Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual
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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 would add compressors, limiters, EQ or other plug-ins to tailor the dynamics and sound of the final mix. Dithering is a special case, as described below. Input and output busses only appear as tracks in the track list after their automation Write buttons have been activated at least once. Only then will you be able to make Inserts set - tings for the corresponding busses in the Inspector section. However, you can always make Inserts settings in the Channel Settings window and the extended Mixer panel. Dithering Dithering is a method for controlling the noise produced by quantization errors in digital recordings. The theory be - hind this is that during low level passages, only a few bits are used to represent the signal, which leads to quantiza - tion errors and hence distortion. For example, when “truncating bits”, as a result of moving from 24 to 16 bit resolution, quantization errors are added to an otherwise immaculate recording. By adding a spe - cial kind of noise at an extremely low level, the effect of these errors is minimized. The added noise could be per - ceived as a very low-level hiss under exacting listening conditions. However, this is hardly noticeable and much preferred to the distortion that otherwise occurs. When should I use dithering? •Consider dithering when you mix down to a lower reso- lution, either in realtime (during playback) or with the Ex- port Audio Mixdown function. A typical example is when you mix down a project to a 16-bit stereo au- dio file for audio CD burning. What is a “lower resolution” then? Well, Nuendo uses 32- bit float resolution internally, which means that all integer resolutions (16 bit, 24 bit, etc.) are lower. The negative ef - fects of truncation (no dithering) are most noticeable when mixing down to 8 bit, 16 bit and 20 bit format; whether to dither when mixing down to 24 bits is a matter of taste. Applying dithering 1.Open the VST Output Channel Settings window by clicking the “e” button for the Output channel in the Mixer. You can also display the Inserts section in the extended Mixer pane. 2.Open the Inserts pop-up menu for slot 7 or 8. The two last Insert effect slots (for all channels) are post-fader, which is crucial for a dithering plug-in. The reason is that any master gain change applied after dithering would bring the signal back to the internal 32 bit float domain, rendering the dithering settings useless. 3.Select the included UV22HR dithering plug-in from the pop-up menu. The included dithering plug-ins and their parameters are described in the separate PDF document “Plug-in Refer - ence”. If you have installed another dithering plug-in that you prefer, you can of course select this instead. 4.Make sure that the plug-in is set to dither to the cor- rect resolution. This would be the resolution of your audio hardware (on playback) or the desired resolution for the mixdown file you want to create (as set in the Export Audio Mixdown dialog, see the chapter “Export Audio Mixdown” on page 473). 5.Use the other parameters in the control panel to set up the dithering to your liking. Using group channels for insert effects Like all other channels, group channels can have up to eight insert effects. This is useful if you have several audio tracks that you want to process through the same effect (e. g. different vocal tracks that you want to be processed by the same compressor).
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 track, set the send to pre-fader mode and lower the fader completely for the mono audio track. However, this makes mixing the track cumbersome, since you cannot use the fader. Here is another solution: 1.Create a group channel track in stereo and route it to the desired output bus. 2.Add the desired effect to the group channel as an in- sert effect. 3.Route the mono audio track to the group channel. Now the signal from the mono audio track is sent directly to the group, where it passes through the insert effect, in stereo. Freezing (rendering) insert effects for a track Effect plug-ins can sometimes require a lot of processor power. If you are using a large number of insert effects for a track, you may reach a point where the computer cannot play back the track properly (the CPU overload indicator in the VST Performance window lights up, you get crack - ling sounds, etc.). To remedy this, you can freeze the track, by clicking the Freeze button in the Inspector. •The Freeze Channel Options dialog opens, allowing you to set a “Tail” time in seconds. This adds time at the end of the rendered file to allow reverb and delay tails to fully fade out. •The program now renders the output of the track, in- cluding all pre-fader insert effects, to an audio file. This file is placed in the “Freeze” folder within the Project folder (Win- dows). On the Mac, the Freeze folder is stored under “User/Documents”. •The frozen audio track is locked for editing in the Project window. The frozen insert effects cannot be edited or removed and you cannot add new insert effects for the track (except post-fader effects). •On playback, the rendered audio file is played back. You can still adjust the level and panning in the Mixer, make EQ settings and adjust the effect sends. In the Mixer, the channel strip for a frozen track is indicated by a “snow flake” symbol on the volume fader handle. After freezing the Inserts for a track, you hear the track play back as before but the insert effects do not have to be calculated in real time, easing the load on the computer processor. Typically, you would freeze a track when it is finished and you do not need to edit it anymore. •You can only freeze audio tracks this way, not group channel tracks or FX channel tracks. •The last two insert effects will not be frozen. This is because these are post-fader insert slots. •You can also freeze VST instruments and their insert effects – see the chapter “VST instruments and instru- ment tracks” on page 215. Unfreezing If you need to edit the events on a frozen track or make settings for the insert effects, you can unfreeze the track: 1.Click the Freeze button in the Inspector for the track. You will be asked whether you really want to unfreeze the channel and if you wish to keep or delete the freeze files. 2.Click “Unfreeze” or “Keep Freeze files”. This reactivates the frozen insert effects. Clicking “Keep Freeze Files” will unfreeze the channel but not delete the freeze files. After editing, you can freeze the track again.
