Steinberg Nuendo 3 Operation Manual

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Recording 4 – 71
3.Edit the takes so that only the parts you want to keep can be heard.
You can cut events with the Scissors tool, resize them, mute them or delete them.
The sections that will be heard are indicated in green.
4.When you are satisfied with the result, select all events on all lanes 
and select “Delete Overlaps” from the Advanced submenu on the 
Audio menu.
This puts all events back on a single lane and resizes events so that overlapped sec-
tions are removed.
5.To turn off the lane display mode for the track, click the Lane Display 
Type button in the track list and select “Lanes Off”.
If the button is hidden, you can bring it to view in the Track Controls Settings dialog – 
see page 680.
The Lane Display Type button.    
						

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4 – 72 Recording
Recording with effects
Normally you record the audio signals “dry” and add effects non-de-
structively during playback as described in the chapter “Audio effects”. 
However, Nuendo also allows you to add effects (and/or EQ) directly 
while you are recording. This is done by adding insert effects and/or 
making EQ settings for the input channel in the mixer. Note:
• This will make the effects become part of the audio file itself – you can-
not change the effect settings after recording.
About the record format
When you record with effects you should consider setting the record 
format (bit depth) to 32 Bit Float. This is done in the Project Setup di-
alog on the Project menu. Note that this isn’t required in any way – 
you can record with effects in 24 or 16 Bit format should you so like. 
However, there are two advantages to 32 Bit Float format:
•With 32 Bit Float recording you don’t risk clipping (digital distortion) 
in the recorded files.
This can of course be avoided with 24 or 16 Bit recording as well, but requires more 
care with the levels.
•Nuendo processes audio internally in 32 Bit Float format – recording 
in the same format means the audio quality will be kept absolutely 
pristine.
The reason is that the effect processing in the input channel (as well as any level or EQ 
settings you make there) is done in 32 Bit Float format. If you record at 16 or 24 Bit, 
the audio will be converted to this lower resolution when it’s written to file – with pos-
sible signal degradation as a result.
Note also that it doesn’t matter at which actual resolution your audio 
hardware works. Even if the signal from the audio hardware is in 16 
Bit resolution, the signal will be 32 Bit Float after the effects are 
added in the input channel. 
						

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An example
This example shows how to apply the “Datube” effect while recording. 
Datube emulates the soft clipping distortion produced by valve ampli-
fiers, and adds “warmth” to the recording. Note that this is only an ex-
ample, you could use any effect (or any combination of effects), the 
principle is the same.
1.Set up an audio track for recording and select the desired input bus.
Also, for best results you should activate monitoring as this allows you to hear and try 
out your settings before actually recording. See page 61 for a description of monitor-
ing via Nuendo.
2.Open the Mixer and make sure the full extended view is shown.
3.Locate the input channel (bus) from which you record.
If the input channels are hidden, click on the Show/Hide Input Channels button to the 
left.
4.Check the input level (of the signal coming into the audio hardware) 
as described on page 59 and adjust the level of the source audio if 
necessary.
Click here to show the 
extended panel.   
						

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4 – 74 Recording
5.Pull down the View Options pop-up menu for the input channel and 
select “Inserts”.
The View Options pop-up menu is opened by clicking the arrow button between the 
fader panel and the extended panel.
Now the extended panel for the input channel shows the insert slots.
6.Click on an insert slot and select an effect from the pop-up menu that 
appears.
As you see, the included effects are sorted into submenus – you will find the Datube 
effect on the “Distortion” submenu.
The effect is loaded and activated and its control panel is automati-
cally opened.
7.Adjust the Drive (the pre-gain of the “amplifier” – higher settings will 
produce more distortion) and Balance (controls the balance between 
the unprocessed (dry) signal and the effect output) parameters to 
your liking.
8.When the effect is set up as desired, you can check the level of the in-
put channel by setting the Meters to post-fader (see page 59). 
Use the input channel fader to adjust the level if needed.
9.Activate recording.
10.When you’re finished you can play back the recorded audio track. 
As you can hear, the effect you applied is now a part of the actual audio file.
11.If you don’t want to record more with the same plug-in, you should de-
activate it by clicking in the insert slot and selecting “No Effect”.   
						

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Recording 4 – 75
MIDI recording specifics
Activating MIDI Thru
As described in the Getting Started book, the normal way to work with 
MIDI is to have MIDI Thru activated in Nuendo, and Local Off selected 
in your MIDI Instrument(s). In this mode, everything you play during re-
cording will be “echoed” back out again on the MIDI output and chan-
nel selected for the recording track.
1.Make sure the option “MIDI Thru Active” is activated in the Preferences 
dialog (MIDI page).
2.Record enable the track(s) on which you want to record.
Now, incoming MIDI is “echoed” back out again, for all record enabled MIDI tracks. 
• If you just want to use the Thru function for a MIDI track without record-
ing, activate the monitor button for the track instead.
This is useful e.g. if you want to try out different sounds or play a VST instrument in real 
time without recording your playing.
Setting MIDI channel, input and output
Setting the MIDI channel in the instrument
Most MIDI synthesizers can play several sounds at the same time, each 
on a different MIDI channel. This is the key to playing back several 
sounds (bass, piano etc.) from the same instrument. Some devices 
(such as General MIDI compatible sound modules) always receive on 
all 16 MIDI channels. If you have such an instrument, there’s no specific 
setting you need to make in the instrument. On other instruments you 
will have to use the front panel controls to set up a number of “Parts”, 
“Timbres” or similar so that they receive on one MIDI channel each. See 
the manual that came with your instrument for more information.
Record Enable button. Monitor button.  
						

