Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual

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The Sample Editor
Now the beginning of the waveform matches the desired 
bar position.
Editing warp tabs can also be useful if you change the 
length of a segment that you have already warped. In this 
case, editing warp tabs can help you synchronize your au
-
dio again.
Reset
This pop-up menu at the bottom of the VariAudio tab allows 
you to reset the modifications you performed with the Pitch 
& Warp tool. It also lets you reset the changes you made in 
Segments mode by reanalyzing the audio and returning to 
the original segmentation. The following options are avail
-
able:
ÖYou can set up key commands for the reset and the re-
analyze function in the Sample Editor category of the Key 
commands dialog (see 
“Key commands” on page 580). 
Listening to your modifications
You can listen to the results of your modifications using 
the following methods:
•By activating Acoustic Feedback on the toolbar.
The segments are played back so that you can easily audition your pitch 
modifications while editing. 
•By using the Play tool on the toolbar.
•By using the Audition and the Audition Loop tool on the 
toolbar.
•By using cycle playback in the Project window.
If you want to compare the original to the modified audio 
(i.
 e. hear the audio without pitch or warp modifications), 
you have the following possibilities: 
•You can disable your pitch modifications by clicking the 
Disable Pitch Changes button on the VariAudio tab or by 
setting up and using the “VariAudio - Disable Pitch 
Changes” key command in the Key Commands dialog, 
Sample Editor category (see 
“Key commands” on page 
580).
•You can disable your warp modifications by clicking the 
Disable Warp Changes button on the AudioWarp tab or 
by setting up and using the “VariAudio – Disable Warp 
Changes” key command in the Key Commands dialog, 
Sample Editor category (see 
“Key commands” on page 
580).
Functions – Extract MIDI…
This function extracts a MIDI part from your audio. This is 
useful, if you have an audio event with a voice you like and 
you want to create an identical second voice with a MIDI 
instrument. The extracted MIDI part can then be used to 
print out notes from within the Score Editor (Nuendo Ex
-
pansion Kit only) or to export it as a MIDI file (see “Export-
ing and importing standard MIDI files” on page 560). 
ÖBefore extracting MIDI from your audio you should 
correct the segmentation. Otherwise, you will have to cor
-
rect segmentation errors later in the MIDI part. Transition 
changes, tilting the micro-pitch curve, Quantize Pitch, and 
pitch corrections will also be taken into account. 
The result depends on the quality and the characteristics 
of your audio.
FunctionDescription
Pitch ChangesIf you select this option, pitch changes including micro-
pitch modifications with the Tilt Micro Pitches tool are re-set either for the selected segments (if available) or for 
the whole file.
Warp 
ChangesIf you select this option, warp changes are reset.
Pitch + Warp 
ChangesIf you select this option, pitch, micro-pitch, and warp 
changes are reset either for the selected segments (if 
available) or for the whole file.
Reanalyze  AudioIf you select this option, the audio is reanalyzed and all 
your segmentation changes are reset. 
						

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The Sample Editor
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the VariAudio tab.
2.Open the Functions pop-up menu and select “Extract 
MIDI…”.
The “Extract MIDI” dialog opens.
3.Select an extraction mode in the corresponding pop-
up menu to include or exclude pitchbend events.
Pitchbend events are MIDI controller data that is saved in 
a MIDI file and that creates pitch transitions between MIDI 
notes. The following options are available:
4.Open the Destination pop-up menu and select an op-
tion to decide where the MIDI part will be placed.
The following options are available: 
ÖIf you have opened the Sample Editor from the Pool 
and the audio file does not form part of your project, the 
MIDI part will be inserted at the Project start position.
5.Click OK.
A MIDI part is created.
ÖIf your audio event references only a section of the au-
dio clip, only this range will be extracted.
You can also use a key command to extract your audio as 
MIDI. In this case no dialog opens and the settings that 
were used for the previous extraction are used instead. 
For further information on how to set up key commands, 
please refer to the chapter 
“Key commands” on page 580.
