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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
© Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2013.
All rights reserved.
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
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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