STEINBERG Nuendo 3 User Manual

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.

Table of Contents

9 About this manual

165 Folder tracks

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

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

NUENDO

4 Table of Contents

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

Table of Contents 5

NUENDO

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

NUENDO

6 Table of Contents

615 Video

697 Key commands

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?

698 Background 699 Setting up Key Commands 712 Setting up tool modifier keys

713 Index

Table of Contents 7

NUENDO

8 Table of Contents

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 different ways, depending on their previous knowledge and personal preferences. You may be looking for a complete description of a procedure, 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.

NUENDO

1 – 10 About this manual

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, previewing 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 audition 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 beginning 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.

NUENDO

2 – 14 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses

Setting up busses

Strategies

You can create any number of busses in Nuendo, in virtually any channel 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 template 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 presets (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 preamp 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).

NUENDO

VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 15

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 configuration (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 surround formats.

• The audition bus is a special output bus used to monitor your mix, preview material for importing, listening to realtime audio exports and for Listen mode which provides standard AFL/PFL solos for channels in the mixer. Every project contains an audition bus. It is configured under the Studio tab in the VST Connections window. This should be connected to your monitoring system.

Different busses can use the same inputs/outputs on the audio hardware! 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 relationship of these two busses. By default, audio passing through the default 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 outputs. See page 21.

NUENDO

2 – 16 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses

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 automatically 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:

Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.

Select the VST Outputs device in the list to the left.

The available output ports on your audio hardware are listed.

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” column (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!

Select the VST Inputs and name them in the same way.

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.

NUENDO

VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 17

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, respectively.

• 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 connecting 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 editor, realtime exports, listen mode etc. See page 29.

For the time being we shall focus on how to set up input and output busses.

NUENDO

2 – 18 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses

Depending on which tab you have selected, Input or Output, the window lists the current input or output busses, with the following columns:

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.

Adding a bus

Click the Inputs or Outputs tab depending on which you want to add.

Click the Add Bus button.

A dialog appears.

Select the desired (channel) configuration.

The pop-up menu contains Mono and Stereo options as well as the most common surround 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.

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.

NUENDO

VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 19

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:

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 example if you want to record a stereo channel pair (e.g. front left-right) in the surround bus to a separate stereo track.

NUENDO

2 – 20 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses

Setting the Default Output Bus

The Default Bus is the output bus that each new channel in the mixer will be assigned to when it is created. This bus will typically be your main mix bus, where all your signals will be combined.

Any one of the output busses in the VST Connections window can be the default output bus. By [right]-clicking (PC)/[Control]-clicking (Mac) on an output bus’s name, you can select the “Default Bus” option which will define that bus as the default bus. The default bus is identified by the orange speaker icon found to the left of its name.

Setting the default output bus in the VST Connections window.

The Default Bus and the Audition Bus are related. The default bus has its aux send #1 automatically routed to the audition bus. This aux send is enabled but set to -∞ dB. Depending on your setup, you will have to make the following changes to make the full use of the audition bus and the AFL/PFL functionality:

1. Set the level of aux send #1 (destination audition bus) on your default output bus to 0.00 dB. This will pass the complete mix signal of the default output bus to the audition bus. If you are using more than one output bus, you may need to create additional aux sends #1s to the audition bus, also set to 0.00 dB.

NUENDO

VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 21

2. Be aware that the default output bus AND the audition bus are connected to ASIO output port 1/2. This means that once you have set the send levels to 0.00 dB, as described above, the levels present on the default output bus and the audition bus are summed, resulting in a 6 dB level boost at the output. Normally you would disconnect the default output bus from the ASIO output or route the audition bus to separate ASIO outputs which are used exclusively for monitoring.

To monitor your mix, the signal from aux send #1 of the default bus is sent to the audition bus, which in turn should be connected to your monitoring system.