Flattening realtime processing
You can “flatten” realtime processing at any time. This can 
be done to serve two purposes: to reduce the CPU load 
and to optimize the sound quality of the processing. The 
flatten function takes the following into account:
• Warp modifications (see “Free Warp” on page 297 and 
“Warping segments” on page 309), even when Bypass is ac-
tivated. After the flattening, your Warp tabs will be lost. How-
ever, you can undo this function as usual.
• VariAudio pitch modifications (see “Changing the pitch” on 
page 306), even when Bypass is activated. In this case, the 
Realtime algorithm (Solo preset) will be used. After the flatten-
ing, your VariAudio data will be lost. However, you can undo 
this operation.
• Event transpose (see “Transposing individual parts or events 
using the info line” on page 133).
•Select the audio event(s) that you want to process and 
select “Flatten” from the Realtime Processing submenu of 
the Audio menu.
Also use this function before applying any offline processing. When the 
flatten processing is applied, a copy of the original file is automatically 
created in the Pool so that the original audio clip remains intact.
Selecting an algorithm for the flattening
When you flatten the realtime processing, you can use the 
MPEX 4 algorithm to process the audio, which may pro
-
duce better sound quality than the realtime processing. 
Apart from offline processing, this is the only way to 
achieve polyphonic formant conserving pitch shifting.
OptionDescription
Just Notes and 
no Pitchbend 
DataIf you select this option, only notes will be included in the 
MIDI part.
Notes and 
Static Pitch-bend Data
If you select this option, a pitchbend event will be created 
for every segment. Select a pitchbend value from 1 to 24 
in the Pitchbend Range field. When you are working with 
an external MIDI controller, it might be necessary to set it 
to the same value.
Notes and 
Continuous 
Pitchbend 
DataIf you select this option, pitchbend events that correspond 
to the micro-pitch curve will be created. Select a pitch-bend value from 1 to 24 in the Pitchbend Range field. The 
setting should correspond to the same value on your MIDI 
controller or the VST instrument being controlled. 
Note that although the graphic representation of the pitch-bend curve is smoothed, all pitchbend data is included.
OptionDescription
First Selected 
TrackIf you select this option, the MIDI part will be placed on 
the first selected MIDI or instrument track. Note that any 
MIDI parts from previous extractions that are on this track 
will be deleted. 
New MIDI 
TrackIf you select this option, a new MIDI track will be created 
for the MIDI part.
Project Clip-boardIf you select this option, the MIDI part is copied to the 
clipboard so that you can insert it at the desired position 
on a MIDI or instrument track in the Project window. 
						

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The Sample Editor
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the audio event(s) you wish to process.
2.Select “Flatten” from the Realtime Processing sub-
menu of the Audio menu or use the corresponding button 
on the Process tab.
If you did not perform any pitch modifications, a dialog opens where you 
can select an algorithm for the processing. You can either select the 
MPEX
 4 algorithm, which will produce the highest sound quality, or the 
Realtime algorithm which is much quicker but will not improve the audio 
quality of the processing (although it will reduce the CPU load).
ÖThis dialog will not open when the time stretching fac-
tor is outside the range of 0.5 and 2 or when you intro-
duced VariAudio pitch modifications. In these cases the 
Realtime algorithm will be used.
For the MPEX 4 algorithm the following quality settings 
are available:
The Realtime presets can be selected from the Algorithm 
pop-up on the Sample Editor toolbar, see 
“Selecting an 
algorithm for realtime playback” on page 296. 
3.Select an algorithm preset and click OK.
After the processing, any loop that was previously stretched in realtime 
or had been pitch shifted will play back exactly the same, but Musical 
Mode will be deactivated and the realtime pitch shifting will be set to 0.
The audio clip is now like any standard audio clip before 
applying realtime processing, i.
 e. it does not follow tempo 
changes. The flattening processing function is best used 
when you have determined the tempo or key of a project, 
but you can of course always adapt the audio to a new key 
or tempo. In this case, it is better to revert to the original 
audio clip rather than to process the already processed 
file again.
Unstretching audio files
By selecting “Unstretch Audio” from the Realtime Pro-
cessing submenu of the Audio menu, all realtime time 
stretching (by sizing or by warp tabs) is removed.
ÖNote that realtime transpose (in the info line) and Musi-
cal Mode will not be removed by this.
