Steinberg Nuendo 6.0 User manual

Operation Manual

Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Christina Kaboth, Insa Mingers, Sabine Pfeifer,

Benjamin Schütte

This PDF provides improved access for vision-impaired users. Please note that due to the complexity

and number of images in this document, it is not possible to include text descriptions of images.

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. Registered licensees of the product described herein may print one

copy of this document for their personal use.

All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners. For more

information, please visit www.steinberg.net/trademarks.

Release Date: January 30, 2013

3

Table of Contents

10 Introduction

10 About the Program Versions

10 About the Nuendo Expansion Kit

10 Key Command Conventions

11 Part I:

Getting into the details

12 Setting up your system

12 Setting up audio

20 Setting up MIDI

22 Connecting a synchronizer

22 Setting up video

22 Optimizing audio performance

25 The VST Performance Window

26 The ASIO-Guard Option

27 VST Connections

27 About this chapter

27 The VST Connections window

28 Setting up busses

32 Setting up group and FX channels

32 About monitoring

32 External instruments/effects

38 Editing operations

40 The Project window

40 Window Overview

42 The track list

43 The Inspector

47 The toolbar

48 The status line

49 The info line

50 The overview line

50 The ruler

52 The Snap function

54 Auto-Scroll

56 Working with projects

56 Creating new projects

56 Opening projects

57 Closing projects

57 Saving projects

59 The Archive and Backup functions

62 Startup Options

63 The Project Setup dialog

65 Zoom and view options

69 Audio handling

70 Auditioning audio parts and events

71 Scrubbing audio

71 Editing parts and events

84 Range editing

87 Region operations

88 The Edit History dialog

90 The Preferences dialog

92 Working with tracks and lanes

92 Setting up tracks

96 Editing tracks

99 Working with lanes

102 Organizing tracks in folder tracks

105 Dividing the track list

106 Playback and the Transport panel

106 Background

107 Operations

111 Options and Settings

113 The Virtual Keyboard (Nuendo Expansion

Kit only)

115 Recording

115 Background

115 Basic recording methods

118 Audio recording specifics

129 MIDI recording specifics

136 Options and Settings

4

141 Quantizing MIDI and Audio

141 Introduction

141 Quantizing Audio Event Starts

141 AudioWarp Quantize

142 Quantizing MIDI Event Starts

142 Quantizing MIDI Event Lengths

142 Quantizing MIDI Event Ends

142 Quantizing Multiple Audio Tracks

143 AudioWarp Quantizing Multiple Audio

Tracks

143 The Quantize Panel

149 Additional Quantizing Functions

150 Fades, crossfades, and envelopes

150 Creating fades

153 The Fade dialogs

154 Creating crossfades

155 The Crossfade dialog

160 Auto fades and crossfades

161 Event envelopes

163 The arranger track

163 Introduction

163 Setting up the arranger track

165 Working with arranger events

168 Flattening the arranger chain

170 Live mode

171 Arranging your music to video

172 The transpose functions

172 Introduction

172 Transposing your music

176 Other functions

180 Using markers

180 Introduction

182 The Marker window

188 Marker tracks

192 Working with the ADR Panel

196 Exporting and importing markers

203 The MixConsole

203 Overview

205 Configuring the MixConsole

209 Keyboard Navigation in the MixConsole

212 Working with the Fader Section

216 Working with the Channel Racks

230 Linking Channels

232 Metering

234 Using Channel Settings

237 Resetting MixConsole Channels

237 Adding Pictures

238 Adding Notes to a MixConsole Channel

239 MixConsole Diagrams

241 The Control Room

242 Setting Up the Control Room Channels

245 Opening the Control Room

245 The Control Room Mixer

251 The Setup Pane

254 Cue Channels and Cue Sends

256 The Control Room Overview

256 Direct Monitoring and Latency

257 Audio effects

257 Overview

259 Insert effects

266 Send effects

271 Using the side-chain input

273 Using external effects

273 Editing effects

274 Effect presets

279 Installing and managing effect plug-ins

283 VST instruments and instrument

tracks

283 Introduction

283 VST instrument channels vs. instrument

tracks

283 VST instrument channels

286 Instrument tracks

289 What do I need? Instrument channel or

instrument track?