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4 – 76 Recording
Naming MIDI ports in Nuendo
MIDI inputs and outputs can often be shown with unnecessarily long 
and complicated names. If you wish, you can rename your MIDI ports 
to more descriptive names:
1.Open the Device Setup dialog from the Devices menu.
2.Select the Windows MIDI or DirectMusic (Win) or MIDI System (Mac) 
device in the Device list.
The available MIDI inputs and outputs are listed. Under Windows, which device to 
choose depends on your system.
3.To change the name of a MIDI port, click in the Device column and 
type in a new name.
After closing the dialog, the new names will appear on the MIDI “in:” and “out:” pop-ups.
Setting the MIDI input in the Inspector
You select MIDI inputs for tracks in the Inspector – the area to the left 
of the Track list in the Project window:
1.If the Inspector is hidden, click the Show Inspector button on the tool-
bar.
2.Select the track(s) by clicking in the Track list.
To select multiple tracks, press [Shift] or [Ctrl]/[Command] and click. The Inspector 
shows the settings for the first selected track (for details, see page 98).
3.Click the track headline in the Inspector to make sure the topmost 
section is shown.   
						

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Recording 4 – 77
4.Pull down the “in” pop-up menu and select an input.
The available MIDI inputs are shown. The items on the menu depend on the type of 
MIDI interface you are using etc. 
•If you select the “All MIDI Inputs” option, the track will receive MIDI 
data from all available MIDI inputs.
•If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] and select a MIDI input, this is selected 
for all MIDI tracks.
•If you hold down [Shift] and select a MIDI input, this is selected for all 
selected MIDI tracks.
•If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and select a MIDI input, this is se-
lected for all MIDI tracks within the same folder track (see page 103).   
						

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Setting the MIDI channel and output
The MIDI channel and output settings determine where the recorded 
MIDI is routed during playback, but are also relevant for MIDI Thru in 
Nuendo. Channel and output can be selected in the Track list or in the 
Inspector. The procedure below describes how to make the settings 
in the Inspector, but it can be done in largely the same manner in the 
Track list as well.
1.To select the track(s) and show the settings in the Inspector, proceed 
as when selecting a MIDI input (see above).
2.Pull down the “out:” pop-up menu and select an output.
The available MIDI outputs are shown. The items on the menu depend on what type of 
MIDI interface you are using etc.
• If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] and select a MIDI output, this is selected for all 
MIDI tracks.
• If you hold down [Shift] and select a MIDI output, this is selected for all se-
lected MIDI tracks.
• If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and select a MIDI output, this is selected 
for all MIDI tracks within the same folder track (see page 103).
3.Use the “chn” pop-up menu to select a MIDI channel for the track.
•If you set the track to MIDI channel “Any”, each MIDI event on the 
track will be sent out on the channel stored in the event itself.
In other words, the MIDI material will be played back on the channel(s) used by the 
MIDI input device (the MIDI instrument you play during recording).   
						

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Recording 4 – 79
Selecting a sound
You can select sounds from within Nuendo, by instructing the program 
to send Program Change and Bank Select messages to your MIDI de-
vice. This is done using the “prg” and “bnk” value fields in the Inspector 
or Track list.
Program Change messages give access to 128 different program lo-
cations. If your MIDI instruments have more than 128 programs, Bank 
Select messages (set in the “bnk” value field) allow you to select dif-
ferent banks, each containing 128 programs.
• Bank Select messages are recognized differently by different MIDI instru-
ments. Also, the structure and numbering of banks and programs may 
vary. Consult the documentation of your MIDI instruments for details.
• Note that it is also possible to select sounds by name. For descriptions 
of how to set this up, see the “MIDI Devices” chapter in the separate 
PDF document “Working with MIDI”.   
						

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4 – 80 Recording
Recording
Recording MIDI is done according to the basic recording methods 
(see page 49). When you finish recording, a part containing MIDI 
events is created in the Project window.
About overlap and the Rec Mode setting
MIDI tracks are different from audio tracks when it comes to overlap-
ping parts:
• All events in overlapping parts are always played back.
If you record several parts at the same locations (or move parts so that they overlap), 
you will hear the events in all parts on playback, even though some of the parts are ob-
scured in the Project window.
When recording overlapping parts, the result depends on the Rec 
Mode setting on the Transport panel:
• If Rec Mode is set to “Normal”, overdub recording works as with audio tracks, 
i.e. if you record again where something has already been recorded, you get a 
new part that overlaps the previous one(s).
• If Rec Mode is set to “Merge”, the overdubbed events are added to the exist-
ing part.
• If Rec Mode is set to “Replace”, the new recording replaces any existing 
events in the area on that track.
About punch in and out on MIDI tracks
Performing and setting up manual and automatic punch in/out record-
ing for MIDI tracks is done in exactly the same way as for audio tracks. 
There is one thing to note, however: 
•Punching in and out on recordings with Pitch Bend or controller data 
(modulation wheel, sustain pedal, volume etc.) may lead to strange ef-
fects (apparently hanging notes, constant vibrato etc.).
If this happens, you may need to use the Reset item on the MIDI menu (see page 84).