Steinberg Nuendo 3 Operation Manual

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The mixer 10 – 221
• Input channels and output channels have clip indicators.
About the Insert/EQ/Send indicators and bypass buttons
The three indicator buttons in each audio channel strip have the follow-
ing functionality:
•If an Insert or Send effect or EQ module is activated for a channel, the 
corresponding button is lit. 
The effect indicators will be blue, the EQ indicator will be green.
•By clicking these buttons when lit, the corresponding EQ or effects 
section will be bypassed.
Bypass is indicated by yellow buttons. Clicking the button again deactivates bypass.  
						

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10 – 222 The mixer
The MIDI channel strips
The MIDI channel strips allow you to control volume and pan in your 
MIDI instrument (provided that they are set up to receive the corre-
sponding MIDI messages). The settings here are also available in the 
Inspector for MIDI tracks.
Level fader 
(MIDI volume) Level (velocity) meter
Channel automation 
controlsPan control
Monitor and 
Record Enable 
buttonsMIDI output routing pop-up
MIDI input pop-up
Edit button
Mute and Solo
Bypass Inserts
Disable Sends
Input Transformer 
buttonMIDI channel pop-up
This opens the control 
panel for a connected 
VST Instrument.  
						

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The mixer 10 – 223
The common panel
The common panel appears to the left in the mixer windows and con-
tains settings for changing the look and behavior of the mixer, as well 
as global settings for all channels.
Global automation Read/Write buttons, 
see the “Automation” chapter.
Channel settings copy/paste, see page 245. Global Listen/Solo/Mute 
Off, see page 229.
These indicator buttons select what channel 
types are shown/hidden in the mixer.
Channel select pop-up
The View options buttons determine what to 
display in the extended panels of channel strips 
([Alt]/[Option]-click to affect busses as well). 
Only visible in extended mixer mode.
Store/Remove View set buttons (+/-) and 
Select View set pop-up, see page 219.
Show/hide buttons for the 
extended and input/output 
settings panels.Toggles “All Wide” (left arrows) or “All Narrow” 
channel strips in the mixer.
Opens the VST Connections 
window, see page 18.Shows/hides the input/
output settings panel
Shows/hides the 
extended panel.
Resets the settings to default 
(for all or selected channels).  
						

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10 – 224 The mixer
The input & output channels
The busses you have set up in the VST Connections window are rep-
resented by input and output channels in the mixer. These are shown 
in separate “panes” (to the left and right of the regular channel strips, 
respectively), with their own dividers and horizontal scrollbars. The i/o 
channel strips are very similar to other audio channels and are identi-
cal for input and output channels (except that input channels don’t 
have Solo buttons).
•How to set up input and output busses is described in the chapter 
“VST Connections: Setting up input and output busses”.
•How to route audio channels to busses is described on page 251.
•The output channel section also contains the channel strip for the 
Audition bus. This is the output bus used for auditioning, scrubbing, 
etc. The only settings here are the pre or post fader status for the Lis-
ten Mode, a level fader and a mute button. For more about the Audition 
bus, see page 29 and page 230.
Input gain
Bus volume fader
Bus level meter Read/Write 
Automation
Clip indicator
The Speaker configuration for 
the bus.
Edit button Inserts/Sends/
EQ indicator 
and Bypass 
buttonsPan control (no Panner 
used for surround busses)
Input Phase switch
Mute and Solo 
buttons  
						

