Steinberg Nuendo 4 Operation Manual

							431
The Project Browser
The list columns for audio parts:
Creating audio parts
When the “Audio” item of an audio track is selected in the 
Project Structure list, you can create empty audio parts on 
the track by clicking the Add button on the toolbar. This 
will insert a part between the left and right locator.
Editing MIDI tracks
Just like audio tracks, MIDI tracks can have two “sub-
items”: Track Data and Automation.
 The Track Data item corresponds to the actual MIDI track in 
the Project window and can contain MIDI parts (which in turn 
can contain MIDI events).
 The Automation item corresponds to the automation subtrack 
in the Project window, and contains the track’s automation 
events (see “Editing Automation tracks” on page 432).
Note that if you have not performed any automation or 
opened an automation subtrack, the Browser will only 
contain the MIDI data.
When editing the Track Data, the following parameters are 
available:
The list columns for MIDI events:
Offset This determines “where in the audio clip” the event starts. 
Adjusting this value is the same as sliding the contents of 
the event in the Project window (see “Sliding the con-
tents of an event or part” on page 49). 
You can only specify positive Offset values, since the 
event cannot start before the start of the clip. Likewise, it 
cannot end after the end of the clip. If the event already 
plays the whole clip, the Offset cannot be adjusted at all.
Volume The volume of the event, as set with the Volume handle or 
on the info line in the Project Window.
Fade In
Fade OutThe length of the fade-in and fade-out areas respectively. 
If you use these settings to add a fade (where there pre-
viously was none), a linear fade will be created. If you ad-
just the length of an existing fade, the previous fade 
shape will be maintained.
Mute Click in this column to mute or unmute the event.
Image Displays a waveform image of the event inside a gray box 
corresponding to the clip. The image is scaled according 
to the width of the column.
Parameter Description
Name The name of the part. Double-clicking on the part symbol 
beside it opens the Audio Part Editor for the part.
Start The start position of the part. Editing this value is the 
same as moving the part in the Project window.
End The end position of the part. Editing this value is the same 
as resizing the part in the Project window.
Length The length of the part. Editing this value is the same as 
resizing the part in the Project window.
Offset This adjusts the start position of the events within the 
part. Adjusting this value is the same as sliding the con-
tents of the part in the Project window (see “Sliding the 
contents of an event or part” on page 49). Setting a pos-
itive Offset value is the same as sliding the contents to 
the left, while a negative Offset corresponds to sliding 
the contents to the right.
Mute Click in this column to mute or unmute the part. Parameter Description
Parameter Description
Type The type of MIDI event. This cannot be changed.
Start The position of the event. Editing this value is the same as 
moving the event.
End This is only used for note events, allowing you to view and 
edit the end position of a note (thereby resizing it).
Length This is only used for note events. It shows the length of 
the note – changing this resizes the note and automati-
cally changes the End value as well.
Data 1 The property of this value depends on the type of MIDI 
event:
For notes, this is the note number (pitch). This is dis-
played and edited as a note name and an octave number, 
with the values ranging between C-2 and G8.
For Controller events, this is the type of Controller, dis-
played in words. Note that you can edit this by entering a 
number – the corresponding Controller type is automati-
cally displayed.
For Pitch Bend events, this is the fine adjustment of the 
bend amount.
For Poly Pressure events, this is the note number (pitch).
For other event types, this is the value of the event.
Data 2 The property of this value depends on the type of MIDI 
event:
For notes, this is the note-on velocity.
For Controller events, this is the value of the event.
For Pitch Bend events, this is the coarse bend amount.
For Poly Pressure events, this is the amount of pressure.
For other event types, this is not used.
Channel The event’s MIDI Channel. See “Notes” on page 81.
Comment This column is used for some event types only, providing 
an additional comment about the event. 
						

							432
The Project Browser
The list columns for MIDI parts:
ÖFor SysEx (system exclusive) events, you can only edit 
the position (Start) in the list.
However, clicking the Comment column opens the SysEx Editor, in which 
you can perform detailed editing of system exclusive events. For a descrip-
tion of this, see “Working with System Exclusive messages” on page 410.
Filtering MIDI events
When you are editing MIDI in the Project Browser, the 
large number of different MIDI events displayed can make 
it hard to find your way. To remedy this, the Filter pop-up 
menu allows you to select a single event type for display.
