Steinberg Nuendo - 5.0 User Manual

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Cristina Bachmann, Heiko Bischoff, Marion Bröer, Sabine Pfeifer, Heike Schilling

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. Windows Vista and Windows 7 are registered trademarks or trademarks 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. MP3SURROUND and the MP3SURROUND logo are registered trademarks of Thomson SA, registered in the US and other countries, and are used under license from Thomson Licensing SAS.

Release Date: April 13, 2010

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7 About this manual

8 Welcome!

9 System requirements and installation

10 About this chapter 10 Minimum requirements 10 Installing the Nuendo Expansion Kit 10 Register your software

11 The included VST instruments

12 Introduction 12 Prologue 21 Spector 29 Mystic 37 HALionOne 38 Groove Agent ONE 43 LoopMash 47 Embracer – Surround Pad Synthesizer 49 Monologue – Monophonic Analog Modeling

Synthesizer

52 Diagrams

54 Editing drums

55 The Drum Editor – Overview 57 Drum Editor operations 58 Working with drum maps 61 Using drum name lists

62 VST Expression

63 Introduction 64 VST Expression in Nuendo 67 Creating and editing expression maps

70 How the Score Editor works

71 About this chapter 71 Welcome! 71 How the Score Editor operates 71 MIDI notes vs. score notes 72 Display Quantize 74 Entering notes by hand vs. recording notes

75 The basics

76 About this chapter 76 Preparations 76 Opening the Score Editor 76 The project cursor 76 Playing back and recording 77 Page Mode 77 Changing the zoom factor 78 The active staff 78 Making page setup settings 78 Designing your work space 80 About the Score Editor context menus 80 About dialogs in the Score Editor 81 Setting clef, key, and time signature 85 Transposing instruments 85 Printing from the Score Editor 85 Exporting pages as image files 86 Working order 87 Force update

88 Transcribing MIDI recordings

89 About this chapter 89 About transcription 89 Getting the parts ready 89 Strategies: Preparing parts for score printout 90 Staff settings 90 Situations which require additional techniques 91 Inserting Display Quantize changes 92 Strategies: Adding Display Quantize changes 92 The Explode function 92 Using “Scores Notes To MIDI”

Table of Contents

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94 Entering and editing notes

95 About this chapter 95 Score settings 96 Note values and positions 97 Adding and editing notes 99 Selecting notes 100 Moving notes 101 Duplicating notes 102 Cut, copy, and paste 102 Editing pitches of individual notes 103 Changing the length of notes 104 Splitting a note in two 104 Working with the Display Quantize tool 104 Split (piano) staves 105 Strategies: Multiple staves 106 Inserting and editing clefs, keys, or time signatures 107 Deleting notes

108 Staff settings

109 About this chapter 109 Staff settings 109 Making settings 109 Working with staff presets 110 Staff names 110 Key and clef 110 Display Quantize and Interpretation Options 113 Display Transpose 113 The Options tab 114 The Polyphonic tab 114 The Tablature tab

124 Additional note and rest formatting

125 About this chapter 125 Background: Note stems 125 Setting stem direction 126 Stem length 126 Accidentals and enharmonic shift 127 Changing the note head shape 128 Other note details 129 Coloring notes 129 Copying settings between notes 129 Handling beaming 133 About tied notes 135 Graphic moving of notes 135 Cue notes 136 Grace notes 137 Tuplets

139 Working with symbols

140 About this chapter 140 Background: The different layers 141 The Symbols Inspector 142 Important! – Symbols, staves, and voices 143 Adding symbols to the score 149 Selecting symbols 150 Moving and duplicating symbols 153 Changing length, size, and shape 154 Deleting symbols 154 Copy and paste 154 Alignment 155 Symbol details

115 Polyphonic voicing

116 About this chapter 116 Background: Polyphonic voicing 117 Setting up the voices 118 Strategies: How many voices do I need? 119 Entering notes into voices 119 Checking which voice a note belongs to 119 Moving notes between voices 121 Handling rests 121 Voices and Display Quantize 122 Creating crossed voicings 123 Automatic polyphonic voicing – Merge All Staves 123 Converting voices to tracks – Extract Voices

Table of Contents

161 Working with chords

162 About this chapter 162 Inserting Chord symbols 164 Global chord settings

165 Working with text

166 About this chapter 166 Adding and editing text symbols 168 Different types of text 172 Text functions

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175 Working with layouts

176 About this chapter 176 Background: Layouts 176 Creating a layout 176 Opening a layout 176 Layout operations 177 Using layouts – an example 178 Marker Track to Form

179 Working with MusicXML

180 Introduction 181 Importing and exporting MusicXML files

183 Designing your score: additional

techniques

184 About this chapter 184 Layout settings 185 Staff size 185 Hiding/showing objects 186 Coloring notes 187 Multiple rests 187 Editing bar lines 188 Creating upbeats 189 Setting the number of bars across the page 190 Moving bar lines 190 Dragging staves 192 Adding brackets and braces 192 Auto Layout 194 Reset Layout 194 Breaking bar lines

204 The score and MIDI playback

205 About this chapter 205 Scores and the Arranger mode 205 The MIDI Meaning function 206 Dynamic crescendo symbols

207 Tips and Tricks

208 Overview 208 Useful editing techniques 209 Frequently asked questions 211 If you wish you had a faster computer

212 Index

196 Scoring for drums

197 About this chapter 197 Background: Drum maps in the Score Editor 197 Setting up the drum map 199 Setting up a staff for drum scoring 199 Entering and editing notes 199 Using “Single Line Drum Staff”

200 Creating tablature

201 About this chapter 201 Creating tablature automatically 202 Creating tablature manually 202 Tablature number appearance 203 Editing 203 Note head shape

Table of Contents

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About this manual

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Welcome!

This is the manual for Steinberg’s Nuendo Expansion Kit. The Nuendo Expansion Kit adds a number of music composition functions from Steinberg’s Cubase (the “Cubase Music Tools”) to your Nuendo application.

These features and functions, or more precisely the included VST instruments, the Drum Editor (and drum map support), the handling of VST expression maps as well as the Score Editor are described in detail in the following chapters.

About the program versions

The documentation covers two different operating systems or “platforms”; Windows and Mac OS X.

Some features and settings are specific to one of the platforms. This is clearly stated in the applicable cases. 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.

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.

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] under 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 right-clicking, e.g. to open context menus, etc. If you are using a Mac with a single-button mouse, hold down [Ctrl] and click.

About this manual

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System requirements and installation

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About this chapter

Installing the Nuendo Expansion Kit

This chapter describes the requirements and installation procedures for the Windows version and the Mac version.

Minimum requirements

Your computer must meet the following requirements:

Windows

• Windows XP (Home or Professional, Service Pack 2, 32-bit), or Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)

• 2 GHz processor (Dual Core processor recommended)

•1024 MB RAM

• Windows DirectX compatible audio hardware; ASIO compatible audio hardware recommended for low latency performance.

• Display resolution of 1280x800 pixels recommended

•4 GB of free hard disk space

• QuickTime 7.1 and video card supporting OpenGL 1.2 (OpenGL 2.0 recommended) required for video playback

• USB-eLicenser and USB component connector

• DVD ROM drive required for installation

• Internet connection required for license activation

Macintosh

• Mac OS X 10.5.8 or 10.6

• Intel Core processor (Intel Core Duo recommended)

•1024 MB RAM

• CoreAudio compatible audio hardware

• Display resolution of 1280x800 pixels

•4 GB of free hard disk space

• QuickTime 7.1 and video card supporting OpenGL 1.2 (OpenGL 2.0 recommended) required for video playback

• USB-eLicenser and USB component connector

• DVD ROM drive required for installation

• Internet connection required for license activation

The installation procedure puts all files in the right places, automatically.

Windows

1. Insert the Nuendo Expansion Kit DVD into the DVD drive of you computer.

2. Double-click the file called “Setup.exe”.

3. Follow the instructions on screen.

The installation process also includes the activation of the program license on your USB-eLicenser. This is the same procedure as for Nuendo.

Macintosh

1. Insert the Nuendo Expansion Kit DVD into the DVD drive of you computer.

2. Double-click the file “Nuendo Expansion Kit 5.mpkg”.

3. Follow the instructions on screen.

The installation process also includes the activation of the program license on your USB-eLicenser. This is the same procedure as for Nuendo.

Register your software

We encourage you to register your software! By doing so you are entitled to technical support and kept aware of up dates and other news about your product.

There are two ways to register:

• In Nuendo, open the Help menu and select the Registration option.

This option is an Internet link that opens the Registration page of the Steinberg web site. To register, simply follow the instructions on screen. When you launch Nuendo, you also get prompted to launch the registra tion process.

• Included on the 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.

System requirements and installation

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The included VST instruments

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Introduction

This chapter contains descriptions of the included VST instruments and their parameters.

Ö Most of the included instruments are compatible with VST3, this is indicated by an icon in front of the name (for further information, see the section “About VST 3” in the chapter “Audio effects” in the Operation Manual).

Prologue

Ö The signal flow of the Prologue synth is illustrated in the section “Diagrams” on page 52.

Sound parameters

Oscillator section

This section contains parameters affecting the 3 oscillators. These are located in upper half of the instrument panel.

Selecting Waveforms

Each oscillator has a number of waveforms which are selectable by clicking on the waveform name in the box located in each oscillator section.

Prologue is modelled on subtractive synthesis, the method used in classic analog synthesizers. It has the following basic features:

• Multimode filter

Variable slope low pass and high pass, plus band pass and notch filter modes – see

“About the filter types” on page 16.

• Three oscillators, each with 4 standard waveforms plus

an assortment of specialized waveforms.

See “Selecting Waveforms” on page 12.

• Frequency modulation.

See “About frequency modulation” on page 14.

• Ring Modulation.

See “Ring modulation” on page 15.

• Built-in effects.

See “Effects (EFX) page” on page 20.

• Prologue receives MIDI in Omni mode (on all MIDI

channels).

You do not have to select a MIDI channel to direct MIDI to the Prologue.

The included VST instruments

The following waveforms are available:

Waveform Description

Sawtooth This waveform contains all harmonics and produces a

Parabolic This can be described as a “rounded” sawtooth wave-

Square Square waveforms only contain odd number harmonics,

bright and rich sound.

form, producing a softer timbre.

which produces a distinct, hollow sound.

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Waveform Description

Triangle The triangle waveform generates only a few harmonics,

Sine The sine wave is the simplest possible waveform, with no

Formant 1–12 Formant waveforms emphasizes certain frequency bands.

Vocal 1–7 These are also formant waveforms, but specifically vocal-

Partial 1–7 Partials, also called harmonics or overtones, are a series

Reso Pulse 1–12

Slope 1–12 This waveform category begins with a complex waveform

Neg Slope 1–9

spaced at odd harmonic numbers, which produces a slightly hollow sound.

harmonics (overtones). The sine wave produces a neu tral, soft timbre.

Like the human voice, musical instruments have a fixed set of formants, which give it a unique, recognizable tonal color or timbre, regardless of pitch.

oriented. Vowel sounds (A/E/I/O/U) are among the wave forms found in this category.

of tones which accompany the prime tone (fundamental). These waveforms can be described as producing inter vals with two or more frequencies heard simultaneously with equal strength.

This waveform category begins with a complex waveform (Reso Pulse 1), that emphasizes the fundamental fre quency (prime). For each consecutive waveform in this category, the next harmonic in the harmonic series is emphasized.

(Slope 1), with gradually decreasing harmonic complexity the higher the number selected. Slope 12 produces a sine wave (no harmonics).

This category also begins with a complex waveform (NegSlope 1), but with gradually decreasing low fre quency content the higher the number selected.

• To hear the signal generated by the oscillator(s), the

corresponding Osc controls in the oscillator sections must be turned clockwise to a suitable value.

OSC 1 parameters

Oscillator 1 acts as a master oscillator. It determines the base pitch for all three oscillators. Oscillator 1 features the following parameters:

Parameter Description

Osc 1 (0–100)

Coarse (±48 semitones)

Fine (±50 cent)

This controls the output level of the oscillator.

This determines the base pitch used by all oscillators.

Fine tunes the oscillator pitch in cent increments (100th of a semitone). This also affects all oscillators.

Parameter Description

Wave Mod (±50)

Phase button (On/Off)

Tracking button (On/Off)

Wave Mod button (On/Off)

Waveform pop-up menu (see “Selecting

Waveforms”

on page 12)

This parameter is only active if the Wave Mod button is activated beside the waveform selection box. Wave mod ulation works by adding a phase-shifted copy of the oscillator output to itself, which produces waveform variations. For example if a sawtooth waveform is used, activating WM produces a pulse waveform. By modulat ing the WM parameter with for example an LFO, classic PWM (pulse width modulation) is produced. However, wave modulation can be applied to any waveform.

When Phase synchronization is activated, all oscillators restart their waveform cycles with every note played. With Phase deactivated, the oscillators generate a waveform cycle continuously, which produces slight variations when playing as each note starts from a random phase in the cy cle, adding warmth to the sound. But when synthesizing bass sounds or drum sounds, it is usually desired that the attack of every note played sounds the same, so for these purposes activate Phase sync. Phase sync also affects the noise generator.

When Tracking is activated, the oscillator pitch tracks the notes played on the keyboard. If Tracking is deactivated, the oscillator pitch remains constant, regardless of what note is played.

This switches wave modulation on or off.

Sets the basic waveform for the oscillator.

OSC 2 parameters

Oscillator 2 has the following parameters:

Parameter Description

Osc 2 (0–100)

Coarse (±48 semitones)

Fine (±50 cent)

Wave Mod (±50)

This controls the output level of the oscillator.

This determines the coarse pitch for Osc 2. If FM is enabled, this determines frequency ratio of the oscillator regarding Osc 1.

Fine tunes the oscillator pitch in cent increments (100th of a semitone). If FM is enabled, this determines the fre quency ratio of the oscillator regarding Osc 1.

The included VST instruments

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Parameter Description

Ratio (1–16)

Sync button (On/Off)

Tracking button (On/Off)

Freq Mod button (On/Off)

Wave Mod button (On/Off)

Waveform pop-up menu (see “Selecting

Waveforms”

on page 12)

This parameter (which is only active if the Freq Mod button is activated) adjusts the amount of frequency modulation applied to oscillator 2, see on page 14. Is normally referred to as FM index.

When Sync is activated, Osc 2 is slaved to Osc 1. This means that every time Osc 1 completes its cycle, Osc 2 is forced to reset (start its cycle from the beginning). This produces a characteristic sound, suitable for lead playing. Osc 1 determines the pitch, and varying the pitch of Osc 2 produces changes in timbre. For classic sync sounds, try modulating the pitch of Osc 2 with an envelope or an LFO. The Osc 2 pitch should also be set higher than the pitch of Osc 1.

When Tracking is activated, the oscillator pitch tracks the notes played on the keyboard. If Tracking is deactivated, the oscillator pitch remains constant, regardless of what note is played.

This switches frequency modulation on or off.

This switches wave modulation on or off.

Sets the basic waveform for the oscillator.

“About frequency modulation”

OSC 3 parameters

Oscillator 3 has the following parameters:

Parameter Description

Osc 3 (0–100)

Coarse (±48 semitones)

Fine (±50 cent)

Ratio (1–16)

Sync button (On/Off)

This controls the output level of the oscillator.

This determines the coarse pitch for Osc 3. If FM is enabled, this determines the frequency ratio of the oscillator regarding Osc 1/2.

Fine tunes the oscillator pitch in cent increments (100th of a semitone). If FM is enabled, this determines the fre quency ratio of the oscillator regarding Osc 1/2.

This parameter (which is only active if the Freq Mod button is activated) adjusts the amount of frequency modulation applied to oscillator 3, see on page 14. Is normally referred to as FM index.

When Sync is activated, Osc 3 is slaved to Osc 1. This means that every time Osc 1 completes its cycle, Osc 3 is forced to reset (start its cycle from the beginning). This produces a characteristic sound, suitable for lead playing. Osc 1 determines the pitch, and varying the pitch of Osc 3 produces changes in timbre. For classic sync sounds, try modulating the pitch of Osc 3 with an envelope or an LFO. The Osc 3 pitch should also be set higher than the pitch of Osc 1.

“About frequency modulation”

Parameter Description

Tracking button (On/Off)

Freq Mod button (On/Off)

Wave Mod button (On/Off)

Waveform pop-up menu (see “Selecting

Waveforms”

on page 12)

When Tracking is activated, the oscillator pitch tracks the notes played on the keyboard. If Tracking is deactivated, the oscillator pitch remains constant, regardless of what note is played.

This switches frequency modulation on or off.

This switches wave modulation on or off.

Sets the basic waveform for the oscillator.

About frequency modulation

Frequency modulation or FM means that the frequency of one oscillator (called the carrier) is modulated by the frequency of another oscillator (called the modulator).

• In Prologue, Osc 1 is the modulator, and Osc 2 and 3 are carriers.

Osc 2 could be said to be both carrier and modulator as if Freq Mod is applied to Osc 2 it is modulated by Osc 3. If Osc 2 also uses frequency modulation, Osc 3 is modulated by both Osc 1 and Osc 2.

• The “pure” sound of frequency modulation is output through the modulator oscillator(s).

This means that you should turn off the Osc 1 output when using frequency modulation.

• The Freq Mod button switches frequency modulation on or off.

• The Ratio parameter determines the amount of frequency modulation.

Portamento

This parameter makes the pitch glide between the notes you play. The parameter setting determines the time it takes for the pitch to glide from one note to the next. Turn the knob clockwise for longer glide time.

The “Mode” switch allows you to apply glide only when you play a legato note (when switch is set to Legato). Le gato is when you play a note without releasing the previously played note. Note that Legato mode only works with monophonic parts.

The included VST instruments

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Ring modulation

Ring modulators multiply two audio signals. The ring-modulated output contains added frequencies generated by the sum of, and the difference between, the frequencies of the two signals. In Prologue, Osc 1 is multiplied with Osc 2 to produce sum and difference frequencies. Ring modu lation is often used to create bell-like sounds.

• To hear the ring modulation, turn down the output level

for Osc 1 and 2, and turn up the “R.Mod” level all the way.

• If Osc 1 and 2 are tuned to the same frequency, and no

modulation is applied to the Osc 2 pitch, nothing much happens.

However, if you change the pitch of Osc 2, drastic changes in timbre can be heard. If the oscillators are tuned to a harmonic interval such as a fifth or octave, the ring modulated output sounds harmonic, other intervals produce inharmonious, complex timbres.

• Deactivate Oscillator Sync when using ring modulation.

Noise generator

A noise generator generates noise (all frequencies at equal levels). Applications include simulating drum sounds and breath sounds for wind instruments.

• To hear only the sound of the noise generator, turn

down the output level for the oscillators, and turn up the Noise parameter.

• The noise generator level is routed to Envelope 1 by de-

fault.

See “Envelope page” on page 18 for a description of the Envelope generators.

Filter section

The circle in the middle contains the filter parameters. The central control sets the filter cutoff parameter and the outer ring the filter type:

Parameter Description

Filter type Sets the filter type to either low pass, high pass, band

Cutoff This knob controls the filter frequency or “cutoff”. If a low

Emphasis This is the resonance control for the filter. For low pass and

Drive This can be used to adjust the filter input level. Levels

Shift Internally, each filter consists of two or more “subfilters”

Tracking If this parameter is set to values over the 12 o’clock posi-

pass or notch. The filter types are described in the table below.

pass filter is used, it could be said to control the opening and closing of the filter, producing the classic “sweeping” synthesizer sound. How this parameter operates is gov erned by the filter type mode (see the table below).

high pass filters, raising the Emphasis value emphasizes the frequencies around the set cutoff frequency. This pro duces a generally thinner sound, but with a sharper, more pronounced cutoff sweep. The higher the filter Emphasis value, the more resonant the sound becomes until it starts to ring (self-oscillate), generating a distinct pitch. For Band pass or Notch filters, the Emphasis setting adjusts the width of the band. When you raise the value, the band where frequencies are let through (Band pass), or cut (Notch) becomes narrower.

above 0

dB gradually introduce a soft distortion of the in-

put signal, and a decrease of the filter resonance.

connected in series. This parameter shifts the cutoff fre quency of the subfilters. The result depends on the selected filter type: For Low pass and High pass filter types it changes the filter slope. For Band pass and Notch filter types it changes the bandwidth. The Shift parameter has no effect if either the 12 selected.

tion, the filter cutoff frequency increases the further up on the keyboard you play. Negative values invert this rela tionship. If the Tracking parameter is set fully clockwise, the cutoff frequency tracks the keyboard by a semitone per key.

dB LP or 12 dB HP filter type is

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About the filter types

You select which filter type to use using the buttons around the filter cutoff knob. The following filter types are available (listed clockwise from 9 o’clock):

Type Description

12 db LP Low pass filters let low frequencies pass and cut out the

18 dB LP This low pass filter also has a cascade design, attenuat-

24 dB LP This filter type attenuates frequencies above the cutoff

24 dB LP II This low pass filter has a cascade design which attenuates

12 dB Band This band pass filter cuts both high and low frequencies

12 dB Notch This notch filter cuts off frequencies near the cutoff fre-

12 dB HP A high pass filter is the opposite of a low pass filter, cutting

24 dB HP This filter has a 24 dB/Octave slope, giving a bright and

high frequencies. This low pass filter has a gentler slope

dB/Octave above the cutoff frequency), leaving more

(12 of the harmonics in the filtered sound.

ing frequencies above the cutoff frequency with a 18 dB/ Octave slope, as used in the classic TB 303 synth.

frequency with a 24 warm and fat sound.

frequencies above the cutoff frequency with a 24 tave slope, which produces a warm and dark sound.

above and below the cutoff frequency with a 12 tave slope, producing a nasal and thin sound.

quency by 12 dB/Octave, letting the frequencies below and above through. This produces a phaser-like sound.

out the lower frequencies and letting the high frequencies pass. This high pass filter has a 12 a bright and thin sound.

sharp sound.

dB/Octave slope, which produces a

dB/Oc-

dB/Octave slope, giving

Master Volume and Pan

Modulation and controllers

The lower half of the control panel displays the various modulation and controller assignment pages available as well as the effect page. You switch between these pages using the buttons below the Filter section.

The following pages are available:

• The LFO page has two low frequency oscillators (LFOs) for modulating parameters – see below.

• The Envelope page contains the four Envelope generators which can be assigned to control parameters – see

“Envelope page” on page 18.

• The Event page contains the common MIDI controllers (Mod wheel, Aftertouch, etc.) and their assignments – see

“Event page” on page 20.

• The Effect page has three separate effect types available; Distortion, Delay and Modulation – see “Effects

(EFX) page” on page 20.

LFO page

The LFO page is opened by clicking the LFO button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. The page contains all parameters and the modulation and velocity destinations for two independent LFOs.

The master Volume controls the master volume (amplitude) of the instrument. By default this parameter is controlled by Envelope 1, to generate an amplitude envelope for the os cillators.

The Pan knob controls the position in the stereo spectrum for the instrument. You can use Pan as a modulation des tination.

The included VST instruments

Depending on the currently selected preset, there may already be modulation destinations assigned, in which case

these are listed in the “Mod Dest” box for each LFO – see

“Assigning LFO modulation destinations” on page 17. A

low frequency oscillator (LFO) is used for modulating pa-

rameters, for example the pitch of an oscillator (to produce vibrato), or for any parameter where cyclic modulation is desired.

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The two LFOs have identical parameters:

Parameter Description

Speed This governs the rate of the LFO. If MID I Sync is acti vated

Depth This controls the amount of modulation applied by the

Waveform This sets the LFO waveform.

Sync mode (Part/MIDI/ Voice/Key)

(see below), the available rate values are selectable as note values, e. in Nuendo.

LFO. If set to zero, no modulation is applied.

This sets the sync mode for the LFO. See below for a description.

g. beat increments of the sequencer tempo

About the sync modes

The Sync modes determine how the LFO cycle affects the notes you play:

Parameter Description

Part In this mode, the LFO cycle is free running and affects all

MIDI In this mode the LFO rate is synced in various beat incre-

Voice In this mode each voice in the Part has its own indepen-

Key Same as Voice except that it is not free running – for

the voices in sync. “Free running” means that the LFO cy cles continuously, and does not reset when a note is played.

ments to MIDI clock.

dent LFO cycle (the LFO is polyphonic). These cycles are also free running – each key down starts anywhere in the LFO cycle phase.

each key down the LFO cycle starts over.

About the waveforms

Most standard LFO waveforms are available for LFO modulation. You use Sine and Triangle waveforms for smooth modulation cycles, Square and Ramp up/down for different types of stepped modulation cycles and Random or Sam

ple for random modulation. The Sample waveform is different. In this mode, one LFO actually samples and holds the values of the other LFO at the chosen frequency.

Assigning LFO modulation destinations

To assign a modulation destination for an LFO, proceed as follows:

1. Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the LFOs.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope parameters are available as destinations.

2. Select a destination, e. g. Filter Cut Off.

The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount.

• You can set positive and negative modulation values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Select a suitable LFO Waveform, Speed, Depth, and Sync mode.

You should now hear the filter cutoff being modulated by the LFO.

4. Using the same basic method, you can add any number of modulation destinations for the LFO.

They are all listed in the “Mod Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

The included VST instruments

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Assigning LFO velocity destinations

You can also assign LFO modulation that is velocity controlled (i.e. governed by how hard or soft you strike a key). This is done as follows:

1. Click in the “Vel Dest” box for one of the LFOs.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible velocity destinations are shown.