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The mixer 10 – 225
Basic mixing procedures
Setting volume in the mixer
In the mixer, each channel strip has a fader for volume control. 
•For audio channels, the faders control the volume of the channels be-
fore they are routed directly or via a group channel to an output bus.
Each channel can in turn handle up to 12 speaker channels – see page 298.
•An output channel fader determines the master output level of all au-
dio channels routed to that output bus.
•MIDI channels handle fader volume changes in the mixer by sending 
out MIDI volume messages to the connected instrument(s).
Connected instruments must be set to respond to MIDI messages (such as MIDI vol-
ume in this case) for this to function properly.
•The fader settings are displayed numerically below the faders, in dB 
for audio channels and in the MIDI volume 0 to 127 value range for 
MIDI channels.
You can click in the fader value fields and enter a volume setting by typing.
•To make fine volume adjustments, hold down [Shift] when you move 
the faders.
•If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on a fader, it will auto-
matically be set to position 0.0 dB for audio channels, or MIDI volume 
100 for MIDI channels.
Most mixer parameters can be reset to default values by [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking 
this way.
You can use the faders to set up a volume balance between the audio 
and MIDI channels and perform a manual mix, by moving the faders 
and other controls while playing back. By using the Write function 
(see page 333), you can automate the levels and most mixer actions.
It is also possible to create volume envelopes for separate events in the 
Project window or Audio Part Editor (see page 206) as well as to make 
static volume settings for an event on the info line or with the volume 
handle (see page 188). 
						

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10 – 226 The mixer
About the level meters for audio channels
When playing back audio in Nuendo, the level meters in the mixer 
show the level of each audio channel.
•Directly below the level meter is a small level readout – this shows the 
highest registered peak level in the signal.
Click this to reset the peak levels.
•Peak levels can also be shown as static horizontal lines in the meter 
(there are options for how this is displayed – see page 247).
If the peak level of the audio goes above 0dB, the numerical level indi-
cator will show a positive value (i.e. a value above 0dB).
Nuendo uses 32 bit floating point processing internally, so there is vir-
tually limitless headroom – signals can go way beyond 0dB without 
clipping. Therefore:
• Having higher levels than 0 dB for individual audio channels is not a 
problem in itself. The audio quality will not be degraded by this. 
However, when many high level signals are mixed in an output bus this may require that 
you lower the output channel level a lot (see below). Therefore it’s good practice to 
keep the max levels for individual audio channels roughly around 0 dB.
About the level meters for input and output channels
For the input and output channels things are different. I/O channels 
have clip indicators.
•When you are recording, clipping can occur when the analog signal is 
converted to digital in the audio hardware. 
It’s also possible to get clipping in the signal being recorded to disk (when 16 or 24 bit 
record format is used and you have adjusted the mixer settings for the input channel). 
Read more about checking and setting input levels on page 59.
•In the output busses, the floating point audio is converted to the reso-
lution of the audio hardware. In the integer audio domain, the maximum 
level is 0dB – higher levels will cause the clip indicator for each bus to 
light up.
If the clip indicators light up for a bus, this indicates actual clipping – digital distortion 
which should always be avoided.
If the clip indicator lights up for an output channel, reset the clip indicator 
by clicking on it, and lower the level until the indicator doesn’t light up. 
						

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The mixer 10 – 227
Adjusting Input Gain
Each audio channel and input/output channel features an Input Gain 
control. This controls the gain for the incoming signal, before EQ and 
effects.
The Input Gain is not meant to be used as a volume control in the 
mixer. It can, however, be used to cut or boost the gain in various cir-
cumstances:
•To change the level of a signal before the effects section.
The level going into certain effects can change the way the signal is affected. A com-
pressor, for example, can be “driven” harder by raising the Input Gain.
•To boost the level of poorly recorded signals.
To change the Input Gain, you need to press [Shift] and adjust the 
control (to avoid accidental gain changes). You can also press [Alt]/
[Option] – this lets you adjust the Input Gain with a fader.
• You should set the Input Gain once and for all for a channel – it is not 
suited for continuous level adjustments during playback.  
						