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 one of the send slots of an audio channel, the audio is sent to the FX chan - nel and through any insert effects set up for it. Each audio channel has eight sends, which can be routed to different FX channels, and thus different FX channel insert effect configurations. You control the amount of signal sent to the FX channel by adjusting the ef - fect send level. •If you have added several effects to the FX channel, the signal passes through the effects in series, from the top (the first slot) downward. This allows for “custom” send effect configurations – e. g. a chorus fol-lowed by a reverb followed by an EQ and so on. •The FX channel track has its own channel strip in the Mixer, the effect return channel. Here you can adjust the effect return level and balance, add EQ and route the effect return to any output bus. •Each FX channel track can have any number of automa- tion tracks, for automating various effect parameters. See the chapter “Automation” on page 239 for more information. Setting up send effects Adding an FX channel track 1.Pull down the Project menu, open the “Add Track” submenu and select “FX Channel”. A dialog opens. 2.Select a channel configuration for the FX channel track. Normally, stereo is a good choice since most effect plug-ins have stereo outputs. 3.Select an effect for the FX channel track. This is not strictly necessary at this point – you can also leave the plug-in pop-up menu set to “No Effect” and add effects to the FX channel later. 4.Click the Add Track button. An FX channel track is added to the track list, and the selected effect, if any, is loaded into the first insert effect slot for the FX channel (in that case, the lit Inserts tab for the FX channel track in the Inspector indicates that an effect has been assigned and automatically activated). •All FX channel tracks you create will appear in a dedi- cated “folder” track in the track list. This makes it easy to manage and keep track of all your FX channel tracks, and also allows you to save screen space by folding in the FX Channel folder. FX channel tracks are automatically named “FX 1”, “FX 2” etc., but you can rename them if you wish. Just double-click the name of an FX channel track in either the track list or the Inspector and type in a new name. Adding and setting up effects As mentioned above, you can add a single insert effect when you create the FX channel track. To add and set up effects after the FX channel track is created, you can ei - ther use the Inspector for the track (click the Inserts tab) or the VST FX Channel Settings window: 1.Click the Edit (“e”) button for the FX channel track (in the track list, Mixer or Inspector). The VST FX Channel Settings window appears, similar to a regular Channel Settings window. On the left in the window you can find the Inserts section with eight effect slots.
