Steinberg Nuendo 4 Manual
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481 Video Video +0.1% pull-up for NTSC Since NTSC video is running -0.1% slower than the origi- nal film, pulling the video speed back up by +0.1%, re- turns it to original film speed. With the video now running at the correct film speed, audio originally recorded at 48 kHz on the film shoot will remain in sync with the video. Additionally, the final mix can be digitally transferred back to film at 48 kHz without the need for an analog copy or sample rate conversion. Video -0.1% pull-down (non-standard) Pulling the video speed down for a NTSC video is a non- standard procedure and would not happen under normal circumstances. It is possible to pull down a video file that is running at 24 fps -0.1% so it matches with material run- ning at NTSC video speed. The resulting frame rate is 23.976 fps. ÖSpeeding up or slowing down the video speed is only possible if the video is running through a “computer graphics card”. If a professional genlocked video card is used, the video playback speed is derived from the gen- lock input. What is 23.976 fps used for? The world of digital video formats is ever changing and the results are new developments for every media professional involved in movies, television, corporate video and more. With the advent of HD cameras that are capable of record- ing at several different frame rates internally, the options available to cinematographers have become staggering. Since the look of film running at 24 fps is unique, many HD productions are filmed at 24 fps to mimic the look of film on video. Since the speed change from 24 fps to 29.97 fps NTSC is such an odd one (requiring the 0.1% pull- down), designers of these cameras have developed a method of recording that allows the camera to record like film but also output a NTSC video signal at the same time without any speed change. They record at 23.976 fps which translates to 24 fps pulled down -0.1%. ÖMany of the high-end professional HD cameras allow you to record at 23.976 fps, 25 fps, 29.97 fps, 30 fps, 59.94 and even 60 fps.
483 ReWire Introduction ReWire and ReWire2 are special protocols for streaming audio between two computer applications. Developed by Propellerhead Software and Steinberg, ReWire provides the following possibilities and features: Real-time streaming of up to 64 separate audio chan- nels (256 with ReWire2), at full bandwidth, from the “syn- thesizer application” into the “mixer application”. In this case, the “mixer application” is of course Nuendo. An example of a “synthesizer application” is Propellerhead Software’s Reason. Automatic, sample accurate synchronization between the audio in the two programs. The possibility to have the two programs share one audio card and take advantage of multiple outputs on that card. Linked transport controls that allow you to play, rewind, etc., either from Nuendo or from the synthesizer applica- tion (provided it has some kind of transport functionality). Automatic audio mixing functions of separate channels as required. In the case of Reason, for example, this allows you to have separate mixer channels for the different devices. Additionally, ReWire2 offers the possibility to route MIDI tracks in Nuendo to the other application, for full MIDI con- trol. For each ReWire2 compatible device, a number of extra MIDI outputs will be made available in Nuendo. In the case of Reason, this allows you to route different MIDI tracks in Nuendo to different devices in Reason, having Nuendo serve as main MIDI sequencer. The overall load on your system is much reduced, com- pared to when using the programs together in the conven- tional way. Launching and quitting When using ReWire, the order in which you launch and quit the two programs is very important: Launching for normal use with ReWire 1.First launch Nuendo. 2.Enable one or several ReWire channels in the ReWire Device dialog for the other application. This is described in detail in the section “Activating ReWire channels” on page 484. 3.Launch the other application. It may take slightly longer for the application to start when you are using ReWire. Quitting a ReWire session When you are finished, you also need to quit the applica- tions in a special order: 1.First quit the synthesizer application. 2.Then quit Nuendo. Launching both programs without using ReWire We cannot think of any scenario, in which you would need to run Nuendo and the synthesizer application simulta- neously on the same computer, without using ReWire, but you can: 1.First launch the synthesizer application. 2.Then launch Nuendo. ÖPlease note that the two programs now compete for system resources such as audio cards, just as when run- ning either with other, non-ReWire audio applications.
