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Steinberg Nuendo 4 Operation Manual

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    Working with the Tempo track
    Options and settings
    Snap
    You activate or deactivate Snap by clicking the Snap icon 
    on the toolbar. The behavior of the function depends on 
    the display format selected for the ruler:
    If “Bars+Beats” is selected, tempo curve points will 
    snap to the set resolution on the Snap pop-up.
    If this is set to 1/1, curve points will snap to the start of bars.
    If any other display format is selected, tempo curve 
    points will snap to the vertical grid lines in the tempo curve 
    display.
    The spacing of the grid lines depends on the horizontal magnification.
    Time signature events can only be positioned at the start 
    of bars, regardless of whether Snap is activated or not.
    Autoscroll
    When this option is activated, the tempo curve display will 
    scroll during playback, keeping the project cursor visible.
    The Beat Calculator
    The Beat Calculator is a tool for calculating the tempo of 
    freely recorded audio or MIDI material. It also allows you to 
    set the tempo by tapping.
    Calculating the tempo of a recording
    1.In the Project window, make a selection that covers an 
    exact number of beats of the recording.
    2.Select “Beat Calculator…” from the Project menu.
    The Beat Calculator window appears.
    3.Enter the number of beats that the selection encom-
    passes in the Beats field.
    The corresponding tempo is calculated and displayed in the BPM field.
    If you need to adjust the selection, you can go back to 
    the Project window, leaving the Beat Calculator open.
    To re-calculate the tempo after adjusting the selection, click Refresh.
    4.If you like, you can insert the calculated tempo into the 
    Tempo track by clicking one of the buttons in the lower left 
    corner of the Beat Calculator window.
    Clicking “At Tempo Track Start” will adjust the first tempo curve point, 
    while “At Selection Start” will add a new tempo curve point at the selec-
    tion’s start position, using the “Jump” curve type (see “Adding tempo 
    curve points” on page 417).
    Action – Delete 
    BarsWhen you select this action, clicking the Process button 
    will delete the specified number of bars beginning at the 
    set start position.
    Action – 
    Reinterpret 
    BarsWhen you select this action, clicking the Process button 
    will reinterpret the bar range to fit the specified time sig-
    nature. This is very special in the sense that both 
    bars+beats positions of the notes and the tempo are be-
    ing changed to fit the new time signature, but the play-
    back of the notes will stay just the same.
    If you want to reinterpret e.g. a bar with the time signature 
    3/4 so that it gets the time signature 4/4, quarter notes 
    will become half note triplets. If you reinterpret a bar with 
    the time signature 4/4 to attain 3/4, you will get quadru-
    plets.
    Action – 
    Replace BarsWhen you select this action, clicking the Process button 
    will cause the time signature of the specified bar range to 
    be replaced by the one you specify in this dialog. 
    Action – 
    SignatureThis lets you specify the desired time signature for the 
    action you select in the Action pop-up menu (except for 
    the Delete Bars action).
    Process Click this button to apply your changes to the desired bar 
    range.
    Close Clicking this button closes the Process Bars dialog. 
    Please note that you have to click the Process button first 
    to apply your settings. Clicking this button without click-
    ing on “Process” first will close the dialog without apply-
    ing your settings. Option Description
    !If Fixed tempo mode is selected when you insert the 
    calculated tempo, the Fixed tempo will be adjusted, 
    regardless of which button you click. 
    						
    							422
    Working with the Tempo track
    Using Tap Tempo
    The Tap Tempo function allows you to specify a tempo by 
    tapping:
    1.Open the Beat Calculator.
    2.If you want to tap the tempo to some recorded material, 
    activate playback.
    3.Click the Tap Tempo button.
    The Tap Tempo window appears.
    4.Tap the tempo on the computer keyboard’s space bar 
    or with the mouse button.
    The tempo display will update the calculated tempo between each tap.
    5.When you stop tapping, the program calculates the 
    average timing of the taps and displays it.
    6.Click OK to close the Tap Tempo dialog.
    The tapped tempo is now shown in the Beat Calculator’s BPM display. If 
    you like, you can insert it into the Tempo track as described above.
