Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual

							81
Working with projects
The Preferences dialog
When you open the File menu (the Nuendo menu on a 
Mac) and select “Preferences…”, the Preferences dialog 
opens. This dialog provides a large number of options and 
settings that control the global behavior of Nuendo. 
The dialog has a number of pages, each containing op-
tions and settings belonging to a particular topic.
•In the list on the left, click on one of the entries to open 
the corresponding page.
•You can find detailed descriptions of all Preferences 
options in the dialog help, opened by clicking the Help 
button at the bottom left of the dialog.
About preference presets 
In the Preferences dialog it is possible to save complete or 
partial preference settings as presets. This lets you recall 
settings quickly and easily.
Saving a preference preset
When you have made your preferences settings, proceed 
as follows to save all settings as a preset:
1.Make sure that the “Store marked preferences only” 
option is not activated.
This is because this option is used for saving partial settings (see below), 
as opposed to complete settings.
2.Click the Store button in the lower left section of the 
Preferences dialog.
A dialog opens, allowing you to type in a name for the pre-
set.
3.Click OK to save the preset.
Your saved settings are now available from the Preference Presets 
pop-up menu.
Loading a preference preset
To load a saved preference preset, simply select a preset 
from the Preference Presets pop-up menu. The preset is 
applied immediately.
Saving partial preferences settings
It is also possible to save partial preferences settings. This 
is useful when you have made settings that only relate to a 
certain project or situation, for example. When you apply a 
saved partial preference preset, you only change the saved 
settings. All other preferences will be left unchanged. 
						

							82
Working with projects
When you have made your specific preferences settings, 
proceed as follows to save the partial settings as a preset:
1.Activate “Store marked preferences only”.
A new “Store” column is added to the Preferences list.
2.Click in the Store column of the Preferences items you 
wish to save.
Note that if you activate a Preferences page that contains subpages, these 
will also be activated. If this is not what you want, simply deactivated the 
subpages.
3.Click the Store button in the lower left section of the 
Preferences dialog.
A dialog opens, asking you to type in a name for the preset. It is a good 
idea to choose a descriptive name for a partial preference preset, prefer
-
ably relating to the saved settings (for example “Configuration” or “Edit-ing–Controls”).
4.Click OK to save.
Your saved settings are now available from the Preference Presets 
pop-up menu.
Any Project window editing you perform to a folder part 
affects all the events and parts it contains. You can select 
several folder parts if you like – this allows you to handle 
and edit them together. The editing you can perform in
-
cludes:
• Moving a folder part. This will move its contained events and 
parts (possibly resulting in other folder parts, depending on 
how the parts overlap).
• Using cut, copy and paste.
• Deleting a folder part. This will delete its contained events and 
parts.
• Splitting a folder part with the Scissors tool.
• Gluing folder parts together with the Glue tube tool. This will 
only work if the adjacent folder parts contain events or parts 
on the same track.
• Resizing a folder part resizes the contained events and parts 
according to the selected resizing method, see 
“Resizing 
events” on page 72.
• Muting a folder part. This will mute its contained events and 
parts.
Tracks inside a folder can be edited as one entity by per-
forming the editing directly on the folder part containing 
the tracks. You can also edit individual tracks within the 
folder by showing the contained tracks, selecting parts 
and opening editors as usual.
Double-clicking a folder part opens the editors for the cor-
responding track classes present in the folder. The follow-
ing applies:
•All MIDI parts located on the tracks within the folder are 
displayed as if they were on the same track, just like when 
opening the Key Editor with several MIDI parts selected.
To be able to easily discern the different tracks in the editor, give each 
track a different color in the Project window and use the “Part Colors” 
option in the editor (see 
“Coloring notes and events” on page 410).
•If the folder contains tracks with audio events and/or au-
dio parts, the Sample and/or Audio Part Editors are opened 
with each audio event and audio part in a separate window. 
						