289 Instrument Freeze

291 VST instruments and processor load

291 Using presets for VSTi configuration

295 About latency

296 External instruments

297 Surround sound

297 Introduction

299 Preparations

301 Using the SurroundPanner V5

311 Using the MixConvert V6 plug-in

311 Exporting a surround mix

312 Automation

312 Introduction

312 Working with automation curves

313 Enabling and disabling the writing of

automation data

313 Writing automation data

316 Editing automation events

318 Automation track operations

322 Virgin territory vs. the initial value

324 The Automation panel

341 Automation Preferences

342 Hints and further options

342 MIDI controller automation

5

346 Audio processing and functions

346 Background

346 Audio processing

361 Applying plug-ins

362 The Offline Process History dialog

364 Batch Processing

366 Freeze Edits

367 Detect Silence

369 The Spectrum Analyzer

371 Statistics

372 Measuring Loudness

373 About time stretch and pitch shift

algorithms

376 The Sample Editor

376 Window overview

384 General functions

392 Warping audio

398 Working with hitpoints and slices

404 VariAudio

419 Generating Harmony Voices for

Monophonic Audio

420 Flattening realtime processing

422 The Audio Part Editor

422 Background

422 Window overview

423 Opening the Audio Part Editor

424 Operations

426 Options and Settings

427 The Pool

427 Background

428 Window overview

432 Operations

446 The MediaBay

446 Introduction

447 Working with the MediaBay

448 The Define Locations section

451 The Locations section

451 The Results list

456 Previewing files

460 The Filters section

463 The Attribute Inspector

469 MediaBay aspects

471 Preferences

472 Key commands

473 Working with MediaBay-related windows

475 Working with Volume databases

477 Working with track presets

477 Introduction

477 Types of track presets

479 Applying track presets

482 Creating a track preset

483 Creating tracks from track presets or VST

presets

485 Track Quick Controls

485 Introduction

485 Assigning parameters to quick controls

487 Connecting quick controls with remote

controllers

488 Quick controls and automatable

parameters

490 Remote controlling Nuendo

490 Introduction

490 Setting Up

492 Operations

493 The Generic Remote device

497 Track Quick Controls

497 The Remote Control Editor

502 Deactivating joysticks

503 Apple Remote (Macintosh only)

504 MIDI realtime parameters and

effects

504 Introduction

504 The Inspector – general handling

505 The Inspector sections

510 MIDI effects

514 Managing plug-ins

515 Using MIDI devices

515 Background

515 MIDI devices – general settings and patch

handling

522 About Device panels

526 MIDI processing

526 Introduction

528 Making your settings permanent

529 Dissolve Part

531 Bounce MIDI

531 Repeat Loop

532 Other MIDI functions

536 The MIDI editors

536 Introduction

537 Opening a MIDI editor

538 The Key Editor – Overview

542 Key Editor operations

567 The In-Place Editor

568 The Drum Editor – Overview (NEK only)

570 Drum Editor operations (NEK only)

572 Working with drum maps (NEK only)

576 Using drum name lists (NEK only)

576 The List Editor – Overview

577 List Editor operations

581 Working with SysEx messages

583 Recording SysEx parameter changes

584 Editing SysEx messages

6

586 Working with the Chord Functions

586 Introduction

586 The Chord Track

589 The Chord Track Inspector Section

592 The Chord Editor

593 The Chord Assistant

595 Creating a Chord Progression from

Scratch (Chords to MIDI)

596 Extracting Chords from MIDI (Make

Chords)

597 Controlling MIDI or Audio Playback with

the Chord Track (Follow Chords)

