Steinberg Nuendo - 5.0 Operation Manual

Operation Manual

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

Thanks to: Ashley Shepherd

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 publica tion 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

9 About this manual

10 Welcome!

11 System requirements and installation

12 About this chapter 12 Minimum requirements 14 Hardware installation 15 Installing Nuendo 15 Defragmenting the hard disk (Windows only) 15 Register your software

16 Setting up your system

17 Setting up audio 22 Setting up MIDI 23 Connecting a synchronizer 23 Setting up video 23 Optimizing audio performance

27 VST Connections

28 About this chapter 28 The VST Connections window 28 Setting up busses 32 Setting up group and FX channels 32 About monitoring 32 External instruments/effects 36 Editing operations

38 The Project window

39 Window Overview 41 The track list 41 The Inspector 44 The toolbar 45 The status line 45 The info line 46 The overview line 47 The ruler 48 The Snap function 50 Auto-Scroll

51 Working with projects

52 Creating new projects 52 Opening projects 52 Closing projects 53 Saving projects 54 The Archive and Backup functions 56 Startup Options 57 The Project Setup dialog 58 Zoom and view options 61 Handling tracks 66 Audio handling 67 Auditioning audio parts and events 67 Scrubbing audio 67 Editing parts and events 76 Editing in Lane Display mode 77 Range editing 79 Region operations 79 The Edit History dialog 81 The Preferences dialog

83 Playback and the Transport panel

84 Background 85 Operations 87 Options and Settings 89 The Virtual Keyboard (Nuendo Expansion Kit only)

90 Recording

91 Background 91 Basic recording methods 93 Audio recording specifics 103 MIDI recording specifics 108 Options and Settings 111 Recovery of audio recordings after system failure

112 Fades, crossfades and envelopes

113 Creating fades 115 The Fade dialogs 116 Creating crossfades 117 The Crossfade dialog 120 Auto fades and crossfades 121 Event envelopes

Table of Contents

122 The arranger track

123 Introduction 123 Setting up the arranger track 124 Working with arranger events 126 Flattening the arranger chain 127 Live mode 127 Arranging your music to video

129 The transpose functions

130 Introduction 130 Transposing your music 133 Other functions

136 Using markers

137 Introduction 138 The Marker window 142 Marker tracks 145 Marker key commands 145 Exporting and importing markers

151 The Mixer

152 Overview 154 Configuring the Mixer 157 Basic mixing procedures 160 Audio-specific procedures 168 Routing 171 Direct Routing 174 MIDI-specific procedures 175 Utilities 176 VST Mixer Diagrams

179 Control Room

180 Virtual Control Room – The concept 180 Configuring the Control Room 184 The Control Room Mixer 190 Studios and Studio Sends 193 The Control Room Overview 194 Direct Monitoring and latency

195 Audio effects

196 About this chapter 196 Overview 197 Insert effects 203 Send effects 207 Using the side-chain input 208 Using external effects 208 Editing effects 209 Effect presets 212 Installing and managing effect plug-ins

215 VST instruments and instrument

tracks

216 Introduction 216 VST instrument channels vs. instrument tracks 216 VST instrument channels 218 Instrument tracks 220 What do I need? Instrument channel or

instrument track?

220 Instrument Freeze 221 VST instruments and processor load 221 Using presets for VSTi configuration 225 About latency 225 External instruments

226 Surround sound

227 Introduction 229 Preparations 230 Using the SurroundPanner V5 237 Using the MixConvert plug-in 238 Exporting a surround mix

239 Automation

240 Introduction 240 Working with automation curves 240 Enabling and disabling the writing of automation

data

241 Writing automation data 242 Editing automation events 243 Automation track operations 245 Virgin territory vs. the initial value 248 The Automation panel 260 Automation Preferences 261 Hints and further options 261 MIDI controller automation

263 Audio processing and functions

264 Background 264 Audio processing 273 Applying plug-ins 275 The Offline Process History dialog 276 Batch Processing 277 Freeze Edits 278 Detect Silence 279 The Spectrum Analyzer 281 Statistics

Table of Contents

282 The Sample Editor

283 Window overview 287 Operations 292 Options and settings 293 AudioWarp: Tempo matching audio 297 Free Warp 299 Working with hitpoints and slices 302 VariAudio 312 Flattening realtime processing

314 The Audio Part Editor

315 Background 315 Opening the Audio Part Editor 315 Window overview 316 Operations 318 Common methods 319 Options and Settings

320 The Pool

321 Background 322 Window overview 324 Operations

362 Track Quick Controls

363 Introduction 363 Setting up the Quick Controls tab 364 Setting up quick controls on an external remote

controller

364 Quick controls and automatable parameters

366 Remote controlling Nuendo

367 Introduction 367 Setting Up 368 Operations 369 The Generic Remote device 371 Track Quick Controls 371 Deactivating joysticks 371 Apple Remote (Macintosh only)

372 MIDI realtime parameters and effects

373 Introduction 373 The Inspector – general handling 373 The Inspector sections 377 MIDI effects 379 Managing plug-ins

334 The MediaBay

335 Introduction 336 Working with the MediaBay 337 The Define Locations section 338 The Locations section 339 The Results list 342 Previewing files 345 The Filters section 347 The Attribute Inspector 351 MediaBay aspects 352 Preferences 353 Key commands 353 Working with MediaBay-related windows 354 Working with Volume databases

356 Working with track presets

357 Introduction 357 Types of track presets 358 Applying track presets 360 Creating a track preset 361 Creating tracks from track presets or VST presets

380 Using MIDI devices

381 Background 381 MIDI devices – general settings and patch

handling

386 About Device panels 389 About Studio Connections

391 MIDI processing and quantizing

392 Introduction 392 The quantizing functions 397 Making your settings permanent 398 Dissolve Part 399 Bounce MIDI 399 Repeat Loop 400 Other MIDI functions

Table of Contents

403 The MIDI editors

404 Introduction 404 Opening a MIDI editor 406 The Key Editor – Overview 408 Key Editor operations 422 The In-Place Editor 424 The List Editor – Overview 425 List Editor operations 427 Working with SysEx messages 429 Recording SysEx parameter changes 429 Editing SysEx messages