							7
Playback and the Transport panel 
						

							84
Playback and the Transport panel
Background
This chapter describes the various methods available for 
controlling playback and transport functions in Nuendo.
The Transport panel
Below you can find a brief description of each item on the 
Transport panel.
The pictures below show the Transport panel with all con-
trols visible. The Transport panel is divided into the follow-
ing sections, from left to right.
ÖThe Output Activity and Clipping indicator as well as 
the Output Level Control refer to the Control Room chan
-
nel, if the Control Room is activated. If the Control Room 
is disabled, these controls refer to the Main Mix Output 
bus as defined on the Outputs tab in the VST Connec
-
tions window. For information on the Control Room, see 
the chapter 
“Control Room” on page 179. 
•The main Transport functions (Cycle/Stop/Play/Record) 
can also be shown on the toolbar.
In addition, various play options are available on the Trans-
port menu.
Hiding and showing the Transport panel
The Transport panel is shown automatically when you 
launch a new project. To hide or show it, select “Transport 
Panel” on the Transport menu (or use a key command – 
by default [F2]).
About Pre-roll and Post-roll
These items are described in the chapter “Recording”, 
see 
“About Pre-roll and Post-roll” on page 108.
Activates Auto 
QuantizeRecord mode 
pop-up menu
Cycle Record mode 
pop-up menu CPU load and 
Disk Cache 
meters
Right locator Punch In Left locator
Post-roll: value and on/offShuttle 
speed
Jog WheelNudge  
+/- 1 Frame Pre-roll: value and on/off
Punch Out
Primary Time Display
Position 
slider
Record
Play
Fast 
forward
Go to next marker/ project endNudge position 
right/left
Go to 
previous 
marker/ 
project 
startSecondary Time Display Exchange time formats
Cycle 
on/off
RewindStop
Active Arranger 
Chain
Activate Arranger 
Mode
First/Last Repeat of Current 
Arranger Event Previous/Next  
Arranger EventArranger Selector
Current Arranger 
Event
Tempo track 
on/off 
Synchronization 
on/offThe tempo and time 
signature display Metronome 
click on/offShow Markers (opens the 
Marker window)
Jump to Marker Precount on/off
MIDI In/Out 
activity 
(left/right)Output Level 
Control Clipping indicators
Audio input/output activity 
						

							85
Playback and the Transport panel
Changing the Transport panel setup
You can customize the appearance of the Transport panel 
by right-clicking anywhere on the panel and selecting/de
-
selecting the corresponding options on the context menu.
This is described in detail in the section “The setup con-
text menus” on page 572.
The numeric keypad
In the default Key Command settings, various Transport 
panel operations are assigned to the numeric keypad on 
the computer keyboard. The keypads are slightly different 
on PC and Macintosh computers:
Operations
Setting the project cursor position
There are several ways to move the project cursor position:
•By using Fast Forward and Rewind.
•By using the Jog/Shuttle/Nudge control on the Trans-
port panel (see “The shuttle speed control” on page 87).
•By dragging the project cursor in the lower part of the 
ruler. 
•By clicking in the ruler.
Double-clicking in the ruler moves the cursor and starts/stops playback. 
•If the “Locate when Clicked in Empty Space” option is 
activated in the Preferences dialog (Transport page) you 
can click anywhere in an empty section of the Project win
-
dow to move the cursor position.
•By changing the value in any of the position displays.
•By using the position slider above the transport buttons 
in the Transport panel.
The range of the slider relates to the Length setting in the Project Setup 
dialog. Hence, moving the slider all the way to the right will take you to 
the end of the project. 
•By using markers (see the chapter “Using markers” on 
page 136).
•By using playback options (see “Playback functions” on 
page 88).
•By using the arranger function (see “The arranger track” 
on page 122).
•By using functions on the Transport menu.
The following functions are available:
ÖIf Snap is activated when dragging the project cursor, 
the Snap value is taken into account. This is helpful for 
finding exact positions quickly.
ÖThere are also numerous key commands available for 
moving the project cursor (in the Transport category in the 
Key Commands dialog). For example, you can assign key 
commands to the “Step Bar” and “Step Back Bar” func
-
tions, allowing you to move the project cursor in steps of 
one bar, backwards and forwards.
About the Transport panel display formats
Primary time display (left) and secondary time display (right)
The time unit shown in the ruler can be independent from 
the time unit shown in the main time display on the Trans
-
port panel. This means that you can display timecode in 
the transport position display and bars and beats in the 
ruler, for example. In addition, there is a secondary time 
display to the right of the primary time display which is 
Numeric KeyFunction
[Enter]Play
[+]Fast Forward
[-]Rewind
[*]Record
[÷] (Win)/[/] (Mac)Cycle On/Off
[,]Return to Zero
[0]Stop
[1]Go to Left Locator
[2]Go to Right Locator
[3-9]Go to marker 3 to 9
FunctionDescription
Locate Selec-tion/Locate 
Selection EndMoves the project cursor to the beginning or end of the 
current selection. For this to be available, you must 
have selected one or more events or parts, or made a 
selection range.
Locate Next/
Previous MarkerThis moves the project cursor to the closest marker to 
the right or left (see “Marker tracks” on page 44).
Locate Next/
Previous EventThis moves the project cursor forwards or backwards 
respectively, to the closest beginning or end of any 
event on the selected track(s). 
						