2. Select a destination.

The selected velocity destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount. See below for an example of how velocity modula tion works.

• You can set positive and negative values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Using the same basic method, you can add any number of velocity destinations for the LFO.

They are all listed in the “Vel Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

LFO modulation velocity control – an example:

If you follow the steps above and select the filter cutoff parameter as a Velocity destination, the following happens:

• The harder you strike the key, the more the filter cutoff parameter is modulated by the LFO.

• If you enter a negative value for the velocity modulation amount, the opposite happens; the harder you play the less the filter cutoff is modulated by the LFO.

Envelope generators govern how a parameter value changes when a key is pressed, when a key is held and finally when a key is released.

On the Envelope page, the parameters for one of the four envelope generators is shown at a time.

• You switch between the four envelopes in the section to the left.

Clicking on either of the four mini curve displays 1 to 4 selects it and displays the corresponding envelope parameters to the right. The mini curve displays also reflect the envelope settings for each corresponding enve lope.

• Envelope generators have four parameters; Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release (ADSR).

See below for a description of these.

• You can set envelope parameters in two ways; either by using the sliders or by click-dragging the curve in the Envelope curve display.

You can also do this in the mini curve displays.

• By default Envelope 1 is assigned to the master volume, and therefore acts as an amplitude envelope. The amplitude envelope is used to adjust how the volume of the sound changes from the time you press a key until the key is released.

If no amplitude envelope were assigned, there would be no output.

The Envelope parameters are as follows:

Envelope page

The Envelope page is opened by clicking the ENV button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. The page contains all parameters and the modulation and velocity destinations for the four independent envelope generators.

The included VST instruments

Attack

The attack phase is the time it takes from zero to the maximum value. How long this takes is governed by the Attack setting. If the Attack is set to “0”, the maximum value is reached instantly. If this value is raised, it takes time before the maximum value is reached. Range is from 0.0 millisec onds to 91.1 seconds.

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Decay

After the maximum value has been reached, the value starts to drop. How long this takes is governed by the Decay time parameter. The Decay time has no effect if the Sustain parameter is set to maximum. Range is from 0.0 milliseconds to 91.1 seconds.

Sustain

The Sustain parameter determines the level the envelope rests at after the Decay phase. Note that Sustain repre

sents a level, whereas the other envelope parameters represent times. Range is from 0 to 100.

Release

Release determines the time it takes for the value to fall back to zero after releasing the key. Range is from 0.0 milliseconds to 91.1 seconds.

Punch

When Punch is activated, the start of the decay phase is delayed by a few milliseconds (i.e. the envelope remains at the top level for a moment before moving on to the decay phase). The result is a punchier attack similar to a com

pressor effect. This effect is more pronounced with short attack and decay times.

Retrigger

When Retrigger is activated, the envelope re-triggers each time you play a new note. However, with certain textures/ pad sounds and a limited number of voices it is recommended to leave the button deactivated, due to click noises that might occur, when the envelope is ended up abruptly. This is caused by the incoming re-trigger that forces the en velope to start over again.

Assigning Envelope modulation destinations

To assign a modulation destination for an Envelope, proceed as follows:

1. Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the Envelopes.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope pa rameters are available as destinations.

2. Select a destination, e. g. Filter Cut Off.

The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount.

• You can set positive and negative modulation values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Select a suitable envelope curve for the modulation.

You should now hear the filter cutoff being modulated by the envelope as you play.

4. Using the same basic method, you can add any number of modulation destinations for the envelope.

They are all listed in the “Mod Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

Assigning Envelope velocity destinations

You can also assign Envelope modulation that is velocity controlled (i.e. governed by how hard or soft you strike a key). This is done as follows:

1. Click in the “Vel Dest” box for one of the envelopes.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible velocity destinations are shown.

2. Select a destination.

• You can set positive and negative values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Using the same basic method, you can add any number of velocity destinations for the Envelope.

They are all listed in the “Vel Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

Envelope modulation velocity control – an example:

If you follow the steps above and select the filter cutoff parameter as a Velocity destination, the following happens:

• The harder you strike the key, the more the filter cutoff parameter is modulated by the Envelope.

• If you enter a negative value for the velocity modulation amount, the opposite happens; the harder you play the less the filter cutoff is modulated by the Envelope.

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Event page

The Event page is opened by clicking the EVENT button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. This page contains the most common MIDI controllers and their respective assignments.

Effects (EFX) page

This page features three separate effect units: Distortion, Delay and Modulation (Phaser/Flanger/Chorus). The Effect page is opened by clicking the EFX button at the top of the lower half of the control panel.

The following controllers are available:

Controller Description

Modulation Wheel

Velocity Velocity is used to control parameters according to how

Aftertouch Aftertouch, or channel pressure, is MIDI data sent when

Key Pitch Tracking

The modulation wheel on your keyboard can be used to modulate parameters.

hard or soft you play notes on your keyboard. A common application of velocity is to make sounds brighter and louder if you strike the key harder.

pressure is applied to a keyboard after the key has been struck, and while it is being held down or sustained. Af tertouch is often routed to control filter cutoff, volume, and other parameters to add expression. Most (but not all) MIDI keyboards send Aftertouch.

This can change parameter values linearly according to where on the keyboard you play.

To assign any of these controllers to one or several parameters, proceed as follows:

1. Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the controllers.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope pa rameters are available as destinations.

2. Select a destination.

The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount when the controller is at its full range.

• You can set positive and negative modulation values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Using the same basic method, you can add any number of modulation destinations for the controllers.

They are all listed in the “Mod Dest” box for the respective controller.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

• Each separate effect section is laid out with a row of buttons that determine the effect type or characteristic and a row of sliders for making parameter settings.

• To activate an effect, click the “Active” button so that a dot appears.

Clicking again deactivates the effect.

Distortion

You can select between 4 basic distortion characteristics:

• Distortion provides hard clipping distortion.

• Soft Distortion provides soft clipping distortion.

• Tape Emulation produces distortion similar to magnetic tape saturation.

• Tube Emulation produces distortion similar to valve amplifiers.

The parameters are as follows:

Parameter Description

Filter This parameter sets the crossover frequency of the dis-

Tone This parameter controls the relative amount of low pass

Drive Sets the amount of distortion by amplifying the input signal.

Level This controls the output level of the effect.

tortion filter. The distortion filter consists of a low pass filter and a high pass filter with a cutoff frequency equal to the crossover frequency.

and high-pass filtered signal.

Delay

You can select between 3 basic delay characteristics:

• Stereo Delay has two separate delay lines panned left and right.

• In Mono Delay the two delay lines are connected in series for monophonic dual tap delay effects.

• In Cross Delay the delayed sound bounces between the stereo channels.

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The parameters are as follows:

Parameter Description

Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the delay times on or off.

Delay 1 Sets the delay time ranging from 0 ms to 728 ms. If MIDI

Delay 2 Same as Delay 1.

Feedback This controls the decay of the delays. With higher set-

Filter A low pass filter is built into the feedback loop of the de-

Level This controls the output level of the effect.

sync is activated the range is from 1/32 to 1/1; straight, triplet or dotted.

tings the echoes repeat longer.

lay. This parameter controls the cutoff frequency of this feedback filter. Low settings result in successive echoes sounding darker.

Modulation

You can select between 3 basic modulation characteristics:

• The Phaser uses an 8-pole allpass filter to produce the classic phasing effect.

• The Flanger is composed of two independent delay lines with feedback for the left and the right channel respectively. The delay time of both delays is modulated by one LFO with adjustable frequency.

• Chorus produces a rich chorus effect with 4 delays modulated by four independent LFOs.

The parameters are as follows:

Parameter Description

Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the Rate parameter on or off.

Rate Sets the rate of the LFOs modulating the delay time. If

Depth This parameter controls the depth of the delay time mod-

Delay This parameter sets the delay time of the four delay lines.

Feedback The feedback parameter controls the amount of positive

Level This controls the output level of the effect.

Song Sync is activated the rate is synced to various beat increments.

ulation.

or negative feedback for all four delay lines. The adjust able range is from -1 to 1.

SR parameters

With these buttons you can change the sample rate. Lower sample rates basically reduce the high frequency content and sound quality, but the pitch is not altered. This is a great way to emulate the “lo-fi” sounds of older digital synths!

• If button “F” is active, the selected Part’s program plays back with the sample rate set in the host application.

• If button “1/2” is active, the selected Part’s program plays back with half the original sample rate.

• If button “1/4” is active, the selected Part’s program plays back with a quarter of the original sample rate.

• A bonus effect of using lower sample rates is that it re-

duces the load on the computer CPU, allowing more simultaneous voices to be played, etc.

Spector

The synthesis in this synthesizer is based around a “spectrum filter”, which allows you to specify the frequency response by drawing a filter contour in the spectrum display. Slightly simplified, the signal path is the following:

• The starting point is the sound generated by up to 6 os-

cillators.

You can choose between different numbers of oscillators in different configurations (in octaves, in unison, etc.). The oscillators can also be detuned for fat sounds or extreme special effects.

• Each oscillator produces two basic waveforms, labeled

A and B.

You can choose between six different waveforms, independently selected for A and B.

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• The two waveforms pass through separate spectrum filters (A and B).

You can draw different spectrum contours for the two filters, or select a contour from the included presets.

• The Cut 1 & 2 parameters allow you to shift the frequency range of the spectrum filter.

This makes it easy to create unique-sounding filter sweeps.

• Finally, a Morph control lets you mix the output of spectrum filters A and B.

Since this can be controlled with envelopes, LFOs, etc. you can create morphing effects.

• You also have controllers and modulation parameters (two LFOs, four envelopes and three effects), see

“Modu-

lation and controllers” on page 24.

Ö The signal flow of the Spector synth is illustrated in the section “Diagrams” on page 52.

Oscillator pop-up menu

This pop-up menu is opened by clicking on the arrow below the centrally placed section (which illustrates the currently selected oscillator configuration).

Sound parameters

Oscillator section

A/B waveform pop-up menus

This is where you select basic waveforms for the A and B output of the oscillators. The options are especially suited for use with the spectrum filter.

Coarse and Fine

These parameters provide overall transposition and tuning of the oscillators (common for all oscillators, A and B waveforms).

The pop-up menu has the following oscillator configurations to choose between:

Option Description

6 Osc 6 oscillators with the same pitch.

6 Osc 1:2 3 oscillators with base pitch and 3 pitched one octave down.

6 Osc 1:2:3 Three groups of two oscillators with the pitch ratio 1:2:3 (2

6 Osc 1:2:3:4:5:6

4 Osc 1:2 2 oscillators with base pitch and 2 pitched one octave down.

3 Osc 3 oscillators with the same pitch.

2 Osc 2 oscillators with the same pitch.

2 Osc 1:2 One oscillator with base pitch and one pitched one octave

1 Osc A single oscillator. In this mode, the Detune and Cut II pa-

oscillators with base pitch, 2 oscillators at half the frequency of the base pitch and 2 oscillators at a third of the frequency).

6 oscillators tuned with the pitch ratio 1:2:3:4:5:6 (known as the “subharmonic series”).

down.

rameters are not active.

Detune

Detunes the oscillators (in all oscillator modes except “1Osc”). Low values give gentle chorus-like detuning; raising the control detunes the oscillators by several semitones for clangorous special effects.

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Raster

This parameter reduces the number of harmonics present in the oscillator waveforms in the following manner:

Setting Description

0 All harmonics present.

1 Only every second harmonic present.

2 Only every third harmonic present.

… …and so on.

• If you want to random calculate a spectrum filter curve,

you can choose the Randomize function from the Preset pop-up menu.

Each time you choose this function, a new randomized spectrum appears.

Cut I and II

Portamento

The “Mode” switch allows you to apply glide only when you play a legato note (when switch is set to Legato). Legato is when you play a note without releasing the previously played note. Note that Legato mode only works with mono phonic parts.

Spectrum filter sections

This is where you create the contours (frequency response characteristics) for the two 128 pole resonant spectrum filters “A” and “B”.

• You can use the Preset pop-up menu to select a preset contour if you like.

• To change the contour, click and “draw” with the mouse.

Once you change the selected contour, it is labeled as “Custom” in the Preset field above the display, indicating that you’re no longer using one of the presets.

These work much like cutoff frequency controls on a conventional filter: With the Cut controls at the maximum setting, the full frequency range is used for the spectrum filter; lowering the Cut controls gradually moves the entire contour down in frequency, “closing” the filter. Please note the following:

• If a 2 oscillator configuration is used, you can set differ-

ent “cutoffs” for the two oscillators with Cut I and Cut II, respectively. Similarly, if more than two oscillators are used, they are internally divided in two groups, for which you can set independent “cutoffs” with Cut I and II.

For example, in the “6 Osc” modes Cut I affects the sound of oscillators 1, 3 and 5 while Cut II affects the sound of oscillators 2, 4 and 6. In the “1 Osc” mode, the Cut II control is not used.

• If the Spectrum Sync (link symbol) button between the

Cut controls is activated, the two knobs are synced and follow each other and are set to the same value.

Morph

This controls the mix between the sound of spectrum filters A and B. When the Morph knob is turned fully left, only the “A” sound is heard; when it is turned right only the “B” sound is heard. This allows you to seamlessly morph (manually or using an LFO or an envelope) between two totally different sounds.

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Master Volume and Pan

The master Volume controls the master volume (amplitude) of the instrument. By default this parameter is controlled by Envelope 1, to generate an amplitude envelope for the os cillators.

The Pan knob controls the position in the stereo spectrum for the instrument. You can use Pan as a modulation des tination.

Modulation and controllers

The following pages are available:

• The LFO page has two low frequency oscillators (LFOs) for modulating parameters – see below.

• The Envelope page contains the four Envelope generators which can be assigned to control parameters – see

“Envelope page” on page 26.

• The Event page contains the common MIDI controllers (Mod wheel, Aftertouch, etc.) and their assignments – see

“Event page” on page 27.

• The Effect page has three separate effect types available; Distortion, Delay, and Modulation – see “Effects

(EFX) page” on page 28.

LFO page

Depending on the currently selected preset, there may already be modulation destinations assigned, in which case these are listed in the “Mod Dest” box for each LFO – see

“Assigning LFO modulation destinations” on page 25. A

low frequency oscillator (LFO) is used for modulating parameters, for example the pitch of an oscillator (to produce vibrato), or for any parameter where cyclic modulation is desired.

The two LFOs have identical parameters:

Parameter Description

Speed This governs the rate of the LFO. If MIDI Sync is activated

Depth This controls the amount of modulation applied by the

Waveform This sets the LFO waveform.

Sync mode (Part/MIDI/ Voice/Key)

About the sync modes

The Sync modes determine how the LFO cycle affects the notes you play:

Parameter Description

Part In this mode, the LFO cycle is free running and affects all

MIDI In this mode the LFO rate is synced in various beat incre-

(see below), the available rate values are selectable as note values, so the rate is synced to the sequencer tempo in Nuendo in various beat increments.

LFO. If set to zero, no modulation is applied.

This sets the sync mode for the LFO. See below for a description.

the voices in sync. “Free running” means that the LFO cycles continuously, and does not reset when a note is played.

ments to MIDI clock.

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Parameter Description

Voice In this mode each voice in the Part has its own indepen-

Key Same as Voice except that it is not free running – for

dent LFO cycle (the LFO is polyphonic). These cycles are also free running – each key down starts anywhere in the LFO cycle phase.

each key down the LFO cycle starts over.

About the waveforms

Most standard LFO waveforms are available for LFO modulation. You use Sine and Triangle waveforms for smooth modulation cycles, Square and Ramp up/down for differ ent types of stepped modulation cycles and Random or Sample for random modulation. The Sample waveform is different:

• In this mode, the LFO actually makes use of the other LFO as well.

For example, if LFO 2 is set to use Sample the resulting effect also depends on the speed and waveform of LFO 1.

Assigning LFO modulation destinations

To assign a modulation destination for an LFO, proceed as follows:

1. Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the LFOs.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope pa rameters are available as destinations.

2. Select a destination, e.g. Cut.

The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount.

• You can set positive and negative modulation values by

clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Select a suitable LFO Waveform, Speed, Depth, and

Sync mode.

You should now hear the Cut parameter being modulated by the LFO.

4. Using the same basic method, you can add any num-

ber of modulation destinations for the LFO.

They are all listed in the “Mod Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in

the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

Assigning LFO velocity destinations

You can also assign LFO modulation that is velocity controlled (i.e. governed by how hard or soft you strike a key). This is done as follows:

1. Click in the “Vel Dest” box for one of the LFOs.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible velocity destinations are shown.

2. Select a destination.

tion works.

• You can set positive and negative values by clicking on

the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Using the same basic method, you can add any num-

ber of velocity destinations for the LFO.

They are all listed in the “Vel Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in

the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

LFO modulation velocity control – an example:

If you follow the steps above and select the Cut parameter as a Velocity destination, the following happens:

• The harder you strike the key, the more the Cut parame-

ter is modulated by the LFO.

• If you enter a negative value for the velocity modulation

amount, the opposite happens; the harder you play the less the Cut parameter is modulated by the LFO.

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Envelope page

Envelope generators govern how a parameter value changes when a key is pressed, when a key is held and finally when a key is released.

On the Envelope page, the parameters for one of the four envelope generators is shown at a time.

• You switch between the four envelopes in the section to the left.

• Envelope generators have four parameters; Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release (ADSR).

See below for a description of these.

• You can set envelope parameters in two ways; either by using the sliders or by click-dragging the curve in the En velope curve display.

You can also do this in the mini curve displays.

• By default Envelope 1 is assigned to the master volume, and therefore acts as an amplitude envelope. The ampli tude envelope is used to adjust how the volume of the sound changes from the time you press a key until the key is released.

If no amplitude envelope were assigned, there would be no output.

The Envelope parameters are as follows:

Attack

Decay

Sustain

The Sustain parameter determines the level the envelope rests at after the Decay phase. Note that Sustain repre sents a level, whereas the other envelope parameters represent times. Range is from 0 to 100.

Release

Release determines the time it takes for the value to fall back to zero after releasing the key. Range is from 0.0 milliseconds to 91.1 seconds.

Punch

When Punch is activated, the start of the decay phase is delayed a few milliseconds (the envelope “stays” at top

level for a moment before moving on to the decay phase). The result is a punchier attack similar to a compressor ef fect. This effect is more pronounced with short attack and decay times.

Retrigger

When Retrigger is activated, the envelope re-triggers each time you play a new note. However, with certain textures/pad sounds and a limited number of voices it is recommended to leave the button deactivated, due to click noises that might occur, when the envelope is ended up abruptly. This is caused by the incoming re-trigger that forces the envelope to start over again.

Assigning Envelope modulation destinations

To assign a modulation destination for an Envelope, proceed as follows:

1. Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the Envelopes.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope pa rameters are available as destinations.

2. Select a destination, e.g. Cut.

The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount.

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• You can set positive and negative modulation values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Select a suitable envelope curve for the modulation.

You should now hear the Cut parameter being modulated by the envelope as you play.

4. Using the same basic method, you can add any number of modulation destinations for the envelope.

They are all listed in the “Mod Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

Assigning Envelope velocity destinations

You can also assign Envelope modulation that is velocity controlled (i.e. governed by how hard or soft you strike a key). This is done as follows:

1. Click in the “Vel Dest” box for one of the envelopes.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible velocity destinations are shown.

2. Select a destination.

• You can set positive and negative values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Using the same basic method, you can add any number of velocity destinations for the Envelope.

They are all listed in the “Vel Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

Envelope modulation velocity control – an example:

If you follow the steps above and select the Cut parameter as a Velocity destination, the following happens:

• The harder you strike the key, the more the parameter is modulated by the Envelope.

• If you enter a negative value for the velocity modulation amount, the opposite happens; the harder you play the less the Cut parameter is modulated by the Envelope.

Event page

The Event page is opened by clicking the EVENT button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. This page contains the most common MIDI controllers and their respective assignments.

The following controllers are available:

Controller Description

Modulation Wheel

Velocity Velocity is used to control parameters according to how

Aftertouch Aftertouch, or channel pressure, is MIDI data sent when

Key Pitch

Tracking

To assign any of these controllers to one or several parameters, proceed as follows:

1. Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the controllers.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope pa rameters are available as destinations.

2. Select a destination.

• You can set positive and negative modulation values by

clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Using the same basic method, you can add any num-

ber of modulation destinations for the controllers.

They are all listed in the “Mod Dest” box for the respective controller.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in

the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

The modulation wheel on your keyboard can be used to modulate parameters.

hard or soft you play notes on your keyboard. A common application of velocity is to make sounds brighter and louder if you strike the key harder.

This can change parameter values linearly according to where on the keyboard you play.

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Effects (EFX) page

• Each separate effect section is laid out with a row of buttons that determine the effect type or characteristic and a row of sliders for making parameter settings.

• To activate an effect, click the “Active” button so that a dot appears.

Clicking again deactivates the effect.

Distortion

You can select between 4 basic distortion characteristics:

• Distortion provides hard clipping distortion.

• Soft Distortion provides soft clipping distortion.

• Tape Emulation produces distortion similar to magnetic tape saturation.

• Tube Emulation produces distortion similar to valve amplifiers.

The parameters are as follows:

Parameter Description

Filter This parameter sets the crossover frequency of the dis-

Tone This parameter controls the relative amount of low pass

Drive Sets the amount of distortion by amplifying the input sig-

Level This controls the output level of the effect.

Delay

You can select between 3 basic delay characteristics:

• Stereo Delay has two separate delay lines panned left and right.

• In Mono Delay the two delay lines are connected in series for monophonic dual tap delay effects.

tortion filter. The distortion filter consists of a low pass filter and a high pass filter with a cutoff frequency equal to the crossover frequency.

and high-pass filtered signal.

nal.

• In Cross Delay the delayed sound bounces between the stereo channels.

The parameters are as follows:

Parameter Description

Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the delay times on or off.

Delay 1 Sets the delay time ranging from 0 ms to 728 ms. If MIDI

Delay 2 Same as Delay 1.

Feedback This controls the decay of the delays. With higher set-

Filter A low pass filter is built into the feedback loop of the de-

Level This controls the output level of the effect.

sync is activated the range is from 1/32 to 1/1; straight, triplet or dotted.

tings the echoes repeat longer.

lay. This parameter controls the cutoff frequency of this feedback filter. Low settings result in successive echoes sounding darker.

Modulation

You can select between 3 basic modulation characteristics:

• The Phaser uses an 8-pole allpass filter to produce the classic phasing effect.

• Chorus produces a rich chorus effect with 4 delays modulated by four independent LFOs.

The parameters are as follows:

Parameter Description

Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the Rate parameter on or off.

Rate Sets the rate of the LFOs modulating the delay time. If

Depth This parameter controls the depth of the delay time mod-

Delay This parameter sets the delay time of the four delay lines.

Feedback The feedback parameter controls the amount of positive

Level This controls the output level of the effect.

Song Sync is activated the rate is synced to various beat increments.

ulation.

or negative feedback for all four delay lines. The adjust able range is from -1 to 1.

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SR parameters

• If button “F” is active, the selected Part’s program plays back with the sample rate set in the host application.

• If button “1/2” is active, the selected Part’s program plays back with half the original sample rate.

• If button “1/4” is active, the selected Part’s program plays back with a quarter of the original sample rate.

• A bonus effect of using lower sample rates is that it re-

duces the load on the computer CPU, allowing more simultaneous voices to be played, etc.

Mystic

The synthesis method used by Mystic is based on three parallel comb filters with feedback. A comb filter is a filter with a number of “notches” in its frequency response, with the notch frequencies harmonically related to the frequency of the fundamental (lowest) notch.

A typical example of comb filtering occurs if you are using a flanger effect or a delay effect with very short delay time. As you probably know, raising the feedback (the amount of signal sent back into the delay or flanger) causes a res onating tone – this tone is basically what the Mystic produces. This astonishingly simple synthesis method is capable of generating a wide range of sounds, from gentle plucked-string tones to weird, non-harmonic timbres.

The basic principle is the following:

• You start with an “impulse sound”, typically with a very short decay.

The spectrum of the impulse sound largely affects the tonal quality of the final sound. To set up an impulse sound on the Mystic you use a slightly simplified version of the synthesis found on the Spector synth.

• The impulse sound is fed into the three comb filters, in parallel. Each of these has a feedback loop.

This means the output of each comb filter is fed back into the filter. This results in a resonating feedback tone.

• When the signal is fed back into the comb filter, it goes via a separate, variable low pass filter.

This filter corresponds to the damping of high frequencies in a physical instrument – when set to a low cutoff frequency it causes high harmonics to decay faster than the lower harmonics (as when plucking a string on a guitar, for example).

• The level of the feedback signal is governed by a feedback control.

This determines the decay of the feedback tone. Setting this to a negative value simulates the traveling wave in a tube with one open end and one closed end. The result is a more hollow, square wave-like sound, pitched one octave lower.

• A detune control offsets the fundamental frequencies of the three comb filters, for chorus-like sounds or drastic special effects.

Finally you have access to the common synth parameters – two LFOs, four envelopes and an effect section.

• By default, envelope 2 controls the level of the impulse sound – this is where you set up the short impulse decay when emulating string sounds, etc.

Ö The signal flow of the Mystic synth is illustrated in the section

“Diagrams” on page 52.

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Sound parameters

The Impulse Control section

This is where you set up the impulse sound – the sound fed into the comb filters, serving as a starting point for the sound. The Impulse Control has two basic waveforms that are filtered through separate spectrum filters with adjust able base frequency; the output is an adjustable mix between the two waveform/spectrum filter signals.