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- ically appear. When you set up send effects, you normally set the wet/dry Mix control to all “wet”. This is because you control the balance between the wet and the dry sig- nal with the effect sends. For more information, see “Editing effects” on page 208. •You can add up to eight effects for an FX channel. The signal will pass through all the effects in series. It is not possible to adjust the send and return levels separately for the effects – this is done for the FX channel as a whole. If you want several separate send effects (where you can control the send and return levels independently), add more FX channel tracks instead – one for each effect. •You can reorder the effects by clicking in the area above the name field and dragging the effect onto another slot. •You can copy an effect into another effect slot (for the same channel or between channels) by holding down [Ctrl]/ [Command] and dragging it onto another effect slot. •To remove an insert effect from a slot, click in the slot and select “No Effect” from the pop-up menu. To reduce the CPU load, do this for all effects that you do not intend to use. •You can bypass individual effects (or all effects) by clicking the corresponding Bypass button(s) for the FX channel track. See “Routing an audio channel or bus through insert effects” on page 198. •You can also adjust level, pan and EQ for the effect re- turn in the FX Channel Settings window. This can also be done in the Mixer or in the Inspector. ÖRemember that the more effect units you use, the higher the CPU load. Making settings for the sends The next step is to set up a send for an audio channel and route it to the FX channel. This can be done in the Mixer (in the extended panel), in the Channel Settings window or in the Inspector for the audio track. The example below shows the Channel Settings window, but the procedure is similar for all the sections: 1.Click the “e” button for an audio channel to bring up its Channel Settings window. By default, the send section is located to the left of the channel strip. Each of the eight sends has the following controls: • An On/Off button for activating/deactivating the effect • A send level slider • A pre/post-fader switch • An “e” (edit) button Note that the last three items are not shown until the send is activated and an effect has been loaded. 2.Pull down the Routing pop-up menu for a send by clicking in the empty slot, and select the desired routing destination. • If the first item on this menu (“No Bus”) is selected, the send is not routed anywhere. • Items called “FX 1”, “FX 2” etc. correspond to existing FX tracks. If you renamed an FX track (see “Adding an FX channel track” on page 203), that name will appear on this menu in- stead of the default. • The menu also allows for routing a send directly to output bus- ses, separate output bus channels or Group channels. •You can apply or remove a send to or from all the se- lected channels at once by holding down [Shift]-[Alt]/[Op- tion] and selecting the desired effect from any of the effect slots.
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 Fader section of the Channel Settings window, select the FX channel from the pop-up menu and adjust its effect return level. By adjusting the return level, you control the amount of the signal sent from the FX channel to the output bus. Setting the effect return level. 6.If you want the signal to be sent to the FX channel be- fore the audio channel’s volume fader in the Mixer, click on the Pre-Fader button for the send so that it lights up. A send set to pre-fader mode. Normally you want the effect send to be proportional to the channel volume (post-fader send). The picture below shows where the sends are “tapped” from the signal in pre and post-fader mode: ÖUse the channel’s Mute button to determine whether a send in pre-fader mode is affected. This is done with the “Mute Pre-Send when Mute” option in the Preferences di - alog (VST page). •When one or several sends are activated for a channel, the Send Effects buttons light up in blue. ÖThe FX channels themselves have sends, too. Insert effects 1–6 EQ Volume (fader) Pre-fader sends Post-fader sends Insert effects 7–8Input gain
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 overview” on page 199. •You can also bypass the send effects by clicking the “Bypass Inserts” button for the FX channel. This bypasses the actual effects which may be used by several different channels. Bypassing a send affects that send and that channel only. If you bypass the insert effects, the original sound will be passed through. This may lead to unwanted side effects (higher volume). To deactivate all effects, use the mute button in the FX channel. Setting pan for the sends There are several possibilities to set up pan for the sends: •To position the send signal at center pan in the stereo FX channel (or anywhere you like), route a send from a mono channel to a stereo FX channel track. •To use the pan control as a crossfader, determining the balance between the stereo sides when the stereo send signal is mixed to mono, route a send from a stereo chan - nel to a mono FX channel track. •To use the surround panner to position the send signal in the surround image, route a send from a mono or stereo channel to an FX channel track in surround format. •To set the panning with the Mixconvert plug-in, route a send from a surround channel to an FX channel in a format with less channels. You set up send panning in the following way: 1.Open the Channel Settings window for the audio channel. 