Steinberg Nuendo 4 Operation Manual

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The Audio Part Editor
Background
The Audio Part Editor allows you to view and edit the events 
inside audio parts. Essentially, this is the same type of edit-
ing that you do in the Project window, which means that 
this chapter contains a lot of references to the chapter “The 
Project window” on page 22.
Audio parts are created in the Project window in one of 
the following ways:
By selecting one or several audio events on the same 
track, and selecting “Events to Part” from the Audio menu.
By gluing together two or more audio events on the 
same track with the Glue Tube tool.
By drawing an empty part with the Pencil tool.
By double-clicking between the left and right locator on 
an audio track.
With the last two methods, an empty part is created. You can then add 
events to the part by pasting, or by using drag and drop from the Pool.
Opening the Audio Part Editor
You open the Audio Part Editor by selecting one or more 
audio part(s) in the Project window and double-clicking 
on any one of them (or using the Edit-Open key command, 
by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[E]). The Audio Part Editor 
can display several parts at once, and you can also have 
more than one Audio Part Editor open at the same time.
ÖDouble-clicking on an audio event in the Project win-
dow will open the Sample Editor (see “Opening the 
Sample Editor” on page 259).
Window overview
The toolbar
The tools, settings and icons on the toolbar have the same 
functionality as in the Project window, with the following 
differences:
 A Solo button (see “Auditioning” on page 293).
 Separate tools for auditioning (Speaker) and scrubbing (see 
“Scrubbing” on page 293).
 No Line, Glue Tube or Color tools.
 Play and Loop icons and an Audition Volume control (see 
“Auditioning” on page 293).
 Independent Track Loop settings (see “The independent track 
loop function” on page 293).
 Part List controls for handling several parts: activating parts 
for editing, restricting editing to active parts only and showing 
part borders (see “Handling several parts” on page 294).
ÖYou can customize the toolbar by hiding or reordering 
its items.
See “The Setup dialogs” on page 506.
The ruler and info line
These have the same functionality and appearance as 
their counterparts in the Project window.
Note that you can select a separate display format for 
the Audio Part Editor ruler by clicking on the arrow button 
on the right and selecting an option from the pop-up menu 
that appears.
For a list of the available formats, see “The ruler” on page 31. 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
About lanes
If you make the editor window larger, this will reveal addi-
tional space below the edited events. This is because an 
audio part is divided vertically in lanes. 
Lanes can make it easier to work with several audio events 
in a part:
In the top figure it is unnecessarily hard to discern, select 
and edit the separate events. In the bottom figure, some of 
the events have been moved to a lower lane, making se-
lection and editing much easier.
To move an event to another lane without accidentally 
moving it horizontally, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag it 
up or down.
This is the default modifier key for this – you can adjust this in the Prefer-
ences if you like.
Overlapping events
Only one event per track can be played back at the same 
time! This means that if you have overlapping events (on 
the same lane or different lanes) these will cut each other 
off, according to the following rules:
For events on the same lane, the ones that are on top 
(visible) will be played.
To move overlapping events to the front or back, use the Move to Front 
and Move to Back functions on the Edit menu.
For events on different lanes, the event on the lowest 
lane gets playback priority.
The overlapping sections of the upper event will not be played since the 
event on the lower lane has playback priority!
Imagine the following situation: You have two overlapping 
audio events, with the top event audible during playback. 
What happens when you mute the audible event?
By default, you will not hear the overlapped event when 
muting an event that has playback priority over another 
event.
This default behavior ensures that you don’t suddenly hear audio events 
that previously were not part of your mix.
In the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page) you will 
find the option “Treat Muted Audio Events like Deleted”. 
When you activate this option, any events overlapped by a 
muted event will become audible.
Lanes 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
Operations
Note that if a part is a shared copy (i.e. you have previ-
ously copied the part by [Alt]/[Option]+[Shift]-dragging), 
any editing you perform will affect all shared copies of this 
part.
To indicate that it is a shared copy, its name is displayed in italics and a 
symbol is displayed in the lower right corner of the part in the Project 
window (see “Aligning events” on page 45).
Auditioning
There are three ways to listen to the events in the Audio 
Part Editor:
By using the Speaker tool
If you click somewhere in the editor’s event display with the 
Speaker tool and keep the mouse button pressed, the part 
will be played back from the position where you clicked. 
Playback will continue until you release the mouse button.
By using the Audition icon
The Audition and Audition Loop icons.
Clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar plays back the 
edited audio, according to the following rules:
 If you have selected events in the part, only the section bet-
ween the first and last selected event will be played back.