							86
Playback and the Transport panel
also independent, giving you three different time units 
shown at the same time (in the Project window, you can 
also create additional ruler tracks – see 
“Using multiple 
rulers – ruler tracks” on page 47).
The following rules apply:
•If you change the time format of the primary time display 
on the Transport panel, the time format of the ruler will be 
changed as well.
This is the same as changing the display format in the Project Setup. 
Therefore, to have different display formats in the ruler and the main time 
display you should change the format in the ruler.
•The primary time display format is set on the pop-up 
menu to the right in the main position display.
•This setting also determines the time format displayed 
for the left and right locators on the Transport panel.
•The secondary time display is completely independent, 
and the display format is set on the pop-up menu to the 
right in the secondary time display.
•You can swap time formats between the primary and 
secondary time displays by clicking the double arrow sym
-
bol between them.
The left and right locators
The left and right locators are a pair of position markers 
used for specifying punch-in and punch-out positions dur
-
ing recording, and as boundaries for cycle playback and 
recording. 
ÖWhen cycle mode is activated on the Transport panel, 
the area between the left and right locators will be re
-
peated (cycled) on playback. However, if the right locator 
is positioned before the left, this will work as a “jump” or 
“skip mode” – when the project cursor reaches the right 
locator it will immediately jump to the left locator position 
and continue playback from there.
There are several ways to set locator positions:
•To set the left locator, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click 
at the desired position in the ruler.
Similarly, pressing [Alt]/[Option] and clicking in the ruler sets the right lo-
cator. You can also drag the locator “handles” directly in the ruler.
The locators are indicated by the “flags” in the ruler. The area between 
the locators is highlighted in the ruler and in the Project window (see 
“Appearance” on page 576). Note that if the right locator is before the 
left locator, the color of the ruler between the locators will change.
•Click and drag in the upper half of the ruler to “draw” a 
locator range.
If you click on an existing locator range, you can drag to move it.
•Pressing [Ctrl]/[Command] and pressing [1] or [2] on 
the numeric keypad sets the left or right locator to the 
project cursor position.
Similarly, you can press [1] or [2] on the numeric keypad (without [Ctrl]/
[Command]) to set the project cursor position to the left or right locator 
position. Note that these are default key commands – you can change 
these if you like.
•By creating cycle markers you can store any number of 
left and right locator positions, which can be recalled by 
simply double-clicking on the corresponding marker (see 
“Editing markers on marker tracks” on page 142).
•The “Locators to Selection” item on the Transport menu 
(default key command [P]) sets the locators to encompass 
the current selection.
This is available if you have selected one or several events or made a se-
lection range.
•You can also adjust the locators numerically on the 
Transport panel.
Clicking the L/R buttons in the locator section on the Transport panel will 
move the project cursor to the respective locator. If you press [Alt]/[Op
-
tion] and click the L or R button, the corresponding locator will be set to 
the current project cursor position. 
						