Spectrum displays

The displays allow you to draw a filter contour with your mouse for spectrum filters A & B.

• To set up the contour, click in one of the displays and

drag the mouse to draw the desired curve. Note that this produces the inverse contour in the other display, for max imum sonic versatility.

To set up the contour independently for the two filters, hold down [Shift] and click and drag the mouse in either display.

• Use the Preset pop-up menu to select a preset contour

if you like.

• If you want to random calculate a spectrum filter curve,

you can choose the Randomize function from the Preset pop-up menu.

Each time you choose this function, a new randomized spectrum appears.

Waveform pop-up menu

The pop-up menu at the bottom of the waveform section (the central box at the top of the panel) allows you to select a basic waveform to be sent through filter contour A. The options are especially suited for use with the spectrum filter.

Cut

This offsets the frequency of the filter contour, working somewhat like a cutoff control on a standard synth filter. To use the filter contour in its full frequency range, set Cut to its maximum value.

Morph

Adjusts the mix between the two signal paths: waveform A spectrum contour A and waveform B spectrum contour B.

Coarse

This offsets the pitch for the impulse sound. In a typical “string setup”, when the impulse sound is very short, this does not change the pitch of the final sound, but the tonal color.

Raster

This removes harmonics from the impulse sound. As the harmonic content of the impulse sound is reflected in the comb filter sound, this changes the final timbre.

The included VST instruments

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Comb filter sound parameters

Damping

This is a 6 dB/oct low pass filter that affects the sound being fed back into the comb filters. This means the sound becomes gradually softer when decaying, i.e. high harmonics to decay faster than the lower harmonics (as when plucking a string on a guitar, for example).

• The lower the Damping, the more pronounced this effect.

If you open the filter completely (turn Damping up to max) the harmonic content is static – i.e. the sound does not get softer when decaying.

Level

This determines the level of the impulse sound being fed into the comb filters. By default, this parameter is modu lated by envelope 2. That is, you use envelope 2 as a level envelope for the impulse sound.

• For a string-type sound, you want an envelope with a

quick attack, a very short decay and no sustain (an “impulse” in other words), but you can also use other envelopes for other types of sounds.

Try raising the attack for example, or raising the sustain to allow the impulse sound to be heard together with the comb filter sound.

Crackle

This allows you to send noise directly into the comb filters. Small amounts of noise produce a “crackling”, erratic effect; higher amounts give a more pronounced noise sound.

Detune

This offsets the notch frequencies of the three parallel comb filters, effectively changing the pitches of their feedback tones. At low settings, this creates a chorus-like detune effect. Higher settings detunes the three tones in wider intervals.

Pitch and Fine

Overall pitch adjustment of the final sound. This changes the pitch of both the impulse sound and the final comb fil ter sound.

Key Tracking

This button determines whether the impulse sound should track the keyboard or not. This affects the sound of the comb filters in a way similar to a key track switch on a reg ular subtractive synth filter.

Portamento

Master Volume and Pan

Feedback

This determines the amount of signal sent back into the comb filters (the feedback level).

• Setting Feedback to zero (twelve o’clock) effectively turns off the comb filter sound, as no feedback tone is produced.

• Setting Feedback to a positive value creates a feedback tone, with higher settings generating longer decays.

• Setting Feedback to a negative value creates a feedback tone with a more hollow sound, pitched one octave lower. Lower settings generate longer decays.

The included VST instruments

The master Volume controls the master volume (amplitude) of the instrument. By default this parameter is controlled by Envelope 1, to generate an amplitude envelope for the oscillators.

The Pan knob controls the position in the stereo spectrum for the instrument. You can use Pan as a modulation des tination.

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Modulation and controllers

The following pages are available:

• The LFO page has two low frequency oscillators (LFOs)

for modulating parameters – see below.

• The Envelope page contains the four Envelope genera-

tors which can be assigned to control parameters – see

“Envelope page” on page 34.

• The Event page contains the common MIDI controllers

(Mod wheel, Aftertouch, etc. and their assignments – see

“Event page” on page 35.

• The Effect page has three separate effect types avail-

able; Distortion, Delay and Modulation – see “Effects

(EFX) page” on page 36.

LFO page

Depending on the currently selected preset, there may already be modulation destinations assigned, in which case these are listed in the “Mod Dest” box for each LFO – see

“Assigning LFO modulation destinations” on page 33.

A low frequency oscillator (LFO) is used for modulating parameters, for example the pitch of an oscillator (to produce vibrato), or for any parameter where cyclic modulation is desired.

The two LFOs have identical parameters:

Parameter Description

Speed This governs the rate of the LFO. If MIDI Sync is activated

Depth This controls the amount of modulation applied by the

Waveform This sets the LFO waveform.

Sync mode (Part/MIDI/ Voice/Key)

(see below), the available rate values are selectable as note values, so the rate is synced to the sequencer tempo in Nuendo in various beat increments.

LFO. If set to zero, no modulation is applied.

This sets the sync mode for the LFO. See below for a description.

About the sync modes

The Sync modes determine how the LFO cycle affects the notes you play:

Parameter Description

Part In this mode, the LFO cycle is free running and affects all

MIDI In this mode the LFO rate is synced in various beat incre-

Voice In this mode each voice in the Part has its own indepen-

Key Same as Voice except that it is not free running – for

the voices in sync. “Free running” means that the LFO cy cles continuously, and does not reset when a note is played.

ments to MIDI clock.

dent LFO cycle (the LFO is polyphonic). These cycles are also free running – each key down starts anywhere in the LFO cycle phase.

each key down the LFO cycle starts over.

About the waveforms

• In this mode, the LFO actually makes use of the other LFO as well.

For example, if LFO 2 is set to use Sample the resulting effect also depends on the speed and waveform of LFO 1.

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Assigning LFO modulation destinations

To assign a modulation destination for an LFO, proceed as follows:

1. Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the LFOs.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope pa rameters are available as destinations.

2. Select a destination, e.g. Cut.

The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount.

• You can set positive and negative modulation values by

clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Select a suitable LFO Waveform, Speed, Depth, and

Sync mode.

You should now hear the Cut parameter being modulated by the LFO.

4. Using the same basic method, you can add any num-

ber of modulation destinations for the LFO.

They are all listed in the “Mod Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in

the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

Assigning LFO velocity destinations

You can also assign LFO modulation that is velocity controlled (i.e. governed by how hard or soft you strike a key). This is done as follows:

1. Click in the “Vel Dest” box for one of the LFOs.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible velocity destinations are shown.

2. Select a destination.

• You can set positive and negative values by clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Using the same basic method, you can add any number of velocity destinations for the LFO.

They are all listed in the “Vel Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

LFO modulation velocity control – an example:

If you follow the steps above and select the Cut parameter as a Velocity destination, the following happens:

• The harder you strike the key, the more the Cut parameter is modulated by the LFO.

• If you enter a negative value for the velocity modulation amount, the opposite happens; the harder you play the less the Cut parameter is modulated by the LFO.

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Envelope page

Envelope generators govern how a parameter value changes when a key is pressed, when a key is held and finally when a key is released.

On the Envelope page, the parameters for one of the four envelope generators is shown at a time.

• You switch between the four envelopes in the section to

the left.

• Envelope generators have four parameters; Attack, De-

cay, Sustain, and Release (ADSR).

See below for a description of these.

• You can set envelope parameters in two ways; either by

using the sliders or by click-dragging the curve in the Envelope curve display.

You can also do this in the mini curve displays.

• By default Envelope 1 is assigned to the master volume,

and therefore acts as an amplitude envelope. The ampli tude envelope is used to adjust how the volume of the sound changes from the time you press a key until the key is released.

If no amplitude envelope were assigned, there would be no output.

• Envelope 2 is by default assigned to the Level parame-

ter.

See “Level” on page 31.

The Envelope parameters are as follows:

Attack

Decay

After the maximum value has been reached, the value starts to drop. How long this takes is governed by the Decay time parameter. The Decay time has no effect if the Sustain pa rameter is set to maximum. Range is from 0.0 milliseconds to 91.1 seconds.

Sustain

The Sustain parameter determines the level the envelope rests at after the Decay phase. Note that Sustain represents a level, whereas the other envelope parameters represent times. Range is from 0 to 100.

Release

Release determines the time it takes for the value to fall back to zero after releasing the key. Range is from 0.0 mil liseconds to 91.1 seconds.

Punch

When Punch is activated, the start of the decay phase is delayed a few milliseconds (the envelope “stays” at top level for a moment before moving on to the decay phase). The result is a punchier attack similar to a compressor ef fect. This effect is more pronounced with short attack and decay times.

Retrigger

When Retrigger is activated, the envelope re-triggers each time you play a new note. However, with certain tex tures/pad sounds and a limited number of voices it is recommended to leave the button deactivated, due to click noises that might occur, when the envelope is ended up abruptly. This is caused by the incoming re-trigger that forces the envelope to start over again.

The included VST instruments

Page 35

Assigning Envelope modulation destinations

To assign a modulation destination for an Envelope, proceed as follows:

1. Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the Envelopes.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope pa rameters are available as destinations.

2. Select a destination, e.g. Cut.

The selected modulation destination is now shown in the list. Beside the destination, a default value (50) has been set. The value represents the modulation amount.

• You can set positive and negative modulation values by

clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Select a suitable envelope curve for the modulation.

You should now hear the Cut parameter being modulated by the envelope as you play.

4. Using the same basic method, you can add any num-

ber of modulation destinations for the envelope.

They are all listed in the “Mod Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in

the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

Assigning Envelope velocity destinations

You can also assign Envelope modulation that is velocity controlled (i.e. governed by how hard or soft you strike a key). This is done as follows:

1. Click in the “Vel Dest” box for one of the envelopes.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible velocity destinations are shown.

2. Select a destination.

• You can set positive and negative values by clicking on

the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Using the same basic method, you can add any num-

ber of velocity destinations for the Envelope.

They are all listed in the “Vel Dest” box.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

Envelope modulation velocity control – an example:

If you follow the steps above and select the Cut parameter as a Velocity destination, the following happens:

• The harder you strike the key, the more the parameter is modulated by the Envelope.

• If you enter a negative value for the velocity modulation amount, the opposite happens; the harder you play the less the Cut parameter is modulated by the Envelope.

Event page

The Event page is opened by clicking the EVENT button at the top of the lower half of the control panel. This page contains the most common MIDI controllers and their respective assignments.

The following controllers are available:

Controller Description

Modulation Wheel

Velocity Velocity is used to control parameters according to how

Aftertouch Aftertouch, or channel pressure, is MIDI data sent when

Key Pitch

Tracking

The modulation wheel on your keyboard can be used to modulate parameters.

hard or soft you play notes on your keyboard. A common application of velocity is to make sounds brighter and louder if you strike the key harder.

This can change parameter values linearly according to where on the keyboard you play.

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Page 36

To assign any of these controllers to one or several parameters, proceed as follows:

1. Click in the “Mod Dest” box for one of the controllers.

A pop-up menu appears in which all possible modulation destinations are shown. All Sound parameters as well as most LFO and Envelope pa rameters are available as destinations.

2. Select a destination.

• You can set positive and negative modulation values by

clicking on the value in the list, typing in a new value and pressing the Enter key.

To enter negative values type a minus sign followed by the value.

3. Using the same basic method, you can add any num-

ber of modulation destinations for the controllers.

They are all listed in the “Mod Dest” box for the respective controller.

• To remove a modulation destination click on its name in

the list and select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

Effects (EFX) page

• Each separate effect section is laid out with a row of

buttons that determine the effect type or characteristic and a row of sliders for making parameter settings.

• To activate an effect, click the “Active” button so that a

dot appears.

Clicking again deactivates the effect.

• Tube Emulation produces distortion similar to valve amplifiers.

The parameters are as follows:

Parameter Description

Drive Sets the amount of distortion by amplifying the input sig-

Filter This parameter sets the crossover frequency of the dis-

Tone This parameter controls the relative amount of low-pass

Level This controls the output level of the effect.

nal.

tortion filter. The distortion filter consists of a low pass filter and a high pass filter with a cutoff frequency equal to the crossover frequency.

and high-pass filtered signal.

Delay

You can select between 3 basic delay characteristics:

• Stereo Delay has two separate delay lines panned left and right.

• In Mono Delay the two delay lines are connected in series for monophonic dual tap delay effects.

• In Cross Delay the delayed sound bounces between the stereo channels.

The parameters are as follows:

Parameter Description

Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the delay times on or off.

Delay 1 Sets the delay time ranging from 0 ms to 728 ms. If MIDI

Delay 2 Same as Delay 1.

Feedback This controls the decay of the delays. With higher set-

Filter A low pass filter is built into the feedback loop of the de-

Level This controls the output level of the effect.

sync is activated the range is from 1/32 to 1/1; straight, triplet or dotted.

tings the echoes repeat longer.

lay. This parameter controls the cutoff frequency of this feedback filter. Low settings result in successive echoes sounding darker.

Distortion

You can select between 4 basic distortion characteristics:

• Distortion provides hard clipping distortion.

• Soft Distortion provides soft clipping distortion.

• Tape Emulation produces distortion similar to magnetic tape saturation.

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Modulation

You can select between 3 basic modulation characteristics:

• The Phaser uses an 8-pole allpass filter to produce the classic phasing effect.

• The Flanger is composed of two independent delay lines with feedback for the left and the right channel respectively. The delay time of both delays is modulated by one LFO with ad

justable frequency.

• Chorus produces a rich chorus effect with 4 delays modulated by four independent LFOs.

The parameters are as follows:

Parameter Description

Song Sync This switches tempo sync of the Rate parameter on or off.

Rate Sets the rate of the LFOs modulating the delay time. If

Depth This parameter controls the depth of the delay time mod-

Delay This parameter sets the delay time of the four delay lines.

Feedback The feedback parameter controls the amount of positive

Level This controls the output level of the effect.

Song Sync is activated the rate is synced to various beat increments.

ulation.

or negative feedback for all four delay lines. The adjust able range is from -1 to 1.

SR parameters

• If button “F” is active, the selected Part’s program plays back with the sample rate set in the host application.

• If button “1/2” is active, the selected Part’s program plays back with half the original sample rate.

• If button “1/4” is active, the selected Part’s program plays back with a quarter of the original sample rate.

• A bonus effect of using lower sample rates is that it re-

duces the load on the computer CPU, allowing more simultaneous voices to be played, etc.

HALionOne

HALionOne is a sample player that can play sound content in the HSB (HALion Sound Bank) format. These samples have associated preset files that store the panel settings and reference the HSB samples. Included are several pre sets (as *.vstpreset and *.trackpreset files).

The operation of HALionOne is very simple; load a preset (a *.vstpreset or a *.trackpreset file for an instrument track) and start playing! However, you do have the option to tweak the basic parameters to tailor the sound to your liking.

HALionOne parameters

HALionOne differs from other VST instruments in that the panel parameters shown can vary according to which parameters are stored in the HSB file. HSB files cannot be created with HALionOne, and HALionOne reads only the HSB files supplied with Nuendo. In these files, certain pa rameters are assigned as part of the file and the associated program (or preset). This means that for each preset, only these assigned parameters are shown on the instrument panel. Typically, these are filter cutoff, DCA and DCF parameters and any assigned effect parameters (the ef fects are “built in”).

If you load HALionOne for an instrument track and select, for example, the “Draw Organ” preset, the following parameters are shown:

Parameter Description

Cutoff This allows you to adjust filter frequency or cutoff. The fil-

Resonance Raising the filter resonance value emphasizes the fre-

DCF Amount Controls the amount of the DCF (filter) envelope.

DCA Attack Controls the time it takes for the DCA signal to reach its

DCA Decay Controls the time it takes the DCA signal to decay to the

ter used is a Waldorf Low Pass filter with a 24 dB slope.

quencies around the set filter frequency.

highest level.

sustain level.

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Parameter Description

DCA Sustain Controls the DCA signal level after the Decay phase, as

DCA Release Controls the DCA signal after a key is released.

DCA Amount Controls the amount of the DCA (amplifier) envelope.

long as you press the key on your MIDI keyboard.

These parameter assignments are used for many of the HALionOne presets, but not for all. As stated above, other parameters may be shown; these are clearly labeled on the panel. For most of the presets there are also associ

ated effects – the effect parameters are usually assigned to the quick controls on the right and typically control the dry/wet mix of the effect.

Effects Usage

This button, located at the bottom right in the box displaying the preset name, allows you to bypass any effects. The LED beside the button is lit if any effects are used in the preset.

Efficiency slider

The Efficiency slider provides a way of balancing audio quality vs. conservation of computer power. The lower the setting, the more voices are available. As a trade-off, sound quality is reduced.

Voices allocated

The Voices field dynamically displays the number of voices currently used.

Locate Contents

If you have moved the HALionOne content files to a different location (i. e. any other location than the folder in which it was stored at installation time), you need to use the Locate Contents function to inform HALion One about where to find its files. This is done as follows:

• Right-click anywhere on the control panel and select “Locate contents”.

A file dialog opens where you can navigate to the folder location.

HALionOne and MIDI files

When the “Import to Instrument Tracks” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (MIDI–MIDI File page), importing a MIDI file into Nuendo automatically sets up instrument tracks, with HALionOne as the associated instrument. This allows you to quickly audition any imported MIDI files, to change parameter settings or to add effects, etc.

Groove Agent ONE

MIDI and Disk activity LEDs

The MIDI activity LED indicates received MIDI input. The Disk LED lights up green when samples are streamed from disk, and red when samples cannot be loaded from disk in time. In such a case you consider lowering the Effi ciency slider. When the disk LED does not light up, samples are read from memory.

The included VST instruments

Groove Agent ONE is an easy-to-use sample-based

MPC-style virtual drum machine for creating beats and reconstructing loops.

Audio samples can be associated with the Groove Agent ONE pads. Each pad is associated with a MIDI pitch, allow ing you to trigger individual pads via MIDI notes.

To facilitate the creation of your own drum patterns, Groove Agent ONE provides a number of advanced functions.

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Groups and pads

The pads and all functions related to the associating and auditioning of sounds can be found in the right half of the Groove Agent ONE panel.

Groove Agent ONE provides up to 128 pads, organized in eight groups of 16 pads. You can switch between the different groups by clicking on the corresponding group buttons (labeled 1 to 8) above the pads. Each pad is mapped to a particular MIDI note (C-2 to G8, which equals 128 notes).

• The button of the active group is highlighted. If one or more pads of a group have samples mapped to them, an additional red frame is displayed around group buttons.

By default, group 3 is active when you open Groove Agent ONE.

Pad functions

• The pads show the associated MIDI note in the top right corner.

You can change the MIDI note by right-clicking it and selecting a different note from the pop-up menu.

• You can assign up to eight samples to a pad.

See “Drag & drop of audio material” on page 39.

• If one or more samples have been assigned to a pad, the name of the first of these samples is displayed at the bottom of the pad.

To change the name, right-click it, enter a new name and press [Enter]. This allows you, e. this pad.

• To remove a sample assignment, click on the pad and drag the associated sample(s) to the trash icon in the LCD display to the left (see

Note that the trash icon is found only on either the Voice, Filter or Amplifier pages.

• The pad status is indicated by different colors.

During playback, a pad lights up yellow for as long as a sample mapped to this pad is played back. When either the Voice, Filter or Amplifier but ton is activated in the Pad Edit section and you click on a pad, it turns green to indicate that it is selected for editing. Unselected pads not play ing back any samples are gray.

• You can mute a pad by [Shift]-clicking it.

A prohibition symbol is displayed on the muted pad. To unmute, [Shift]click once more.

g., to indicate that more than one sample is mapped to

“Editing sounds” on page 41).

• You can drag a sample from one pad to another pad.

If the second pad already has a sample mapped to it, the sample assignment is swapped. Note that you can also swap the MIDI notes of the two pads by pressing [Shift] when dropping the sample.

• You can drag and drop samples between groups.

Click on a pad that has a sample mapped to it, keep the mouse button pressed and move the mouse pointer over the button of another group. When the pad display now changes to display the pads of the other group, drag and drop the sample on the desired pad.

Velocity

• The velocity is determined by where on the pad you click: it is lowest at the bottom of the pad and highest at the top.

• You can force all pads to a velocity value of 127 by activating the V-Max button in the Global section in the top right corner of the Groove Agent ONE panel.

Resetting pads

You can find a Reset button in the Global section in the top right corner of the Groove Agent ONE panel. It allows you to clear all pad assignments of the current instance of Groove Agent ONE.

As a safety precaution, the Reset button is locked by default. Clicking the Reset button when it is locked has no effect.

To unlock the Reset button, hold down the [Shift] key while clicking. The button color changes to red. When you click Reset now, all pad assignments are reset.

The Reset button is re-locked automatically five seconds after unlocking it.

Drag & drop of audio material

Groove Agent ONE provides advanced drag & drop support. You can drag one or more samples at the same time

from Nuendo onto Groove Agent ONE. Samples are ei ther be mapped to the same pad, or to different pads.

You can drag files to Groove Agent ONE from the following Nuendo locations:

•MediaBay

• Project window

• Pool

• Sample Editor (regions)

• Audio Part Editor

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Page 40

Layering samples on the same pad

When you select between one and eight samples and drag them to Groove Agent ONE, dropping them onto a pad (or onto the Layer indicator – see below) automatically creates a corresponding number of layers for this pad.

Drag & drop to several pads

Rather than dropping several samples to the same pad, you can also let Groove Agent ONE distribute samples across the available pads in one or several groups. To do so, select the desired samples, drag them to the Groove Agent ONE window, press [Shift] and drop the samples onto a pad. The samples are mapped to the available pads, starting with the pad on which you initially dropped the samples, and then upwards according to the MIDI pitches of the pads.

How many samples can be dropped to several pads depends on the number of pads available in your current instance of Groove Agent ONE. If Groove Agent ONE cannot supply a sufficient number of free pads for the number of dropped samples, a dialog is displayed in which you can confirm or cancel the operation.

Replacing individual samples

To replace a sample mapped to one pad with another sample, proceed as follows:

• Drag the new sample to the pad, press [Alt]/[Option] and drop it.

To replace a sample in a pad layer with another sample, proceed as follows:

• Drag the new sample to the Layer indicator, press [Alt]/ [Option] and drop it onto the required layer.

Slicing a loop and triggering individual sounds via MIDI

Drag & drop to several pads has a number of uses. For example, it allows you to trigger individual sounds from an audio loop via MIDI. Proceed as follows:

1. Slice up a drum loop using the Sample Editor. Open the resulting audio part in the Audio Part Editor and press [Ctrl]/[Command]-[A] to select all audio events.

See the Operation Manual for details about slicing.

2. In the Audio Part Editor, click on one of the selected events and drag it to the Groove Agent ONE window.

3. Press the [Shift] key.

4. Point the mouse pointer at an empty pad and let go of

the mouse button.

The individual samples from the audio part are now mapped to the available pads of Groove Agent ONE.

Now look at the Exchange section (to the left of the pads): the MIDI Export pad (the field displaying a double arrow) at the bottom of the section is lit. When mapping several samples to several pads, Groove Agent ONE creates a MIDI file containing all MIDI information to trigger these pads, and maps this file to the MIDI Export pad.

5. Drag this MIDI file from the MIDI Export pad onto the Nuendo Project window.

Dropping the file onto the Project window creates a new MIDI track. You can also drop the MIDI file to an existing MIDI or instrument track.

6. Play back the MIDI file.

The unedited MIDI file plays the same groove as the original audio loop. By editing the MIDI file you can change the original groove.

Saving the Groove Agent ONE setup

You can save the current configuration of Groove Agent ONE either as a plug-in preset or as a combination of a Groove Agent ONE archive (.gak) and a plug-in preset.

These presets and archives are useful in cases where you want to use your current settings and samples on a different computer.

Saving plug-in presets

You can save your current Groove Agent ONE configuration, including all settings for samples, pads and groups, as a plug-in preset.

1. At the top of the Groove Agent ONE window, click the VST Sound button to the right of the Presets pop-up menu and select “Save Preset”.

The Save Preset dialog opens.

2. Enter a name for the new preset and click OK.

The preset is saved in the User Content folder on your system.

The included VST instruments

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Loading plug-in presets

To load an existing plug-in preset, proceed as follows:

1. At the top of the Groove Agent ONE window, click the VST Sound button and select “Load Preset” from the pop-up menu.

The Presets browser opens.

2. The Presets browser shows all presets it finds in the VST 3 Presets folder for Groove Agent ONE. Double-click the desired preset to load it.

The Presets browser is closed and the preset is loaded into Groove Agent ONE.

• When a sample belonging to a preset cannot be found, Groove Agent ONE prompts you to locate the missing files. You can click either Ignore to skip this message, click Locate File to navigate to a specific folder containing the missing file(s), or click Search Folder to browse a spe cific folder and any subfolders that might contain the missing file(s).

Saving a GAK archive

You can save all Groove Agent ONE settings, and the sample files referenced by the current configuration, as a Groove Agent ONE kit. The file name extension of these kit files is “*.gak”. Proceed as follows:

1. Set up Groove Agent ONE the way you want it.

2. In the Exchange section, click the Export button.

The “Export Groove Agent ONE kit” dialog opens in which you can specify a location and a name for the new archive.

3. Click Save.

The archive is created and the dialog is closed.

Note that a plug-in preset file is created alongside the .gak file. This plug-in preset references the samples inside the .gak file. It can be browsed in the MediaBay, giving you access to all Groove Agent ONE settings (including all samples) from within Nuendo.

