Steinberg Nuendo 4 Operation Manual

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Automation
Now, re-touch the fader and move it towards the original 
value. As soon as you cross the original curve, punch-out 
occurs automatically.
Automation mode: Cross-Over
Trim
This is described in the section “Trim” on page 224.
Automation mode: global or different for each 
track?
The automation mode you set on the Automation panel (or 
in the Project window toolbar) is used globally, i. e. for all 
tracks of your project.
However, you may also select a different automation mode 
for individual tracks:
Open the topmost Inspector section for a track for 
which you require a different automation mode, and from 
the Track Automation Mode pop-up menu, select the de-
sired automation mode.When selecting the Global option from the pop-up 
menu, the track will again use the automation mode se-
lected from the toolbar or the Automation panel.
Note that you can use the option “All track modes to Global” in the Key 
Commands dialog–Automation category to set up a key command that 
will reset all tracks to using the global automation mode.
The Read/Write buttons in the Mode section
At the bottom of the Mode section, you find two Read and 
two Write buttons. These are used to globally enable or 
disable the Read and Write buttons on all tracks.
The All Automation to Read/Write buttons in the Mode section.
Click “All Automation to Write” to enable all Write but-
tons (and, at the same time, all Read buttons) on all 
tracks/channels of your project.
Clicking “All Automation Write off” will disable all Write buttons. The 
Read buttons will remain enabled.
Click “All Automation to Read” to enable all Read but-
tons on all tracks/channels of your project.
Clicking “All Automation Read off” will disable all Read buttons.
The various other Read and Write buttons on the Nuendo 
interface are described in detail in the section “Enabling 
and disabling the writing of automation data” on page 214.
Selecting an automation 
mode for an individual track.
!When selecting Trim as the automation mode for a 
track (see “Trim” on page 224), the punch-out be-
havior will always be as in Auto-Latch. 
						

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Automation
Automation performance utilities
The automation modes described above become far more 
effective when used in combination with the Nuendo auto-
mation performance utilities. These are a number of op-
tions and functions tailored to specific situations, allowing 
you to write automation data quickly and efficiently. You 
will find these utilities in the various sections on the Auto-
mation panel. 
The Fill options
The Fill options define conditions for what is to happen in 
a specific section of your project when you punch-out of a 
running automation pass. They can be used in real-time 
while rolling through your project, in situations that are not 
too complex. Look at these two examples:
Fill To End
Imagine you are automating volume for the background 
tracks of a two-minute scene. Rather than to hold on to 
the fader for two minutes, you can proceed as follows: 
1.Open the Automation panel and select Touch as your 
automation mode.
2.Click the “To End” button once to activate it as Fill op-
tion.
The “To End” button is highlighted. 
3.Start rolling and touch the parameter control to punch-
in the automation pass.4.Move the fader until you have found the setting you 
want, and release the fader.
This will punch-out the writing of automation data. As you let go of the 
fader, the automation curve will take the found value setting, from where 
you punched out through to the end of the project.
Fill To End
Fill To Punch
Let’s say you are rolling, in real-time, over a scene cut and 
volume must be softer in the next scene – you don’t yet 
know how much softer, but the change in volume from the 
first to the second scene must be abrupt.
1.Select Touch as automation mode and “Fill To Punch” 
as Fill option.
2.Start rolling somewhere during the first scene and 
touch the fader on the moment of scene change.
The automation pass is punched in.
3.Move the fader until you have found the volume setting 
you need in the second scene, and release the fader to 
punch-out.
The volume curve is set from the point of punch-out back to where you 
punched in. The values written while moving the fader to find the right 
value are deleted, and volume jumps, at exactly the right moment, from 
the value set in the first scene to the value found for the second scene.
You will find this works the same for the other Fill options:
When “To Start” is selected, punching out of automa-
tion will fill the automation track from where you punched 
out to the start of the project. 
						