							87
Playback and the Transport panel
The shuttle speed control
The shuttle speed control (the outer wheel on the Transport 
panel) allows you to play back the project at any speed 
(four times the playback speed at maximum), forwards or 
backwards. This is a quick way to locate or “cue” to any po
-
sition in the project.
•Turn the shuttle speed wheel to the right to start play-
back.
The further to the right you move the wheel, the faster the playback speed. 
•If you turn the wheel to the left instead, the project will 
play backwards.
The speed depends on how far to the left you turn the wheel.
•The “Use Inserts While Scrubbing” option in the Prefer-
ences (Transport–Scrub page) allows you to activate in-
sert effects for scrubbing with the shuttle speed control.
By default, insert effects are bypassed.
ÖYou can also access the shuttle speed control via a 
remote control device.
Project scrubbing – the jog wheel
The middle wheel on the Transport panel serves as a jog 
wheel. By clicking and turning it to the right or left you will 
move the playback position manually forwards or back
-
wards – much like scrubbing on a tape deck. This helps 
you pinpoint exact locations in the project.
•Note that the jog wheel is an “endless rotary encoder” – 
you can turn it as many times as needed to move to the 
desired location.
The faster you turn the wheel, the faster the playback speed. The original 
playback speed is the fastest speed possible.
•If you click the jog wheel during playback, playback au-
tomatically stops and scrubbing starts.
•The “Use Inserts While Scrubbing” option in the Prefer-
ences dialog on the Transport–Scrub page allows you to 
activate insert effects for scrubbing with the jog wheel.
By default, insert effects are bypassed.
ÖYou can also use a jog wheel on a remote controller 
for scrubbing.
The nudge position buttons
The “+” and “–” buttons in the middle of the Shuttle/Jog 
section allow you to nudge the project cursor position one 
frame at a time to the right or left.
Options and Settings
The “Return to Start Position on Stop” 
preference
This setting is found on the Transport page in the Prefer-
ences dialog (opened from the File menu under Windows, 
or the Nuendo menu under Mac OS X).
•If “Return to Start Position on Stop” is activated when 
you stop playback, the project cursor will automatically 
return to the position where recording or playback last 
started.
•If “Return to Start Position on Stop” is deactivated, the 
project cursor will remain at the position where you stop 
playback.
Pressing Stop again will return the project cursor to the position where 
recording or playback last started.
About track disable/enable
For audio tracks, the track context menu contains an item 
named “Disable Track”. This shuts down all disk activity 
for the track, as opposed to using Mute, which merely 
turns down the output volume for a track. For example, if 
you often record “alternative takes” you can easily build up 
a large number of takes on different tracks. Even though 
these tracks are muted, they are actually still “playing 
back” from the hard disk during playback. This puts an un
-
necessary load on your disk system, so using “Disable 
Track” is recommended for such situations.
•Select “Disable Track” for tracks that you want to keep in 
the project for later use but do not want to play back now.
The track color changes to indicate that the track is disabled. 
						

							88
Playback and the Transport panel
•Select “Enable Track” from the track context menu to 
re-enable disabled tracks.
Playback functions
Apart from the standard transport controls on the Trans-
port panel, you can also find a number of functions on the 
Transport menu that can be used to control playback. The 
items have the following functionality:
ÖIn the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page) you 
will find the “Treat Muted Audio Events like Deleted” op
-
tion. When you activate this option, any events overlapped 
by a muted event will become audible.
About Chase
Chase is a function that makes sure your MIDI instruments 
sound as they should when you locate to a new position 
and start playback. This is accomplished by the program 
transmitting a number of MIDI messages to your instru
-
ments each time you move to a new position in the project, 
making sure all MIDI devices are set up correctly with re
-
gard to program change, controller messages (such as 
MIDI Volume), etc.
For example, let’s say you have a MIDI track with a pro-
gram change event inserted at the beginning. This event 
makes a synth switch to a piano sound.
At the beginning of the first chorus you have another pro-
gram change event which makes the same synth switch to 
a string sound.
You now play back the song. It begins with the piano 
sound and then switches to the string sound. In the middle 
of the chorus you stop and rewind to some point between 
the beginning and the second program change. The synth 
will now still play the string sound although in this section 
it really should be a piano!
The Chase function takes care of that. If program change 
events are set to be chased, Nuendo will track the music 
back to the beginning, find the first program change and 
transmit it to your synth, setting it to the correct sound.
The same thing can apply to other event types as well. The 
Chase Events settings in the Preferences dialog (MIDI 
page) determine which event types will be chased when 
you locate to a new position and start playback.
ÖEvent types for which the checkbox is activated here 
will be chased.
•In this section of the Preferences dialog, you will also 
find the “Chase not limited to Part Boundaries” option.
When you activate this option, MIDI controllers are also chased outside 
the part boundaries, i.
 e. the Chase will be performed on the part touched 
by the cursor as well as on all the parts to the left of it. Please note that 
this option should be deactivated for very large projects, as it consider
-
ably slows down operations such as positioning and soloing. When you 
deactivate this option, the MIDI controllers are only chased within the 
parts under the position cursor.
OptionDescription
Post-roll from 
Selection Start/EndStarts playback from the beginning or end of the 
currently selected range and stops after the time 
set in the Post-roll field on the Transport panel.
Pre-roll to Selection 
Start/EndStarts playback from a position before the start or 
end of the currently selected range and stops at 
the selection start or end, respectively. The play
-back start position is set in the Pre-roll field on the 
Transport panel.
Play from Selection 
Start/EndActivates playback from the beginning or end of the 
current selection.
Play until Selection 
Start/EndActivates playback two seconds before the start or 
end of the current selection and stops at the selec-tion start or end, respectively.
Play until Next MarkerThis activates playback from the project cursor and 
stops at the next marker.
Play Selection RangeThis activates playback from the start of the current 
selection and stops at the selection end.
Loop SelectionThis activates playback from the start of the current 
selection and keeps starting over again when 
reaching the selection end.
!The functions listed above (except “Play until Next 
Marker”) are only available if you have selected one 
or more events or made a selection range. 
						