Loading a GAK archive

To load the GAK file, proceed as follows:

1. In the Exchange section, click the Import button.

Navigate to the GAK file.

2. Click Open.

The saved settings and all samples are imported into Groove Agent ONE.

Editing sounds

All sound editing functions can be found in and below the LCD display in the left half of the panel.

The LCD display can show four different sound editing pages, selected by clicking one of the four buttons in the Pad Edit section.

The information on the Play page refers to this instance of Groove Agent ONE as a whole. When the Play button is activated, the LCD display shows the name of the loaded VST preset and information on the number of samples and pads used by this instance of Groove Agent ONE. The Size parameter indicates the amount of RAM occupied by the currently loaded samples. The Polyphony counter shows the number of pads currently playing.

On the Voice, Filter, and Amplifier pages, sample-specific

data is displayed:

Parameter Description

Brightness slider

VST Preset The name of a loaded VST Preset is displayed in the top

Sample/Pad The name of the sample (and the pad to which it is as-

Trash icon You can remove the current sample assignment by click-

MIDI input off When the MIDI symbol button in the top right corner of the

Layer indicator The long bar near the top of the LCD display shows the

Layer number The layer number indicates which is the active layer of the

Sample This is the name of the sample file.

Velocity Here you can specify a velocity range for the current

Coarse Here you can tune the sample by up to ±12 semitones.

Fine This parameter lets you fine-tune the sample by up to

Use the little slider at the very top of the LCD display to set the display brightness.

left of the LCD display.

signed).

ing on a pad or on the Layer indicator (see below) and dragging it onto the trash icon.

LCD display is activated, the LCD display shows the waveform and parameter values of the currently playing sample. When this button is deactivated, the display shows only the data for the currently edit selected sample.

active layer for the current pad. If more than one layer ex ist for the selected pad, the bar is divided accordingly. You can drag the dividing line between layers to change the velocity ranges of the layers. You can drag a new sample from the MediaBay and drop it directly onto the Layer indicator bar (this is the same as dropping a sample on a pad). You can drag layers to a different position on the bar.

current pad.

layer.

±100 cents.

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Parameter Description

Volume Sets the sample volume.

Waveform display

s/e locators in waveform display

The waveform of the current sample.

You can define the sample start and end points by dragging the s and e locators in the waveform display. When you click on a locator and press [Ctrl], this will zoom in on the waveform and center the display around the locator. Note that the locators automatically snap to zero cross ings.

Depending on the selected page (Play, Voice, Filter, Amplifier), up to six quick controls with different pad-specific parameter assignments are displayed.

Play parameters

The parameter controls on the Play page are copies of the parameters on the Voice, Filter, and Amplifier pages.

The row of parameter controls below the LCD display shows six parameters:

Parameter Description

Volume The volume of the pad currently selected for editing.

Pan The panorama setting of the pad currently selected for

Coarse Use this control to tune the pad by up to ±12 semitones.

Cutoff Sets the filter cutoff frequency.

Q Sets the filter resonance.

Output Groove Agent ONE provides up to 16 stereo outputs. You

editing.

can route pads to individual outputs using this control.

Voice parameters

The row of parameter controls below the LCD display shows six parameters:

Parameter Description

Mode Here you can reverse the currently selected sample so

Coarse Use this control to tune the pad by up to ±12 semitones.

Fine Use this control to fine-tune the pad by up to ±100

Mute Gr. With this control you can assign a pad to one of eight

that you hear it backwards.

cents.

mute groups. Pads within a mute group never play back simultaneously. New notes cancel previous notes.

Parameter Description

Tr. Mode The sample of the currently selected pad is played either

Output Groove Agent ONE provides up to 16 stereo outputs.

from start to finish (One Shot) or only for as long as you hold the mouse button/key (Key Hold). Key Hold can also be determined by the length of the corresponding MIDI note on your track.

You can route pads to individual outputs using this con trol. See the Operation Manual for information on how to use multitimbral instruments in Nuendo.

Filter parameters

The row of parameter controls below the LCD display shows four parameters used to edit the Groove Agent ONE filter:

Parameter Description

Type Sets the filter type: low-pass (LP), high-pass (HP) or band-

Cutoff Sets the filter cutoff frequency.

Q Sets the filter resonance.

Mod This parameter determines the influence that velocity has

pass (BP). When you set this knob to OFF, the settings on this editing page have no effect.

on the cutoff frequency. When set to 0 no effect. When set to any other value, the cutoff fre quency changes depending on the velocity.

%, the setting has

Amplifier parameters

The row of parameter controls below the LCD display shows six parameters:

Parameter Description

Volume The volume of the pad currently selected for editing.

Pan The panorama setting of the pad currently selected for

Attack Controls the amplifier envelope attack time.

Release Controls the amplifier envelope release time. Reduce the

Amp Mod This parameter determines the influence that velocity has

Attack Mod This parameter determines the influence that velocity has

editing.

release time to shorten the decay of sounds played in one-shot mode.

on the pad volume setting. When set to 100 sounds louder the higher the velocity. When set to 0 velocity has no effect on the pad volume.

on the Attack setting. When set to 0 effect on the attack. When set to 100 pad with high velocity, the Attack time is increased by

%. The higher the Attack Mod setting, the longer the

50 additional attack time for a pad.

%, velocity has no

% and playing a

%, the pad

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Master volume

In the Master section in the lower left of the Groove Agent ONE panel you can find a master volume slider that sets the output volume of the instrument.

The Exchange section

This section is used to import or export data to/from Groove Agent ONE.

Importing MPC files

Clicking the Import button opens a file dialog in which you can navigate to a PGM file (.pgm is the AKAI MPC ex change format).

Ö Groove Agent ONE imports only the mapping data from the PGM file. Any additional information (on MPC effects, etc.) cannot be imported into Groove Agent ONE.

The MIDI Export pad is described in detail in the section

“Slicing a loop and triggering individual sounds via MIDI”

on page 40.

The function of the Export button is described in detail in the section

“Saving a GAK archive” on page 41.

Automation of Groove Agent ONE parameters

When opening an automation subtrack for a track that uses Groove Agent ONE, you can select the following plug-in parameters from the Add Parameters dialog:

•Volume

•Pan

•Mute

•Cutoff

• Resonance

These parameters are available for the pads C1 to B4.

LoopMash

LoopMash is one of a kind: a powerful tool for the slicing and instant re-assembling of any kind of rhythmic audio material. With LoopMash, you can preserve the rhythmic pattern of one audio loop, but you can replace all sounds of this loop with the sounds of up to seven other loops.

LoopMash is fully integrated into Nuendo, which allows you to drag and drop audio loops from the MediaBay or Project window directly onto the LoopMash panel.

Getting started

To give you a first impression of what you can do with LoopMash, we have created a tutorial preset. Proceed as follows:

1. In Nuendo, create an instrument track with LoopMash as the associated VST instrument.

In the Inspector for the new track, click the Edit Instrument button to open the LoopMash panel. It has two main areas: the tracks section in the upper part of the panel, and the parameter section at the bottom.

2. At the top of the plug-in panel, click on the icon to the right of the Preset menu field and select Load Preset from the pop-up menu.

3. The Presets browser opens, showing presets found in the VST 3 Presets folder for LoopMash.

4. Select the preset called “A Good Start…(Tutorial)88”.

The Presets browser is closed and the preset is loaded into LoopMash.

5. At the bottom of the panel, make sure that the Sync button below the Transport controls is off, and start play back by clicking the play button.

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In the LoopMash panel, you can see a sliced loop wave-

Slices 1 to 4 selected for playback.

Master track slices for playback steps 1 to 4.

form in the top (red) track. This track is selected (which is indicated by the track’s background color and the lit but ton to the left of the waveform display).

The selected track holds the master loop. The rhythmic pattern of the LoopMash output is governed by the master loop – i. e. what you hear is the rhythmic pattern of this loop.

6. Look at the row of 12 pads below the track section: the first (leftmost) pad is selected. Select the third pad.

A new loop is displayed on the second track in the track display, and you hear that the snare drum sound of the first loop has been replaced with a handclap sound.

7. Select the fifth, and then the seventh pad. Each time a new loop is added to the mash.

Note how the rhythmic pattern of the music stays the same, although an increasing number of sounds is taken from the other loops.

On the left of each track, you find the similarity gain slider. These sliders are the most important control elements of LoopMash: the further to the right you move the similarity gain slider of a track, the more important the sounds of this particular loop become for the audible output of LoopMash.

How does LoopMash work?

Whenever you import a loop into LoopMash, the plug-in analyzes the audio material. It generates so-called “perceptual descriptors” (information on tempo, rhythm, spectrum, timbre, etc.) and then slices the loop into eighthnote segments.

This means that after you have imported several loops, LoopMash knows the rhythmic pattern of each loop and the location of various sounds that make up this pattern within each loop. During playback, LoopMash uses the perceptual descriptors to determine how similar each slice is to the current slice of the master track.

Please note that LoopMash does not categorize the sounds, but looks for overall similarity in the sound. For ex ample, LoopMash might replace a low snare drum sound with a kick drum sound, even though a high snare sound is also available. LoopMash always tries to create a loop acoustically similar to the master loop, but using other sounds.

The similarity is shown by the brightness of each slice on each track, and also by the position of each slice on the

similarity gain slider to the left of each track. The brighter a slice, the greater the similarity to the current master track slice, and the further to the right it is displayed on the sim ilarity gain slider. Darker slices have smaller similarity and can be found further to the left on the slider.

The similarity gain settings of the various tracks determine which slice gets playback priority. This creates a new loop, over and over again, but with the rhythmic pattern of the original master loop.

In the following figure you can see four tracks. The track at the top is the master track. During playback, LoopMash moves through the master loop step-by-step (which is in dicated by a horizontal line above and below the current slice) and automatically selects four different slices from these tracks to replace the slices of the master track. The currently playing slice is indicated by a white horizontal line above and below the slice.

The following figure shows the result of the selection process for each playback step.

For best performance, use audio files that have the same sample rate as your project (to avoid sample rate conversion when loading presets or storing scenes).

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Experiment with the provided LoopMash presets, and with your own loops of different lengths and with different rhythms, containing many different sounds – LoopMash is like an instrument, and we very much encourage you to play it!

LoopMash parameters

You can influence the process of constantly assembling a new loop with the various functions and parameter controls of LoopMash.

Ö Note that many of LoopMash’s parameters can be automated. See the description for the automation of VST instrument parameters in the chapter “VST instruments and instrument tracks” in the Operation Manual.

Track functions

• LoopMash provides advanced drag & drop support. You can drag single loop files from Nuendo or the Ex plorer/Finder to the tracks on the LoopMash panel.

The quickest way to find the LoopMash content is to use the MediaBay: Open the VST Sound node and the LoopMash folder. Files can be dragged to LoopMash from the following Nuendo locations: MediaBay, Project window, Pool, Sample Editor (regions), Audio Part Editor. Drag ging a loop to a track already occupied replaces the original loop.

• You can audition individual slices on each track by clicking on them.

You can also use the Step function in the transport controls (see below) to audition single slices.

• You can set a track transposition value.

Click the button to the right of the waveform and select the desired transposition interval from the pop-up menu. The set value is displayed on the button. Note that this function is tied to the setting for the Slice Timestretch parameter (see below). When Slice Timestretch is deacti vated, transposition is created by increasing/decreasing the playback speed of the slices (transposing a track up by one octave corresponds to playing the slices twice as fast). With Slice Timestretch on, you get true pitch shifting, i.

e. there is no change in playback speed.

• You can change the relative volumes of your tracks with the volume control on the far right of each track.

This is useful for level adjustments between tracks. A VU meter to the left of the volume control provides visual feedback of the current volume.

• To remove a loop from a LoopMash track, right-click the track and select “Remove from track”.

• One track is always selected. This is the master track: it provides the rhythmic pattern you hear, and it is the sounds of this loop that are replaced by slices selected from the other loops in the current LoopMash configuration.

Activate the button to the left of the waveform display to select the corresponding track and make it the master.

• A horizontal line above and below individual slices indicates the current playback position within the master loop (in the track color) and the slice currently selected for playback (in white).

• The similarity gain slider (to the left on each track) determines how important a particular track is for the “mashing up” of the master loop.

Move the slider to the right to select more slices from the corresponding track for playback, and to the left to reduce the number of slices for play back (set to middle position by default).

• Drag the similarity threshold control (the thin line with handles at the top and bottom intersecting all similarity gain sliders) to the left or right to determine a minimum similarity that slices must match to be considered for play back.

Slices with a similarity below (i. e. to the left of) this threshold are not played.

• The brightness of the slices changes when moving the similarity gain slider.

The further to the right, the lighter the color, and the higher playback priority for these slices. The currently playing slice is brightest.

• The vertical lines on the similarity gain slider correspond to the slices in this loop.

The changing pattern of slices indicates similarity of each slice, on all tracks, to the current master track slice. The further to the right a line is, the greater the similarity of this slice to the master slice. A slice must be to the right of the similarity threshold (see above) line to be considered for playback.

• A track can hold up to 32 slices.

Even if a long loop were to contain more than 32 slices, LoopMash imports only the first 32. Ideally, you would use a loop file cut at bar boundaries. When you import your file from the MediaBay, LoopMash uses the tempo information supplied by the MediaBay for the slicing of the loop.

• At the top of the track section, a ruler showing bars and beats (using the project’s time signature) is displayed.

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• If you want to shorten the play length of the master loop, you can drag the bracket at the top of the track section.

You can drag the bracket handles, or you can drag the bracket as a whole. This allows you to select even a very small range within your mas ter loop for playback – the rest of the loop is not taken into consideration. Note that short loop ranges (less than 1 bar) may conflict with the Jump interval setting (see below).

Transport controls

The transport controls can be found at the bottom of the LoopMash panel.

Button Description

Play Click the Play button to start or stop playback.

Locate Click the Locate button to return to the beginning of the

Step Clicking in the left/right half of this button steps back-

loop (bar 1/beat 1). Playback always starts automatically when clicking this button.

wards/forwards through the timeline, playing one slice at a time.

Setting the LoopMash tempo

During playback, LoopMash can be synchronized to the tempo set in Nuendo, or can follow its own tempo setting:

• Click the Sync button (to the left of the tempo field) to activate or deactivate synchronization to the project tempo set in Nuendo.

When Sync is on, playback can be started using the Nuendo transport controls. With Sync off, LoopMash starts playing only when you click the Play button in LoopMash.

• When the Sync button is deactivated, the current LoopMash tempo (in BPM) is displayed in the tempo field below the Play button.

To change the “local” tempo, click in the tempo field, enter a new value, and press [Enter].

• When the Sync button is deactivated, you can click the Master button (to the right of the tempo field) to copy the tempo of the current master loop into the tempo field.

The Sync On/Off parameter can be automated. This is useful to control LoopMash in a Nuendo project – with Sync off, playback within a project is paused.

The Edit page

Click the Edit button (to the right of the transport controls) to open the Edit page. The controls on this page allow you to influence the way in which LoopMash plays back.

The following parameters are available:

Option Description

Number of

Voices

Voices per Track This is the maximum number of slices that can be se-

Slice Selection Offset

Random Slice Selection

Slice Quantize Move this slider to the right to apply quantizing to the

Staccato Amount

Slice Timestretch

Dry/Wet Mix This sets the balance between the volumes of the mas-

Here you can set the total number of slices from all tracks that are used to replace the master slice (ac cording to the current similarity gain settings). The range is from one (left) to four (right) voices, i. from up to four loops can play simultaneously. Increas ing the number of voices increases the CPU load.

lected from a single track. The range is from one to four. The less slices can be picked from the same track, the more variety you get in the LoopMash output.

Move this slider to the right to allow slices of smaller similarity to be selected for playback. This setting af fects all tracks of this scene (see below).

Move this slider to the right to allow more variation when selecting slices for playback, adding a more “ran dom” feel to the selection process. This setting affects all tracks of this scene (see below).

e. the slices are aligned to a eighth-note grid.

slices, i. When the slider is all the way to the left, the slices fol low the rhythmic pattern defined by the original master loop.

When you move this slider to the right, the length of the slices is gradually reduced, giving the output a staccato feel.

Use this option to apply realtime timestretching to the slices, filling gaps or avoiding overlaps between slices not played back at their original tempo, or when com bining slices with different original tempos. Applying timestretch increases the CPU load and may affect the sound quality. Reduce the need for timestretching by using loops with similar original tempos. See also the description of the track transposition value above.

ter loop and the selected slices from the other tracks.

Scenes and the Performance page

Click the Perform button (to the left of the transport controls) to open the Performance page.

The settings you make on this page allow you to store LoopMash configurations so that you can recall them later.

Below the tracks, a row of 12 pads is displayed. You can save one “scene”, i. e. a combination of up to eight tracks with all parameter settings, to each of these pads. This means that you can create a LoopMash configuration with up to 96 loops – 12 scenes with eight tracks each.

e. sounds

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The following parameters are available:

Option Description

Scene pad 1–12 Empty scene pads have the same color as the back-

Store Scene To save the current settings as a scene, first click the

Empty Scene To remove a scene from a pad, first click the red x but-

Jump interval (1/8: Now; 1/4: Next beat; 1/2: Next half bar; 1: Next bar; e: End)

MIDI control If you have a MIDI keyboard connected to your com-

ground, pads with associated scenes are gray. The currently selected scene is white. Click on a pad to recall the corresponding scene.

round red button (between pads 4 and 5, at the top) and then a pad. This saves your setup to that pad. If you want to cancel a running Store Scene operation, click in an empty area of the plug-in panel.

ton (between pads 4 and 5, at the bottom) and then the desired pad. If you want to cancel a running Empty Scene operation, click in an empty area of the plug-in panel.

To set the behavior when changing from one scene to the next during playback, click the button between pads 8 and 9. A pop-up menu opens allowing you to set at which point the change to the next scene occurs. End means that the current loop is played to the end before switching scenes. When you set up a short loop range (see above), you may need to set the interval to e to en sure that the jump point is reached.

puter, you can remote control LoopMash by pressing keys on your keyboard: C1-B1: change to pads 1–12 C2: Start D2: Stop E2: Sync On F2: Sync Off

Once you have set up a LoopMash configuration, you should save it to a scene pad. Changing scenes with out saving means discarding any unsaved changes.

Saving and loading VST presets

You can save all current scenes as a VST preset. Proceed as follows:

1. At the top of the LoopMash window, click the icon to the right of the Preset field and select “Save Preset” from the pop-up menu.

The Save Preset dialog opens.

2. Enter a name for the new preset and click OK.

The preset is saved in the User Content folder on your system. Make sure that you tag your presets for better handling in the MediaBay.

To load an existing VST preset, proceed as follows:

1. At the top of the LoopMash window, click the icon to the right of the Preset field and select “Load Preset” from the pop-up menu.

The Presets browser opens.

2. The Presets browser shows all presets it finds in the VST 3 Presets folder for LoopMash. Double-click the desired preset.

The Presets browser is closed and the preset is loaded into LoopMash.

• When a loop belonging to a preset cannot be found, LoopMash displays a standard file dialog in which you can navigate to the file.

Ö The “Empty” preset clears all settings of the current LoopMash instance.

Embracer – Surround Pad

Synthesizer

Embracer is a simple but powerful polyphonic synthesizer designed entirely for producing pads and accompaniment sounds. With its easy-to-use envelope and tone controls, it gives you fast access to the sounds you need without having to search through thousands of presets. However, the most powerful feature of Embracer is its surround out put. With a single switch, you can turn the instrument from stereo to surround and the width control allows you to spread your pad sound anywhere from mono to stereo to

full 360° surround. The unique “eye” controller gives you

an exact idea of how the sound is placed in a mix.

If you have never worked with a surround system before, now is the time to start exploring these possibilities.

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The Embracer Surround Pad Synthesizer has the following properties:

• Embracer is a Polyphonic surround pad synthesizer.

• 2 oscillators with 12 waveforms.

• Independent envelope and tone controls.

• Stereo and surround outputs.

• Up to 32 voices of polyphony per instance.

• Dynamic width control for exciting 3D sounds.

• “Eye” controller for simultaneous tone and width control.

• Full MIDI control implementation.

Osc 1 and 2

Parameter Description

Wave Selects the waveform for each oscillator. Available wave-

Tone Embracer offers a high pass and low pass filter for each

Width Controls the spatial spread of the signal. A value of 0 %

Coarse (Oscillator 2 only)

Fine (Oscillator 2 only)

forms are: Carpet, DigiPad, Choir, Ensemble, Metal Phaze, Phase Strings, Sing Sing, Soft Wave, Spit Strynx, Step floor, Submerged, Wave Bellz. Note: If you want to use only one oscillator, set the waveform to OFF. In this case only one voice per key is used.

oscillator. Both filters are controlled via a single Tone knob. In the 50 Reducing the tone value adds low pass filtering. Values above 50 also be controlled by the “eye” controller.

puts the signal mono into the center position. In stereo mode, a value of 100 width. In surround mode, a value of 100 360° surround image. The width parameter can be con trolled by a variety of modulation sources, as well as by the “eye” controller.

Changes the pitch in semitones. Maximum range is +1/24 semitones = 2 octaves.

Changes the pitch in fine steps with a range of up to ±50 cents. Note: If you want to create a slight detune effect between the oscillators, make sure to set the master tune parame ter to a negative value of the same amount to keep the instrument in tune.

% center position, the signal is not filtered.

% add high pass filtering. This parameter can

% results in a maximum stereo

% creates a full

Envelope and Level

Parameter Description

Attack Controls the attack time of each oscillator. Higher values

Attack Vel Sets the amount of velocity control of the attack time.

Level Controls the oscillator output level.

Level Vel Sets the amount of velocity control of the oscillator level.

create slower attacks.

Higher values increase the velocity sensitivity.

Master

Parameter Description

Release Controls the overall release time of the volume envelope.

Mode Sets the output mode of Embracer. You can choose be-

Width Ctr Use this parameter to select a modulation source for the

Max Poly Sets the total number of voices available. Each oscillator

Fine Tune Use this to adjust the pitch of the whole instrument.

Master Out Sets the overall output volume of the instrument.

Higher values result in longer release times.

tween “Stereo” and “Surround”. In Stereo Mode, Embracer has one stereo output in the VST Mixer. In Surround Mode, Embracer has either a quadraphonic 4-channel out put or two independent stereo outputs in the Mixer. See below for more details on using Embracer in a surround mixer setup.

width parameter. Available sources are: Mod Wheel, Af tertouch, Velocity and Envelope. Both oscillators are controlled simultaneously. However, modulation depth is controlled independently by the re spective width parameter of each oscillator.

uses one voice per note played. Thus, a two-oscillator sound with 8 voices results in 4-voice polyphony. The de fault value for Max Poly is 16.

Range is ±50 cents. Use Fine Tune in combination with the Fine Tune parameter of OSC 2 to create smooth de tune effects.

The “Eye”

The Embracer’s unique “Eye” controller offers a creative new way of controlling the sound’s overall character and

shape. This controller gives you access to several para meters at the same time.

For each oscillator, there is a circle representing the tone and width of the sound. Click and drag the corresponding circle to change its shape. There are also two (numbered) oscillator handles. You can drag these vertically to change the tone or horizontally to change the width of the respec

tive oscillator. When you drag a handle, the respective Tone and Width knobs of the oscillator are adjusted ac cordingly. Play a note while editing to hear the effect.

The “eye” cannot only be used as a controller for the tone and width parameters, but also works as a surround scope for monitoring the spatial integration of the current sound. The display represents the sound’s position in the stereo or surround sound field. In stereo mode, the sound position is shown only in the upper half of the display and

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represents the front part of the sound field. In surround mode, the sound position is shown in the upper and lower half of the display and represents the front and rear part of the sound field.

• You can use Embracer’s automation feature to record the movements of the mouse within the “eye” controller!

Using Embracer in Surround Mode

When you want to enjoy Embracer in 3D, set it up in surround mode and listen to it on a surround system. Let’s assume you have a surround monitoring system set up with your VST mixer and your VST output connections are properly set up. Proceed as follows:

1. Open an instance of Embracer in the VST instruments rack and set it to surround mode.

2. When you open the mixer you see two separate stereo channels for the Embracer. The first is titled “Embracer” and the second “Embracer rear”.

3. Assign both channel outputs to the surround output bus.

The two channel strips now show independent surround panners. By default, the first output pair is assigned to the front left and right channels and the second output pair to the rear left and right channels. The sur round width can be controlled with the “width” parameter.

4. Double-click on the surround panner to open its control panel. Set the “Mono/Stereo” parameter to either “Y-Mirror”, “X-mirror” or “XY-mirror”. You can now freely adjust the surround panning to your taste.

5. If your surround configuration includes a center or LFE channel, you can also add some of Embracer’s signal to the center or LFE channels. Feel free to experiment to find out what works best in a given project and mix.

Monologue – Monophonic Analog Modeling Synthesizer

Monologue is a monophonic analog synthesizer based on physical modeling technology. It offers full, rich and colorful sounds without consuming a lot of CPU power. The Monologue synthesizer is the perfect tool for bass, lead and sequenced sounds.

The Monophonic Analog Modeling Synthesizer has the following properties:

• 2 oscillators with sawtooth, square and triangle waveforms.

• An additional noise generator for white noise.

• Monologue has two filters: a high pass filter and a versatile

multimode filter.

• Monologue has a single LFO.

• Monologue has 4-stage ADSR mod and amp envelopes.