Whether the “Unstretch Audio” menu item is available de-
pends on whether the time stretching has been applied at 
event or clip level: 
•If you have sized an audio event in the Project window 
using “Sizing Applies Time Stretch” (see 
“Resizing events 
using time stretch” on page 73), you can undo the time 
stretching by selecting the event in the Project window 
and then applying “Unstretch Audio”.
This removes all time stretching and warp tabs.
•When you have entered a tempo and/or length on the 
toolbar, this information is saved for the source clip.
These changes cannot be undone using “Unstretch Audio”.
OptionDescription
PreviewUse this mode only for preview purposes.
Mix FastThis mode is a very fast mode for preview. This works best 
with composite music signals (mono or stereo material).
Solo FastUse this mode for single instruments (monophonic mate-rial) and voice.
Solo MusicalSame as above but higher quality.
Poly FastUse this for processing monophonic and polyphonic ma-terial. This is the fastest setting that gives still very good 
results. You can use this for drum loops, mixes, chords.
Poly MusicalUse this for processing monophonic and polyphonic ma-terial. This is the recommended MPEX default quality set-ting. You can use this for drum loops, mixes, chords.
Poly ComplexThis high quality setting is quite processor intense and 
should be used only when processing difficult material or 
for stretch factors above 1.3. 
						

							21
The Audio Part Editor 
						

							315
The Audio Part Editor
Background
The Audio Part Editor allows you to view and edit the events 
inside audio parts. Essentially, this is the same type of edit
-
ing that you do in the Project window, which means that 
this chapter contains a lot of references to the chapter 
“Working with projects” on page 51.
Audio parts are created in the Project window in one of 
the following ways:
•By selecting one or several audio events on the same 
track, and selecting “Events to Part” from the Audio menu.
•By gluing together two or more audio events on the 
same track with the Glue Tube tool.
•By drawing an empty part with the Pencil tool.
•By double-clicking between the left and right locators 
on an audio track.
With the last two methods, an empty part is created. You can then add 
events to the part by pasting, or by using drag and drop from the Pool.
Opening the Audio Part Editor
You open the Audio Part Editor by selecting one or more 
audio part(s) in the Project window and double-clicking 
on any one of them (or using the Edit-Open key command, 
by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[E]). The Audio Part Editor 
can display several parts at once, and you can also have 
more than one Audio Part Editor open at the same time.
ÖDouble-clicking on an audio event in the Project 
window will open the Sample Editor (see 
“Opening the 
Sample Editor” on page 284).
Window overview
The toolbar
The tools, settings, and icons on the toolbar have the 
same functionality as in the Project window, with the fol
-
lowing differences:
• A Solo button (see “Auditioning” on page 317).
• Separate tools for auditioning (Speaker) and scrubbing  
(see “Scrubbing” on page 317).
• No Line, Glue Tube or Color tools.
• Play and Loop icons and an Audition Volume control  
(see “Auditioning” on page 317).
• Independent Track Loop settings (see “The independent track 
loop function” on page 317).
• Part List controls for handling several parts: activating parts 
for editing, restricting editing to active parts only and showing 
part borders (see 
“Handling several parts” on page 318).
ÖYou can customize the toolbar by hiding or reordering 
its items, see 
“Using the Setup options” on page 572.
The ruler and info line
These have the same functionality and appearance as 
their counterparts in the Project window.
•You can select a separate display format for the Audio 
Part Editor ruler by clicking on the arrow button on the 
right and selecting an option from the pop-up menu.
For a list of the available formats, see “The ruler” on page 47. 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
About lanes
If you make the editor window larger, this will reveal addi-
tional space below the edited events. This is because an 
audio part is divided vertically in lanes. 
Lanes can make it easier to work with several audio events 
in a part. Moving some of the events to another lane can 
make selection and editing much easier.
•To move an event to another lane without accidentally 
moving it horizontally, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag it 
up or down.
Overlapping events
Only one event per track can be played back at the same 
time! This means that if you have overlapping events (on 
the same lane or different lanes) these will cut each other 
off, according to the following rules:
•For events on the same lane, the ones that are on top 
(visible) will be played.