2.Right-click somewhere in the Channel Settings win- dow (not the EQ display), to open the context menu and open the Customize View submenu. 3.From the submenu, select “Send Routing” and “Con- trol Strip”. In the Send Routing section of the Channel Settings window, each send is shown as a small routing diagram showing a pre/post selector to the right and a pan fader (where applicable). In the Control Strip section, you can activate the “Send Routing Panners follow Channel Panner” option. The send panners will then follow the pan for the channel, making the stereo imaging as clear and true as possible. This behavior can also be set as default for all channels. The corresponding setting is available in the Preferences dialog (VST page). The Sends, Send Routing, and Control Strip sections in the Channel Settings window 4.Click and drag the pan control for the desired send(s) in the display. You can reset the pan control to the center position by [Ctrl]/[Com-mand]-clicking on the pan control. Send Routing Panners follow Channel Panner
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. Using the side-chain input Many VST 3.0 effects feature a side-chain input. Side- chaining allows you, for example, to lower the music vol - ume when someone is speaking (“ducking”) or to use compression (e. g. on a bass sound) when the drums are hit, thereby “harmonizing” the intensity of the two instru - ments. Another possibility is to use the side-chain signal as a source for modulation. The effect types which feature side-chain functionality are Delay, Dynamics, Modulation, and Filter. ÖCertain combinations of tracks and side-chain inputs may lead to feedback loops and added latency. If this is the case, the side-chain options will not be available. Creating a Ducking delay The delay repeats can be silenced by side-chain signals exceeding a certain threshold. You can use this feature to create a so-called “ducking delay” for your vocals. Let’s say you want to add a delay effect that is audible only when no signal is present on the vocal track. For this, you need to set up a delay effect which is deactivated every time the vocals start again. Proceed as follows: 1.Select the vocal track. 2.On the Project menu, select “Duplicate Tracks”. Now you can use the vocal events on the second track to silence the de- lay effect. 3.Open the Inserts tab for the first Vocal track in the In- spector and select “PingPongDelay” from the Effects pop-up menu. The control panel for the effect opens. 4.On the control panel for the effect, make the desired effect settings and activate the Side-Chain button. Try out the effect settings to find out which settings will work best with your project. For detailed descriptions of the parameters, see the sepa - rate PDF document “Plug-in Reference”. 5.In the track list, select the second vocal track. 6.Pull down the Output Routing pop-up menu and on the Side-Chain submenu, select the PingPongDelay ef - fect you set up for the vocal track. This way, the signals from the second (duplicate) track are routed to the effect (and do not end up in the mix). Now every time the signals on the vocal track exceed the threshold, the delay will be deactivated. Since the thres - hold for the delay effect is fixed, you may have to adjust the volume of track 2, in this example, to ensure that vocal parts of low or middle volume will also silence the delay effect. !For detailed descriptions of the plug-ins that feature side-chaining, see the separate PDF document “Plug-in Reference”.
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 the respec- tive track. Proceed as follows: 1.Select the bass guitar track. 2.Open the Inserts tab in the Inspector, click in an insert slot to open the effect selection pop-up menu and, on the Dynamics submenu, select “Compressor”. The effect is loaded into the effect slot and the effect control panel opens. 3.Make the desired effect settings (you will most likely have to adjust them later to get the right compression level) and activate the Side-Chain button. 4.Select the bass drum track. 5.Open the Sends Inspector section, click in a send slot and from the Side-Chain submenu, select the Compres - sor effect you created for the bass guitar track. Adjust the Send level. This way, the bass drum signal triggers the compressor on the bass gui- tar track. When you now play back the project, the bass guitar will be compressed whenever the signals on the bass drum track exceed the threshold. Side-chain and Modulation Side-chain signals bypass the built-in LFO modulation and instead apply modulation according to the envelope of the side-chain signal. Since each channel will be ana - lyzed and modulated separately, this allows for creating astonishing spatial stereo or surround modulation effects. Feel free to experiment with the functions to see what they have to offer! About drag & drop When you drag effects from one insert slot to another (on the same channel or between different channels), the fol - lowing applies: • When you move an effect within a channel (e. g. from slot 4 to slot 6), the side-chain connections will be kept. • When you drag and drop an effect between two channels, the side-chain connections will not be kept. • When copying an effect into another effect slot (for the same or a different channel), the side-chain connections will not be copied, i. e. they will be lost. Using external