Steinberg Nuendo 3 Operation Manual

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Working with the Tempo track 21 – 511
•You can move a time signature event by clicking and dragging it with 
the Arrow tool.
Again, note that time signature events can only be positioned at the start of bars.
•To remove a time signature, either click on it with the Eraser tool or se-
lect it and press [Backspace].
The first time signature event cannot be removed.
Exporting and importing Tempo tracks
You can export the current tempo track for use in other projects by se-
lecting “Tempo Track” from the “Export” submenu on the File menu. 
This allows you to save the tempo track information (including time 
signature events) as a special xml file (file extension “.smt”).
To import a saved tempo track, select “Tempo Track” from the “Im-
port” submenu on the File menu. Note that this replaces all tempo 
track data in the current project (although the operation can be un-
done if needed). 
						

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Process Tempo
Process Tempo allows you to define a specific length or end time for 
a set range, and the Tempo track will automatically set a tempo that 
will fit the range in the specified time. 
It works as follows:
1.Open the Tempo Track window and specify a region or range that you 
wish to tempo process by setting the left and right locators. 
2.Click on the button furthest to the right on the Tempo Track toolbar.
The Process Tempo dialog appears.
3.In the Process Range fields, the range specified is shown, in Bars and 
Beats (PPQ) and in a time format, selectable from the Time Display 
Format pop-up.
The range defined in step 1 will already be set, but you can edit the range by adjusting 
the values in the Process Range fields if you wish.
Now you can either specify a new Range Length or a new Range End 
time. What to chose depends on whether the range should have a 
specific length or whether it should end at a specific time position.
4.Enter the desired End or Length in the corresponding fields of the 
New Range section.
You can select a time format for the new range in the Time Display Format pop-up.
5.Click Process.
Now the tempo track is automatically adjusted and the range will have the specified 
duration.  
						

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Options and settings
Snap
You activate or deactivate Snap by clicking the Snap icon on the tool-
bar. The behavior of the function depends on the display format se-
lected for the ruler:
•If “Bars+Beats” is selected, tempo curve points will snap to the set 
resolution on the Snap pop-up.
If this is set to 1/1 curve points will snap to the start of bars.
•If any other display format is selected, tempo curve points will snap to 
the vertical grid lines in the tempo curve display.
The spacing of the grid lines depends on the horizontal magnification.
•Time signature events can only be positioned at the start of bars, re-
gardless of whether Snap is activated or not.
Autoscroll
When this option is activated, the tempo curve display will scroll dur-
ing playback, keeping the project cursor visible. 
						

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The Beat Calculator
The Beat Calculator is a tool for calculating the tempo of freely re-
corded audio or MIDI material. It also allows you to set the tempo by 
tapping.
Calculating the tempo of a recording
1.In the Project window, make a selection that covers an exact number 
of beats of the recording.
2.Select “Beat Calculator…” from the Project menu.
The Beat Calculator window appears.
3.Enter the number of beats that the selection encompasses in the 
Beats field.
The corresponding tempo is calculated and displayed in the BPM field.
•If you need to adjust the selection, you can just go back to the Project 
window, leaving the Beat Calculator open.
To re-calculate the tempo after adjusting the selection, click Refresh.
4.If you like, you can insert the calculated tempo into the Tempo track, 
by clicking one of the buttons in the lower left corner of the Beat Cal-
culator window.
Clicking “At Tempo Track Start” will adjust the first tempo curve point, while “At Selec-
tion Start” will add a new tempo curve point at the selection’s start position, using the 
“Jump” curve type (see page 506).
If Fixed tempo mode is selected when you insert the calculated tempo, 
the Fixed tempo will be adjusted, regardless of which button you click.  
						

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Using Tap Tempo
The Tap Tempo function allows you to specify a tempo by tapping:
1.Open the Beat Calculator.
2.If you want to tap the tempo to some recorded material, activate play-
back.
3.Click the Tap Tempo button.
The Tap Tempo window appears.
4.Tap the tempo on the computer keyboard’s space bar or with the 
mouse button.
The tempo display will update the calculated tempo between each tap.
5.When you stop tapping, the program calculates the average timing of 
the taps and displays it.
6.Click OK to close the Tap Tempo window.
The tapped tempo is now shown in the Beat Calculator’s BPM display. If you like, you 
can insert it into the Tempo track as described on the previous page.  
						

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Merge Tempo From Tapping
This function allows you to create a complete tempo track based on 
your tapping. Typically, you would use this if you have an audio file 
with no tempo mapping, and want to be able to add sequenced mate-
rial afterwards, etc.
1.Create an empty time-based MIDI track and, while playing back your 
audio material, tap the new tempo on your MIDI keyboard and record 
the created notes onto the new MIDI track.
Note that you must create note events – pedal events cannot be used for this function.
2.Play back the audio and check that the timing of the MIDI notes corre-
sponds to that of the audio. 
If necessary edit the MIDI notes in an editor.
3.Select the part (or the individual notes, in an editor) that you want to 
use for the calculation.
4.Select “Merge Tempo From Tapping” from the Functions submenu on 
the MIDI menu.
A dialog opens.
5.In the dialog, specify what type of note (1/2, 1/4 etc.) you tapped dur-
ing the recording.
If you activate the “Begin at Bar Start” option, the first note will automatically start at 
the beginning of a bar when calculating the new tempo curve.
6.Click OK.
The project’s tempo is adjusted to the tapped notes.
7.Open the Project menu and select “Tempo Track” to check that the 
new tempo information is reflected in the tempo curve.
• Another way of creating a tempo map for freely recorded audio would 
be to use the Time Warp tool – see page 517. 
						