To move overlapping events to the front or back, use the Move to Front 
and Move to Back functions on the Edit menu.
•For events on different lanes, the event on the lowest 
lane gets playback priority.
The overlapping sections of the upper event will not be played because 
the event on the lower lane has playback priority!
Imagine the following situation: You have two overlapping 
audio events, with the top event audible during playback. 
What happens when you mute the audible event?
•By default, you will not hear the overlapped event when 
muting an event that has playback priority over another 
event.
This default behavior ensures that you do not suddenly hear audio events 
that previously were not part of your mix.
•In the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page) you will 
find the “Treat Muted Audio Events like Deleted” option. 
When you activate this option, any events overlapped by a 
muted event will become audible.
Operations
•Note that if a part is a shared copy (i. e. you have previ-
ously copied the part by [Alt]/[Option]-[Shift] and drag-
ging), any editing you perform will affect all shared copies 
of this part.
To indicate that it is a shared copy, a symbol is displayed in the part in 
the Project window (see 
“Aligning events” on page 69).
!Zooming, selecting and editing in the Audio Part Ed-
itor are done just as in the Project window (see the 
chapter 
“Working with projects” on page 51). 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
Auditioning
There are several ways to listen to the events in the Audio 
Part Editor:
By using the Speaker tool
If you click somewhere in the editor’s event display with the 
Speaker tool and keep the mouse button pressed, the part 
will be played back from the position where you clicked. 
Playback will continue until you release the mouse button.
By using the Audition icon
The Audition and Audition Loop icons
Clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar plays back the 
edited audio, according to the following rules:
• If you have selected events in the part, only the section bet-
ween the first and last selected event will be played back.
• If you have made a range selection, only this section will be 
played back.
• If there is no selection, the whole part will be played back. If 
the project cursor is within the part, playback starts from the 
current cursor position. If the cursor is outside the part, play
-
back starts from the beginning of the part.
• If the Audition Loop icon is activated, playback will continue 
until you deactivate the Audition icon. Otherwise, the section 
will be played back once.
•When auditioning with the Speaker tool or Audition 
icon, audio will be routed directly to the Control Room or 
to the Main Mix (the default output bus) if the Control 
Room is disabled. 
By using regular playback
You can of course use the regular playback controls while 
in the Audio Part Editor. Furthermore, if you activate the 
Solo Editor button on the toolbar, only the events in the 
edited part will be played back.
Using key commands
If you activate the “Playback Toggle triggers Local Pre-
view” option in the Preferences dialog (Transport page), 
you can start/stop auditioning by pressing [Space]. This is 
the same as clicking the Audition icon on the toolbar.
ÖThe Audio Part Editor also supports the key com-
mands “Preview start” and “Preview stop” in the Media 
category of the Key Commands dialog. These key com
-
mands stop the current playback, no matter if you are in 
normal playback or in audition mode.
The independent track loop function
The independent track loop is a sort of “mini-cycle”, affect-
ing only the edited part. When the loop is activated, the 
events in the parts that are within the loop will be repeated 
continuously and completely independent – other events 
(on other tracks) are played back as usual. The only “inter
-
action” between the loop and the “regular playback” is that 
the loop starts every time the cycle starts over again.
To set up the independent track loop, proceed as follows:
1.Turn on the loop by clicking the Independent Track 
Loop button on the toolbar.
If it is not visible, right-click the toolbar and add the Independent Track 
Loop Settings section – see “Using the Setup options” on page 572.
When the loop is activated, the cycle is not shown in the 
editor’s ruler. Now you need to specify the length of the 
loop:
2.[Ctrl]/[Command]-click in the ruler to set the start and 
[Alt]/[Option]-click to set the end of the loop.
You can also edit the loop start and end positions numerically in the 
fields next to the Loop button.
The loop is indicated in purple in the ruler.
ÖThe events will be looped as long as the Loop button 
is activated and the Audio Part Editor window is open.
Scrubbing
In the Audio Part Editor, the Scrub tool has a separate 
icon on the toolbar. Apart from that, scrubbing works ex
-
actly as in the Project window (see “Scrubbing audio” on 
page 67). 