431 The Logical Editor, Transformer, and

Input Transformer

432 Introduction 432 Opening the Logical Editor 433 Window overview 433 Setting up filter conditions 437 Selecting a function 438 Specifying actions 440 Applying the defined actions 440 Working with presets 440 The Input Transformer

442 The Project Logical Editor

443 Introduction 443 Opening the Project Logical Editor 443 Window overview 444 Setting up filter conditions 448 Specifying actions 450 Selecting a function 450 Applying Macros 450 Applying the defined actions 450 Working with presets

452 Editing tempo and signature

453 Background 453 Tempo and signature display 455 Editing tempo and signature 457 Process Tempo 457 The Process Bars dialog 458 The Beat Calculator 459 Merge Tempo From Tapping 459 The Time Warp tool

464 The Project Browser

465 Window Overview 466 Editing tracks

470 The Track Sheet

471 Overview 472 Printing the track sheet

473 Export Audio Mixdown

474 Introduction 474 Mixing down to audio files 475 The Export Audio Mixdown dialog 478 The available file formats

482 Networking

483 Introduction 483 What can I use the Networking functions for? 483 Networking protocol and ports 484 The network dialogs 484 Selecting a user name 485 Setting up a network 487 Sharing projects 492 Joining projects 493 Working with shared projects 495 Further options

496 Synchronization

497 Background 497 Timecode (positional references) 499 Clock sources (speed references) 500 Frame edge alignment (phase) 500 The Project Synchronization Setup dialog 508 Synchronized operation 509 Example scenarios 512 Working with VST System Link 514 Activating VST System Link

520 Video

521 Introduction 521 Before you start 523 Preparing a video project in Nuendo 524 Video files in the Project window 525 Playing back video 527 Editing video 528 Extracting audio from a video file 528 Replacing the audio in a video file 529 About film transfers 531 Compensating for speed changes in Nuendo 534 Tips

Table of Contents

535 Audio editing to picture

536 Introduction 536 Video timeline and the grid 537 Conforming production audio 539 Adding sound design elements 541 Conforming to picture changes 542 Synchronize tempo maps to picture 543 Using standard Nuendo tools for postproduction

purposes

548 ReWire

549 Introduction 549 Launching and quitting 550 Activating ReWire channels 550 Using the transport and tempo controls 551 How the ReWire channels are handled in Nuendo 551 Routing MIDI via ReWire2 551 Considerations and limitations

552 File handling

553 Importing audio 556 Exporting and importing OMF files 557 Exporting and importing AAF files 558 Exporting and importing AES31 files 559 Exporting and importing OpenTL files 560 Importing XSend projects from Liquid 560 Exporting and importing standard MIDI files 562 Exporting and importing MIDI loops 562 Exporting and importing track archives 563 Converting audio tracks (multi-channel to mono

and vice versa)

566 Clip packages

580 Key commands

581 Introduction 581 Setting up key commands 586 Setting up tool modifier keys 587 The default key commands

591 Index

570 Customizing

571 Background 571 Workspaces 572 Using the Setup options 573 Customizing track controls 575 Configuring the main menu items 576 Appearance 577 Applying colors in the Project window 579 Where are the settings stored?

Table of Contents

About this manual

Welcome!

This is the Operation Manual for Steinberg’s Nuendo. Here you will find detailed information about all the features and functions in the program.

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

The screenshots are taken from the Windows version of Nuendo.

About the Nuendo Expansion Kit

The Nuendo Expansion Kit adds a number of music composition functions from Steinberg’s Cubase (the “Cubase Music Tools”) to the standard Nuendo application. The Nuendo Expansion Kit (NEK) is a separate product and can be purchased through your Steinberg dealer.

Whenever procedures in this manual use functions available only when the NEK is installed, this is indicated in the text by “Nuendo Expansion Kit only”.

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, for example, to open context menus. If you are using a Mac with a single-button mouse, hold down [Ctrl] and click.

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]”.

About this manual

System requirements and installation

About this chapter

General notes on how to set up your system

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

Minimum requirements

To use Nuendo, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements:

Windows

• Windows XP (Home 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

On the Steinberg web site, under “Support–DAW Components”, you can find detailed information on what to consider when setting up a computer system dedicated to audio work.

• RAM – There is a direct relation between the amount of available RAM and the number of audio channels that you can have running.

The amount of RAM specified above is the minimum requirement, but as a general rule “the more the better” applies (see also

24).

• Hard disk size – The size of the hard disk determines how many minutes of audio you will be able to record.

Recording one minute of stereo CD quality audio requires 10 MB of hard disk space. That is, eight stereo tracks in Nuendo use up at least 80 MB of disk space per recording minute.

• Hard disk speed – The speed of the hard drive also determines the number of audio tracks you can run.

That is the quantity of information that the disk can read, usually expressed as “sustained transfer rate”. Again, “the more the better” applies.

• Wheel mouse – Although a mouse without a wheel will work fine with Nuendo, we recommend that you use a wheel mouse.

This will speed up value editing and scrolling considerably.

“RAM” on page

MIDI requirements

If you intend to use the MIDI features of Nuendo, you need the following:

• A MIDI interface to connect external MIDI equipment to your computer.

•A MIDI instrument.

• Any audio equipment required to listen to the sound from your MIDI devices.

Audio hardware

Nuendo will run with audio hardware that meets the following specifications:

•Stereo.

•16 bit.

• Support of at least the 44.1kHz sampling rate.

• Windows XP – The audio hardware must be supplied with a special ASIO driver, or a DirectX compatible driver, see below.

System requirements and installation

• Windows Vista/Windows 7 – If there is no dedicated ASIO

driver available, you can also use the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver.

• Mac – The audio hardware must be supplied with Mac OS Xcompatible drivers (CoreAudio or ASIO).

Using the built-in audio hardware of the Macintosh (Mac only)

Although Nuendo is designed with multi-channel input and output in mind, it is of course possible to use the program with “basic” stereo inputs and outputs. As of this writing, all current Macintosh models provide at least builtin 16 bit stereo audio hardware. For detailed information, refer to the documentation describing your computer.

Depending on your preferences and requirements, using the built-in audio hardware may be sufficient for use with Nuendo. It is always available for selection in Nuendo – you do not have to install any additional drivers.

