Steinberg NUENDO 2 User Manual
Using Nuendo with DSP Factory
Manual by Ludvig Carlson, Anders Nordmark, Roger Wiklander
Quality Control: C. Bachmann, H. Bischoff, S. Pfeifer, C. Schomburg
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
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All rights reserved.
Introduction
The Yamaha DSP Factory is an audio hardware system for professional
digital multitrack recording and mixing on personal computers. The
core of this system is the DS2416 Digital Mixing Card, a PCI-bus audio
card with professional specifications, extensive mixing capabilities and
on-board EQ, dynamics and effects. It is possible to install and digitally
connect two DS2416 cards in one computer. Each card can also be
used with one or two optional AX44 Audio Expansion Units, for up to
eight additional analog inputs and outputs per card.
This manual assumes that you have at least one DS2416 installed,
tested and running under Windows 2000 or XP.
❐
For information about how to install, test and troubleshoot the DS2416,
please refer to the documentation supplied with the card. There you will
also find detailed information about audio hardware specifications and
features.
The DSP Factory in Nuendo
By using the DSP Factory in conjunction with Nuendo, you get a complete graphical interface with full control over the card’s features. The
DS2416 audio card will behave like an external digital mixer, feeding
digital signals into Nuendo’s inputs and accepting digital signals from
Nuendo’s output buses.
The Nuendo/DSP Factory combination allows you to:
•
Record and play back using multiple inputs and outputs.
By itself, the DS2416 provides four inputs and outputs (two analog and two digital).
Each AX44 unit adds four analog inputs and outputs, and there is also support for
upcoming I/O units.
•
Use the DS2416 EQ, dynamics and effects for separate Nuendo audio
channels or for combinations of channels.
•
Route DSP Factory outputs to external effects, accessible from the
VST effect sends.
•
Synchronize audio playback to external wordclock.
– 3 –
Setting up Nuendo for use with DSP Factory
❐
Again, this assumes that you have installed the DSP Factory hardware according to the instructions in the supplied manual, and tested that it runs
properly under Windows. Also, please note that the DSP Factory windows
require a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768 to be fully viewable.
Before you can start working, you need to make a few settings:
1.
Pull down the Devices menu and select Device Setup.
2.
Select VST Multitrack.
The VST Multitrack Setup dialog appears.
3.
Make sure the “ASIO SW+DS32”Driver is selected on the ASIO
Driver pop-up menu.
See the note below about the two ASIO Devices.
About the Two ASIO Devices
❐
The ASIO drivers described below may have been included with the
Yamaha DS2416 package. However, make sure to check Yamaha’s web
site for updated drivers!
There are two ASIO Devices for the Yamaha DS2416, “ASIO
SW+DS32” and “ASIO SW+DS16”. Which one to select depends on
your computer power and whether you need 24 bit recording or not:
•
If you want to record and play back 24 bit audio, you need to select
the 32 bit device (“ASIO SW+DS32”).
It is possible to record in 24 bit mode with the 16 bit device selected, but the created
audio files will only have 16 bit accuracy.
•
If you experience performance problems with the 32 bit device (and
don’t use 24 bit audio), you should select the 16 bit device (“ASIO
SW+DS16”).
The data transfer between the program and the audio card requires quite a lot of computer power. This load is drastically reduced if you use the 16 bit device.
– 4 –
Routing Audio between VST and the DSP Factory
Audio routing with the DSP Factory is extremely flexible, allowing you
to connect channels, aux sends and buses to various physical outputs
and inputs. This is done in the special DSP Factory windows, as described on page 13. However, first you need to “connect” Nuendo to
the DSP Factory:
Assigning Inputs
1.
Pull down the Devices menu and select VST Connections.
The VST Connections window appears. This is where you view, add and set up input
and output busses.
2.
Open the “Inputs” tab by clicking on it.
By default, there is a stereo bus called “Stereo In”.
3.
Click the Add bus button.
The “Add bus” window is opened. Select the the Stereo format from the Speaker
Arrangement pop-up and click OK. Repeat this procedure until four input pairs are
shown for every installed DS2416 card.
4.