    Merge Tempo From Tapping
    This function allows you to create a complete tempo track 
    based on your tapping. Typically, you would use this if you 
    have an audio file with no tempo mapping and want to be 
    able to add sequenced material afterwards, etc.
    1.Create an empty time-based MIDI track and, while 
    playing back your audio material, tap the new tempo on 
    your MIDI keyboard and record the created notes onto the 
    new MIDI track.
    Note that you must create note events – pedal events cannot be used for 
    this function.
    2.Play back the audio and check that the timing of the 
    MIDI notes corresponds to that of the audio. 
    If necessary, edit the MIDI notes in an editor.
    3.Select the part (or the individual notes in an editor) 
    that you want to use for the calculation.4.Select “Merge Tempo From Tapping” from the Func-
    tions submenu on the MIDI menu.
    A dialog opens.
    5.In the dialog, specify what type of note (1/2, 1/4 etc.) 
    you tapped during the recording.
    If you activate the “Begin at Bar Start” option, the first note will automati-
    cally start at the beginning of a bar when calculating the new tempo curve.
    6.Click OK.
    The project’s tempo is adjusted to the tapped notes.
    7.Open the Project menu and select “Tempo Track” to 
    check that the new tempo information is reflected in the 
    tempo curve.
    ÖAnother way of creating a tempo map for freely re-
    corded audio would be to use the Time Warp tool, see 
    below.
    The Time Warp tool
    The Time Warp tool lets you adjust the Tempo track so 
    that “musical time-based” material (positions related to 
    the tempo) matches “linear time-based” material (posi-
    tions in time). Some typical applications:
     When you have recorded music (audio or MIDI) without tempo 
    reference or metronome click, the Time Warp tool can be used 
    for creating a tempo map that fits the recording (allowing you to 
    rearrange or add sequenced material).
     When you are creating music for a movie and want to match 
    certain positions in the video with certain positions in the music.
    The Time Warp tool makes use of the fact that tracks can 
    be based on time positions (linear time base) or positions 
    related to tempo (musical time base), see “Switching bet-
    ween musical and linear time base” on page 40 for a de-
    scription of these modes. 
    						
    							423
    Working with the Tempo track
    Basic procedure
    You use the Time Warp tool to drag a musical position (a 
    position in bars+beats format) to a certain position in time. 
    This can be done in the Project window or in editor win-
    dows, as described below. Here is the general procedure:
    1.Make sure Tempo track mode is selected.
    You cannot use the Time Warp tool in Fixed tempo mode.
    2.Select the Time Warp tool.
    Bars+Beats format is automatically selected for the ruler in the active 
    window, and the ruler is shown in brown.
    3.Click in the window at a musical position and drag it 
    so that it matches a position in the material you are editing 
    – e.g. the start of an event, a certain “hit” within an audio 
    event, a frame in a video clip, etc.
    When you click with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the grid in the window.
    Dragging the start of bar 3 to the start of the audio event.
    While you are dragging, the track(s) you are editing are 
    temporarily switched to linear time base. This means that 
    the contents of the tracks remain at the same time posi-
    tions regardless of the tempo (there is an exception to this 
    in the Project window, see below).
    4.When you release the mouse button, the musical posi-
    tion you clicked on matches the time position you dragged 
    it to.
    This is because the Time Warp tool changed the last tempo event on the 
    Tempo track (and/or added new ones, depending on window and us-
    age), thereby scaling the tempo track to fit.
    Rules
    When you use the Time Warp tool, the tempo value of 
    the last tempo event (before the click position) is adjusted.
    If later tempo events exist, a new tempo event will be 
    created at the click position. This way, the later tempo 
    event(s) will not be moved.
    If you press [Shift] and use the Time Warp tool, a new 
    tempo event is created at the click position.
    [Shift] is the default modifier for this – you can adjust this in the Prefer-
    ences (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).
    If you use the Time Warp tool in an editor, a tempo 
    event will be created at the start of the edited part or 
    event. Only the currently edited track will be affected – but 
    note that events to the right of the edited events or parts 
    (on the edited track) will be affected as well.