effects Although this program comes with a top selection of VST effect plug-ins, and although there is a huge range of ad - ditional plug-ins available on the market, you may still have some hardware effect units that you want to use – valve compressors, reverb units, vintage tape echo machines, etc. By setting up external FX busses you can make your outboard equipment part of the Nuendo virtual studio! An external FX bus is a combination of outputs (sends) and inputs (returns) on your audio hardware, along with a few additional settings. All external FX busses you have created will appear on the effect pop-up menus and can be selected like the internal effect plug-ins. The difference is that if you select an external effect as an insert effect for an audio track, the audio will be sent to the corresponding audio output, processed in your hardware effect (provided that you have connected it properly) and returned via the specified audio input. ÖCreating and handling of external effects is described in detail in the chapter “VST Connections” on page 27. Editing effects All inserts and sends have an Edit (“e”) button. Clicking this opens the control panel for the effect, in which you can make parameter settings. The contents, design and layout of the control panel de- pends on the selected effect. However, all effect control panels have an On/Off button, a Bypass button, Read/ Write automation buttons (for automating effect parame - ter changes, see the chapter “Automation” on page 239),
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 control panels may have any combination of knobs, sliders, buttons and graphic curves. ÖThe included effects and their parameters are de- scribed in detail in the separate PDF document “Plug-in Reference”. •If you edit the parameters for an effect, these settings are saved automatically with the project. •You can also save the current settings as a preset, see below. •Effects parameters can be automated – see the chapter “Automation” on page 239. Effect presets Effect preset management in Nuendo is very versatile. In the MediaBay – or with certain limits in the Save Preset di - alog – you can assign attributes to presets which allow you to organize and browse them according to various cri - teria. Nuendo comes with a huge array of categorized track and VST presets that you can use straight out of the box. You can also preview effect presets before loading them which considerably speeds up the process of find - ing the right effect preset. Effect presets can be divided into the following main categories: •VST presets for a plug-in These are stored parameter settings for a specific effect. •Inserts presets that contain insert effect combinations These can contain the whole insert effects rack, complete with settings for each effect, see “Saving insert effect combinations” on page 211. Selecting effect presets Most VST effect plug-ins come with a number of useful presets for instant selection. To select an effect preset in the Presets browser, proceed as follows: 1.Load an effect, either as a channel insert or into an FX channel. The control panel for the effect is displayed. 2.Click in the preset field at the top of the control panel. This opens the Presets browser. •You can also open the Presets browser from the In- spector (Inserts tab) or the Channel Settings window. 3.In the Results section, select a preset from the list. 4.Activate playback to audition the selected preset. Simply step through the presets until you find the right sound. It may be helpful to set up cycle playback of a section to make comparisons be- tween different preset settings easier.
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 VST effect presets” on page 211. The Browser sections The Presets browser contains the following sections: •The “Results” section lists the available presets for the selected effect. •The Filters section shows the available preset attributes for the selected effect. This section is similar to the Filters section in the MediaBay, see “The Fil- ters section” on page 335. To show the Filters section, click the “Set Up Window Layout” button and activate the Filters option. •The Location Tree section allows you to specify the folder that is searched for preset files. To show the Location Tree section, click the “Set Up Window Layout” button and activate the Location Tree option. Note that this is only avail - able if the Filters section is also active. Saving effect presets You can save your edited effect settings as presets for further use (e. g. in other projects): 1.Open the Preset Management pop-up menu. 2.Select “Save Preset…” from the pop-up menu. The Save Preset dialog opens. 3.In the New Preset section, enter a name for the new preset. •If you want to save attributes for the preset, click the button below the “New Preset” section at the bottom left. The Attribute Inspector section opens, allowing you to define attributes for the preset. For further information about attributes, see “The Attribute Inspector” on page 347. 4.Click OK to store the preset and exit the dialog. User-defined presets are saved in the following location: • Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\\Appli- cation data\VST3 presets\\ • Windows Vista\Windows 7: \Users\\App- Data\Roaming\VST3 presets\\ • Mac: /Users//Library/Audio/Presets// ÖYou cannot change the default folders, but you can add further subfolders inside the individual effect preset folders (by clicking the New Folder button).