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Automation
To use the Loop option, you must first set up a loop 
range with the left and right locators. When you then se-
lect Loop, punching out of automation will set the found 
value within the range defined by the left and right locator.
Note that, even when the project cursor is outside the defined loop, the 
found automation value will be applied only between the locators.
Fill Loop
The Gaps option is used only in combination with Virgin 
Territory. This is explained in detail in the section “Virgin 
territory vs. the initial value” on page 217. When Gaps is 
selected, punching out of automation will fill any gaps be-
tween previously written automation with the last value 
found during the last automation pass.
Fill combinations
You can also combine the various Fill options. 
Select “To Punch” and “To End” if you want the found 
value to be used from where you punched in through to 
the end of your project. 
Combining Fill To Punch and Fill To End
Combining “To Start” and “To End” will fill the automation 
track from the beginning through to the end of the project.
Combining Fill To Start and Fill To End
You can also combine the Fill options with the Preview 
options (see “The Preview options” on page 225), and 
when working offline with the Pencil tool.
Offline editing is explained in more detail in the section “Editing automa-
tion events” on page 235). This is a very fast and efficient way to move 
through your project.
Feel free to experiment!
!The Fill options write one particular value across a 
defined section of your automation track – any previ-
ously created data within this section is overwritten. 
Therefore, use the Fill options with caution, to avoid 
accidental loss of data.
!Note that when Trim is active, the Fill–Gaps option 
will have no effect. This is because Trim will only 
modify already existing data. 
						

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Automation
One shot vs. continuous fill
The Fill options can be used in two different ways:
When you click one of the Fill options once, it is high-
lighted, and will be enabled during the next automation 
pass.
Afterwards, the option is disabled again, i. e. the operation can be per-
formed only once.
If you click a Fill option a second time, a lock symbol is 
displayed on the highlighted button, indicating that you 
are permanently in “Fill to X” mode and that the operation 
can be repeated as many times as you wish.
Clicking the option for a third time will disable this Fill option.
Trim
Trim is available from the Automation panel only. Trim is a 
way of manipulating an already written automation curve, 
other, rather than an automation mode. 
ÖTrim works for channel volume and aux send level 
adjustments.
When enabling Trim, a channel volume fader is positioned 
in the exact middle position, and will not move with any ex-
isting volume automation curve.
You can use Trim either in Stop mode or in Play mode.
Trim in Stop mode
In Stop mode, selecting one of the Fill options and moving 
the fader in Trim mode will move the entire existing volume 
automation curve up or down, so you can still adjust the 
overall volume of a channel without destroying any auto-
mation data that you might have created earlier.
In Stop mode, Trim is used in combination with some of 
the Fill options (see “The Fill options” on page 222), to 
determine within which range the automation curve is ad-
justed.
The Fill options available are To Start, To End, Loop and any combination 
of these.
Trim in Play mode
In Play mode, moving the fader in Trim mode will move the 
existing break-points by a relative amount as the project 
cursor passes over them.
In Play mode, as the project cursor moves along the 
timeline, your Trim moves will adjust the existing break-
points on the automation curve. 
ÖNote that the exact result of your trim moves in Play 
mode will only be visible after punch-out.
Trim in Play mode, in combination with Fill to Punch. Note that you 
would arrive at a similar curve when enabling Trim, setting the left and 
right locators, selecting Fill Loop and moving the fader downwards in 
Stop mode.
ÖNote that Trim is not merely a matter of rewriting the 
automation curve using the fader movements you perform. 
Instead, the settings from the existing curve and the set-
tings calculated from your fader movements are used to 
re-calculate the automation curve as soon as you punch-
out. 
						

