Steinberg Nuendo 3 Getting Started Manual
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NUENDO Introduction 1 – 11 The Help System Nuendo comes with a detailed help system, making it easy to look up procedures and descriptions from within the program. The contents of the help basically mirror the complete Operation Manual text. The help systems are slightly different depending on which operating system you use, Windows or Mac OS X: HTML Help (Windows) You use the HTML Help in the following way: •To open the HTML Help for browsing, select “HTML Help” from the Help menu in the program. This brings up the HTML Help browser in which you can browse the help table of con- tents, search the index or perform a free text search. •To get information about the active window or a dialog, press [F1] on the computer keyboard or click the Help button in the actual dialog. Within a topic, related topics are sometimes directly accessible via clickable links. Apple Help (Mac OS X) You use the Apple Help in the following way: •To open the Apple Help for browsing, select “Nuendo Help” from the Help menu in the program. This brings up the Apple Help Viewer window. There, you can either browse the help table of contents, use the index or type any words into the Search field at the top of the window. •To get information about the active window or a dialog, press [F1] on the computer keyboard or click the Help button in the actual dialog. Within a topic, related topics are sometimes directly accessible via clickable links. Please note that when you have started the program once, you can open the Nuendo Help even when the program isn’t running: 1. Select “Mac Help” from the Help menu in the Finder. 2. From the Library menu, select “Nuendo Help”.
NUENDO 1 – 12 Introduction About the program versions The documentation covers two different operating systems or “plat- forms”; Windows and Mac OS X. Some features and settings are specific to one of the platforms, Win- dows or Mac OS X. This is clearly stated in the applicable cases. In other words: •If nothing else is said, all descriptions and procedures in the documen- tation are valid for both Windows and Mac OS X. The screenshots are taken from the Windows version. Key command conventions Many of the default key commands in Nuendo use modifier keys, some of which are different depending on the operating system. For example, the default key command for Undo is [Ctrl]-[Z] under Win- dows 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 Win- dows or [Command] under Mac OS X, then press [Z]”. Similarly, [Alt]/[Option]-[X] means “press [Alt] under Windows or [Op- tion] under Mac OS X, then press [X]”.
NUENDO Introduction 1 – 13 How you can reach us On the Help menu in Nuendo, you will find items for registering online, getting additional information and help: • On the “Steinberg on the Web” submenu you can find links to various Steinberg websites. Selecting one will automatically launch your browser application and open the page. You can find support and compatibility information, answers to frequently asked ques- tions, links for downloading new drivers, etc. This requires that you have a web browser application installed on your computer, and a working Internet connection.
NUENDO 2 – 16 Installation and Requirements for Windows About this chapter This chapter describes the system requirements and installation pro- cedures for Nuendo for Windows. Installing Nuendo for Mac OS X is described on page 28. Requirements To use Nuendo, you need the following: • A PC with Windows XP installed. A USB Port is also required. For more details about the computer requirements, see below. • Compatible audio hardware. By audio hardware we mean a card capable of recording and playing back digital audio using your hard disk as a storage medium. It must also have an appropriate ASIO driver (see page 18) or be Windows Multimedia compatible. Also, to take full advantage of Nuendo’s channel i/o bus architecture and surround features, audio hardware with multiple inputs and outputs is required. For MIDI • At least one MIDI interface. • At least one MIDI instrument. • Any audio equipment necessary to listen to the sound from your MIDI devices.
