Steinberg Nuendo 3 Getting Started Manual

							NUENDOTutorial 11: Customizing 18 – 221
Setting preferences
While we’re in the Preferences dialog, we might as well make a few 
other settings so that the program behaves the way we want it to:
1.In the list to the left, select the “Editing” item.
The editing page contains options for how the program should behave.
2.Activate the option “Auto Select Events under Cursor”.
When this option is activated, all events “touched” by the project cursor are automati-
cally selected. This can be helpful when rearranging projects, since it allows you to se-
lect whole sections (on all tracks) simply by moving the project cursor.
Now, let’s activate another useful option. If you are usually working on 
single projects for long periods of time (i.e. more than one “session” 
with the program), you might want to have that project automatically 
open when you launch Nuendo:
3.In the list to the left in the dialog, select “General”.
The General settings page is displayed to the right. Among other things, it contains the 
“On Startup” pop-up menu, which allows you to specify what should happen each 
time you launch Nuendo.
4.Pull down the “On Startup” pop-up menu and select the option 
“Open Last Project”.
Now, you have instructed Nuendo to open the last saved project each time you launch 
the program.
5.If you like, make other settings in the Preferences dialog.
To get a description of the options and settings on the Preference pages, click the 
Help button.   
						

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Using presets
OK, so now we have set up some menus and preferences to our liking. 
By clicking Apply or OK, the changes you have made will be saved 
globally for all projects you work on.
But what if a single project comes along when you need to use MIDI? 
You could of course go back and change the settings again, do the 
MIDI project and then change the settings once again. An easier way 
is to store the settings you’ve made as a preset. That way you can 
make momentary changes (or click the Defaults button to reset all 
preferences to default values), do the MIDI project and then simply re-
call your stored preset with all your settings.
In the bottom left of the Preferences dialog, there is a Preference Pre-
sets menu, three buttons labeled “Store”, “Rename” and “Delete” and 
a checkbox named “Store marked preferences only”.
To store the current settings as a preset, proceed as follows:
1.First, make sure that the “Store marked preferences only” box is not 
checked.
This option is for saving partial preferences settings only. So the reason you should 
leave it unchecked is because we want to save all the preferences in this example.
2.Next, click the “Store” button.
A dialog appears, allowing you to name the preset.
3.Type in a name and click OK.
You might want to give the preset a descriptive name, identifying its purpose, like for 
example “No MIDI”. 
The settings are now stored as a preset with the name you specified, 
and will be available for quick recall. This is done by loading a preset, 
which is what we will do next.  
						

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Loading a preset
1.Select the “General” page and activate the option “Auto Save”.
This is just for the sake of example.
2.Pull down the Preference Presets pop-up menu.
The preset you previously saved is now available on the menu.
3.Select the stored preset from the menu.
The Preferences settings contained in the preset are now applied. As you can see, the 
option “Auto Save” is deactivated again, since it was turned off in your preset.
•When you are finished working in the Preferences dialog, click OK to 
close the dialog and apply the settings.
The changes you have made will be saved globally for all projects you work on.  
						

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Setting up Key Commands
Next, we will set up some key commands. Key commands are short-
cuts for menu items and functions, meaning you can invoke an item or 
a function just by pressing a key or a combination of keys on your key-
board. Key commands can be customized any way you like, so if you 
use a particular function very often, you can assign a key command for 
it. Or if it has a key command assigned to it by default, you can change 
this to one that suits you better.
•The default key commands in Nuendo are listed on page 243.
Let’s say that you often use the “Audio File” command from the Import 
submenu, and want to assign a key command for it:
1.From the File menu, select “Key Commands…”.
The Key Commands dialog opens. In the left part of this dialog, all main menu items and 
a large number of other functions are arranged in a list of different categories, displayed 
as folders. Each category folder in turn contains a number of commands – menu items 
and functions.
2.Since we want to assign a key command for the “Audio File” command 
from the Import submenu, and we know that menu item is located on 
the File menu, navigate to the folder called “File”.
3.Click the “+” button to the left of the folder to open it.
You can now see a list of items and functions it contains.  
						

							NUENDOTutorial 11: Customizing 18 – 225
4.In the list, select the item “Import Audio File”.
As you can see, this function has no key command assigned to it, as indicated by the 
empty “Keys” column and the “Keys” section in the top right corner.
Now, how do we know which key command we can use – that is, find 
a key command that isn’t already used for some other function? 
Here’s how to find out:
5.Click in the “Type in Key” field to the right.
There is now a flashing cursor in the field, indicating that you can enter a key.
6.Let’s try [A], by pressing the A-key.
No luck. As you can see by the text that appears under the field, the A-key is already 
assigned to the function “Adjust Fades to Range”.
7.OK, then let’s try a combination – how about [Shift]-[A]?
Success! Since no text appears under the text field, that key command is not assigned 
to any function. Now we can proceed to assign that particular key command to the 
“Import Audio File” function.
8.Again, make sure “Import Audio File” is selected in the list to the left.
9.Now, click the “Assign” button above the text field.
The key command Shift+A appears in the Keys section.
We have now set up a key command that will be available in the pro-
gram after we close the Key Commands dialog.
However, we’re not quite done here yet so don’t close the dialog.   
						

