Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual
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12 System requirements and installation About this chapter This chapter describes the requirements and installation procedures for the Windows version and the Mac version of Nuendo. Minimum requirements To use Nuendo, your computer must meet the following minimum requirements: Windows • Windows XP (Home or Professional, Service Pack 2, 32-bit), or Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit), or Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) • 2 GHz processor (Dual Core processor recommended) •1024 MB RAM • Windows DirectX compatible audio hardware; ASIO compati- ble audio hardware recommended for low latency performance. • Display resolution of 1280x800 pixels recommended •4 GB of free hard disk space • QuickTime 7.1 and video card supporting OpenGL 1.2 (OpenGL 2.0 recommended) required for video playback • USB-eLicenser and USB component connector • DVD ROM drive required for installation • Internet connection required for license activation Macintosh • Mac OS X 10.5.8 or 10.6 • Intel Core processor (Intel Core Duo recommended) •1024 MB RAM • CoreAudio compatible audio hardware • Display resolution of 1280x800 pixels •4 GB of free hard disk space • QuickTime 7.1 and video card supporting OpenGL 1.2 (OpenGL 2.0 recommended) required for video playback • USB-eLicenser and USB component connector • DVD ROM drive required for installation • Internet connection required for license activation General notes on how to set up your system •RAM – There is a direct relation between the amount of available RAM and the number of audio channels that you can have running. The amount of RAM specified above is the minimum requirement, but as a general rule “the more the better” applies (see also “RAM” on page 24). •Hard disk size – The size of the hard disk determines how many minutes of audio you will be able to record. Recording one minute of stereo CD quality audio requires 10 MB of hard disk space. That is, eight stereo tracks in Nuendo use up at least 80 MB of disk space per recording minute. •Hard disk speed – The speed of the hard drive also determines the number of audio tracks you can run. That is the quantity of information that the disk can read, usually expressed as “sustained transfer rate”. Again, “the more the better” applies. •Wheel mouse – Although a mouse without a wheel will work fine with Nuendo, we recommend that you use a wheel mouse. This will speed up value editing and scrolling considerably. MIDI requirements If you intend to use the MIDI features of Nuendo, you need the following: • A MIDI interface to connect external MIDI equipment to your computer. •A MIDI instrument. • Any audio equipment required to listen to the sound from your MIDI devices. Audio hardware Nuendo will run with audio hardware that meets the fol- lowing specifications: •Stereo. •16 bit. • Support of at least the 44.1kHz sampling rate. • Windows XP – The audio hardware must be supplied with a special ASIO driver, or a DirectX compatible driver, see below. !On the Steinberg web site, under “Support–DAW Components”, you can find detailed information on what to consider when setting up a computer system dedicated to audio work.
13 System requirements and installation • Windows Vista/Windows 7 – If there is no dedicated ASIO driver available, you can also use the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver. • Mac – The audio hardware must be supplied with Mac OS X- compatible drivers (CoreAudio or ASIO). Using the built-in audio hardware of the Macintosh (Mac only) Although Nuendo is designed with multi-channel input and output in mind, it is of course possible to use the pro - gram with “basic” stereo inputs and outputs. As of this writing, all current Macintosh models provide at least built- in 16 bit stereo audio hardware. For detailed information, refer to the documentation describing your computer. Depending on your preferences and requirements, using the built-in audio hardware may be sufficient for use with Nuendo. It is always available for selection in Nuendo – you do not have to install any additional drivers. About drivers A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this case, the driver allows Nuendo to use the audio hardware. For audio hardware, there are two different cases, requir - ing different driver configurations: If the audio hardware has a specific ASIO driver Professional audio cards often come with an ASIO driver written especially for the card. This allows for direct com - munication between Nuendo and the audio card. As a re- sult, audio cards with specific ASIO drivers can provide lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when monitoring audio via Nuendo or using VST instruments. The ASIO driver may also provide special support for mul - tiple inputs and outputs, routing, synchronization, etc. Audio card-specific ASIO drivers are provided by the card manufacturers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver versions. If the audio card communicates via the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver (Windows Vista/Windows 7) If you are working with Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can use the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver. This is a generic ASIO driver that provides ASIO support for all au - dio cards supported by Windows Vista and Windows 7, thus allowing for low latency. The Generic Low Latency ASIO driver provides the Windows Core Audio technol - ogy in Nuendo. No additional driver is needed. ÖThough the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver pro- vides low latency for all audio cards, you might get better results with on-board audio cards than with external USB audio devices. If the audio card communicates via DirectX (Windows only) DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various types of multimedia data under Windows. Nuendo sup - ports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which is a part of DirectX used for playing back and recording audio. This requires two types of drivers: • A DirectX driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate with DirectX. If the audio card supports DirectX, this driver should be supplied by the audio card manufacturer. If it isn’t installed with the audio card, please check the manufacturer’s web site for more information. • The ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver, allowing Nuendo to com- municate with DirectX. This driver is included with Nuendo, and does not require any special installation. !If your audio hardware comes with a specific ASIO driver, we strongly recommend that you use this.