When this option is selected, only Program Change events will be 
shown in the event display. To show all event types, select the top
item (“---”) from the menu.
Creating MIDI parts
When a MIDI track is selected in the Project Structure list, 
you can create empty MIDI parts on the track by clicking 
the Add button. This will insert a part between the left and 
right locator.
Creating MIDI events
You can use the Project Browser to create new MIDI 
events:
1.Select a MIDI part in the Project Structure list.
2.Move the project cursor to the desired position for the 
new event.
3.Use the Add pop-up above the event display to select 
which type of MIDI event to add.
4.Click the Add button.
An event of the selected type is added to the part, at the project cursor 
position. If the cursor is outside the selected part, the event is added at 
the beginning of the part.
Editing Automation tracks
All kinds of Nuendo automation (the automation subtracks 
for MIDI, instrument, audio, group and FX channel tracks 
or the individual automation tracks for VST Instruments, 
ReWire channels or Input/Output busses) are handled in 
the same way in the Project Browser. Each Automation 
item in the Project Structure list will have a number of sub-
entries, one for each automated parameter. Selecting one 
of these parameters in the Project Structure list shows its 
automation events in the list:
You can use the two columns in the list to edit the position 
of the events and their values.
Parameter Description
Name The name of the part.
Start The start position of the part. Editing this value is the 
same as moving the part.
End The end position of the part. Changing this is the same as 
resizing the part (and will automatically affect the Length 
value as well).
Length The length of the part. Changing this resizes the part and 
automatically changes the End value.
Offset This adjusts the start position of the events within the 
part. Adjusting this value is the same as sliding the con-
tents of the part in the Project window (see “Sliding the 
contents of an event or part” on page 49). Setting a pos-
itive Offset value is the same as sliding the contents to 
the left, while a negative Offset corresponds to sliding 
the contents to the right.
Mute Click in this column to mute or unmute the part. 
						

							433
The Project Browser
Editing the Video track
When the Video track is selected in the Project Structure 
list, the event display lists the video events on the track, 
with the following parameters:
Editing the Marker track
Marker events have the following parameters:
When the Marker track is selected, you can insert markers 
by selecting “Marker” or “Cycle Marker” from the Add 
pop-up menu and clicking the Add button. Regular mark-
ers will be added at the current project cursor position 
while cycle markers will be added between the current left 
and right locator positions.
Editing the Tempo track
When the Tempo track is selected in the Project Structure 
list, the event display shows the events on the Tempo 
track, with the following parameters:
You can add new Tempo events by clicking the Add button. 
This creates a jump-type event with the value 120 bpm at 
the project cursor position. Make sure that there is no other 
tempo event at the current cursor position.
Editing Time Signatures
When “Signature track” is selected in the Project Struc-
ture list, the event display shows the Time Signature 
events in the project:
You can add new Time Signature events by clicking the 
Add button. This creates a 4/4 event, at the beginning of 
the bar closest to the project cursor position. Make sure 
that there is no other time signature event at the current 
cursor position.
Deleting Events
The procedure for deleting Events is the same for all dif-
ferent track types:
1.Click on an event (or a part) in the Event display to se-
lect it.
2.Select Delete from the Edit menu or press [Delete] or 
[Backspace].
Column Description
Name The name of the video clip that the event refers to.
Start  The start position of the event. Editing this value is the 
same as moving the event.
End The end position of the event. Editing this value is the 
same as resizing the event, and will automatically change 
the Length value as well.
Length The length of the event. Editing this value is the same as 
resizing the event, and will automatically change the End 
value as well.
Offset This determines “where in the video clip” the event starts.
Note that the event cannot start before the start of the 
clip, or end after the end of the clip. Thus, if the event al-
ready plays the whole video clip, the Offset cannot be 
adjusted at all.
Column Description
Name The name of the marker. This can be edited for all mar-
kers except the left and right locator.
Start The position of “regular” markers or the start position of 
cycle markers.
End  The end positions of cycle markers. Editing this value is 
the same as resizing the cycle marker, and will automati-
cally change the Length value as well.
Length  The length of cycle markers. Editing this value is the same 
as resizing the marker, and will automatically change the 
End value as well.