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Setting up a macro
We will also try setting up a key commands macro. A macro is a stored 
combination of several functions or commands. By invoking the macro 
you can perform these functions and commands in one go, rather than 
manually performing them one at a time.
In this example, we’ll create a macro that will: 
•Select all events in the project window
•Position the left and right locator to encompass the selection. 
This is done by combining the commands “Select All” from the Edit 
menu and the command “Locators to Selection” from the Transport 
menu:
1.In the Key Commands dialog, click the “Show Macros” button in the 
lower part of the dialog.
The macro settings are now shown in the lower part of the dialog and the Show Macros 
button is renamed Hide Macros, indicating that you can close the macros section by 
clicking the button again.
2.Click the button “New Macro”.
A new, unnamed macro appears in the macros list to the left. Name it by typing in the 
desired name.
Now, we need to select the first command that should be executed in 
the macro – the “Select All” command:
3.Since we know the “Select All” command is located on the Edit menu, 
open the Edit folder in the Commands list, navigate to the item “Select 
All” and click on it to select it.
4.Click on the “Add Command” button in the macros section.
As you can see, the “Select All” command is added to the macro in the macros list.  
						

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5.Now repeat this procedure to select the item “Locators to Selection” 
from the Transport folder and add it to the macro.
That’s it, we have now created a macro with two commands. The macro 
will be available for instant selection and execution on the macros sub-
menu at the bottom of the Edit menu in the program.
You could also assign a key command to the macro, by selecting the 
macro in the Commands list and assigning a key command to it as de-
scribed above. We will not do that now, however. What we will do is 
save the key commands settings we have made, including the macro 
settings, as a preset for instant recall later.
Storing key commands as presets
By storing our key commands settings as a preset, it will be possible 
to recall them later – useful if you will be making temporary settings to 
the changes or if you want to move your settings to another computer:
1.Make sure that the “Store Selected Items Only” box is not checked.
This option is for storing partial key commands setting – we want to store them all.
2.Click the Store button (the disk icon) next to the Presets pop-up menu.
A dialog appears, allowing you to type in a name for the preset. 
3.Type in a name and click OK to save the preset.
These key commands settings are now saved and will be available on the Presets pop-
up menu. To recall these settings in the future, all you have to do is to select them from 
the Presets pop-up menu.
•It’s also possible to store “Alternative Key Sets” – this allows you to 
change between different key command setups on the fly while you 
are working in the program.
See the Operation Manual for details.
With that, our work in the Key Commands dialog is done, so you can 
close it and apply the changes by clicking OK.  
						

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Changing the look of the toolbar
In Nuendo you can change the contents and look of several sections 
and panels, including the Transport panel, the toolbars in the Project 
window and the editors, and the track controls in the Track list. The 
changes you can make include hiding unwanted controls and settings 
from view and reordering items on the panels.
Below we will try customizing the toolbar in the Project window. As you 
will see, this can show a number of settings and controls – you may not 
need all items that are shown by default, or you may need items that 
are hidden by default. We will also try changing the positions of items 
on the toolbar.
1.Make sure the Project window is visible – you may want to maximize 
the window so that all items on the toolbar can be seen.
2.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) anywhere on the toolbar.
A pop-up menu appears. The upper half of the menu lists all the elements that can be 
shown or hidden on the toolbar.
3.Try activating the “Performance Meter” item.
A checkmark next to an element means it is visible on the toolbar. As you can see, the 
menu closes and a miniature performance meter appears to the left on the toolbar.
4.Bring up the pop-up menu again.
The items on the lower half of the menu are presets, allowing you to quickly select al-
ternative toolbar setups. It’s also possible to store your own presets, for instant recall:
5.Select “Setup...” from the pop-up menu.
A dialog opens.  
						

							NUENDOTutorial 11: Customizing 18 – 229
In this dialog you decide which elements should be shown and hidden, 
by selecting them and moving them to the respective column using the 
arrow buttons. The left column displays the currently visible items, and 
the right column the currently hidden items on the toolbar. As you can 
see, several items are hidden by default (listed in the right column).
You can also configure the layout of the toolbar here, by moving ele-
ments with the Move Up and Move Down buttons. Let’s try moving the 
tool buttons to the left on the toolbar:
6.Click the Tool Buttons item to select it in the left list.
7.Click the Move Up button.
The Tool Buttons item is moved up in the list and the tool buttons are moved to the left 
on the toolbar. They now appear to the left of the transport buttons.
Let’s store this setup as a preset:
8.Click the disk button by the Presets pop-up menu.
A text field appears, allowing you to name the current configuration.
9.Type in a name and click OK.
The saved preset appears in the Presets field. You can now select this saved configu-
ration any time from the Presets pop-up menu in this dialog, or directly from the pop-up 
menu brought up by right-clicking (Win) or [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) in the toolbar.
•You can customize the toolbars in the editors as well as the Transport 
panel and the Track list in much the same way.
Read more about this in the Operation Manual.
We’re done here, so close the dialog and let’s move on. 
						

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Changing the appearance of the program
Not only can you hide or reorder individual elements and controls, you 
can also adjust the general appearance of the program to your liking:
1.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu (Win) or the Nuendo 
menu (Mac).
2.Select the Appearance–General page.
This is where you can adjust the color saturation, brightness and contrast of the user 
interface.
The Appearance–General page.
3.Adjust the sliders to your liking.
•Note that to apply the changes you made on the Appearance–General 
page, you need to restart the program.
4.The Appearance–Meters page allows you to define the look of the 
meters in the program. This is described in detail in the Customizing 
chapter in the Operation Manual.
When you have adjusted the settings to your liking, click Apply to apply your settings.