Steinberg Nuendo 3 Working With MIDI Manual

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The Autoscroll button on the toolbar of each MIDI editor is indepen-
dent for the editor. For example, this means you can have Autoscroll 
deactivated in the Key Editor and activated in the Project window.
The independent track loop function
The independent track loop is a sort of “mini-cycle”, affecting only the 
MIDI part being edited. When the loop is activated, the MIDI events 
within the loop will be repeated continuously and completely indepen-
dent – other events (on other tracks) will be played back as usual. The 
only “interaction” between the loop and the “regular playback” is that 
every time the cycle starts over again, so does the loop.
To set up the independent track loop, proceed as follows:
1.Turn on the loop by clicking on the Loop button on the toolbar.
If it isn’t visible, you need to right-click (Windows) or [Ctrl]-click (Mac) the toolbar and 
add the Independent Track Loop Settings section – see the chapter “Customizing” in 
the Operation Manual.
When the loop is activated, the cycle isn’t shown in the editor’s ruler. 
Now you need to specify the length of the loop:
2.Either [Ctrl]/[Command]-click and [Alt]/[Option]-click in the ruler to 
set the start and end of the loop, respectively…
3.…or edit the loop start and end positions numerically in the fields next 
to the Loop button.
The independent track loop is indicated in dark blue in the ruler.
• The MIDI events will be looped as long as the Loop button is activated 
and the MIDI editor window is open.  
						

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Auditioning
If the speaker icon on the toolbar is activated, individual notes will au-
tomatically be played back (auditioned) when you move or transpose 
them, or when you create new notes by drawing. This makes it easier 
to hear what you’re doing.
Creating and editing notes
To draw new notes in the Key Editor, you use the Pencil tool or the 
Line tool.
Drawing notes with the Pencil tool
With the Pencil tool, you insert single notes by clicking at the desired 
time position (horizontal) and pitch position (vertical).
•When you move the pointer in the note display, its bar position is indi-
cated in the toolbar, and its pitch is indicated both in the toolbar and 
on the piano keyboard to the left.
This makes it easy to find the right note and insert position.
•If Snap is activated, this determines the start position of the created 
note (see page 140).   
						

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•If you just click once, the created note will have the length set on the 
Length Quantize pop-up menu on the toolbar.
You can create a longer note by clicking and dragging the pointer with the mouse but-
ton pressed. The length of the created note will be a multiple of the Length Quantize 
value.
Drawing notes with the Line tool
The Line tool can be used for creating series of contiguous notes. To 
use the Line tool, click and drag to draw a line and then release the 
mouse button.
• The Line tool has several different modes.
To select one of the modes, click on the Line tool icon on the toolbar when the tool is 
already selected. This opens a pop-up menu from which you can select one of the Line 
modes.
The tool icon will change appearance according to the selected mode.
Mode Description
Line This is the default mode for the Line tool. When this mode is selected, 
you click and drag to create a straight line, in any angle. When you re-
lease the mouse button a series of notes will be created, aligned with 
the line. If Snap is activated, the notes will be spaced and sized ac-
cording to the Quantize value.
Parabola, Sine, 
Triangle, SquareThese modes insert events along different curve shapes. While they 
can be used for creating notes, they’re probably best suited for con-
troller editing (see page 109).
Paint Allows you to insert multiple notes by dragging with the mouse button 
pressed. If Snap is activated, the notes will be positioned and sized 
according to the Quantize and Length Quantize values. If you press 
[Ctrl]/[Command] while painting, movement will be restricted to hori-
zontal only (i.e. the painted notes will have the same pitch).  
						

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Setting velocity values
When you draw notes in the key editor, the notes will get the velocity 
value set in the insert velocity field on the toolbar.
You can use one of three different methods for determining the velocity:
•Selecting a predefined velocity value from the insert velocity pop-up 
menu.
The menu contains five different predefined velocity values. The “Setup...” item opens 
a dialog that allows you to specify which five velocity values should be available on the 
pop-up menu (you can also open this dialog by selecting “Insert Velocities...” from the 
MIDI menu).
•Manually entering the desired velocity value by clicking in the insert 
velocity field and typing the desired value.
•Using a key command.
You can assign a key command to each of the five available velocity values in the Key 
Commands dialog (MIDI category – the items Insert Velocity 1-5). This allows for quick 
switching between different velocity values when entering notes. See the chapter “Key 
commands” in the Operation Manual for instructions on how to set up key commands.  
						

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Selecting notes
Selecting notes is done using any of the following methods:
•Use the Arrow tool.
The standard selection techniques apply.
•Use the Select submenu on the Edit menu or Quick menu.
The Select menu options are:
•You can also use the left and right arrow keys on the computer key-
board to step from one note to the next or previous.
If you press [Shift] and use the arrow keys, the current selection will be kept, allowing 
you to select several notes.
•To select all notes of a certain pitch, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click 
on the desired key in the keyboard display to the left.
You can also press [Shift] and double click on a note to select all the following notes of 
the same pitch – or use the Equal Pitch functions on the Select submenu.
Option Description
All Selects all notes in the edited part.
None Deselects all events.
In Loop Selects all notes that are partially or completely inside the 
boundaries of the left and right locators.
From Start to Cursor Selects all notes that begin to the left of the project cursor.
From Cursor to End Selects all notes that end to the right of the project cursor.
Equal Pitch – 
all OctavesThis function requires that a single note is selected. It selects 
all following notes that have the same pitch (in any octave) as 
the currently selected note.
Equal Pitch – 
same OctaveAs above, but selects notes of the exact same pitch only 
(same octave).
All notes of the corresponding 
pitch are selected.  
						