• Monologue has an effects section with chorus, phaser, and

flanger effects, plus separate delay and overdrive units.

• Monologue has a X/Y matrix pad for additional realtime modu-

lation with access to all Monologue parameters.

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Osc 1 and 2

Parameter Description

Waveform (pop-up menu)

Coarse Sets the coarse pitch in semitones. The available range is

Fine Allows you to fine-tune the pitch in cent increments. The

Depth Controls the pitch modulation depth for the mod source

Mod Src Defines the pitch modulation source. Available sources

PWM (OSC2 only)

Sync (OSC2 only)

This is where you select the waveform: Saw, Square and Sub for oscillator 1 and Saw, Square and Triangle for Os cillator 2.

±1 octave.

available range is ±50 cents.

defined in the “mod src” field. The available range is ±1 octave.

are: Modwheel, Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Velocity, LFO and Mod Env.

Controls the pulse width of the square wave. In the center position, pulse width is 50/50. Turning the PWM knob clockwise or counter clockwise creates a positive or neg ative pulse, respectively.

Activating the sync button synchronizes the pitch of oscillator 2 to the pitch of oscillator 1. When this is active, changing or modulating the pitch of oscillator 2 changes the tone and not the pitch. For the typical sync sound, turn osc 1 down in the mix and use osc 2 only.

Mix

Parameter Description

Osc 1 Sets the pre-filter level for oscillator 1.

Noise Sets the pre-filter noise level.

Osc 2 Sets the pre-filter level for oscillator 2.

Envelope

Parameter Description

A – (Attack) Sets the attack time.

D – (Decay) Sets the decay time.

S – (Sustain) Sets the sustain level.

R – (Release) Sets the release time.

Mod Src (A+B)

Depth (A+B) Controls the envelope modulation depth for the mod

Defines the envelope modulation source. You can select: Modwheel, Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Velocity, LFO and Mod Env.

source defined in the “mod src” field.

LFO

Parameter Description

Waveform

(pop-up menu)

Rate Adjusts the frequency of the LFO, thus changing the rate

Sync When “Sync” is “on” the LFO speed is synchronized to

Mod Src Defines the LFO modulation source. Available sources

Depth Controls the LFO modulation depth for the mod source

Here, you can select the waveform for the low frequency oscillator. Available waveforms are: Triangle, Square, Sawtooth, Sample & Hold and Random.

of the modulation. Depending on the LFO sync parame ter, you can edit the rate in Hertz or in note values.

the sequencer’s tempo. This also affects the LFO rate format.

are: Modwheel, Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Velocity, LFO and Mod Env.

defined in the “mod src” field.

Filter

Parameter Description

Mode Sets the filter type. Available filter types are 24 dB Low

Cutoff Sets the filter cutoff frequency. How this parameter oper-

High Pass Sets the cutoff frequency of the additional high-pass filter.

Res Changes the resonance of the multi-mode filter. Full res-

Key Track Determines the amount of key tracking applied to the filter

Mod Src (A+B)

Depth (A+B)

pass, 18

dB Low pass, 12 dB Low pass, 6 dB Low pass,

dB Band pass and 12 dB High pass.

ates is governed by the filter type.

onance puts the filter into self-oscillation.

cutoff frequency. The available range is 0 to 100 range of 100 keyboards pitch 1:1.

Defines the filter modulation source. The available sources are: Modwheel, Aftertouch, Pitchbend, Velocity, LFO, and Mod Env.

Controls the filter modulation depth for the mod source set in the “mod src” field.

% tunes the filter cutoff frequency to the

%. A

The included VST instruments

X/Y Pad

Parameter Description

X Par Sets the parameter to be modulated on the x axis of the

Y Par Sets the parameter to be modulated on the y axis of the

XY Pad Use the mouse to control any two of Monologue’s param-

XY Pad. All of Monologue’s parameters are available as destinations.

XY Pad.

eters in combination. By moving the mouse horizontally, you can control the x parameter, by moving it vertically, you can control the y parameter. You can also record controller movements as automation data.

Page 51

Effects

Parameter Description

FX Type (pop-up menu)

Rate Use this to adjust the rate of the effect modulation.

Depth Use this to adjust the depth of the effect modulation.

FBK Controls the feedback of the effect.

Mix Controls the balance between dry and wet (effect) signal.

Overdrive Controls the amount of overdrive (distortion) added to the

Delay Sets the delay time in musical values. The delay effect is

Spread Controls the stereo spread of the delay signal. If you set

Tone Adds a low pass filter to the delay. Increasing “tone”

FBK Controls the amount of feedback of the delay. High feed-

Mix Controls the balance between dry and wet (effect) signal.

Selects the effect type for Monologue’s pitch effects. The available types are Chorus, Flanger and Phaser.

Set to 0, the effect is off. Set to 50, the balance between dry and wet signal is 50/50.

slight amount of overdrive creates punch and

signal. A bottom. Higher amounts add distortion.

always in sync with the song tempo.

this to 0, the delay is centered mono. Higher amounts of spread shift the left and right delay channels. If you set this to 100, the delays “ping-pong” between the left and right channels at an even rate.

makes every delay repetition darker in tone.

back levels create infinite delays. Use this parameter with caution.

Set to 0, the effect is off. Set to 50, the balance between dry and wet signal is 50/50.

Parameter Description

Master Out Controls the master output level that is sent to the VST

Keyboard Pressing the “keyboard” button reveals a six octave virtual

mixer. Use it to adjust the balance between different pre sets. Use the VST mixer channel volume to control or automate the Monologue master volume.

keyboard. Pressing the “keyboard” button again hides the keyboard and displays the master section again.

Master

Parameter Description

Glide Mode The available modes are: “held”, “on” and “off”. With

Rate Controls the glide rate – the time it takes for a note to

PB Range Controls the range of a pitch bend MIDI controller. Range

Env Trigger When set to “Multi”, each keystroke re-triggers the enve-

Note Priority Defines which note is played when multiple keys are held.

Oct Controls the master pitch of Monologue in octave steps.

“held” selected, a glide effect only occurs for notes played legato.

reach its destination pitch.

can be set between 1 and 24 semitones for a total of two octaves.

lopes. When set to “single”, legato notes do not retrigger the envelopes, effectively holding the envelopes on the sustain level until all keys are released before a new note is triggered.

Options are: First, Lowest, Highest, and Last.

Range is ±4 octaves.

The included VST instruments

Page 52

Diagrams

Prologue

Mystic

The included VST instruments

Page 53

Spector

The included VST instruments

Page 54

Editing drums

Page 55

The Drum Editor – Overview

Toolbar

Ruler

Note display

Controller display

Drum

sound list

Drum Maps

Status

line

Info line

The Drum Editor is similar to the Key Editor (see the chapter “The MIDI editors” in the Operation Manual), but takes advantage of the fact that with drum parts, each key corresponds to a separate drum sound.

This is the editor to use when you’re editing drum or percussion parts.

Double-clicking a MIDI part in the Project window opens the editor selected on the Default Edit Action pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–MIDI page). How ever, if the “Edit as Drums when Drum Map is assigned” option is activated and a drum map is selected for the ed

ited track (see “Selecting a drum map for a track” on page

60), the Drum Editor opens. This way you can double-click

other MIDI parts to open the Key Editor (or the Score Editor, List or Edit In-Place Editor, depending on your preferences) but drum tracks automatically open in the Drum Editor.

The toolbar, status line, and info line

These are much the same as the toolbar, status line, and info line in the Key Editor (see the chapter “The MIDI editors” in the Operation Manual), with the following differences:

• The Drum Editor has no Pencil tool – instead there is a Drumstick tool (for entering and removing notes) and a Line tool with various line and curve modes (for drawing

several notes in one go or editing controller events).

• There are no Scissors and Glue Tube tools in the Drum Editor.

• As in the Key Editor, the Mouse Time Position and Mouse Note Position displays on the status line show the position and pitch at the pointer, but the pitch is shown as a drum sound name rather than a note number.

• The Use Global Quantize button allows you to select which value is used when Snap is activated – the global quantize value on the toolbar or the individual quantize val ues for the drum sounds.

• Instead of a Length Quantize pop-up menu, there is an Insert Length pop-up menu.

It is used in much the same way, as described on the following pages.

• The status line does not contain a chord display.

Editing drums

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The drum sound list

The drum sound list lists all drum sounds by name (according to the selected drum map or name list – see below), and lets you adjust and manipulate the drum sound setup in various ways.

The drum sound list for the GM Map

The following settings are available in the drum sound list:

Column Description

Pitch The actual note number of the drum sound. This is what

Instrument The name of the drum sound.

Quantize This value is used when entering and editing notes as de-

Mute Allows you to mute a drum sound, excluding it from play-

I-Note This is the “input note” for the drum sound. When this

O-Note This is the “output note”, i.e. the MIDI note number that is

Channel The drum sound is played back on this MIDI channel.

Output The drum sound is played back on this MIDI output. If you

Please note the following:

• The number of columns in the list depends on whether a drum map is selected for the track or not.

See “Working with drum maps” on page 58.

links notes on a MIDI track to drum sounds. For example, with the GM Map, all MIDI notes with the pitch C1 are mapped to the Bass Drum sound.

scribed in the sections “Creating and editing notes” on

page 57 and “Moving, duplicating, or repeating notes” on page 57.

back, see “Muting notes and drum sounds” on page 58.

MIDI note is sent into Nuendo, (i.e. played by you), the note is mapped to the corresponding drum sound (and automatically transposed according to the Pitch setting for the sound).

sent out every time the drum sound is played back.

set this to “Default”, the MIDI output selected for the track is used.

• You can reorder the columns by dragging the column headings, and resize them by dragging the dividers between the column headings.

The note display

The note display of the Drum Editor displays notes as diamond symbols. The vertical position of the notes corresponds to the drum sound list to the left, while the horizontal position corresponds to the note’s position in time, just as in the Key Editor. Note, however, that the diamond symbols do not indicate the length of the notes. This makes sense, since drum sounds most often are “one-shot” samples that play to their end regardless of the note lengths.

Drum map and names pop-up menus

Below the drum sound list there are two pop-up menus, used for selecting a drum map for the edited track or (if no drum map is selected) a list of drum sound names. For an explanation of drum maps, see

“Working with drum maps”

on page 58.

Controller display

The controller display in the Drum Editor is the same as in the Key Editor. You can add or remove controller lanes via the context menu, and create and edit events as described in the chapter “The MIDI editors” in the Operation Manual.

• Note that when you select a line in the drum sound list (to the left of the event display), only the velocity controller events belonging to the note events on this line are displayed in the controller display.

Editing drums

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• You can select more than one line in the drum sound list

Use Global Quantize

(using [Shift] or [Ctrl]/[Command] as usual), which shows all velocity controller events for all notes on all selected lines.

This helps you when having to adjust the controller values between different drum sounds.

Drum Editor operations

The basic handling (zooming, playback, auditioning, etc.) is the same as in the Key Editor (see the chapter “The MIDI editors” in the Operation Manual). The following sec tions describe the procedures and features specific to the Drum Editor.

Creating and editing notes

The standard way of entering notes in the Drum Editor is to click with the Drumstick tool.

The position of the created note depends on the following factors:

• If Snap is deactivated on the toolbar, the note appears exactly where you clicked.

In this mode, notes can be positioned freely.

• If Snap is activated and Use Global Quantize is deactivated on the toolbar, the note snaps to positions according to the quantize value set for the sound in the drum sound list.

You can set up different quantize values for different drum sounds. You may for example want hi-hat notes snap to sixteenth notes, but snare and bass drum snap to eighth notes.

• If Snap and Use Global Quantize are activated, the note snaps to positions according to the Quantize setting on the toolbar (next to the Use Global Quantize button).

The length of the inserted note is determined by the Insert Length setting on the toolbar. However, if this is set to “Drum-Map Link”, the note gets the length of the quantize value for the drum sound.

• You can quickly audition the drum sounds by clicking in the leftmost column in the drum sound list.

This plays the corresponding note.

• Clicking with the Drumstick tool on an existing note removes it.

This makes drum pattern editing very quick and intuitive.

Setting velocity values

The notes you enter get the insert velocity value set in the Insert Velocity field on the toolbar – to speed up things you may want to assign key commands to the insert velo city options, see “Setting velocity values” on page 57.

Selecting notes

Selecting notes is done by any of the following methods:

• Use the Arrow tool.

The standard selection techniques apply.

• Use the Select submenu on the context menu.

• Use the left and right arrow keys on the computer key-

board to step from one note to the next or previous note.

If you press [Shift] and use the arrow keys, the current selection is kept, allowing you to select several notes.

• You can also press [Shift] and double-click on a note to select all the following notes for the same drum sound.

• If the “Auto Select Events under Cursor” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing page), all notes “touched” by the project cursor are automatically selected.

Moving, duplicating, or repeating notes

To move or copy notes in the editor (to other positions or other drum sounds), you use the same methods as in the Key Editor: click and drag, use the arrow keys or Edit menu functions, etc. (see the chapter “The MIDI editors” in the Operation Manual). To help you identify the right notes, the

Editing drums

Page 58

drum sound names as defined in the drum map are dis-

played in the Pitch field in the Drum Editor info line and, when dragging notes in the event display, in the text fields displayed next to the mouse pointer.

There is one other thing to note:

If the moved/copied notes have different quantize values and Snap is activated but Use Global Quantize is deacti vated, the largest value determines snapping. For example, if you are moving two notes, with the quantize values 1/16 and 1/4 respectively, the notes snap to quarter notes (1/4).

Ö You can also adjust the position of notes by quantizing (see the chapter “The MIDI editors” in the Operation Manual).

Muting notes and drum sounds

You can mute individual notes by clicking or enclosing them with the Mute tool or by using the Mute function on the Edit menu.

Furthermore, if a drum map is selected (see “Selecting a

drum map for a track” on page 60), the drum sound list

has a Mute column. Click in the Mute column for a drum sound to mute that sound. Clicking the Solo Instrument button mutes all drum sounds other than the selected one.

Please note that the mute state for drum sounds is part of the drum map. Therefore, any other tracks using the same map are also affected.

Deleting notes

To delete notes, click on them with the Drumstick or Erase tool, or select them and press [Backspace].

Other editing methods

As in the Key Editor, you can edit notes on the info line or via MIDI, and enter notes using step input (see the chapter “The MIDI editors” in the Operation Manual).

Working with drum maps

Background

A drum kit in a MIDI instrument is most often a set of different drum sounds with each sound placed on a separate key (i.e. the different sounds are assigned to different MIDI note numbers). One key plays a bass drum sound, another a snare, and so on.

Unfortunately, different MIDI instruments often use different key assignments. This can be troublesome if you have made a drum pattern using one MIDI device, and then want to try it on another. When you switch devices, it is very likely that your snare drum becomes a ride cymbal or your hi-hat becomes a tom, etc. – just because the drum sounds are distributed differently in the two instruments.

To solve this problem and simplify several aspects of MIDI drum kits (like using drum sounds from different instruments in the same “drum kit”), Nuendo features so-called drum maps. A drum map is a list of drum sounds, with a number of settings for each sound. When you play back a MIDI track for which you have selected a drum map, the MIDI notes are “filtered” through the drum map before be ing sent to the MIDI instrument. Among other things, the map determines which MIDI note number is sent out for each drum sound, and so which sound is played in the re ceiving MIDI device.

A solution to the problem above therefore is to set up drum maps for all your instruments. When you want to try your drum pattern on another instrument, you simply switch to the corresponding drum map and your snare drum sound remains a snare drum sound.

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Drum map settings

A drum map consists of settings for 128 drum sounds (one for each MIDI note number). To get an overview of these settings, open the Drum Editor and use the Map pop-up menu below the drum sound list to select the “GM Map” drum map.

This drum map is set up according to the General MIDI standard. For information on how to load, create and select other drum maps, see “Managing drum maps” on

page 60.

Ö All settings in a drum map (except the pitch) can be changed directly in the drum sound list (see “The drum

sound list” on page 56) or in the Drum Map Setup dialog

(see “The Drum Map Setup dialog” on page 60). These changes affect all tracks that use the drum map.

About pitch, I-note, and O-note

This can be a somewhat confusing area, but once you have grasped how it all works it is not very complicated. Going through the following “theory” helps you make the most out of the drum map concept – especially if you want to create your own drum maps.

As mentioned earlier, a drum map is a kind of “filter”, transforming notes according to the settings in the map. It does this transformation twice; once when it receives an incoming note (i.e. when you play a note on your MIDI controller) and once when a note is sent from the program to the MIDI sound device.

In the following example, we have modified the drum map so that the Bass Drum sound has different pitch, I-note, and O-note values.

I-notes (input notes)

Let’s look at what happens on input: When you play a note on your MIDI instrument, the program looks for this note number among the I-notes in the drum map. If you play the note A1, the program finds that this is the I-note of the Bass Drum sound.

This is where the first transformation happens: the note gets a new note number according to the Pitch setting for the drum sound. In our case, the note is transformed to a C1 note, because that is the pitch of the Bass Drum sound. If you record the note, it is recorded as a C1 note.

For example, you may want to place some drum sounds near each other on the keyboard so that they can be easily played together, move sounds so that the most important sounds can be played from a short keyboard, play a sound from a black key instead of a white, and so on. If you never play your drum parts from a MIDI controller (but draw them in the editor) you do not need to care about the I-note setting.

O-notes (output notes)

The next step is the output. This is what happens when you play back the recorded note, or when the note you play is sent back out to a MIDI instrument in realtime (MIDI Thru):

The program checks the drum map and finds the drum sound with the pitch of the note. In our case, this is a C1 note and the drum sound is the Bass Drum. Before the note is sent to the MIDI output, the second transformation takes place: the note number is changed to that of the O-note for the sound. In our example, the note sent to the MIDI instrument is a B0 note.

The O-note settings let you set things up so that the “Bass Drum” sound really plays a bass drum. If you are using a MIDI instrument in which the bass drum sound is on the C2 key, you set the O-note for the Bass Drum sound to C2. When you switch to another instrument (in which the bass drum is on C1) you want the Bass Drum O-note set to C1. Once you have set up drum maps for all your MIDI instruments, you do not need to care about this any more – you just select another drum map when you want to use another MIDI instrument for drum sounds.

Editing drums

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The Channel and Output settings

You can set separate MIDI channels and/or MIDI outputs for each sound in a drum map. The following rules apply:

• When a drum map is selected for a track, the MIDI channel settings in the drum map override the MIDI channel setting for the track.

In other words, the MIDI channel setting you make in the Track list or Inspector for the track is normally disregarded. If you want a drum sound to use the channel of the track, set it to channel “Any” in the drum map.

• If the MIDI output is set to “default” for a sound in a drum map, the sound uses the MIDI output selected for the track.

Selecting any other option allows you to direct the sound to a specific MIDI output.

By making specific MIDI channel and output settings for all sounds in a drum map, you can direct your drum tracks directly to another MIDI instrument simply by selecting another drum map – you do not need to make any channel or output changes for the actual track.

Ö To select the same MIDI channel for all sounds in a drum map, click in the Channel column, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and select the desired channel. All drum sounds are set to this MIDI channel. The same procedure can be used for selecting the same MIDI output for all sounds as well.

It can also be useful to select different channels and/or outputs for different sounds. This allows you to construct drum kits with sounds from several different MIDI devices, etc.

Managing drum maps

Selecting a drum map for a track

To select a drum map for a MIDI track, use the Map popup menu in the Inspector or in the Drum Editor.

Selecting “No Drum Map” turns off the drum map functionality in the Drum Editor. Even if you do not use a drum map, you can still separate sounds by name using a name list (see

“Using drum name lists” on page 61).

Initially, the Map pop-up menu only contains one map: “GM Map”. However, a number of drum maps are included on the program DVD – how to load these is described below.

The Drum Map Setup dialog

To set up and manage your drum maps, select Drum Map Setup from the Map pop-up menu or the MIDI menu. This opens the following dialog:

This is where you load, create, modify, and save drum maps. The list on the left shows the currently loaded drum maps; selecting a drum map in the list displays its sounds and settings on the right.

Ö The settings for the drum sounds are exactly the same as in the Drum Editor (see

“Drum map settings” on page

59). As in the Drum Editor, you can click the leftmost col-

umn to audition a drum sound.

Ö If you audition a sound in the Drum Map Setup dialog and the sound is set to MIDI output “Default”, the output selected on the Output pop-up menu in the lower left cor ner is used. When auditioning a default output sound in the Drum Editor, the MIDI output selected for the track is used, as described in section

“The Channel and Output

settings” on page 60.

Open the Functions pop-up menu in the top left corner to open a list of available functionalities:

Button Description

New Map Click this to add a new drum map to the project. The

New Copy Adds a copy of the currently selected drum map. This is

drum sounds are named “Sound 1, Sound 2”, and so on, and have all parameters set to default values. The map is named “Empty Map”, but you can rename it by clicking and typing in the list.

probably the quickest way to create a new drum map: se lect the map that is similar to what you want, create a copy, change the desired drum sound settings, and re name the map in the list.

Editing drums

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Button Description

Remove Removes the selected drum map from the project.

Load… Opens a file dialog, allowing you to load drum maps from

Save… Opens a file dialog for saving the drum map selected in

Edit head pairs…

Init Display Notes

Close Closes the dialog.

disk. The Nuendo DVD contains a number of drum maps for different MIDI instruments – use this function to load the desired maps into your project.

the list. If you have created or modified a drum map, you can use this function to save it as a file on disk – this al lows you to load it into other projects. Drum map files have the extension “.drm”.

Allows you to customize the note pairs, see “Customizing

note head pairs” on page 198.

Allows you to reset the Display Notes entry to the original

e. the Pitch entry.

setting, i.

Ö Drum maps are saved with the project files. If you have created or modified a drum map, use the Save function to store it as a separate XML file, available for loading into other projects.

Ö If you always want to have the same drum map(s) included in your projects, you may want to load these into the template – see the chapter “File Handling” in the Operation Manual.

O-Note Conversion

This function on the MIDI menu goes through the selected MIDI part(s) and sets the actual pitch of each note according to its O-note setting. This is useful if you want to convert a track to a “regular” MIDI track (with no drum map) and still have the notes play back the correct drum sound. A typical application is if you want to export your MIDI recording as a standard MIDI file – by first perform ing an O-Note Conversion you make sure that your drum tracks play back as intended when they are exported.

Using drum name lists

Even if no drum map is selected for the edited MIDI track, you can still use the Drum Editor. As previously mentioned, the drum sound list then only has four columns: Audition, Pitch, Instrument (drum sound name), and Quantize. There is no I-note and O-note functionality.

In this mode, the names shown in the Instrument column depend on the selection on the Names pop-up menu, just below the Map pop-up menu in the Drum Editor.

The options on this pop-up menu are the currently loaded drum maps plus a “GM Default” item, which is always available. This means you can use the drum sound names in any loaded drum map without using I-notes and O-notes if you want to.

Use Head Pairs and Edit in Scores

These options are explained in detail in the section “Set-

ting up the drum map” on page 197.

Editing drums

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VST Expression

Page 63

Introduction

Pizzicato Tenuto Accent Staccato

AttributesDirection

About articulations

Musical articulations, or expressions, define how certain notes “sound”, i. given instrument. They allow you to specify that a string instrument is bowed (not plucked), a trumpet muted (not played open), and so on. Articulations also define the rela tive volume of notes (to play some notes louder or softer than the others) or changes in pitch (create a tremolo).

Articulations can be divided into “Directions” and “Attributes”.

• Directions are valid for all notes from the insert position on, until another direction is scored. This means, they are applied not to single notes, but to a continuous range of notes, or even an entire piece of music.

An example for a direction is pizzicato, which means that the string instrument is plucked.

• Attributes belong to single notes. They are only applied to the notes for which they are scored.

Examples for this are accents, where a note is played with an emphasis, and staccato, where notes are played shorter.

Musical expressions in the Score Editor

Articulations and MIDI

When working with MIDI, i. e. when you are entering notes via a MIDI keyboard, editing notes in the MIDI editors or using VST instruments, these articulations need to be re alized as different sounds. This can be achieved using the following command and data types, which are used to trigger the necessary sound changes:

Option Description

Program Change

MIDI channel

e. how they are sung or performed on a

Via Program Change messages, you can instruct a connected VST instrument to switch from one program to another. De pending on the instrument, this can be used to play a different articulation.

Multi-timbral instruments, such as Steinberg’s HALion, feature so-called programs, usually representing different articulations. These can be accessed via MIDI channel messages.

Option Description

Key switches

MIDI editing

Expression maps

Some software samplers, like Steinberg’s HALion Symphonic Orchestra, make use of “key switches”, meaning that certain keys are not used to trigger sounds, but to switch between ar ticulations, for example.

Articulations like staccatos or accents can be created by modifying the actual MIDI data, e. g. by changing length or velocity.

When working on a project, you might want to audition a composition including articulations and other notation ex pressions. In Nuendo, this can be achieved using the VST Expression functionality. This feature makes use of socalled “expression maps”, which can be selected via a sep arate pop-up menu in the Inspector for MIDI or instrument tracks. Within these maps, the sound mapping and characteristics for all your musical expressions can be specified, using the methods described in the above table.

In detail, this works as follows:

When you select an expression map for a MIDI or instrument track, the articulations (sounds) defined in the map are automatically applied during playback. Nuendo recognizes the expressions scored for the MIDI part and then searches the sound slots in the expression map for a sound that matches the defined criteria.