14 System requirements and installation Hardware installation Copy protection Many Steinberg products use the USB-eLicenser (also referred to as a “dongle”), a hardware copy protection de - vice. Nuendo will not run if there is no USB-eLicenser containing an activated license. The USB-eLicenser is a USB device on which your Stein- berg software licenses are stored. All hardware-protected Steinberg products use the same type of device, and you can store more than one license on one device. Also, li - censes can (within certain limits) be transferred between USB-Licensers – which is helpful, e. g. if you want to sell a piece of software. The eLicenser Control Center (which can be found on the Start menu on Windows systems or the Applications folder on a Mac) is the place where you can check the li - censes installed on your USB-eLicenser. •If you are using other copy-protected Steinberg prod- ucts, you may want to transfer all licenses for your applica- tions to only one USB-eLicenser, thus using up only one USB port of your computer. Please refer to the eLicenser Control Center Help for information on how to transfer licenses between USB-eLicensers. •Nuendo is sold with an USB-eLicenser and an Activation Code, which is found on the Essential Product License In - formation card within the product package. The USB-eLi- censer already contains a time-limited license that allows you to use Nuendo out-of-the-box for a total of 25 non-con - secutive hours. However, to be able to make unlimited use of your version of Nuendo, you must activate your perma - nent license manually, using the activation code. To do so, click the “Enter Activation Code” button of the eLicenser Con-trol Center and follow the instructions. •Steinberg software products always come with a license activation code, but not always with an USB-eLicenser. If you want to activate a license for such a Steinberg software (e. g. an update/upgrade, or a VSTi) on the USB-eLicenser you received with your original version of Nuendo, click the “Enter Activation Code” button of the eLicenser Control Center and follow the instructions. More information on the transfer or activation of licenses can be found in the help for the eLicenser Control Center. Installing the audio hardware and its driver 1.Install the audio card and related equipment in the computer, as described in the card’s documentation. 2.Install the driver for the card. Depending on the operating system of your computer, there are different types of drivers that could apply: card-specific ASIO drivers, the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver (Windows Vista/Windows 7 only), DirectX drivers (Windows) or Mac OS X (Mac) drivers. Specific ASIO drivers If your audio card has a specific ASIO driver, it may be in- cluded with the audio card, but you should always make sure to check the audio card manufacturer’s web site for the most recent drivers. For details on how to install the driver, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions. Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver (Windows Vista/ Windows 7 only) On Windows Vista and Windows 7 systems, you can also use the Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver if there is no specific ASIO driver available. This driver is included with Nuendo and does not require any special installation. DirectX drivers (Windows only) If your audio card is DirectX compatible, its DirectX drivers will most likely be installed when you install the card. If you have downloaded special DirectX drivers for the audio card, you should follow the manufacturer’s installation in - structions. Mac OS X drivers (Mac only) If you are using a Macintosh computer, make sure that you are using the latest Mac OS X drivers for your audio hard - ware. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to install the driver. !Please read the following section before installing the Nuendo software.
