Steinberg Nuendo 3 Operation Manual

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes 9 – 201
Moving the crossfade area
You can move the crossfade area in various ways: In the crossfade 
display (as described on page 198), with the Nudge buttons, with the 
Overlap controls (either the slider or numerically) or by changing the 
Offset Point.
Using the Nudge controls
•When you use the Nudge controls, you can decide whether they should 
move the fade area or the audio clip, by clicking the corresponding ra-
dio button under “Nudge Mode”. 
•Each time you click a Nudge button, the fade area or the audio event 
will be moved in the corresponding direction by the amount specified 
on the “Nudge Range” pop-up menu.
The Nudge buttons in the upper region affect the fade-out curve, and the Nudge but-
tons in the lower region affect the fade-in curve. Note that it is only possible to move 
the audio of the second event – i.e. the event that is faded in.
•You can also click in the Nudge value field, enter a numerical value 
and press [Return] to move a fade area or an audio event.
•If “Symmetric Fades” is activated, and the Nudge Mode is set to 
“Move Fade”, both the fade-out area and the fade-in area will be 
moved by the same amount.
•If “Symmetric Fades” is activated, and the Nudge Mode is set to 
“Move Audio”, the Nudge buttons in the lower region will move the 
audio event with the fade in.
In this mode, the Nudge buttons in the upper region will move both the entire fade area 
and the audio event with the fade in.
Using the Overlap controls
The Overlap controls let you move the fade area without moving the 
Offset Point – the “center” of the fade area (see below). This means 
that the “center” of the fade will be offset in relation to the fade area.
•You can either use the Overlap sliders or you can click in the Overlap 
fields, change the values numerically and press [Return].
•If “Symmetric Fades” is activated, both the upper and the lower Over-
lap controls will move both the fade-out and the fade-in area. 
						

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9 – 202 Fades, crossfades and envelopes
Changing the Offset Point
You can also move a fade area by changing its Offset Point. The Off-
set Point is the “center” of the fade area, i.e. the point where the vol-
ume of the event is precisely halfway between full level and zero level.
•Click in the value field, enter the desired value, in accordance with the 
selected display format (see page 198) and press [Return].
This will move the Offset Point along with the fade area by the specified amount. Note 
however that this only applies to the fade-in area!
•The Offset Point is indicated by a dotted vertical line in the crossfade 
display.
Changing the volume
You can use the Volume controls to change the volume of the cross-
faded events. Either use the Volume sliders or click in the Volume 
fields, change the values numerically and press [Return].
This is the same thing as using the volume handles in the Event display, 
as described on page 188.
Default buttons
Clicking the “As Default” button stores all of the current settings as 
the default crossfade. These settings will then be used whenever you 
create new crossfades.
Clicking the “Recall Default” button copies the curves and settings in 
the Default crossfade to the Crossfade dialog.
Presets
If you have set up a crossfade that you may want to apply to other 
events, you can store it as a preset by clicking the store button (the 
disk icon).
•To apply a stored preset, select it from the pop-up menu. 
•To rename the selected preset, double click on the name and type in 
a new one. 
•To remove a stored preset, select it from the pop-up menu and click 
the remove button (the trash icon). 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes 9 – 203
Autoscroll
If this option is activated, the crossfade display will be scrolled during 
playback, so that the play position cursor is always visible. This works 
just like Autoscroll in the Project window (see page 155).
• Note that this only applies if you use the Transport play controls – not if 
you use the Play controls in the Crossfade dialog.
Zoom and Auto Zoom
If you have scrolled or zoomed the crossfade display horizontally (see 
page 198), you can click the “Zoom to Fade” button (the magnifying 
glass icon) to quickly revert to the standard zoom factor and center 
the display on the currently selected crossfade area.
If Auto Zoom is activated (checked), the crossfade display will auto-
matically be zoomed and centered on the current crossfade if you re-
size it (see page 199).
Select Crossfade buttons
These allow you to select the previous/next crossfade area on the cur-
rent track, if it contains more than one crossfade.
•If “Project selection follows” is activated, selecting another crossfade 
will automatically change the event selection in the Project window.  
						