About drivers

A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this case, the driver allows Nuendo to use the audio hardware. For audio hardware, there are two different cases, requir ing different driver configurations:

If the audio hardware has a specific ASIO driver

Professional audio cards often come with an ASIO driver written especially for the card. This allows for direct com munication between Nuendo and the audio card. As a result, audio cards with specific ASIO drivers can provide lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when monitoring audio via Nuendo or using VST instruments. The ASIO driver may also provide special support for mul tiple inputs and outputs, routing, synchronization, etc.

Audio card-specific ASIO drivers are provided by the card manufacturers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver versions.

If the audio card communicates via the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver (Windows Vista/Windows 7)

If you are working with Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can use the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver. This is a generic ASIO driver that provides ASIO support for all au dio cards supported by Windows Vista and Windows 7, thus allowing for low latency. The Generic Low Latency ASIO driver provides the Windows Core Audio technol ogy in Nuendo. No additional driver is needed.

Ö Though the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver provides low latency for all audio cards, you might get better results with on-board audio cards than with external USB audio devices.

If the audio card communicates via DirectX (Windows only)

DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various types of multimedia data under Windows. Nuendo sup ports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which is a part of DirectX used for playing back and recording audio. This requires two types of drivers:

• A DirectX driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate with DirectX. If the audio card supports DirectX, this driver

should be supplied by the audio card manufacturer. If it isn’t

installed with the audio card, please check the manufacturer’s web site for more information.

• The ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver, allowing Nuendo to communicate with DirectX. This driver is included with Nuendo,

and does not require any special installation.

If your audio hardware comes with a specific ASIO driver, we strongly recommend that you use this.

System requirements and installation

Hardware installation

Copy protection

Please read the following section before installing the Nuendo software.

Many Steinberg products use the USB-eLicenser (also referred to as a “dongle”), a hardware copy protection de vice. Nuendo will not run if there is no USB-eLicenser containing an activated license.

• Steinberg software products always come with a license

activation code, but not always with an USB-eLicenser.

If you want to activate a license for such a Steinberg software (e. g. an update/upgrade, or a VSTi) on the USB-eLicenser you received with your original version of Nuendo, click the “Enter Activation Code” button of the eLicenser Control Center and follow the instructions.

More information on the transfer or activation of licenses can be found in the help for the eLicenser Control Center.

Installing the audio hardware and its driver

1. Install the audio card and related equipment in the

computer, as described in the card’s documentation.

2. Install the driver for the card.

Depending on the operating system of your computer, there are different types of drivers that could apply: card-specific ASIO drivers, the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver (Windows Vista/Windows 7 only), DirectX drivers (Windows) or Mac OS X (Mac) drivers.

The USB-eLicenser is a USB device on which your Steinberg software licenses are stored. All hardware-protected Steinberg products use the same type of device, and you can store more than one license on one device. Also, li

censes can (within certain limits) be transferred between USB-Licensers – which is helpful, e. g. if you want to sell a piece of software.

The eLicenser Control Center (which can be found on the Start menu on Windows systems or the Applications folder on a Mac) is the place where you can check the li censes installed on your USB-eLicenser.

• If you are using other copy-protected Steinberg products, you may want to transfer all licenses for your applications to only one USB-eLicenser, thus using up only one USB port of your computer.

Please refer to the eLicenser Control Center Help for information on how to transfer licenses between USB-eLicensers.

• Nuendo is sold with an USB-eLicenser and an Activation Code, which is found on the Essential Product License In formation card within the product package. The USB-eLicenser already contains a time-limited license that allows you to use Nuendo out-of-the-box for a total of 25 non-con secutive hours. However, to be able to make unlimited use of your version of Nuendo, you must activate your perma

nent license manually, using the activation code.

To do so, click the “Enter Activation Code” button of the eLicenser Control Center and follow the instructions.

Specific ASIO drivers

If your audio card has a specific ASIO driver, it may be included with the audio card, but you should always make sure to check the audio card manufacturer’s web site for the most recent drivers. For details on how to install the driver, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver (Windows Vista/ Windows 7 only)

On Windows Vista and Windows 7 systems, you can also use the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver if there is no specific ASIO driver available. This driver is included with Nuendo and does not require any special installation.

DirectX drivers (Windows only)

If your audio card is DirectX compatible, its DirectX drivers will most likely be installed when you install the card. If you have downloaded special DirectX drivers for the audio card, you should follow the manufacturer’s installation in

structions.

Mac OS X drivers (Mac only)

If you are using a Macintosh computer, make sure that you

are using the latest Mac OS X drivers for your audio hardware. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to install the driver.

System requirements and installation

Testing the card

To make sure that the audio card works as expected, perform the following tests:

• Use any software included with the audio card to make sure that you can record and play back audio without problems.

• If the card is accessed via a standard operating system driver, try playing back audio using the computer’s standard audio application (e. g. Windows Media Player or Apple iTunes).

Installing a MIDI interface/synthesizer card

Installation instructions for a MIDI interface should be included with the product. However, here’s an outline of the necessary steps:

1. Install the interface (or MIDI synthesizer card) in your computer or connect it to a “port” (connector) on the computer.

Which is right for you depends on which type of interface you have.

2. If the interface has a power supply and/or a power switch, turn it on.

3. Install the driver for the interface, as described in the documentation that comes with the interface.

You should also make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver updates.

Installing Nuendo

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

Depending on your system, the Nuendo 5 Start Center program on the DVD may start automatically. If no interactive start screen appears, open the DVD and double-click the file “Nuendo 5 Start Center” to launch the interactive start screen. From there you can start the installation of Nuendo and browse through the additional options and information presented there.

In case you do not want to install Nuendo via the interactive start screen, follow the procedure below:

Macintosh

1. Double-click the file called “Nuendo 5.mpkg”.

2. Follow the instructions on screen.

Defragmenting the hard disk (Windows only)

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

It is crucial to the audio recording performance that your hard disk is optimized (defragmented). You should make sure to defragment regularly.

Register your software

We encourage you to register your software! By doing so you are entitled to technical support and kept aware of updates and other news regarding Nuendo.

To register your software, proceed as follows:

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

This option is an Internet link that will open the Registration page of the Steinberg web site. To register, simply follow the instructions on screen.

• When you launch Nuendo, you will also be prompted to launch the registration process.