598 Assigning Chord Events to MIDI Effects

or VST Instruments

599 Expression maps (NEK only)

599 Introduction

600 Using expression maps in Nuendo

604 Creating and editing expression maps

609 Note Expression (NEK only)

609 Introduction

611 Setting up the Note Expression Inspector

tab

613 Mapping controllers

614 Recording

616 Editing Note Expression data

620 Note Expression and MIDI

623 HALion Sonic SE

624 The Logical Editor, Transformer,

and Input Transformer

624 Introduction

625 Opening the Logical Editor

625 Window overview

626 Setting up filter conditions

634 Selecting a function

635 Specifying actions

638 Applying the defined actions

638 Working with presets

639 The Input Transformer

641 The Project Logical Editor

641 Introduction

642 Opening the Project Logical Editor

642 Window overview

642 Setting up filter conditions

649 Specifying actions

651 Selecting a function

652 Applying Macros

652 Applying the defined actions

652 Working with presets

654 Editing tempo and signature

654 Background

655 Tempo and signature display

657 Editing tempo and signature

660 Process Tempo

661 The Process Bars dialog

662 The Beat Calculator

663 Merge Tempo From Tapping

663 The Time Warp tool

669 Tempo Detection

672 Adjusting the audio to the project tempo

673 The Project Browser

673 Window Overview

674 Editing tracks

682 The Track Sheet

682 Overview

684 Printing the track sheet

685 Export Audio Mixdown

685 Introduction

686 Mixing down to audio files

687 The Export Audio Mixdown dialog

692 The available file formats

698 Networking

698 Introduction

698 What can I use the Networking functions

for?

698 Networking protocol and ports

700 The network dialogs

700 Selecting a user name

702 Setting up a network

705 Sharing projects

712 Joining projects

714 Working with shared projects

716 Further options

718 Synchronization

718 Background

719 Timecode (positional references)

721 Clock sources (speed references)

723 Frame edge alignment (phase)

723 The Project Synchronization Setup dialog

733 Synchronized operation

734 Example scenarios

739 Working with VST System Link

743 Activating VST System Link

7

749 Video

749 Introduction

749 Before you start

751 Preparing a video project in Nuendo

753 Video files in the Project window

754 Playing back video

757 Editing video

757 Extracting audio from a video file

758 Replacing the audio in a video file

758 About film transfers

761 Compensating for speed changes in

Nuendo

765 Tips

766 Audio editing to picture

766 Introduction

766 Video timeline and the grid

768 Conforming production audio

771 Adding sound design elements

773 Conforming to picture changes

775 Synchronize tempo maps to picture

775 Using standard Nuendo tools for

postproduction purposes

782 ReWire

782 Introduction

782 Launching and quitting

783 Activating ReWire channels

784 Using the transport and tempo controls

784 How the ReWire channels are handled in

Nuendo

785 Routing MIDI via ReWire2

785 Considerations and limitations

786 File handling

786 Importing audio

792 Exporting and importing OMF files

794 Exporting and importing AAF files

796 Exporting and importing AES31 files

797 Exporting and importing OpenTL files

798 Exporting and importing standard MIDI

files

801 Exporting and importing MIDI loops

802 Exporting and importing track archives

803 Converting audio tracks (multi-channel to

mono and vice versa)