484 ReWire Activating ReWire channels ReWire supports streaming of up to 64 separate audio channels, while ReWire2 supports 256 channels. The ex- act number of available ReWire channels depends on the synthesizer application. Using the ReWire Device panels in Nuendo, you can specify which of the available chan- nels you want to use: 1.Pull down the Devices menu and select the menu item with the name of the ReWire application. All recognized ReWire compatible applications will be available on the menu. The ReWire panel appears. This consists of a number of rows, one for each available ReWire channel. The ReWire panel for Reason. 2.Click on the power buttons to the left to activate/de- activate the desired channels. The buttons light up to indicate activated channels. Please note that the more ReWire channels you activate, the more processing power is re- quired. For information about exactly what signal is carried on each channel, see the documentation of the synthesizer application. 3.If desired, double-click on the labels in the right col- umn, and type in another name. These labels will be used in the Nuendo mixer to identify the ReWire channels. Using the transport and tempo controls Basic transport controls When you run ReWire, the transports in the two programs are completely linked. It doesn’t matter in which program you Play, Stop, Fast Forward or Rewind. However, record- ing (if applicable) is still completely separate in the two applications. Loop settings If there is a loop or cycle facility in the synthesizer applica- tion, that loop will be completely linked to the cycle in Nu- endo. This means that you can move the start and end point for the loop or turn the loop on or off in either pro- gram, and this will be reflected in the other. Tempo settings As far as tempo goes, Nuendo is always the master. This means that both programs will run in the tempo set in Nu- endo. However, if you are not using the Tempo track in Nuendo, you can adjust the tempo in either program, and this will immediately be reflected in the other. !This is only relevant if the synthesizer application has some sort of built-in sequencer or similar. !If you are using the Tempo track in Nuendo (i.e. the Tempo button is activated on the Transport panel), you should not adjust the tempo in the synthesizer application, since a tempo request from ReWire will automatically deactivate the Tempo track in Nuendo!
485 ReWire How the ReWire channels are handled in Nuendo When you activate ReWire channels in the ReWire De- vice panels, they will become available as channel strips in the mixer. The ReWire channel strips have the following properties: ReWire channels appear to the right of the other audio and MIDI channel strips in the mixer. ReWire channels may be any combination of mono and stereo, depending on the synthesizer application. ReWire channels have the same functionality as regular audio channels. This means you can set volume and pan, add EQ, insert effects and sends and route the channel outputs to groups or busses (done in the In- spector. However, ReWire channels have no monitor buttons. All ReWire channel settings can be automated using the Read/Write buttons. When you write automation, channel automation tracks will automatically appear in the Project window. This allows you to view and edit the auto- mation graphically, just as with VST Instrument channels, etc. You can mix down the audio from ReWire channels to a file on your hard disk with the Export Audio Mixdown func- tion (see “Mixing down to an audio file” on page 438). You can export the output bus to which you have routed the ReWire channels. You can also export individual ReWire channels directly – “rendering” each ReWire channel to a separate audio file. Routing MIDI via ReWire2 When using Nuendo with a ReWire2-compatible appli- cation, additional MIDI outputs will automatically appear on the MIDI Output pop-up menus for MIDI tracks. This allows you to play the synthesizer application via MIDI from Nuendo, using it as one or several separate MIDI sound sources. The MIDI outputs for a Reason song. Here, each output goes directly to a device in the Reason rack. The number and configuration of MIDI outputs depends on the synthesizer application. Considerations and limitations Sample rates Synthesizer applications may be limited to audio playback in certain sample rates. If Nuendo is set to a sample rate other than those, the synthesizer application will play back at the wrong pitch. Consult the documentation of the syn- thesizer application for details. ASIO drivers ReWire works well with ASIO drivers. By using the Nuendo bus system you can route sounds from the synthesizer application to various outputs on an ASIO compatible audio card. !This feature is only available with ReWire2-compati- ble applications.
