Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual

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Audio effects
About earlier VST effect presets
As stated previously, you can use any VST 2.x plug-ins in 
Nuendo. For a description of how to add VST plug-ins, see 
“Installing and managing effect plug-ins” on page 212.
When you add a VST 2 plug-in, any previously stored pre-
sets for it will be in the old FX program/bank format (.fxp/
.fxb). You can import such files, but the preset handling will 
be slightly different. You will not be able to use the new fea
-
tures like the Attribute Inspector until you have converted 
the old “.fxp/.fxb” presets to VST
 3 presets. If you save new 
presets for the included VST 2 plug-ins, these will automat
-
ically be saved in the new “.vstpreset” format.
Importing and converting FXB/FXP files
To import FXB/FXP files, proceed as follows:
1.Load any VST 2 effect you may have installed, and 
open the Preset Management pop-up menu.
2.Select “Import FXB/FXP…” from the pop-up menu.
This menu item is only available for VST 2 plug-ins.
3.In the file dialog that opens, locate the FXP file and 
click Open.
If you load a bank (.fxb), it will replace the current set of all effect pro-grams. If you load a single program, it will replace the currently selected 
effect program only. Note that such files exist only if you created your 
own .fxp/.fxb presets with a previous version of Nuendo (or any other 
VST
 2 application).
4.After importing, you can convert the current program 
list to VST presets by selecting “Convert Program List to 
VST Presets” from the Preset Management pop-up menu.
After converting, the presets will be available in the Presets browser, and 
you can use the Attribute Inspector to add attributes and audition the 
presets. The converted presets will be stored in the VST3 Preset folder.
Saving insert effect combinations
You can save the complete insert effect rack for a channel 
together with all parameter settings as an inserts preset. 
Inserts presets can be applied to audio, instruments, FX 
channel, or group tracks.
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the desired track in the track list and open the 
Inserts Inspector section.
2.Load a combination of insert effects and adjust the pa-
rameters (or select effect presets) for each effect.
3.At the top of the Inserts tab, click the VST Sound but-
ton to open the Preset Management pop-up menu for the 
inserts and select “Save Preset…”.
This can also be done from the Channel Settings window using the VST 
Sound button at the top of the Inserts section.
4.In the dialog that opens, type in a name for the preset.
5.Select the track (audio/group/instrument/FX channel) 
you wish to apply the new preset to, and open the Preset 
Management pop-up menu.
As you can see, the new preset is available at the top of the pop-up menu.
6.Select the preset you created from the pop-up menu.
The effects are loaded into the Insert slots of the new track, and the con-
trol panels for all effects are opened.
•Note that when loading insert combination presets, any 
plug-ins that were previously loaded for the track will be 
removed, regardless of whether these slots are used in 
the preset.
In other words, saving an inserts preset means saving the states of all in-
sert slots.
!All VST 2 presets can be converted to VST 3 presets. 
						

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Audio effects
•You can use the Preset Management pop-up menu to 
save your settings as preset, or to rename or remove the 
current preset.
Extracting insert effect settings from track presets
You can extract the effects used in a track preset and load 
them into your inserts “rack”: 
•On the Preset Management pop-up menu, select “From 
Track Preset…” to open a dialog where all track presets 
are shown.
•Select an item in the list to load the effects used in the 
track preset.
Track presets are described in the chapter “Working with 
track presets” on page 356.
Installing and managing effect 
plug-ins
Nuendo supports two plug-in formats; the VST 2 format 
(with the file name extensions “.dll” on the PC and “.VST” 
on the Mac) and the VST 3 format (extension “.vst3” on 
both platforms). The formats are handled differently when 
it comes to installation and organizing.
Installing additional VST plug-ins
Installing VST 3 plug-ins under Mac OS X
To install a VST 3.x plug-in under Mac OS X, quit Nuendo 
and drag the plug-in file into one of the following folders:
•/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/
This is only possible if you are the system administrator. Plug-ins in-
stalled in this folder will be available to all users, for all programs that 
support them.
•/Users//Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/
“” is the name you use to log on to the computer (the easi-est way to open this folder is to go to your “Home” folder and use the 
path /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/ from there). Plug-ins installed in this 
folder are only available to you.
When you launch Nuendo again, the new effects will ap-
pear on the effect pop-up menus. In the VST 3 protocol, 
the effect category, subfolder structure, etc. are built-in 
and cannot be changed. Therefore you will find the ef
-
fect(s) in the assigned category folder(s) on the Effect 
pop-up menu.