							89
Playback and the Transport panel
The Virtual Keyboard (Nuendo 
Expansion Kit only)
The Virtual Keyboard can be displayed in the Transport 
panel. It allows you to play and record MIDI notes by using 
your computer keyboard or mouse. This is useful if you have 
no external MIDI instrument at hand and you do not want to 
draw in notes with the Pencil tool. The Virtual Keyboard can 
perform all functions that can be controlled by external MIDI 
keyboards, e.
 g. playing and recording MIDI notes.
•You can choose between two different keyboard dis-
play modes: computer keyboard and piano keyboard. To 
switch between these two modes, click the “Change Vir
-
tual Keyboard Display Type” button in the lower right cor-
ner of the Virtual Keyboard section or use the [Tab] key.
The Virtual Keyboard in computer keyboard display mode
The Virtual Keyboard in piano keyboard display mode
To record MIDI using the Virtual Keyboard, proceed as fol-
lows: 
1.Create or choose a MIDI or an instrument track and 
activate the “Record Enable” button for it.
2.Open the Virtual Keyboard by selecting “Virtual Key-
board” on the Devices menu, by pressing [Alt]/[Option]-
[K] or by right-clicking on the Transport panel and select
-
ing “Virtual Keyboard” on the context menu.
The Virtual Keyboard is displayed in the Transport panel.
3.Activate the Record button and press a key on your 
computer keyboard to enter a note.
You can also click on the keys of the Virtual Keyboard to enter notes.
•You can also press several keys simultaneously to enter 
polyphonic parts. The maximum number of notes that can 
be played at one time varies between the different operat
-
ing systems and hardware configurations.
4.Use the fader “Note velocity level” to the right of the 
virtual keyboard to adjust the volume.
You can also use the up and down arrow keys for this.
5.Enter the desired notes this way.
6.When you are done, hit the Stop button and close the 
Virtual Keyboard.
When the Virtual Keyboard is hidden, all key commands are available 
again.
Options and settings
•In piano keyboard mode, you have a wider range of keys 
at your disposal, allowing you to enter two voices simulta
-
neously, for example bass and lead voice or bass drums 
and HiHats.
In computer keyboard mode, you can use the two rows of keys that are 
displayed on the Virtual Keyboard to enter notes. In piano keyboard 
mode, you can also use the two rows of keys below these.
•You have seven full octaves at your disposal. Use the 
“Octave Offset” buttons at the bottom of the virtual key
-
board to offset the octave range of the keyboard. 
You can also use the left and right arrow keys to switch the keyboard 
range to a lower or higher octave, respectively.
•In piano keyboard mode, you can use the two sliders to 
the left of the keyboard to introduce pitchbend (left slider) 
or modulation (right slider).
You can also click on a key, hold the mouse button pressed until the 
mouse pointer becomes a crosshair tool and drag upwards/downward to 
introduce modulation or left/right to create pitchbend.
!When the Virtual Keyboard is displayed, the usual key 
commands are blocked because they are reserved for 
the Virtual Keyboard. The only exceptions are: [Ctrl]/
[Command]-[S] (Save), Num [*] (Start/Stop Record), 
[Space] (Start/Stop Playback), Num
 [1] (Jump to left 
locator), [Delete] or [Backspace] (Delete), Num [/] 
(Cycle on/off), [F2] (Show/Hide Transport panel), and 
[Alt]/[Option]-[K] (Show/Hide Virtual Keyboard). 
						

							8
Recording