Windows

1. Double-click the file called Setup.exe.

2. Follow the instructions on screen.

System requirements and installation

Setting up your system

Setting up audio

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!

Connecting audio

Exactly how to set up your system depends on many different factors, e. g. the kind of project you wish to create, the external equipment you want to use, or the computer hardware available to you. Therefore, the following sec tions can only serve as examples.

How you connect your equipment, i. e. whether you use digital or analog connections, also depends on your indi vidual setup.

Stereo input and output – the simplest connection

If you only use a stereo input and output from Nuendo, you can connect your audio hardware, e. g. the inputs of your audio card or your audio interface, directly to the input source and the outputs to a power amplifier and speaker.

Multi-channel input and output

Most likely however, you will have other audio equipment that you want to integrate with Nuendo, using several input and output channels. Depending on the equipment available to you, there are two ways to go: either mixing using an external mixing desk, or mixing using the Mixer in side Nuendo.

• External mixing means having a hardware mixing device with a group or bus system that can be used for feeding inputs on your audio hardware.

In the example below, four busses are used for feeding signals to the audio hardware’s inputs. The four outputs are connected back to the mixer for monitoring and playback. Remaining mixer inputs can be used for

connecting audio sources like microphones, instruments, etc.

A multi-channel audio setup using an external mixer

Ö When connecting an input source (like a mixer) to the audio hardware, you should use output busses, sends or similar that are separate from the mixer’s master output to avoid recording what you are playing back. You may also

A simple stereo audio setup

have mixing hardware that can be connected via FireWire.

This is probably the simplest of all setups – once you have set up the internal input and output busses, you can con

nect your audio source, e. g. a microphone, to your audio interface and start recording.

Setting up your system

• When using the Mixer inside Nuendo, you can use the

inputs on your audio hardware to connect microphones and/or external devices. Use the outputs to connect your monitoring equipment.

You can create very complex setups using external instruments and external effects, and integrate Nuendo seamlessly with all your external equipment using the Control Room feature (see the chapters

nections” on page 27 and “Control Room” on page 179).

Mixing inside Nuendo

“VST Con-

Connecting for surround sound

If you plan to mix for surround sound, you can connect the audio outputs to a multi-channel power amplifier, driving a set of surround channels.

Recording from a CD player

Most computers come with a CD-ROM drive that can also be used as a regular CD player. In some cases the CD player is internally connected to the audio hardware so that you can record the output of the CD player directly into Nuendo (consult the audio hardware documentation if you are uncertain).

• All routing and level adjustments for recording from a CD (if available) are done in the audio hardware setup application (see below).

• You can also grab audio tracks directly from a CD in Nuendo (see the chapter

“File handling” on page 552).

Word clock connections

If you are using a digital audio connection, you may also need a word clock connection between the audio hardware and external devices. Please refer to the documentation that came with the audio hardware for details.

It is very important that word clock synchronization is done correctly or there might be clicks and crackles in recordings that you make!

About recording levels and inputs

When you connect your equipment, you should make sure that the impedance and levels of the audio sources and in puts are matched. Typically, different inputs may be designed for use with microphones, consumer line level

dBV) or professional line level (+4 dBV), or you may

(-10 be able to adjust input characteristics on the audio interface or in its control panel. Please check the audio hardware documentation for details.

Using the correct types of input is important to avoid distortion or noisy recordings.

Nuendo does not provide any input level adjustments

A surround sound playback configuration

Nuendo supports a number of surround formats. The example connection above will work for mixing both LRCS (ProLogic for example) and 5.1, in which case the two surround speakers will be playing the same material (from the

for the signals coming in to your audio hardware, since these are handled differently for each card. Ad justing input levels is either done in a special application included with the hardware or from its control panel (see below).

single surround channel). The difference between the two formats is the LFE channel, which is not used with LRCS.

Setting up your system

Making settings for the audio hardware

Most audio cards come with one or more small applications that allow you to configure the inputs of the hardware to your liking. This includes:

• Selecting which inputs/outputs are active.

• Setting up word clock synchronization (if available).

• Turning monitoring via the hardware on/off (see “About moni-

toring” on page 21).

• Setting levels for each input. This is very important!

• Setting levels for the outputs, so that they match the equip-

ment you use for monitoring.

• Selecting digital input and output formats.

• Making settings for the audio buffers.

In many cases all available settings for the audio hardware are gathered in a control panel, which can be opened from within Nuendo as described below (or opened separately, when Nuendo isn’t running). In some cases, there may be several different applications and panels – please refer to the audio hardware documentation for details.

Plug and Play support for ASIO devices

The Steinberg MR816 hardware series supports Plug and Play in Nuendo. These devices can be plugged in and switched on while the application is running. Nuendo will automatically use the driver of the MR816 series and will re-map the VST connections accordingly.

Steinberg cannot guarantee that this will work with other hardware. If you are unsure of whether your device sup ports plug and play, please consult its documentation.

Selecting a driver and making audio settings in Nuendo

The first thing you need to do is select the correct driver in Nuendo to make sure that the program can communicate with the audio hardware:

1. Launch Nuendo and select Device Setup from the Devices menu.

2. In the Devices list to the left, click on “VST Audio System”.

The VST Audio System page is shown.

3. On the ASIO Driver menu, select your audio hardware driver.

There may be several options here that all refer to the same audio hardware. When you have selected a driver, it is added to the Devices list.

If a device that does not support Plug and Play is connected/disconnected while the computer is run ning, it may get damaged.

Under Windows, we strongly recommend that you access your hardware via an ASIO driver written specifically for the hardware. If no ASIO driver is installed, we recommend that you check with your audio hard

ware manufacturer if they have an ASIO driver available, for example, for download via the Internet.

On Windows Vista and Windows 7 systems, you can also use the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver if no specific ASIO driver is available.

4. Select the driver in the Devices list to open the driver settings for your audio hardware.

Setting up your system

5. Bring up the control panel for the audio hardware and

adjust the settings as recommended by the audio hardware manufacturer.

• Under Windows, you open the control panel by clicking the Control Panel button.

The control panel that opens when you click this button is provided by

the audio hardware manufacturer – not Nuendo (unless you use DirectX, see below). Hence it will be different for each audio card brand and model. The control panels for the ASIO DirectX driver and the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver (Windows Vista and Windows 7 only) are exceptions, in that they are provided by Steinberg and described in the dialog help, opened by clicking the Help button in the dialog. See also the notes on DirectX below.