When a matching sound slot is found, the current note is either modified (e. g. reduced in length or played louder), or the MIDI channel, program change or key switch information is sent to the connected instrument (the instrument selected on the Output Routing pop-up menu for the track), so that a different sound is played. When no sound slot is found that matches the articulations used in the part, the “closest match” is used, see

“Groups” on page 68.

When you enter articulations in a MIDI part, you need to set up an expression map in a way that the right sounds in

the connected VST or MIDI instrument are triggered (see

“Creating and editing expression maps” on page 67).

Expression maps also allow you to link your articulations with remote keys on a MIDI input device and map these to sounds that can be played by a MIDI device or VST instru ment. This way, you can enter notes and articulations using a remote MIDI device and have these automatically be recorded and played back correctly by Nuendo.

VST Expression

Page 64

Expression maps are useful in the following situations:

• When you want to enter musical articulations directly in one of the MIDI editors, especially the Score Editor, without having to record MIDI data first.

• When you want to play/record music in realtime and control articulation changes while playing.

• When you open and edit projects from other users. By using expression maps, you can map the articulation information to a different instrument set or content library quickly and easily.

VST Expression in Nuendo

The VST Expression functionalities can be found in different locations in Nuendo. To be able to use these functions, an expression map or a track preset containing such a map has to be loaded.

An example

To get a quick impression of the VST Expression function in Nuendo, take a look at an example project:

1. Open the project “VST Expression Demo”, which you can find on the program DVD in the Additional Content folder (Demo Projects subfolder).

This project contains 5 instrument tracks, each of which is assigned to a HALionOne instance that uses an expression map suited for the respec tive sound. The track presets used in this project are installed with the program and make use of the HALionOne Expression Set.

2. Now look at the track list. The “Nylon Guitar” track is selected.

The events on this track are shown in the Score Editor. In the Inspector, the VST Expression tab is displayed, showing the expression map for the guitar.

3. Start playback.

In the Score Editor, you can see several articulation symbols. Whenever such a symbol is reached during playback, the expression map switches to another sound slot.

4. Double-click on one of the Nylon Guitar parts.

The Key Editor opens. Here, the articulations that are shown as articulation events on the Articulation lane (not as symbols as in the Score Editor). For further information, see “Articulations in the Key, Drum, and In-

Place Editors” on page 65.

5. On the MIDI menu, select “VST Expression Setup…”.

The VST Expression Setup window opens. This shows the details of the expression map and can be used to create or edit expression maps, see

“Creating and editing expression maps” on page 67.

6. In the Expression Maps section to the left, select the Map “Nylon Guitar”.

In the Sound Slots list in the middle section of the window, the different articulations are shown, together with the symbols that are used. If you select the slots in the list, you can see that they all have different key switches that are sent to the connected instrument (HALionOne in this example). Using this key switches the instrument is instructed it to switch to another set of samples, to play back a different articulation.

The four other tracks in the project also use a HALionOne program and a separate expression map. For these too, the articulations are triggered by key switches sent to the VST instrument.

Loading expression maps

Expression maps can either be part of track or VST presets, or be saved separately. Depending on this, the way to make them available in Nuendo is slightly different.

Loading expression maps that are part of presets

Nuendo comes with a set of predefined expression maps which are part of the default presets. They are loaded automatically with the presets. Track presets are described in detail in the chapter “Working with track presets” in the

Operation Manual.

The following applies:

• Included with Nuendo are several track presets which are pre-configured for use with VST Expression. They contain sounds that make use of key switches and have different articulations. To indicate that these presets can be used in this context, they have the suffix “VX”.

The same sounds that are used in these track presets are also available as part of VST3 presets for HALionOne (with the same name). This allows you to use them more flexibly with your expression maps in your projects.

• Track presets for HALion Symphonic Orchestra can also be used with VST Expression. The presets are installed automatically with Nuendo. However, for them to be available, you have to separately install the VST instrument.

These Track Presets begin with “HSO” and end with “VX”.

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Expression maps that were saved separately

This indicates that an expression map is used for the track.

This marks the slot that is currently played back.

This shows

which Remote

Key is being

pressed.

It is also possible to define your own expression maps, see “Creating and editing expression maps” on page 67. To load these, proceed as follows:

1. In the Inspector for the selected track, select the VST Expression section, open the Expression Map pop-up menu and select “VST Expression Setup…”.

If the VST Expression tab is not shown in the Inspector, right-click on another Inspector tab and select “VST Expression” from the context menu.

2. In the VST Expression Setup dialog, click the Load button in the Expression Maps section on the left.

A file dialog appears.

3. Locate and select an expression map and click Open.

The expression map is added to the Maps list.

4. Repeat the steps for all the maps that you want to make available, and close the dialog.

All loaded maps are available on the Expression Map popup menu in the Inspector.

Articulations in the Project window

In the Inspector for MIDI and instrument tracks, a VST Expression section is available. This indicates whether an expression map is used for a track. It also shows the sound slots that are active for playback and for realtime input.

The possibility to monitor the active slots is especially useful when recording articulations with an external device, such as a MIDI keyboard. This way, you can see whether the correct sound slot, i.

e. the right articulation, is used.

Articulations in the Score Editor

In the Score Editor, articulations can be inserted like other symbols. There is a special tab in the Symbols Inspector, containing all articulation symbols of the current expres sion map.

• To insert a symbol, click on it in the VST Expression tab, and click at the desired position in the note display.

• To delete an articulation symbol from the score, select it and press [Delete] or [Backspace].

You can also click on it with the Eraser tool.

Ö In the Preferences dialog (Score–Colors for Additional Meanings page), you can specify a color for VST Expression symbols. This way, you can easily distinguish them from other Score symbols.

Articulation editing in the Score Editor is the same as regular symbol editing, see the chapter “Working with sym-

bols” on page 139.

Note that in the Score Editor, it is possible to insert symbols for a single note that in fact cannot be com bined in a musically meaningful way. So when entering articulations, make sure that they do not collide with other articulations.

Articulations in the Key, Drum, and In-Place Editors

If an expression map is used for a MIDI or instrument track, its articulations are shown in the note events in the Key Editor display, provided that the vertical zoom factor is high enough. If the horizontal zoom factor is high enough, the at tribute description (the text in the Description column, see

“Editing Articulations” on page 68) is also shown.

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You can insert and edit musical expressions in the Key, Drum, and In-Place Editors using the controller lane. This is much like regular controller lane editing (see the chapter “The MIDI editors” in the Operation Manual).

To display the available articulations (i. e. all articulations set up in the selected expression map), open the pop-up menu to the left of the lane and select “Articulations”.

• When “Articulations” is selected for a controller lane, the note beginnings are displayed as thin vertical lines in the controller display.

• All articulations that are specified for the selected expression map are available on the controller lane. They appear on different rows one above the other. The order in which they are listed is the same as in the expression map.

The different groups (1 to 4) are also reflected here, see “Groups” on

page 68. They are separated by black lines. Articulations belonging to

the same group are shown in the same color.

• Directions are displayed as bars in the controller lane. They begin at the insertion point of a direction and end at the insertion point of the next articulation from the same group (or at the end of the part if no more directions fol

low). Attributes are inserted at the note beginning.

You can assign a maximum of one attribute per group to each note.

Editing on the controller lane

• To insert new directions on the controller lane, select the Pencil tool and click at the desired position in the respective row, i. e. where you want the direction to start. Note that you have to click at the exact position of the first note that you want to apply this articulation to or to the left of it.

Instead of selecting the Pencil tool, you can also hold down [Alt]/[Option] and click at the desired position.

• To insert new attributes on the controller lane, select the Pencil tool and click at the respective note line in the cor responding row of the controller lane.

Instead of selecting the Pencil tool, you can also hold down a modifier key (by default [Alt]/[Option]) and click at the desired position.

• To remove a direction, click on it with the Eraser tool or select it and press [Delete] or [Backspace].

• To remove an attribute, click on it with the Pencil tool.

Note that you cannot select attributes in the controller lane without automatically selecting the corresponding note, too. Therefore, you cannot delete an attribute by selecting it and pressing [Delete] or [Backspace] without deleting the note as well.

Ö If several notes are selected, you can use the Pencil tool to insert or delete attributes for all of them in one go.

Editing on the info line

When a MIDI note is selected in the note display, the info line contains the “Articulations” option. This displays the note attributes (symbols) specified for the selected note. Click in this section to open the Articulations pop-up menu. The following applies:

• All note attributes available in the expression map are shown on the pop-up menu, sorted by group (see

“Groups”

on page 68).

• To add an attribute to a note, simply select it on the pop-up menu. Attributes that are active for a note are indi cated on the menu.

If you click on an active attribute again on the menu, it is deleted.

• If you select another attribute from the same group for a note, the attribute replaces the previous attribute.

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Articulations in the List Editor

In the List Editor, the Articulations can be viewed and edited in the Comment column. The options are the same as on the Key Editor info line, see above.

Directions can be shown either as Text or as Graphic Symbols (like in the Score Editor). Either way, they are followed by the text “VST Expression” in brackets, so as to be easily recognizable and distinguishable from ordinary Score symbols.

Creating and editing expression maps

Creating an expression map

Proceed as follows:

1. In the Inspector for a MIDI or instrument track, open the VST Expression section, open the Expression Map pop-up menu and select “VST Expression Setup…” (or select “VST Expression Setup…” on the MIDI menu).

The VST Expression Setup window opens, allowing you to load and create expression maps.

2. To create a new map from scratch, click the “+” button at the top of the Maps list in the Expression Maps section of the dialog.

A new map named “Untitled” is shown in the Expression Maps section.

3. Click on the map name and enter a meaningful name (e. g. “Cello” to set up an expression map for a cello).

Adding sound slots

Now, you create the “sound slots”, one for each articulation that you want to add. Proceed as follows:

1. In the Sound Slots section to the right of the Maps list, a sound slot is added automatically when a new map is created.

This is the default slot that is used. You can specify an articulation for it or leave it empty, depending on you preferred default setting.

2. Click in the first Articulation column (Art. 1) for the sound slot and select an articulation from the menu.

A new entry is added in the Articulations section in the lower right corner of the window.

3. When adding articulations, the name of the sound slot is automatically set to the articulation. To change the name, click in the name field and enter a new name.

The names of the sound slots are displayed in the Inspector for the track, see

“Articulations in the Project window” on page 65.

4. To create a complex articulation, made of several different single articulations, click in the other Articulation columns (Art. 2-4) for the sound slot and add the corresponding articulations.

For each new articulation, an additional entry is added in the Articulations section.

• Apart from creating combined articulations, the Articulation columns also allow you to prioritize articulations, by sorting them into different groups.

When the program is looking for sounds and no exact match is found, the group setting defines the “closest match”, i. most criteria when searching from left to right is used. For example, if two sounds are found which have the same articulation in group 1, the sound that also matches group 2 is preferred and so on. For more information on groups, see below.

• If you cannot find the articulation that you want to add on the pop-up menu, you can define your own articulations by selecting “Add Custom Articulation”.

This adds a default articulation which you can define in the Articulations section, see below.

• Click in the “Col” column to assign a color to the current sound slot.

When working in the MIDI editors, you can color your events according to the color of the sound slots.

e. the sound which matches

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5. When you have made the desired settings, click the “+” button again to add another sound slot.

Add as many sound slots as you need.

• In the Remote column, you can specify the key on your external device that triggers this sound slot.

For more information, see “Remote Key Settings” on page 69.

Output Mapping

When you have added the desired sound slots, you can map these to certain “sound characters” or “expressions” of an instrument, e. plain trumpet, a muted trumpet or a trumpet playing stac cato. The available sounds depend on the instrument that is selected for the MIDI or instrument track. You can also create expressions by editing the incoming MIDI data, for example by changing the note length or velocity. This is done in the Output Mapping section.

The following parameters are available:

Parameter Description

1st/2nd Key Switch

Program Here you can specify a Program Change number, to

Channel Here you can specify the MIDI channel to be used. When

Length Here you can specify the note length. This way, you can

Velocity Here you can specify the desired velocity. This allows you

Min. Velocity If you are using an instrument that has different velocity

Transpose This allows you to specify a transpose value. This can be

Controller 1/2 These allow you to set MIDI Control Change messages

g. a bowed violin or a pizzicato violin, a

If you have an instrument that uses key switches (e. g. Steinberg’s HALion Symphonic Orchestra), you can en ter up to two key switches in these fields. This allows you, for example, to switch between a bowed and a pizzicato violin.

switch to another program containing a different articula tion on a connected instrument.

using with HALion Symphonic Orchestra for example, this allows you to switch to a different program.

create staccato or tenuto sounds.

to create accents, for example.

ranges on the same key, you can specify a minimum ve locity here, to make sure that the sample mapped to a particular range is used.

used to select different articulations in some sample li braries, in which different articulations are located on different octaves, for example.

and their values for each sound slot.

Editing Articulations

In the Articulations section, the Articulations you added for the sound slots are displayed. The following settings can be made here:

Option Description

Art. Clicking in this column opens a context menu, where you

Type In this column you specify whether you want to add an

Description Here, you can enter a descriptive text. For example, this

Group This column allows you to specify the Group, or impor-

Groups

You can sort the different articulations you define for an

expression map into one to four groups. Groups can be used to combine directions and attributes in more complex musical expressions by choosing articulations from the different groups, for example to play a note arco AND

staccato AND with an accent.

The groups themselves are exclusive. This means articulations residing within the same group cannot be used together. Since some of the articulations cannot be combined – for example, a violin cannot be played arco (bowed) and pizzicato (plucked) at the same time – these articulations should be placed in the same group.

Furthermore, the groups represent the musical importance,

with group 1 having the highest priority (expressions in group 1 are more important than those in group 2, 3, and

4). This setting is required when the expression map does not find an exact match for your data and tries to identify the closest possible sound. Let’s say you have added a stac cato symbol and an accent to a note in an editor. In the expression map, you have specified that staccato is in group 2 and the accent is in group 3. The connected instrument, however, does not have a sample that corresponds to these settings. In this case, the program looks for a staccato sound, disregarding the accent.

can choose whether you want to insert a symbol or a text string. If you select Symbol, the dialog with the available symbols opens. If you select Text, you can directly enter the desired text.

“Attribute” (which only influences a single note, e. accent) or a “Direction” (which is valid from the insertion position until it is replaced by another articulation, e. arco and pizzicato).

can be the name of the symbol (e. name of a direction (e.

tance of the symbol, see below.

g. pizz and pizzicato).

g. Accent) or the long

g. an

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Remote Key Settings

The remote keys specify which key on an external device is used to play a certain sound slot, i. e. these keys are then used to insert articulations instead of notes.

The active remote keys (if any) are indicated in the Inspector for the track, see “Articulations in the Project window” on page 65.

Ö If you do not plan to record or trigger articulations via a MIDI input device, you do not need to specify remote keys.

Latch Mode

This setting determines whether the remote key function reacts to note-off messages.

• When Latch Mode is deactivated, the key you press on your MIDI input device is valid for as long as the key is

e. the sound slot plays until the key is released.

held, i.

On release, the default (first) sound slot is played again.

• When Latch Mode is activated, the key you press is valid until the next key is pressed.

Note that Latch Mode can only be generally activated/ deactivated in Nuendo, not for single expression maps.

Root Note

Here, you can specify the first key on your external device that you want to use as a remote key. This is useful, since it allows you to automatically adjust existing remote key assignments to suit your needs, for example when you are using a MIDI keyboard with a very wide or very narrow key range.

Set Remote Keys

Remote keys can be specified manually for each slot in the Sound Slots section of the window. However, you can also automatically assign a range of keys on your external device to the sound slots in the expression map. Proceed as follows:

1. Click the Set Remote Keys button.

A dialog opens.

2. Use the Start Key field to specify the first key on the MIDI input device that you want to trigger a sound slot.

3. On the Key Mapping pop-up menu, you can specify with which keys on your device you want to trigger the sound slots.

You can choose whether you want to use all keys on the keyboard as remote keys, or whether only the white or black keys are used.

4. Click OK to close the dialog.

Saving your settings

When you have made the desired settings, you need to save the expression map. To do so, click the Save button in the Expression Maps section of the window, specify a file name and a location for the expression map, and click Save.

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How the Score Editor works

Page 71

About this chapter

MIDI data

Score Editor Score display

Score settings

MIDI notes vs. score notes

In this chapter you learn:

• How the Score Editor and MIDI data relate.

• What Display Quantize is and how it works.

Welcome!

Welcome to scoring in Nuendo! The Score Editor has been created to allow you to get any possible piece of music displayed as a score, complete with all the neces sary symbols and formatting. It allows you to extract parts out of a full orchestra score, to add lyrics and comments, create lead sheets, score for drums, create tablature, etc. In other words: just about any type of notation you could ever desire!

There are a few basic principles to how the Score Editor works, which you have to understand to make full use of it.

How the Score Editor operates

The Score Editor does the following:

• Reads the MIDI notes in the MIDI parts.

• Looks at the settings you have made.

• Decides how the MIDI notes are displayed according to the settings.

MIDI tracks in Nuendo hold MIDI notes and other MIDI data. As you may know, a MIDI note in Nuendo is only defined by its position, length, pitch and velocity. This is not nearly enough information to decide how the note is to be dis played in a score. The program needs to know more: What type of instrument are we talking about, Drums? Piano? What key is the piece in? What is the basic rhythm? How should the notes be grouped under beams? You provide this information by making settings and working with the

tools available in the Score Editor.

An example of the MIDI/score relationship

When Nuendo stores a MIDI note’s position, it makes the measurement in an absolute value, called ticks. There are 480 ticks to a quarter note. Have a look at the example below:

A quarter note at the end of a 4/4 measure

The note is on the fourth beat of the measure. Now, let’s say you change the time signature to 3/4. This shortens the length of a “measure” to only three quarter notes – 1440 ticks. Suddenly our quarter note is in the next measure:

The Score Editor takes MIDI data and settings as input and produces a score as output.

The Score Editor does all this in realtime. If you change some of the MIDI data (for example by moving or shorten ing a note) this is immediately reflected in the score. If you change some of the settings (for example the time signature or key signature) this is also immediately apparent.

Do not think of the Score Editor as a drawing program, but rather as an “interpreter” of MIDI data.

The same note in 3/4

Why? Since you are not changing the MIDI data in the track/part (that would ruin your recording!) by changing the time signature, the note is still at the same absolute position. It is just that now each “measure” is shorter, which effectively moves the note in the score.

What we are trying to get across here is that the Score Editor is an “interpreter” of the MIDI data. It follows rules that you set up by making settings in dialogs, on menus,

etc. And this interpretation is “dynamic”, or in other words,

it is constantly updated whenever the data (the MIDI notes) or the rules (the score settings) change.

How the Score Editor works

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Display Quantize

Let’s say you used the Project window to record a figure with some staccato eighth notes. When you open the Score Editor, these notes are displayed like this:

This does not look anything like what you intended. Let’s start with the timing – obviously, you were off at a couple of places (the third, fourth and last note all seem to be a 32nd note late). You can solve this by quantizing the fig ure, but this would make the passage sound too “stiff”, and not fit in the musical context. To resolve this problem the Score Editor employs something called “Display Quantize”.

Display Quantize is a setting which is used to tell the program two things:

• How precise the Score Editor is to be when displaying the note positions.

• The smallest note values (lengths) you want displayed in the score.

In the example above, the Display Quantize value seems to be set to 32nd notes (or a smaller note value).

Let’s say we change the Display Quantize value to sixteenth notes in the example:

With Display Quantize set to sixteenth notes

OK, now the timing looks right, but the notes still do not look like what you intended. Maybe you can understand that from a computer’s point of view, you did play sixteenth notes, which is why there are a lot of pauses. But that’s not how you meant it. You still want the track to play back short notes, because it is a staccato part, but you want something else “displayed”. Try setting the Display Quan tize value to eighth notes instead:

Now we have eighth notes, as we wanted. All we have to do now is to add staccato articulation which can be done with one simple mouse click using the Pencil tool (see the chapter

“Working with symbols” on page 139) or using

musical articulations (see the chapter “VST Expression” on page 62).

How did this work? By setting the Display Quantize value to eighth notes, you give the program two instructions that would sound something like this in English: “Display all notes as if they were on exact eighth note positions, regard less of their actual positions” and “Don’t display any notes smaller than eighth notes, regardless of how short they are”. Please note that we used the word “display”, which leads us to one of the most important messages of this chapter:

Setting a Display Quantize value does not alter the MIDI notes of your recording in any way, as regular quantizing does. It only affects how the notes are displayed in the Score Editor (and nowhere else)!

Choose your Display Quantize values with care

As explained above, the Display Quantize value for notes puts a restriction on the “smallest” note value that can be displayed. Let’s see what happens if we set it to quarter notes:

With Display Quantize set to quarter notes

Oops, this doesn’t look too good. Well of course it doesn’t! We have now instructed the program that the “smallest” note that occurs in the piece is a quarter note. We have ex plicitly told it that there are no eighth notes, no sixteenths, etc. So when the program draws the score on screen (and on paper) it quantizes the display of all our eighth notes to quarter note positions, which makes it look like above. But

With Display Quantize set to eighth notes

How the Score Editor works

Page 73

again, please note that when you hit Play, the passage still

plays as it originally did. The Display Quantize setting only affects the score image of the recording. One last important note:

Even if you manually enter notes in the score using perfect note values, it is very important that you have your Display Quantize settings right! These values are not just used for MIDI recordings! If you for ex

ample set the Display Quantize value for notes to quarter notes and start clicking in eighth notes, you get eighth notes in the track (as MIDI data), but still only quarter notes in the display!

Using Rests as Display Quantize setting

Above we used Display Quantize for notes. There is a similar Display Quantize setting called “Rests” which is used to set the smallest rest to be displayed. Often, this setting is very effective.

Let’s start with the following note example:

As you see, the first note appears one sixteenth note late. If we change the Display Quantize value for notes to eighth notes, the score is displayed like this:

How did this work? Well, you instructed the program not to display any rests smaller than eighth notes, except when “necessary”. Since the first note appeared on the second sixteenth note position, it was necessary to put a sixteenth rest at the beginning of the figure. All other rests can be hidden by displaying the notes as eighth notes, and were therefore not “necessary”.

This leads us to the following general guidelines:

Ö Set the Notes value according to the “smallest note position” you want to be shown in the score (e.

g. if you have notes on odd sixteenth note positions, set the Notes to sixteenth notes).

Ö Set the Rests value according to the smallest note value (length) you want to be displayed for a single note, positioned on a beat.

Common Display Quantize settings would be to have Notes set to 16 (sixteenth notes) and Rests set to 4 (quarter notes).

Handling exceptions

Unfortunately, the guidelines above do not work perfectly in every situation. You may for example have a mix of straight notes and tuplets of different types, or you may wish to display equally long notes with different note val ues depending on the context. There are several methods you can try:

Automatic Display Quantize

With Display Quantize: Notes set to eighth notes

Unfortunately, this moves the first note to the same position as the second, since sixteenth note positions are not allowed. We can solve this by inserting extra Display Quantize values within the bar with the Display Quantize tool (see

“Inserting Display Quantize changes” on page

91), but there is a much easier way: Change the Display

Quantize value for notes back to sixteenths, but set the value for rests to eighth notes! This tells the program not to display any rests smaller than eighth notes, except when necessary. The result looks like this:

With Display Quantize: Notes set to sixteenth notes, but Rests set to eighth notes.

How the Score Editor works

If your score contains both straight notes and triplets, you can use Auto Quantize. When this is activated, Nuendo tries to “understand” whether the notes should be display quantized to straight notes or triplets, see

“If your music

contains mixed straight notes and triplets” on page 111.

Using the Display Quantize tool

With the “Q” tool, you can insert new Display Quantize values anywhere in the score. Inserted Display Quantize values affect the staff from the insertion point onwards,

“Inserting Display Quantize changes” on page 91.

see

Page 74

Permanent alteration of MIDI data

As a last resort, you can resize, quantize or move the actual note events. However, this would result in the music not playing back like it originally did. Often it is possible to get the score to look the way you want without altering any MIDI data.

Summary

This closes our discussion on the basic concept of display quantizing. There are a number of other special situations which require more advanced techniques described in the next chapters. The interpretation options which work along the same lines as Display Quantize are also explained.

Entering notes by hand vs. recording notes

Sometimes you enter and edit notes by hand (or rather using the mouse and/or the computer keyboard) and at other times you record them from a MIDI keyboard. Most of the time, you do a combination of both. In the chapter “Tran-

scribing MIDI recordings” on page 88 you can find out how

to make a recorded score as legible as possible without making any permanent changes to the MIDI data. The chapter “Entering and editing notes” on page 94 shows you how to enter and edit notes using the mouse. In real life, even if you have recorded the piece perfectly, you often have to do some permanent editing to your recording before printing.

In order to understand how to produce legible scores we recommend to read both chapters.

How the Score Editor works

Page 75

The basics

Page 76

About this chapter

In this chapter you learn:

• How to open the Score Editor.

• How to switch between Page Mode and Edit Mode.

• How to set up the page size and margins.

• How to hide and show the Symbols Inspector, the toolbar, and the extended toolbar.

• How to set up the ruler.

• How to set a zoom factor.

• How to make initial settings for clef, key, and time signature.

• How to transpose instruments.

• How to print and export your score.

Editing whole tracks

When preparing a score for printing, you probably want to open whole MIDI tracks in the Score Editor. To do this, select the track(s) in the Track list and make sure no parts are selected – then open the Score Editor as described above.