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9 – 204 Fades, crossfades and envelopes
Auto Fades and Crossfades
Nuendo features an Auto Fade function that can be set both globally, 
i.e. for the entire project, and separately for each audio track. The idea 
behind the Auto Fade function is to create smoother transitions be-
tween events by applying short (1 - 500 ms) fade-ins and fade-outs.
As mentioned earlier, fades are calculated in real time during playback. 
This means that the larger the number of audio tracks with Auto Fades 
activated in a project, the higher the demands on the processor.
Making global Auto Fade settings
1.To make Auto Fades settings globally for the project, select “Auto 
Fades Settings...” from the Project menu.
This opens the Auto Fades dialog for the project.
2.Use the checkboxes in the upper right corner to activate or deactivate 
Auto Fade In, Auto Fade Out and Auto Crossfades, respectively.
3.Use the Length value field to specify the length of the Auto Fade or 
Crossfade (1-500 ms).  
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes 9 – 205
4.To adjust the shapes of Auto Fade In and Auto Fade Out, select the 
“Fades” tab and make settings as in the regular Fade dialogs.
5.To adjust the shape of the Auto Crossfade, select the “Crossfades” 
tab and make settings as in the regular Crossfade dialog.
6.If you want to use the settings you have made in forthcoming new 
projects, click the “As Default” button.
The next time you create a new project, it will use these settings by default.
7.Click OK to close the dialog.
Making Auto Fade settings for a separate track
By default, all audio tracks will use the settings you have made in the 
project’s Auto Fades dialog. However, since Auto Fades use comput-
ing power, a better approach may be to turn Auto Fades off globally, 
and activate them for individual tracks, as needed:
1.Right-click (Win) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) the track in the Track list and 
select “Auto Fades Settings...” from the context menu (or select the 
track and click the “Auto Fades Settings” button in the Inspector).
The Auto Fades dialog for the track appears. This is identical to the project’s Auto 
Fades dialog, with the addition of a “Use Project Settings” option.
2.Deactivate the “Use Project Settings” option.
Now, any settings you make will be applied to the track only.
3.Set up the Auto Fades as desired and close the dialog.
Reverting to project settings
If you want a track to use the global Auto Fade settings, open the Auto 
Fades dialog for the track and activate the “Use Project Settings” 
checkbox. This makes the track use the Auto Fade settings you have 
made for the project. 
						

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9 – 206 Fades, crossfades and envelopes
Event Envelopes
An envelope is a volume curve for an audio event. It is similar to the 
real-time fades, but allows you to create volume changes within the 
event, not only at the start or end. To create an envelope for an audio 
event, proceed as follows:
1.Zoom in on the event so that you can view its waveform properly.
2.Select the Pencil tool.
When you move the Pencil tool over an audio event, a small volume curve symbol is 
shown next to the tool.
3.To add an envelope point, click in the event with the Pencil tool.
A blue envelope curve and a curve point appear.
4.Drag the curve point to adjust the envelope shape.
The waveform image reflects the volume curve.
•You can add as many curve points as you like.
•To remove a curve point from the envelope, click on it and drag it out-
side the event.
•The envelope curve is a part of the audio event - it will follow when you 
move or copy the event.
After copying an event with an envelope, you can make independent adjustments to 
the envelopes in the original event and the copy.
• It is also possible to apply an envelope to the audio clip using the Enve-
lope function on the Audio - Process menu.
See page 367.  
						

							10
The mixer 
						

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10 – 208 The mixer
About this chapter
This chapter contains detailed information about the elements used 
when mixing audio and MIDI, and the various ways you can configure 
the mixer. 
Some mixer related features are not described in this chapter. These 
are the following:
•Setting up and using audio effects.
See page 260.
•Setting up and using MIDI effects.
See the separate PDF document “Working with MIDI”.
•Surround Sound.
See page 298.
•Automation of all mixer parameters.
See page 322.
•How to mix down several audio tracks (complete with automation and 
effects if you wish) to a single audio file.
See page 551. 
						

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The mixer 10 – 209
Overview
The picture above shows an extended mixer (see page 235).
The mixer offers a common environment for controlling levels, pan, 
solo/mute status etc. for both audio and MIDI channels.   
						

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10 – 210 The mixer
Opening the mixer
The mixer can be opened in several ways:
•By selecting Mixer from the Devices menu.
•By clicking the Mixer icon on the toolbar
This always opens the first Mixer window (see below).
•By using a key command (by default [F3]).
•By clicking the Mixer button in the Devices panel.
You open the Devices panel by selecting Show Panel from the Devices menu.
About the multiple mixer windows
You may have noticed that there are in fact several separate mixer 
items selectable from the Devices menu. These are not separate mix-
ers, but rather separate windows of the same mixer. 
•Each of the mixer windows can be configured to show any combina-
tion of channels, channel types, narrow and wide channel strips etc. 
(how to do this is described later in this chapter).
You can for example configure one mixer window to show MIDI channel strips, another 
to show input and output channels, another to show all audio channels and so on.
•You can also save channel configurations as View sets (see page 219) 
which are then accessible from all mixer windows.