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Steinberg Nuendo 4 Operation Manual

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    VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
    If you don’t want the plug-in control panels to open every 
    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 or more 
    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 clut-
    tered, you may want to close the folder for the VST Instrument until you 
    need to view or edit any of the automation tracks. For more about automa-
    tion, see the chapter “Automation” on page 213.
    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 the option “MIDI Thru Active” is activated 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 64.
    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, 
    for routing the VST Instrument channels e. g. to output channels or 
    groups. Routing is described in detail in the chapter “VST Connections: 
    Setting up input and output busses” on page 10.
    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 195.
    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 several 
    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 195.
    Instrument 
    on/off
    Instrument 
    Freeze
    Activate outputs Bypass 
    instrumentOpen instrument panel
    Event received 
    						
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    VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
    The second 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 control lights up in blue.
    For some instruments you may also bypass the instrument by clicking the 
    Bypass button to the right of the on/off button.
    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 entries in the pop-up 
    list to activate/deactivate output busses for this effect. 
    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 instru-
    ment settings.
    Adding Instrument tracks
    To open and use an Instrument track, proceed as follows:
    1.Open the Project menu and select Instrument from the 
    Add Track submenu.
    You can also right-click in the track list and select “Add Instrument 
    Track” on the context menu.
    2.The Add Instrument Track dialog is opened.
    You can select an instrument for the track from the pop-up (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 
    Presets” button, the dialog expands to show the preset browser, where 
    you can browse for sounds.
    3.Click OK to add the Instrument track.
    When you selected an Instrument in the Add Track dialog, the new track 
    will get the name of the instrument. When no instrument was selected, 
    the track will be named “Instrument track”.
    An instrument track in the Track list.
    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, 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 335.
    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 ed-
    iting 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 information, see the chapter “MIDI realtime parame-
    ters and effects” on page 342.
    As with MIDI track inspector and track controls, you can 
    adjust track delay, choose MIDI input, work with VST Instru-
    ment panels, etc. For more information, see the chapter 
    “MIDI realtime parameters and effects” on page 342.
    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 over all used VST Instruments, open the Plug-in Informa-
    tion window via the Devices menu. For further information, see the sepa-
    rate manual “Nuendo Expansion Kit – Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4”. 
    						
    							193
    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 automation 
    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 197). 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 Filter section, activate the “Show MIDI Loops” 
    button.
    This is not necessary, but will help you locate your MIDI loops more quickly.
    3.In the Viewer section, select the desired MIDI loop and 
    drag it in 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 inspector settings or instrument parameters.
    Exporting MIDI loops
    Exporting MIDI loops is a great way of saving a MIDI part 
    together with its instrument and e. g. effect settings. This 
    allows you to easily reproduce patterns you once created 
    without having to search for the correct sound, style or ef-
    fect.
    Proceed as follows:
    1.Select the desired Instrument part.
    2.On the File menu–Export submenu, select “MIDI 
    Loop…”.
    A file dialog opens.
    3.Enter the desired name for the MIDI loop in the Name 
    field in the lower section of the dialog.
    If you want to save attributes for the MIDI loop, click the 
    Tag Editor button.
    This lets you specify e. g. a category and a sub category 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: /Documents and Settings//Applica-
    tion Data/Steinberg/MIDI Loops.
     Mac: /Users//Library/Application Support/
    Steinberg/MIDI Loops/
    This default folder cannot be changed, you can however 
    create subfolders within this folder to organize your MIDI 
    loops. Simply click the “Create New Folder” button in the 
    Save MIDI Loop dialog. 
    						
