Steinberg Nuendo 3.1 User Manual

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When you select the external instrument in the VST Instruments win-
dow, the following happens:
• A parameter window for the external device is opened automatically. This may 
either be the Device window, allowing you to create a generic device panel, 
an OPT editor window or a default editor. For information about the Device 
window, the MIDI Device Manager and User device panels, see the chapter 
“MIDI devices” in the pdf document “Working with MIDI”.
• To send MIDI notes to the external instrument, open the output pop-up menu in 
the Inspector for the corresponding MIDI track and select the MIDI device to 
which the external instrument is connected. This ensures use of delay compen-
sation. The instrument will now play any MIDI notes it receives from this track 
and return them to Nuendo through the return channel(s) you have set up. 
The external instrument will behave like any other VST Instrument in 
Nuendo.
About the Favorites buttons
In the VST Connections window, both the External FX tab and the 
External Instrument tab feature a Favorites button.
The Favorites button on the External FX tab
Favorites are device configurations that you can recall at any time, like 
a library of external devices that are not constantly connected to your 
computer. They also allow you to save different configurations for the 
same device, e. g. a multi-effect board or an effect that provides both a 
mono and a stereo mode.
To save a device configuration as a favorite, proceed as follows:
•When you have added a new device in the VST Connections window, 
select it in the Bus Name column and click the Favorites button.
A context menu is displayed showing an option to add the selected effect or instrument 
to the Favorites.
•You can recall the stored configuration at any time by clicking the 
Favorites button and selecting the device name from the context menu.  
						

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About the “plug-in could not be found” message
When you open a project that uses an external effect/instrument, you 
may get a “plug-in could not be found” message. This will happen 
whenever you remove an external device from the VST Connections 
window although it is used in a saved project, or when transferring a 
project to another computer on which the external device is not defined. 
You may also see this message when opening a project last saved with 
version 3.0 of Nuendo.
In the VST Connections window, the broken connection to the exter-
nal device is indicated by an icon in the Bus Name column:
To reestablish the broken connection to the external device, simply 
right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) the entry for the device in the 
Bus Name column and select “Connect External Effect”. The icon is 
removed, and you can use the external device within your project as 
before.
Note that busses set up for external effects or external instruments are 
saved not with the current project, but “globally”, i.e. for your particular 
computer setup.  
						

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Freezing external effects/instruments
Just as when working with regular VST instruments and effects, you 
can also choose to freeze external effects and instruments. The gen-
eral procedure is described in detail in the Operation Manual chapter 
“Audio effects” and the “VST Instruments” chapter in the separate 
PDF document “Working with MIDI”.
When freezing external instruments or effects, you can adjust the re-
spective tail value in the Freeze Channel Options dialog:
• Use the arrow buttons next to the Maximum Tail value field to set the desired 
Tail length, i.e. the range after the part boundary that should also be included 
for the freeze. You can also click directly in the value field and enter the de-
sired value manually (the maximum value being 60 s).
• When Maximum Tail is set to 0s (default), the freezing will only take into account 
the data within the Part boundaries.  
						

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Mixer operations
Several changes have been made to the mixer, to facilitate editing, 
navigating, etc. A whole new Mixer category has been added in the 
Key Commands dialog for example, allowing you to create keyboard 
shortcuts for the mixer functions you often work with. Several new 
functions have been added to the mixer context menu, allowing you 
e.g. to specify which channels functions should be applied to. These 
new functions are described in the following sections.
The context menu functions
The context menu contains two new submenus:  
						

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The Window submenu
This submenu is handy for quickly switching to another open mixer 
window, showing/hiding the different mixer panes etc. It contains the 
following options:
•Show Routing View
Allows you to show/hide the topmost section of the mixer which contains the input/
output routing settings.
•Show Extended View
Allows you to show/hide the middle section of the mixer, where you can display differ-
ent settings for the channels (EQs, Send effects, etc.).
•Next Mixer
This displays the next mixer window (if you have several mixer windows open).
The Command Target submenu
This submenu lets you specify which channels should be affected by 
the “commands” (basically all the functions that can be assigned key 
commands), e.g. what to display in the extended mixer pane, the width 
setting of the channel strips, etc. It contains the following options:
•All Channels
Select this if you want your commands to affect all channels.
•Selected Only
Select this option if you want your commands to affect the selected channels only.
•Exclude Inputs
Select this if you do not want your commands to affect the input channels.
•Exclude Outputs
Select this if you do not want your commands to affect the output channels. 
						

