Steinberg Nuendo - 4.0 Getting Started

Getting Started
Einführung
Prise en Main
Tutorials by Steve Kostrey Working with Video and Audio Editing to Picture by Ashley Shepherd Revision and Quality Control: Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Sabine Pfeifer
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. Windows Vista is either a registered trademark or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. The Mac logo is a trademark used under license. Macintosh and Power Macintosh are registered trademarks.
Release Date: April 02, 2008 © Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH, 2008. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

6 Introduction
7 About the manuals and the help 7 About the program versions 7 Key command conventions 8 How you can reach us
52 Tutorial 4: Working with loops
53 Loop Browser 53 Adding loops 54 Making copies 54 Insert into Project
9 System requirements and installation
10 About this chapter 10 Minimum requirements 11 Hardware installation 12 Installing Nuendo 13 Defragmenting the hard disk (Windows only) 13 Register your software
14 Setting up your system
15 Setting up audio 19 Setting up MIDI 21 Connecting a synchronizer 21 Setting up video 22 Optimizing audio performance
24 Tutorial 1: Recording audio
25 Creating a new project 26 Setting up the VST Connections 27 Level settings and recording 30 Playback 31 Recording modes with cycle off 31 Cycle recording 32 Stacked recording
34 Tutorial 2: Editing audio
35 Event operations 41 Event envelopes 41 Processing audio
43 Tutorial 3: Recording and editing MIDI
44 Introduction 44 Creating an Instrument Track 45 Browsing sounds 46 MIDI recording 47 MIDI playback 47 Recording modes with cycle off 48 Cycle recording 49 The Key Editor 51 The Controller lane
55 Tutorial 5: External MIDI instruments
56 Introduction 56 Setting up MIDI devices 56 Setting up VST connections for external
instruments
57 Monitoring external MIDI instruments 58 Recording MIDI and external instruments
59 Tutorial 6: Mixing and effects
60 Introduction 60 Setting levels 61 Setting pan 61 Mute and solo 62 Adding EQ 64 Audio effects 65 About automation 66 Exporting
69 Tutorial 7: Surround production
70 Surround busses 72 Setting up a surround mix 74 Recording in surround 74 Exporting a surround file
77 Tutorial 8: Editing audio II - tempo and
groove
78 Background 78 Example 1: Drum loop, tempo known 79 Example 2: Drum loop, Auto Adjust 80 Example 3: Drum loop, Manual Adjust 82 Example 4: Working with selections
83 Tutorial 9: Media management
84 Background 84 MediaBay, Loop Browser and Sound Browser 86 Scanning with the browser 88 Searching for media 89 Auditioning media with the Scope 90 Tagging
4
Table of Contents
91 Working with video
92 Introduction 92 Virtual video playback 92 Video playback engines 92 Video file compatibility 93 Adding a video file to a project 94 Video output devices 94 Video playback speed 94 Editing video 95 Rendering audio into video files 95 Video tape recorders 95 Synchronization and Machine Control 96 Layback to tape 98 Tips
99 Audio editing to picture
100 Introduction 100 Video timeline and the grid 101 Inserting audio into the project 102 Event handles 102 Event envelopes 103 Range selection 104 Range editing 105 Edit Mode 105 Text editing 106 Operations
114 Index
5
Table of Contents
1

Introduction

About the manuals and the help

The Nuendo documentation is divided into several sec­tions, as listed below. Some of the documents are in Adobe Acrobat format (extension “.pdf”) – these can be accessed in the following ways:
• You can open the pdf documents from the Documentation submenu on the Help menu in the program.
• Under Windows you can also open these documents from the Nuendo Documentation subfolder on the Windows Start menu.
• Under Mac OS X the pdf documents are located in the folder “/Library/Documentation/Steinberg/Nuendo 4”.
Ö To read the pdf documents, you need to have a suit­able pdf reader application installed on your computer.
An installer for Adobe Reader is provided on the program DVD.
The Getting Started book
This is the book you are reading now. The Getting Started book covers the following areas:
• Computer requirements.
• Installation issues.
• Setting up your system for audio, MIDI and/or video work.
• Tutorials describing the most common procedures for record­ing, playing back, mixing and editing in Nuendo.
In other words, this book does not go into detail on any Nuendo windows, functions or procedures.
The Operation Manual
The Operation Manual is the main Nuendo reference doc­umentation, with detailed descriptions of Nuendo opera­tions, parameters, functions and techniques. You should be familiar with the concepts and methods described in the Getting Started book before moving on to the Opera­tion Manual.
MIDI Devices
This pdf document contains descriptions of how to man­age MIDI Devices and device panels.
Plug-in Reference
This manual describes the features and parameters of the included VST plug-ins, real-time audio effects and the MIDI effects.
Networking
This pdf document describes how you can use Nuendo’s project sharing and networking features to collaborate with other users of Nuendo (version 2.0 or later) in a TCP/IP based peer-to-peer network.
Remote Control Devices
This pdf document lists the supported MIDI remote control devices and describes how to set them up and use them with Nuendo.
Mackie Control
This pdf document describes the supported features for the Mackie Control remote device.
Menu Reference
This pdf document provides a list of all menus and their options with a brief description, for quick reference.
The dialog help
To get information about the active dialog, click its Help button.

