With the release of HALion 7.5, support for MIDI Polyphonic Expression (MPE)—a feature long awaited by many users—was introduced. This article explains how to set up HALion and your DAW to use with your MPE-capable controller.
Enabling MPE in HALion
- Make sure you have installed HALion 7.5 or later. Older versions do not support MPE.
- Open HALion (stand-alone or in your DAW).
- Load a program you intend to use with MPE.
- Enable MPE by clicking on the grey MPE button in HALion's upper right corner. It turns pink when MPE is enabled.
- Detailed MPE settings are managed in HALion's MPE editor. To open it, click on "Create Tab" (plus symbol)...
- ...and select "MPE" from the available options.
For more details, please refer to the HALion 7 manual.
Enabling MPE in your DAW
When using HALion as a plug-in, the host software—your DAW—probably also needs to be set up to make the MPE magic work.
There are simply too many DAWs out there to cover them all, but the basic principle is the same:
- For MPE, all 16 MIDI channels are required, so always set HALion's MIDI or instrument track to receive MIDI data on any channel.
- Furthermore, check to see if your DAW has MPE options that need to be enabled. These may be global settings, or they may need to be configured individually for the controller and the plug-in.
Ableton Live
- Activate MPE for your corresponding controller in the program settings:
- In the Live's program settings, go to "Tempo & MIDI".
- Under "Input Ports", check "MPE" in your controller's entry.
- Furthermore, you need to enable MPE for HALion.
- Select the track assigned to HALion to show the "Device View" at the bottom of Live's window.
- In the "Device View", click on the "Show Options" button […] and select "Enable MPE Mode".
Apple Logic
In Logic, no settings are necessary to use HALion with MPE. Just make sure not to limit the input of the MIDI track assigned to HALion to specific MIDI channels.
Cubase
In Cubase, no settings are necessary to use HALion with MPE. Just make sure not to limit the input of the MIDI track or Instrument Track assigned to HALion to specific MIDI channels.
Fender Studio Pro
Enable MPE for the controller
- Open the Studio Pro program settings and go to "External Devices".
macOS: Studio Pro → Options → External Devices
macOS: Studio Pro → Preferences → External Devices - Double-click the entry for the controller you want to use with MPE.
- Make sure "Enable MPE" is selected and click [OK] to close the dialog.
Disable data reduction
- Still in the program settings window, switch to "Advanced" and select "Automation".
macOS: Studio Pro → Options → Advanced → Automation
macOS: Studio Pro → Preferences → Advanced → Automation - Set "Reduction Level" to 0% so that the MPE data is not affected by the reduction.
Enable MPE for HALion
- Open HALion's "Instrument Editor" in Studio Pro.
- Click on the pop-down menu at the upper left corner and select "Enable MPE".