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Operation Manual
Original Manual: Synkron
Revision and Quality Control for Nuendo 3:
Ashley Shepherd, Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Sabine Pfeifer, Claudia Schomburg
Thanks: Bryce Atcheson, Georg Bruns
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent
a commitment on the part of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH. The software described
by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media
except as specifically allowed in the License Agreement. No part of this publication may be
copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior
written permission by Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.
All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. Windows
XP is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation. The Mac logo is a trademark used under license.
Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks.
© Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2004.
All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
NUENDO
4 Table of Contents
9 About this manual
10 Welcome!
13 VST Connections:
Setting up input and
output busses
14 Introduction
15 Setting up busses
24 Using the busses
28 Setting up Groups and FX
channels
29 About the Audition bus
33 Playback and the
Transport panel
34 Background
38 Operations
43 Options and Settings
47 Recording
48 Background
49 Basic recording methods
54 Audio recording specifics
75 MIDI recording specifics
88 Options and Settings
93 The Project window
94 Background
96 Window Overview
111 Operations
152 Options
157 The play order track
158 Introduction
159 Setting up the play order
track
160 Creating a play order
163 Playing back the play order
164 Flattening the play order
165 Folder tracks
166 About folder tracks
167 Handling folder tracks
169 Working with folder parts
173 Using markers
174 About markers
174 The Marker window
178 Using the Marker track
182 Marker key commands
183 Editing markers in the
Project Browser
185 Fades, crossfades
and envelopes
186 Creating fades
190 The Fade dialogs
193 Creating crossfades
195 The Crossfade dialog
204 Auto Fades and Crossfades
206 Event Envelopes
207 The mixer
208 About this chapter
209 Overview
213 Configuring the mixer
220 The audio channel strips
222 The MIDI channel strips
223 The common panel
224 The input & output channels
225 Basic mixing procedures
235 Audio specific procedures
252 MIDI specific procedures
254 Utilities
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Table of Contents 5
259 Audio effects
260 About this chapter
260 Overview
262 Insert effects
273 Send effects
284 Using external effects
287 Making settings for the
effects
290 Installing and managing
effect plug-ins
297 Surround sound
298 Background
301 Window overview
303 Operations
321 Automation
322 Background
326 Automation track operations
333 Using Write/Read
automation
339 Working with automation
curves
346 Tips and common methods
347 Options and Settings
349 Remote controlling
the mixer
350 About this chapter
350 Setting Up
352 Operations
354 The Generic Remote device
359 Audio processing and
functions
360 Background
361 Audio processing
384 Applying plug-ins
386 The Offline Process History
dialog
388 Batch Processing
391 Freeze Edits
392 Detect Silence
395 The Spectrum Analyzer
398 Statistics
399 The Sample Editor
400 Background
400 Opening the Sample Editor
401 Window overview
406 Operations
418 Options and settings
421 The Audio Part Editor
422 Background
422 Opening the Audio Part
Editor
423 Window overview
426 Operations
430 Common methods
432 Options and Settings
433 Audio warp realtime
processing
434 Background
435 Using the Audio Tempo
Definition tool
442 Warp tabs and the Warp
Samples tool
NUENDO
6 Table of Contents
449 Quantizing audio
451 Realtime pitch shifting of
audio events
452 Freezing the realtime
processing
455 Working with
hitpoints and slices
456 Background
456 Using hitpoints
460 Editing hitpoints
466 About Q-points
467 Creating slices
468 Creating groove quantize
maps
469 Other hitpoint functions
473 The Pool
474 Background
476 Window Overview
481 Operations
500 Options and Settings
501 Working with the
Tempo track
502 Background
503 The Tempo Track Editor –
overview
506 Operations
512 Process Tempo
513 Options and settings
514 The Beat Calculator
516 Merge Tempo From
Tapping
517 The Time Warp tool
529 The Project Browser
530 Background
530 Opening the Project
Browser
530 Window Overview
531 Navigating in the Browser
532 Customizing the View
532 About the Sync Selection
option
533 Editing audio tracks
535 Editing MIDI tracks
538 Editing Automation tracks
538 Editing the Video track
539 Editing the Marker track
540 Editing the Tempo track
540 Editing Time Signatures
541 Deleting Events
543 The Track Sheet
544 Overview
548 Printing the Track Sheet
549 Export Audio
Mixdown
550 Introduction
551 Mixing down to an audio file
554 File format specifics
569 Synchronization
570 Background
578 Window Overview
579 Operations
594 Options
597 VST System Link
598 Introduction
599 Preparations
604 Activating VST System Link
611 Application examples
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Table of Contents 7
615 Video
616 Background
617 Operations
626 Options
626 The Edit Mode
629 ReWire
630 Introduction
631 Launching and quitting
632 Activating ReWire channels
633 Using the transport and
tempo controls
634 How the ReWire channels
are handled in Nuendo
635 Routing MIDI via ReWire2
636 Considerations and
limitations
637 File handling
638 File Operations
668 Options and Settings
671 Customizing
672 Background
673 Workspaces
676 Customizing the Transport
panel
678 Customizing the toolbars
680 Customizing track controls
685 Configuring the main menu
items
687 About preference presets
690 Appearance
692 Applying track and event
colors
694 Where are the settings
stored?