• Under Mac OS X, the control panel for your audio hardware is opened by clicking the “Open Config App” button on the settings page for your audio device in the Device Setup dialog.

Note that this button is available only for some hardware products. If “Open Config App” is not available in your setup, refer to the documen tation that came with your audio hardware for information on where to make hardware settings.

6. If you plan to use several audio applications simultaneously, you may want to activate the “Release Driver when Application is in Background” option on the VST Audio System page. This will allow another application to play back via your audio hardware even though Nuendo is running.

The application that is currently active (i. e. the “top window” on the desktop) gets access to the audio hardware. Make sure that any other audio application accessing the audio hardware is also set to release the ASIO (or Mac OS X) driver so Nuendo can use it when it becomes the active application again.

7. On the page for the driver, activate the Externally Clocked option if your audio hardware receives clock sig nals from an external sample clock source.

You should “tell” Nuendo that it receives external clock signals and therefore derives its speed from that source. It is essential that you set Nuendo’s project sample rate to the sample rate of the incoming clock signals for proper audio playback and recording, see

dialog” on page 57.

“The Project Setup

8. If your audio hardware and its driver support ASIO Direct Monitoring, you may want to activate the Direct Monitoring checkbox on the page for the driver.

Read more about monitoring later in this chapter and in the chapter “Re-

cording” on page 90.

9. Click Apply and then OK to close the dialog.

If you are using audio hardware with a DirectX driver (Windows only)

If your audio hardware does not have a specific ASIO driver and your Windows version does not support the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver, a DirectX driver is the next best option.

Nuendo comes with a driver called ASIO DirectX Full Duplex, available for selection on the ASIO Driver pop-up menu (VST Audio System page).

Ö To take full advantage of DirectX Full Duplex, the audio hardware must support WDM (Windows Driver Model) in combination with DirectX version 8.1 or higher. In all other cases, the audio inputs will be emulated by DirectX (see the dialog help for the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Setup di alog for details about how this is reported).

Ö During the installation of Nuendo, the latest DirectX version will be installed on your computer.

When the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver is selected in the Device Setup dialog, you can open the ASIO Control Panel and adjust the following settings (for more details, click the Help button in the control panel):

• Direct Sound Output and Input Ports

In the list on the left in the window, all available Direct Sound output and input ports are listed. In many cases, there will be only one port in each list. To activate or deactivate a port in the list, click the checkbox in the left column. If the checkbox is ticked, the port is activated.

• You can edit the Buffer Size and Offset settings in this list if necessary, by double-clicking on the value and typ ing in a new value.

In most cases, the default settings will work fine. Audio buffers are used when audio data is transferred between Nuendo and the audio card. While larger buffers ensure that playback will occur without glitches, the

latency (the time between the moment Nuendo sends out the data and when it actually reaches the output) will be higher.

• Offset

If a constant offset is audible during playback of Audio and MIDI recordings, you can adjust the output or input latency time using this value.

Setting up your system

Setting up the input and output ports

Once you have selected the driver and made the settings as described above, you need to specify which inputs and outputs will be used and name these:

1. In the Device Setup dialog, select your driver in the Devices list on the left to display the driver settings for your audio hardware.

All input and output ports on the audio hardware are listed.

2. To hide a port, click in the “Visible” column for the port (deselecting the checkbox).

Ports that are not visible cannot be selected in the VST Connections window where you set up your input and output busses – see the chap ter “VST Connections” on page 27.

If you attempt to hide a port that is already used by a bus you will be asked whether this is really what you want – note that this will disable the port!

3. To rename a port, click on its name in the “Show as” column and type in a new name.

• It is a good idea to give your ports names that are related to the channel configuration (rather than to the actual hardware model)!

For example, if you are using a 5.1 surround audio setup, you could name the six ports Left, Right, Center, Lfe, Left Surround, and Right Surround. This makes it easier to transfer your projects between different comput ers, e.g. in different studios – if the same port names are used on both computers, Nuendo will automatically handle the bus connections prop erly when you open the project on the other computer.

4. Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog and apply your changes.

About monitoring

In Nuendo, monitoring means listening to the input signal while preparing to record or while recording. There are three ways to monitor:

External monitoring

External monitoring (listening to the input signal before it goes into Nuendo) requires an external mixer for mixing the audio playback with the input signal. This can be a classic mixing desk or a mixer application for your audio hardware, if this has a mode in which the input audio is sent back out again (usually called “Thru”, “Direct Thru” or similar).

Via Nuendo

In this case, the audio passes from the input into Nuendo, possibly through Nuendo effects and EQ and then back to the output. You control monitoring via settings in Nuendo.

This allows you to control the monitoring level from Nuendo and add effects to the monitored signal only.

ASIO Direct Monitoring

If your audio hardware is ASIO 2.0 compatible, it may support ASIO Direct Monitoring (this feature may also be available for audio hardware with Mac OS X drivers). In

this mode, the actual monitoring is done in the audio hard ware, by sending the input signal back out again. However, monitoring is controlled from Nuendo. This means that the audio hardware’s direct monitoring feature can be turned on or off automatically by Nuendo.

Monitoring is described in detail in the chapter “Record-

ing” on page 90. However, when setting up, there is one

thing to note:

• If you want to use the external monitoring via your audio hardware, make sure that the corresponding functions are activated in the card’s mixer application.

Ö If you are using RME Audio Hammerfall DSP audio

hardware, make sure that the pan law is set to -3 dB in the card’s preferences.

Setting up your system

Setting up MIDI

When “MIDI Thru” is active in Nuendo, MIDI data received is immediately “echoed” back out.

When you press a key, it is sent out via MIDI to Nuendo.

MIDI data coming in to the instrument is played by the “Synth” inside it.

When Local Control is turned on in the instrument, the keys you press will be played by the “Synth” inside the instrument. When Local Control is turned off, this connection is cut off.

“Synth”

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!

This section describes how to connect and set up MIDI equipment. If you have no MIDI equipment, you can skip this section. Note that this is only an example – you might need or want to hook things up differently!

