Steinberg Nuendo 4 Manual

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VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
VST plug-ins (with higher delay than the threshold 
value) which are activated for VST Instrument channels, 
audio track channels that are record enabled, group chan-
nels and output channels will be turned off when you acti-
vate Constrain Delay Compensation.
VST plug-ins activated for FX channels are not turned 
off but their delay is disregarded by the program (delay 
compensation is turned off).
After recording or using a VST Instrument with Constrain 
Delay...

15
Surround sound 

203
Surround sound
Background
What is Surround sound?
Surround is a common name for various techniques for 
positioning audio in reference to the listener. Whereas 
regular stereo is limited to left/right positioning, within a 
relatively narrow field, surround sound opens possibilities 
of positioning an audio source anywhere around the lis-
tener.
Surround sound comes in many flavors, from the ill-fated 
Quadraphonic format for vinyl discs launched in the 70s, 
to today’s more successful incarnations....

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Surround sound
About surround plug-ins
Included with the program are some specific surround-
plug-ins. These are:
MatrixEncoder and MatrixDecoder.
These are used for working with LRCS Surround encoded material. In 
LRCS Surround, four audio channels are converted to two channels, for 
distribution via regular video and broadcast formats. These plug-ins per-
form such conversions (in both ways) and are compatible with the LRCS 
Surround format.
Mixconvert
Mixconvert gives you an easy way to take...

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Surround sound
Surround in the mixer
Surround sound is supported throughout every stage of 
the signal path in the Nuendo mixer, from input to output 
bus. Each bus or audio channel can carry up to 12 sur-
round speaker channels.
In the output channel section of the mixer you can control 
the master levels for configured busses. The level meter 
for a bus (or channel in the mixer) that carries multiple sur-
round channels will show multiple level bars, one for each 
speaker channel in the surround...

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Surround sound LRC
Same as LRCS, but without the surround speaker chan-
nel.
LRS
Left-Right-Surround, with the surround speaker posi-
tioned at center-rear.
LRC+Lfe
Same as LRC but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
LRS+Lfe
Same as LRS but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
Quadro
The original Quadraphonic format for music, with one 
speaker in each corner. This format was intended for vinyl 
record players.
LRCS+Lfe
Same as LRCS but with an Lfe sub-channel added.
Quadro+Lfe
Same as Quadro but with an Lfe...

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Surround sound
Child busses
Essentially a child bus is a bus within a (bigger) bus. Typi-
cally you may want stereo child busses within your sur-
round bus – this allows you to route stereo tracks directly 
to a stereo speaker pair within the surround bus. You may 
also want to add child busses in other surround formats 
(with fewer channels than the “parent bus”).
Once you have created a surround bus, you can add one or 
several child busses to it by right-clicking the bus and se-
lecting “Add Child...

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Surround sound
If you have added a child bus within a surround bus (see 
above), it appears as a submenu item within the surround 
bus on the output routing pop-up menu. Select this to 
route a stereo audio channel directly to that stereo 
speaker pair in the surround bus.
Using the Surround Panner
Nuendo has a special feature for graphically positioning a 
sound source in a surround field. This is actually a special 
plug-in which distributes the audio from the channel in 
various proportions to the...

209
Surround sound
The SurroundPan controls
The SurroundPan plug-in interface in Standard, Position and Angle 
mode, respectively.
The SurroundPan plug-in allows you to position your au-
dio in the surround field. It consists of an image of the 
speaker arrangement, as defined by the output bus se-
lected on the output routing pop-up menu, with the sound 
source indicated as a gray ball. 
Mode – Standard/Position/Angle
The Standard Mode/Position Mode/Angle Mode switch 
allows you to work in three modes:...

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Surround sound
In Angle Mode, a red arc helps you determine the per-
ceived “range” of a source. The sound will be at its loud-
est in the middle of the arc and will have dropped in level 
towards the ends.
Exactly how levels are handled may require some explana-
tion:
When you move a source around, a number will indicate 
the loudness in each speaker.
This is a value in dB (decibel) and is relative to the nominal level of the 
source. In other words, 0.0 (dB) represents full level.
If you position...