697 Key commands
698 Background
699 Setting up Key Commands
712 Setting up tool modifier keys
713 Index
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8 Table of Contents
1
About this manual
NUENDO
1 – 10 About this manual
Welcome!
This is the Operation Manual for Steinberg’s Nuendo 3. Here you will
find detailed information about virtually all features and functions in the
program.
How to use the manuals and the Help
When it comes to manuals, different users look for information in dif-
ferent ways, depending on their previous knowledge and personal
preferences. You may be looking for a complete description of a pro-
cedure, you may just be trying to find a certain function in the program,
you may have found a function in the program and want it explained –
or you may simply want to learn it all!
Therefore, there are several ways to enter the documentation and get
help:
•
Use the Table of Contents to browse the manual or the Help and find
the section you need to know more about.
In the pdf version of the Operation Manual (and in the help) you can click directly on a
chapter or section to go there.
•
Use the Index to look up specific features and functions.
Again, in the pdf (and the help) you can click directly on the page number for an index
entry or on the help list index entry to go to there. The help also allows you to perform
a free search of any term.
•
In the program you will find Help buttons in most dialogs – click to get
information about that specific dialog.
Similarly, you can press [F1] to get information about the current window.
•
If you want information about a specific menu item, use the Menu
Reference section in the Help.
All main menu items in Nuendo are listed and explained there.
•
Finally, you could read the manuals from start to end if you like.
See below for a description of all parts of the Nuendo documentation package.
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About this manual 1 – 11
Other documents
Apart from the Operation Manual and the help, the following docu-
ments are included with Nuendo:
Getting Started
In this book (also available in Adobe Acrobat pdf format) you will find:
• Requirements, installation and setting up your system.
• Basic concepts and terminology.
• Basic methods – e.g. how to set values, use tools and menus.
• A list of all default key commands.
• A number of tutorials, helping you get started with working in Nuendo.
Audio Effects and VST Instruments
In this pdf document you will find:
• Descriptions of the included VST audio effect plug-ins.
• Descriptions of the included VST Instruments.
These descriptions can also be found in the help.
Working with MIDI
In this pdf document you will find:
• Descriptions of the MIDI processing functions
• Descriptions of the MIDI editors
• Information on effect handling and descriptions of the included MIDI effect
plug-ins
• Information on how to set up and manage MIDI devices and device panels in
Nuendo.
• Information on how to edit MIDI System Exclusive messages.
• Information on how to use the Logical Editor and Input Transformer.
Networking
This pdf document describes how you can use Nuendo’s project shar-
ing and networking features to collaborate with other users of Nuendo
in a TCP/IP based peer-to-peer network.
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1 – 12 About this manual
Remote Control Devices
This pdf document lists the supported MIDI remote control devices
and describes how to set up and use them with Nuendo.
Score Layout and Printing
This pdf document describes the score editing features in Nuendo.
Using Nuendo with DSP Factory (Windows only)
In this pdf document you will find detailed information about Nuendo’s
implementation for the Yamaha DSP Factory audio card.
All pdf documents can be opened from the Help menu in the program.
Under Windows, you can also open them from the Nuendo Documenta-
tion subfolder on the Windows Start menu. Under Mac OS X, the pdf
documents are located in the folder /Contents/Documentation/ within
the program folder or the folder /Library/Documentation/Nuendo 3.