807 Clip packages

812 Customizing

812 Background

813 Workspaces

814 Using the Setup options

816 Customizing track controls

819 Configuring the main menu items

820 Appearance

822 Applying colors in the Project window

825 Where are the settings stored?

827 Key commands

827 Introduction

828 Setting up key commands

836 Setting up tool modifier keys

836 The default key commands

844 Part II:

Score layout and printing

845 How the Score Editor works

845 About this chapter

845 Welcome!

845 How the Score Editor operates

846 MIDI notes vs. score notes

846 Display Quantize

849 Entering notes by hand vs. recording

notes

850 The basics

850 About this chapter

850 Preparations

850 Opening the Score Editor

851 The project cursor

851 Playing back and recording

851 Page Mode

853 Changing the zoom factor

854 The active staff

854 Making page setup settings

854 Designing your work space

857 About the Score Editor context menus

857 About dialogs in the Score Editor

858 Setting clef, key, and time signature

864 Transposing instruments

864 Printing from the Score Editor

865 Exporting pages as image files

866 Working order

866 Force update

867 Transcribing MIDI recordings

867 About this chapter

867 About transcription

867 Getting the parts ready

868 Preparing parts for score printout

868 Staff settings

869 Situations which require additional

techniques

870 Inserting Display Quantize changes

871 The Explode function

872 Using “Scores Notes To MIDI”

8

873 Entering and editing notes

873 About this chapter

873 Score settings

874 Note values and positions

876 Adding and editing notes

878 Selecting notes

880 Moving notes

882 Duplicating notes

882 Cut, copy, and paste

883 Editing pitches of individual notes

884 Changing the length of notes

885 Splitting a note in two

885 Working with the Display Quantize tool

886 Split (piano) staves

887 Strategies: Multiple staves

887 Inserting and editing clefs, keys, or time

signatures

889 Deleting notes

890 Staff settings

890 About this chapter

890 Staff settings

890 Making settings

891 Working with staff presets

891 Staff names

892 Key and clef

892 Display Quantize and Interpretation

Options

895 Display Transpose

896 The Options tab

897 The Polyphonic tab

897 The Tablature tab

898 Polyphonic voicing

898 About this chapter

898 Background: Polyphonic voicing

900 Setting up the voices

902 Strategies: How many voices do I need?

902 Entering notes into voices

903 Checking which voice a note belongs to

903 Moving notes between voices

904 Handling rests

905 Voices and Display Quantize

906 Creating crossed voicings

907 Automatic polyphonic voicing – Merge All

Staves

908 Converting voices to tracks – Extract

Voices

909 Additional note and rest formatting

909 About this chapter

909 Background: Note stems

910 Setting stem direction

911 Stem length

912 Accidentals and enharmonic shift

913 Changing the note head shape

914 Other note details

915 Coloring notes

916 Copying settings between notes

917 Handling beaming

923 About tied notes

925 Graphic moving of notes

926 Cue notes

927 Grace notes

928 Tuplets

931 Working with symbols

931 About this chapter

931 Background: The different layers

932 The Symbols Inspector

935 Important! – Symbols, staves, and voices

935 Adding symbols to the score

945 Selecting symbols

946 Moving and duplicating symbols

950 Changing length, size, and shape

951 Deleting symbols

951 Copy and paste

952 Alignment

952 Symbol details

961 Working with chords

961 About this chapter

961 Inserting chord symbols

964 Global chord settings

965 Working with text

965 About this chapter

965 Adding and editing text symbols

968 Different types of text

974 Text functions

978 Working with layouts

978 About this chapter

978 Background: Layouts

979 Creating a layout

979 Opening a layout

979 Layout operations

980 Using layouts – an example

981 Marker Track to Form

982 Working with MusicXML

982 Introduction

983 Importing and exporting MusicXML files

9

986 Designing your score: additional

techniques

986 About this chapter

986 Layout settings

988 Staff size

988 Hiding/showing objects

990 Coloring notes

990 Multiple rests

991 Editing existing bar lines

992 Creating upbeats

993 Setting the number of bars across the

page

994 Moving bar lines

995 Dragging staves

997 Adding brackets and braces

998 Displaying the Chord Symbols from the

Chord Track

998 Auto Layout

1000 Reset Layout

1001 Breaking bar lines

1003 Scoring for drums

1003 About this chapter

1003 Background: Drum maps in the Score

Editor

1004 Setting up the drum map

1006 Setting up a staff for drum scoring

1006 Entering and editing notes

