Steinberg Nuendo 3 Operation Manual

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The Project window 5 – 111
Operations
Creating a new project
You create a new project in the following way:
1.Select “New Project” from the File menu.
A dialog appears, listing a number of project templates, including any custom tem-
plates you may have created (see page 641). 
2.Select a template and click OK.
A file dialog appears, allowing you to specify a location for the project folder. This will 
contain all files related to the project. 
3.Select an existing folder or type the name of a new one. Click OK.
A Project window appears. The new project will be based on the selected template, 
and include tracks, events and settings from the template.
The Project Setup dialog
General settings for the project are made in the Project Setup dialog. 
This is opened by selecting “Project Setup...” from the Project menu.  
						

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5 – 112 The Project window
The following settings are available in the Project Setup dialog:
Setting Description
Start The start time of the project. Allows you to have the project start at 
another time than zero. Also used for setting the sync start position 
when synchronizing Nuendo to external devices (see page 580). 
The format of this value is always in timecode. When you change 
this setting you will be asked whether you want to keep the project 
content at its timecode positions. “Yes” means that all events will 
stay at their original timecode positions - i.e they will be moved in re-
lation to the start of the project. “No” means that all events keep their 
position relative to the project start.
See also the note about Feet’n’Frames Count from Project Start” on 
page 109.
Length The length of the project. Nuendo is capable of having longer lengths 
than 24 hours since the timecode includes a “day” field. This can be 
handy when creating projects that use “time of day” timecode and 
cross over the 24 hour mark. The maximum project length is 10 days. 
Frame Rate Used when synchronizing Nuendo with external equipment. If Nu-
endo is slave, this value is automatically set to the frame rate of the 
incoming sync signal. If Nuendo is the master, this determines the 
frame rate of the sent sync signal. See page 594.
Display Format This is the global display format used for all rulers and position dis-
plays in the program, except ruler tracks (see page 104). However, 
you can make independent display format selections for the individ-
ual rulers and displays if you like.
For descriptions of the different display format options, see page 108.
Display Offset Offsets the time positions displayed in the ruler etc., allowing you to 
compensate for the Start position setting. Typically, if you synchro-
nize Nuendo to an external source starting at a frame other than 
zero, you set the Start position to this value. However, if you still 
want the display in Nuendo to start at zero, set the Display Offset to 
the same value too.
Bar Offset This works just like “Display Offset” described above, in that it off-
sets the time positions in the ruler by a number of bars, allowing you 
to compensate for the Start position setting. The difference is that 
Bar Offset is only used when the “Bars+Beats” display format is se-
lected (see page 108).
Sample Rate The sample rate at which Nuendo records and plays audio.
Record Format / 
File TypeWhen you record audio in Nuendo, the files that are created will be 
of this resolution and file type. See page 54. 
						

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The Project window 5 – 113
While most Project Setup settings can be changed at any time, you 
should select a sample rate once and for all when starting with a new 
project! All audio files must be of this sample rate to play back correctly.
Zoom and view options
Zooming in the Project window is done according to the standard 
zoom procedures (see the Getting Started book), with the following 
special notes:
•When you are using the Zoom tool (magnifying glass), the result de-
pends on the option “Zoom Tool Standard Mode: Horizontal Zooming 
Only” in the Preferences – Editing dialog.
If this is activated and you drag a selection rectangle with the Zoom tool, the window 
will only be zoomed horizontally (track height will not change). If the option is off, the 
window will be zoomed both horizontally and vertically.
•When using the vertical zoom sliders, the tracks are scaled relatively. 
In other words, if you have made any individual track height adjustments (see below), 
the relative height differences are maintained.
You find the following options are available on the Zoom submenu on 
the Edit menu:
Stereo Pan Law Decides whether panning should use power compensation or not. 
This is explained on page 234.
Option Description
Zoom In Zooms in one step, centering on the project cursor.
Zoom Out Zooms out one step, centering on the project cursor.
Zoom Full Zooms out so that the whole project is visible. “The whole 
project” means the timeline from the project start to the length set 
in the Project Setup dialog (see above).
Zoom to Selection Zooms in horizontally and vertically so that the current selection 
fills the screen.
Zoom to Selection 
(Horiz)Zooms in horizontally so that the current selection fills the screen. Setting Description 
						