 If you have made a range selection, only this section will be 
played back.
 If there is no selection, the whole part will be played back. If 
the project cursor is within the part, playback starts from the 
current cursor position. If the cursor is outside the part, play-
back starts from the beginning of the part.
 If the Audition Loop icon is activated, playback will continue 
until you deactivate the Audition icon. Otherwise, the section 
will be played back once.
When auditioning with the Speaker tool or Audition 
icon, audio will be routed directly to the Control Room or 
to the Main Mix (the default output bus), if the Control 
Room is disabled. 
By using regular playback
You can of course use the regular playback controls while 
in the Audio Part Editor. Furthermore, if you activate the 
Solo Editor button on the toolbar, only the events in the 
edited part will be played back.
The independent track loop function
The independent track loop is a sort of “mini-cycle”, af-
fecting only the edited part. When the loop is activated, 
the events in the parts that are within the loop will be re-
peated continuously and completely independent – other 
events (on other tracks) are 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 the Independent Track 
Loop button on the toolbar.
If it isn’t visible, right-click the toolbar and add the Independent Track 
Loop Settings section – see “The Setup dialogs” on page 506.
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.[Ctrl]/[Command]-click in the ruler to set the start and 
[Alt]/[Option]-click to set the end of the loop.
You can also edit the loop start and end positions numerically in the 
fields next to the Loop button.
The loop is indicated in purple in the ruler.
ÖThe events will be looped as long as the Loop button 
is activated and the Audio Part Editor window is open.
Scrubbing
In the Audio Part Editor, the Scrub tool has a separate icon 
on the toolbar. Apart from that, scrubbing works exactly as 
in the Project window (see “Scrubbing” on page 42).
!Zooming, selecting and editing in the Audio Part Ed-
itor are done just as in the Project window (see 
“Operations” on page 33). 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
Handling several parts
When you open the Audio Part Editor with several parts se-
lected – all on the same track or on different tracks – they 
might not all “fit” in the editor window, which can make it 
hard to get an overview of the different parts when editing.
Therefore, the toolbar features a few functions to make 
working with multiple parts easier and more comprehen-
sive:
The Part List menu lists all parts that were selected 
when you opened the editor, and lets you select which 
part should be active for editing.
When you select a part from the list, it is automatically made active and 
centered in the display.
ÖNote that it is also possible to activate a part by click-
ing on it with the Arrow tool.
The button “Edit Active Part Only” lets you restrict edit-
ing operations to the active part only.
If you for example select “All” from the Select submenu on the Edit menu 
with this option activated, all events in the active part will be selected but 
not the events in other parts.
“Edit Active Part Only” activated on the toolbar.
You can zoom in on an active part so that it fills the 
screen by selecting “Zoom to Event” from the Zoom sub-
menu on the Edit menu.
The button “Show Part Borders” can be used if you 
want to see clearly defined borders for the active part.
When this is activated, all parts except the active one are grayed out, 
making the borders easily discernible. There are also two “markers” in 
the ruler with the name of the active part, marking its beginning and end. 
These can be moved freely to change the part borders.
“Show Part Borders” activated on the toolbar.
It is possible to cycle between parts, making them ac-
tive, with key commands.
In the Key Commands dialog – Edit category, there are two functions: 
“Activate Next Part” and “Activate Previous Part”. If you assign key com-
mands to these, you can use them to cycle between parts. Please refer 
to “Setting up key commands” on page 518 for instructions on how to 
set up key commands.
Common methods
Assembling a “perfect take”
When you record audio in Cycle mode, either an event or 
a region (or both) is created for each recorded lap (see 
“Recording audio in cycle mode” on page 73). These 
events and regions are named “Take X”, where “X” is the 
number of the take. You can create a perfect take by put-
ting together sections of the different takes in the Audio 
Part Editor.
ÖThe procedure below will not work if you recorded 
with “Keep Last” mode selected on the Transport panel.
In that case, only the last take will be kept on the track (although the pre-
vious takes will be available as regions in the Pool).
First, you have to create an audio part from the takes. This 
procedure is slightly different depending on whether you 
choose to create events or regions.
Creating an audio part from events
1.In the Project window, use the Object Selection tool to 
draw a rectangle around the recorded events.
This is necessary, since clicking on the event may just select the event on 
top (the last take). If in doubt, check the info line – the info text should be 
yellow.
2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Events to Part”.
The events are converted to an audio part.
Note that the events cycle record mode also makes it 
easy to combine different takes in the Project window – 
see “Create Events mode (Preferences)” on page 74. 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
Creating an audio part from regions
1.In the Project window, select the event you recorded in 
Cycle mode.
