Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual

201
Audio effects
Adding insert effects to busses
All input and output busses have eight insert slots, just like 
regular audio channels. The procedures for adding insert 
effects are the same.
•Adding insert effects to an input bus allows you to 
record with effects.
The effects will become a permanent part of the recorded audio file (see 
the chapter 
“Recording” on page 90).
•Insert effects added to an output bus will affect all audio 
routed to that bus, like a “master insert effect”.
Typically you...

202
Audio effects
Another special use for group channels and effects is the 
following:
If you have a mono audio track and want to process this 
through a stereo insert effect (e.
 g. a stereo chorus or an 
auto panner device), you cannot just insert the effect as 
usual. This is because the audio track is in mono – the 
output of the insert effect will be in mono as well, and the 
stereo information from the effect will be lost.
One solution is to route a send from the mono track to a 
stereo FX channel...

203
Audio effects
Send effects
Background
As their name implies, send effects are outside of an audio 
channel’s signal path, i.
 e. the audio data to be processed 
must be sent to the effect (as opposed to insert effects, 
which are inserted into the channel’s signal path).
To this end, Nuendo provides FX channel tracks. When 
you have created such a track, it is added to the track list 
and can be selected as a routing target in the Send slots 
of audio channels.
•When selecting an FX channel track in...

204
Audio effects
2.Make sure that the FX channel is routed to the correct 
output bus.
This is done with the Output Routing pop-up menu at the top of the fader 
section (also available in the Mixer and Inspector).
3.To add an insert effect in an empty slot (or to replace 
the current effect in a slot), click in the slot and select an 
effect from the pop-up menu.
This works just like when selecting insert effects for a regular audio chan-
nel.
4.When you add an effect, its control panel will automat-...

205
Audio effects
3.Select an FX channel track from the pop-up menu.
Now the send is routed to the FX channel.
4.Activate the On/Off button for the effect send.
If you hold down [Shift]-[Alt]/[Option] when clicking the button, you acti-
vate or deactivate this effect slot for all selected channels.
5.Click and drag the send level slider to a moderate 
value.
The send level determines how much of the signal from the audio chan-nel is routed to the FX channel via the send.
Setting the Send level.
•In the...

206
Audio effects
Bypassing the sends
•In the Mixer, you can click on the lit (blue) Sends State 
button for a channel to bypass (disable) all its sends.
When the sends are bypassed, the button is yellow. Click the button 
again to enable the sends.
•In the Inspector and the Channel Settings window, click 
the button to the left of the Sends button (so that it lights 
up yellow) to bypass the sends.
•You can also bypass individual sends in the channel 
overview.
See “Insert effects in the channel...

207
Audio effects
•If the FX channel is configured in a surround format, the 
pan control will be a miniature surround panner, similar to 
the one found in the Mixer.
You can click and drag the “ball” in the miniature panner display to posi-tion the send in the surround field, or double-click in the display to bring 
up the surround panner. See the chapter 
“Surround sound” on page 226 
for details.
ÖIf both the send (the audio channel) and the FX chan-
nel are in mono, the pan control is not available....

208
Audio effects
Triggering a compressor using side-chain 
signals
Compression, expansion or gating can be triggered by 
side-chain signals exceeding a specified threshold.
You may run into a situation where you want to lower the 
volume of one instrument every time another instrument is 
played. For example, you may want to lower the volume of 
the bass guitar during the bass drum hits. This can be 
achieved by applying compression to the bass guitar sig
-
nal every time the drum signals are present on...

209
Audio effects
a preset pop-up menu and a Preset Management pop-up 
menu for saving and loading effect presets. Some plug-ins 
also feature a side-chain button, see 
“Using the side-
chain input” on page 207.
The Rotary effect control panel
•Please note that all effects can be edited using a simpli-
fied control panel (horizontal sliders only, no graphics). 
This panel is opened by pressing [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Alt]/
[Option]-[Shift] and clicking on the Edit button for the ef
-
fect send or slot.
Effect...

210
Audio effects
5.When you have found the preset that you want, dou-
ble-click on it (or click outside the Presets browser).
The preset is applied.
•To return to the preset that was selected when you 
opened the Presets browser, click the “Revert to Last Set
-
ting” button.
•You can also open the Presets browser by clicking the 
button to the right of the preset field an selecting “Load 
Preset” from the pop-up menu.
ÖThe preset handling for VST 2 plug-ins is slightly differ-
ent, see “About earlier...