    							194
    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 498.
    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.
    Comparison
    Since instrument tracks are a combination of MIDI and 
    VST features, the instrument track properties and their 
    handling show aspects of both. 
    On the left, the MIDI Inspector for a MIDI channel with its output routed 
    to a VST Instrument – on the right, the instrument track Inspector for an 
    instrument track using the same VST Instrument.
    Automation considerations
    Automation of the VST Instrument channel settings or 
    the settings for an instrument track is done in the same 
    way as automating regular channels.
    Automation of the specific parameters for a VST Instru-
    ment is done in the same way as automating VST effect 
    parameters.
    When you set up a VST Instrument in the VST Instruments 
    window, you also need to create a MIDI channel in which 
    to enter the notes that you want the instrument to play. Al-
    though the VST Instrument channel and the MIDI track are 
    connected via the VST Instrument, there is no direct con-
    nection between, for example, the volume automation of 
    the VST Instrument channel and the events on the MIDI 
    track. If you move the MIDI part, the automated volume 
    curve of the VST return channel will not move with it.  
    						
    							195
    VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
    In the instrument track, however, you have one track that 
    includes the MIDI data, the VST Instrument and the chan-
    nel you wish to automate. Therefore, the information on 
    the automation track will move with the MIDI part.
    For more information on track automation, see the chapter 
    “Automation” on page 213.
    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 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 real time (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 chan-
    nels, just as when freezing audio tracks (see “Freezing 
    (rendering) insert effects for a track” on page 175).
    The result of the Freeze is that you get exactly the same 
    sound as before, but the computer processor doesn’t 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, and in the track list and the Inspector 
    for instrument 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 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. 
    						
    							196
    VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
    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 Instrument Options dialog appears with the 
    following options for the Freeze operation:
    Select “Freeze Instrument Only” if you don’t want to 
    freeze any insert effects for the VST Instrument channels.
    If you are using insert effects on the VST Instrument channel(s) and want 
    to be able to edit, replace or remove these after freezing the VST Instru-
    ment, you should select this option.
    Select “Freeze Instrument and Channels” if you want to 
    freeze all pre-fader insert effects for the VST Instrument 
    channels.
    If your VST Instrument channels are set up with the desired insert effects 
    and you don’t need to edit these, select this option.
    You can set a Tail Size time to let sounds complete their 
    normal release cycle.
    Otherwise, the sound might be cut off at the very end of the freeze file.
    When you activate “Unload Instrument when Frozen”, 
    the frozen VST Instrument will be removed.
    This is useful if you are freezing an instrument that uses a lot of RAM, e.g. 
    for pre-loading samples. By unloading the instrument, the RAM becomes 
    available for other plug-ins, etc.
    4.Click OK.
    A progress dialog is shown while the program renders the VST Instru-
    ment audio to a file on your hard disk.
    The Freeze button lights up. If you check the Project win-
    dow at this point, you will find that the relevant MIDI/in-
    strument tracks have grayed out controls in the Track list 
    and Inspector. Furthermore, the MIDI parts are locked and 
    cannot be moved.
    5.Play back the project.
    You will hear exactly the same sound as before freezing the VST Instru-
    ment – but the CPU load will be considerably less! 
    If you selected “Freeze Instrument and Channels”, any 
    insert effects used by the VST Instrument are also frozen 
    (except for the post-fader inserts). However, you can al-
    ways adjust level, pan, sends and EQ for frozen VST In-
    struments.
    Unfreezing
    If you need to make adjustments (either to the MIDI tracks, 
    to the VST Instrument parameters or to the VST Instru-
    ment channels if these were frozen) you need to unfreeze 
    the VST Instrument:
    1.Click the Freeze button for the VST Instrument again 
    (either in the VST Instruments window or in the Inspector).
    You will be asked to confirm this operation.
    2.Click “Unfreeze”.
    The tracks and VST Instrument are restored and the rendered “freeze 
    file” is deleted.
    VST instruments and processor load
    If you are working with VST 3 instruments, another way to 
    relieve processor load is the option “Deactivate Plug-in 
    when silence is detected” in the Preferences dialog 
    (VST–Plug-ins page). This is described in detail in the 
    section “Smart plug-in processing” on page 169. 
    The Freeze button in the 
    VST Instruments window……and in the Inspector. 
    						