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, Windows or Mac OS X. This is clearly stated in the applicable cases. In other words:
Ö 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.

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] under Windows and [Com­mand]+[Z] under Mac OS X.
7
Introduction
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] un-
der Windows or [Command] under Mac OS X, then press [Z]”. Similarly, [Alt]/[Option]+[X] means “press [Alt] under Windows or [Option] under Mac OS X, then press [X]”.
Ö Please note that this manual often refers to “right­clicking”, e.g. to open context menus, etc. If you are using a Macintosh computer with a single-button mouse, hold down [Ctrl] and click.

How you can reach us

On the Help menu in Nuendo you will find items for getting additional information and help:
On the “Steinberg on the Web” submenu, you can find
links to various Steinberg web sites. Selecting one will au­tomatically launch your browser application and open the page.
You can find support and compatibility information, answers to frequently asked questions, links for downloading new drivers, etc. This requires that you have a web browser application installed on your computer, and a working Internet connection.
8
Introduction
2

System requirements and installation

About this chapter

!
General notes on how to set up your system
This chapter describes the requirements and installation procedures for the Windows version and the Mac version of Nuendo.

Minimum requirements

To use Nuendo, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:
Windows
• Windows XP (Home/Professional with SP 2), or Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit – see below)
• Intel Pentium or AMD Athlon 2 GHz processor
•1 GB RAM
• Windows DirectX compatible audio hardware; ASIO compatible audio hardware recommended for low latency performance.
• Display resolution of 1024x768 pixels
• Steinberg Key and USB component connector
• DVD ROM drive required for installation
• Internet connection required for license activation
Macintosh
• Mac OS X 10.4
• Power Mac G4 1 GHz or Core Solo 1.5 GHz
•1 GB RAM
• Display resolution of 1024x768 pixels
• CoreAudio compatible audio hardware
• Steinberg Key and USB component connector
• DVD ROM drive required for installation
• Internet connection required for license activation
Ö If you want to install the 64-bit version of Nuendo, make sure you read the ReadMe document on this topic before proceeding.
You will find this document, called “Windows_Vista_64bit_[lan­guage].rtf”, on the installation DVD, in the ReadMe Files folder.
On the Steinberg web site, under “Support–DAW Components”, you can find detailed information on what to consider when setting up a computer system dedicated to audio work.
RAM – There is a direct relation between the amount of available RAM and the number of audio channels that you can have running.
The amount of RAM specified above is the minimum requirement, but as a general rule “the more the better” applies.
Hard disk size – The size of the hard disk determines how many minutes of audio you will be able to record.
Recording one minute of stereo CD quality audio requires 10 MB of hard disk space. That is, eight stereo tracks in Nuendo use up at least 80 MB of disk space per recording minute.
Hard disk speed – The speed of the hard drive also de­termines the number of audio tracks you can run.
That is the quantity of information that the disk can read, usually expressed as “sustained transfer rate”. Again, “the more the better” applies.
Wheel mouse – Although a regular mouse will work fine with Nuendo, we recommend that you use a wheel mouse.
This will speed up value editing and scrolling considerably.
MIDI requirements
If you intend to use the MIDI features of Nuendo, you need the following:
• A MIDI interface to connect external MIDI equipment to your computer.
•A MIDI instrument.
• Any audio equipment required to listen to the sound from your MIDI devices.
Audio hardware
Nuendo will run with audio hardware that meets the fol­lowing specifications:
•Stereo.
•16 bit.
• Support of at least the 44.1kHz sampling rate.
• Windows – The audio hardware must be supplied with a spe­cial ASIO driver, or a DirectX compatible driver, see below.
• Mac – The audio hardware must be supplied with Mac OS X­compatible drivers (CoreAudio or ASIO).
10
System requirements and installation
Using the built-in audio hardware of the Macintosh
!
!
!
(Mac only)
Although Nuendo is designed with multi-channel input and output in mind, it’s of course possible to use the pro­gram with “basic” stereo inputs and outputs. As of this writing, all current Macintosh models provide at least built­in 16 bit stereo audio hardware. For detailed information, refer to the documentation describing your computer.
Depending on your preferences and requirements, using the built-in audio hardware may be sufficient for use with Nuendo. It is always available for selection in Nuendo – you don’t need to install any additional drivers.
Some Macintosh models have audio outputs but no inputs. This means that you can only play back audio – recording is not possible without additional audio hardware.
About drivers
A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this case, the driver allows Nuendo to use the audio hardware. For audio hardware, there are two different cases, requir­ing different driver configurations:
If the audio hardware has a specific ASIO driver
Professional audio cards often come with an ASIO driver written especially for the card. This allows for communica­tion directly between Nuendo and the audio card. As a re­sult, audio cards with specific ASIO drivers can provide lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when monitoring audio via Nuendo or using VST Instruments. The ASIO driver may also provide special support for mul­tiple inputs and outputs, routing, synchronization, etc.
Audio card-specific ASIO drivers are provided by the card manufacturers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver versions.
If your audio hardware comes with a specific ASIO driver we strongly recommend that you use this.
If the audio card communicates via DirectX (Windows only)
DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various types of multimedia data under Windows. Nuendo sup­ports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which is a part of DirectX used for playing back and recording audio. This requires two types of drivers:
• A DirectX driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate with DirectX. If the audio card supports DirectX, this driver should be supplied by the audio card manufacturer. If it isn’t installed with the audio card, please check the manufacturer’s web site for more information.
• The ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver, allowing Nuendo to com­municate with DirectX. This driver is included with Nuendo, and does not require any special installation.