    If you have made a selection range (in the Project win-
    dow, Audio Part Editor or Sample Editor) and use the 
    Time Warp tool within that range, the tempo changes will 
    be confined to that range.
    This means tempo events will be inserted at the start and end of the se-
    lection range, if needed – useful if you need to adjust the tempo within a 
    certain area but want all material outside that range to stay in place.
    When you click with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the 
    tempo grid in the window.
    When you drag the tempo grid to a new position, it can 
    be magnetic to events in the window.
    In the Project window, this requires that Snap is activated and “Events” 
    is selected on the Snap pop-up menu – the grid will then snap to the 
    start and end of events or parts, and to markers. In the Sample Editor, 
    this requires that Snap to Zero Crossings is activated – the grid will then 
    snap to hitpoints (if any). In the MIDI editors, this requires that Snap is 
    activated – the grid will then snap to the start and end of notes.
    The function will create tempo values up to 300 bpm. 
    						
    							424
    Working with the Tempo track
    Viewing and adjusting tempo events
    When you select the Time Warp tool, the ruler of the ac-
    tive window is shown in brown. Existing tempo events are 
    shown in the ruler as “flags” with the tempo values dis-
    played.
    This helps you see what’s going on, but you can also use 
    this for editing the tempo track:
    If you press the create/erase modifier key (by default 
    [Shift]) and click on a tempo event in the ruler, it is deleted.
    You can click on a tempo event in the ruler and drag to 
    move it.
    This automatically edits the tempo value in the event so that elements to 
    the right keep their positions.
    If you press [Alt]/[Option] and move (or delete) a tempo 
    event in the ruler, the tempo value is not adjusted – this 
    means elements to the right will be moved.
    This is the default modifier key for this – you can adjust this in the Prefer-
    ences (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).
    Using the Time Warp tool in the Project 
    window
    In the Project window, there are two modes for the Time 
    Warp tool:
     In the default mode, all tracks are temporarily switched to lin-
    ear time base when you use the tool. This means that all tracks 
    will keep their absolute time positions when you adjust the 
    tempo track.
     In the “musical events follow” mode, no tracks are switched to 
    linear time base. This means that all tracks that are not set to 
    linear time base will follow the changes you make to the tempo 
    track.
    You select the Time Warp mode by selecting the tool, 
    clicking on the tool icon and selecting from the pop-up 
    menu that appears.
    Matching a musical score to video
    Here’s an example of how to use the Time Warp tool in 
    “musical events follow” mode. Let’s say you are creating 
    the music for a film. You have a video track, an audio track 
    with a commentary and some audio and/or MIDI tracks 
    with your music. Now you want to match the position of a 
    musical cue to a position in a video film. The musical cue 
    is located in bar 33. There are no tempo changes in the 
    project (yet).
    1.Make sure tempo track mode is selected in the Trans-
    port panel.
    2.Now you need to locate the position in the video. If you 
    don’t need very high precision, you can simply locate it 
    looking at the thumbnails on the video track – otherwise 
    you can pinpoint the exact position and add a marker to 
    the Marker track (that you can snap to later on).
    You can also make a note of the exact position and add an extra ruler 
    track set to show the time code.
    3.Make sure the correct tracks are set to linear time 
    base or musical time base, respectively.
    In our example, we want the video track and the audio track with a com-
    mentary voice-over to be linear time-based (as well as the marker track, if 
    you are using one). All other tracks should be set to musical time base. 
    You change this by clicking the time base button in the Track list or In-
    spector.
    4.Set up the Grid Type pop-up menu as desired.
    When you click with the Time Warp tool, it snaps to the selected grid. In 
    this case, you will find the musical cue at the start of bar 33, so we can 
    set the grid to “Bar”.
    Musical time base selected.
    Linear time base selected. 
    						
    							425
    Working with the Tempo track
    Note that this affects the snapping to the ruler (tempo 
    grid) when you click! In addition, the tool can be “mag-
    netic” to events in the Project window when you drag – for 
    this, you need to activate Snap and select “Events” on the 
    Snap pop-up menu. 