ID The number of the marker. For regular (non-cycle) mar-
kers, this corresponds to the key commands used for 
navigating to the markers. For example, if a marker has 
ID 3, pressing [Shift]+[3] on the computer keyboard will 
move the song position to that marker. By editing these 
values, you can assign the most important markers to key 
commands.
Note that you cannot edit the “L” and “R” marker IDs (left 
and right locator) or assign IDs 1 and 2 to markers (since 
these are reserved for the locators).Parameter Description
Position The position of the Tempo event. You cannot move the 
first event on the Tempo track.
Tempo The tempo value of the event.
Type This indicates whether the tempo should jump to the 
value of the event (“Jump” type) or whether it should 
change gradually from the previous Tempo event, creat-
ing a ramp (“Ramp” type). See “Editing the tempo curve” 
on page 417.
Parameter Description
Position The position of the event. Note that you cannot move the 
first Time Signature event.
Signature The value (time signature) of the event. 
!Note that you cannot delete the first Tempo event or 
the first Time Signature event. 
						

							33
The Track Sheet 
						

							435
The Track Sheet
Overview
The Track Sheet provides a text-form “flow-chart” repre-
sentation of the Project. It lists all audio (and video) tracks 
and their contents, and can easily be printed out. 
To open the Track Sheet window, select “Track Sheet” 
from the Project menu.
The actual Track Sheet is displayed in the lower part of the 
window. It contains the following items:
The leftmost time column contains a list of time positions 
in the display format selected in the Project Setup dialog.
The time positions relate to start and end times of audio or video events 
or parts on the tracks.
The following columns display the tracks in the order 
they appear in the Track list.
Only audio and video tracks are shown.
The events are listed in their corresponding track col-
umns in the order they appear (starting at the top).
For each event, the start and end times are shown, with 
a vertical line binding the two together.
Viewing the pages in the Track Sheet
If your project is large (i.e. there are many tracks and/or 
many events) or if you are working with a large scale factor 
(see below), the resulting Track Sheet may have more 
than one page.
The more tracks you have, the larger the number of pages 
next to each other (horizontally). The more events you 
have, the larger the number of pages below each other.
To select which page should be visible in the Track Sheet 
window, you use the “Y Page” and “X Page” fields in the 
upper left part of the Track Sheet window. You could think 
of the Track Sheet as divided into rows and columns, with 
“Y Page” determining which row should be viewed and “X 
Page” determining the column. The numbers in parenthesis 
show the total number of rows and columns, respectively.
The size and proportions of the Track Sheet pages are 
set with the Page Setup dialog, see “Printing the Track 
Sheet” on page 436.
In this case, the page in row 2 and column 3 is shown:
X
Y1234
1
2 
						

							436
The Track Sheet
Adjusting the view
The two sliders at the bottom of the Track Sheet window 
have the following functionality:
The slider in the lower left corner is the scale slider.
Use this to adjust the actual size of the Track Sheet contents (including 
the font sizes). This will also affect the number of tracks and events 
shown on each page. 
The slider in the lower right corner governs the display 
zoom.
This affects how much of the Track Sheet is shown in the Track Sheet 
window – the printout is not affected.
You can also adjust the width of the columns by dragging 
the edges of the “Timecode” and “Tracks” fields at the top 
of the window – this resizes the corresponding columns in 
the Track Sheet.
Resizing the track columns. If the Timecode and Tracks fields are hid-
den, click the “More” button.
Additional settings
The “Pen Width” determines the thickness of the vertical 
lines that bind together the start and end times for events 
and parts.
If the Track Sheet is more than one page wide, you can 
use the “Timecode Column” pop-up menu to determine 
whether the time column should appear only on the first 
page, on each new page, or not at all.
The following settings can be shown or hidden by clicking 
the “More/Less” button.
Printing the Track Sheet
Printing is done using the standard procedures:
1.Make sure the correct page size and page orientation 
is selected in the Page Setup dialog on the File menu.
You may also want to make additional printer settings, following the stan-
dard Windows/Mac procedures.
2.Select “Print...” from the File menu.
Make the desired printer settings in the dialog that appears, and click 
OK. The Track Sheet is printed.