1006 Using “Single Line Drum Staff”

1007 Creating tablature

1007 About this chapter

1007 Creating tablature automatically

1008 Creating tablature manually

1009 Tablature number appearance

1010 Editing

1010 Note head shape

1011 The score and MIDI playback

1011 About this chapter

1011 Scores and the Arranger mode

1011 Working with mapped dynamics

1015 Tips and Tricks

1015 Overview

1015 Useful editing techniques

1017 Frequently asked questions

1020 If you wish you had a faster computer

1021 Index

10

Introduction

About the Program Versions

The documentation covers two different operating systems or “platforms”, Windows

and Mac OS X. Some features and settings are specific to one of the platforms.

This is clearly stated in the applicable cases. If nothing else is said, all descriptions

and procedures in the documentation are valid for both Windows and Mac OS X.

The screenshots are taken from the Windows version of Nuendo.

About the Nuendo Expansion Kit

The Nuendo Expansion Kit adds a number of music composition functions from

Steinberg’s Cubase (the “Cubase Music Tools”) to the standard Nuendo application.

The Nuendo Expansion Kit (NEK) is a separate product and can be purchased

through your Steinberg dealer.

Whenever procedures in this manual use functions available only when the NEK is

installed, this is indicated in the text by “Nuendo Expansion Kit only”.

Key Command Conventions

Many of the default key commands in Nuendo use modifier keys, some of which are

different depending on the operating system. For example, the default key command

for Undo is [Ctrl]-[Z] on Windows and [Command]-[Z] on Mac OS X systems.

When key commands with modifier keys are described in this manual, they are shown

with the Windows modifier key first, in the following way:

[Win modifier key]/[Mac modifier key]-[key]

For example, [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Z] means “press [Ctrl] on Windows or [Command]

on Mac OS X systems, then press [Z]”.

Similarly, [Alt]/[Option]-[X] means “press [Alt] on Windows or [Option] on Mac OS X

systems, then press [X]”.

Ö This manual often refers to right-clicking, for example, to open context menus. If you

are using a Mac with a single-button mouse, hold down [Ctrl] and click.

Part I:

Getting into the details

12

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

Connecting audio

Exactly how to set up your system depends on many different factors, e. g. the kind of

project you wish to create, the external equipment you want to use, or the computer

hardware available to you. Therefore, the following sections can only serve as examples.

How you connect your equipment, i. e. whether you use digital or analog connections,

also depends on your individual setup.

Stereo input and output – the simplest connection

If you only use a stereo input and output from Nuendo, you can connect your audio

hardware, e.

g. the inputs of your audio card or your audio interface, directly to the

input source and the outputs to a power amplifier and speaker.

Simple stereo

audio setup

This is probably the simplest of all setups – once you have set up the internal input

and output busses, you can connect your audio source, e.

g. a microphone, to your

audio interface and start recording.

!

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!

13

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

Multi-channel input and output

Most likely however, you will have other audio equipment that you want to integrate

with Nuendo, using several input and output channels. Depending on the equipment

available to you, there are two ways to go: either mixing using an external mixing desk,

or mixing using the MixConsole inside Nuendo.

• External mixing means having a hardware mixing device with a group or bus system

that can be used for feeding inputs on your audio hardware.

In the example below, four busses are used for feeding signals to the audio

hardware’s inputs. The four outputs are connected back to the mixer for monitoring

and playback. Remaining mixer inputs can be used for connecting audio sources

like microphones, instruments, etc.

Multi-channel

audio setup

using an

external mixer

Ö When connecting an input source (like a mixer) to the audio hardware, you should use

output busses, sends or similar that are separate from the mixer’s master output, to

avoid recording what you are playing back. You may also have mixing hardware that

can be connected via FireWire.

• When using the MixConsole inside Nuendo, you can use the inputs on your audio

hardware to connect microphones and/or external devices. Use the outputs to

connect your monitoring equipment.