Hardware installation

The Steinberg Key
Please read the following section before installing the Nuendo software.
Included with the Nuendo package, you will find the Stein­berg Key (also referred to as a “dongle” or “eLicenser”), a hardware copy protection device that is part of the Nu­endo copy protection scheme. Nuendo will not run if there is no Steinberg Key.
The Steinberg Key
The Steinberg Key is, in fact, a little computer on which your Steinberg software licenses are stored. All hardware­protected Steinberg products use the same type of key, and you can store more than one license on one key. Also, licenses can (within certain limits) be transferred between keys – which is helpful, e.g. if you want to sell a piece of software.
11
System requirements and installation
The Syncrosoft License Control Center (which can be found in the Start/Programs menu under Windows or the Applications folder on a Mac) is the place where you can check the licenses installed on your Steinberg Key.
If you are using other copy-protected Steinberg prod­ucts, you may want to transfer all licenses for your applica­tions to only one Steinberg Key, thus using only one USB port of your computer. To transfer licenses between keys, launch the License Transfer wizard of the Syncrosoft Li­cense Control Center and follow the instructions.
Steinberg software products always come with a license activation code, but not always with a Steinberg Key – if you want to activate a license for such a Steinberg software (e.g. a VSTi) on the Steinberg Key you received with Nu­endo, launch the License Download wizard of the Syn­crosoft License Control Center and follow the instructions.
More information on the transfer or activation of licenses can be found in the help for the Syncrosoft License Con­trol Center.
Installing the audio hardware and its driver
1. Install the audio card and related equipment in the computer, as described in the card’s documentation.
2. Install the driver for the card.
Depending on the operating system of your computer, there are different types of drivers that could apply: card-specific ASIO drivers, DirectX drivers (Windows) or Mac OS X (Mac) drivers:
Specific ASIO driver
If your audio card has a specific ASIO driver, it may be in­cluded with the audio card, but you should always make sure to check the audio card manufacturer’s web site for the most recent drivers. For details on how to install the driver, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions.
DirectX driver (Windows only)
If your audio card is DirectX compatible, its DirectX drivers will most likely be installed when you install the card. If you have downloaded special DirectX drivers for the audio card, you should follow the manufacturer’s installation in­structions.
Mac OS X drivers (Mac only)
If you are using a Macintosh computer, make sure you are using the latest Mac OS X drivers for your audio hard­ware. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to install the driver.
Testing the card
To make sure the audio card will work as expected, perform the following two tests:
Use any software included with the audio card to make
sure you can record and play back audio without problems.
If the card is accessed via a standard operating system
driver, try playing back audio using the computer’s standard audio application (e.g. Windows Media Player or Apple iTunes).
Installing a MIDI interface/synthesizer card
Installation instructions for a MIDI interface should be in­cluded with the product. However, here’s an outline of the necessary steps:
1. Install the interface (or MIDI synthesizer card) inside
your computer or connect it to a “port” (connector) on the computer.
Which is right for you depends on which type of interface you have.
2. If the interface has a power supply and/or a power
switch, turn it on.
3. Install the driver for the interface, as described in the
documentation that comes with the interface.
You should also make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver updates.

Installing Nuendo

The installation procedure puts all files in the right places, automatically.
Windows
1. Double-click the file called “Nuendo4.msi”.
2. Follow the instructions on screen.
Macintosh
1. Double-click the file called “Nuendo4.mpkg”.
2. Follow the instructions on screen.
12
System requirements and installation
About the tutorials
!
The program DVD also contains several tutorial project files and videos. These are not installed during the installa­tion, but can be added manually from the DVD.
The tutorial chapters in this manual all refer to these tuto­rial projects. So, to be able to follow the instructions in this manual, you have to drag the files to your computer.
You find the Tutorial Projects in the folder “Additional Content”.
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”.

Defragmenting the hard disk (Windows only)

If you plan to record audio on a hard disk where you have already stored other files, now is the time to defragment it. Defragmentation reorganizes the physical allocation of space on the hard disk in order to optimize its perfor­mance. It is done with a special defragmentation program.