    In our example, this would be useful if you created a marker at the de-
    sired position in the video – when you drag the grid (see below), it will 
    snap to the marker.
    5.Select the Time Warp tool and select the “musical 
    events follow” mode.
    6.Click in the event display at the start of bar 33 and 
    drag to the desired position in the video.
    As mentioned above, this can mean dragging to a position indicated by 
    the thumbnails on the video track, to a marker on the Marker track or to a 
    time position on an additional ruler track.
    When you drag, the ruler is scaled – and the music tracks 
    will follow.
    7.Release the mouse button.
    If you look in the ruler at the beginning of the project, you will see that the 
    first (and only) tempo event has been adjusted.
    8.Try playing back.
    The musical cue should now happen at the correct position in the video.
    OK, let’s say you need to match another cue to another 
    position later on in the video. If you simply repeat this pro-
    cedure, you will find that the first cue gets out of sync – 
    since you are still changing the first (and only) tempo 
    event on the Tempo track!
    You need to create a “lock point” – a tempo event at the 
    first cue position:
    9.Press [Shift] and click with the Time Warp tool in the 
    event display at the cue position.
    In our case this is bar 33.
    As you can see, a tempo event (with the same value as the 
    first one) is added at that position.
    10.Now match the second musical cue to the correct 
    video position by dragging the musical position to the 
    desired time position as before.
    The new tempo event is edited – the first tempo event is unaffected and 
    the original cue is still matched.
    If you know you are going to match several cues this 
    way, you should make it a habit to press [Shift] each time 
    you use the Time Warp tool to match positions.
    This adds a new tempo event – that way, you don’t have to add tempo 
    events afterwards as in step 9 above.
    About snapping
    If Snap is activated in the Project window and “Events” is 
    selected on the Snap pop-up menu, the Time Warp tool 
    will be magnetic to events when you drag the tempo grid. 
    This makes it easier to snap a tempo position to a marker, 
    the start or end of an audio event, etc. 
    						
    							426
    Working with the Tempo track
    Using the Time Warp tool in an audio editor
    Using the Time Warp tool in the Sample Editor or Audio 
    Part Editor is different from using it in the Project window, 
    in the following ways:
     When you use the Time Warp tool, a tempo event is automa-
    tically inserted at the beginning of the edited event or part – 
    this tempo event will be adjusted when you warp the tempo 
    grid with the tool. This means that material before the edited 
    events won’t be affected.
     Only the default mode for the Time Warp tool is available. So 
    when you use the tool, the edited track is temporarily switched 
    to linear time base.
    Making a tempo map for a “free” recording
    The following example shows how to use the Time Warp 
    tool in the Sample Editor to create a tempo map matching 
    freely recorded music. Let’s say you have recorded a drum-
    mer, playing without a metronome – this typically means the 
    tempo varies ever so slightly. To be able to add sequenced 
    material and easily rearrange the recorded audio, you want 
    the tempo in Nuendo to match the recorded drum track:
    1.If necessary, move the recorded event to its desired 
    start position.
    Move it so that the first downbeat (“one”) happens on the start of the de-
    sired bar – zoom in if needed.
    2.Open the drum recording in the Sample Editor and 
    make sure Hitpoint mode isn’t selected.
    The Time Warp tool cannot be used in Hitpoint mode. However, if you 
    have calculated hitpoints already, these will be visible when the Time 
    Warp tool is selected (see below).
    3.Set the zoom so that you can see the individual drum 
    hits clearly.
    To achieve this type of “visual” beat matching, it’s important to have a 
    fairly clean recording, such as the drum track in this example.
    4.Select the Time Warp tool.
    You have already matched the first downbeat with the 
    start of a bar. However, if the recording starts before the 
    first downbeat (with a fill, some silence, etc.), you want to 
    “lock” the first downbeat so that it stays in position:5.Press [Shift] and click in the event at the position of 
    the first downbeat (the start of the bar).