You can create very complex setups using external instruments and external

effects, and integrate Nuendo seamlessly with all your external equipment using

the Control Room feature (see the chapters

“VST Connections” on page 27 and

“The Control Room” on page 241).

Mixing inside

Nuendo

14

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

Connecting for surround sound

If you plan to mix for surround sound, you can connect the audio outputs to a multi-

channel power amplifier, driving a set of surround channels.

Surround

sound

playback

configuration

Nuendo supports a number of surround formats. The example connection above will

work for mixing both LRCS (ProLogic for example) and 5.1, in which case the two

surround speakers will be playing the same material (from the single surround

channel). The difference between the two formats is the LFE channel, which is not

used with LRCS.

Recording from a CD player

Most computers come with a CD-ROM drive that can also be used as a regular CD

player. In some cases the CD player is internally connected to the audio hardware so

that you can record the output of the CD player directly into Nuendo (consult the

audio hardware documentation if you are uncertain).

• All routing and level adjustments for recording from a CD (if available) are done in

the audio hardware setup application (see below).

• You can also grab audio tracks directly from a CD in Nuendo (see the chapter “File

handling” on page 786).

Word clock connections

If you are using a digital audio connection, you may also need a word clock

connection between the audio hardware and external devices. Please refer to the

documentation that came with the audio hardware for details.

!

It is very important that word clock synchronization is set up correctly, or you may

experience clicks and crackles in your recordings.

15

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

About recording levels and inputs

When you connect your equipment, you should make sure that the impedance and

levels of the audio sources and inputs are matched. Typically, different inputs may be

designed for use with microphones, consumer line level (-10

dBV) or professional line

level (+4

dBV), or you may be able to adjust input characteristics on the audio

interface or in its control panel. Please check the audio hardware documentation for

details.

Using the correct types of input is important to avoid distortion or noisy recordings.

Making settings for the audio hardware

Most audio cards come with one or more small applications that allow you to

configure the inputs of the hardware to your liking. This includes:

- Selecting which inputs/outputs are active.

- Setting up word clock synchronization (if available).

- Turning monitoring via the hardware on/off (see “About monitoring” on page 19).

- Setting levels for each input. This is very important!

- Setting levels for the outputs, so that they match the equipment you use for

monitoring.

- Selecting digital input and output formats.

- Making settings for the audio buffers.

In many cases all available settings for the audio hardware are gathered in a control

panel, which can be opened from within Nuendo as described below (or opened

separately, when Nuendo isn’t running). In some cases, there may be several different

applications and panels – please refer to the audio hardware documentation for details.

Plug and Play support for ASIO devices

The Steinberg UR824 hardware series supports Plug and Play in Nuendo. These

devices can be plugged in and switched on while the application is running. Nuendo

will automatically use the driver of the UR824 series and will re-map the VST

connections accordingly.

Steinberg cannot guarantee that this will work with other hardware. If you are unsure

of whether your device supports plug and play, please consult its documentation.

!

Nuendo does not provide any input level adjustments for the signals coming in to your

audio hardware, since these are handled differently for each card. Adjusting input

levels is either done in a special application included with the hardware or from its

control panel (see below).

!

If a device that does not support Plug and Play is connected/disconnected while the

computer is running, it may get damaged.

16

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

Selecting a driver and making audio settings in Nuendo

The first thing you need to do is select the correct driver in Nuendo to make sure that

the program can communicate with the audio hardware:

1. Launch Nuendo and select Device Setup from the Devices menu.

2. In the Devices list to the left, click on “VST Audio System”.

The VST Audio System page is shown.

3. On the ASIO Driver menu, select your audio hardware driver.

There may be several options here that all refer to the same audio hardware. When

you have selected a driver, it is added to the Devices list.

4. Select the driver in the Devices list to open the driver settings for your audio

hardware.