Connecting the MIDI equipment

In this example we assume that you have a MIDI keyboard and an external MIDI sound module. The keyboard is used both for feeding the computer with MIDI messages for re cording and for playing back MIDI tracks. The sound module is used for playback only. Using Nuendo’s MIDI Thru feature (described later) you will be able to hear the correct sound from the sound module while playing the keyboard or recording.

Setting MIDI Thru and Local On/Off

On the MIDI page in the Preferences dialog (located on the File menu under Windows and on the Nuendo menu under Mac OS X), you will find a setting called “MIDI Thru Active”. This is related to a setting in your instrument called “Local On/Off” or “Local Control On/Off”.

• If you use a MIDI keyboard instrument, as described earlier in this chapter, MIDI Thru should be activated and that instrument should be set to Local Off (sometimes called Local Control Off – see the instrument’s operation manual for details). The MIDI signal from the keyboard will be recorded in Nuendo and at the same time be re-routed back to the instrument so that you hear what you are playing, without the keyboard “trig

gering” its own sounds.

A typical MIDI Setup

If you want to use even more instruments for playback, simply connect MIDI Thru on the sound module to MIDI In on the next instrument, and so on. In this hook-up, you will al ways play the first keyboard when recording. But you can still use all your devices for providing sounds on playback.

If you plan to use more than three sound sources, we recommend that you either use an interface with more than one output, or a separate MIDI Thru box instead of the Thru jacks on each unit.

• If you use a separate MIDI keyboard – one that does not produce any sounds itself – MIDI Thru in Nuendo should also be

activated, but you don’t need to look for any Local On/Off setting in your instruments.

• The only case where MIDI Thru should be deactivated is if you use Nuendo with only one keyboard instrument and that instrument cannot be set to Local Off mode.

• MIDI Thru will be active only for MIDI tracks that are record enabled and/or have the Monitor button activated. See the chapter “Recording” on page 90 for more information.

Setting up your system

Setting up MIDI ports in Nuendo

The Device Setup dialog lets you set up your MIDI system as follows:

Ö When you change MIDI port settings in the Device Setup dialog, these are automatically applied.

Showing or hiding MIDI Ports

The MIDI ports are listed in the Device Setup dialog on the MIDI Port Setup page. By clicking in the “Visible” column for a MIDI input or output, you can specify whether or not it is listed on the MIDI pop-up menus in the program.

If you are trying to hide a MIDI port which is already selected for a track or a MIDI device, a warning message will appear, allowing you to hide – and disconnect – the port or to cancel the operation and keep the MIDI port visible.

Setting up the “All MIDI Inputs” option

When you record MIDI in Nuendo, you can specify which MIDI input each recording MIDI track should use. How ever, you can also select the “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option for an input port, which causes any MIDI data from any MIDI input to be recorded.

The “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option on the MIDI Port Setup page allows you to specify which inputs are included when you select All MIDI Inputs for a MIDI track. This can be es pecially useful if your system provides several instances of the same physical MIDI input – by deactivating the dupli cates you make sure only the desired MIDI data is recorded.

Ö If you have a MIDI remote control unit connected, you should also make sure to deactivate the “In ‘All MIDI Inputs’” option for that MIDI input. This will avoid accidentally recording the data from the remote control when the “All MIDI Inputs” option is selected as input for a MIDI track.

Connecting a synchronizer

Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!

When using Nuendo with external tape transports, you will most likely need to add a synchronizer to your system. All connections and setup procedures for synchronization are described in the chapter

“Synchronization” on page 496.

Setting up video

Nuendo plays back video files in a number of formats, such as AVI, QuickTime, or MPEG. QuickTime is used as playback engine. Which formats can be played back de pends on the video codecs installed on your system, see the chapter

There are several ways to play back video, e. g. without any special hardware, using a FireWire port, or using dedicated video cards, see

If you plan to use special video hardware, install it and set it up as recommended by the manufacturer.

Before you use the video hardware with Nuendo, we recommend that you test the hardware installation with the utility applications that came with the hardware and/or the

QuickTime Player application.

“Video” on page 520.

“Video output devices” on page 522.

Optimizing audio performance

This section gives you some hints and tips on how to get the most out of your Nuendo system, performance-wise. Some of this text refers to hardware properties and can be used as a guide when upgrading your system. This text is very brief. Look for details and current information on the Nuendo web site!

Two aspects of performance

There are two distinct aspects of performance with respect to Nuendo.

Tracks and effects

Simply put: the faster your computer, the more tracks, effects and EQ you will be able to play. Exactly what constitutes a “fast computer” is almost a science in itself, but some hints are given below.

Setting up your system

Short response times (latency)

Another aspect of performance is response time. The term “latency” refers to the “buffering”, i. e. the temporary storing, of small chunks of audio data during various steps of the recording and playback process on a computer. The more and larger those chunks, the higher the latency.

High latency is most irritating when playing VST instruments and when monitoring through the computer, i. e. when listening to a live audio source via the Nuendo Mixer and effects. However, very long latency times (several hundred milliseconds) can also affect other processes like mixing, e.

g. when the effect of a fader movement is heard

only after a noticeable delay.

While Direct Monitoring and other techniques reduce the problems associated with very long latency times, a sys

tem that responds fast will always be more convenient to work with.

• Depending on your audio hardware, it may be possible to “trim” your latency times, usually by lowering the size and the number of buffers.

For details, refer to the audio hardware documentation, or, if you are using a DirectX driver under Windows, the dialog help.

System factors that affect performance

RAM

Generally speaking, the more RAM is installed in your computer, the better.

On computers running a Windows 32 Bit operating system, a running application can address a maximum of 2 GB of RAM. On a Macintosh computer running Mac OS

This limitation is imposed by the operating system, and it is independent of the amount of RAM that you may have installed in your computer!

Ö Only Windows 64 Bit is able to assign considerably more than 4

GB of RAM to a running application.

X, this limit is 4 GB.

Some program functions may “eat up” all the available memory, e. g. recording, the use of effect plug-ins, and the pre-loading of samples (see also

“RAM requirements for recording” on page 94 and “Smart plug-in processing” on page 196).

When a function has used up all the memory made available by the operating system, the computer will crash.

Always keep in mind the RAM limitation of your operating system when setting up your projects.