15 System requirements and installation Testing the card To make sure that the audio card works as expected, per- form the following tests: •Use any software included with the audio card to make sure that you can record and play back audio without problems. •If the card is accessed via a standard operating system driver, try playing back audio using the computer’s stan - dard audio application (e. g. Windows Media Player or Apple iTunes). Installing a MIDI interface/synthesizer card Installation instructions for a MIDI interface should be in- cluded with the product. However, here’s an outline of the necessary steps: 1.Install the interface (or MIDI synthesizer card) in your computer or connect it to a “port” (connector) on the computer. Which is right for you depends on which type of interface you have. 2.If the interface has a power supply and/or a power switch, turn it on. 3.Install the driver for the interface, as described in the documentation that comes with the interface. You should also make sure to check the manufacturer’s web site for the latest driver updates. Installing Nuendo The installation procedure puts all files in the right places, automatically. Depending on your system, the Nuendo 5 Start Center program on the DVD may start automatically. If no interac - tive start screen appears, open the DVD and double-click the file “Nuendo 5 Start Center” to launch the interactive start screen. From there you can start the installation of Nuendo and browse through the additional options and information presented there. In case you do not want to install Nuendo via the interac- tive start screen, follow the procedure below: Windows 1.Double-click the file called Setup.exe. 2.Follow the instructions on screen. Macintosh 1.Double-click the file called “Nuendo 5.mpkg”. 2.Follow the instructions on screen. Defragmenting the hard disk (Windows only) If you plan to record audio on a hard disk where you have already stored other files, now is the time to defragment it. Defragmentation reorganizes the physical allocation of space on the hard disk in order to optimize its performance. It is done with a special defragmentation program. Register your software We encourage you to register your software! By doing so you are entitled to technical support and kept aware of up - dates and other news regarding Nuendo. To register your software, proceed as follows: •In Nuendo, open the Help menu and select the Regis- tration option. This option is an Internet link that will open the Registration page of the Steinberg web site. To register, simply follow the instructions on screen. •When you launch Nuendo, you will also be prompted to launch the registration process. !It is crucial to the audio recording performance that your hard disk is optimized (defragmented). You should make sure to defragment regularly.
17 Setting up your system Setting up audio Connecting audio Exactly how to set up your system depends on many dif- ferent factors, e. g. the kind of project you wish to create, the external equipment you want to use, or the computer hardware available to you. Therefore, the following sec - tions can only serve as examples. How you connect your equipment, i. e. whether you use digital or analog connections, also depends on your indi - vidual setup. Stereo input and output – the simplest connection If you only use a stereo input and output from Nuendo, you can connect your audio hardware, e. g. the inputs of your audio card or your audio interface, directly to the input source and the outputs to a power amplifier and speaker. A simple stereo audio setup This is probably the simplest of all setups – once you have set up the internal input and output busses, you can con - nect your audio source, e. g. a microphone, to your audio interface and start recording. Multi-channel input and output Most likely however, you will have other audio equipment that you want to integrate with Nuendo, using several in - put and output channels. Depending on the equipment available to you, there are two ways to go: either mixing using an external mixing desk, or mixing using the Mixer in - side Nuendo. •External mixing means having a hardware mixing device with a group or bus system that can be used for feeding inputs on your audio hardware. In the example below, four busses are used for feeding signals to the au- dio hardware’s inputs. The four outputs are connected back to the mixer for monitoring and playback. Remaining mixer inputs can be used for connecting audio sources like microphones, instruments, etc. A multi-channel audio setup using an external mixer ÖWhen connecting an input source (like a mixer) to the audio hardware, you should use output busses, sends or similar that are separate from the mixer’s master output to avoid recording what you are playing back. You may also have mixing hardware that can be connected via FireWire. !Make sure that all equipment is turned off before making any connections!