Editing parts on different tracks

If you have selected parts on two or more tracks (or several entire tracks – no parts) and open the Score Editor, you get one staff for each track (although you can split a staff in two, e.g. when scoring for piano). Think of the Project window as an overview of your entire score and the tracks as representing one instrument each.

Preparations

1. In the Project window, create a MIDI track for each in-

strument.

You can prepare a piano (split) staff from a single track, i. e. there is no need to create one track for the bass clef and one for the treble clef.

2. Name each track after the instrument.

This name can later be used in the score if you like.

3. Record into the tracks or create empty parts on all

tracks.

You can make very long parts that cover the entire project, or you can start out with shorter parts to begin with. If you choose the latter option, you can always go back later and add new parts or copy existing parts.

Opening the Score Editor

Editing one or several parts

To open one or several parts in the Score Editor, select the parts (on the same or on different tracks) and select “Open Score Editor” from the MIDI menu or “Open Selec tion” from the Scores menu. The default key command for this is [Ctrl]/[Command]-[R].

• You can also select the Score Editor as your default ed-

itor, allowing you to open it by double-clicking parts.

This is done with the Default Edit Action pop-up menu in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–MIDI page).

Editing predefined combinations of tracks

How to open the Score Editor for a certain combination of tracks that you edited before is described in the section

“Layout operations” on page 176.

Displaying single voices or the complete score

When the “Double-click on staff flips between full score/ part” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores– Editing page), double-clicking on the blue rectangle to the left of a staff switches between display of either the whole score or the current voice.

The project cursor

The project cursor appears as a vertical line across the staff. When you open the Score Editor, the view is auto matically scrolled so that the project cursor is visible in the window. This means you do not always see the beginning of the edited part when you first open the Score Editor.

• Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and [Shift] and click anywhere in the score to move the project cursor there.

This is handy when the project cursor is not visible. This is not possible if Computer Keyboard Input mode is activated, see

the computer keyboard” on page 97.

“Entering notes using

Playing back and recording

You can play back and record MIDI in the Score Editor using the standard transport commands, just like in the other MIDI editors. See the chapter “The MIDI editors” in the Operation Manual for details.

The basics

Page 77

Page Mode

When you are preparing a score for printout, you should set the Score Editor to Page Mode. This is done by selecting Page Mode from the Scores menu. When Page Mode is activated, a checkmark appears next to this menu option.

In Page mode, the window switches to display one page at a time, as it appears on printout.

Page Mode vs. Edit Mode

When Page Mode is not activated, the Score Editor is in Edit Mode. All you can do in Edit Mode, you can also do in Page Mode. But Page Mode offers lots of additional fea tures which are directly related to how the score is displayed and printed.

This section of the manual assumes you are in Page Mode. It is mentioned explicitly if something in this text specifically relates to Edit Mode.

Editing individual parts in Page Mode

When you view a single part in Page Mode, the bars before and after the part is normally shown as empty measures in the Score Editor. This is to preserve the layout of the track, i.e. the spacing between staves and bar lines, number of bars per staff, etc.

If you want to view and print a single part, without any surrounding empty bars, activate the “Unlock Layout when editing single parts” option in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page). Note, however, that if you adjust the layout when editing the part in this mode, this erases the layout for the whole track!

Changing the zoom factor

There are two ways to change the zoom in Page Mode: by setting a zoom factor on the zoom pop-up menu or by using the Zoom tool (magnifying glass).

Using the Zoom pop-up menu

Above the vertical scrollbar to the right you can find a popup menu allowing you to set the zoom factor.

Using the scroll bars in Page Mode

In Page Mode, the scroll bars are used to scroll the image of the page inside the window.

Moving between pages in Page Mode

If your score takes up more than one page, you use the page number indicator in the lower right corner to move to another page in your score. The number can be adjusted using the standard editing techniques.

By zooming in you can make detailed adjustments to symbols, etc. By zooming out you get a better overview.

• If you select “Fit Page”, the zoom factor is adjusted according to the window size so that the whole page becomes visible.

The page number indicator – adjust it to move to another page.

Also, if Auto-Scroll is activated on the toolbar, the score display follows the project cursor position. This way you can scroll the score by using fast forward or rewind.

• If you select “Fit Width”, the zoom factor is adjusted according to the window width so that the full width of the page becomes visible.

The basics

Page 78

Ö This pop-up menu can also be opened by right-click-

This staff is active.

ing in the ruler.

Using the Zoom tool

The Zoom tool in the Score Editor works much like in the Project window:

• Click once with the Zoom tool to zoom in one step.

• Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and click once with the Zoom

tool to zoom out one step.

• Drag a rectangle with the Zoom tool to set a custom

zoom factor.

The section encompassed by the rectangle is zoomed to fill the window.

• Hold down a modifier key and right-click with the Zoom

tool to open the Zoom context menu, and select the desired Zoom setting.

Using the Mouse wheel

You can also zoom by holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] and moving the mouse wheel. The mouse position is kept (if possible) when zooming in or out.

The active staff

One thing to note when you are working with multiple staves is the “active” staff. Only one staff at a time can be active, and it is indicated by a blue rectangle to the left of the clef symbol.

Making page setup settings

Before preparing the score for printout, you have to make some page settings for your project. This does not have to be the first thing you do, but it is a good working habit, because it also affects the on-screen display of the score.

1. On the File menu, select Page Setup.

The Page Setup dialog appears. This is the regular operation system Page Setup dialog, described in detail in your system’s documentation. The only things that Nuendo adds to this are the margin settings.

2. Select the preferred printer, paper size, orientation, etc.

3. If you need to, change the margins by setting the left,

right, top and bottom settings.

• To make the settings permanent, save the project.

If you want new projects to always start with certain page setup settings, you can create project templates with these, see the chapter “File Han dling” in the Operation Manual.

Designing your work space

You can design your work space according to your needs by showing/hiding different areas using the Window Layout function and by showing/hiding different options of these areas using the Setup options dialogs. Which areas and options to show or hide depends on what kind of project you are working on, how large your monitor is, and so on.

To configure the window layout, proceed as follows:

1. On the toolbar, click the “Set up Window Layout” button.

A transparent pane appears.

Ö To make a staff active, click anywhere on it. By default, you can also use the up and down arrow keys on the com puter keyboard to step between staves.

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2. Activate the desired options.

Extended toolbar

Symbols Inspector

Info line

Status line

Filter bar

The status line

The status line features the Mouse Time and the Mouse Note Position displays as well as the Current Chord Dis play, which helps you identify chords in the Score Editor note display. It can be hidden/displayed using the “Status Line” option in the “Set up Window Layout” pane.

The status line has its own Setup dialog where you can specify exactly which properties you want to see.

• Right-click on the status line and select “Setup…” from

the context menu.

In the dialog that appears you can configure where the separate items will be placed and save/recall different setup configurations.

The info line

The info line displays information about the selected note. It can be shown and hidden using the “Info Line” option in the “Set up Window Layout” pane.

The info line has its own setup dialog where you can specify exactly which properties are shown.

• Right-click on the info line and select “Setup…” from

the context menu.

In the dialog that appears you can configure where the separate items will be placed and save/recall different setup configurations.

The extended toolbar

The extended toolbar contains additional tools four your score. It can be hidden/displayed using the Tools option in the “Set up Window Layout” pane.

The filter bar

This area contains checkboxes determining which indicators, handles, and other non-printed elements are shown in the score. It can be hidden/displayed using the Filters option in the “Set up Window Layout” pane.

Showing and hiding “invisible” elements

Some of the elements in the score are not printed, but rather serve as indicators for layout changes, handles, etc. These elements can be hidden or shown in any combina tion by using the Filters options.

The following options are available:

Option Description

Bar Handles Displays the bar handles, used for copying bars (see “Mov-

Hidden Notes Displays any notes you might have hidden (see “Hiding/

Hide Displays markers in the score for each hidden element (ex-

Quantize Displays markers in the score where you have made Dis-

Layout tool Displays markers in the score where you have made ad-

Grouping Displays markers in the score where you have made

Cutflag Displays markers in the score where you have inserted

Split Rests Displays markers in the score wherever you have split

Stems/Beams Displays markers in the score where you have made any

ing and duplicating with the bar handles” on page 152).

showing objects” on page 185).

cept notes, see “Hiding/showing objects” on page 185).

play Quantize “exceptions” (see “Inserting Display Quan-

tize changes” on page 91).

justments with the Layout tool (see “Graphic moving of

notes” on page 135).

beam groupings (see

cutflag events (see

multiple rests (see

stem or beam adjustments (see on page 125 and “Manual adjustment of beams” on page

133).

“Grouping” on page 129).

“The Cut Notes tool” on page 134).

“Splitting multi-rests” on page 187).

“Setting stem direction”

The Symbols Inspector

This area contains symbol tabs, which are used to add symbols to the score. It can be hidden/displayed using the Symbols option in the “Set up Window Layout” pane.

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The symbol tabs can also be opened as free-floating palettes by opening them, right-clicking any of the buttons and selecting “Open as Palette” from the context menu. This way you can move symbol palettes around on the screen by clicking and dragging their title bars. Rightclicking on a symbol palette brings up a pop-up menu:

• Select “Toggle” to switch between a vertical or horizon-

tal view of the palette.

• Select one of the options on the pop-up menu to bring

up that palette (and replace the current palette).

• Hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and select a palette from

the pop-up menu to open the selected palette in a new window (without closing the existing one).

• Click the close button to close a symbol palette.

In the Symbols Inspector setup dialog you can specify exactly which symbol tabs are shown. For a detailed description, see “The Symbols Inspector Setup dialog” on

page 141.

How to work with symbols is explained in detail in the chapter “Working with symbols” on page 139.

The ruler

In the Score Editor there are no meter/time position rulers as in the other editors. Instead, there are horizontal and vertical “graphic rulers” in Page Mode. These help you to position symbols and graphical objects in the score.

• To hide the rulers, select “Off” from the pop-up menu.

The Position Info window

To help you when positioning objects in the score, the Page Mode has a special Position Info window, in which you can view and adjust object positions numerically, in the unit selected for the ruler. To display the Position Info window, click in the ruler.

About the Score Editor context menus

Many functions and settings of the Score Editor can be accessed via context menus, opened by right-clicking on certain elements of the score. For example, if you choose a note, the note context menu opens, listing note-related functions.

• If you hold [Alt]/[Option] and right-click on an empty area of the score, the context menu opens. It lists all available tools (allowing you to quickly switch between tools) and it contains many functions of the main menus.

Provided that the “Popup Toolbox on Right Click” option in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tools page) is activated, a right-click holding a modifier key brings up the context menu.

• To specify which units to show on the rulers, open the

Zoom pop-up menu and select one of the options.

You can choose between points, inches, and centimeters.

About dialogs in the Score Editor

There are two types of dialogs available in the Score Editor:

• Non-modal dialogs can remain open while you continue working in the score.

In a non-modal dialog, clicking the Apply button applies the settings in the dialog to the selected objects in the score. This means you can se lect different elements in the score and change their settings, without having to close the dialog in between. The dialog is closed by clicking the standard close button in the window title bar. The Score Settings dialog is an example for a non-modal dialog.

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• Regular dialogs have an OK button instead of an Apply

button.

Clicking OK applies the settings you have made and closes the dialog. You cannot continue working in the score (or select other objects) until you close the dialog.

Ö If the “Apply closes Property Windows” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), clicking the Apply button in a non-modal dialog closes the dialog. In other words, this makes a non-modal dialog work a bit more like a regular dialog.

Setting clef, key, and time signature

When preparing to enter notes into a score, you probably want to start out by setting the desired clef, key, and time signature for the staff. The text below assumes you are working on one track only. If you have multiple staves, you either make this setting independently for each staff or for all staves at once, see

Normally, all these symbols appear at the beginning of each staff. However, you can control this by using the Real Book option (see objects (see “Hiding/showing objects” on page 185).

When entering or editing keys, there is one important thing to note:

“Staff settings” on page 90.

“Real Book” on page 184) and by hiding

5. Click anywhere in the first bar of the staff to set the key for the track.

6. Open the Time Signatures tab of the Inspector and click on the symbol for the time signature value that you want to use.

If you cannot find the desired time signature, you can use the Edit Time Signature dialog (see below).

The settings you have made so far are valid for the entire track. If you want to further edit these settings, or if you need different settings for different bars of your track, proceed as described in the next section.

Editing the time signature

1. Double-click on the time signature symbol at the beginning of the staff.

A dialog opens.

In the Score Settings dialog on the Project–Notation Style subpage (Keys category) you can find the “Key Changes for the entire Project” option. When this option is activated, all changes made to the key al

ways affect every staff in the project, i.e. it is not possible to define different keys for different staves.

2. If the project is in 4/4 or 2/2, you can select common

Using the Symbols Inspector to set the initial clef, key, and time signature

1. Click the “Set up Window Layout” button on the toolbar and activate the Symbols option.

The Symbols Inspector is displayed.

2. Open the Clefs tab of the Inspector and click on the symbol for the clef that you want to use in your score.

3. Click anywhere in the first bar of the staff to set the clef for this track.

4. Select the Keys tab and click on the symbol for the key that you want to use.

time/cut time directly by clicking one of the two symbols on the right.

This sets the time signature to 4/4 or 2/2, respectively and also inserts a common/cut time symbol on the staff.

3. If the project is in any other time, set the numerator and denominator above and below the line, respectively.

The numerator can consist of several numbers for composite time signatures. However, if the project is in a simple time signature you only need to fill in the first number above the line. The more advanced options are described below.

• The “Pickup Bar” option is described in the section “By

using the Pickup Bar feature” on page 188.

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4. Click OK or press [Return].

All tracks share the time signature! In other words, when you set the time signature, you do this for all tracks in the project.

If you need to enter half a bar somewhere (for example) you have to make a time signature change (e.g. from 4/4 to 2/4 and back again). See

“Inserting and editing clefs, keys, or time signatures” on page 106 to find out how to

enter time signature changes.

Composite time signatures and the For Grouping Only option

For composite signatures, the numerator can be made up of up to four groups. For example, “4+4+3+/” on the upper line and 8 on the lower means the time signature is 11/8.

The reason for dividing the numerator into several numbers is to get beaming and tied notes displayed correctly automatically. This does not affect the metronome or anything else, only beams and ties. For more information on beaming, see

“Handling beaming” on page 129.

If “For Grouping Only” is not activated, the numerator shows all the numbers entered. If it is activated, it shows the sum of the numbers entered, as for “simple” time signatures.

“For Grouping Only” off and on

Note that Nuendo tries to preserve the denominator when you insert a composite signature with “For Grouping Only” activated. This means that if you have a 4/4 time sig nature, and change it to a composite value (3+3+2 eighths for example), the time signature still is displayed as 4/4 instead of 8/8.

Setting the time signature on the Transport panel

Setting the time signature using the signature track/ Tempo Track Editor

You can also add, edit and delete time signatures using the signature track or the Tempo Track Editor (see the chapter “Working with the tempo track” in the Operation Manual).

Please note the following:

• The score always shows the time signature events set in the signature track/Tempo Track Editor, regardless of whether or not the Tempo button is activated. Likewise, any time signatures you create in the Score Editor are shown in the signature track/Tempo Track Editor.

• You cannot create composite time signatures using the signature track/Tempo Track Editor.

Editing the clef

On the clef context menu

When you right-click on a clef symbol, a context menu with a list of all available clefs opens. This menu also contains the following options:

• Display Clef Changes as Small Symbols

If you activate this option and insert a clef change in the score, the clef is displayed with a smaller symbol.

• Warnings for new Clefs at Line Breaks

If you activate this option and insert a new clef at a line break, the Clef change symbol is inserted in the last bar before the staff break. When this is deactivated, the symbol is inserted in the first bar of the next staff line.

• Hide

If you select this function, the clef is hidden.

• Properties

If you select this function, the Edit Clef dialog opens.

In the Edit Clef dialog

1. Double-click on the current clef.

A dialog appears.

You can also set the time signature directly on the Transport panel. Please note that you cannot create composite time signatures from the Transport panel.

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2. Use the scroll bar to select a clef.

This does not work if Auto Clef is activated on the Staff page of the Score Settings dialog, see below.

3. Repeat the steps above for all staves in the system.

On the Staff page of the Score Settings dialog

1. Click on a staff to make it the active staff.

2. On the Scores menu, select “Settings…” to open the

Score Settings dialog. Select the Staff page at the top to open Main tab, showing the current settings for the active staff.

You can also double-click to the left of a staff to make it active and bring up the Score Settings dialog in one go (if this does not work, the “Dou ble-click on staff flips between full score/part” option in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page) may be activated – see

voices or the complete score” on page 76).

“Displaying single

3. In the Clef/Key section, use the scroll bar on the left to select one of the available clefs.

How to insert clef changes is described in the section “Inserting and ed-

iting clefs, keys, or time signatures” on page 106.

4. Click Apply.

Ö You can select another staff in the score and make settings for it without having to close the Score Settings dialog first.

In a split system

If you have a split system (see “Split (piano) staves” on

page 104 and “Strategies: How many voices do I need?”

on page 118) you can set different clefs for the upper and lower staff.

1. Open the Score Settings dialog on the Staff page.

2. Select a clef for the upper staff.

3. Activate the “Lower Staff” checkbox.

4. Set a clef for the lower staff.

Using Auto Clef

On the Staff page of the Score Settings dialog you also find the Auto Clef option. If this is activated, the program automatically selects a treble clef or a bass clef for the staff, depending on the range of the notes in the part.

Editing the key

In the Score Settings dialog on the Project–Notation Style subpage (Keys category), you can find the “Key Changes for the entire Project” option. When this option is activated, all changes made to the key al ways affects every staff in the project, so that it is not possible to define different keys for different staves (other than the relative display transpositions for transposing instruments as set up in their respective Staff Settings). Also from the Staff settings dialog, any staff (e.g. a drum staff) can be set to not show key signatures.

Therefore, when you want to edit the key, decide if you want the key change to apply to the entire project, or if you want to use different keys on different staves:

• If the key set at the beginning of the track is to be used on all staves, and if any subsequent key changes are also valid for all staves, then leave the “Key Changes for the entire Project” option activated.

• If you want to use different keys on different staves, make sure that the “Key Changes for the entire Project” option is deactivated.

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On the key context menu

Double-click here…

…to open the Edit Key dialog.

When you right-click on a key symbol, a context menu with a list of all available keys opens. This menu also contains the following options:

• Key changes for the entire Project

If this option is activated, all changes made to the key always affects the entire project, so that it is not possible to define different keys for different staves.

• Hide

If you select this, the key is hidden.

• Properties

If you select this, the Edit Key dialog opens.

In the Edit Key dialog

If the current key is anything but C major/A minor (no accidentals), you can set the key directly in the score:

1. Double-click on the accidentals at the beginning of a staff.

The “Edit Key” dialog opens.

2. Use the scroll bar to select a key and click OK.

Ö You can also enter a Display Transpose value, see

“Transposing instruments” on page 85.

On the Staff page of the Score Settings dialog

1. Make the desired staff active, open the Score Settings dialog and select the Staff page.

2. Use the right scroll bar in the Clef/Key section to select the desired key.

3. Click Apply.

Ö You can select other staves in the score and make settings for these, without having to close the Score Settings dialog.

Setting the key for a split system

If you have a split system with two staves (see “Split (pi-

ano) staves” on page 104 and “Strategies: How many voices do I need?” on page 118) you can set different

keys for the upper and lower staff.

1. Click in the system to make one of its staves the active staff.

2. Open the Score Settings dialog on the Staff page.

3. Set a key for the upper staff.

This automatically sets the lower staff to the same key.

4. If you need to set a different key for the lower staff, activate the “Lower Staff” checkbox and set a key for this.

Setting a local key

You can also set a different key for the selected staff only. This is useful for instruments like oboe and english horn that change display transpose and therefore also the key.

1. Make the desired staff active, open the Score Settings dialog and select the Staff page.

2. Activate the “Local Keys” option on the Main subpage in the Clef/Key section.

Ö This option is only available if “Key changes for entire Project” is activated in the Score Settings dialog, on the Project–Notation style subpage (Keys category).

3. Use the scroll bar to the right to set the desired key.

4. Click Apply to set the selected key for the staff.

The Clef/Key section on the Staff page

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Transposing instruments

Transpose pop-up menu

Scores for some instruments, for example a lot of brass instruments, are written transposed. Therefore, the Score Editor provides a Display Transpose function. With this function notes are transposed in the score without affect ing the way they are played back. This allows you to record and play back a multi-staff arrangement, and still score each instrument according to its own transposition.

Setting Display Transpose

1. Make the desired staff active, open the Score Settings dialog and select the Staff page.

2. In the Display Transpose section, select your instrument from the transpose pop-up menu or adjust the value directly in the Semitones field.

3. Click Apply.

Disabling Display Transpose

You can also disable Display Transpose by deactivating the “Display Transpose” button on the Score Editor toolbar. This can be useful if you work with transposing instruments and want to show the concert key and not the

scored key.

Printing from the Score Editor

When you have made all necessary changes to the score display and are satisfied with the result, you can go ahead and print your score, e.

Proceed as follows:

1. On the Scores menu, activate “Page Mode”.

Printing is only possible from within Page Mode.

2. Select Page Setup from the File menu and make sure all your printer settings are correct. Close the dialog.

g. to hand out note sheets.

Display Transpose does not affect MIDI playback!

Display Transpose in the Edit Key dialog

If you want to change the Display Transpose setting in the middle of the score, you can do this by inserting a key change (see “Inserting and editing clefs, keys, or time sig-

natures” on page 106). In the Edit Key dialog (which is

opened by double-clicking a key symbol) you can find a Transpose field, in which you can enter a transposition value in semitones. This is useful if you are for example writing a saxophone part and want the player to switch from alto to tenor saxophone.

Ö Note that you enter an absolute Display Transpose value that is used from this point on. In other words, this setting is not relative to any Display Transpose settings you made on the Staff page of the Score Settings dialog.

The basics

If you change your setting for paper size, scale, and margins now, the score may change its look.

3. Select Print from the File menu.

4. A standard print dialog appears. Fill out the options as

desired.

5. Click Print.

Exporting pages as image files

You can export a section of a page or a complete page in various file formats. This allows you to import your scores into desktop publishing and drawing applications.

Selecting a section of a page for exporting

If you only want to export a part of a certain page, proceed as follows:

1. Make sure that you are in Page Mode.

2. Select the Export tool (“Select Export Range”).

The pointer turns into a crosshair.

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3. Drag over the section of the score you want to include.

The area is indicated by a black rectangle.

• You can adjust the size of the rectangle by clicking and dragging its handles with the Object Selection tool.

• You can move the rectangle to another position in the score by clicking and dragging.

To export the selected range, you have two possibilities:

• Double-click inside the rectangle while it is selected.

This opens the Export Scores dialog, where you can make settings for the file to be created (see below).

• Use the Export Scores function, see below.

Exporting

To export the score, proceed as follows:

1. Make sure that you are in Page Mode.

2. Select the page that you want to export.

3. Pull down the File menu, open the Export submenu

and select “Export Scores…”.

The Export Scores dialog appears.

4. Select a picture format.

5. Specify a resolution for the file.

This determines the accuracy with which the image is created. 300 dpi, for example, is the resolution many laser printers use for printing. If the image file is only displayed on screen in other programs, select 72 or 96 (de pending on screen resolution) and it has the same size as it had in Nuendo.

6. Specify name and location for the file and click Save.

The page of the score is exported and saved as a file. It can now be imported into any program supporting the selected file format.

Working order

When you prepare a score, we suggest you do things in the following order, since this minimizes the time needed if you make a mistake somewhere and need to redo a step.

• Preferably work on copies of recorded tracks.

If the parts are fairly complex you might have to change them permanently, after which they do not play back as they originally did.

• If memory is an issue, break the score up into segments.

You might for example use the Split Loop function (on the main Edit menu) to split the parts across all tracks.

• Arrange the tracks in the Project window in the order you want them displayed in the score.

You cannot rearrange the order of systems in the Score Editor. However, you can go back and change the order in the Project window at any time.

• When opening the Score Editor, begin with the adjustments described above.

You should always begin by setting page margins, etc.

• If you have recorded music into tracks already, try adjusting the graphic display of the score as much as possible without permanently editing the notes.

Use the Score Settings, Display Quantize, Grouping, etc.

• If the tracks are empty, make basic staff settings, enter the notes and then make detailed adjustments, add Display Quantize, etc.

• If needed, use polyphonic voicing to resolve overlapping notes, create piano systems, handle crossing voices, etc.

• When all this is done, decide if you need to perform “destructive” editing.

You might for example have to permanently alter the length or position of some of the recorded notes.

• Hide unwanted objects and add note-dependent and note-related symbols.

This includes accents, dynamic symbols, crescendo, slurs, lyrics, “graphic rests”, etc.

• Work through the score and adjust the number of bars across the page.

• Adjust the vertical spacing between staves and grand staves.

The last two steps can be performed automatically by the program using the Auto Layout features.

• Add layout symbols like endings, page text, etc.

• Print or export the score.

• Go back and create alternative layouts, e. g. to extract

voices.

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Force update

If for some reason the screen is not redrawn properly (as a result of the computer’s recalculation of the appearance of the page), you can select “Force Update” from the Functions submenu on the Scores menu or click the Force Update button on the extended toolbar. This forces a redraw of the whole page.

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Transcribing MIDI recordings

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About this chapter

In this chapter you learn:

• How to prepare your parts for score printouts.

• How to use the Display Quantize tool to handle “exceptions” in the score.