CPU and processor cache

It goes without saying that the faster the computer processor, the better. But there are a number of factors that affect the apparent speed of a computer: the bus speed and type (PCI is strongly recommended), the processor cache size and of course, the processor type and brand. Nuendo relies heavily on floating point calculations. When shopping for a processor, please make sure that you get one that is pow erful in calculating floating point arithmetics.

Note also that Nuendo features full support for multi-processor systems. So, if you own a computer system with more than one processor, Nuendo can take advantage of the total capacity and evenly distribute the processing load to all available processors. For further information,

“The advanced options” on page 25.

see

Hard disk and controller

The number of hard disk tracks you can record and play back at the same time also depends on the speed of your hard disk and hard disk controller. If you use E-IDE disks and controllers, make sure that the transfer mode is DMA Busmaster. Under Windows, you can check the current mode by launching the Windows Device Manager and looking for properties of the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller’s primary and secondary channel. DMA transfer mode is en abled by default, but may be turned off by the system should hardware problems occur.

Setting up your system

Audio hardware and driver

The hardware and its driver can have some effect on regular performance. A badly written driver can reduce the performance of your computer. But where the hardware driver design makes the most difference is with latency.

Again, we strongly recommend that you use audio hardware for which there is a specific ASIO driver!

This is especially true when using Nuendo for Windows:

• Under Windows, ASIO drivers written specifically for the hardware are more efficient than the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver or a DirectX driver and produce shorter latency times.

• Under Mac OS X, audio hardware with properly written Mac OS X (Core Audio) drivers can be very efficient and produce very low latency times.

However, there are additional features currently only available with ASIO drivers, such as the ASIO Positioning Protocol.

• Under Mac OS X, you can adjust the size of the buffers on the VST Audio System page in the Device Setup dialog.

You may also find buffer settings in the control panel for the audio hardware.

• Under Windows, you adjust the buffer size settings in the control panel for the audio hardware (opened by clicking the Control Panel button on the driver page in the Device Setup dialog).

The advanced options

On the VST Audio System page you will find the “Advanced options” section. Here you find advanced settings for the VST Engine, including a Multi Processing option. When this is activated and there is more than one CPU in your system, the processing load is distributed evenly to all available CPUs, allowing Nuendo to make full use of the combined power of the multiple processors. See the dialog help for details.

Optimizing processor scheduling (Windows only)

To get the lowest possible latencies when using ASIO under Windows XP (on a single-CPU system), the “system performance” has to be optimized for background tasks:

1. Open the Windows Control Panel from the Start menu and select System.

2. Select the Advanced tab and click the Settings button in the Performance section.

The Performance Options dialog opens.

3. Select the Advanced tab.

4. In the Processor Scheduling section, select “Adjust

for best performance of: Background services”.

5. Click OK to close the dialogs.

Making settings that affect performance

Audio buffer settings

Audio buffers affect how audio is sent to and from the audio hardware. The size of the audio buffers affects both the latency and the audio performance. Generally, the smaller the buffer size, the lower the latency. On the other hand, working with small buffers can be demanding for the computer. If the audio buffers are too small, you may get clicks, pops or other audio playback problems.

About the VST Performance window

The VST Performance window is opened from the Devices menu. The window shows two meter displays: The ASIO meter, which indicates CPU load, and the Disk meter, which shows the hard disk transfer rate. It is rec ommended that you check this from time to time, or keep it always open. Even if you have been able to activate a number of audio channels in the project without getting any warning, you may run into performance problems when adding EQ or effects.

• The ASIO meter (at the top) shows the ASIO time usage, i. e. the time required to complete the current processing tasks. The more tracks, effects, EQ, etc. you use in your project, the longer processing will take, and the longer the ASIO meter will show activity.

If the overload indicator (on the far right) lights up, you need to decrease the number of EQ modules, active effects, and/or audio channels playing back simultaneously.

Setting up your system

• The lower bar graph shows the hard disk transfer load.

If the overload indicator (on the far right) lights up, the hard disk is not supplying data fast enough to the computer. You may need to reduce the number of tracks playing back by using the Disable Track function (see

“About track disable/enable” on page 87). If this does not help, you need

a faster hard disk.

Ö The overload indicator may occasionally blink, e. g. when you locate during playback. This does not indicate a problem, but happens because the program needs a mo ment for all channels to load data for the new playback position.

Ö The ASIO and Disk load meters can also be shown on the Transport panel (as “Performance”) and on the Project window toolbar (as “Performance Meter”). There they are shown as two miniature vertical meters (by default at the left side of the panel/toolbar).

Setting up your system

VST Connections

About this chapter

Setting up busses

This chapter focuses on the settings you can perform in the VST Connections window. Here you can set up input and output busses, group and FX channels, external effects, and external instruments. Furthermore you can use this window to configure the Control Room and access the Control Room itself.

Since input and output busses are vital for working with Nuendo, a large part of this chapter concentrates on busses and this is also the reason why you find this chapter at the beginning of the Operation Manual. How to use the busses is described in detail in the section

page 168.

“Routing” on

The VST Connections window

The VST Connections window is opened from the Devices menu. It contains the following tabs:

• The Inputs and Outputs tabs allow you to set up and configure input and output busses, see “Setting up busses” on page 28.

• The Group/FX tab allows you to create group and FX channels/tracks and to make output assignments for these, see

“Setting up group and FX channels” on page 32.

• The External FX tab allows you to create effect send/return busses for connecting external effects which can then be selected via the effect pop-up menus from inside the program. For further information, see “External instruments/effects” on page 32 and

“Using external effects” on page 208.

• The External Instruments tab allows you to create input/output busses for connecting external instruments. For further information, see “External instruments/effects” on page 32 and the chapter “VST instruments and instrument tracks” on page 215.

• The Studio tab is where you enable and configure the Control Room, see

“VST Connections – Studio tab” on page 181.

Nuendo uses a system of input and output busses to transfer audio between the program and the audio hardware.

• Input busses let you route audio from the inputs on your audio hardware into the program. This means that when you record audio, you will always do this through one or several input busses.

• Output busses let you route audio from the program to the outputs on your audio hardware. When you play back audio, you will always do this through one or several output busses.

Once you understand the bus system and know how to set up the busses properly, it will be easy to go on with recording, playing back, mixing, and doing surround work.

Strategies

You can create any number of busses in Nuendo, in virtually any channel configuration – mono, stereo or a number of surround formats.