    When you press [Shift], the pointer turns into a pencil. Clicking adds a 
    tempo event at the first downbeat – when you later adjust the tempo with 
    the Time Warp tool, the first downbeat will stay in place. Note: if the 
    event started exactly on the first downbeat (no audio before the “one”), 
    you wouldn’t need to do this. This is because a tempo event is automati-
    cally added at the start of the edited event.
    6.Now, locate the start of the next bar in the ruler. 
    7.Click at that position in the event display and drag the 
    position to the downbeat of the second bar in the record-
    ing.
    When you click, the pointer will snap to the ruler grid.
    You do not have to match the downbeats (“ones”) – in this figure, beat 
    “2” in the second bar is matched to the “two” in the recording’s second 
    bar (simply because the snare drum hits on the upbeats are easier to 
    spot in the waveform image).
    When you dragged the grid you changed the tempo value 
    in the tempo event at the first downbeat. If the drummer 
    held a fairly consistent tempo, the following bars should 
    now match pretty well too.
    8.Check the following bars and locate the first position 
    where the audio drifts from the tempo.
    Now, if you simply adjusted that beat in the tempo grid to 
    match the beat in the recording, the tempo event at the 
    first downbeat would be changed – this would ruin the 
    match in the previous bars! We need to lock these by in-
    serting a new tempo event. 
    						
    							427
    Working with the Tempo track
    9.Locate the last beat that is in sync.
    This would be the beat just before the position where the audio and 
    tempo drift apart.
    10.Press [Shift] and click at that position to insert a tempo 
    event there.
    This locks this matched position. The material to the left will not be af-
    fected when you make adjustments further along.
    11.Now match the tempo grid to the next (unmatched) 
    beat by clicking and dragging with the Time Warp tool.
    The tempo event you inserted in step 10 will be adjusted.
    12.Work your way through the recording this way – when 
    you find that the recording drifts from the tempo, repeat 
    steps 9 to 11 above.
    Now the Tempo track follows the recording and you can 
    add sequenced material, rearrange the recording etc.
    Matching to hitpoints
    If you have calculated hitpoints for the audio event you are 
    editing, these will be shown when the Time Warp tool is 
    selected.
     The number of hitpoints shown depends on the Hitpoint Sen-
    sitivity slider setting you’ve made in Hitpoint mode.
     If you activate the Snap to Zero Crossing button on the tool-
    bar, the Time Warp tool will snap to hitpoints when you drag 
    the tempo grid.
     You can use the Create Markers from Hitpoints function (on 
    the Hitpoints submenu of the Audio menu) to create markers 
    at the hitpoint positions. This can be useful when using the 
    Time Warp tool in the Project window, as the tool will be mag-
    netic to markers (if Snap to Events is activated on the toolbar).
    Using the Time Warp tool in a MIDI editor
    This is very similar to using the tool in an audio editor:
     When you use the Time Warp tool, a tempo event is automat-
    ically inserted at the beginning of the edited part – this tempo 
    event will be adjusted when you warp the tempo grid with the 
    tool. Material before the edited part won’t be affected.
     Only the default mode for the Time Warp tool is available. So 
    when you use the tool, the edited MIDI track is temporarily 
    switched to linear time base.
     The rulers in the MIDI editors can be set to “Time Linear” or 
    “Bars+Beats Linear” mode (see “The ruler” on page 367) – 
    the Time Warp tool requires Time Linear mode. If necessary, 
    the ruler mode will be switched when you select the Time 
    Warp tool.
     If Snap is activated on the toolbar in the MIDI editor, the tool 
    will snap to the start and end of MIDI notes when you drag the 
    tempo grid.
    Typically, you would use the Time Warp tool in a MIDI 
    editor to match the Nuendo tempo to freely recorded MIDI 
    material (much like the audio example above). 
    						
    							429
    The Project Browser
    Window Overview
    While the Project window and the editors display events 
    and other data graphically, the Project Browser window 
    provides a list based representation of the project. This al-
    lows you to view and edit all events on all tracks by using 
    regular value editing in a list.