Installing VST 2.x plug-ins under Mac OS X
To install a VST 2.x plug-in under Mac OS X, quit Nuendo 
and drag the plug-in file to one of the following folders:
•/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/
This is only possible if you are the system administrator. Plug-ins in-stalled in this folder will be available to all users, for all programs that 
support them.
•/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/
“” is the name you use to log on to the computer (the easi-est way to open this folder is to go to your “Home” folder and use the 
path /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ from there). Plug-ins installed in this 
folder are only available to you.
When you launch Nuendo again, the new effects will ap-
pear on the effect pop-up menus.
ÖIf an effect plug-in comes with its own installation ap-
plication, you should use this. As a general rule, always 
read the documentation or readme files before installing 
new plug-ins.
Installing VST 3 plug-ins under Windows
Under Windows, VST 3 plug-ins are installed by dragging 
the files (with the extension “.vst3”) into the VST3 folder in 
the Nuendo application folder. When you launch Nuendo 
again, the new effects will appear on the Effect pop-up 
menus. In the VST 3 protocol, the effect category, sub
-
folder structure, etc. are built-in and cannot be changed. 
Therefore you will find the new effect(s) in the assigned 
category folder(s) on the effect pop-up menu.
Installing VST 2 plug-ins under Windows
Under Windows, VST 2.x plug-ins are installed by drag-
ging the files (with the extension “.dll”) into the Vstplugins 
folder in the Nuendo application folder, or into the Shared 
VST Plug-in folder – see below. When you launch 
Nuendo again, the new effects will appear on the effect 
pop-up menus.
ÖIf an effect plug-in comes with its own installation ap-
plication, you should use this. As a general rule, always 
read the documentation before installing new plug-ins. 
						

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Audio effects
Organizing VST 2 plug-ins
If you have a large number of VST 2 plug-ins, having them 
all on a single pop-up menu in the program may become 
unmanageable. For this reason, the VST 2 plug-ins in
-
stalled with Nuendo are placed in appropriate subfolders 
according to the effect type.
•Under Windows, you can organize VST plug-ins by 
moving, adding or renaming subfolders within the Vstplu
-
gins folder. 
When you launch the program and pull down an effects pop-up menu, 
the subfolders will be represented by hierarchical submenus, each listing 
the plug-ins in the corresponding subfolder.
•Under Mac OS X, you cannot change the hierarchic ar-
rangement of the “built-in” VST plug-ins.
However, you can arrange any additional plug-ins you have installed (in the 
/Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST/ folders, see above) by placing them in sub-
folders. In the program, the subfolders will be represented by hierarchical 
submenus, each listing the plug-ins in the corresponding subfolder.
About the effects from previous Nuendo versions
Effect plug-ins from previous versions of Nuendo are avail-
able through the Steinberg web site. Go to http://know-
ledgebase.steinberg.net, search for “legacy plug-ins” and 
follow the link to the download page you require.
Installing older plug-ins will allow you to import projects 
created with previous versions of Nuendo, without loosing 
effect settings.
The Plug-in Information window
On the Devices menu, you will find an item called “Plug-in 
Information”. Selecting this opens a dialog listing all the 
available VST compatible plug-ins in your system (includ
-
ing VST instruments), along with all MIDI plug-ins.
Managing and selecting VST plug-ins
To display all available VST plug-ins, open the “VST 
PlugIns” tab.
•To enable a plug-in (make it available for selection), put 
a checkmark in the left column.
Only the enabled plug-ins will appear on the effect menus.
•The Instances column indicates how many instances of 
the plug-in are currently used in Nuendo.
Clicking in this column for a plug-in which is already in use produces a 
pop-up showing exactly where each use occurs.
ÖA plug-in may be in use even if it is not enabled in the 
left column. 
You might for example have opened a project containing effects that are 
currently disabled on the menu. The left column only determines whether 
or not the plug-in will be visible on the effect menus.
•All columns can be resized by dragging the divider in 
the column header.
The other columns show the following information about 
each plug-in:
Update button
Clicking this button will make Nuendo re-scan the desig-
nated VST folders for updated plug-in information.
ColumnDescription
NameThe name of the plug-in.
VendorThe manufacturer of the plug-in.
FileThis shows the complete name of the plug-in (with extension).
CategoryThis indicates the category of each plug-in (such as VST in-struments, surround effects, etc.).
VersionShows the version of the plug-in.