5. Bring up the control panel for the audio hardware and adjust the settings as

recommended by the audio hardware manufacturer.

• Under Windows, you open the control panel by clicking the Control Panel button.

The control panel that opens when you click this button is provided by the audio

hardware manufacturer – not Nuendo (unless you use DirectX, see below). Hence

it will be different for each audio card brand and model.

The control panels for the ASIO DirectX driver and the Generic Low Latency ASIO

Driver (Windows only) are exceptions, in that they are provided by Steinberg and

described in the dialog help, opened by clicking the Help button in the dialog. See

also the notes on DirectX below.

• Under Mac OS X, the control panel for your audio hardware is opened by clicking

the “Open Config App” button on the settings page for your audio device in the

Device Setup dialog.

Note that this button is available only for some hardware products. If “Open Config

App” is not available in your setup, refer to the documentation that came with your

audio hardware for information on where to make hardware settings.

!

Under Windows, we strongly recommend that you access your hardware via an ASIO

driver written specifically for the hardware. If no ASIO driver is installed, we recommend

that you check with your audio hardware manufacturer if they have an ASIO driver

available, for example, for download via the Internet. You can use the Generic Low

Latency ASIO driver if no specific ASIO driver is available.

17

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

6. If you plan to use several audio applications simultaneously, you may want to

activate the “Release Driver when Application is in Background” option on the VST

Audio System page. This will allow another application to play back via your audio

hardware even though Nuendo is running.

The application that is currently active (i. e. the “top window” on the desktop) gets

access to the audio hardware. Make sure that any other audio application

accessing the audio hardware is also set to release the ASIO (or Mac OS X) driver

so Nuendo can use it when it becomes the active application again.

7. If your audio hardware receives clock signals from an external sample clock

source, you may want to activate the “Externally Clocked” option on the page for

the driver.

This is described in detail in the section “If your hardware setup is based on an

external clock source” on page 17.

8. If your audio hardware and its driver support ASIO Direct Monitoring, you may

want to activate the Direct Monitoring checkbox on the page for the driver.

Read more about monitoring later in this chapter and in the chapter “Recording”

on page 115.

9. Click Apply and then OK to close the dialog.

If your hardware setup is based on an external clock source

For proper audio playback and recording, it is essential that you set the project’s

sample rate to the sample rate of the incoming clock signals. If you load a project with

a sample rate that is different from your clock source, the program will try to change

the settings of the clock source, which may not be what you want.

By activating the “Externally Clocked” option, you “tell” Nuendo that it receives

external clock signals and therefore derives its speed from that source. The program

will not try to change the hardware sample rate any longer. The sample rate mismatch

is accepted and playback will therefore be faster or slower. For more information

about the Sample Rate setting, see

“The Project Setup dialog” on page 63.

Ö When a sample rate mismatch occurs, the Record Format field on the status line is

highlighted in a different color.

If you are using audio hardware with a DirectX driver (Windows only)

Nuendo comes with a driver called ASIO DirectX Full Duplex, available for selection

on the ASIO Driver pop-up menu (VST Audio System page).

Ö To take advantage of DirectX Full Duplex, the audio hardware must support WDM

(Windows Driver Model).

When the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver is selected in the Device Setup dialog, you

can open the ASIO Control Panel and adjust the following settings (for more details,

click the Help button in the control panel):

• Direct Sound Output and Input Ports

In the list on the left in the window, all available Direct Sound output and input

ports are listed. In many cases, there will be only one port in each list. To activate

or deactivate a port in the list, click the checkbox in the left column. If the checkbox

is ticked, the port is activated.

!

A DirectX driver is the next best option to a specific ASIO driver and the Generic Low

Latency ASIO driver.

18

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

• You can edit the Buffer Size and Offset settings in this list if necessary, by double-

clicking on the value and typing in a new value.