487 File handling Working with Projects New Project The New Project command on the File menu allows you to create a new project, either empty or based on a template: 1.Select New Project from the File menu. By default, this list is empty. How to create templates is described in the section (see “Save as Template” on page 488). 2.Select “Empty”. A file dialog opens, allowing you to specify a folder for the new project. 3.Select an existing project folder or click on Create and enter a name for a new one in the dialog that opens. A new, untitled project is created. Open The Open command on the File menu is used for opening saved project files. Project files created with Nuendo (file extension “.npr”), Cubase (file extension “.cpr”) and Se- quel (extension “.steinberg-project”) can be opened. Note that program-specific settings which cannot be applied in Nuendo will be ignored. 1.Select Open… from the File menu. A file dialog opens, allowing you to select a project. 2.Click Open. The project opens in the Project window. Several projects can be open at the same time. This is extremely useful, if you want to copy parts or entire sections from one project to another. 3.If a project is already opened, opening another project brings up a warning. Click “No” to open the other project inactive. This significantly reduces load times, especially for large projects. Click “Activate” to open and activate the new project. The active project is indicated by the blue Activate button in the upper left corner of the Project window. To make another project active, simply click its Activate button. An active project. You can also open project files by selecting an entry from the “Recent Projects” submenu on the File menu. This submenu lists the projects you have recently worked with, with the most recent one at the top of the list. Projects can also automatically be opened when you launch Nuendo (see “Startup Options” on page 489). You can drag projects from the MediaBay into the Nu- endo application window (not into an existing Project win- dow) to open them. About the “Pending Connections” dialogs If you open a Nuendo project created on another setup (other audio hardware), the program tries to find matching audio inputs and outputs for the i/o busses (this is one of the reasons why you should use descriptive, generic names for your input and output ports – see “Preparations” on page 12). If the program cannot resolve all audio/MIDI inputs and outputs used in the project, a Pending Connections dialog will open. This will allow you to manually re-route any ports specified in the project to ports available in your system. Close The Close command on the File menu closes the active window. If a Project window is active, selecting Close will close the corresponding project. If the project contains unsaved changes, you will be asked whether you want to save the project before closing it. If you select “Don’t Save” and have recorded or created new audio files since saving, you get the choice to delete or keep these.
488 File handling Save and Save As The commands Save and Save As allow you to save the active project as a project file (file extension “.npr”). The Save command stores the project under its current name and location, while Save As allows you to rename and/or relocate the file. If a project has not been saved yet or if it hasn’t been changed since it was last saved, only Save As will be available. A word about file extensions Under Windows, file types are indicated by three letter file name extensions (such as *.npr for Nuendo project files). Under Mac OS X, it is not necessary to use file name ex- tensions, since the file types are stored internally in the files. However, if you want your Nuendo projects to be compatible with both platforms, you should make sure the option “Use File Extension in File Dialog” is activated in the Preferences (General page). When this is activated (default), the proper file name extension is automatically added when you save a file. Save New Version This function is only available as a key command, by de- fault [Ctrl]/[Command]+[Alt]/[Option]+[S]. When you use this function, a new version of the project will be saved. The new file will get the same name as the original project, but with an incremental number attached. For example, if your project is called “My Project”, you will get new versions called “My Project-01”, “My Project-02”, and so on. Save New Version is useful if you are experimenting with edits and arrangements and want to be able to go back to a previous version at any time. The newest versions are al- ways listed on the Recent Projects submenu on the File menu for instant access. Save as Template This function allows you to save the current project as a template. When you create a new project, the available templates will be listed, allowing you to base the new project on a template. Proceed as follows: 1.Set up a project. 2.Select “Save As Template…” from the File menu and save the project template under the desired name. Templates can contain clips and events just like regular projects. If this is not what you want, make sure to remove all clips from the Pool before you save the project as template. Templates are always stored in the Templates folder. On a Windows system, it is located at \Documents and Settings\\Application data\Steinberg\Nu- endo 4 emplates. On a Mac system, it is located inside Users//Library/Preferences/Nuendo 4. Setting up a default template If you always want the same default project to open when you launch Nuendo, you can save a default template. Pro- ceed as follows: 1.Set up a project. 2.Select “Save As Template…” from the File menu and save the project template with the name “default”. 3.Open the Preferences dialog and select the General page. 4.Open the “On Startup” pop-up and select “Open ’De- fault’ Template”. The next time you launch Nuendo, the default template will automatically be opened. For details on the other Startup options, see “Startup Options” on page 489. !Generally, we recommend that you save project files in their project folders, to keep the projects as manageable as possible.