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Automation
The Preview options
Preview provides an easy way to find new settings without 
recording the steps needed to locate them:
Preview allows you to deal with abrupt changes in your 
audio material, e. g. in music when changing from verse to 
chorus, or in film when moving into the next scene.
With Preview, you can do a test run of your automation 
pass. 
Preview is the mode to use in complex situations where 
many things happen in a very short period of time, and 
where it is not possible to set all required parameters in 
real-time.
Preview allows you to set up automation for several pa-
rameters simultaneously.
Imagine two film scenes where the actors move from a ho-
tel entrance hall into the open air: while some of your pa-
rameter settings might still be OK for the second scene, 
others will have to change abruptly as soon as the second 
scene starts.
So for the second scene, you must find new settings, but 
without deleting any existing automation data.
The Preview workflow
The Preview workflow has three different phases: touch-
collecting the required parameters, finding the required val-
ues, and the actual automation pass. Proceed as follows:
1.On the Automation panel, click the Preview button in 
the Preview section.
The Preview button is highlighted.
2.Touch a parameter control.
Below the Preview button three other buttons are displayed. You now 
have full manual control of the touch-collected parameter, suspending 
(but not deleting!) any previously recorded automation data. You may 
now touch-collect another parameter, if you want to write data for several 
parameters during the same automation pass.
Note that each automation track has its own Preview 
button. 
Clicking this button will enable Preview mode for this particular automa-
tion track. This is touch-collecting via automation tracks.
3.Play back the scene (you may want to loop it) and find 
the parameter setting(s) you want.
Touch the required parameter, start rolling, find the desired value and 
select Punch to start the new automation pass.
Use the Suspend option in the Preview section on the 
Automation panel to compare any previously automated 
value with the value found during preview.
Suspend will play back your audio material using the parameter values 
set before activating Preview – in our example above, to hear the settings 
for the indoor scene, you need to click Suspend, and at the moment of 
scene change, you need to click Suspend again to return you to Preview 
mode and the values found for the open-air scene.
Suspend allows you to listen to the existing automation settings. 
						

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Automation
ÖRemember: you can use the delta indicator in the au-
tomation track as an additional visual aid for comparing 
the previously found and the currently set parameter val-
ues.
4.When you are happy with the values found, start roll-
ing and click Punch to punch-in the automation pass. 
The new value setting is recorded, from the point where you punched in 
to your punch-out position (as defined by the automation mode setting).
The result of the Preview automation pass.
Punch vs. Punch on Play
When using the Punch option as described above, start-
ing playback and punching in are two separate actions. If 
you want to punch-in when starting playback, activate 
Punch on Play. 
Punch would be the option to use if you need to listen to 
the section before your desired punch-in point and if this 
section has automation data already that you don’t want to 
overwrite – you would roll through this section and then 
punch-in the automation pass.
You can also use Punch in Stop mode. To create auto-
mation data in this way, Punch must be combined with 
one of the Fill modes (see “The Fill options” on page 222).
Use Punch on Play when you cannot punch-in on the fly 
– i. e. in situations where you need to find the punch-in po-
sition in stop mode. Once you have found the exact posi-
tion, enable Punch on Play and start playback from there.
Auto Punch
As described in the section “General punch-out condi-
tions” on page 219, when setting up a loop with the left 
and right locators, an automation pass will always punch-
out when reaching the right locator. When in Preview mode, you can also use the left and right 
locators to automatically punch-in and out at defined posi-
tions, using the Auto Punch command.
Use Auto Punch when you want the automation pass to 
begin and end at defined positions.
You can also use Auto Punch without enabling Preview 
mode, to set up a “safe zone” for previously written auto-
mation data: 
Place the right locator at the beginning of an area you 
wish to protect and enable cycle mode. 
This will ensure that a running automation pass will always punch-out be-
fore reaching this section of your project.
Touch Assist
When you use Preview mode, you may get into a situation 
where you change some parameters, but not others, al-
though they belong to the same group of parameters (e.g. 
EQ settings). To prevent you from forgetting some para-
meters while touch-collecting parameters for Preview (see 
also “The Preview workflow” on page 225), you can en-
able the Touch Assist option. You will find this option at 
the bottom of the Preview section on the Automation 
Panel.
The Touch Collect Assistant is enabled.
When the Touch Collect Assistant is enabled, the para-
meters of the following features will be treated as groups:
 Channel EQ module (21 parameters total)
 Aux send on/off and send level
 Stereo panner
 Surround panner (Left-Right, Front-Rear, LFE)
 Insert plug-ins (only available for plug-ins with 32 or less 
parameters)
When this option is enabled, it will ensure that touching 
one parameter in a group will “touch” all other parameters 
in that group as well. 
						