2
VST Connections: Setting up
input and output busses
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2 – 14 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses
Introduction
As described in the Getting Started book, Nuendo uses a system of
input and output busses to transfer audio between the program and
the audio hardware.
• Input busses let you route audio from the inputs on your audio hardware into
the program. This means that when you record audio, you will always do this
through one or several input busses.
• Output busses let you route audio from the program to the outputs on your
audio hardware. When you play back audio, you will always do this through
one or several output busses.
• The audition bus creates a special audio path for monitoring your mix, pre-
viewing audio while importing, editing in the Sample editor, and for the special
Listen Mode in the mixer which provides AFL/PFL solo. There is only one au-
dition bus but it can have any channel configuration from mono all the way up
to 10.2 surround.
The audition bus is new to Nuendo 3 and users who have upgraded
from earlier versions should pay special attention to its function since it
affects the way you monitor audio in Nuendo. The audition bus should
be connected to your monitoring system.
As you can see, the input and output busses are vital when you work
with Nuendo. That’s the reason why you find this chapter at the begin-
ning of the Operation Manual – once you understand the bus system
and set up the busses properly, it will be easy to go on with recording,
playing back, mixing and doing surround work.
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VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 15
Setting up busses
Strategies
You can create any number of busses in Nuendo, in virtually any chan-
nel configuration – mono, stereo or a number of surround formats.
• The bus configuration is saved with the projects – therefore it’s a good
idea to add and set up the busses you need and save these in a tem-
plate project (see page 641).
When you start working on new projects, you start from this template. That way you
get your standard bus configuration without having to make new bus settings for each
new project. If you need to work with different bus configurations in different projects,
you could either create several different templates or store your configurations as pre-
sets (see page 23). The templates can of course also contain other settings that you
regularly use – sample rate, record format, a basic track layout, etc.
So, which type of busses do you need? This depends on your audio
hardware, your general audio setup (e.g. surround speaker setup) and
what kind of projects you work with. Here’s an example:
Let’s say you are using audio hardware with eight analog inputs and
outputs and digital stereo connections (10 inputs and outputs all in
all). Furthermore, you work with a surround setup in 5.1 format. Here’s
a list of busses you may wish to add:
Input busses
• Most likely you need at least one stereo input bus assigned to an analog input
pair. This would let you record stereo material. If you want to be able to record
in stereo from other analog input pairs as well, you could add stereo input
busses for these too.
• Although you can record mono tracks from one side of a stereo input, it may
be a good idea to add a dedicated mono input bus. This could be assigned to
an analog input to which you have connected a dedicated microphone pre-
amp for example. Again, you could have several different mono busses.
• You probably want a dedicated stereo input bus assigned to the digital stereo
input, for digital transfers.
• If you want to transfer surround material directly to a surround track, e.g. from
surround-configured location recording equipment, you need an input bus in
that surround format (here, this would be a 5.1 input bus).
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2 – 16 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses
Output busses
• You will need one or several stereo output busses for routing stereo mixes to
master recorders or other destinations.
• For digital transfers, you need a stereo bus assigned to a digital stereo output
as well.
• You might also need a surround bus in the format of your speaker configura-
tion (here, 5.1) assigned to the correct outputs (which in turn are connected
to the correct speakers).
• You may want additional surround busses if you tend to work in different sur-
round formats.
• The audition bus is a special output bus used to monitor your mix, preview ma-
terial for importing, listening to realtime audio exports and for Listen mode which
provides standard AFL/PFL solos for channels in the mixer. Every project con-
tains an audition bus. It is configured under the Studio tab in the VST Connec-
tions window. This should be connected to your monitoring system.
Different busses can use the same inputs/outputs on the audio hard-
ware! Be aware that assigning the audition bus to the same set of outputs
as your default bus can sometimes cause clipping due to the special re-
lationship of these two busses. By default, audio passing through the de-
fault output bus will also be heard through the audition bus. If they share
the same ASIO output, the signals will combine in the audio card causing
the levels to rise by 6dB and possibly clipping the D/A converter’s out-
puts. See page 21.
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VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 17
Preparations
Before you set up busses, you should name the inputs and outputs on
your audio hardware. For example, if you are using a 5.1 surround
speaker setup, you should name the outputs according to which
speaker they are connected to (Left, Right, Center and so on).