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•If the option “Auto Select Events under Cursor” is activated in the 
Preferences dialog (Editing page), all notes currently “touched” by the 
project cursor are automatically selected.
Moving and transposing notes
To move notes in the editor, use any of the following methods:
•Click and drag to a new position.
All selected notes will be moved, maintaining their relative positions. If Snap is activated, 
this determines to which positions you can move the notes, see page 140.
Note also that you can restrict movement to horizontal or vertical only by 
holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] while dragging.
•Use the up and down arrow keys on the computer keyboard.
This method allows you to transpose the selected notes, without risking to move them 
horizontally. You can also use the Transpose function (see page 69) or the info line 
(see page 85) for this. Note that pressing [Shift] and using the up and down arrow 
keys will transpose notes in steps of one octave.
•Use the Move to Cursor function on the Edit menu.
This moves the selected notes to the project cursor position.
•Select a note and adjust its position or pitch on the info line.
See page 100.
•Use the Move buttons in the Nudge palette on the toolbar.
This moves the selected note(s) by the amount set on the Quantize pop-up menu. 
By default, the Nudge palette isn’t shown on the toolbar – see the chapter “Customiz-
ing” in the Operation Manual for more info.
You can also adjust the position of notes by quantizing (see page 59). 
						

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Duplicating and repeating notes
Notes are duplicated much in the same way as events in the Project 
window:
•Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the note(s) to a new position.
If Snap is on, this determines to which positions you can copy notes (see page 140).
•Selecting Duplicate from the Edit menu creates a copy of the selected 
note and places it directly after the original.
If several notes are selected, all of these are copied “as one unit”, maintaining the rel-
ative distance between the notes.
•Selecting Repeat from the Edit menu opens a dialog, allowing you to 
create a number of copies of the selected note(s).
This works like the Duplicate function, but you can specify the number of copies.
•You can also perform the Repeat function by dragging: Select the 
note(s) to repeat, press [Alt]/[Option], click the right edge of the last 
selected note and drag to the right.
The longer to the right you drag, the more copies (as indicated by the tooltip).
Using cut and paste
You can use the Cut, Copy and Paste options on the Edit menu to 
move or copy material within a part or between different parts. When 
you paste copied notes, you can either use the regular Paste function 
or the Paste Time function on the Edit menu’s Range submenu.
• “Paste” inserts the copied notes at the project cursor position, without affect-
ing existing notes.  
						

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• “Paste Time” inserts at the project cursor position, but moves (and if neces-
sary, splits) existing notes to make room for the pasted notes.
Resizing notes
To resize a note, use one of the following methods:
•Position the arrow tool at the start or end of the note, so that the pointer 
takes on the shape of a small double arrow. Click and drag to the left or 
right to resize the note.
This method allows you to resize the note from either direction.
•Click with the Pencil tool within the note box and drag to the left or the 
right (to make the note shorter or longer, respectively).
With both these methods, the resulting length will be a multiple of the 
Length Quantize value on the toolbar.
•Use the Trim Start/End buttons on the Nudge palette on the toolbar.
This resizes the selected note(s) by moving their start or end positions, in steps ac-
cording to the Length Quantize value on the toolbar. By default, the Nudge palette isn’t 
shown on the toolbar – see the chapter “Customizing” in the Operation Manual for 
more info.
•Select the note and adjust its length on the info line.
See page 100 for details on info line editing.
Selecting “Paste Time” with this data on the clipboard 
and the project cursor here…
…will give you this.    
						

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Splitting notes
There are three ways to split notes:
•Clicking on a note with the Scissors tool splits the note at the position 
you pointed (taking the Snap setting into account if activated).
If several notes are selected, they are all split at the same position if applicable.
•If you select “Split at Cursor”, all notes that are intersected by the 
project cursor are split at the cursor position.
•If you select “Split Loop”, all notes that are intersected by the left or 
right locator are split at the locator positions.
Gluing notes
Clicking on a note with the Glue Tube tool will “glue it together” with 
the next note of the same pitch. The result will be one long note span-
ning from the start of the first note to the end of the second note, and 
with the properties (velocity, etc.) of the first note.
Muting notes
Individual notes can be muted in the Key Editor, as opposed to muting 
an entire MIDI part in the Project window. This allows you to exclude 
notes from playback, but keep the option to bring them back again at 
any time. To mute a note, use one of the following methods:
• Click on it with the Mute tool.
• Drag a rectangle with the Mute tool, enclosing all notes you want to mute.
• Select the note(s) and choose Mute from the Edit menu. 
The default key command for this is [Shift]+[M].
Muted notes are “dimmed” in the note display.
To unmute a note, either click it or enclose it with the Mute tool, or se-
lect it and choose Unmute from the Edit menu. The default key com-
mand for this is [Shift]+[U].   
						

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Deleting notes
To delete notes, either click on them with the Eraser tool or select 
them and press [Backspace].
Editing on the info line
The info line shows the values and properties of the selected event(s). 
If a single event is selected, its values are displayed on the info line. If 
several events are selected, the info line shows the values of the first 
of these events, in yellow.
Several events selected.
You can edit the values on the info line using regular value editing. This 
allows you to move, resize, transpose or change velocity of events in a 
very precise manner. It’s also possible to click the Pitch or Velocity field 
in the info line and play a note on your MIDI keyboard - the pitch or ve-
locity will be adjusted according to the note you played.
• If you have several events selected and change a value, all selected 
events will be changed relatively.
In other words, the value will be changed by an equal amount for all selected events.
• If you have several events selected, hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and 
change a value, the change will be absolute.
In other words, the value setting will be the same for all selected events.