18 Setting up your system •When using the Mixer inside Nuendo, you can use the inputs on your audio hardware to connect microphones and/or external devices. Use the outputs to connect your monitoring equipment. You can create very complex setups using external instruments and ex- ternal effects, and integrate Nuendo seamlessly with all your external equipment using the Control Room feature (see the chapters “VST Con- nections” on page 27 and “Control Room” on page 179). Mixing inside Nuendo Connecting for surround sound If you plan to mix for surround sound, you can connect the audio outputs to a multi-channel power amplifier, driving a set of surround channels. A surround sound playback configuration Nuendo supports a number of surround formats. The ex- ample connection above will work for mixing both LRCS (ProLogic for example) and 5.1, in which case the two sur - round speakers will be playing the same material (from the single surround channel). The difference between the two formats is the LFE channel, which is not used with LRCS. Recording from a CD player Most computers come with a CD-ROM drive that can also be used as a regular CD player. In some cases the CD player is internally connected to the audio hardware so that you can record the output of the CD player directly into Nuendo (consult the audio hardware documentation if you are uncertain). •All routing and level adjustments for recording from a CD (if available) are done in the audio hardware setup ap - plication (see below). •You can also grab audio tracks directly from a CD in Nuendo (see the chapter “File handling” on page 552). Word clock connections If you are using a digital audio connection, you may also need a word clock connection between the audio hard - ware and external devices. Please refer to the documenta- tion that came with the audio hardware for details. About recording levels and inputs When you connect your equipment, you should make sure that the impedance and levels of the audio sources and in - puts are matched. Typically, different inputs may be de- signed for use with microphones, consumer line level (-10 dBV) or professional line level (+4 dBV), or you may be able to adjust input characteristics on the audio inter - face or in its control panel. Please check the audio hard- ware documentation for details. Using the correct types of input is important to avoid dis- tortion or noisy recordings. !It is very important that word clock synchronization is done correctly or there might be clicks and crackles in recordings that you make! !Nuendo does not provide any input level adjustments for the signals coming in to your audio hardware, since these are handled differently for each card. Ad - justing input levels is either done in a special applica- tion included with the hardware or from its control panel (see below).
19 Setting up your system Making settings for the audio hardware Most audio cards come with one or more small applica- tions that allow you to configure the inputs of the hard- ware to your liking. This includes: • Selecting which inputs/outputs are active. • Setting up word clock synchronization (if available). • Turning monitoring via the hardware on/off (see “About moni- toring” on page 21). • Setting levels for each input. This is very important! • Setting levels for the outputs, so that they match the equip- ment you use for monitoring. • Selecting digital input and output formats. • Making settings for the audio buffers. In many cases all available settings for the audio hardware are gathered in a control panel, which can be opened from within Nuendo as described below (or opened separately, when Nuendo isn’t running). In some cases, there may be several different applications and panels – please refer to the audio hardware documentation for details. Plug and Play support for ASIO devices The Steinberg MR816 hardware series supports Plug and Play in Nuendo. These devices can be plugged in and switched on while the application is running. Nuendo will automatically use the driver of the MR816 series and will re-map the VST connections accordingly. Steinberg cannot guarantee that this will work with other hardware. If you are unsure of whether your device sup - ports plug and play, please consult its documentation. Selecting a driver and making audio settings in Nuendo The first thing you need to do is select the correct driver in Nuendo to make sure that the program can communicate with the audio hardware: 1.Launch Nuendo and select Device Setup from the Devices menu. 2.In the Devices list to the left, click on “VST Audio Sys- tem”.The VST Audio System page is shown. 3.On the ASIO Driver menu, select your audio hardware driver. There may be several options here that all refer to the same audio hard- ware. When you have selected a driver, it is added to the Devices list. 4.Select the driver in the Devices list to open the driver settings for your audio hardware. !If a device that does not support Plug and Play is connected/disconnected while the computer is run - ning, it may get damaged. !Under Windows, we strongly recommend that you ac- cess your hardware via an ASIO driver written specifi- cally for the hardware. If no ASIO driver is installed, we recommend that you check with your audio hard - ware manufacturer if they have an ASIO driver avail- able, for example, for download via the Internet. !On Windows Vista and Windows 7 systems, you can also use the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver if no specific ASIO driver is available.