Register your software

We encourage you to register your software! By doing so you are entitled to technical support and kept aware of up­dates and other news regarding Nuendo.
There are two ways to register:
In Nuendo, open the Help menu and select the Regis-
tration option.
This option is an Internet link that will open the Registration page of the Steinberg web site. To register, simply follow the instructions on screen. When you launch Nuendo, you will also be prompted to launch the reg­istration process.
Included on the Nuendo installation DVD, you can find a
registration form in pdf format. To register, print out the form, enter all required information and send it to Steinberg.
It is crucial to the audio recording performance that your hard disk is optimized (defragmented). You should make sure to defragment regularly.
13
System requirements and installation
3

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

!
Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!
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, the computer hardware available to you, etc. 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.
A 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.
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.
A 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 Mixer 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.
Nuendo only: 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: setting up input and output busses” and “The Control Room” in the Operation Manual for details).
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 mixer in­side Nuendo.
Setting up your system
Mixing inside Nuendo
15
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.
A 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 “Making settings for the audio hardware” on page 16).
• You can also grab audio tracks directly from a CD in Nuendo (see the chapter “File Handling” in the Operation Manual).
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 done correctly or there might be clicks and crackles in recordings that you make!
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 (-10dBV) or professional line level (+4dBV), 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.
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).
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 moni-
toring” 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.
16
Setting up your system
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.
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, select Device Setup from the Devices menu and click on VST Audio System in the Devices list to the left.
The VST Audio System page in the Device Setup dialog.
2. Select your audio hardware driver from the ASIO Driver menu.
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. 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 appears when you click this button is provided by the audio hardware manufacturer and not Nuendo (unless you use Di­rectX, see below). Hence it will be different for each audio card brand and model. The Control panel for the ASIO DirectX driver is an exception, as it is provided by Steinberg, and is described in the dialog help, opened by clicking the Help button in the dialog. See also the notes below.
Under Mac OS X, you will find the control panel for your
audio hardware in the System Preferences (“Other” sec­tion), opened from the Apple menu or from the Dock.
If you are using the built-in audio hardware of the Macintosh, you use the “Sound” control panel in the System Preferences to set levels, balance, etc. If you are using ASIO audio hardware, you can click the Control Panel but­ton to bring up its panel.
5. If you plan to use several audio applications simulta-
neously, you may want to activate the option “Release Driver when Application is in Background” 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) will get 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.
6. If your audio hardware and its driver support ASIO Di-
rect 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” in the Operation Manual.
7. Click Apply and then OK to close the dialog.
Under Windows, we strongly recommend that you access your hardware via an ASIO driver written specifically for the hardware, if available. 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.
3. Select the driver in the Devices list to open the Driver settings for your audio hardware.
17
Setting up your system
If you are using audio hardware with a DirectX driver
!
!
(Windows only)
If your Windows audio hardware does not have a specific ASIO driver, a DirectX driver is the next best option.
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 be able to take full advantage of DirectX Full Du­plex, the audio hardware must support WDM (Windows Driver Model) in combination with DirectX version 8.1 or higher.
In all other cases, the audio inputs will be emulated by DirectX (see the dialog help for the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Setup dialog for details about how this is reported).
Ö During the installation of Nuendo, the latest DirectX will be installed on your computer.
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 to 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.
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 should be used and name these:
1. In the Device Setup dialog, select your driver in the De-
vices 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 aren’t visible cannot be selected in the VST Connections win­dow where you set up your input and output busses – see “Setting up
the VST Connections” on page 26 and the chapter “VST Connections:
setting up input and output busses” in the Operation Manual.
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!
3. To rename a port, click on its name in the “Show as”
column and type in a new name.
Ö 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.
18
Setting up your system
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” in the Operation Manual. However, when setting up, there’s one thing to note:
If you want to use the external monitoring via your audio hardware, make sure 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 -3dB in the card’s preferences.