489 File handling Save Project to New Folder This function is very useful if you want to move or archive your project. 1.Select “Save Project to New Folder”. A file dialog opens in which you can choose an existing, empty folder or create a new folder to save the project. 2.Click OK to confirm your choice. The “Save to Folder Options” dialog opens with the following options: 3.Make the desired settings. 4.Click OK. The project is saved in the new folder. The original project is not affected. However, now you could e. g. delete the original project without losing your project data. Startup Options Auto Save If you activate the Auto Save option in the Preferences (General page), Nuendo will automatically save backup copies of all open projects with unsaved changes. Backup copies of projects are named “- xx.bak”, where xx is an incremental number. Unsaved projects are backed up in a similar way as “UntitledX- xx.bak”, with X being the incremental number for unsaved projects. All backup files are saved in the project folder. Use the “Auto Save Interval” setting to specify the time intervals in which a backup copy will be created. Use the “Maximum Backup Files” option to specify how many backup files will be created with the Auto Save func- tion. When the maximum number of backup files is reached, the existing files will be overwritten (starting with the oldest file). On Startup The “On Startup” pop-up menu in the Preferences (Gen- eral page) allows you to specify what should happen each time you launch Nuendo. Option Description Project Name Enter a project name if you want to change it from the de- fault (the current name of the project). Minimize Audio FilesIf this is activated, only the audio file portions that are ac- tually used in the project will be included. This can signi- ficantly reduce the size of the project folder (if you are using small sections of large files), but it also means you cannot use other portions of the audio files if you con- tinue working with the project in its new folder. Freeze Edits This will perform a Freeze Edits operation, making all pro- cessing and applied effects permanent to each clip in the Pool, see “Freeze Edits” on page 253. Remove Unused FilesWhen this is activated, only files in the Pool that are actu- ally used in the project will be stored in the new folder.
490 File handling The following options are available: Nuendo Open Document Options Dialog This dialog will open in two cases: If you launch Nuendo with the option “Show Open Op- tions Dialog” selected on the “On Startup” pop-up menu in the Preferences (General page). If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while launching Nu- endo. The Open Document Options Dialog. The dialog lists your recently used projects. To open a project, select it and click the “Open Selec- tion” button. To open another project not listed here, click the “Open Other…” button. A file dialog opens that allows you to look for the desired file on your disk. To create a new project, click the “New Project” button. Working with libraries A library is a stand-alone Pool that is not associated with a project file (for more information about Pools, see “The Pool” on page 296). You can use libraries to store sound effects, loops, video clips, etc., and transfer media from a library into a project by using drag and drop. The following library functions are available on the File menu: New Library Creates a new library. Just as when creating new projects, you will be asked to specify a project folder for the new li- brary (in which media files will be stored). The library will show up as a separate Pool window in Nuendo. Open Library Opens a file dialog for opening a saved library file. Save Library Opens a file dialog for saving the library file (file extension “.npl”). Revert If you select “Revert” from the File menu, you will be asked whether you really want to revert to the last saved version of the project. If you click “Revert”, all changes you have made since saving will be discarded. If you have recorded or created new audio files since sav- ing, you will be asked whether you want to delete or keep these. Option Description Do Nothing Nuendo launches without opening a project. Open Last ProjectThe last saved project is opened on launch. Open ’Default’ TemplateThe default template is opened, see “Setting up a default template” on page 488. Show Open DialogThe Open dialog opens on launch, allowing you to manu- ally locate and open the desired project. Show Template DialogThe Template dialog opens on launch, allowing you to create a new project from one of the templates. Show Open Options DialogThe Open Document Options dialog opens on launch, see below. It allows you to make a different choice each time you launch Nuendo.