In the VST Connections window click the “+” button so that the individual inputs in the bus are shown.
The ASIO Device Port column shows the physical inputs that are used by the bus.
5.
Click in the ASIO Device Port column for the “Left” channel.
A pop-up menu appears, listing all inputs on your DS2416.
6.
Select the input you want to use for the left channel in the stereo bus.
7.
Select the input for the right channel in the same way.
8.
Close the VST Connections window and open the Mixer.
In the Mixer you can now see the assigned input busses and Nuendo accepts the digital signals from the DS2416 card as input sources.
– 5 –
Assigning Output Buses
1.
Pull down the Devices menu, select VST Connections and open the
Outputs tab.
Repeat steps 3-7 of the description above until eight busses are shown in the Mixer.
2.
Make sure that each bus is assigned to the desired DS2416 PCI Out.
❐
These “PCI Outs” are not the physical outputs of the audio hardware, but
rather “output lines” connecting VST to the DS2416. The actual routing to
physical outputs is done in the DSP Factory windows, as described on
page 36.
3.
If you like, rename the busses by clicking in their name fields and typing in new names.
These names will be shown on the Output pop-up menus in Nuendo.
– 6 –
Selecting Inputs and Outputs for the Audio Channels
This description assumes that you have set the number of mono and
Stereo audio Tracks so that it corresponds with the number of output
bus channels (16 if you have one DS2416 card installed). It also assumes that you want each audio channel in Nuendo assigned to a
separate mixer channel strip in the DS2416 console. Of course, there
are other possible routings (you may want to send a combination of
audio channels to a Group or directly to the same DS2416 channel
strip, you may want to reserve some DS2416 channels for use as effect sends, etc).
1.
Open the Mixer.
2.
Select Inputs for the channels by pulling down the Input pop-up
menus at the top of the channel strips.
There should be eight Inputs available for each installed DS2416 card (four stereo
Input pairs).
3.
Route each stereo audio channel to a separate Output Bus, by using
the pop-up menus in the Input/Output Settings section of the channel
strips.
4.
For mono channels, select the same Output Bus for two (mono)
channels, and then pan the sides hard left/hard right.
Now, each audio channel is assigned to a separate channel strip in the DS2416
Factory Input console.
Assigning Group Channels to the DS2416
You can assign the outputs of Group channels to the DS2416 buses in
the same way as with the audio channels, by using the pop-up menus
in the Input/Output Settings section of the Group channel strips.
Assigning Effect Sends to the DS2416
By assigning VST Effect Sends to one of the Output Buses, you route
the send to a channel strip in the DS2416 console. You can use this
feature to address the on-board effects in the DS2416, to create several different monitor mixes during playback, etc. Note that this assignment is done individually for the effect sends of each audio channel (by
using the pop-up menus to the right in the Channel Settings window).
– 7 –
The Default Signal Routing
This section describes how signals are routed by default, when you
first start using the DS2416 card with Nuendo. If you wish you can
change the signal routing, as described on page 34. However, this
default routing allows you to perform basic playback and recording,
and to use the built-in effects without having to change the routing.
❐
For additional info, please refer to the diagrams and list in the DS2416
documentation.
About the DS2416 “Channels”, Buses and Sends
Before we describe the actual signal routing, here’s some information
about how the DS2416 is configured:
•
Each DS2416 card handles 24 separate mixer channels.
To separate these from the audio channels in Nuendo, we will call them “DS channels”
from now on.
•
There is one main stereo mix out and eight Bus Sends (four stereo
pairs).
Each DS channel can be assigned to any combination of the buses and the stereo mix.
•
There are six Aux Sends.
Each DS channel has send levels and pre/post fader switches for the sends.
– 8 –
The Default Routing of signals from Nuendo to DS2416
There are sixteen separate “lines” from Nuendo to the DS2416. In VST,
these appear as Output Buses (see page 6). In the DSP Factory Input
Console window, the “lines” from Nuendo are by default connected to
DS channel 1 to 16, as follows:
VST Output (and default Output Bus) DS2416 Channel
DS2416 #1 PCI 1/2 DS Channel 1
DS2416 #1 PCI 1/2 DS Channel 2
DS2416 #2 PCI 3/4 DS Channel 3
DS2416 #2 PCI 3/4 DS Channel 4
.