NUENDO Installation and Requirements for Windows 2 – 17 Computer requirements Hardware – PC The minimum requirements for running Nuendo on a PC are: •A 1.6 GHz Pentium or Athlon processor •Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional. •512 MB of RAM. •Monitor and graphics card supporting 1024 x 768 resolution. •A free USB drive for the copy protection key. •A DVD ROM drive. •Please note that Nuendo is proven to run on less powerful computers with less RAM and slower CPUs. However, these system requirements are meant to provide system specifications which allow for working in a reasonably professional manner. For optimum performance we recommend the following: •Pentium or Athlon processor at 2 GHz or faster. •1024 MB of RAM. •A dual monitor setup with 1152 x 864 pixels display resolution or higher. RAM Audio work requires a lot of RAM! In fact, there is a direct relation be- tween the amount of available RAM and the number of audio channels that you can have running. As specified earlier, 512 MB is the minimum requirement, but as a general rule “the more the better” applies. Hard disk size • The size of the hard disk determines how many minutes of audio you will be able to record. Recording one minute of stereo CD quality audio, requires 10 MB of hard disk space. That is, eight stereo tracks in Nuendo use up at least 80 MB of disk space per record- ing minute.
NUENDO 2 – 18 Installation and Requirements for Windows Hard disk speed The speed of the hard drive also determines the number of audio tracks you can run. That is the quantity of information that the disk can read, usually expressed as “sustained transfer rate”. Again, “the more the better” applies. Wheel mouse Although a regular mouse will work fine with Nuendo, we recommend that you use a wheel mouse, as this will speed up value editing and scrolling considerably. See page 68 and page 73. Audio hardware Nuendo will run with audio hardware that meets the following basic specifications: •Stereo. •16 bit. •Support of at least the 44.1kHz sampling rate. •Is supplied with a special ASIO driver, or a DirectX or Windows Multimedia compatible driver as described below. 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 three different cases, requiring different driver configurations: If the audio hardware has a specific ASIO driver Professional audio cards often come with an ASIO driver written es- pecially for the card. This allows for communication directly between Nuendo and the audio card. As a result, audio cards with specific ASIO drivers can provide lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when monitoring audio via Nuendo or using VST Instruments. The ASIO driver may also provide special support for multiple inputs and outputs, routing, synchronization, etc.
NUENDO Installation and Requirements for Windows 2 – 19 Audio card-specific ASIO drivers are provided by the card manufac- turers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver versions. If your audio hardware comes with a specific ASIO driver we strongly recommend that you use this. If the audio card communicates via DirectX DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various types of Multime- dia under Windows. Nuendo supports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which is a part of DirectX used for playing back and re- cording 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 the audio card communicates via the Windows Multimedia system If the card is Windows compatible, it can be used in Nuendo. The card then communicates with the Windows Multimedia system, which in turn communicates with Nuendo. This requires two types of drivers: •A Windows Multimedia driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate with the Windows Multimedia system. This driver should be supplied by the au- dio card manufacturer, and is normally installed when you install the audio card. •The ASIO Multimedia driver, allowing Nuendo to communicate with the Win- dows Multimedia system. This driver is included with Nuendo, and does not require any special installation.
NUENDO 2 – 20 Installation and Requirements for Windows Hardware installation Installing the copy protection key – please read! New users Included with the Nuendo package, you will find a hardware key (some- times referred to as a “dongle”) that is part of the Nuendo copy protec- tion scheme. Nuendo will not run if this key isn’t installed properly. •The copy protection key should be plugged into the computer’s USB port after installing Nuendo and restarting the computer! When the copy protection key is plugged into the USB port, Windows will automati- cally register it as a new hardware device and will attempt to find drivers for it – these necessary drivers won’t be there until Nuendo has been installed and the computer re- started. If you’re upgrading from a previous version of Nuendo In this case you already have a copy protection key – all you need to do is activate that key for use with your new Nuendo version. This is done by means of the Activation Code included in the upgrade package, after installing the program, see page 24. Installing the audio hardware and its driver 1.Install the audio card and related equipment in the computer, as de- scribed in the card’s documentation. 2.Install the driver for the card. There are three types of drivers that could apply: card-specific ASIO drivers, DirectX drivers and Windows Multimedia drivers: Specific ASIO driver If your audio card has a specific ASIO driver it may be included with the audio card, but you should always make sure to check the audio card manufacturer’s web site for the most recent drivers. For details on how to install the driver, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions.