Steinberg Nuendo 4 Operation Manual

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Track Presets
The programs of VST2 plug-ins also can be converted to 
VST3 presets. For more information about plug-ins, 
please refer to the separate manual “Nuendo Expansion 
Kit – Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4”.
Browsing for presets
Using the Sound Browser
When browsing track presets, the quickest way is to use 
the Sound Browser, as it is set up specifically to display 
track and VST presets. 
To open this browser, select “Open Sound Browser” on 
the Media menu.
The Sound Browser.
In the Sound Browser, you can preview track and VST 
presets as well as select them to drag and drop them into 
the project to create new tracks (see “Creating tracks 
from track presets or VST presets” on page 333) or to ap-
ply them to existing tracks (see“Applying audio, MIDI and 
instrument track presets” on page 334).
The general handling of the Sound Browser is the same 
as for the MediaBay, see “The MediaBay” on page 314.
SoundFrame-related dialogs
When you work with track presets, you will find the same 
user interface in all “Add Track” and “Browse Sounds” dia-
logs and the Presets browser.
ÖNote that some of the dialogs will save their last state. 
They may therefore not look exactly like the dialogs de-
scribed below.
Browse Presets section
When you create a new track, the Add Track dialog opens:
The “Add MIDI Track” dialog.
(For a more detailed description of the Add Track dialog, 
see “Handling tracks” on page 38.)
Click “Browse Presets...” to open the Browse Presets 
section with the Category search and a list of all available 
presets. For details, see “Performing a Category search” 
on page 320.
The Add Track dialog with the Browse Presets section opened. 
						

							
332
Track Presets
Browser section
In addition to the Browse Presets section, you can click 
“Show Location” to open the Browser section. It is similar 
to the one in the MediaBay (see  “Browsing for media files” 
on  page 316 ), but only necessary if you want to take an 
explicit look at the contents of Presets subfolders, as you 
can’t move up to other folders.
The Add Track dialog for a MIDI track with all sections open.
When you select a MIDI or instrument track preset (or a 
VST preset), you can see a pr eview section below the list. 
The preview works like the one in the Scope section in the 
MediaBay (see  “Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST 
presets independently of tracks”  on page 336 ).
The Presets browser
When you apply a track or VST preset to an existing track 
or when you extract a sound, the Presets browser opens, 
allowing you e. g. to preview the presets.
The Presets browser for an audio track preset.
The Browse Sounds dialog
Normally, the view of the Br owse Presets section is fil-
tered to show only track presets of a certain kind. There-
fore, if you want to see all available presets, e.g. also multi 
track and VST presets, you can open the Browse Sounds 
dialog. 
Browse Sounds dialog showing all available track and VST presets. 
						

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Track Presets
Creating a track preset
A track preset is created from an existing audio, MIDI or 
instrument track – or several of these tracks. Proceed as 
follows:
1.Select one or more tracks in the Project window. 
If several are selected, all of them are stored in one combined multi track 
preset, see “Multi track presets” on page 330.
2.Right-click one of the selected tracks in the track list to 
open the context menu and select “Create Track Preset”.
The Save Track Preset dialog opens. The buttons on top work like the cor-
responding ones in the MediaBay, see “Folder operations” on page 318
.
3.Enter a file name in the “File Name” field.
The track preset file name extension .trackpreset is assigned automatically.
In the case of MIDI files, you have the additional option of 
including the MIDI channel or the MIDI patch, see “Include 
MIDI Channel or MIDI Patch” on page 329.
4.If you want to apply tags, click on “Tag Editor”.
The available tags are displayed (on how to edit the list of available tags, 
see “Managing the tag lists” on page 323). To enter a value, click in the 
value field. For many tags, e.g. “Character” and “Style”, pop-up menus 
open in which you can select an entry. In case of a free text entry, enter 
the text in the text field. For more information about the Tag Editor, see 
“Editing tags in the Tag Editor” on page 324.
ÖAs the category search is based on the tags, we highly 
recommend that you use them.
5.Click OK to create the track preset.Track presets are saved in the “Track Presets” folder in 
default subfolders named according to their track type 
(audio, MIDI, instrument and multi). For further information, 
see “Where are the settings stored?” on page 514.
All presets are available under the (virtual) Sound Frame 
node, see “The SoundFrame node” on page 318.
Creating tracks from track presets 
or VST presets
Creating tracks via drag and drop
1.Open the Sound Browser.
You can also drag and drop from the Windows Explorer or the Mac OS 
Finder, but in this case, no preview for MIDI and instrument track presets 
is possible.
2.Select a track or VST preset from the list of all presets. 
At this point you can preview selected MIDI and instrument track presets 
as well as VST presets, see “Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST pre-
sets independently of tracks” on page 336.
3.Drag and drop the track preset onto the track list in the 
Project window.
One or more (in case of multi track presets) tracks will be created. If you 
drag and drop a VST instrument preset, this will result in an instrument 
track.
Creating tracks in the Browse Sounds dialog
1.Right-click the track list to open the context menu and, 
on the Add Track submenu, select “Browse Sounds…”.
The Browse Sounds dialog opens.
2.Select a track or VST preset from the list of all presets. 
At this point you can preview selected MIDI and instrument track presets 
as well as VST presets, see “Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST pre-
sets independently of tracks” on page 336. If you want to list a certain 
track preset type only, open the respective folder in the Browser section.
3.Click OK to create one or more (in case of multi track 
presets) tracks.
!You cannot change the default folders, but you can 
add further subfolders, e.g. “drums” and “choir”. 
						

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Track Presets
Creating one or more audio, MIDI or instrument 
tracks with the Add Track function
1.To create one or more new tracks from a track preset, 
proceed as if adding a new track by selecting the corre-
sponding option on the context menu (or by using the key 
command). 
A dialog opens, in this example the “Add Audio track” dialog:
If you want to create more than one track of this type, 
enter the number in the Count field.
2.Click “Browse Presets” to open the Browse Presets 
section of the “Add Track” dialog.
The view is filtered to show only the corresponding track presets, e. g. if 
you choose “Add Audio Track”, only audio track presets will be displayed. 
3.Select a track or VST preset.
At this point, you can preview selected MIDI and instrument track presets 
as well as VST presets, see “Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST pre-
sets independently of tracks” on page 336. 
4.Click OK to create the track(s).
The new track(s) will be named after the original track (not the track pre-
set).
ÖAs adding multiple tracks is not available as menu op-
tion, multi track presets can only be used for track creation 
via drag and drop or the “Browse Sounds” dialog.
Applying track presets
Track presets can be applied to tracks of their own type 
only, i. e. audio track presets to audio tracks, etc. 
When you apply a track preset, all saved settings are ap-
plied, see “Types of track presets” on page 328.
For instrument tracks, VST presets are also available. 
Since VST presets have no modifiers, MIDI inserts, inserts 
or EQs, applying them leads to removal of your current 
settings for these, see “Inserts and EQ settings from track 
presets” on page 337.
Applying audio, MIDI and instrument track 
presets
Applying track or VST presets via drag and drop
1.Open the Sound Browser from the Media menu.
You can also drag and drop from the Windows Explorer or the Mac OS 
Finder, but in this case, no preview for track presets is possible.
2.Select a track or VST preset.
At this point, you can preview selected presets, see “Previewing track or 
VST presets before applying” on page 336.
3.Drag and drop it onto a track of the same type.
Applying track or VST presets in the Inspector or the 
context menu of the track
Proceed as follows:
1.Select a track in the Project window.
2.Click the SoundFrame button in the Inspector or right-
click the track to open the context menu and select “Apply 
Track Preset”.
Click here to open the Presets browser.
In both cases, the Presets browser opens. Here, the files 
are sorted by categories. 
						

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Track Presets
3.Select a track or VST preset from the list to the right.
At this point you can preview selected presets, see “Pre-
viewing track or VST presets before applying” on page 336.
4.Click outside the browser to apply the selected preset 
or click the Reset button below the list to return to the un-
changed track.
ÖOnce the track preset is applied, you cannot undo the 
changes!
In the Inspector, you can see which preset was applied 
last, in this example “Jazz Bazz”.
Applying a multi track preset
To be able to apply a multi track preset, certain require-
ments have to be met. Proceed as follows:
1.Select several tracks in your project. 
The selected tracks have to be of the same type, number and sequence 
as the tracks in the track preset.
2.Right-click the track to open the context menu and se-
lect “Apply Track Preset”.
The Presets browser opens. Only multi track presets corresponding to 
the selection of tracks in the project will be shown. 
3.Select a multi track preset from the list.
4.Click outside the browser to apply the selected preset 
or click the Reset button below the list to return to the un-
changed track.ÖOnce the track preset is applied, you cannot undo the 
changes!
Reloading track or VST presets
To revert to the default settings of the applied preset, click 
the “Reload Track Preset” button.
Applying another track or VST preset
To apply another track or VST preset, open the Presets 
browser as described above and select another preset.
Removing a track or VST preset from a track
It is not possible to remove an applied preset from a track 
and return to the previous state. If you are unsatisfied with 
the track settings, you can either edit the settings manually 
or apply another preset.
Extracting sound from an instrument track or 
VST preset
For instrument tracks, you can extract the “sound” of an 
instrument track preset or VST preset, that means the VST 
Instrument and its settings.
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the instrument track to which you want to apply 
a sound.
2.Click the SoundFrame button below the Output Rout-
ing field in the Inspector. 
The Presets browser opens, showing a list of all available 
presets.  
						

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Track Presets
3.Select an instrument track preset or VST preset and 
click OK. 
The VST instrument and its settings (but no inserts, EQs and modifiers) 
of the existing track are overwritten with the data of the track preset. The 
previous VST instrument for this instrument track is removed and the new 
VST instrument with its settings is set up for the instrument track. Note 
that the VST instrument of an instrument track does not show up in the 
VST Instrument window but only in the Plug-In Information window, see 
the separate manual “Nuendo Expansion Kit – Cubase Music Tools for 
Nuendo 4”.
Previewing track and VST presets
You can preview all types of track and VST presets except 
for multi track presets.
Previewing track or VST presets before 
applying
When you apply a track preset to an existing track, the 
corresponding dialog opens. Here you can preview the 
track presets before applying them permanently. This 
works for audio, MIDI and instrument track presets as well 
as for VST presets.
You can use this preview for listening to the changes in 
the output in real time. Proceed as follows:
1.Set your target track to cycle and play back the loop.
2.Select a track preset in the list.
3.Hit the Play button on the Transport panel to listen to 
the track with all settings from the track preset applied to it.
4.Click outside the browser to apply the selected preset 
or click the Reset button below the list to return to the un-
changed track.
Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST presets 
independently of tracks
You can also preview MIDI and instrument track presets 
as well as VST presets in the Sound Browser or in dialogs 
with the Browse Presets section open. 
For example, when you open the “Browse Sounds” dialog 
and select a MIDI or instrument track preset or a VST pre-
set, preview buttons appear on the lower right. (In the 
Sound Browser, the preview buttons appear in the Scope 
section.)
Track-independent preview, for example a VST preset in the “Browse 
Sounds” dialog.
Two preview options are available:
Previewing with standard MIDI input
1.Click the MIDI Input button.
2.Play some MIDI notes via your MIDI input device, for 
example a keyboard.
The Activity meter on the far right mirrors the MIDI in activity.
ÖFor this to work, “In All Inputs” has to be activated for 
your MIDI input device (this is the default setting), as only 
MIDI data incoming via “All MIDI Inputs” is used for preview.
Previewing using a MIDI file
1.Click the Choose MIDI File button.
A file dialog opens.
2.Select a MIDI file (.mid) to be played back with the 
track or VST preset applied and click OK.
3.Click the MIDI Input button.
The Play button will become available.
4.Click “Play”.
The program applies the track or VST preset to the MIDI file.
In the Browse Sounds dialog, clicking OK will create a 
new track (see “Creating tracks in the Browse Sounds di-
alog” on page 333).
ÖThe MIDI file selection is not saved when closing the 
dialogs or the Sound Browser. Therefore, you have to se-
lect a new file the next time you want to preview a preset 
using a MIDI file. 
						

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Track Presets
Inserts and EQ settings from track 
presets
Instead of handling complete track presets, it is also pos-
sible to apply settings for Inserts or Equalizers from track 
presets.
This can be done via the Inspector or via the Channel set-
tings window.
In the Inspector, select e. g. an Instrument track and 
click the SoundFrame button on the Inserts or Equalizers 
tab to open the presets pop-up menu. There, select the 
option “From Track Preset…”.
In the Channel Settings window for a MIDI track, instru-
ment track or audio channel track (opened by clicking the 
“e” button in the Inspector), click on the SoundFrame but-
ton in the Inserts section and select “From Track Pre-
set…” in the pop-up menu.
The Presets browser opens, showing all available track 
presets that contain Inserts or EQ settings. Select the 
track preset whose Inserts or EQs you want to apply and 
click outside the browser.
For information on the general handling of Inserts pre-
sets, see the separate manual “Nuendo Expansion Kit – 
Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4”.
For information on the general handling of EQ presets, 
see “Using EQ presets” on page 140. 
						

							24
Track Quick Controls 
						

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Track Quick Controls
Introduction
Nuendo can give you instant access to up to eight para-
meters of each audio track, MIDI track or instrument track. 
This is done with the aid of the so-called quick controls, 
set up on the Quick Controls Inspector tab for these 
tracks.
The Quick Controls tab can be used as a kind of track 
control center, an area in which your most important pa-
rameters are assembled in one place. This saves you from 
having to click your way through the various windows and 
sections pertaining to your track.
Also, Nuendo allows you to assign these quick controls 
very quickly to an external remote control device. This 
gives you manual control of your most important track pa-
rameters.
Setting up the Quick Controls tab
The Quick Controls tab in the track Inspector is available 
for all audio tracks, MIDI tracks and Instrument tracks. It is 
displayed by default.
The Quick Controls tab in the Inspector.
Assigning parameters to quick controls
The opened Quick Controls tab shows eight slots, one for 
each quick control. To start with, these slots are empty. 
Proceed as follows to assign track parameters to the 
quick control slots:
1.In the Quick Controls tab, click on the first quick con-
trol slot.
A context menu is opened. This context menu lists all parameters cur-
rently accessible for this particular track. 
2.Double-click the parameter that you want to assign to 
the first quick control slot.
The parameter name and its value are displayed in the slot. You can 
change the value by dragging the quick control’s slider.
The track’s main volume parameter is assigned to quick control 1.
You can now repeat these steps for each quick control 
slot until all eight slots are associated with track parame-
ters!
Renaming a quick control
By default, the parameter name as listed in the browser 
pop-up menu for available track parameters is displayed in 
the quick control slot.
To rename a quick control, simply double-click on the 
name in the slot to select it, enter a new name and press 
[Enter]. 
						

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Track Quick Controls
Replacing a quick control assignment
To replace a parameter assignment with a different pa-
rameter, click on the corresponding quick control slot and 
double-click on a different parameter in the browser pop-
up menu list.
The parameter assignment in this slot is changed.
Removing a quick control assignment
To remove a parameter from a slot, you have the following 
possibilities:
Double-click the parameter name to select it and press 
the [Delete] or [Backspace] key. Confirm this operation by 
pressing [Enter].
Click in the corresponding slot and select “No parame-
ter” from the browser pop-up menu.
The parameter assignment is removed, and the quick con-
trol slot is empty.
Options and settings
Quick control assignments are saved with the current 
project.
Since quick control settings are part of the track setup, 
you can save them as track presets, allowing you to re-use 
your settings across different projects.
Track presets are described in the chapter “Track Presets” on page 327.
You can automate all parameter settings on the Quick 
Controls tab using the Read/Write Enable buttons (R and 
W) at the top right.
The automation features of Nuendo are described in detail in the chapter 
“Automation” on page 213.
Quick controls and automatable parameters
The quick controls feature has one special extension that 
should be used with caution: you can use quick controls 
not only to access certain parameters of the current track, 
but also to control all automatable parameters.
This makes it possible to use the Quick Controls tab of a 
dedicated track as a kind of “mini mixer”, controlling pa-
rameters on other tracks. Proceed as follows:
1.Create a new, empty audio track and open its Quick 
Controls tab.
This track has no events or parts.
2.Hold down the [Ctrl]/[Command] key and click on the 
slot for quick control 1.
The parameter selection context menu is opened, but it lists not the pa-
rameters of the current track, but all automatable parameters.
3.Click the + sign in the list to open the VST Mixer folder.
The pop-up lists all channels available in the mixer of your 
current project. 
4.Now assign a parameter of one particular channel to 
quick control 1, and another parameter of another channel 
to quick control 2.
Here, quick controls 1-5 have been set up to control the main volume of 
five audio tracks.
The Quick Controls tab has become a “secondary” mixer, 
dedicated to quick-controlling parameters on other tracks.
!Quick controls that are assigned that way cannot 
work when saved as track presets.