Setting Description
Project  By default, this is the name of the current project, but you 
can adjust this if you like. The project name will be shown 
in the top left corner of each Track Sheet page.
Editor The editor name you enter will be shown below the 
project name in the Track Sheet.
Heading Allows you to enter a heading (shown centered at the top 
of each Track Sheet page).
Do not show 
end times if
length is under...If this checkbox is ticked, the Track Sheet will not display 
the end times of Events shorter than the time specified in 
the field to the right. This is useful if you have many short 
events, like spot effects, where only the start time is of 
any relevance.
No leading 
zeroesBy default, the time positions of events will be listed in a 
syntax with “leading zeroes”. E.g. if the display format is 
seconds, hours and minutes will be listed as “01”, “02” 
etc. If this is activated, the time column will not display the 
leading zeroes.
Merge events
if gap is less 
or equal...If events on a track are lined up end to end – i.e. there is 
no gap between them – they will be considered as a sin-
gle event in the Track Sheet. By defining a value in this 
box, you can specify how large a gap between events has 
to be for them to be considered as separate events. If 
gaps between events are smaller than or equal to the 
value you specify, they will be listed as a single event. 
Otherwise they will be listed as separate events.
Name Filter This allows you to filter out certain event names of your 
choice so that they are not displayed in the Track Sheet. 
Click in the text field and type in the name(s) – to enter 
several names, separate each with a semi-colon (;). Par-
tial names are OK, so if you e.g. want to filter out the 
event name “Crossfade”, you could just write “Cross”. 
However, this would filter out other events starting with 
the word cross as well – e.g. “Crosstalk” would also be 
filtered out. Setting Description 
						

							34
Export Audio Mixdown 
						

							438
Export Audio Mixdown
Introduction
The Export Audio Mixdown function in Nuendo allows you 
to mix down audio from the program to a file on your hard 
disk, in a number of formats. You can choose to mix down 
one of the following:
An output bus.
For example, if you have set up a stereo mix with tracks routed to a stereo 
output bus, mixing down that output bus would give you a mixdown file 
containing the whole mix. Similarly, you can mix down a complete surround 
bus, either to a single multi-channel file or to one file per surround channel 
(by activating the split channels option).
The channel for an audio track.
This will mix down the channel for the track, complete with insert effects, 
EQ, etc. This can be useful for turning a number of events into a single file, 
or if you are using CPU-intensive insert effects – by exporting the track and 
re-importing it into the project you can turn off the insert effect, saving pro-
cessor power.
Any kind of audio channel in the mixer.
This includes VST Instrument channels, effect return channels (FX Chan-
nel tracks), Group channels and ReWire channels. There are many uses 
for this – for example, you can mix down an effect return track or turn in-
dividual ReWire channels into audio files.
Notes
The Export Audio Mixdown function mixes down the 
area between the left and right locators.
When you mix down, you get what you hear – mutes, 
mixer settings and insert effects are taken into account.
Note though that you will only include the sound of the bus or channel 
you select for mixdown.
MIDI tracks are not included in the mixdown!
To make a complete mixdown containing both MIDI and audio, you first 
need to record all your MIDI music to audio tracks (by connecting the 
outputs of your MIDI instruments to your audio inputs and recording, as 
with any other sound source).
A single instrument track can be directly exported as an 
audio mixdown.
You can also export selected tracks – this is a different 
function that doesn’t create an audio mixdown.
Rather, this is a way to transfer complete tracks (including clips and 
events) from one project to another. See “Importing audio” on page 491.
Mixing down to an audio file
1.Set up the left and right locators to encompass the 
area that you want to mix down.
2.Set up your tracks, so that they play back the way you 
want.
This includes muting unwanted tracks or parts, making manual mixer set-
tings and/or activating the R (Read) automation buttons for some or all 
mixer channels.
3.Pull down the File menu and select “Audio Mixdown…” 
from the Export submenu.
The Export Audio Mixdown dialog appears.
The available settings and options differ depending on the 
selected file format (see “The available file formats” on 
page 439).
4.In the File Location section at the top you can specify 
a name and path for the mixdown file.
Note that there are a number of options:
 Click the Options/Functions button to the right of the File 
Name field to open a pop-up menu.
 Select an entry from the Recent Paths sub-menu to reuse a 
path specified for a previous export.