After recording, this will play the last take.
2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Events to Part”.
You are asked whether you want to “Create part using regions”.
3.Click “Regions”.
The regions are converted to an audio part.
Assembling a take
1.Double-click the part to open the Audio Part Editor.
Now, the different takes will be placed on different lanes, with the last 
take at the bottom.
2.Use the tools to cut out pieces of the takes and as-
semble the final result.
This can include splitting with the Scissors tool, resizing events with the 
Arrow tool or deleting with the Eraser tool. 
Remember that the events on the lowest lane have play-
back priority. 
Use the Audition icon to audition the result.
3.Close the Audio Part Editor.
You have now assembled a “perfect take”!
Options and Settings
The following options and settings are available in the 
Audio Part Editor:
Snap
You can specify an independent Snap mode (and snap value for the Grid 
mode) in the editor. The functionality is exactly the same as in the Project 
window.
Autoscroll
When Autoscroll is activated on the toolbar, the window will scroll during 
playback, keeping the project cursor visible in the editor. This setting can 
be activated or deactivated individually for each window.
Snap to Zero Crossing
When this option is activated, all audio edits are done at zero crossings 
(positions in the audio where the amplitude is zero). This helps you avoid 
pops and clicks which might otherwise be caused by sudden amplitude 
changes.  
						

							20
The Pool 
						

							297
The Pool
Background
What is the Pool?
Every time you record on an audio track, a file is created 
on your hard disk. A reference to this file – a clip – is also 
added to the Pool. Two general rules apply to the Pool:
All audio and video clips that belong to a project are 
listed in the Pool.
There is a separate Pool for every project.
The way the Pool displays folders and their contents is 
similar to the way the Mac OS X Finder and the Windows 
Explorer display folders and lists of files.
What can you do in the Pool?
In the Pool you can, among other things, perform the fol-
lowing operations:
Operations that affect files on disk
 Import clips (audio files can automatically be copied and/or 
converted).
 Convert file formats.
 Rename clips (this will also rename the referred files on disk),  
and regions.
 Delete clips (if you select the “Move to Trash” option and 
empty the Trash folder – see “Deleting clips” on page 302).
 Prepare File Archives for backup.
 Minimize files.
Operations that only affect clips
 Copy clips.
 Audition clips.
 Organize clips.
 Apply audio processing to clips.
 Save or import complete Pool files.
Opening the Pool
You open the Pool in any of the following ways:
 By clicking the Pool icon in the Project window.
 By selecting “Pool” on the Project menu or “Open Pool Win-
dow” on the Media menu.
 By using a key command (by default [Ctrl]/[Command]+[P] – 
note that using this key command a second time will close the 
Pool again).
The content of the Pool is divided into three main folders: 
The Audio folder
This contains all audio clips and regions currently in the project.
The Video folder
This contains all video clips currently in the project.
The Trash folder 
Unused clips can be moved to the Trash folder for later permanent re-
moval from the hard disk.
These folders cannot be renamed or deleted from the Pool, 
but any number of subfolders can be added (see “Organi-
zing clips and folders” on page 308).
Window overview
Audio folder
Trash folder Video folderAudio clip name
 Region name
Waveform imageColumn Headings
Toolbar 
						

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The Pool
Toolbar overview
The info line
Click the “Show Info” button on the toolbar to show or 
hide the info line at the bottom of the Pool window. It 
shows the following information:
How clips and regions are displayed in the 
Pool
 Audio clips are represented by a waveform icon followed by 
the clip name.
 Audio regions are represented by a region icon followed by 
the region name.
 Video clips are represented by a camera icon followed by the 
clip name.
The Pool window columns
Various information about the clips and regions can be 
viewed in the Pool window columns. The columns contain 
the following information:Open/Close all 
Folders
View / Attributes
Pop-up Hide/show 
info line
Import ButtonProject Folder Path
Pool Record Folder Path Play and Loop buttons, 
audition volume control
Search Button
Number of audio 
files in the Pool
Number of files in the Pool that are not 
in the project folder (e. g. video files)Total size of all audio 
files in the Pool
Number of audio 
files in use
Column Description
Media This column contains the Audio, Video and Trash folders. 
If the folders are opened, the clip or region names are 
shown and can be edited. This column is always shown.
Used This column displays the number of times a clip is used in 
the project. If a column row is empty, the corresponding 
clip is not used.
Status This column displays various icons that relate to the cur-
rent Pool and clip status. See “About the Status column 
symbols” on page 299 for a description of the icons.