SDKShows with which version of the VST protocol a plug-in is 
compatible.
LatencyThis shows the delay (in samples) t h a t  w i l l  b e  i ntroduced if the 
effect is used as an Insert. This is automatically compensated 
for by Nuendo.
Side-
Chain 
InputsShows the number of side-chain inputs for a plug-in.
I/OThis column shows the number of inputs and outputs for each 
plug-in.
PathThe path and name of the folder in which the plug-in file is 
located. 
						

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Audio effects
VST 2.x Plug-in Paths button
This opens a dialog where you can see the current paths 
to where VST 2.x plug-ins are located. You can add/re
-
move folder locations by using the corresponding buttons. 
If you click “Add”, a file dialog opens, where you can se
-
lect a folder location.
About the “shared” plug-ins folder (Windows and VST 
2.x only)
You can designate a “shared” VST 2.x plug-ins folder. 
This will allow VST 2.x plug-ins to be used by other pro
-
grams that support this standard.
You designate a shared folder by selecting a folder in the 
list and clicking the “Set As Shared Folder” button in the 
VST 2.x Plug-in Paths dialog.
Exporting plug-in information files
You can also save plug-in information as an XML file, e. g. 
for archiving purposes or troubleshooting. The Export 
function is available for VST, MIDI and Audio Codec plug-
ins. Proceed as follows:
1.Right-click on the desired tab in the Plug-in Information 
window to open the context menu and select “Export”.
A file dialog opens.
2.In the dialog, specify a name and location for the Plug-
in Information export file and click OK to export the file.
•The Plug-in Information file contains information on the 
installed/available plug-ins, their version, vendor, etc.
•The XML file can then be opened in any editor applica-
tion supporting the XML format. 
						

							16
VST instruments and instrument tracks 
						

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VST instruments and instrument tracks
Introduction
VST instruments are software synthesizers (or other sound 
sources) that are contained within Nuendo. They are played 
internally via MIDI. You can add effects or EQ to VST instru
-
ments, just as with audio tracks.
ÖThis chapter describes the general procedures for 
setting up and using VST instruments.
ÖDepending on the VST version the instrument is com-
patible with, an icon may be displayed in front of the in-
strument name, see “About VST 3” on page 196.
ÖNote that VST instruments are only supplied as part of 
the Nuendo Expansion Kit. You can, however, use your 
own VST instruments in Nuendo. The VST instrument in
-
cluded in the Nuendo Expansion Kit are described in de-
tail in the separate manual “Nuendo Expansion Kit – 
Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo”.
VST instrument channels vs. 
instrument tracks
Nuendo allows you to make use of VST instruments in two 
different ways:
•By activating instruments in the VST Instruments window.
This creates a VST instrument channel, which can be played by one (or se-
veral) MIDI track(s) routed to it.
•By creating instrument tracks.
Instrument tracks are a combination of a VST instrument, an instrument 
channel, and a MIDI track. You play and record MIDI note data directly for 
this track.
Both methods have their advantages and should be se-
lected according to what best suits your needs. The fol-
lowing sections describe the two approaches.
VST instrument channels
You can access a VST instrument from within Nuendo by 
creating a VST instrument channel and associating this 
channel with a MIDI track. Proceed as follows:
1.On the Devices menu, select “VST Instruments”.
The VST Instruments window opens.
2.Click in one of the empty slots to open the instrument 
pop-up menu and select the desired instrument.
3.You will be asked if you want to create an associated 
MIDI track connected to the VST instrument. Click Create.
The instrument is loaded and activated, and its control panel opens. A 
MIDI track with the name of the instrument is added to the track list. The 
output of this track is routed to the instrument.
In the Preferences dialog (VST–Plug-ins page), you can 
specify what happens when loading a VST instrument in 
an instrument slot. Open the pop-up menu “Create MIDI 
track when loading VSTi” and select one of the available 
options:
• When you select “Always”, a corresponding MIDI track will al-
ways be created.
• When you select “Do not”, no track will be created and only 
the instrument will be loaded.
• Select “Always ask to” if you want to decide whether a MIDI 
track is created whenever you load an instrument.
You can also use modifiers to specify what happens when 
you load a VST instrument (overriding the Preference set
-
ting):
• When you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while selecting a VST 
instrument for an instrument slot, a corresponding MIDI track 
with the name of the instrument is automatically created.
• When you hold down [Alt]/[Option] while selecting a VST in-
strument for an instrument slot, no MIDI track will be created 
for the instrument. 