 Select “Set File Name to Project Name” to use the project 
name for the export file.
 Enable the “Auto Update File Name” option (so that a check 
mark is displayed before it) to add a number to the specified 
file name everytime you click the Export button. 
						

							439
Export Audio Mixdown
 Activate the option “Use Project Audio Folder” to specify a 
path. This saves the mixdown file in the Project Audio folder.
5.Select a file format with the File Format pop-up menu.
6.Select the bus or channel you want to mix down with 
the Outputs pop-up menu in the “Audio Engine Output” 
section.
This lists all output busses and channels in the active project.
7.Activate the Split Channels option if you want to ex-
port all channels as mono files, or “Mono Export” if you 
want to export all channels as a single mono file. 
8.Make additional settings for the file to be created.
This includes selecting sample rate, bit depth, etc. The available options 
depend on the selected file format – see “The available file formats” on 
page 439.
9.If you want to automatically import the resulting audio 
file back into Nuendo, activate the checkboxes in the “Im-
port into project” section.
If you activate the “Pool” checkbox, a clip referring to the file will appear 
in the Pool. Activating the “Audio Track” checkbox as well, will create an 
audio event that plays the clip, and place it on a new audio track, starting 
at the left locator.
ÖThe Import options are only available if you have se-
lected an uncompressed file format.
10.If you activate Real-Time Export, the export will happen 
in real time, i.e. the process will take the same time as reg-
ular playback.
Some VST plug-ins require this in order to have enough time to update 
correctly during the mixdown – consult the plug-in manufacturers if un-
certain.
When Real-Time Export is activated, the exported audio 
will be played back via the Control Room.
The fader below the Real-Time Export checkbox allows you to adjust the 
Control Room volume. Note that if the Control Room is deactivated, the 
Audition Volume slider will not be available.
11.If you activate Update Display, the meters will be up-
dated during the export process.
This allows you to check for clipping, for example.
12.Click Export.
A dialog with a progress bar is displayed while the audio file 
is created. If you change your mind during the file creation, 
you can click the Abort button to abort the operation.
If the option “Close dialog after export” is activated, the 
dialog will be closed, otherwise it will be left open.If you have activated any of the “Import into project” op-
tions, the file will be imported back into the project.
When playing back the re-imported file in Nuendo, remember to mute 
the original tracks so that you really hear the correct file.
About the Import options dialog
When you activate any of the options in the Import sec-
tion, the Import Options dialog will open. For a detailed 
description of the options in this dialog see “Import Me-
dium…” on page 306. 
The available file formats
The following pages describe the different export file for-
mats, as well as their options and settings.
 AIFF files (see “AIFF files” on page 439).
 AIFC files (see “AIFC files” on page 440).
 Wave files (see “Wave files” on page 440).
 Wave 64 files (see “Wave64 files” on page 441).
 Broadcast Wave files (see “Broadcast Wave files” on page 
441).
 MP3 files (see “MPEG 1 Layer 3 files” on page 441).
 Ogg Vorbis files (see “Ogg Vorbis files” on page 442).
 Windows Media Audio Pro files (Windows only, see “Win-
dows Media Audio Pro files (Windows only)” on page 442).
AIFF files
AIFF stands for Audio Interchange File Format, a standard 
defined by Apple Inc. AIFF files have the extension “.aif” 
and are used on most computer platforms.
For AIFF files the following options are available:
Option Description
File Name
(File Location 
section)In this field you can enter a name for the mixdown file.
Path
(File Location 
section)Here you can specify a path where you want the mix-
down to be saved. 
Use Project 
Audio Folder
(File Location 
section)If you activate this options the mixdown file is saved in 
the Project Audio folder, as opposed to the specified 
path.
File Format pop-
up menu (File 
Format section)From this pop-up menu you can select the file format 
for the export, in this case “AIFF File”. 
						

							440
Export Audio Mixdown
AIFC files
AIFC stands for Audio Interchange File Format Com-
pressed, a standard defined by Apple Inc. These files sup-
port compression ratios as high as 6:1 and contain tags in 
the header. AIFC files have the extension “.aifc” and are 
used on most computer platforms. 
AIFC files support the same options as AIFF files.