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Automation
If, however, you want to automate one and only one par-
ticular parameter, the Touch Collect Assistant should be 
disabled to prevent you from inadvertently overwriting any 
previously created automation data.
Changing plug-in presets in Preview mode
When changing a preset of a VST plug-in while in Preview 
mode, the change in the parameter settings caused by the 
preset change is recorded automatically as automation. 
Note that the plug-in must have 32 or less parameters for 
this to work.
The Punch Log section
This section of the Automation panel displays a list of re-
cent punch-in operations performed in Preview mode.
By loading one of these log entries for the current track, 
you recall the corresponding touch-collected parameters 
and their values at the moment of punch-in.
To recall the settings of a particular entry in the punch 
log, select it in the list and click Load.
The Preview button on the Automation panel and the “Preview mode” 
button on the corresponding automation track light up to indicate that 
this parameter is now in Preview mode. 
You can rename any log entry by double-clicking it and 
entering a new name.
To delete an entry, select it and click Delete.To specify how many log entries are displayed, click the 
Max. Log Entries button in the Settings section.
If this value is set to 10 entries, the eleventh punch event will overwrite 
the entry created for the first event, the twelfth will replace the second 
entry, etc. The maximum possible number of punch log entries is 100.
You can prevent a particular entry from being overwrit-
ten by clicking in the right column for this entry, so that a 
check mark is displayed.
Punch log entries are saved with the current project.
Punch log data is always project-specific. There is no way to export log 
entries to another project.
Loading behavior
When loading a log entry, you add the corresponding pa-
rameter(s) to any other parameters that you have touch-
collected during the current Preview session. 
However, if you manually touch-collect a parameter, e. g. 
volume, and then add volume again by loading a punch 
log entry, the settings for volume from the punch log will 
be used, replacing any values set manually.
The Suspend options
The parameters or parameter groups selected here are 
excluded from the reading or writing of automation data – 
giving you full manual control of these parameters. 
ÖNote that the Others options refer to all parameters 
not covered by any of the options Volume, Pan, Mute, EQ, 
Sends or Inserts.
!Enabling the Touch Collect Assistant may lead to the 
creation of a large amount of automation data, caus-
ing a higher CPU load. If performance is an issue in 
your workflow, you should consider not using the 
Touch Collect Assistant. 
						

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Automation
Suspending Write
Imagine the following situation: To help you concentrate 
while working on a particular track, you mute several other 
tracks. However, because automation Write is active on 
these tracks, this mute state is also automated during the 
next automation pass – a classic situation in mixing.
To avoid inadvertently excluding whole tracks from your 
mix in this way, you can exclude Mute from all automation 
writing. Simply click Mute below the Suspend Write but-
ton in the Suspend section on the Automation panel.
Click the Suspend Write button to enable all Suspend 
Write options, thus suspending the writing of automation 
data for all parameters/parameter groups.
When any of the options below the Suspend Write button are enabled, 
clicking Suspend Write will disable these buttons.
When an automation pass is in progress for a particular 
parameter and you write-suspend this parameter, it will 
punch-out of the automation pass.
Suspending Read
Imagine you have already automated several tracks. While 
working on the current track, you want one of the other 
tracks to be louder, to better identify a particular position 
in your audio material. By suspending Read for the volume 
parameter, you regain full manual control and can set the 
volume to the required level.
Click the Suspend Read button to enable all Suspend 
Read options, thus suspending the reading of automation 
data for all parameters/parameter groups.
When any of the options below the Suspend Read button are enabled, 
clicking Suspend Read will disable these buttons.
The Show options
The Show options in the Automation panel
The Show options in the Automation panel always affect 
all tracks. Clicking on these buttons opens the automation 
tracks for the corresponding parameters, e. g. volume or 
pan. This makes it easy to look at, e. g., your EQ settings 
on several tracks.
When you click either Volume, Pan, EQ, Sends or In-
serts, this will open the corresponding automation track(s) 
for all tracks.
The automation tracks will be opened even if no automation data was re-
corded on these tracks.
For parameter groups (i. e. Pan, EQ, Sends and Inserts) 
you can step through the individual parameter sets by re-
peatedly clicking the respective button.
When the Used Only button is enabled, clicking one of 
the parameter options will show you only the automation 
tracks for which automation data has already been written.
“Empty” automation tracks will not be displayed.
When you click Show Used, only those automation 
tracks that contain automation data will be displayed.
These will be all automation tracks, for any parameter, on all automated 
tracks.
Hide All will hide all open automation tracks. 
						