Setting up MIDI

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!
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.
19
Setting up your system
You might want to use even more instruments for playback.
!
When “MIDI Thru” is active in Nuendo, MIDI data re­ceived is immediately “echoed” back out.
When you press a key, it is sent out via MIDI to Nuendo.
MIDI data coming in to the instrument is played by the “Synth” inside it.
When Local Control is turned on in the instrument, the keys you press will be played by the “Synth” inside the Instrument. When Local Control is turned off, this connection is cut off.
MIDI data coming in to the instrument is played by the “Synth” inside it.
“Synth”
If you do, 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.
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.
Setting MIDI Thru and Local On/Off
In the “MIDI” section in the Preferences dialog (located on the File menu under Windows and on the Nuendo menu under Mac OS X), you will find a setting called “MIDI Thru Active”. This is related to a setting in your instrument called “Local On/Off” or “Local Control On/Off”.
• If you use a MIDI keyboard instrument, as described earlier in this chapter, MIDI Thru should be activated and that instru­ment should be set to Local Off (sometimes called Local Con­trol Off – see the instrument’s operation manual for details). The MIDI signal from the keyboard will be recorded in Nuendo and at the same time be re-routed back to the instrument so that you hear what you are playing, without the keyboard “trig­gering” its own sounds.
• If you use a separate MIDI keyboard – one that does not pro­duce any sounds itself – MIDI Thru in Nuendo should also be activated, but you don’t need to look for any Local On/Off set­ting in your instruments.
• The only case where MIDI Thru should be deactivated is if you use Nuendo with only one keyboard instrument and that in­strument cannot be set to Local Off mode.
• Note that MIDI Thru will be active only for those MIDI tracks that are record enabled and/or have the Monitor button acti­vated. See the chapter “Recording” in the Operation Manual for more information.
20
Setting up your system
Setting up MIDI ports in Nuendo
!
!
The Device Setup dialog lets you set up your MIDI system in the following ways:
Ö Note: When you change MIDI port settings in the De­vice Setup dialog, these are automatically applied in the program.
Showing or hiding MIDI Ports
The MIDI ports are listed in the Device Setup dialog on the MIDI Port Setup page. By clicking in the “Visible” column for a MIDI input or output, you can specify whether or not it should be listed on the MIDI pop-up menus in the program.
If you are trying to hide a MIDI port which is already se­lected for a track or a MIDI device, a warning message will appear, allowing you to hide – and disconnect – the port or to cancel the operation and keep the MIDI port visible.
Setting up the “All MIDI Inputs” option
When you record MIDI in Nuendo, you can specify which MIDI input each recording MIDI track should use. How­ever, you can also select the “In All Inputs” option for an input port, which causes any MIDI data from any MIDI in­put to be recorded.
The “In All Inputs” option on the MIDI Port Setup page al­lows you to specify which inputs should be included when you select All MIDI Inputs for a MIDI track. This can be es­pecially useful if your system provides several instances of the same physical MIDI input – by deactivating the dupli­cates you make sure only the desired MIDI data is recorded.
Ö If you have a MIDI remote control unit connected, you should also make sure to deactivate the “In All Inputs” op­tion for that MIDI input.
This will avoid accidentally recording the data from the remote control when the “All MIDI Inputs” option is selected as input for a MIDI track.

Connecting a synchronizer

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!
When using Nuendo with external tape transports, you will most likely need to add a synchronizer to your system. All connections and setup procedures for synchronization are
chapter
described in the
“Synchronization” in the Opera-
tion Manual.

Setting up video

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!
Nuendo plays back video films in AVI, QuickTime or MPEG formats. Under Windows, video playback can be done using the playback engines DirectX, DirectShow or QuickTime. Under Mac OS X, QuickTime is used as play­back engine.
There are several ways to play back video:
Without any special hardware.
While this will be fine in many situations it does put a limit on the size of the internal video window as well as the quality of the image.
Using FireWire (Mac OS X).
Using a FireWire port, you can play back video on an external monitor us­ing a DV-to-analog converter or a DV camera (see also the Video chap­ter in the Operation Manual). This is valid for DV video and QuickTime is used for playback.
Using Graphics cards (Windows).
Multi-head graphics cards which support overlay functionality can be used to display the video picture on an external monitor. As of this writ­ing, the following manufacturers have working solutions available: nVIDIA and Matrox.
Using Video cards.
Video cards can also be used to display the video on an external monitor. As of this writing, e.g. Decklink (Blackmagic) can be used.
If you plan to use special video hardware, install it and set it up as recommended by the manufacturer.
Before you use the video hardware with Nuendo, we rec­ommend that you test the hardware installation with the utility applications that came with the hardware and/or the Windows Media Player or QuickTime Player (Mac OS X) applications.
21
Setting up your system

