Steinberg Nuendo 3 Working With MIDI Manual

							NUENDOWorking with System Exclusive messages 6 – 241
1.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu (on the Mac, this is 
located on the Nuendo menu) and select the MIDI–MIDI Filter page.
This allows you to govern which MIDI event types should be recorded and/or thru-put.
2.Deactivate the Sysex checkbox in the Record section, but make sure 
the Sysex checkbox in the Thru section is activated.
With this setting (shown in the figure above) SysEx messages will be recorded but not 
echoed back out to the instrument (which could lead to strange results).
3.Activate recording on a MIDI track and initiate the dump from the front 
panel of the instrument.
4.When done recording, select the new part and open the List Editor 
from the MIDI menu.
This allows you to check that the System Exclusive dump was recorded – there should 
be one or several SysEx events in the part/event list.
If your MIDI instrument doesn’t offer a way to initiate a dump “by itself”, 
you have to send a Dump Request message from Nuendo to start the 
dump. You will then have to use the MIDI SysEx Editor (see page 244) to 
insert the specific Dump Request message (see the instrument’s docu-
mentation) at the beginning of a MIDI track. When you activate recording, 
the Dump Request message will be played back (sent to the instrument), 
the dump will start and be recorded as above.   
						

							NUENDO6 – 242 Working with System Exclusive messages
Transmitting a bulk dump back to a device
1.Make sure the MIDI track with the System Exclusive data is routed to 
the device.
You may want to check your device’s documentation to find details about which MIDI 
channel should be used, etc.
2.Solo the track.
This might not be necessary, but it is a good safety measure.
3.Make sure the device is set up to receive System Exclusive data (often, 
the reception of SysEx is turned off by default).
4.If necessary, put the device in “Standby to Receive System Exclusive” 
mode.
5.Play back the data.
Some advice
• Don't transmit more data than you need. If all you want is a single program, 
don't send them all, it will only make it harder to find the one you want. Usually, 
you can specify exactly what you want to send.
• If you want the sequencer to dump the pertinent sounds to your instrument 
each time you load a project, put the SysEx data in a silent “count-in” before 
the project itself starts.
• If the dump is very short (for instance, a single sound) you can put it in the 
middle of the project to re-program a device on the fly. However, you can 
achieve the same effect by using Program Change. This is definitely prefera-
ble, since less MIDI data is sent and recorded. Some devices may be set up 
to dump the settings for a sound as soon as you select it on the front panel.
• If you create parts with useful “SysEx dumps”, you can put these on a special 
muted track. When you want to use one of them, drag it to an empty unmuted 
track and play it back from there.
• Do not transmit several SysEx dumps to several instruments at the same time.
• Make a note of the current device ID setting of the instrument. If you change 
this, the instrument may refuse to load the dump later. 
						

							NUENDOWorking with System Exclusive messages 6 – 243
Recording System Exclusive parameter 
changes
Often you can use System Exclusive to remotely change individual 
settings in a device, open up a filter, select a waveform, change the 
decay of the reverb etc. Many devices are also capable of transmitting 
changes made on the front panel as System Exclusive messages. 
These can be recorded in Nuendo, and thus incorporated into a regu-
lar MIDI recording.
Here's how it works: let's say you open up a filter while playing some 
notes. In that case, you will record both the notes and the System Ex-
clusive messages generated by your opening of the filter. When you 
play it back, the sound changes exactly like it did when you recorded it.
1.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu (on the Mac, this is 
located on the Nuendo menu), select the MIDI–MIDI Filter page and 
make sure that System Exclusive is recorded.
2.Make sure the instrument is actually set to transmit front panel control 
movements as System Exclusive data.
3.Record normally.
When you’re done, you can check that the events were recorded properly in the List 
Editor. 
						

							NUENDO6 – 244 Working with System Exclusive messages
Editing System Exclusive messages
While System Exclusive events are shown in the List Editor/Project 
Browser, their entire content is not (only the beginning of the message 
is displayed in the Comment column for the event). Furthermore, you 
cannot edit the event (other than moving it) as you can with other event 
types in the List Editor.
Instead, you use the MIDI SysEx Editor for this.
•To open the MIDI SysEx Editor for an event, click in the Comments 
column for the event in the List Editor/Project Browser.
The display shows the entire message on one or several lines. All Sys-
tem Exclusive messages always begin with F0 and end with F7 with a 
number of arbitrary bytes in between. If the message contains more 
bytes than fit on one line, it continues on the next. The Address indica-
tion to the left helps you find out on which position in the message a 
certain value resides.  
						