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Automation
The Settings section
The options in the Settings section of the Automation panel
In the Settings section of the Automation panel you will 
find a number of global options and commands.
The Functions pop-up menu
At the top of the Settings section you will find the Func-
tions pop-up menu. Here you will find a number of global 
commands affecting automation.
ÖYou can always undo these actions!
Delete All Automation in Project
This global command will remove all automation data from 
your project. Use this option with great caution, otherwise 
you may loose your work.
Delete Automation of Selected Tracks
When you select this command, all automation data for 
the selected track(s) will be removed. Make sure you have 
selected the right track(s) before using this option.
Delete Automation in Range
This command will delete, on all tracks, all automation 
data between the left and right locator. Be sure that this is 
what you want to do before proceeding!
Fill Gaps on Selected Tracks
When working with virgin territory (see “Virgin territory vs. 
the initial value” on page 217), selecting this option will, 
on the selected track(s), fill the gaps between those sec-
tions of the project that show automation curves with a 
continuous value.
The value used is the value of the last break-point (the end 
point) of a section. This value is written across the gap up 
to one millisecond before the first break-point of the next 
automated section. A new break-point is inserted here; 
the value will be ramped to the next automated section.
Fill Gaps with current Value (Selected Tracks)
When working with virgin territory (see “Virgin territory vs. 
the initial value” on page 217), selecting this option will, 
on the selected track(s), fill the gaps between those sec-
tions of the project that show automation curves with the 
value set by the current position of the corresponding 
control.
Global options
Return Time
The Return Time setting determines how fast the auto-
mated parameter returns to any previously automated 
value when you release the mouse button. 
The default setting is 33 ms. Make sure that the return time 
is set to a value larger than 0, to prevent sudden jumps in 
your parameter settings (which may lead to crackles). 
Reduction Level
The automation reduction function automatically reduces 
the number of automation events. During an automation 
pass (or when drawing automation with the Pencil tool), 
these are added as a continuous stream of densely packed 
break-points. This is necessary because the program can-
not “guess” what you will be doing next.
However, when punching out, the reduction function will 
remove all break-points that are not needed. The automa-
tion curve will contain only the break-points necessary to 
reproduce your actions. 
						

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Automation
For example, all break-points that lie between two other 
points, but do not deviate from the curve, will be automat-
ically removed by reduction.
If you try to add a break-point that doesn’t deviate from the existing 
curve between two existing points…
…it will be removed when the mouse is released. If you move the se-
lected break-point by any amount so that the resulting curve isn’t a 
straight line, a new event will be added.
If you are unhappy with the default setting (a reduction 
of roughly 75 %), you can change it, but normally the de-
fault setting works well.
Max. Log Entries
This setting refers to the Punch Log and is described in 
“The Punch Log section” on page 227.
Show Data on Tracks
When this option is enabled, audio waveforms or MIDI 
events will be displayed not only on the audio or MIDI 
tracks, but also on the corresponding automation tracks.
ÖNote that this depends on two options in the Prefe-
rences dialog: The events will be displayed only when the 
option “Show waveforms” (Event Display–Audio) is en-
abled and when “Part Data Mode” (Event Display–MIDI) is 
set to an option other than “No data”.
Use Virgin Territory
This option is described in detail in the section “Virgin ter-
ritory vs. the initial value” on page 217.
Hints and further options
Automation key commands
In the Key Commands dialog (opened from the File menu 
in Nuendo), in the Commands section on the left, you will 
find an Automation category which lists all automation 
commands to which you can assign key commands.
How to assign key commands is described in detail in the 
chapter “Key commands” on page 517.
About automation undo
Every automation write operation you perform creates its 
own event in the undo history, so you can undo or redo 
any of your automation moves at any time.
About linking and automation
Nuendo allows you to link, in the mixer window, various 
parameters between different channels (see “Link/Unlink 
channels” on page 145).
Also, in the channel settings window, you can link a send’s 
panorama settings to the panorama settings displayed in 
the channel strip (by enabling the option “Link Send Rout-
ing Panners to Channel Panner as Default” in the Prefer-
ences–VST page).
When automating the settings of a channel that is linked 
to another channel in the mixer, the parameters of the 
linked channel will NOT be automated.
For linked panners of sends and channels, automating 
one panner will automate the linked panner as well.!The higher the number of automation events, the 
higher the CPU load. If performance is an issue in 
your workflow, you should consider moving the re-
duction level slider further to the right, to remove 
more events.