Straighten up The checkbox in this column allows you to activate or de-
activate Straighten up. If the Tempo column (see below) 
displays “???”, you have to enter the correct tempo be-
fore you can activate Straighten up.
Tempo This shows the tempo of audio files for which a tempo 
has been set. If no tempo has been specified, the column 
displays “???”. 
Sign. This is the time signature, e. g. “4/4”.
Key This ist the root key, if one was specified for the file.
Info This column shows the following information for audio 
clips: The sample rate, bit resolution, number of channels 
and the length in seconds. For regions, it displays start 
and end times in frames, and for video clips the frame 
rate, number of frames, and length in seconds.
Type This column shows the file format of the clip.
Date This column shows the date when the clip was created.
Origin Time This column shows the original start position where a clip 
was recorded in the project. As this value can be used as 
a basis for the option “Insert into Project” in the Media or 
context menu (and other functions), you can change it if 
the Origin Time value is independent (i. e. not for regions). 
This can either be done by editing the value in the col-
umn, or by selecting the corresponding clip in the Pool, 
moving the project cursor to the new desired position 
and selecting “Update Origin” from the Audio menu.
Image This column displays waveform images of audio clips or 
regions. 
Path This column shows the path to the location of a clip on 
the hard disk.
Reel Name If you have imported an OMF file (see “Exporting and im-
porting OMF files” on page 494), they may include this 
attribute, in which case it is shown in this column. The 
Reel Name describes the physical reel or tape from 
which the media was originally captured. 
						

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The Pool
About the Status column symbols
The Status column can display various symbols that relate 
to the clips status. The following symbols can be shown:
User Attributes
You can define your own attributes for elements in the pool. 
This is handy when you have a large number of audio files in 
the Pool. You can use the attributes to sort items in the pool 
or merely keep track of some aspect of your project.
Simply select the “Define User Attributes” option from the 
View/Attributes pop-up and create as many new attributes 
as you need. These attributes will then get their own col-
umns in the Pool. Each attribute can be defined as check-
box, text field or number. You can then specify the user 
attributes for each file, thus categorizing them further. All 
user attributes you created are automatically available as 
search criteria in the Pool and can be added as separate el-
ements to the search pane (or replace the search criteria 
above the Location parameter, see above). This allows for a 
very detailed search, helping you to master even the largest 
sound database.
Setting up a talent name attribute to keep track of ADR takes.
Sorting the Pool contents
You can sort the clips in the Pool by name, date etc. This 
is done by clicking on the corresponding column heading. 
Clicking again on the same heading switches between as-
cending and descending sort order.
Symbol Description
This indicates the current Pool Record folder (see 
“Changing the Pool Record folder” on page 308).
This symbol is shown if a clip has been processed.
The question mark indicates that a clip is referenced to 
the project but is missing from the Pool (see “About mis-
sing files” on page 305).
This indicates that the clip file is external, i.e. located out-
side the current Audio folder for the project.
This indicates that the clip has been recorded in the cur-
rently open version of the project. This is useful for finding 
recently recorded clips quickly.
The arrow indicates the sort 
column and sort order. 
						

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The Pool
Customizing the view
You can specify which of the columns should be shown 
or hidden by selecting the View/Attributes pop-up on the 
toolbar and selecting/deselecting items.
You can rearrange the order of the columns by clicking 
on a column heading and dragging the column to the left 
or right.
The mouse pointer changes to a hand when you place it on the column 
heading.
The width of a column can also be adjusted by placing 
the pointer between two column headers and dragging 
left or right.
The pointer changes to a divider when you place it between two column 
headers.
Operations
ÖMost of the Pool-related main menu functions are also 
available on the Pool context menu (opened by right-click-
ing in the Pool window).
Renaming clips or regions in the Pool
To rename a clip or a region in the Pool, select it and click 
on the existing name, type in a new name and press [Re-
turn].
ÖIn case of a clip, this will also rename the referred files 
on disk!
Renaming multiple clips or regions
You can also rename multiple clips or regions in the Pool 
using the “Rename…” command from the Edit menu.
1.Select one or more audio clips, video clips or regions 
in the Pool. 
You can only select one type of object at a time.
2.From the Edit menu, select “Rename…”.
A dialog with several options for renaming objects automatically will 
open.
3.Set the parameters for renaming objects and press 
[Return].
!Renaming a clip in the Pool is much preferred to re-
naming it outside Nuendo (for example on the com-
puter desktop). This way, Nuendo already “knows” 
about the change, and won’t lose track of the clip the 
next time you open the project. See “About missing 
files” on page 305 for details about lost files.