    							197
    VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
    Using presets for VSTi configuration
    About track presets and VST presets
    Track presets and VST presets allow you to quickly set up 
    tracks or instruments with all the settings required for the 
    sound you want. Nuendo provides various types of pre-
    sets for various purposes. Two of these are of relevance 
    for VST Instruments:
    Track presets for instrument tracks store the parameter 
    settings of a VST Instrument together with all track/chan-
    nel settings (applied audio and MIDI insert effects, etc.).
    Instrument track presets can only be applied to instrument tracks, not to 
    instrument channels activated in the VST Instruments window.
    VST presets store all panel settings for a plug-in (VST In-
    struments and VST effects), but no track/channel settings.
    Note that you can create instrument tracks from VST 3 presets, i. e. se-
    lecting a VST 3 preset will create an instrument track with all settings 
    stored in the VST preset plus an “empty” track.
    As described in the chapter “Audio effects” on page 168, 
    there are two types of VST presets that can be used: the 
    VST 2 standard “.fxb/.fxp” files and the VST 3 preset stan-
    dard with the extension “.vstpreset”. Some of the included 
    VST Instruments use the VST 2 preset standard, and oth-
    ers use the VST 3 standard. 
    All VST 2 instruments can import “.fxb/.fxp” files and also 
    convert them to the VST 3 standard. Once converted, you 
    can use all VST 3 features. See “About earlier VST Instru-
    ment presets” on page 200.
    ÖFor further information on Track presets and VST pre-
    sets, see the chapter “Track Presets” on page 327.
    Browsing for sounds
    One important and often time-consuming aspect of music 
    creation is the search for the right sounds. You might spend 
    a huge amount of time trying out the presets for a particular 
    instrument only to find out later that the preset for another 
    instrument contains the sound you were looking for. 
    This is why Nuendo features extensive browsing possibili-
    ties, allowing you to preview all available presets without 
    having to load them first! 
    In addition, you can filter your search by specifying cate-
    gory, style etc.For example, if you are looking for a bass sound, simply 
    select the Bass category and you can browse and preview 
    all bass sounds for all instruments. If you know you want a 
    synth bass sound, select Synth Bass as sub-category and 
    all synth bass sounds will be shown etc.
    You can also browse and preview track presets for instru-
    ment tracks, i. e. instrument sounds plus all track settings 
    and all channel insert effect settings for this track.
    These features combined speed up the process of finding 
    the right sound immensely. 
    When creating your own presets, it is always a good 
    idea to set up attributes for them, as it allows you to fully 
    use the browsing features for your files, too.
    This is described in detail in the chapter “The MediaBay” on page 314.
    There are two ways of browsing for sounds:
    Using the Presets browser.
    This will apply preset settings to an existing track.
    Using the Browse Sounds dialog.
    Use this dialog if you haven’t set up a track yet.
    Using the Presets browser
    1.Create an instrument track and select it in the track list.
    You do not have to assign an instrument to the track, but make sure to 
    specify a MIDI input.
    2.Make sure that the track settings are shown in the In-
    spector.
    3.Click in the Track Preset field in the Inspector (the text 
    field currently reads “No Track Preset”).
    Click here…
    …to open the Presets browser. 
    						