The reason for this is compatibility – it makes it easier to transfer
projects between different computers and setups. For example, if you
move your project to another studio, the audio hardware may be of a
different model. But if both you and the other studio owner have given
your inputs and outputs names according to the surround setup (rather
than names based on the audio hardware model), Nuendo will auto-
matically find the correct inputs and outputs for your busses and you
will be able to play and record without changing the settings.
You name your inputs and outputs in the Device Setup dialog:
1.
Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.
2.
Select the VST Outputs device in the list to the left.
The available output ports on your audio hardware are listed.
3.
To rename a port, click its name in the list and type a new name.
•
If needed, you can also disable ports by clicking in the “Visible” col-
umn (so that it says “No”).
Disabled ports won’t show up in the VST Connections window when you are making
bus settings. If you attempt to disable a port that is already used by a bus, you will be
asked whether that is really what you want – note that this will remove the port from the
bus!
4.
Select the VST Inputs and name them in the same way.
5.
Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog.
• If you open a project created on another computer and the port names
don’t match (or the port configuration isn’t the same – e.g. the project is
created on a system with multi-channel i/o and you open it on a stereo
in/out system), a Pending Connections dialog will appear.
This allows you to manually re-route ports used in the project to ports available in your
system.
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2 – 18 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses
The VST Connections window
You add and set up busses in the VST Connections window, opened
from the Devices menu.
There are five tabs in the window:
• The Input and Output tabs are for viewing input busses or output busses, re-
spectively.
• The Group/FX tab allows you to create Group and FX channels/tracks and to
make output assignments for these. See page 28.
• The External FX tab allows you to create effect send/return busses for con-
necting external effects which can then be selected via the effect pop-up
menus from inside the program. See page 284 for a description of how to use
external effects.
• The Studio tab is for the audition bus, which is a dedicated output bus for
monitoring your mix, auditioning material for import, editing in the Sample ed-
itor, realtime exports, listen mode etc. See page 29.
For the time being we shall focus on how to set up input and output
busses.
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VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 19
Depending on which tab you have selected, Input or Output, the win-
dow lists the current input or output busses, with the following columns:
Adding a bus
1.
Click the Inputs or Outputs tab depending on which you want to add.
2.
Click the Add Bus button.
A dialog appears.
3.
Select the desired (channel) configuration.
The pop-up menu contains Mono and Stereo options as well as the most common sur-
round formats. To select another surround format, use the “More...” submenu.
•
Alternatively you can right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) in the VST
Connections window and add a bus in the desired format directly
from the context menu that appears.
The new bus appears with the ports visible.
4.
Click in the Device Port column to select an input/output port for a
channel in the bus.
The pop-up menu that appears lists the ports with the names you have given them in
the Device Setup dialog. Repeat this for all channels in the bus.
Column Description
Bus Name Lists the busses. You can select busses and rename them by clicking
on them in this column.
Speakers Indicates the speaker configuration (mono, stereo, surround formats)
of each bus.
Audio Device This shows the currently selected Master ASIO driver.
Device Port When you have “opened” a bus (by clicking its + button in the Bus
Name column) this column shows which physical input/output on your
audio hardware is used by the bus.
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2 – 20 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses
Adding a child bus
A surround bus is essentially a set of mono channels – 6 channels in
the case of 5.1 format. If you have a mono track in the project, you can
route it to a separate speaker channel in the bus (or route it to the
whole surround bus and use the surround panner to position it in the
surround image). But what if you have a stereo track that you simply
want to route to a stereo channel pair within the bus (Left and Right or
Left Surround and Right Surround for example)? For this you need to
create a child bus:
1.
Select the surround bus in the list and right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click
(Mac) it.
A pop-up menu appears.
2. Select a channel configuration from the “Add Child Bus” submenu.
As you can see, you can create stereo child busses (routed to various speaker channel
pairs in the surround bus) or other surround bus formats (with fewer channels than the
“parent bus”).
The child bus you created will be available for direct routing in the
mixer. It’s a part of the parent surround bus, which means there will be
no separate channel strip for it.
Although child busses are probably most useful in output busses, you
could also create child busses within a surround input bus – for exam-
ple if you want to record a stereo channel pair (e.g. front left-right) in
the surround bus to a separate stereo track.
/