Optimizing audio performance

!
This section gives you some hints and tips on how to get the most out of your Nuendo system, performance-wise. Some of this text refers to hardware properties and can be used as a guide when upgrading your system. This text is very brief. Look for details and current information on the Nuendo web site (see “How you can reach us” on page 8)!
Two aspects of performance
There are two distinct aspects of performance in respect to Nuendo:
Tracks and effects
Simply put: the faster your computer, the more tracks, ef­fects and EQ you will be able to play. Exactly what consti­tutes a “fast computer” is almost a science in itself, but some hints are given below.
Short response times (latency)
Another aspect of performance is response time. The term “latency” refers to the “buffering”, i.e. the temporary stor­ing, of small chunks of audio data during various steps of the recording and playback process on a computer. The more and larger those chunks, the higher the latency.
High latency is most irritating when playing VST Instru­ments and when monitoring through the computer, i.e. when listening to a live audio source via the Nuendo mixer and effects. However, very long latency times (several hundred milliseconds) can also affect other processes like mixing, e.g. when the effect of a fader movement is heard only after a noticeable delay.
While Direct Monitoring and other techniques reduce the problems associated with very long latency times, a sys­tem that responds fast will always be more convenient to work with.
Depending on your audio hardware, it may be possible to “trim” your latency times, usually by lowering the size and the number of buffers.
For details, refer to the audio hardware documentation, or, if you are us­ing a DirectX driver under Windows, the dialog help.
System factors that affect performance
CPU and processor cache
It goes without saying that the faster the computer pro­cessor, the better. But there are a number of factors that affect the apparent speed of a computer: the bus speed and type (PCI is strongly recommended), the processor cache size and of course, the processor type and brand. Nuendo relies heavily on floating point calculations. When shopping for a processor, please make sure you get one that is powerful in calculating floating point arithmetics.
Note also that Nuendo features full support for multi-pro­cessor systems. So, if you own a computer system with more than one processor, Nuendo can take advantage of the total capacity and evenly distribute the processing load to all available processors. See “The advanced options” on
page 23.
Hard disk and controller
The number of hard disk tracks you can record and play back at the same time also depends on the speed of your hard disk and hard disk controller. If you use E-IDE disks and controllers, make sure that the transfer mode is DMA Busmaster. Under Windows, you can check the current mode by launching the Windows Device Manager and looking for properties of the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller’s primary and secondary channel. DMA transfer mode is en­abled by default, but may be turned off by the system should hardware problems occur.
Audio hardware and driver
The hardware and its driver can have some effect on re­gular performance. A badly written driver can reduce the performance of your computer. But where the hardware driver design makes the most difference is with latency.
Again, we strongly recommend that you use audio hardware for which there is a specific ASIO driver!
This is especially true when using Nuendo for Windows:
Under Windows, ASIO drivers written specifically for
the hardware are more efficient than a DirectX driver and produce shorter latency times.
22
Setting up your system
Under Mac OS X, audio hardware with properly written Mac OS X (Core Audio) drivers can be very efficient and produce very low latency times.
However, there are additional features currently only available with ASIO drivers, such as the ASIO Positioning Protocol.
Making settings that affect performance
Choosing a driver for your audio hardware
As described in the section “Selecting a driver and making
audio settings in Nuendo” on page 17, it is recommended
to install and use a standard ASIO driver if available for your specific hardware. Check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest drivers, etc.
The advanced options
On the VST Audio System page you will find the “Advanced options” section. Here you find advanced settings for the VST Engine, including a Multi Processing option. When this is activated (default setting if you have a hyper-threading or multiple-CPU system) and there is more than one CPU in your system, the processing load is distributed evenly to all available CPUs, allowing Nuendo to make full use of the combined power of the multiple processors. See the dialog help for details.
Activating the “Lower Latency” option will basically disable the CPU overload protection, but allow for lower latencies. See the dialog help for details.
Making audio buffer settings
Audio buffers affect how audio is sent to and from the audio hardware. The size of the audio buffers affects both the la­tency and the audio performance. Generally, the smaller the buffer size, the lower the latency. On the other hand, work­ing with small buffers can be demanding for the computer. If the audio buffers are too small, you may get clicks, pops or other audio playback problems.
Under Mac OS X, you can adjust the size of the buffers on the VST Audio System page in the Device Setup dialog.
You may also find buffer settings in the control panel for the audio hard­ware.
Under Windows, you adjust the buffer size settings in the control panel for the audio hardware (opened by click­ing the Control Panel button on the driver page in the De­vice Setup dialog).
Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows only)
To get the lowest possible latencies when using ASIO un­der Windows XP (on a single-CPU system), the “system performance” has to be optimized for background tasks:
1. Open the Windows Control Panel from the Start menu
and select System.
2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Settings button
in the Performance section.
The Performance Options dialog appears.
3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. In the Processor Scheduling section, select “Adjust
for best performance of: Background services”.
5. Click OK to close the dialogs.
23
Setting up your system
4