						

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VST instruments and instrument tracks
•If you do not want the plug-in control panels to open ev-
ery time you load a plug-in, open the Preferences dialog 
(VST–Plug-ins page) and deactivate “Open Effect Editor 
After Loading it”.
You can open a plug-in panel at any time by clicking the “e” button of the 
corresponding plug-in slot.
4.If you now look in the Project window track list, you will 
find that a dedicated folder for the chosen instrument has 
been added, within a “VST Instruments” folder (where all 
your VST instrument channels will be listed).
The separate folder for the added VST instrument contains two types of 
automation tracks: one for automating the plug-in parameters and one 
for each Mixer channel used by the VST instrument. For example, if you 
add a VST instrument with four separate outputs (four separate Mixer 
channels), the folder will contain five automation tracks. To keep the 
screen less cluttered, you may want to close the folder for the VST in
-strument until you need to view or edit any of the automation tracks. For 
details about automation, see the chapter 
“Automation” on page 239.
•When you select the MIDI track routed to the VST in-
strument, you will see that the Inspector contains a sepa-
rate section for the instrument.
This section contains the audio channel settings for the VST instrument 
(inserts, EQs, Sends, and fader settings). The tab has two buttons for 
opening the Channel Settings window (for the VST instrument channel) 
and the Edit Instrument button which opens the control panel for the VST 
instrument.
5.Depending on the selected VST instrument, you may 
also need to select a MIDI channel for the track.
For example, a multitimbral VST instrument can play back different 
sounds on different MIDI channels – check the documentation for the 
VST instrument for MIDI implementation details.
6.Make sure that the “MIDI Thru Active” option is acti-
vated in the Preferences dialog (MIDI page).
7.Activate the Monitor button for the MIDI track (in the 
track list, Inspector, or Mixer). 
When this is activated (or when the track is record enabled), incoming 
MIDI is passed on to the selected MIDI output (in this case the VST in
-strument), see the chapter “Recording” on page 90.
8.Open the Mixer.
You will find one or more channel strips for the audio outputs of the VST 
instrument. VST instrument channel strips have the same features and 
functionality as group channel strips, with the addition of an Edit button 
at the bottom of the strip for opening the VST instrument control panel. 
You will also find Output Routing pop-up menus at the top of the channel 
strips, e.
 g. for routing the VST instrument channels to output channels or 
groups. Routing is described in detail in the chapter 
“VST Connections” 
on page 27.
9.Play the VST instrument from your MIDI keyboard.
You can use the Mixer settings to adjust the sound, add EQ or effects, etc., 
just as with regular audio channels. Of course, you can also record or man
-
ually create MIDI parts that play back sounds from the VST instrument.
•VST instrument channels give you full access to multi-
timbral instruments.
You can have several MIDI tracks routed to the VST instrument, each 
playing a different part.
•Similarly, you can route channels to any available output 
provided by the VST instrument.
The VST Instruments window
When a VST instrument is loaded, six controls are dis-
played for this slot in the VST Instruments window.
•The button on the far left is used for the Freeze function, 
see 
“Instrument Freeze” on page 220.
•The On/Off button is used to activate or deactivate the 
VST instrument.
When an instrument is selected from the instrument pop-up menu, it is 
activated automatically, i. e. the On/Off button is lit.
For some instruments you may also bypass the instrument by clicking the 
Bypass button to the right of the On/Off button.
Opens the Channel Settings 
window. Opens the control panel for 
the VST instrument.
!You can have up to 64 VST instruments activated at 
the same time, either different instruments or multiple 
instances of the same instrument. However, software 
instruments can consume a lot of CPU power – keep 
an eye on the VST Performance window to avoid run
-
ning out of processor power (see also “Instrument 
Freeze” on page 220).
Instrument 
on/off
Instrument 
FreezeActivate outputs Bypass 
instrument
Open instrument panel Event received 
						

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VST instruments and instrument tracks
•Click the Edit (“e”) button to open the control panel for 
the VST instrument. 
•Below the Edit button is a small LED that will light up 
when MIDI data is received by the instrument.
•The rightmost button allows you to activate the desired 
output for the instrument.
This is useful when you are using VST instruments that have a large num-
ber of audio busses, which may be confusing. Click one of the entries in 
the pop-up list to activate/deactivate output busses for this instrument.
Instrument tracks
An instrument track is a combination of a VST instrument, a 
MIDI track, and a VST instrument channel, in other words: it 
is a track coupled with a sound – it allows you to think in 
terms of sounds rather than in terms of track and instrument 
settings.