• How to resolve parts that contain mixed notes and triplets.

About transcription

This chapter assumes you have a MIDI recording that you want to transform into a printable score. However, if the parts are fairly complicated, you probably need to perform some manual editing of the notes. This is described in the chapter

“Entering and editing notes” on page 94.

Before starting, make sure that you understand the basic principles behind the score notes/MIDI notes relationship and also what Display Quantize is, as described in the chapter

works” on page 70.

“How the Score Editor

Getting the parts ready

1. Record the music.

You must definitely play in time with the click.

2. Play back to check that the music was recorded as in-

tended.

If not, you might need to re-record or perform some editing.

3. Decide how much permanent alteration to the record-

ing you can accept to make the score look good.

If the answer is “none”, you should prepare your score from a copy of the track. See the section below.

4. Select all parts (on all tracks) that you want to work on.

5. Open the Score Editor.

6. Activate Page Mode.

Strategies: Preparing parts for score printout

Below follow a few tips that you might want to refer to when preparing a score for printout:

• If a part is complex, you may have to do some “manual” editing of notes, like moving them or changing their lengths (see the chapter This means that the recording does not play back exactly as it originally did. If this is a problem, we suggest you work on a copy of the recording. Use the Duplicate Track func tion on the Project menu to create a version of the track for scoring. Rename the track and mute the original track while you are preparing the score. You could of course also work on a copy of the entire project file.

• For reasons described in the previous chapter, quantizing the track might be a good idea. This reduces the amount of detailed adjustments needed in the Score Editor.

• If you need to quantize, always play back your tracks afterwards to make sure timing was not disrupted due to inappropriate quantize settings. You might have to quantize some sections with one value and others with another.

• If the project contains many repetitions, it might be quicker to record just one instance of each to start with. If you then finish the score work on each section, you can assemble the entire project by working with parts in the Project window. This might save you some time since the detailed adjustments to each section have to be per formed only once.

• A similar approach can also be used when you create sections where several instruments play the same rhythm (a horn section, for example): Record the first instrument and make adjustments so that it looks like it should in the Score Editor. Then copy the part to the other tracks, and change the pitches of the notes using MIDI input. Finally, go through the copied parts and make fine adjustments, change display transpose settings, etc. This can be a very fast way to create polyphonic parts with complicated rhythms.

“Entering and editing notes” on page 94).

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• There also may be situations when the quickest way to

record a part for several instruments is simply to record it in one go, by playing the chords on your MIDI instrument. If you later want to split the recording into separate tracks or polyphonic voices, you can use the Explode function,

“The Explode function” on page 92.

see

Staff settings

The first thing to do after opening the Score Editor is to make initial staff settings. This is done in the Score Settings dialog, on the Staff page. There are three ways to open the Score Settings dialog:

• Make the staff active, pull down the Scores menu and

select “Settings…”.

• Double-click on the blue rectangle to the left of the staff.

If this does not work, the “Double-click on staff flips between full score/ part” option may be activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), see

• Make the staff active and click the “i” button on the ex-

tended toolbar.

For this to work, make sure no notes or symbols are selected – otherwise, clicking the “i” button may open a dialog with settings for the selected object instead.

Click the Staff button to open the Staff page of the Score Settings dialog. The Staff page shows the current settings for the staff on four tabs. For detailed information on the Staff Settings page, see the chapter

page 108.

“Displaying single voices or the complete score” on page 76.

“Staff settings” on

Situations which require additional techniques

The notes may not always appear in the score as you expect them to, initially. This is because there are a number of situations which require special techniques and set tings. Below you can find a list of some of these and where to find more information about handling them:

• Notes at the same position are considered to be part of a chord. To get independent voicing (e.g. notes with different stem directions), such as for vocal material, you need to use the polyphonic voicing feature, see the chapter

“Polyphonic

voicing” on page 115.

Without and with polyphonic voicing

• If two notes beginning at the same position have different lengths, the longer one is displayed as a number of tied notes. To avoid this, you can either use the No Over lap feature (see “No Overlap” on page 112) or polyphonic voicing (see “Polyphonic voicing” on page 115).

• One note is often displayed as two notes with a tie. Please note that this is merely the way the program displays this note; only a single note is “stored”.

This single note in the Key Editor is displayed as two tied notes in the Score Editor.

• Normally the program adds ties where necessary (if a note stretches over a beat), but not always. For a “modern” notation of syncopated notes (less ties) use the Syncopation feature, see “Syncopation” on page 111.

The same note, without and with syncopation

• If you find that you want a long note to be displayed as two or more tied notes, you can achieve this with the Cut Notes tool, see

Transcribing MIDI recordings

“The Cut Notes tool” on page 134.

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• If two notes on the same position are too close to each

Select the Display Quantize tool…

…to open the Display

Quantize dialog.

other or if you want their order in the part reversed, you can do this without affecting playback, see

“Graphic mov-

ing of notes” on page 135.

• If a note has the wrong accidental, this can be changed,

see “Accidentals and enharmonic shift” on page 126.

• Stem direction and length are automatic, but you can

change them manually if you wish, see “Background: Note

stems” on page 125.

• If you need a split staff (e. g. when you are scoring for

piano), there are special techniques for this – see “Split

(piano) staves” on page 104 and “Polyphonic voicing” on page 115.

Inserting Display Quantize changes

Some situations may require different staff settings on different sections of the track. The staff settings are valid for the entire track, but you can insert changes wherever you like:

1. Select the Display Quantize tool on the toolbar or con-

text menu.

The Display Quantize dialog opens.

2. Activate the flags you need and set the quantize values

as desired.

For details, see “Display Quantize and Interpretation Options” on page

110. Additional hints below.

3. If you want to restore the settings to the ones used in

the Score Settings dialog (Staff page), click the “Restore To Staff” button.

4. Move the mouse over the staff where you want to insert a new Display Quantize value.

Use the Mouse Time Position display in the status line to find the exact location (see relevance as long as you click somewhere in the staff.

“The status line” on page 79). The vertical position is of no

5. Click the mouse button to insert a Display Quantize event.

The new quantize settings are now inserted into the staff at the position where you clicked. The settings are valid until a new change is inserted.

• If you are using polyphonic voices (see “Polyphonic

voicing” on page 115), you can insert a Display Quantize

event for all voices by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and clicking with the tool.

If the “Display Quantize Tool affects all Voices” option is activated in the Score Settings dialog on the Project page (Notation Style subpage, in the Miscellaneous category), Display Quantize events is always inserted for all voices.

Viewing and editing Display Quantize changes

If you activate the “Quantize” checkbox on the filter bar (see “Showing and hiding “invisible” elements” on page

79), a marker is shown under the staff for each Display

Quantize setting you have entered with the tool.

This allows you to edit your settings in the following ways:

• To edit a Display Quantize change event, double-click on its marker.

This opens the Display Quantize dialog again – adjust the settings and click Apply.

• If the Display Quantize dialog is already open, you can select any Display Quantize change event, adjust its set tings in the dialog and click Apply.

• To remove a Display Quantize change, either click its marker to select it and press [Backspace] or [Delete], or click on it with the Erase tool.

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Strategies: Adding Display Quantize

changes

Very often, the score is fine except for a few bars somewhere. To remedy the problem, insert two Display Quantize changes with the tool (one at the beginning of the section, one after it to restore to the current staff settings).

If you have mixed triplets and straight notes, it can be tempting to insert many Display Quantize changes. Before you do so, try the Auto Quantize options and their additional settings. See “If your music contains mixed straight

notes and triplets” on page 111 for details.

The Explode function

This function allows you to “split” the notes on a staff into separate tracks. It is also possible to use this function to convert a polyphonic staff into polyphonic voices – this is described in the section

function” on page 120.

Create a copy of the original track first, because it will be changed by the operation.

1. Pull down the Scores menu, open the Functions sub-

menu and select “Explode”.

The Explode dialog opens.

2. Make sure that “To New tracks” is selected at the top

of the dialog.

3. Enter the desired number of new tracks.

Note that this is the number of new tracks to be created! For example, if you have a three-part polyphonic section and want to split this into three separate tracks, you must specify 2 new tracks, since the original track holds one of the parts.

“Automatically – the Explode

4. Use the options in the bottom section to set up the criteria for the split.

Choose from the following options:

Option Description

Split Note Use this to move all notes below a certain pitch to another

Lines To tracks Use this when you want all musical “lines” to be put on

Bass To Lowest Voice

track. When this is selected, it is pointless to specify more than 1 new track.

one track each. The notes with the highest pitch remains on the original track, the notes with the second highest pitch are put on the first new track, and so on.

When this is activated, the lowest notes always end up on the lowest track.

5. Click OK.

A number of new tracks are now added to the score and the Project window.

Using “Scores Notes To MIDI”

For very complicated scores, there may be situations where you have tweaked the parameters for Display Quantize and Interpretation as best you can, and you still cannot get the score exactly as you want it. Perhaps one setting works fine in one section of the track and another is needed for another section.

In such a case, “Scores Notes To MIDI” helps you out. It changes the lengths and position of some or all the MIDI notes in the edited parts so that they have exactly the val ues currently shown on screen.

1. For safety, go back to the Project window and make a copy of the track.

2. Open the part(s) again in the Score Editor.

If you only want some sections of your score to be “converted”, make sure to only open those parts.

3. Make sure that the notes you want to affect are not hidden (see

4. Select “Scores Notes To MIDI” from the Functions submenu on the Scores menu.

The notes are now “converted”.

5. Make whatever adjustments are needed to make the score read as intended.

“Hiding/showing objects” on page 185).

Transcribing MIDI recordings

Page 93

Now that the notes have the exact lengths and positions that were previously only displayed, you can probably deactivate many of the options on the Staff page of the Score Settings dialog and delete Display Quantize settings, etc.

If you find the operation did not give you the result you were after, you can undo your settings or go back to the original track, make a copy of that, and start over.

Transcribing MIDI recordings

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Entering and editing notes

Page 95

About this chapter

In this chapter you learn:

• How to make various settings for how notes are displayed.

• How to enter notes.

• How to use tools and settings to make the score as legible as possible.

• How to set up a split (piano) staff.

• How to work with multiple staves.

Score settings

Staff presets

When you want to reuse settings made for one track in other tracks, you can save some time by creating a staff preset (see “Working with staff presets” on page 109).

Ö There are a number of staff presets available, set up to suit various instruments, etc. These are accessed via the Presets pop-up menu on the Staff page of the Score Set tings dialog, or from the Staff context menu, opened by right-clicking on the blue rectangle to the left of the staff. Use them as they are, or as starting points for your own settings.

Before you start entering notes, you need to make some initial staff settings in addition to those described in the chapter

“The basics” on page 75. To understand why and

how these settings and the note data in the score interact, please read the chapter

“How the Score Editor works” on

page 70.

There are three ways to open the Score Settings dialog:

• Make the staff active, pull down the Scores menu and select “Settings…”.

• Double-click on the blue rectangle to the left of the staff.

If this does not work, the “Double-click on staff flips between full score/ part” option may be activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), see

“Displaying single voices or the complete score” on page 76.

• Make the staff active and click the “i” button on the extended toolbar.

For this to work, make sure no notes or symbols are selected – otherwise, clicking the “i” button may open a dialog with settings for the selected ob ject instead.

The Score Settings dialog shows the current settings for the active staff. For detailed information on the Staff Set

tings dialog, see the chapter “Staff settings” on page 108.

Applying settings and selecting other staves

To make settings for another staff, simply make it active in the score (by clicking anywhere in the staff or by using the up/down arrow keys on the computer keyboard).

Ö Always click Apply before making another staff active – otherwise your settings are lost!

Suggested initial settings

When you start out entering notes, your staff settings should make your score display the notes as entered. We suggest the following:

Option Description

Display Quantize: Notes 64

Display Quantize: Rests 64

Auto Quantize Activated

Syncopation Off

Consolidate Rests Off

Clean Lengths Off

No Overlap Off

Shuffle Off

Key As required

Clef As required

Auto Clef Activate this if you want the program to se-

Display Transpose value 0

Options tab settings As is

Polyphonic tab settings Staff Mode: Single (for split staves, see

Tablature tab settings Tablature Mode deactivated

Ö It is very important that you understand how the Display Quantize values for notes and rests interact with the score. If you select too large a notes/rests value, the notes you “click in” may not appear as intended. Please read

“How the Score Editor works” on page 70. If you have

mixed triplets and straight notes, see “Display Quantize

and Interpretation Options” on page 110.

lect a treble or bass clef automatically.

“Split (piano) staves” on page 104)

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Note values and positions

With the Quantize value set to 1/8, you can only input notes at eighth note positions.

Two of the most important settings for entering notes are the length of the note (the note value) and the minimum spacing between notes (the Quantize value).

Selecting a note value for input

You can choose the length for entering notes as follows:

• By clicking the note symbols on the extended toolbar.

You can select any note value from 1/1 to 1/64 and activate/deactivate the dotted and triplet options by clicking the two buttons to the right.

The selected note value is displayed in the Length Quantize field on the toolbar and also reflected by the cursor shape of the Insert Note tool.

• By selecting an option from the Length Quantize popup menu on the toolbar.

• By assigning key commands to the different length values.

This is done in the Key Commands dialog (in the category “Set Insert Length”).

About unusual note values

Not all note values can be selected directly, for example double dotted notes. Such notes are created by changing the length of the note after you have entered it (see

“Changing the length of notes” on page 103), by gluing

notes together (see “Lengthening a note by gluing two

notes together” on page 104) or by using the Display

Length feature.

Selecting a Quantize value

When you move the mouse pointer over the score the Mouse Time Position display in the status line tracks your movement and shows the current position in bars, beats, sixteenth notes, and ticks.

Positioning on screen is controlled by the current Quantize value. If you set this to 1/8, for example, you can only insert and move notes to eighth note positions, at quarter notes, at half bars or at bar positions. It is a good strategy to set the Quantize value to the smallest note value in the project. This does not stop you from inputting notes at “coarser” positions. However, if you set the Quantize value to too small a note value, it is easier to make mistakes.

The Quantize value is set on the toolbar in the Quantize Type pop-up menu:

• You can also assign key commands to the different Quantize values.

This is done in the Key Commands dialog (in the category “MIDI Quantize”).

• Just like in the other MIDI editors, you can use the Quantize Setup dialog to create other Quantize values, irregular grids, etc.

However, this is not often used when inputting score notes.

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The mouse position info

1.1.7.01.1.1.0

1.2.3.0

1.4.1.08/8

2/2 4/4 1.1.1.0

1.1.1.0

1.1.3.0

1.2.1.0

1.1.5.0

1.2.1.0

1.3.1.0

8/8

2/2

4/4

1.8.1.0

1.3.1.0

1.2.1.0

1.5.1.0

1.2.3.0

1.3.3.0

1.6.1.0

1.2.5.0

1.4.1.0

1.7.1.0

1.2.7.0

1.4.3.0

4/4

2/2

8/8

1.1.1.0

1.1.2.40

1.1.3.80

1.2.1.80

1.1.3.80

4/4

2/2

8/8

1.1.5.0

1.2.1.0

1.4.1.801.3.1.0

1.1.6.40

1.2.2.40

1.3.2.40

1.1.7.80

1.2.3.80

2/2 4/4 8/8

1.1.1.0

1.1.2.0

1.1.3.0

1.2.1.0 1.2.2.0

1.1.4.0

2/2

4/4

1.4.1.0

1.1.5.0

1.2.1.0

1.3.1.0

1.1.6.0

1.2.2.0

1.3.2.0

1.1.7.0

1.2.3.0

1.1.8.0

1.4.2.0

1.2.4.0

8/8

While you often use the graphical position in the actual score to determine where the notes go, there are instances when you want to verify the position numerically using the mouse position info displayed in the status line.

The Mouse Note Position display shows the pitch according to the vertical position of the pointer in a staff. The Mouse Time Position display shows the “musical position” in bars, beats, sixteenth notes, and ticks:

• The relation between beats and bars depends on the time signature: In 4/4 there are 4 beats to a bar. In 8/8 there are eight, in 6/8 there are six, etc.

• The third number is the sixteenth note within the beat. Again, the time signature determines the number of sixteenth notes to each beat. In a quarter note based time signature (4/4, 2/4, etc.) there are four sixteenth notes to each beat, in an eighth note based time signature (3/8, 4/8, etc.), there are two sixteenth notes, etc.

• The last value is in ticks, with 480 ticks per quarter note (and thus 120 ticks per sixteenth note).

The figures below show some note positions and their corresponding position values:

Eighth note triplet positions

Sixteenth note positions

Adding and editing notes

Eighth note positions

Entering notes using the computer keyboard

A quick and easy way to enter notes, without having to decide on the pitch, position and note value first is using the computer keyboard. To enter a note, proceed as follows:

1. On the toolbar, activate the “Computer Keyboard Input” button.

Now you can enter notes using the computer keyboard.

2. Hold down [Alt]/[Option].

A note with the note value specified in the extended toolbar appears. By default, the insert position is the first position of the bar and the pitch is C3. You can however change this using the computer keyboard.

• You can change the pitch of the note by using the up and down arrow keys.

To transpose the note in octave steps, use the Page Up/Page Down keys.

Entering and editing notes

Page 98

• To change the insert position of the note, use the right

Accidentals are shown beside the note to indicate the current pitch.

and left arrow keys.

Note that for position changes, the Quantize value is taken into account.

• To change the length of the note, hold down [Shift] and use the right and left arrow keys.

This changes the note value step by step, passing from one Quantize value to the next.

3. To insert the note, press [Return].

The note with the specified pitch and note value is inserted at the selected position and the insert position for the next note changes according to the Quantize value. If you press [Shift]-[Return], the insert position does not change, allowing you to enter chords.

Entering notes with the mouse

To add a note to the score, proceed as follows:

1. Make the staff active.

Notes are always inserted on the active staff, see “The active staff” on

page 78.

2. Select the desired note value.

See “Selecting a note value for input” on page 96.

3. If you select the note value by clicking on a symbol on the extended toolbar, the Insert Note tool is automatically selected – otherwise select the Insert Note tool on the toolbar or context menu.

4. Select a Quantize value.

The Quantize value determines the spacing between notes. If you set Quantize to 1/1 you only can add notes at downbeats. If you set Quan tize to 1/8, you can add notes at eighth note positions, etc.

5. Click in the staff and keep the mouse button pressed.

The Insert Note tool changes into a note symbol (showing the note exactly as it would be inserted in the score).

6. Move the mouse horizontally to find the correct position.

7. Move the mouse vertically to find the correct pitch.

Ö If the “Show Note Info by the Mouse” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), the position and pitch of the note is also shown in a “tooltip” next to the pointer while you’re dragging. If you find that screen re draws are too sluggish, you may want to deactivate this option.

8. Release the mouse button.

The note appears in the score.

If you activate the “Animate Note Cursor” option in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), you do not need to keep the mouse button pressed to see the note as it would be inserted in the score.

Adding more notes

1. If you want the next note to have a different length value, select the corresponding note symbol.

2. If you need finer positioning, or if the current value is too fine, change the Quantize value.

3. Move the mouse to the desired position, and click.

Notes input at the same position are automatically interpreted as chords, see below.

About the interpretation

The notes may not always appear in the score as you initially expect them to. This is because there are a number of situations that require special techniques and settings. Below you can find a list of some of these and where to find more information about handling them:

• Notes at the same position are considered parts of a chord. To get independent voicing (for example notes with different stem directions), such as for vocal material, you need to use polyphonic voicing – see

Without and with polyphonic voicing

• If two notes beginning at the same position have different lengths, the longer is displayed as a number of tied notes. To avoid this, you can either use the “No Overlap” feature (see

“No Overlap” on page 112) or polyphonic voicing (see “Polyphonic voicing” on page 115).

• One note is often displayed as two notes with a tie. This is only how the program displays the note, there is still only a single note “stored”.

“Polyphonic voicing” on page 115.

Entering and editing notes

Page 99

This single note in the Key Editor is displayed as two tied notes in the

Selected notes

Score Editor.

• Generally the program adds ties where necessary (if a note stretches over a beat), but not always. For more “modern” notation of syncopated notes (less ties), you need to use the syncopation feature, see

The same note, without and with Syncopation

“Syncopation” on page 111.

• If you want a long note to be displayed as two (or more) tied notes, you can use the Cut Notes tool for this.

• If a note has the wrong accidental, this can be changed. See

“Accidentals and enharmonic shift” on page 126 for details.

• If two notes on the same position are too close to each other or if you want their “graphical order” in the score reversed, you can do this without affecting playback, see

“Graphic moving

of notes” on page 135.

• Stem direction and length is normally automatic, but you can set it yourself, see

“Background: Note stems” on page 125.

• If you are scoring for piano and therefore (or for other reasons) need a split staff, there are special techniques for this, see

“Split (piano) staves” on page 104 and “Polyphonic voicing”

on page 115.

Selecting notes

In the operations described in the rest of this chapter, you often work on selected notes. The text below describes how to select notes:

By clicking

To select a note, click on the note head with the Object Selection tool. The note head turns red to indicate that it is selected.

• To select more notes, hold down [Shift] and click on

them.

• To deselect notes, hold down [Shift] and click on them again.

• If you hold down [Shift] and double-click on a note, this note and all the following notes in the same staff are selected.

Using a selection rectangle

1. Click in an empty area in the score with the Object Selection tool and keep the mouse button pressed.

2. Drag the mouse pointer to create a selection rectangle.

You can drag to select notes on several voices or staves if you wish.

3. Release the mouse button.

All notes with note heads inside the rectangle are selected.

If you want to deselect one or more of the notes, hold down [Shift] and click on them.

Using the keyboard

By default, you can step through (and select) the notes in the staff using the left and right arrow keys. If you press [Shift], you can select a series of notes as you step through them.

• If you are working with polyphonic voices, you step through the notes on the current track, i.e. in a split sys tem, you step through the staves.

• If you want to use other keys for selecting notes, you can customize the settings in the Key Commands dialog (in the Navigate category).

Entering and editing notes

Page 100

Selecting tied notes

The “L” (Lock) button is

deactivated.

Longer notes are often displayed in the score as one note with a tie. If you intend to select the entire note (e. g. for deleting), you should select the first note, not the tied note.

• If you move notes vertically and the “Keep moved notes within key” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), the notes are transposed within the current key only.

There is a setting for this in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page): If you activate “Tied notes selected as Single Units”, the whole note is selected, even if you click on one of the tied notes.

Deselecting everything

To deselect everything, simply click in an empty area of the score with the Object Selection tool.

Moving notes

In the following, you can find descriptions of the various methods to move notes, as well as related features.

Moving by dragging

Proceed as follows:

1. Set the Quantize value.

The Quantize value restricts your movement in time. You cannot place notes on positions smaller than the Quantize value (see

Quantize value” on page 96).

2. Select the note(s) you want to move.

You can select notes across several staves if you wish.

3. Click one of the selected notes and drag it to a new

position.

The horizontal movement of the note is “magnetically attracted” to the current Quantize value. The Mouse Time Position and Mouse Note Position displays in the status line show the new position and pitch for the dragged note.

4. Release the mouse button.

The notes appear at their new position.

• If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag, movement is

restricted to vertical or horizontal (depending on the direction in which you drag).

“Selecting a

Moving by using key commands

Instead of dragging the note with the mouse, you can assign key commands for this:

• The corresponding commands can be found in the Nudge category in the Key Commands dialog. They are listed as “Left”, “Right”, “Top”, and “Bottom”.

• When moving notes to the left or right using key commands, the notes are moved in steps according to the Quantize value.

The keys assigned for up/down nudging transpose notes in semitone steps.

Moving across staves – the Lock button

If you are editing several tracks, you may want to move notes from one staff to another. Proceed as follows:

1. Make the desired Quantize settings and select the notes.

Make sure to only select notes on the same staff.

2. Make sure that the “L” (Lock) button on the extended toolbar is deactivated.

When this button is activated, you cannot move notes and other objects from one staff to another, which is handy if you need to transpose a note very high or low, for example.

3. Click on one of the notes and drag them to the new system.

The active staff rectangle indicates on which staff the dragged note(s) appears.

Entering and editing notes

100

Steinberg Nuendo - 5.0 User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Table of Contents

About this manual

Welcome!

System requirements and installation

About this chapter

Installing the Nuendo Expansion Kit

Minimum requirements

Register your software

The included VST instruments

Introduction

Prologue

Spector

Mystic

HALionOne

Groove Agent ONE

LoopMash

Diagrams

Editing drums

Drum Editor operations

Working with drum maps

Using drum name lists

VST Expression

Introduction

VST Expression in Nuendo

Creating and editing expression maps

How the Score Editor works

About this chapter

MIDI notes vs. score notes

Welcome!

How the Score Editor operates

Display Quantize

Entering notes by hand vs. recording notes

The basics

About this chapter

Preparations

Opening the Score Editor

The project cursor

Playing back and recording

Page Mode

Changing the zoom factor

The active staff

Making page setup settings

Designing your work space

About the Score Editor context menus

About dialogs in the Score Editor

Setting clef, key, and time signature

Transposing instruments

Printing from the Score Editor

Exporting pages as image files

Working order

Force update

Transcribing MIDI recordings

About this chapter

About transcription

Getting the parts ready

Strategies: Preparing parts for score printout

Staff settings

Situations which require additional techniques

Inserting Display Quantize changes

The Explode function

Using “Scores Notes To MIDI”

Entering and editing notes

About this chapter

Score settings

Note values and positions

Adding and editing notes

Selecting notes

Moving notes