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5 – 114 The Project window
•If the option “Zoom while Locating in Time Scale” is activated in the 
Preferences (Transport page), you can also zoom by clicking in the 
main ruler and dragging up or down with the mouse button pressed.
Drag up to zoom out; drag down to zoom in.
•You can zoom the contents of parts and events vertically, using the 
Waveform Zoom slider in the top right corner of the event display.
This can be useful to better view quiet audio passages.
To get an approximate reading on the level of the audio events by view-
ing the waveforms, make sure the slider is all the way down. Otherwise, 
zoomed waveforms may be mistaken for clipped audio.
•If you activate the option Quick Zoom in the Preferences (Editing 
page), the contents of parts and events will not be continuously re-
drawn when you zoom manually.
Instead, the contents are redrawn once you have stopped changing the zoom – acti-
vate this if screen redraws are slow on your system.
Zoom to Event This option is available only in the Sample Editor (see page 406).
Zoom In Vertical Zooms in one step vertically.
Zoom Out Vertical Zooms out one step vertically.
Zoom In Tracks Zooms in selected track(s) one step vertically.
Zoom Out Tracks Zooms out selected track(s) one step vertically.
Zoom Selected 
Tracks This zooms in vertically on the selected track(s) and minimizes the 
height of all other tracks. Option Description   
						

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Resizing tracks in the Track list
• You can change the height of an individual track by clicking on its lower bor-
der in the Track list and dragging up or down.
To change the height of all tracks simultaneously, hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and re-
size one of the tracks in this way. If “Snap Track Heights” is activated on the Track 
scale pop-up (see below), the track height will change in fixed increments when you 
resize it.
•You can also change the width of the Track list area, by dragging the 
border between the Track list and the event display.
•The controls shown for tracks in the Track list will by default adapt to 
the track size. This means that when resizing a track’s height or width 
some of the controls will be dynamically placed where they best “fit 
in”.
If you instead always want to have the controls in fixed positions, you can deactivate 
the option “Wrap Controls” in the Track Controls settings dialog (see page 680).
• You can decide for each track type what controls should be shown in the 
Track list – see page 680.
• You can use the Track scale pop-up (opened by clicking the arrow button 
above the vertical zoom control) to set the number of tracks to view in the cur-
rent Project window.
The track height will be adjusted to show only the number of tracks specified on the 
pop-up menu. By selecting “Zoom N Tracks” from the pop-up you can manually set the 
number of tracks to fit in the current Project window.
•Tracks can also be divided vertically in lanes – see page 144.  
						

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5 – 116 The Project window
Zoom presets and Cycle markers
The pop-up menu to the left of the horizontal zoom control allows you 
to select, create and organize zoom presets. These are useful if you 
want to toggle between different zoom settings (e.g. one where the 
whole project is displayed in the project window and another with a 
high zoom factor for detailed editing). With this pop-up menu, you can 
also zoom in on the area between cycle markers in the project.
The upper part of the menu lists the zoom presets:
•To store the current zoom setting as a preset, select Add from the 
pop-up menu.
A dialog appears, allowing you to type in a name for the preset.
•To select and apply a preset, select it from the pop-up menu.
•The “Zoom Full” preset is always available. Selecting this option 
Zooms out so that the whole project is visible. “The whole project” 
means the timeline from the project start to the length set in the 
Project Setup dialog (see page 111).
•If you want to delete a preset, select “Organize…” from the pop-up 
menu.
In the dialog that appears, select the preset in the list and click the Delete button. The 
preset is removed from the list.  
						

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The Project window 5 – 117
•If you want to rename a preset, select “Organize…” from the pop-up 
menu.
In the dialog that appears, select the desired preset in the list and click the Rename 
button. A second dialog opens, allowing you to type in a new name for the preset. 
Click OK to close the dialogs.
Zoom presets are global for all projects, i.e. they are available in all 
projects you open or create.
The middle part of the pop-up lists any cycle markers you have added 
in the project:
•If you select a cycle marker from this menu, the event display is 
zoomed in to encompass the marker area (see page 180).
•You cannot edit the cycle markers in this pop-up menu. For informa-
tion on editing markers, see page 174.
Only the cycle markers you create in the current project are available on 
the menu.
The Zoom history
Nuendo maintains a history of recent zoom stages, allowing you to 
undo and redo zoom operations. This way you can zoom in several 
steps and then easily go back to the zoom stage at which you started.
There are two ways to invoke Undo Zoom and Redo Zoom:
•Use the items on the Zoom submenu on the Edit menu.
You can also assign key commands for these.
•Double click with the Zoom tool (magnifying glass) to Undo Zoom.
Press [Alt]/[Option] and double click to Redo Zoom.
Adjusting how parts and events are shown
The Preferences dialog on the File menu (the Nuendo menu, under 
Mac OS X) contains several settings for customizing the display in the 
Project window. 
						