Wave files
Wave files have the extension “.wav” and are the most 
common file format on the PC platform. 
Wave files support the same options as AIFF files.
Insert Broadcast 
Wave Chunk 
(File Format
section)This allows you to include information about the date 
and time of creation, a timecode position (allowing you 
to insert exported audio at the correct position in other 
projects, etc.) along with author, description and refer-
ence text strings in the exported file. 
Some applications may not be able to handle files with 
embedded info – if you get problems using the file in 
another application, turn off the option and re-export.
Edit button (File 
Format section)By clicking this button the “Broadcast Wave Chunk” 
dialog opens where you can enter additional informa-
tion that will be embedded in the exported files. Note 
that in the Preferences (Record–Audio–Broadcast 
Wave page) you can enter default text strings for au-
thor, description and reference that will automatically 
be displayed in the “Broadcast Wave Chunk” dialog.
Outputs pop-up 
menu (Audio 
Engine Output 
section)This menu lists all output busses and channels in the 
active project. Simply select the bus or channel you 
want to mix down.
Mono Export 
(Audio Engine 
Output section)If you activate this option, the exported audio is mixed 
down to mono.
Split Channels 
(Audio Engine 
Output section)Activate this option if you want to export all channels 
as mono files.
Real-Time 
Export (Audio 
Engine Output 
section)If you activate this option, the export will happen in real 
time, i.e. the process will take the same time as regular 
playback. Some VST plug-ins require this in order to 
have enough time to update correctly during the mix-
down – consult the plug-in manufacturers if uncertain. 
When Real-Time Export is activated, the exported au-
dio will be played back via the Control Room.
Update Display
(Audio Engine 
Output section)If you activate this option, the meters will be updated 
during the export process. This allows you to check for 
clipping, for example. 
Sample Rate 
(Audio Engine 
Output section)This setting determines the frequency range of the ex-
ported audio – the lower the sample rate, the lower the 
highest audible frequency in the audio. In most cases, 
you should select the sample rate set for the project, 
since a lower sample rate will degrade the audio qual-
ity (mainly reducing the high frequency content) and a 
higher sample rate will only increase the file size, with-
out adding to audio quality. Also consider the future 
usage of the file – if you e.g. plan to import the file into 
another application, you should select a sample rate 
supported by that application.
If you are making a mixdown for CD burning, you 
should select 44.100 kHz, since this is the sample rate 
used on audio CDs. Option DescriptionBit Depth (Au-
dio Engine Out-
put section)Allows you to select 8, 16, 24 bit or 32 bit (float) files.
If the file is an “intermediate mixdown” that you plan to 
re-import and continue working on in Nuendo, we rec-
ommend that you select the 32 bit (float) option.
32 bit (float) is a very high resolution (the same resolu-
tion as used internally for audio processing in Nuendo), 
and the audio files will be twice the size of 16 bit files.
If you are making a mixdown for CD burning, you should 
use the 16 bit option, as CD audio is always 16 bit.
In this case, we recommend that you activate the UV-
22HR dithering plug-in (see the separate manual “Nu-
endo Expansion Kit – Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 
4” for details). This reduces the effects of quantization 
noise and artifacts from being introduced when con-
verting the audio down to 16 bit.
8 bit resolution should only be used if required, since it 
will result in limited audio quality. 8 bit audio may be 
suitable in some multimedia applications, etc.
Audition Volume 
fader (Audio 
Engine Output 
section)The fader below the Real-Time Export checkbox al-
lows you to adjust the Control Room volume. Note that 
this fader is only available if the Control Room is acti-
vated.
Pool (Import into 
project section)Activate this option if you want to import the resulting 
audio file automatically back into the Pool. A clip refer-
ring to the file will appear in the Pool. 
If this option is activated, the Import Options dialog ap-
pears on export. For a description of the available set-
tings, see “Import Medium…” on page 306.
Audio Track 
(Import into 
project section)If you activate this option, an audio event that plays the 
clip will be created and placed on a new audio track, 
starting at the left locator.
If this option is activated, the Import Options dialog ap-
pears on export. For a description of the available set-
tings, see “Import Medium…” on page 306.
Close dialog 
after exportIf this option is activated, the dialog will be closed after 
the export, otherwise it will be left open. Option Description