						

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The Audio Part Editor
Handling several parts
When you open the Audio Part Editor with several parts se-
lected – all on the same track or on different tracks – they 
might not all “fit” in the editor window, which can make it 
hard to get an overview of the different parts when editing.
Therefore, the toolbar features a few functions to make 
working with multiple parts easier and more comprehen
-
sive:
•The Part List menu lists all parts that were selected 
when you opened the editor, and lets you select which 
part is active for editing.
When you select a part from the list, it is automatically made active and 
centered in the display.
ÖNote that it is also possible to activate a part by click-
ing on it with the Arrow tool.
•The button “Edit Active Part Only” lets you restrict edit-
ing operations to the active part only.
If you for example select “All” from the Select submenu of the Edit menu 
with this option activated, all events in the active part will be selected but 
not the events in other parts.
“Edit Active Part Only” activated on the toolbar
•You can zoom in on an active part so that it fills the 
screen by selecting “Zoom to Event” from the Zoom sub
-
menu of the Edit menu.
•The button “Show Part Borders” can be used if you 
want to see clearly defined borders for the active part.
When this is activated, all parts except the active one are grayed out, 
making the borders easily discernible. There are also two “markers” in 
the ruler with the name of the active part, marking its beginning and end. 
These can be moved freely to change the part borders.
“Show Part Borders” activated on the toolbar
•It is possible to cycle between parts, making them ac-
tive using key commands.
In the Key Commands dialog – Edit category, there are two functions: 
“Activate Next Part” and “Activate Previous Part”. If you assign key com
-
mands to these, you can use them to cycle between parts. See “Setting up key commands” on page 581 for instructions on how to set up key 
commands.
Common methods
Assembling a “perfect take”
When you record audio in Cycle mode, either an event or 
a region (or both) is created for each recorded lap (see 
“Recording audio in cycle mode” on page 99). These 
events and regions are named “Take X”, where “X” is the 
number of the take. You can create a perfect take by put
-
ting together sections of the different takes in the Audio 
Part Editor.
ÖThe procedure below will not work if you recorded 
with “Keep Last” mode selected on the Transport panel. In 
that case, only the last take will be kept on the track (al
-
though the previous takes will be available as regions in 
the Pool).
First, you have to create an audio part from the takes. This 
procedure is slightly different depending on whether you 
choose to create events or regions.
Creating an audio part from events
1.In the Project window, use the Object Selection tool 
to draw a rectangle around the recorded events.
This is necessary, since clicking on the event may just select the event on 
top (the last take). If in doubt, check the info line – the info text must be 
shown in color.
2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Events to Part”.
The events are converted to an audio part.
•Note that the events cycle record mode also makes it 
easy to combine different takes in the Project window – 
see 
“Create Events mode (Preferences)” on page 99. 
						

							319
The Audio Part Editor
Creating an audio part from regions
1.In the Project window, select the event you recorded 
in Cycle mode.
After recording, this will play the last take.
2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Events to Part”.
You are asked whether you want to “Create part using regions”.
3.Click “Regions”.
The regions are converted to an audio part.
Assembling a take
1.Double-click the part to open the Audio Part Editor.
Now, the different takes will be placed on different lanes, with the last 
take at the bottom.
2.Use the tools to cut out pieces of the takes and as-
semble the final result.
This can include splitting with the Scissors tool, resizing events with the 
Arrow tool or deleting with the Erase tool. 
•Remember that the events on the lowest lane have play-
back priority. 
Use the Audition icon to audition the result.
3.Close the Audio Part Editor.
You have now assembled a “perfect take”!
Options and Settings
The following options and settings are available in the 
Audio Part Editor:
•Snap
The Snap functionality in the Audio Part Editor is exactly the same as in 
the Project window, see “The Snap function” on page 48.
•Auto-Scroll
When Auto-Scroll is activated on the toolbar, the window will scroll dur-
ing playback, keeping the project cursor visible in the editor. This setting 
can be activated or deactivated individually for each window.
•Snap to Zero Crossing
When this option is activated, all audio edits are done at zero crossings 
(positions in the audio where the amplitude is zero). This helps you avoid 
pops and clicks which might otherwise be caused by sudden amplitude 
changes.  
						

							22
The Pool