Adding instrument tracks
To open and use an instrument track, proceed as follows:
1.Pull down the Project menu, open the Add Track sub-
menu and select “Instrument”.
You can also right-click the track list and select “Add Instrument Track” 
on the context menu.
2.The Add Instrument Track dialog opens.
You can select an instrument for the track from the pop-up menu (but you 
can also leave this until later if you wish). Specify the number of instrument 
tracks you wish to create in the “Count” field. If you click the Browse but
-
ton, the dialog expands to show the Presets browser, where you can 
browse for sounds, see “Using the Presets browser” on page 222.
3.Click the Add Track button.
If you have selected an instrument in the Add Track dialog, the new track 
gets the name of the instrument. Otherwise, the track is named “Instru-
ment track”.
Properties
Each instrument track has a corresponding channel strip 
in the Mixer.
•In the Inspector, you can select a VST instrument from 
the Instrument pop-up menu.
When you select an instrument from this pop-up menu, its control panel 
will open automatically.
•You can also exchange the “sound” of an instrument 
track (i.
 e. the VST instrument and its settings) by extract-
ing these data from another instrument track or a VST pre-
set, see “Extracting sound from an instrument track or VST 
preset” on page 360.
•On the Input Routing pop-up menu, you can select a 
MIDI input.
Instrument tracks have only one MIDI input.
•To open the control panel for the VST instrument, click 
the “Edit Instrument” button in the Inspector.
•As with MIDI tracks, you can perform the usual MIDI edit-
ing procedures on the instrument track, like duplicate, split, 
repeat or lock the track, use the In-Place Editor, drag and 
drop the MIDI parts of an instrument track, etc. For more in
-
formation, see the chapter “MIDI realtime parameters and 
effects” on page 372.
•As with the MIDI track inspector and track controls, you 
can adjust track delay, choose MIDI input, work with VST 
instrument panels, etc. For more information, see the chap
-
ter “MIDI realtime parameters and effects” on page 372.
•Instrument tracks have all options that VST instrument 
channels have, i.
 e. inserts, sends, EQ, etc.
ÖVST instruments used in instrument tracks do not ap-
pear in the VST Instruments window. For an overview of all 
used VST instruments, open the Plug-in Information win
-
dow via the Devices menu. For further information, see the 
section 
“The Plug-in Information window” on page 213. 
						

							219
VST instruments and instrument tracks
Restrictions
•Instrument tracks have no MIDI sends.
•MIDI volume and pan cannot be controlled (there is no 
“MIDI fader” tab in the Inspector); instead, the VST instru
-
ment volume and pan are used (via the “Channel” tab in 
the Inspector). This applies also to the respective automa
-
tion parameters.
ÖDue to there being only one volume and pan control for 
the instrument track, the Mute button will mute the com
-
plete track including the VST instrument. (As opposed to a 
MIDI track with an assigned VST instrument, for which mut
-
ing the MIDI track still allows you to monitor and record the 
VST instrument.)
•Instrument tracks always have one stereo output chan-
nel only. This means that VST instruments that do not pro-
vide a stereo output as their first output channel cannot be 
used with instrument tracks, and must be loaded via the 
VST Instruments window.
•Due to the limitation to one output channel, instrument 
tracks play only the first voice of a multi-timbral VST in
-
strument. If you want to use all voices, you have to load the 
instrument via the VST Instruments window and set up a 
MIDI channel to play it.
Import and export options
Importing MIDI loops
You can import “MIDI loops” (file extension “*.midiloop”) in 
Nuendo. These files contain MIDI part information (MIDI 
notes, controllers, etc.) as well as all the settings that are 
saved in instrument track presets (see 
“About track pre-
sets and VST presets” on page 221). This way, you can 
easily reuse instrument patterns you really like in other 
projects or applications, for example.
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the MediaBay window via the Media menu.
2.In the Results section, open the “Show Media Types” 
dialog and select “MIDI Loops & Plug-in Presets” (see 
“Filtering according to media type” on page 339).
This is not necessary, but will help you locate your MIDI loops more quickly.
3.In the Results list, select a MIDI loop and drag it to an 
empty section in the Project window.
An instrument track is created and the instrument part is inserted at the 
position where you dragged the file. The Inspector will reflect all settings 
saved in the MIDI loop, e.
 g. the VST instrument that was used, applied 
insert effects, track parameters, etc.