In most cases, the default settings will work fine. Audio buffers are used when audio

data is transferred between Nuendo and the audio card. While larger buffers ensure

that playback will occur without glitches, the latency (the time between the moment

Nuendo sends out the data and when it actually reaches the output) will be higher.

• Offset

If a constant offset is audible during playback of Audio and MIDI recordings, you

can adjust the output or input latency time using this value.

Setting up the input and output ports

Once you have selected the driver and made the settings as described above, you

need to specify which inputs and outputs will be used and name these:

1. In the Device Setup dialog, select your driver in the Devices list on the left to

display the driver settings for your audio hardware.

All input and output ports on the audio hardware are listed.

2. To hide a port, click in the “Visible” column for the port (deselecting the checkbox).

Ports that are not visible cannot be selected in the VST Connections window

where you set up your input and output busses – see the chapter

“VST

Connections” on page 27.

3. To rename a port, click on its name in the “Show as” column and type in a new

name.

• It is a good idea to give your ports names that are related to the channel

configuration (rather than to the actual hardware model)!

For example, if you are using a 5.1 surround audio setup, you could name the six

ports Left, Right, Center, LFE, Left Surround, and Right Surround. This makes it

easier to transfer your projects between different computers, e.g. in different studios

– if the same port names are used on both computers, Nuendo will automatically

handle the bus connections properly when you open the project on the other

computer.

4. Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog and apply your changes.

!

If you attempt to hide a port that is already used by a bus you will be asked whether

this is really what you want – note that this will disable the port!

19

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

About monitoring

In Nuendo, monitoring means listening to the input signal while preparing to record or

while recording. There are three ways to monitor:

External monitoring

External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it goes into Nuendo) requires

an external mixer for mixing the audio playback with the input signal. This can be a

classic mixing desk or a mixer application for your audio hardware, if this has a mode

in which the input audio is sent back out again (usually called “Thru”, “Direct Thru” or

similar).

Via Nuendo

In this case, the audio passes from the input into Nuendo, possibly through Nuendo

effects and EQ and then back to the output. You control monitoring via settings in

Nuendo.

This allows you to control the monitoring level from Nuendo and add effects to the

monitored signal only.

ASIO Direct Monitoring

If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may support ASIO Direct Monitoring

(this feature may also be available for audio hardware with Mac OS X drivers). In this

mode, the actual monitoring is done in the audio hardware, by sending the input signal

back out again. However, monitoring is controlled from Nuendo. This means that the

audio hardware’s direct monitoring feature can be turned on or off automatically by

Nuendo.

Monitoring is described in detail in the chapter “Recording” on page 115. However,

when setting up, there is one thing to note:

• If you want to use the external monitoring via your audio hardware, make sure that

the corresponding functions are activated in the card’s mixer application.

Ö If you are using RME Audio Hammerfall DSP audio hardware, make sure that the pan

law is set to -3

dB in the card’s preferences.

20

Setting up your system

Setting up MIDI

This section describes how to connect and set up MIDI equipment. If you have no

MIDI equipment, you can skip this section. Note that this is only an example – you

might need or want to hook things up differently!

Connecting the MIDI equipment

In this example we assume that you have a MIDI keyboard and an external MIDI sound

module. The keyboard is used both for feeding the computer with MIDI messages for

recording and for playing back MIDI tracks. The sound module is used for playback

only. Using Nuendo’s MIDI Thru feature (described later) you will be able to hear the

correct sound from the sound module while playing the keyboard or recording.

A typical MIDI

Setup

If you want to use even more instruments for playback, simply connect MIDI Thru on

the sound module to MIDI In on the next instrument, and so on. In this hook-up, you

will always play the first keyboard when recording. But you can still use all your

devices for providing sounds on playback.

!

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!

!

If you plan to use more than three sound sources, we recommend that you either use

an interface with more than one output, or a separate MIDI Thru box instead of the

Thru jacks on each unit.

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Steinberg Nuendo 6.0 User manual

Steinberg Nuendo 6.0 User manual

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