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The Time Warp tool
The Time Warp tool lets you adjust the Tempo track so that “musical 
time based” material (positions related to the tempo) matches “linear 
time based” material (positions in time). Some typical applications:
• When you have recorded music (audio or MIDI) without tempo reference or 
metronome click – the Time Warp tool can be used for creating a tempo map 
that fits the recording (allowing you to rearrange or add sequenced material).
• When you are creating music for a movie and want to match certain positions 
in the video with certain positions in the music.
The Time Warp tool makes use of the fact that tracks can be based on 
time positions (linear time base) or positions related to tempo (musical 
time base) – see page 124 for a description of these modes.
Basic procedure
You use the Time Warp tool to drag a musical position (a position in 
bars+beats format) to a certain position in time. This can be done in 
the Project window or in editor windows, as described below. Here is 
the general procedure:
1.Make sure Tempo track mode is selected.
You cannot use the Time Warp tool in Fixed tempo mode.
2.Select the Time Warp tool.
Bars+Beats format is automatically selected for the ruler in the active window and 
the ruler is shown in dark red.  
						

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3.Click in the window at a musical position and drag it so that it 
matches a position in the material you are editing – e.g. the start of an 
event, a certain “hit” within an audio event, a frame in a video clip, etc.
When you click with the Time Warp tool it snaps to the grid in the window.
Dragging the start of bar 9 to the start of the audio event.
While you are dragging, the track(s) you are editing are temporarily 
switched to linear time base – this means that the contents of the 
tracks remain at the same time positions regardless of the tempo 
(there is an exception to this in the Project window – see below).
4.When you release the mouse button the musical position you clicked 
on matches the time position you dragged it to.
This is because the Time Warp tool changed the last tempo event on the Tempo track 
(and/or added new ones, depending on window and usage), thereby scaling the 
tempo track to fit.
Rules
•When you use the Time Warp tool, the tempo value of the last tempo 
event (before the click position) is adjusted.
•If later tempo events exist, a new tempo event will be created at the 
click position. This way, the later tempo event(s) will not be moved.
•If you press [Shift] and use the Time Warp tool, a new tempo event is 
created at the click position.
[Shift] is the default modifier for this – you can adjust this in the Preferences dialog 
(Editing-Tool Modifiers page, under the Warp Tool category).
•If you use the Time Warp tool in an editor, a tempo event will be cre-
ated at the start of the edited part or event. Only the track being ed-
ited will be affected – but note that events after the edited events or 
parts (on the edited track) will be affected as well.  
						

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•If you have made a selection range (in the Project window, Audio Part 
Editor or Sample Editor) and use the Time Warp tool within that 
range, the tempo changes will be confined to that range.
This means tempo events will be inserted at the start and end of the selection range, if 
needed – useful if you need to adjust the tempo within a certain area but want all ma-
terial outside that range to stay in place.
•When you click with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the tempo grid in 
the window.
•When you drag the tempo grid to a new position, it can be magnetic 
to events in the window.
In the Project window, this requires that Snap is activated and “Events” is selected on 
the Snap pop-up menu – the grid will then snap to the start and end of events or parts, 
and to markers. In the Sample Editor, this requires that Snap to Zero Crossings is ac-
tivated – the grid will then snap to hitpoints (if any). In the MIDI editors, this requires 
that Snap is activated – the grid will then snap to the start and end of notes.
•The function will create tempo values up to 300 bpm.
Viewing and adjusting tempo events
When you select the Time Warp tool, the ruler of the active window is 
shown in dark red. Existing tempo events are shown in the ruler as 
“flags” with the tempo values displayed.
This helps you see what’s going on, but you can also use this for edit-
ing the tempo track:
•If you press the create/erase modifier key (by default [Shift]) and click 
on a tempo event in the ruler, it is deleted.
•You can click on a tempo event in the ruler and drag to move it.
This automatically edits the tempo value in the event so that elements to the right keep 
their positions.
•If you press [Alt]/[Option] and move (or delete) a tempo event in the 
ruler, the tempo value is not adjusted – this means elements to the 
right will be moved.
This is the default modifier key for this – you can adjust this in the Preferences dialog 
(Editing-Tool Modifiers page, under the Warp Tool category).  
						

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Using the Time Warp tool in the Project window
In the Project window there are two modes for the Time Warp tool:
• In the default mode, all tracks are temporarily switched to linear time base 
when you use the tool. This means that all tracks will keep their absolute time 
positions when you adjust the tempo track.
• In the “musical events follow” mode, no tracks are switched to linear time 
base. This means that all tracks (that are not set to linear time base) will follow 
the changes you make to the tempo track.
You select the Time Warp mode by selecting the tool, clicking on the 
tool icon and selecting from the pop-up menu that appears.
Matching a musical score to video
Here’s an example of how to use the Time Warp tool in “musical 
events follow” mode. Let’s say you are creating the music for a film. 
You have a video track, an audio track with a commentary and some 
audio and/or MIDI tracks with your music. Now you want to match the 
position of a musical cue to a position in a video film. The musical cue 
happens in bar 33. There are no tempo changes in the project (yet).
1.Make sure tempo track mode is selected in the Transport panel.
2.Now you need to locate the position in the video. If you don’t need 
very high precision, you can simply locate it looking at the thumbnails 
on the video track – otherwise you can pinpoint the exact position and 
add a marker to the Marker track (that you can snap to later on).
You can also make a note of the exact position and add an extra ruler track set to show 
time code.