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10 – 228 The mixer
Input Phase switch
Each audio channel and input/output channel has an Input Phase 
switch, to the left of the Input Gain control dial. When activated, the 
phase polarity is inverted for the signal. Use this to correct for bal-
anced lines and mics that are wired backwards, or mics that are “out 
of phase” due to their positioning.
•Phase polarity is important when mixing together two similar signals. 
If the signals are “out of phase” with respect to one another, there will be some cancel-
lation in the resulting audio, producing a hollow sound with less low frequency content.
About level meters for MIDI channels
The level meters for MIDI channels do not show actual volume levels. 
Instead, they indicate the velocity values of the notes played back on 
MIDI tracks.
About MIDI tracks set to the same MIDI channel and output
If you have several MIDI tracks set to the same MIDI channel (and 
routed to the same MIDI output), making volume settings for one of 
these MIDI tracks/mixer channels will also affect all other mixer chan-
nels set to the same MIDI channel/output combination. 
This also applies to pan settings.  
						

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The mixer 10 – 229
Using Solo and Mute
The Mute (top) and Solo buttons.
You can use the Mute and Solo buttons to silence one or several 
channels. The following applies:
• The Mute button silences the selected channel.
Clicking the Mute button again un-mutes the channel. Several channels can be muted 
simultaneously. Muting Group channels can have two different results depending on 
how the Preferences are set (see page 249). A muted channel is indicated by a lit 
Mute button, and also by the lit Global Mute indicator on the common panel. 
• Clicking the Solo button for a channel mutes all other channels.
A soloed channel is indicated by a lit Solo button, and also by the lit Global Solo indi-
cator on the common panel. Click the Solo button again to turn off Solo.
• Several channels can be soloed at the same time.
However, if you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click the Solo button for a channel, any 
other soloed channels will automatically be un-soloed (i.e. this Solo mode is exclusive).
• [Alt]/[Option]-clicking a Solo button activates “Solo Defeat” for that channel.
In this mode (indicated by a red solo button without any other channels being muted) 
the channel will not be muted if you solo another channel (see page 283 for a practical 
use of this). To turn off Solo Defeat, [Alt]/[Option]-click the Solo button again. 
• You can un-mute or un-solo all channels by clicking the Mute or Solo indica-
tor on the common panel.
A muted channel in 
the mixer.A lit Global Mute indicator on the 
common panel shows that one or 
more channels are muted.    
						

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10 – 230 The mixer
Listen Mode
Be aware of the following when you want to use the Listen mode:
The Default Bus and the Audition Bus are related. The default bus has 
its aux send #1 automatically routed to the audition bus. This aux send 
is enabled but set to -∞ dB. Depending on your setup, you will have to 
make the following changes to make the full use of the audition bus and 
the AFL/PFL functionality:
1.Set the level of aux send #1 (destination audition bus) on your default 
output bus to 0.00 dB. This will pass the complete mix signal of the 
default output bus to the audition bus. If you are using more than one 
output bus, you may need to create additional aux sends #1s to the 
audition bus, also set to 0.00 dB.
2.Be aware that the default output bus AND the audition bus are con-
nected to ASIO output port 1/2. This means that once you have set 
the send levels to 0.00 dB, as described above, the levels present on 
the default output bus and the audition bus are summed, resulting in a 
6 dB level boost at the output. Normally you would disconnect the de-
fault output bus from the ASIO output or route the audition bus to 
separate ASIO outputs which are used exclusively for monitoring.
To monitor your mix, the signal from aux send #1 of the default bus is 
sent to the audition bus, which in turn should be connected to your 
monitoring system.
The reason for this unusual connection is the Listen Mode in the mixer. 
This provides a pre-fader listen (PFL) and after-fader listen (AFL) solo 
bus to your monitoring system. When you enable a Listen button on 
any channel in the mixer, that signal (taken pre fader or post fader de-
pending on the global setting) will be routed directly to the audition bus 
(the connection between your mix signal (default output bus) and the 
audition bus is temporarily interrupted). This allows you to hear the lis-
ten-enabled channel by itself without interrupting the signal to the de-
fault bus. When you defeat listen mode for all channels, the aux send 
#1 pathway from the default bus to the audition bus will be enabled, 
returning the whole mix to your monitoring system (see page 21).