Tutorial 1: Recording audio

Creating a new project

!
The name of the project
In this section we are going to explain how to create a new project, save a project and open a saved project.
When you first open Nuendo an empty screen appears before you. You need to either create a new project or open an existing one.
To Create a New Project:
1. Let’s create a new project by selecting “New Project” from the “File” Menu.
2. The Templates dialog box will open up.
Templates are discussed in the “File Handling” section of the Operation Manual.
3. Choose “Empty”.
This will create a new project with nothing in it.
4. Click “OK”.
5. Nuendo now wants to create a folder on the hard drive
so that your Nuendo project file and all of its related files are stored in one safe place.
It is important that every project gets stored in its own folder. Having many different projects stored in the same folder only leads to confusion later on.
6. Navigate to where you would like this project to be created.
NOTE: You are not saving the project at this point! You are creating a folder on the hard drive that your project will get saved into later. This will be explained very shortly.
7. Click “Create” on the PC or “New Folder” on the Mac to create a new folder for your project.
8. Give your new folder a name.
If your are going to name your project “My First Project” then you could call this folder “My First Project” or “First Project”. What’s important here is that you are creating a folder on the hard drive to store your project into it. This folder should have a unique name that is different than any other Nuendo project you have created before.
9. Click “OK” on the PC or “Create” on the Mac.
Your project folder is now created on the hard drive!
10. Now click “OK” on the PC or “Choose” on the Mac.
11. You should be looking at your very first project in Nu-
endo now, Congratulations!
If you look at the top of the window in Nuendo (called the Project window) you’ll see the name of this project is “Untitled1”. Proceed further to learn how to save your first project.
You’re not done yet! So far we’ve created a blank Nuendo project. We have a folder sitting on the hard drive but we haven’t saved the actual Nuendo project yet.
25
Tutorial 1: Recording audio
To save a project
!
1. Select “Save As…” from the File menu.
The difference between Save and Save As are discussed in the chapter “File Handling” in the Operation Manual.
2. You will notice that Nuendo is in the “My First Project” folder that you created earlier. This is where you want to save your project. Type in a name for your Project – you can use “My First Nuendo Project” for example.
3. Click “Save” – and that’s it!
To close a project
1. Make sure the Project window is selected.
The Project window is the main window that you work in. See the chap­ter “The Project window” in the Operation Manual.
2. Select “Close” from the “File” Menu.
If you have made any changes to the project since you last saved it, you will be prompted to “Save”, “Don’t Save” or “Cancel”. Click “Save” if you want your changes saved.
To open a project
Now that we have saved and closed your project, let’s show you how to open it.
Open a project using the “Open” command
1. Select “Open” from the “File” Menu.
Here you can navigate to the folder that has the project you wish to open.
2. Once you have found the project click “Open” and the project will load.
Open a project using the “Recent Projects” submenu
Nuendo remembers recently open projects and lists them in the “Recent Projects” submenu under the “File” menu.
1. Select “Recent Projects” from the “File” Menu.
2. Choose the project you wish to open by clicking once
on it.

Setting up the VST Connections

The VST Connections window allows you to set up the in­put and output signals of Nuendo to your audio card. Nu­endo calls these “busses”. This section will show you how to set the busses up so that you can get playback and re­cording working.
Make sure you read the chapters “System requirements
and installation” on page 9 and “Setting up your system”
on page 14, so that your audio hardware is properly setup before proceeding.
Load the project called “VST Connections” found in the “Tutorial 1” folder.
Ö Note that the Tutorial projects are not installed by de­fault during the installation of Nuendo. You will find the Tu­torial Projects on the program DVD, in the folder “Additional Content”.
Adding outputs
1. Open the “Devices” menu and choose “VST Connec-
tions”.
The default key command for this is [F4].
You’ll see several tabs at the top of the window. We’re
only going to cover Input and Output right now. See the chapter “VST Connections” in the Operation Manual for more details.
2. Let’s choose “Output” first. We want to start from
scratch and remove anything that is currently there, just in case it’s set up incorrectly. If you see anything in the “Bus Name” column, right-click with the mouse and choose “Remove Bus”.
26
Tutorial 1: Recording audio
3. Now click the “Add Bus” button. Choose “Stereo” for
!
configuration and “1” for count and click OK.
This has now added a new stereo bus (Left and Right) allowing us to have audio in Nuendo route to our audio hardware.
4. Since we mainly listen to our music as a stereo mix, all we need is a stereo output.
We can listen to our music with more than 2 channels. If we for example had a surround sound setup.
5. Depending on your audio hardware, your outputs should be setup now. You can however select the outputs of your choice from the “Device Port” pull down menu.
Normally you’ll want to choose “Out 1” and “Out 2” or “Left 1” and “Right 2” as these are the main stereo outputs of your audio card. More sophisti­cated setups may require you to choose different outputs and even add more busses.
Adding Inputs
Now let’s open the “Input” tab and set up the inputs we are going to use for recording into Nuendo.
1. Do the same as mentioned above for the outputs. Right-click and select “Remove Bus”.
2. Click the “Add Bus” button. Choose “Stereo” for con­figuration and “1” for count and click “OK”.
This has now added a new stereo bus (Left and Right) allowing us to have audio from our audio card’s input route to Nuendo for recording.
Having a stereo input is useful for recording audio with two channels. An example of this is recording a keyboard with a left and right audio channel. If we wanted to record in mono or with one channel we can make separate bus­ses. Let’s do this now.
1. Click the “Add Bus” button. Choose “Mono” for con­figuration and “2” for count and click “OK”.
This has now added two new mono busses allowing us to have audio from our audio card’s input route to Nuendo for recording.
2. Next, click in the “Device Port” column to select the
audio inputs of your audio card for the stereo and mono inputs.
In our case we have the MI4 interface so we are selecting “MI4 Channel A” and “MI4 Channel B” for our inputs.
That’s it! You should now be ready to record audio in Nu­endo and then play it back.

