Steinberg Nuendo 3 Working With MIDI Manual

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Track Control
The Track Control effect contains three ready-made control panels for 
adjusting parameters on a GS or XG compatible MIDI device. The 
Roland GS and Yamaha XG protocols are extensions of the General 
MIDI standard, allowing for more sounds and better control of various 
instrument settings. If your instrument is compatible with GS or XG, 
the Track Controls effect allows you to adjust sounds and effects in 
your instrument from within Nuendo.
Selecting a control panel
At the top of the Track Controls effect window you will find a pop-up 
menu. This is where you select which of the available control panels to 
use:
Control panel Description
GS Basic Controls Effect sends and various sound control parameters for use with 
instruments compatible with the Roland GS standard.
XG Effect + Sends Effect Sends and various sound control parameters for use with 
instruments compatible with the Yamaha XG standard.
XG Global Global settings (affecting all channels) for instruments compati-
ble with the Yamaha XG standard.  
						

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About the Reset and Off buttons
Regardless of the selected mode, you will find two buttons labelled 
“Off” and “Reset” at the top of the control panel:
• Clicking the Off button will set all controls to their lowest value, without send-
ing out any MIDI messages.
• Clicking the Reset button will set all parameters to their default values, and 
send out the corresponding MIDI messages.
For most parameters, the default values will be zero or “no adjustment”, but there are 
exceptions to this. For example, the default Reverb Send settings are 64.
GS Basic Controls
The following controls are available when the GS Basic Controls 
mode is selected:
Control Description
Send 1 Send level for the reverb effect. 
Send 2 Send level for the chorus effect.
Send 3 Send level for the “variation” effect.
Attack Adjusts the attack time of the sound. Lowering the value shortens the at-
tack, while raising it gives a slower attack. Middle position (64) means no 
adjustment is made.
Decay Adjusts the decay time of the sound. Lowering the value shortens the 
decay, while raising it makes the decay longer.
Release Adjusts the release time of the sound. Lowering the value shortens the 
release, while raising it makes the release time longer.
Cutoff Adjusts the filter cutoff frequency.
Resonance Adjusts the filter resonance.
Express Allows you to send out expression pedal messages on the track’s MIDI 
channel.
Press. Allows you to send out aftertouch (channel pressure) messages on the 
track’s MIDI channel. This is useful if your keyboard cannot send after-
touch, but you have sound modules that respond to aftertouch. The default 
value for this parameter is zero.
Breath Allows you to send breath control messages on the track’s MIDI channel.
Modul. Allows you to send modulation messages on the track’s MIDI channel 
(just as you normally do with a modulation wheel on a MIDI keyboard). 
						

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XG Effects + Sends
The following controls are available when the XG Effects + Sends 
mode is selected:
Control Description
Send 1 Send level for the reverb effect. 
Send 2 Send level for the chorus effect.
Send 3 Send level for the “variation” effect.
Attack Adjusts the attack time of the sound. Lowering this value shortens the at-
tack, while raising it gives a slower attack. Middle position means no ad-
justment is made.
Release Adjusts the release time of the sound. Lowering this value shortens the 
release, while raising it makes the release time longer. Middle position 
means no adjustment is made.
Harm.Cont Adjusts the harmonic content of the sound.
Bright Adjusts the brightness of the sound.
CutOff Adjusts the filter cutoff frequency.
Resonance Adjusts the filter resonance. 
						

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XG Global Settings
In this mode, the parameters affect global settings in the instrument(s). 
Changing one of these settings for a track will in fact affect all MIDI in-
struments connected to the same MIDI output, regardless of the MIDI 
channel setting of the track. Therefore, to avoid confusion it might be a 
good idea to create an empty track and use this only for these global 
settings.
The following controls are available:
Control Description
Eff. 1 This allows you to select which type of reverb effect should be used: No 
effect (the reverb turned off), Hall 1-2, Room 1-3, Stage 1-2 or Plate.
Eff. 2 This allows you to select which type of chorus effect should be used: No 
effect (the chorus turned off), Chorus 1-3, Celeste 1-3 or Flanger 1-2.
Eff. 3 This allows you to select one of a large number of “variation” effect types. 
Selecting “No Effect” is the same as turning off the variation effect.
Reset Sends an XG reset message.
MastVol This is used to control the Master Volume of an instrument. Normally you 
should leave this in its highest position and set the volumes individually 
for each channel (with the volume faders in the Nuendo mixer or in the 
Inspector). 
						