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About channel/track colors
The color settings of the tracks in the track list are now also reflected 
in the mixer channel strips.
You can also change the color setting directly in the mixer. Proceed 
as follows:
1.Make sure the Show Track Colors option is activated in the Track list.
This is described in detail in the Customizing chapter in the Operation Manual.
2.Open the Mixer and click in the Color Selection section above the 
channel name for the desired channel strip.
3.Select the desired color from the color palette.
• If you change the color for a channel strip in the mixer, this color is auto-
matically applied to the respective track in the Track list, and vice versa.
Click here…
…to open the color palette for the mixer channel strip.   
						

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Copying channel settings to/from several 
tracks in one go
In the previous program version, the channel settings could be copied 
for one channel and pasted into another channel. This behavior was a 
bit cumbersome if the same settings had to be applied to several 
channels, as they had to be applied to each channel separately. In ver-
sion 3.1 of the program, it is now possible to apply the settings of one 
channel on several other channels in the mixer, or even to select sev-
eral channels, copy their settings and apply them to the same number 
of other channels in one go.
Mixer key commands
The Key Commands dialog now contains a dedicated Mixer category, 
allowing you to create keyboard shortcuts for the mixer functions. For 
a detailed description of setting up and working with key commands, 
see the Key Commands chapter in the Operation Manual.  
						

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Panning Bypass
In version 3.1 of the program, it is now possible to bypass the panning 
for all track types except MIDI tracks. To do this, keep [Shift] and [Alt]/
[Option] pressed and click on the pan setting for the respective chan-
nel in the mixer (on the fader panel or in the extended mixer view). The 
Panning Bypass state is reflected in all the different pan setting sec-
tions, e.g. if you bypass a channel in the mixer, this is automatically re-
flected in the Inspector for the respective track.
When panning is bypassed for a channel, the following happens:
• Mono channels will be panned center.
• Stereo channels will be panned left and right.
• Surround channels will be panned center.
• To deactivate Panning Bypass, simply [Shift]+[Alt]/[Option]-click again. 
						

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The Tempo Track
A very handy new feature can be found in the Tempo Track window: 
the Process Bars dialog. This dialog uses the global “Insert Silence” 
and “Delete Time” functions from the Edit menu – Range submenu, 
but uses a musical “bars+beats-based” environment for calculating 
the necessary ranges (or parameters). It also ensures that the time 
signatures stay “in sync” after these operations. This allows for a 
much more intuitive approach when inserting, deleting or replacing 
“time” while working with a project set to the Bars+Beats time type.
The Process Bars dialog
The Process Bars dialog is opened by clicking on the respective but-
ton on the Tempo Track toolbar (next to the Process Tempo button).
The dialog contains the following elements:
Option Description
Bar Range The Bar Range display gives you a graphical overview of the 
position of the bar range within the project as well as its 
length. You can change the setting here by dragging the 
green rectangle, however this is accomplished much easier 
by using the Start and Length value fields (see below).
The small arrow pair in this section mark the length of the 
current project. The area to the right marks the bar range that 
can be added (500 bars max.).
… to open the Process Bars dialog.Click this button on the Tempo Track toolbar…   
						

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Bar Range – Start This is where you specify the desired start position for the 
bar range. Click on the small arrows to raise/lower the value 
by one step or click directly in the value field and enter the 
desired number manually.
Bar Range – Length This is where you specify the desired length of the bar range. 
Click on the small arrows to raise/lower the value by one 
step or click directly in the value field and enter the desired 
number manually.
Action – Insert Bars When you select this action, clicking the Process button will 
insert the specified number of empty bars with the set time 
signature at the desired start position in the project.
Action – Delete Bars When you select this action, clicking the Process button will 
delete the specified number of bars beginning at the set start 
position.
Action – 
Reinterpret BarsWhen you select this action, clicking the Process button will 
reinterpret the bar range to fit the specified time signature. 
This is very special in the sense that both bars+beats posi-
tions of the notes and the tempo are being changed to fit the 
new time signature, but the playback of the notes will stay just 
the same.
If you want to reinterpret e.g. a bar with the time signature 3/4 
so that it gets the time signature 4/4, quarter notes will be-
come half note triplets. If you reinterpret a bar with the time 
signature 4/4 to attain 3/4, you will get quadruplets.
Action – Replace Bars When you select this action, clicking the Process button will 
cause the time signature of the specified bar range to be re-
placed by the one you specify in this dialog. 
Action – Signature This lets you specify the desired time signature for the action 
you select in the Action pop-up menu (except for the Delete 
Bars action).
Process Click this button to apply your changes to the desired bar 
range.
Close Clicking this button closes the Process Bars dialog. Please 
note that you have to click the Process button first to apply 
your settings. Clicking this button without clicking on “Pro-
cess” first will close the dialog without applying your settings. Option Description