.
.
DS 2416 #8 PCI 15/16 DS Channel 15
DS 2416 #8 PCI 15/16 DS Channel 16
•
Please note that the Output assignment (PCI 1/2 etc) for each Output
.
.
.
Bus can be changed, as described on page 36.
To avoid confusion, we recommend that you keep the default order of the outputs.
– 9 –
The Default Routing of signals from DS2416 into Nuendo
There are eight separate “lines” from the DS2416 card into Nuendo. In
Nuendo, these correspond to the four Audio Input pairs (see page 5).
In the DSP Factory Input Console window, the default configuration
uses the eight bus sends to route signals from the audio card into VST
(for recording). The following default routing scheme is used:
DS 2416 Bus Send VST Input
Bus 1 PCI Rec 1/2 1
Bus 2 PCI Rec 1/2 2
Bus 3 PCI Rec 3/4 1
Bus 4 PCI Rec 3/4 2
Bus 5 PCI Rec 5/6 1
Bus 6 PCI Rec 5/6 2
Bus 7 PCI Rec 7/8 1
Bus 8 PCI Rec 7/8 2
This means that to record something through the DSP Factory into
VST, you only need to activate the appropriate Bus Sends for the desired DS Channels. From that point, the recording procedure is the
same as when you run Nuendo with “standard” audio hardware.
– 10 –
Physical Inputs and Outputs
By default, the physical inputs and outputs of the DSP Factory system
are connected to the DS channels in the following way:
Inputs
Physical Input DS Channel
DS2416 Analog In Left 17
DS2416 Analog In Right 18
DS2416 Digital In Left 19
DS2416 Digital In Right 20
Outputs
Bus/Send in the
DSP Factory Input Console
Master Stereo Out Left/Right DS2416 Analog Out Left/Right
Aux Send 1 IOA/IOB Output 1
Aux Send 2 IOA/IOB Output 2
Aux Send 3 IOA/IOB Output 3
Aux Send 4 IOA/IOB Output 4
Physical Output
and
DS2416 Digital Out Left/Right
“IOA” and “IOB” are the connections to additional input/output units
such as the AX44. For each DS2416 card, you can add two extra input/output units (IOA and IOB). Each unit may have 4 or 8 inputs and
outputs.
❐
As you see, the default routing only provides access to four extra outputs (for use with external effects, etc). To be able to use all additional
inputs and outputs, you will need to re-configure the input and output
routing. This is described on page 34.
– 11 –
The On-Board Effects
The DS2416 card carries two powerful effect processors, which can
easily be accessed with the default routing:
•
Signals are routed to the effects using Aux Send 5 (FX Unit 1) and
Aux Send 6 (FX Unit 2).
The effect inputs are in mono.
•
The stereo output signals from the effects are routed to the “FX Return channels” (DS Channels 21/22 for FX Unit 1 and 23/24 for FX
Unit 2).
To avoid feedback, Aux Sends 5 and 6 are disabled for these DS channels.
– 12 –
Opening the DSP Factory Windows
When Nuendo detects one or more DS2416 cards, special “DSP
Factory” menu items are added to the Devices menu. These are the
DSP Factory windows.
Below follows a brief description of each window. For detailed information, click on the page number links.
•
DSP Factory Input Console.
This is the main mixer window for the DSP Factory system. Here is where you set levels, panning, eq and dynamics, activate buses and aux sends and select input sources
for the DS channels. See page 14.
•
DSP Factory Channel Overview.
This window shows all settings (some of which are not available in the Input Console
window) for one DS channel at a time. See page 29.
•
DSP FactoryBus/Aux Console.
This window contains master send levels for the buses and aux sends. See page 28.
•
DSP Factory FX Editor.
This window is used to select effect types and make settings for the two FX Units. It
can also be opened directly from the Input Console. See page 30.
•
DSP Factory Output Patchbay.