Level settings and recording

For this section, we are going to record a bass guitar in mono from the input “Mono In”. Make sure you have your audio card set up and you have read through the section
“Setting up the VST Connections” on page 26.
Load the project called “Recording” found in the “Tutorial 1” folder.
Adding a mono track
1. Now let’s add an audio track to record to. Open the
Project menu and choose “Audio” from the “Add Track” submenu.
2. Choose “Mono” for Configuration and “1” for Count.
Click “OK”.
This adds a mono audio track to our Project window.
27
Tutorial 1: Recording audio
3. Click on the new track you’ve created and make sure
The Inspector
Click to open the Inspector
Audio coming into this track
the Inspector is shown.
The Inspector allows us to see and manipulate a lot of information for the selected track.
Turning on the metronome click
We’ll want to have a click or metronome play in the back­ground as we record the bass guitar so that what we record aligns with the bars and beats in Nuendo.
1. Activate the “Metronome/Click” button on the Trans-
port panel.
2. If you would like a two bar count in before you record,
also activate the “Precount/Click” button.
4. Make sure that “Mono In” is selected for the audio track’s input and that “Stereo Out” is selected for the au­dio tracks output.
You may have different inputs and outputs based on your audio hardware. See the chapter “VST Connections” in the Operation Manual for more de­tailed information. By setting “Mono In”, we will be able to record the audio from the left input of our audio card into a track in Nuendo. Setting the out­put to “Stereo Out” allows us to hear what we are recording.
3. We now need to set the speed or the tempo of our
project. This will directly affect how fast the click plays. You can set the tempo just below the click.
In this picture, we have a setting of 125, which means 125bpm (beats per minute).
Setting levels
We have a bass guitar playing through an amplifier with a microphone in front of the amplifier’s speaker. This micro­phone is plugged directly into the Steinberg MI|4 micro­phone input. We have set the level on the MI|4 so that we have enough volume without clipping.
1. Clicking the Monitor button will allow us to hear the
bass guitar.
You should see and hear the audio coming in to the right of the track.
28
Tutorial 1: Recording audio
2. Now click the “Record Enable” button on the track.
Click here to display the channel fader.
Do not allow the audio level to go past this line!
This is the safe area for recording
Setting the track to Record Enable lets Nuendo know that you want to record on this track and no other one. You can have many tracks Record Enabled at a time.
3. In the Inspector, open the “Channel” tab.
This will display the channel fader for the selected track.
Once the level is set, you are ready to record!
Recording bass guitar
1. Position the cursor at the beginning of the project.
This will make sure we start recording on bar 1.
2. Click the Record button to record the bass guitar.
Since the “Precount/Click” button is activated, we’ll hear two bars of click before recording begins.
3. Click “Stop” when you are finished.
4. Turn off the Monitor and Record Enable buttons on the
track so that we don’t hear the input or record on the track any more.
Congratulations! You have just recorded your first piece of audio in Nuendo. Move ahead to the next section to learn how to play back audio.
Do the best you can to send the maximum amount of volume to the audio inputs of your audio card before you hear any distortion. Most audio cards show some kind of level or volume indication. If yours doesn’t, don’t worry, we can change the amount here.
4. Move the fader up or down so that the volume is loud enough without going into the red on the channel meter. If you go into the red you may cause clipping or distortion. You will see a line near the top of the channel meter – make sure the level does not go over this line!
Tutorial 1: Recording audio
29

Playback

!
Double-click in the lower half of the ruler…
… to start playback
!
!
The left locator set to “1”.
The right locator set to “5”. Cycle activated.
We are going to learn how to play back audio in Nuendo. You might think this is very simple – just hit “Play”. It is ac­tually this simple but there are a few tricks to learn so that you’ll be playing back what you want with precision.
Load the project called “Playback” found in the “Tutorial 1” folder.
To start playback
There are a few ways you can play back in Nuendo.
Click the “Start” button on the Transport panel.
Press the space bar on your computer keyboard.
This toggles between start and stop.
Press the [Enter] key of the numerical computer keypad.
Double-click in the lower half of the ruler.
Select the audio event called “Audio 01_01” and
choose “Loop Selection” from the Transport menu.
The default key command for this is [Shift]+[G]. This is the quickest way to loop an audio event and start playback!
To stop playback
Click the “Stop” button on the Transport panel.
Clicking the “Stop” button twice moves the cursor to
the position in the project where you started playback.
Press the space bar on your computer keyboard.
This toggles between stop and start.
Press the “0” key of the numerical computer keypad.
Cycle playback
Nuendo has the ability to loop or cycle a section of your project. To set the cycle location you need to use the left and right locator.
1. On the Transport panel, set the left locator to “1” and
the right locator to “5”.
This tells Nuendo that we want to loop or cycle between bars 1 and 5. Meaning we will have a 4 bar loop since the end of bar 4 is the beginning of bar 5.
2. Make sure that the “Cycle” button is activated.
3. Click the Start button on the Transport panel and Nu-
endo will play looping over and over until you click “Stop”.
Don’t forget – you can set the locators to encom­pass the selected event, turn on “Cycle” and begin playback all by the key command [Shift]+[G].
30
Tutorial 1: Recording audio
Loading...
+ 335 hidden pages