Steinberg Nuendo 3 Operation Manual

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About VST plug-ins and tempo sync
Version 2.0 of the VST plug-in standard (and later) allows plug-ins to 
receive MIDI from the host application (in this case, Nuendo). A typical 
use for this feature is tempo-based effects (such as delays, auto-pan-
ning, etc.), but it is also used in other ways for certain plug-ins.
•MIDI timing information is automatically provided to any VST 2.0 plug-
in that “requests it”.
You don’t need to make any special settings for this.
•In many...

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Insert effects
Background
As the name implies, insert effects are inserted into the audio signal 
path – this means that the audio will be routed through the effect. You 
can add up to eight different insert effects independently for each au-
dio channel (audio track, group channel track, FX channel track, VST 
Instrument channel or ReWire channel) or bus. The signal passes 
through the effects in series from the top downwards, with the follow-
ing signal path
As you can...

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Which effect plug-ins can I use as insert effects?
Most effect plug-ins will work fine as insert effects. In general, the only 
restrictions are with the number of inputs and outputs in the effects:
•For a plug-in to be usable as an insert effect, it has to have at least 1 
or 2 inputs and 1 or 2 outputs.
Different effects feature different amounts of inputs and outputs, but the number of in-
puts and outputs actually used is determined by whether you use the insert effects...

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Routing an audio channel or bus through insert effects
Insert effect settings are available in the mixer (in extended mode), the 
Channel Settings window and the Inspector (audio tracks, group tracks 
and FX tracks only). The examples below show the Channel Settings 
window, but the procedures are similar for all three send sections:
1.Bring up the Channel Settings window, the Inserts pane in the ex-
tended mixer or the Inserts section in the Inspector.
In the Channel...

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•To remove an effect, pull down the effect type pop-up menu and se-
lect “No Effect”.
You should do this for all effects that you don’t intend to use, to minimize unnecessary 
CPU load.
•When you have several insert effects for a channel, you can bypass 
separate effects by clicking the bypass button of the respective slot.
When an effect is bypassed, the button is yellow.
The “Reverb A” insert effect slot is bypassed.
Insert effects in the channel overview
If the “Channel”...

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Using mono or stereo effects with a surround channel
Normally, when you apply a mono or stereo insert effect to a surround 
(multi channel) track, the first speaker channel(s) of the track (often L 
and/or R) are routed through the effect’s available channels, and the 
other channels of the track are left unprocessed.
However, you may want to apply the effect to other speaker channels. 
This is done in the Channel Settings window:
1.Click in the small window to the left...

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3.Double click on the small signal diagram for the effect to open up an 
editor window.
The columns in the diagram represent the channels in the current sur-
round configuration, with signals passing from top to bottom. The grey 
field in the middle represents the actual effect plug-in.
• The squares above the effect represent inputs to the effect plug-in.
• The squares below the effect represent outputs from the effect plug-in.
• A line that passes through the effect (with...

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Operations
You can move connections to the effect inputs and outputs sideways 
to route the audio to/from other inputs/outputs than the standard con-
figuration. To do this, you click the arrow buttons to the right.
•The upper two arrows move the input connections, and the lower two 
arrows move the output connections.
If the “Link” checkbox is activated the input and output connections will be moved at 
the same time. This is the mode to use when you simply want to process...

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About adding insert effects to busses
As already stated, all input and output busses have eight insert slots, 
just like regular audio channels. The procedures for adding insert ef-
fects are the same (except you cannot use the Inspector here).
•Adding insert effects to an input bus allows you to record with effects.
The effects will become a permanent part of the recorded audio file (see page 72).
•Insert effects added to an output bus will affect all audio routed to that...

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Applying dithering
1.Click the “e” button to bring up the Output Settings window for the 
output bus, or display its Inserts section in the extended mixer pane, 
as described above.
2.Pull down the Inserts pop-up menu in slot 7 or 8.
The two last Insert effect slots (for all channels) are post-fader, which is crucial for a 
dithering plug-in. The reason is that any master gain change applied after dithering 
would bring the signal back to the internal 32 bit float domain,...