    Opening the Project Browser
    You open the Project Browser by selecting “Browser” 
    from the Project menu. The Browser window can be open 
    while you are working in other windows; any changes 
    made in the Project window or an editor are immediately 
    reflected in the Project Browser and vice versa.
    Navigating in the Browser
    You use the Project Browser much like you use the Win-
    dows Explorer and Mac OS X Finder for browsing folders 
    on your hard disk:
    Click on an item in the Project Structure list to select it 
    for viewing.
    The contents of the item are shown in the event display.
    In this figure, the parts on a MIDI track are displayed.
    Items with hierarchical substructures can be folded out 
    by clicking the plus symbols or the “closed folder” sym-
    bols in the Project Structure list.
    When the substructure of an item is revealed, a minus symbol or an “open 
    folder” symbol is shown instead – click this to hide the substructure.
    To reveal or hide all substructures in the Project Struc-
    ture list, use the buttons “(+) All” and “(–) All” above the list.
    The Project Structure list. This is where 
    you navigate through the project.The event display. This is where you view 
    and edit parts, events and Regions. The Add pop-up menu and Add button for 
    creating new parts, events and regions.The Filter pop-up menu, 
    used when editing MIDI.
    The Time Format (display 
    format) pop-up menu. 
    						
    							430
    The Project Browser
    The actual editing is done in the event display, using 
    regular value editing techniques.
    There is one exception: You can rename items in the Project Structure 
    list by clicking on their names and typing.
    Customizing the view
    You can drag the divider between the Project Structure 
    list and the event display to make one of them wider and 
    the other narrower. Furthermore, the event display can be 
    customized in the following ways:
    You can change the order of the columns by dragging 
    the column headings to the left or right.
    You can resize columns by dragging the dividers be-
    tween the column headings.
    To select a display format for all position and length val-
    ues, use the Time Format pop-up menu.
    You can sort events in the display by columns, by click-
    ing the column heading.
    For example, if you want to sort events by their start positions, click that 
    column heading. An arrow appears in the column heading, indicating that 
    events are sorted by that column. The direction of the arrow indicates 
    whether the events are sorted in ascending or descending order. To 
    change the direction, click the column heading again.
    Importing files via the MediaBay
    As the Project Browser is just another view of the project, 
    you can import audio, video and MIDI files into the project 
    via the MediaBay. For this, select the file in the MediaBay 
    and drag and drop it into the Project Browser.
    ÖYou can only import into existing tracks. This means, 
    for example, that a video track has to exist in the Project 
    window prior to importing a video file in the Project 
    Browser.
    For more information about the MediaBay, see 
    “The MediaBay” on page 314.
    About the Sync Selection option
    If the “Sync Selection” checkbox is activated (in the top 
    right corner of the Project Browser), selecting an event in 
    the Project window automatically selects it in the Project 
    Browser, and vice versa. This makes it easy to locate 
    events in the two windows.
    Editing tracks
    Editing audio tracks
    Audio tracks can have two “subitems”: Track Data and 
    Automation. 
     The Automation item corresponds to the Automation subtrack 
    in the Project window, and contains the track’s automation 
    events (see “Editing Automation tracks” on page 432).
     The Track Data item corresponds to the actual audio track in 
    the Project window. It contains audio events and/or audio 
    parts, which in turn can contain audio events.
    Note that if you have not performed any automation or 
    opened an automation subtrack, the Browser will only 
    contain the audio data.
    The following parameters are available for the different 
    items:
    The list columns for audio events:
    Parameter Description
    Name Allows you to enter a descriptive comment for the event. 
    Double-clicking on the waveform image beside it opens 
    the Sample Editor for the event.
    File The name of the audio file referenced by the event’s au-
    dio clip.
    Start The start position of the event. If the event belongs to an 
    audio part, you cannot move it outside the part.
    End The end position of the event. 
    Snap The absolute position of the event’s snap point. Note that 
    adjusting this value will not change the position of the 
    snap point within the event – instead it is another way of 
    moving the event!
    Length The length of the event. 
    Audio track
    Track Data subitem of 
    the audio track
    Audio parts
    Automation 
    subtracks
    Audio events 
    						
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