Ö The bus configuration is saved with the project – therefore it is a good idea to add and set up the busses you need and save these in a template project (see “Save

as Template” on page 53).

When you start working on new projects, you start from this template. That way you get your standard bus config uration without having to make new bus settings for each new project. If you need to work with different bus configurations in different projects, you can either create several different templates or store your configurations as presets (see “Presets” on page 31). The templates can of course also contain other settings that you regularly use – sample rate, record format, a basic track layout, etc.

So, which type of busses do you need? This depends on your audio hardware, your general audio setup (e. g. surround speaker setup) and what kind of projects you work with.

VST Connections

Let’s say you are using audio hardware with eight analog

inputs and outputs and digital stereo connections (10 inputs and outputs all in all). Furthermore, you work with a surround setup in 5.1 format. In this scenario, you may want to add the following busses:

Input busses

• Most likely you need at least one stereo input bus assigned to an analog input pair. This will let you record stereo material. If you want to be able to record in stereo from other analog input pairs as well, you add stereo input busses for these, too.

• Although you can record mono tracks from one side of a stereo input, it may be a good idea to add a dedicated mono input bus. This can be assigned to an analog input to which you have connected a dedicated microphone pre-amp, for exam

ple. Again, you can have several different mono busses.

• You probably want a dedicated stereo input bus assigned to the digital stereo input, for digital transfers.

• If you want to transfer surround material directly to a surround

g. from surround-configured location recording equip-

track, e. ment, you need an input bus in that surround format – in this example, this will be a 5.1 input bus.

Output busses

• You will need one or several stereo output busses for routing stereo mixes to master recorders or other destinations.

• For digital transfers, you need a stereo bus assigned to a digital stereo output as well.

• You need a surround bus in the format of your speaker configuration (in this example, 5.1) assigned to the correct outputs. Only connect these outputs to the corresponding speakers if you are not using the Control Room (see the chapter

“Control Room” on page 179). You may want additional surround bus-

ses if you tend to work in different surround formats.

Different busses can use the same inputs/outputs on the audio hardware! For example, you may want a stereo output bus assigned to the same outputs as the front stereo channels in your surround bus – this enables you to listen to stereo mixes without having to reconnect your speakers.

Preparations

Before you set up busses, you should name the inputs and outputs on your audio hardware. For example, if you are using a 5.1 surround speaker setup, you should name the outputs according to which speaker they are connected to (Left, Right, Center, and so on).

The reason for this is compatibility – it makes it easier to transfer projects between different computers and setups. For example, if you move your project to another studio, the audio hardware may be of a different model. But if both you and the other studio owner have given your in puts and outputs names according to the surround setup (rather than names based on the audio hardware model), Nuendo will automatically find the correct inputs and out puts for your busses and you will be able to play and record without having to change the settings.

To assign names to the inputs and outputs of your audio hardware, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.

2. On the VST Audio System page, make sure that the

correct driver for your audio hardware is selected.

If this is the case, your audio card is listed in the Devices list on the left of the Device Setup window.

3. In the Devices list, select your audio card.

The available input and output ports on your audio hardware are listed on the right.

4. To rename a port, click on its name in the Show As column and enter a new name.

• If needed, you can also disable ports by deactivating them in the Visible column.

Disabled ports are not shown in the VST Connections window. If you attempt to disable a port that is used by a bus, you will be asked whether this is really what you want – note that this will remove the port from the bus!

5. Click OK to close the Device Setup dialog.

Ö If you open a project created on another computer and the port names do not match (or the port configuration is not the same – e.

g. the project is created on a system with multi-channel i/o and you open it on a stereo in/out system), the Missing Ports dialog will appear. This allows you to manually re-route ports used in the project to ports available in your system.

VST Connections

Mac OS X only: Retrieving channel names

For some audio cards, you can automatically retrieve the ASIO channel names for the ports of your audio hardware. Proceed as follows:

1. Open the Device Setup dialog via the Devices menu.

2. On the VST Audio System page, select your audio

card on the ASIO Driver pop-up menu.

3. In the Devices list on the left, select your audio card.

The available settings are displayed.

4. In the settings section on the right, click the Control Panel button.

5. In the control panel for your audio hardware, activate the “Use CoreAudio Channel Names” option.

6. When you now open the VST Connections window to set up the busses in your system, you will find that the port names in the Device Port column correspond to the names that are used by the CoreAudio driver.

Ö If you want to use the project later on with an earlier version of Nuendo, you will have to re-assign the port connections in the VST Connections window (see below).

Mac OS X only: Port selection and activation

On the settings page for your audio card (opened via the Device Setup dialog, see above), you can specify which input and output ports are active. This allows you to use the Microphone input instead of the Line input or even to deactivate the audio card input or output completely, if re quired.

Ö This function is only available for Built-In Audio, standard USB audio devices and a certain number of other audio cards (e.

g. Pinnacle CineWave).

Adding input and output busses

Depending on whether you have selected the Inputs or the Outputs tab in the VST Connections window, the corresponding busses are listed, with the following information:

Column Description

Bus Name Lists the busses. You can select and rename busses by

Speakers Indicates the speaker configuration (mono, stereo, sur-

Audio Device This shows the currently selected ASIO driver.

Device Port If a bus entry is expanded to show all speaker channels,

Click (Outputs tab only)

To add an input or output bus, proceed as follows:

1. Open the Inputs or Outputs tab depending on the type of bus that you want to add.

2. Click the Add Bus button.

A dialog opens.

3. Select a (channel) configuration.

The Configuration pop-up menu contains a Mono and a Stereo option as well as several surround formats. Additional surround formats are listed on the “More…” submenu.

• Alternatively, you can right-click in the VST Connections window and add a bus in the desired format directly from the context menu.

The new bus appears with the ports visible.

4. For each of the speaker channels in the bus, click in the Device Port column to select a port on your audio hardware.

The pop-up menu that opens lists the ports with the names you have assigned in the Device Setup dialog.

clicking on them in this column.

round formats) of each bus.

this column shows which physical inputs/outputs on your audio hardware are used by the bus. If the bus entry is col lapsed, only the first port used by this bus is visible here.

You can route the click to a specific output bus, regardless of the actual Control Room output, or even when the Control Room is disabled.

VST Connections

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