This window provides an overview of the current output routing, and allows you to reroute buses and sends to other physical outputs. It also contains wordclock synchronization settings, for when you use the DSP Factory in conjunction with external digital
recorders or other audio hardware. See page 31.
– 13 –
The Input Console window
The Input Console window is the main DSP Factory window. If you
view the DSP Factory as an external digital mixer, feeding and receiving audio signals to and from Nuendo, this window is the mixer panel.
❐
Static initial settings in the DSP Factory windows are saved with the Project.
About the Upper and Lower displays
For each DS channel, there is a large number of controls and settings.
Showing them all at the same time would require an impossibly large
window. Therefore, each channel strip in the Input Console is divided
into two “halves”, the Upper and Lower display. You can select what
should be shown on these two displays, independently for each channel:
The Lower Display
1.
Locate the dividing line between the Upper and Lower display for the
channel strip.
You may have to scroll the window to see all of the Input Console.
2.
Point at the small triangle pointing downward, and press the mouse
button.
A pop-up menu appears with the three modes for the Lower display.
3.
Select one of the display modes.
If you select the “Narrow” mode, the channel strip will be as narrow as possible to conserve screen space, showing only the basic level and pan controls (see below). The
controls in the other modes are described on page 16.
– 14 –
The Upper Display
1.
Locate the dividing line between the Upper and Lower display for the
channel strip.
2.
Point at the small triangle pointing upward, and press the mouse button.
A pop-up menu appears with the five modes for the Upper display.
3.
Select one of the display modes.
If you select the “Narrow” mode, the channel strip will be as narrow as possible to conserve screen space, with no controls in the Upper display (see below). The controls in
the other modes are described on page 19.
About the “Narrow” mode
The selection of display modes is independent for the Upper and
Lower displays, with one exception:
•
Selecting the “Narrow” mode for the Upper or Lower display will automatically select the “Narrow” mode for the other display as well.
Since the width of the whole channel strip is minimized, there is then no room for any
additional controls in either display.
– 15 –
Channel Controls in the Lower Display
Bus On/Off buttons
Pan Control
Stereo link switch
Level Display
Level Fader
Level Meter
Fader Setting
Channel Solo
Channel Mute
Aux Send On/Off buttons
Input Selector
Stereo Mix on/off switch
The Lower Display in “Bus Assign”, “Aux Assign” and “Narrow” modes.
– 16 –
Control Explanation
Pan Control Sets the stereo position of the channel. This is used when you are as-
signing channels to the buses (when the Bus Sends are in “Post Pan”
mode - see below).
Stereo link
switch
When this is activated (when the green arrow is lit), the two channels
in an odd-even pair are linked. This means that if you move a control
for one of the channels, the other channel will be affected in the same
way. Pan is not affected by the Stereo link.
• You can also momentarily “stereo-link” unlinked faders and other
controls by holding down [Alt] while moving the controls.
Conversely, for channel pairs with Stereo link activated, holding down
[Alt] allows you to adjust settings for each channel in the pair.
Level Fader Determines the level of the channel, both when playing back and
when recording signals into VST.
Level Meter Indicates the signal level of the channel. You can select globally how
fast the meters should respond (see page 27).
Level Display Indicates the signal level numerically, in Peak Hold or continuous
mode (see page 27).
Fader Setting Indicates the current fader setting in dB.
Channel Solo Mutes all other channels.
Channel Mute Turns off the sound of the channel.
Input Selector This display indicates the currently selected input source for the chan-
nel. Clicking on it brings down a pop-up menu, from which you can
select another input source.
Bus On/Off
buttons
Stereo Mix
on/off switch
Use these to turn the Bus sends on or off for the channel. These buttons are “mirrored” in the Bus Send panel in the Upper display.
This switch determines whether the channel is connected to the Stereo
Mix (the master fader to the right on the Input Console panel) or not.
You may want to deactivate this for channels which you have routed to
separate outputs, using the Bus or Aux Sends. The switch is duplicated
in the Bus Send panel in the Upper display.
Aux Send
On/Off buttons
Use these to turn the Aux sends on or off for the channel. These buttons are “mirrored” in the Aux Send panel in the Upper display.
– 17 –
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