ÖYou can also drag MIDI loops onto existing instrument 
or MIDI tracks. However, this will only import the part infor
-
mation. This means this part will only contain the MIDI data 
(notes, controllers) saved in the MIDI loop, but no inspec
-
tor settings or instrument parameters.
Exporting MIDI loops
Exporting MIDI loops is a great way of saving a MIDI part 
together with its instrument and effect settings. This al
-
lows you to easily reproduce patterns you created without 
having to search for the correct sound, style, or effect.
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the desired instrument part.
2.Pull down the File menu, open the Export submenu, 
and select “MIDI Loop…”.
A file dialog opens.
3.In the “New MIDI Loop” section, enter a name for the 
MIDI loop.
•If you want to save attributes for the MIDI loop, click the 
button below the “New MIDI Loop” section at the bottom 
left.
The Attribute Inspector section opens, allowing you to define attributes 
for your MIDI loop.
4.Click OK to close the dialog and save the MIDI loop.
MIDI Loop files are saved in the following folder:
• Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\ 
\Application Data\Steinberg\MIDI Loops
• Windows Vista and Windows 7: \Users\\ 
AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\MIDI Loops
• Mac: /Users//Library/Application Support/
Steinberg/MIDI Loops/
This default folder cannot be changed, but you can create 
subfolders within this folder to organize your MIDI loops. 
Simply click the “New Folder” button in the Save MIDI 
Loop dialog. 
						

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VST instruments and instrument tracks
Exporting instrument tracks as MIDI file
You can also export instrument tracks as standard MIDI 
files, see 
“Exporting MIDI files” on page 560.
Please note: 
•As there is no MIDI patch information in an instrument 
track, this information is missing in the resulting MIDI file.
•If you activate “Export Inspector Volume/Pan”, volume 
and pan information of the VST instrument will be con
-
verted and written into the MIDI file as controller data.
What do I need? Instrument channel 
or instrument track?
•If you need a particular sound without knowing which 
VST instrument to use, create an instrument track and use 
the preview features of the Presets browser to find the 
sound you want.
•Do likewise if the instrument track restrictions described 
above do not matter.
•If you are planning to create an instrument track preset, 
complete with inserts and EQ settings, you have to use an 
instrument track.
•If you need to use multitimbral parts and/or multiple out-
puts, set up a VST instrument channel. 
Instrument Freeze
Like all plug-ins, VST instruments may require a lot of pro-
cessor power. If you are using a moderately powerful com-
puter or if you are using a large number of VST instruments, 
you may come to a point where your computer cannot han
-
dle all VST instruments playing back in realtime (the CPU 
overload indicator in the VST Performance window lights 
up, you get crackling sounds, etc.).
Enter the Instrument Freeze function! This is how it works:
•When you freeze a VST instrument, the program renders 
an audio file of the instrument output (taking into account all 
unmuted MIDI parts routed to that VST instrument). This file 
is placed in the “Freeze” folder within the Project folder.
•All MIDI tracks routed to the VST instrument, or the in-
strument track associated with the VST instrument, are 
muted and locked (the controls for these tracks will ap
-
pear “grayed-out” in the track list and Inspector).
•When you start playback, the rendered audio file is 
played back from an “invisible” audio track, routed to the 
VST instrument’s Mixer channel. Thus, any effects, EQ, or 
mixing automation will still be applied.
•You can also freeze the Mixer channel of the VST instru-
ment. This freezes any pre-fader insert effects for the 
channels, just as when freezing audio tracks (see 
“Freez-
ing (rendering) insert effects for a track” on page 202).
The result of the Freeze is that you get exactly the same 
sound as before, but the computer processor does not 
have to calculate the sound of the VST instrument in real
-
time.
Performing the freeze
The instrument freeze function is available in the VST In-
struments window, the track list, and the Inspector for in-
strument tracks.
1.Set up the project so that the VST instrument plays 
back the way you want it to.
This includes editing the MIDI tracks routed to the VST instrument, or ed-
iting the instrument track, and making parameter settings for the VST in-
strument itself. If you have automated parameter changes for the VST 
instrument, make sure that the Read (R) button is activated.
2.Open the VST Instruments window from the Devices 
menu, or, if you are using an instrument track, select the 
track and open the top Inspector tab.
3.Click the Freeze button for the VST instrument (the 
button to the left of the VST instrument slot), or the Freeze 
button in the Inspector for the instrument track.
The Freeze button in the 
VST Instruments window……and in the Inspector.