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MIDI realtime parameters and effects 1 – 55
Track FX
This plug-in is essentially a duplicate of the Track Parameter section. 
This can be useful if you e.g. need extra Random or Range settings, or 
if you prefer to have your track parameters in a separate window (to 
get this, [Alt]/[Option]-click the Edit button for the effect).
The Track FX also includes an additional function that isn’t available 
among the track parameters:
Scale Transpose
This allows you to transpose each incoming MIDI note, so that it fits 
within a selected musical scale. The scale is specified by selecting a 
key (C, C#, D, etc.) and a scale type (major, melodic or harmonic mi-
nor, blues, etc.).
• To turn Scale Transpose off, select “No Scale” from the Scale pop-up 
menu.  
						

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Transformer
The Transformer is a real-time version of the Logical Editor. With this 
you can perform very powerful MIDI processing on the fly, without af-
fecting the actual MIDI events on the track.
The Logical Editor is described starting on page 211. As the parame-
ters and functions are almost identical, the descriptions for the Logical 
Editor also apply to the Transformer. Where there are differences be-
tween the two, this is clearly stated.  
						

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MIDI processing and quantizing 
						

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Introduction
This chapter describes the various MIDI processing functions available 
on the MIDI menu. These offer various ways to change MIDI notes and 
other events, in the Project window or within a MIDI editor.
MIDI functions vs. track parameters
In some cases, the result of a MIDI function can also be obtained by 
using MIDI track parameters and effects (see page 8). For example, the 
MIDI functions transpose and quantize are also available as a track pa-
rameter and a MIDI effect, respectively. The main difference is that 
track parameters don’t affect the actual MIDI events on the track in any 
way, while MIDI functions change the events “permanently” (although 
recent changes can be undone). Use the following guidelines to de-
cide which path to choose:
• If you want to adjust a few parts or events only, use MIDI functions. The track 
parameters and effects affect the output of the whole track (although they can 
be made permanent in a specific area with the Merge MIDI in Loop function).
• If you want to experiment with different settings, track parameters can be the 
best way to go.
• Track parameter settings are not reflected in the MIDI editors, since the actual 
MIDI events aren’t affected. This can be potentially confusing; if you’ve e.g. 
transposed notes using track parameters, the MIDI editors will still show the 
notes with their original pitch (but they will play back at their transposed pitch). 
MIDI functions can be a better way in those cases.
Of course, there are also MIDI functions that have no track parameter 
counterpart, and vice versa.
What is affected by the MIDI functions?
Which events are affected when you use a MIDI function depends on 
the function, the active window and the current selection:
• A MIDI function may only apply to MIDI events of a certain type.
For example, quantization affects notes only, while the Delete Controllers function ob-
viously applies to MIDI controller events.
• In the Project window, the MIDI functions apply to all selected parts, affecting 
all events (of the relevant types) in them.
• In the MIDI editors, the MIDI functions apply to all selected events. If no 
events are selected, all events in the edited part(s) will be affected. 
						

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Quantizing
What is quantizing?
Quantizing in its fundamental form is a function that automatically 
moves recorded notes, positioning them on exact note values:
However, quantizing is not only a method of correcting errors, it can 
also be used creatively in various ways. For example, the “quantize 
grid” does not have to consist of perfectly straight notes, some notes 
can automatically be excluded from quantizing, etc.
• When quantizing MIDI, only notes are affected (not other event types).
It is also possible to quantize audio events, which is especially useful when working 
with Nuendo’s loop slicing features – see the chapter “Working with hitpoints and 
slices” in the Operation Manual.
For example, if you record a series of eighth notes, some of them may end up slightly 
beside the exact eighth note positions.
Quantizing the notes with the quantize grid set to eighth notes 
will move the “misplaced” notes to exact positions.    
						

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Setting Up
At its most basic, setting up quantizing consists of selecting a note 
value from the Quantize pop-up menu on the toolbar (in the Project 
window or a MIDI editor).
Straight note values
Triplet note values
Dotted note values