The reason for this unusual connection is the Listen Mode in the mixer. This provides a pre-fader listen (PFL) and after-fader listen (AFL) solo bus to your monitoring system. When you enable a Listen button on any channel in the mixer, that signal (taken pre fader or post fader depending on the global setting) will be routed directly to the audition bus (the connection between your mix signal (default output bus) and the audition bus is temporarily interrupted). This allows you to hear the listen-enabled channel by itself without interrupting the signal to the default bus. When you defeat listen mode for all channels, the aux send #1 pathway from the default bus to the audition bus will be enabled, returning the whole mix to your monitoring system.

If you assign the default bus and the audition bus to the same set of ASIO outputs on your audio card, and with the aux send #1 level (default output bus to audition bus) set to 0.00 dB, this could cause clipping in the DA converters on your audio card, because of the increased level of the summed signals.

When creating new audio, group or FX channels in the mixer, they will automatically be routed to the default bus unless the channel configuration exactly matches that of another output bus. For example, if the default output bus is stereo and you have created a second 5.1 output bus, when you create a 5.1 audio track, it will be routed to the 5.1 output bus initially.

The default bus is indicated by an orange colored speaker icon next to its name in the VST Connections window.

NUENDO

2 – 22 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses

Other bus operations

• To change the port assignment for a bus you proceed as when you added it – make sure the channels are visible (by clicking the + button next to the bus, or by clicking the “+ All” button at the top of the window) and click in the Device Port column to select ports.

• To remove a bus you don’t need, select it in the list, right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) and select “Remove Bus” from the pop-up menu or press the [Backspace] key.

• You can store and recall bus presets with the pop-up menu at the top of the window.

To store the current configuration as a preset, click the store (+) button and enter a name for the preset. You can then select the stored configuration directly from the Presets pop-up menu at any time. To remove a stored preset, select it and click the (-) button.

NUENDO

VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 23

Using the busses

This section describes briefly how to use the input and output busses you have created. This is described in more detail in the chapters Re-

cording and The mixer.

Routing

When you play back an audio track (or any other audio channel in the mixer – VST Instrument channels, ReWire channels, etc.), you route it to an output bus. In the same way, when you record on an audio track you select from which input bus the audio should be sent.

• You can select input and output busses in the Inspector, using the “In” and “Out” pop-up menus.

For channel types other than audio tracks (VST Instrument channels, FX channels, etc.), only the “Out” pop-up menu is available. To access the “Out” pop-up menu for such a channel in the Inspector, select one of its automation subtracks in the Track list.

NUENDO

2 – 24 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses

• You can also select busses in the Input and Output Settings panel at the top of each channel strip in the mixer.

Again, for VST Instrument channels, ReWire channels, Group channels and FX channels you will only be able to select output busses.

• If you press [Alt]/[Option] and select an input or output bus, it will be chosen for all selected channels.

This makes it easy to quickly set several channels to use the same input or output. Similarly, if you press [Shift] and select a bus, the following selected channels will be set to use incrementing busses - the second selected channel will use the second bus, the third will use the third bus and so on.

• If the Input and Output Settings panel isn’t shown, click the Show Input and Output Settings field in the common panel to the left in the mixer.

When selecting an input bus for a track you can only select busses that correspond to the track’s channel configuration. Here are the details:

• Mono tracks can be routed to mono busses or individual channels within a stereo or surround bus (input or output). You can also route a mono track to the “whole” stereo or surround output bus, in which case a pan control (stereo pan or surround panner) will be used to position the sound.

• Stereo tracks can be routed to stereo busses or stereo child busses within a surround bus, to surround busses using a stereo surround panner and to mono busses using what looks like a normal pan control but is actually a balance control between the left and right channels.

• Surround tracks can be routed to busses with the same number of speaker channels as the track (or to corresponding child busses within a “larger” surround bus). If a surround track is routed to a bus with a different number of channels, the pan controls will be replaced by the Mixconvert plugin. See the Audio Effects and VST Instruments document for more information.