							NUENDOWorking with System Exclusive messages 6 – 245
Selecting and viewing values
To select a value, either click on it or use the cursor keys. The selected 
byte is indicated in various formats:
• In the main display, values are shown in hexadecimal format.
• To the right of this, values are shown in ASCII format.
• At the bottom of the dialog, the selected value is shown in binary and decimal 
formats.
Editing a value
The selected value can be edited directly in the main display or in the 
decimal and binary displays. Just click on it and type in the desired 
value as usual.
Adding and deleting bytes
Using the Insert and Delete buttons, or their corresponding computer 
keyboard keys, you can add and delete bytes from the message. In-
serted data will appear before the selection.
Importing and exporting data
The Import and Export buttons allow you to get SysEx data from disk 
and to export the edited data to a file. The file format used is called 
“MIDI SysEx” (.SYX), in which data is saved exactly as is, in a binary 
file. Only the first dump in a .SYX file will be loaded.
This format should not be confused with MIDI files. 
						

							NUENDO6 – 246 Working with System Exclusive messages 
						

							7
VST Instruments 
						

							NUENDO
7 – 248 VST Instruments
Introduction
VST Instruments are software synthesizers (or other sound sources) 
that are contained within Nuendo. They are played internally via MIDI, 
and their audio outputs appear on separate channels in the mixer, al-
lowing you to add effects or EQ, just as with audio tracks.
Some VST Instruments are included with Nuendo, others can be pur-
chased separately from Steinberg and other manufacturers. The fol-
lowing VST Instruments are included and installed with Nuendo:
•A1 – a software synthesizer powered by Waldorf.
•VB-1 – a virtual bass instrument built on real-time physical modelling 
principles.
•Embracer - a simple but powerful polyphonic synthesizer designed 
entirely for producing pads and accompaniment sounds.
•Monologue - a monophonic analog synthesizer based on physical 
modeling technology.
•LM-7 – a 24 bit drum machine.
• This chapter describes the general procedures for setting up and using 
VST Instruments.
For descriptions of the included VST Instruments and their parameters, see the sepa-
rate pdf document “Audio Effects and VST Instruments”. 
						

							NUENDO
VST Instruments 7 – 249
Activating and using VST Instruments
1.Pull down the Devices menu and select VST Instruments.
The VST Instruments panel appears with 64 slots. 
2.Pull down the pop-up menu for an empty slot in the panel and select 
the desired instrument.
The instrument is loaded and activated, and its control panel is automatically opened.
•If you look in the Project window, you will find that a special “folder” for 
the chosen instrument has been added, within a “VST Instruments” 
folder (where all your VST Instruments will appear).
The separate folder for the added instrument contains two or more automation tracks: 
one for automating the plug-in parameters and one for each mixer channel used by the 
VST Instrument. For example, if you add a VST Instrument with four separate outputs 
(four separate mixer channels), the folder will contain five automation tracks. To keep 
the screen less cluttered, you may want to close the folder for the VST Instrument until 
you need to view or edit any of the automation tracks.
For more about automation, see the chapter “Automation” in the Operation Manual.
3.Select the mixer channel automation track(s) for the VST Instrument 
and use the “Out” pop-up menu in the Inspector to route them to the 
desired output channels or groups.
You can also do this from the mixer.
4.Select an unused MIDI track in the Project window.  
						

							NUENDO
7 – 250 VST Instruments
5.Pull down the output pop-up menu for the MIDI track in the Track list 
or in the Inspector.
The pop-up menu will now contain an additional item, with the name of the activated 
VST Instrument.
6.Select the VST Instrument on the MIDI output pop-up menu.
The MIDI output from the track is now routed to the selected instrument. 
7.Depending on the selected instrument, you may also need to select a 
MIDI channel for the track.
For example, a multi-timbral VST Instrument can play back different sounds on different 
MIDI channels – check the instrument’s documentation for MIDI implementation details.
8.Make sure the option “MIDI Thru Active” is activated in the Preferences 
dialog (MIDI page).
9.Click the Monitor button for the MIDI track (in the Track list, Inspector 
or mixer). 
When this is activated (or when the track is record enabled, see the chapter “Record-
ing” in the Operation Manual) incoming MIDI is passed on to the selected MIDI output 
(in this case the VST Instrument).
10.Open the mixer.
You will find one or more additional channel strips for the instrument’s audio outputs. 
VST Instrument channel strips have the same features and functionality as group chan-
nel strips, with the addition of an Edit button at the bottom of the strip for opening the 
VST Instrument control panel. You will also find output routing pop-up menus at the 
top of the channel strips, for routing the VST Instrument channel(s) to output channels 
or groups.
11.Play the instrument from your MIDI keyboard.
You can use the mixer settings to adjust the sound, add EQ or effects, etc. – just as 
with regular audio channels. Of course, you can also record or manually create MIDI 
parts that play back sounds from the VST Instrument.