any help is very appreciated.

Thanks in advance! :slight_smile:

EDIT:
I just read in the manual for HALion that WaveLab can be used as an external sample editor, so I guess that was kind of what I was looking for. I thought WaveLab was only a mastering suite until now. So then I guess I can organize/manage my samples in MediaBay/LoopBrowser in HALion/Cubase and edit them in WaveLab? The Elements version will probably do. (I know I can edit the samples in Cubase as well but that seems a bit unpractical.)
But still, if someone has tips and teqhnique tips or links to good articles or tutorials on sampling I will still appreciate it!

2

Halion is one of the most advanced samplers up to this day, so you did not choose the easy option. on the other hand once you understand it, you will have something that will deliver for many more years.

The starting point in Halion is the sample mapping. It works with drag and drop. you can do this from within cubase, or from the media bay, or from any other explorer/brower. That is important.

Halion remembers the reference point, i.e. the place where you did the dragging/dropping from. This has implications. E.g. if you drag and drop from within the cubase main window, the reference will be from where the cubase pool is located.
If you want to work clean, you do not do this, and drag and drop it from browsers/explorers. So the referencing will remain intact even when you delete a CPR.

Another good idea is to save the multi to a vst-soundbank. Halion can do this. A vst-soundbank is nothing more then a compressed file that also contains the sample data. This way, you never loose your referencing, and you can exchange it with other Halion users.

kind regards,
R.

3

Groove 3 has a course on Halion 5. Also for $15 you can get a one month pass to watch as much content as you can stand.