NUENDO

VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 25

Viewing the busses in the mixer

In the mixer, busses are represented by input and output channels (shown in separate panes to the left and right in the window). You can show or hide these independently by clicking the buttons Hide Input Channels and Hide Output Channels in the mixer’s common panel to the left:

Hide Input Channels

Hide Output Channels

Input channels

The input channels are shown to the left in the mixer. As you can see, each input channel resembles a regular mixer channel strip. Here you can do the following:

NUENDO

2 – 26 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses

• Check and adjust the recording level using the Input Gain knobs and/or the level fader.

See page 59.

• Change the phase of the input signal.

This is done by clicking the Input Phase button next to the Input Gain control.

• Add effects or EQ to the input bus.

See page 72 for an example of how to add effects to your recording at the input bus stage.

The settings you make in the input channel strip will be a permanent part of the recorded audio file!

Output channels

The output channels are shown to the right in the mixer. Here you can do the following:

• Adjust the total output level for the busses with the faders.

• Add effects or EQ.

These will affect the whole bus. Examples of effects you may want to add here include compressors, limiters and dithering. See page 269.

• Using Sends, send varying amounts of one Output bus to any other Output bus that is to the right of the selected Output bus in the mixer.

NUENDO

VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 27

Setting up Groups and FX channels

The Group/FX tab in the VST Connections window shows all Group channels and FX channels in your project. You can create new Group or FX channels by clicking the corresponding Add button. This is the same as creating Group channel tracks or FX channel tracks in the Project window (see page 249 and page 274 for details).

However, the VST Connections window also allows you to create child busses for Groups and FX Channels. This is useful e.g. if you have Groups or FX Channels in surround format and want to route stereo channels to specific channel pairs in these.

To create a child bus for a Group channel or FX channel, proceed as follows:

1. Open the VST Connection window and select the Groups/FX tab.

2. Select the Group or FX channel in the list and right-click (Win) or

[Ctrl]-click (Mac) it.

3. Select a channel configuration from the “Add Child Bus” submenu.

The child bus you created will be available for direct routing in the mixer. It’s a part of the parent Group or FX channel, which means there will be no separate channel strip for it.

NUENDO

2 – 28 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses

About the Audition bus

The Audition bus provides a “direct” and dedicated output for monitoring. It should use the same configuration as your monitor system, e.g. stereo or 5.1 surround.

Operations such as importing audio files, working in the Sample editor, exporting realtime mixdowns and others will occur using the audition bus for monitoring. Of course the main mix will also be heard through the audition bus.

You set up the audition bus output from the “Studio” tab in the VST Connections window, using the same methods as for other output busses. It can use any available Device Port outputs. Be careful not to assign the audition bus to the same Device Ports as the default bus, for the reasons mentioned on page 21.

The audition bus cannot be removed. However, you can change its channel configuration by right-clicking (Win) or [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) the bus and selecting the desired configuration from the “Change Bus” submenu.

NUENDO

VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses 2 – 29

Setting the audition bus level

In the Mixer, the audition bus is represented by a channel strip in the output section, to the right of the regular output channels. The audition bus channel strip only has a pre/post fader status button, a mute button and a level fader.

When auditioning or scrubbing in the Sample editor, you can also set the output level of the audition bus using the small fader on the Sample editor toolbar. This can function as a monitor level control if needed.

Setting the Pre or Post Fader Status

The Audition channel has a button next to the fader to control the pre/ post fader status of the solo bus used in Listen Mode. When a channel in the mixer is Listen enabled, its signal is routed directly to the audition bus. When the audition bus is set to pre-fader, the signal will come from just before the fader (and pan) controls on that channel. If the audition bus is set to post-fader, the signal will come after the fader (and pan) controls, providing a AFL solo with pan. Its normal status is pre-fader.

NUENDO

2 – 30 VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses

+ 700 hidden pages

STEINBERG Nuendo 3 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

About this manual

Welcome!

Introduction

Setting up busses

Using the busses

Setting up Groups and FX channels

About the Audition bus