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    VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
    4.The Presets browser is opened. It contains three sec-
    tions (Browser, Search & Viewer and Filter). By default, only 
    the Search & Viewer section is shown. Note that it may take 
    a moment before all available sounds appear in the Viewer.
    The Viewer section to the right displays all track presets 
    for instrument tracks and all VST 3 presets.
    Track presets for audio tracks, MIDI tracks or “multi” track setups are not 
    displayed. The preset icon to the left of the file name indicates the type of 
    preset.
    5.Select a preset in the list.
    6.Play a few notes on your MIDI keyboard to hear the 
    preset sound. You can switch between presets and hear 
    the sound when you play. You can also play back/loop a 
    MIDI part on a track. Each time you select a preset, all as-
    sociated track and/or instrument settings are automati-
    cally loaded.
    7.Use the Filter section to search for specific attributes if 
    you wish.
    You can click on the attributes in the respective column (Category, Style 
    etc.), to filter out all presets that do not match the selected attribute(s).
    8.When you have found the right sound, click OK to 
    close the dialog.
    Using the “Browse Sounds” dialog
    1.Open the Project menu–Add Track submenu and se-
    lect “Browse Sounds”.
    The Browse Sounds dialog is opened. It contains the same sections as the 
    Apply Track Presets dialog (Browser, Viewer and Filter) and its Browser 
    section also has the root “Presets” item selected – leave it like this.
    The Viewer section of the Browse Sounds dialog dis-
    plays all preset sounds for all track types and all VST In-
    struments.To preview the presets, you have to select a MIDI file or 
    play MIDI notes on your MIDI keyboard because at this 
    stage there is no track connected. This is done as follows:
    2.Select a preset in the Viewer section.
    A row of buttons appears in the dialog below the Viewer section.
    3.Click the “Choose MIDI File” button.
    This opens a file dialog where you can navigate to the location of a MIDI 
    file (extension “.mid”).
    4.Click “MIDI Input” and then the “Play” button.
    The sound is played. For each new preset you select you have to click 
    the “Play” button to preview the preset.
    5.Use the Filter section to search for specific attributes if 
    you wish.
    You can click on the attributes in the respective column (Category, Style 
    etc.), to filter out all presets that do not match the selected attribute(s).
    6.When you have found a preset, click OK to close the 
    dialog.
    An instrument track is created. It will show all track and/or instrument 
    settings that were saved in the preset.
    Selecting VST Instrument presets
    The previous sections focussed on selecting presets for 
    the creation of new instrument tracks, or for changing the 
    setup of an existing track. However, you can also use pre-
    sets to change the settings of a VST Instrument.
    To select a VST Instrument preset, proceed as follows:
    1.Load a VST Instrument (either in the VST Instruments 
    window or via an instrument track).
    2.If you use the VST Instruments window, select a MIDI 
    track routed to the instrument. If you use an instrument 
    track, select this. 
    3.If necessary, click on the track name at the top of the 
    Inspector to open the basic track settings.
    !Note that the following refers to the selection of VST 3 
    presets (.vstpreset). If you want to apply .fxp/.fxb pre-
    sets t o your VS T 2 instr uments  in this way, see “About 
    earlier VST Instrument presets” on page 200. 
    						
    							199
    VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
    4.Click in the Programs field in the Inspector.
    The Preset browser is opened.
    5.Step through the presets during playback to find the 
    sound you are looking for.
    6.Double-click the desired preset to load it and close 
    the preset browser.
    You can also open the preset browser by clicking in the 
    preset name field in the the control panel of a VST Instru-
    ment or by clicking the SoundFrame button in the control 
    panel and selecting “Load Preset…” from the pop-up
    Selecting another preset in the preset browser will load 
    it directly, replacing the previous preset.
    When the preset browser is open, you can still use 
    Project window key commands, allowing you to start/stop 
    playback or locate to different positions in the project.
    Clicking the Reset button below the Viewer will reload 
    the last loaded preset.
    Saving VST Instrument presets
    You can save your settings as presets for further use (e.g. 
    in other projects):
    1.In the VST Instrument panel, click the SoundFrame 
    button to the right of the preset name and select “Save 
    Preset” from the pop-up menu.
    This opens a dialog where you can save the current settings as a preset.
    Presets are saved into a default folder named VST3 Pre-
    sets. Within this folder, there is a folder called “Steinberg 
    Media Technologies” where the included presets are ar-
    ranged in sub-folders named after each instrument.
    You cannot change the default folder, but you can add fur-
    ther subfolders inside the instrument’s preset folder.
    Under Windows, the default preset folder is in the fol-
    lowing location:
    Boot drive/Documents and Settings/User name/Application data/VST3 
    Presets.
    Under Mac OS, the default preset folder is in the follow-
    ing location:
    Users/Username/Library/Audio/Presets//
    2.Enter a name for the new preset in the File name field 
    in the lower part of the dialog.
    If you wish to assign attributes to the preset, click the 
    Tag Editor button.
    Click in the Value column to select an appropriate “tag” for one or sev-
    eral of the available categories in the Attributes column. Tagging is de-
    scribed in detail in the chapter “The MediaBay” on page 314.
    3.Click OK to store the preset and exit the dialog.
    Extracting sound from Track Presets
    You can extract a sound from a Track preset (disregarding 
    any track/channel settings) and save it as a VST preset. 
    Proceed as follows:
    1.Click the SoundFrame button (“Extract sound from 
    Track Preset”) below the Output Routing pop-up menu in 
    the Inspector. 
    This opens a dialog where all Track Presets are shown.
    2.Select an instrument track preset or VST preset and 
    click OK.
    The VST Instrument and the settings (but no inserts, EQs or modifiers) of 
    the existing track are overwritten using the data of the track preset. The 
    previous VST Instrument for this instrument track is removed and the 
    new VST Instrument with its settings is set up for the instrument track.
    Track Presets are described in detail in the chapter “Track 
    Presets” on page 327. 
    						