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5 – 118 The Project window
The Event Display page contains common settings for all track types:
The Event Display–Video page contains settings for video events:
The Event Display–Audio page contains settings for audio events:
Option Description
Colorize Event 
BackgroundDetermines whether the backgrounds or “contents” (waveforms, 
etc.) of parts and events will be colorized. See page 121.
Transparent Events When this is activated, events and parts will be transparent, 
showing the waveforms and MIDI events only.
Show Data on Small 
Track HeightsIf this is activated, the contents of events and parts will be 
shown, even if the height of a track is very small.
Show Event Names Determines whether the names of parts and events should be 
shown in the Project window.
Option Description
Show Video 
ThumbnailsWhen this is activated, thumbnail frames of the video contents 
are shown on the Video track.
Video Cache Size This determines how much memory is available for video thumb-
nails. If you have long video clips and/or work with a large zoom 
factor (so that a lot of frames are shown in the thumbnails), you 
may have to raise this value.
Option Description
Interpolate Audio 
ImagesIf the option is deactivated, single sample values are drawn as 
“steps”. If the option is activated they are interpolated to form 
“curves”.
Wave Image Style Determines whether audio waveforms should be displayed as 
solid images, frames or “inverted” images (solid+frame). This 
selection affects all waveform images in the Project window, 
Sample Editor and Audio Part Editor.
Note that the “Framed” and “Solid and Framed” styles are more 
demanding for the computer. If the system feels slower in these 
modes, please switch back to “Solid” wave image style.
Show Event Volume 
Curves AlwaysIf this is activated the “volume curves” created with the volume 
and fade handles are always shown – if not, the curves are only 
shown for selected events. 
						

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The Project window 5 – 119
The Event Display–MIDI page contains settings for MIDI parts:
Show Waveforms Determines whether audio waveforms should be shown at all.
Background Color 
ModulationWhen this is activated, the backgrounds of audio waveforms 
are displayed in a different way, reflecting the waveform dynam-
ics. This is especially useful to get an overview when working 
with small track heights.
Option Description
Default Edit Action Determines which editor should be opened when you double 
click a MIDI part or select it and press [Ctrl]/[Command]-[E]: the 
Key, Drum, List or Score editor. Note that this setting is overrid-
den for tracks with drum maps if the option “Edit as Drums when 
Drummap is assigned” (see below) is activated.
Part Data Mode Determines if and how events in MIDI parts should be shown in 
the Project window: as lines, as score notes or as drum notes. If 
“No Data” is selected, events will not be shown at all. Note that 
this setting is overridden for tracks with drum maps if the option 
“Edit as Drums when Drum Map is assigned” (see below) is ac-
tivated.
Show Controllers Governs whether non-note events (controllers, etc.) should be 
shown in MIDI parts in the Project window.
Edit as Drums 
when Drum Map is 
assignedIf this is activated, parts on MIDI tracks with drum maps assigned 
will be shown with drum note symbols in the Project window. 
Also, the parts will automatically open in the Drum editor when 
double clicked (overriding the Default Edit Action setting above).
Note Name Style Determines how MIDI note names (pitches) should be displayed 
in editors, etc. Option Description 
						

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Zooming and navigating in the overview line
By clicking the Show Overview button on the toolbar, an extra pane 
appears under the toolbar; the project overview line. 
Show Overview button
In the overview line, events and parts on all tracks are displayed as 
boxes. You can use the overview line to zoom in or out, and for navi-
gating to other sections of the project. This is done by moving and re-
sizing the track view rectangle in the overview line:
•The track view rectangle indicates the section of the project currently 
displayed in the event display.
•You can zoom in or out horizontally by resizing the rectangle.
Resizing is done by dragging the edges of the rectangle.
•You can drag the track view rectangle to view other sections of the 
project.
This can also be done by clicking anywhere in the upper part of the overview – the 
track view rectangle will be moved to where you clicked. The number of tracks shown 
will not change.
The track view rectangle