20 Setting up your system 5.Bring up the control panel for the audio hardware and adjust the settings as recommended by the audio hard - ware manufacturer. •Under Windows, you open the control panel by clicking the Control Panel button. The control panel that opens when you click this button is provided by the audio hardware manufacturer – not Nuendo (unless you use DirectX, see below). Hence it will be different for each audio card brand and model. The control panels for the ASIO DirectX driver and the Generic Low La-tency ASIO Driver (Windows Vista and Windows 7 only) are exceptions, in that they are provided by Steinberg and described in the dialog help, opened by clicking the Help button in the dialog. See also the notes on DirectX below. •Under Mac OS X, the control panel for your audio hard- ware is opened by clicking the “Open Config App” button on the settings page for your audio device in the Device Setup dialog. Note that this button is available only for some hardware products. If “Open Config App” is not available in your setup, refer to the documen- tation that came with your audio hardware for information on where to make hardware settings. 6.If you plan to use several audio applications simulta- neously, you may want to activate the “Release Driver when Application is in Background” option on the VST Audio System page. This will allow another application to play back via your audio hardware even though Nuendo is running. The application that is currently active (i. e. the “top window” on the desk-top) gets access to the audio hardware. Make sure that any other audio application accessing the audio hardware is also set to release the ASIO (or Mac OS X) driver so Nuendo can use it when it becomes the active application again. 7.On the page for the driver, activate the Externally Clocked option if your audio hardware receives clock sig - nals from an external sample clock source. You should “tell” Nuendo that it receives external clock signals and therefore derives its speed from that source. It is essential that you set Nuendo’s project sample rate to the sample rate of the incoming clock signals for proper audio playback and recording, see “The Project Setup dialog” on page 57. 8.If your audio hardware and its driver support ASIO Direct Monitoring, you may want to activate the Direct Monitoring checkbox on the page for the driver. Read more about monitoring later in this chapter and in the chapter “Re- cording” on page 90. 9.Click Apply and then OK to close the dialog. If you are using audio hardware with a DirectX driver (Windows only) Nuendo comes with a driver called ASIO DirectX Full Du- plex, available for selection on the ASIO Driver pop-up menu (VST Audio System page). ÖTo take full advantage of DirectX Full Duplex, the audio hardware must support WDM (Windows Driver Model) in combination with DirectX version 8.1 or higher. In all other cases, the audio inputs will be emulated by DirectX (see the dialog help for the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Setup di - alog for details about how this is reported). ÖDuring the installation of Nuendo, the latest DirectX version will be installed on your computer. When the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver is selected in the Device Setup dialog, you can open the ASIO Control Panel and adjust the following settings (for more details, click the Help button in the control panel): •Direct Sound Output and Input Ports In the list on the left in the window, all available Direct Sound output and input ports are listed. In many cases, there will be only one port in each list. To activate or deactivate a port in the list, click the checkbox in the left column. If the checkbox is ticked, the port is activated. •You can edit the Buffer Size and Offset settings in this list if necessary, by double-clicking on the value and typ - ing in a new value. In most cases, the default settings will work fine. Audio buffers are used when audio data is transferred between Nuendo and the audio card. While larger buffers ensure that playback will occur without glitches, the latency (the time between the moment Nuendo sends out the data and when it actually reaches the output) will be higher. •Offset If a constant offset is audible during playback of Audio and MIDI record- ings, you can adjust the output or input latency time using this value. !If your audio hardware does not have a specific ASIO driver and your Windows version does not support the Generic Low Latency ASIO driver, a Di - rectX driver is the next best option.