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    VST Instruments and Instrument tracks
    About earlier VST Instrument presets
    You can use any VST 2.x Instrument plug-ins in Nuendo. 
    Installing VST Instrument plug-ins works the same way as 
    for audio effects – see “Installing additional VST plug-ins” 
    on page 186.
    When you install a VST 2 instrument, any previously 
    stored presets for it will be of the old FX program/bank 
    (.fxp/.fxb) standard. You can import such files, but the pre-
    set handling will be slightly different. You will not be able 
    to use the new features like the Preview function or the 
    Tag editor until you have converted the old “.fxp/.fxb” pre-
    sets to VST 3 presets. If you save new presets for a VST 2 
    plug-in these will automatically be saved in the new “.vst-
    preset” format in the default location.
    Importing and converting FXB/FXP files
    To import .fxp/.fxb files, proceed as follows:
    1.Load any VST 2 instrument you may have installed, and 
    click on the SoundFrame button to open the Preset Ma-
    nagement pop-up menu.
    2.Select “Import FXB/FXP” from the pop-up menu.
    This menu item is only available for VST 2 instrument 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).
    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.
    When the presets are converted, they will be available in the preset 
    browser, and you can use the Tag Editor to add attributes and audition 
    the presets. The presets will be stored in the VST3 Preset folder.
    About latency
    Depending on your audio hardware and its ASIO driver, 
    the latency (the time it takes for the instrument to produce 
    a sound when you press a key on your MIDI controller) 
    may simply be too high to allow comfortable real-time VST 
    Instrument playback from a keyboard. 
    If this is the case, a workaround is to play and record your 
    parts with another MIDI sound source selected, and then 
    switch to the VST Instrument for playback.
    ÖYou can check the latency for your audio hardware in 
    the Device Setup dialog (VST Audio System page).
    The input and output latency values are shown below the ASIO Driver 
    pop-up menu. For live VST Instrument playing, these values should ide-
    ally be a few milliseconds (although the limit for “comfortable” live playing 
    is a matter of personal taste).
    Constrain Delay Compensation
    Nuendo features full delay compensation throughout the 
    entire audio path. This means that any delay inherent in the 
    VST plug-ins you use will automatically be compensated 
    for during playback, so that all channels are kept in perfect 
    sync (see “About plug-in delay compensation” on page 
    170).
    However, when you play a VST Instrument in real time or 
    record live audio (with monitoring through Nuendo acti-
    vated), this delay compensation may sometimes result in 
    added latency. To avoid this, you can click the Constrain 
    Delay Compensation button on the Project window tool-
    bar. This function tries to minimize the latency effects of 
    the delay compensation, while maintaining the sound of 
    the mix as far as possible.
    In the Preferences dialog (VST page) you will find a set-
    ting called Delay Compensation Threshold. Only plug-ins 
    with a delay higher than this setting will be affected by the 
    Constrain Delay Compensation function. 
    						
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