Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual

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Recording
Lock and Unlock Record
During recording it can happen that you accidentally de-
activate the record mode, e. g. by pressing [Space]. In or-
der to prevent this, you can set up a key command for this 
in the Key Commands dialog. If you use the Lock Record 
key command, the Record button will turn gray and the 
record mode is locked until you use the Unlock Record 
key command or enter Stop mode.
•If Lock Record is activated and you want to enter Stop 
mode (by clicking Stop or pressing [Space]), you will see 
a dialog in which you need to confirm that you want to 
stop recording. You can also use the Unlock Record key 
command first and then enter Stop mode as usual.
•By default, no key commands are assigned to these 
functions. In the Key Commands dialog, you will find the 
corresponding key command entries in the Transport cat
-
egory (see the chapter “Key commands” on page 580 for 
more information on how to set up key commands).
ÖThese key commands are especially useful when com-
bined with other commands (e. g. with Record/Stop) using 
the macro functions. That way you will receive powerful 
macros that can greatly enhance your workflow.
ÖNote that an automatic punch-out at the right locator 
position that you may have set on the transport panel, will 
be ignored in Lock Record mode.
Record Time Max display
The Record Time Max display lets you see how much time 
you have left for recording. The available time depends on 
the current setup, for example, on the amount of tracks 
that are record-enabled, your project setup (e.
 g. the sam-
ple rate), and the amount of hard disk space available.
You can show and hide the display using the “Record 
Time Max” option on the Devices menu.
ÖThe remaining record time is also shown in the status 
line above the track list.
Recovery of audio recordings after 
system failure
Normally, when a computer crashes, all changes made to 
your current project since you last saved it will be lost. 
Usually, there is no quick and easy way to recover your 
work.
With Nuendo, when your system crashes while you are re-
cording (because of a power cut or other mishap), you will 
find that your recording is still available, from the moment 
when you started recording to the time when your com
-
puter crashed.
When you experience a computer crash during a record-
ing, simply relaunch the system and check the project 
record folder (by default this is the Audio subfolder inside 
the project folder). It should contain the audio file you 
were recording at the time of the crash.
!If you are storing your tracks on different drives (by 
using individual record folders), the time display re
-
fers to the medium with the least storage space 
available.
!This feature does not constitute an “overall” guaran-
tee by Steinberg. While the program itself was im-
proved in such a way that audio recordings can be 
recovered after a system failure, it is always possible 
that a computer crash, power cut, etc. might have 
damaged another component of the computer, mak
-
ing it impossible to save or recover any of the data.
!Please do not try to actively bring about this kind of 
situation to test this feature. Although the internal 
program processes have been improved to cope 
with such situations, Steinberg cannot guarantee 
that other parts of the computer are not damaged as 
a consequence. 
						

							9
Fades, crossfades and envelopes 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
Creating fades
There are two types of fade ins and fade outs in audio 
events in Nuendo: event-based fades that you create by us
-
ing the fade handles (see below) and clip-based fades cre-
ated by processing (see “Clip-based fades” on page 114).
Event-based fades
Selected audio events have triangular handles in the up-
per left and right corners. These can be dragged to create 
a fade in or fade out, respectively.
Creating a fade in. The fade is automatically reflected in the shape of 
the event’s waveform, giving you a visual feedback of the result when 
dragging the fade handle. 
Fades created with the handles are not applied to the audio 
clip as such but calculated in realtime during playback. This 
means that several events referring to the same audio clip 
can have different fade curves. It also means that having a 
large number of fades may require more processing power.
•If you select multiple events and drag the fade handles 
of one of them, the same fade is applied to all selected 
events.
•A fade can be edited in the Fade dialog, as described 
on the following pages. 
You open the dialog by double-clicking in the area above the fade curve, 
or by selecting the event and selecting “Open Fade Editor(s)” from the 
Audio menu (note that this will open two dialogs if the event has both 
fade in and fade out curves).
 
If you adjust the shape of the fade curve in the Fade dialog, this shape 
will be maintained when you later adjust the length of the fade.
•You can make the fade longer or shorter at any time, by 
dragging the handle.
You can do this without selecting the event first, i. e. without visible han-
dles. Just move the mouse pointer along the fade curve until the cursor 
turns into a bidirectional arrow, then click and drag.
•If the “Show Event Volume Curves Always” option is ac-
tivated in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–Audio 
page), fade curves are shown in all events, regardless of 
whether they are selected or not.
If the option is deactivated, the fade curves are shown in selected events 
only.
•If the “Thick Fade Lines” option is activated in the Pref-
erences dialog (Event Display–Audio page), the fade lines 
and volume curve are thicker, increasing their visibility.
•If the “Use Mouse Wheel for Event volume and Fades” 
option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Au
-
dio page), pressing [Shift] while moving the mouse wheel 
moves the volume curve up or down. 
When you position the mouse pointer somewhere in the left half of the 
event, the fade in end point is moved. When the mouse pointer is in the 
right half of the event, the fade out start point is moved.
ÖIn the Key Commands dialog (Audio category) you can 
set up key commands for changing the event volume curve 
and any fade curves, see 
“Key commands” on page 580.
ÖAs an alternative to dragging the fade handles, you 
can use the “Fade In to Cursor” and “Fade Out to Cursor” 
options on the Audio menu to create fades. Position the 
project cursor on an audio event where you want a fade in 
to end or a fade out to begin, and select the appropriate 
option from the Audio menu. A fade will then be created, 
ranging from the event’s start or end to the position of the 
cursor.
Creating and adjusting fades with the Range Selection 
tool
Event-based fades can also be created and adjusted with 
the Range Selection tool:
1.Select a section of the audio event with the Range Se-
lection tool.
2.Pull down the Audio menu and select “Adjust Fades to 
Range”. 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
The result depends on your selection:
• If you select a range from the beginning of the event, a fade in 
is created within the range. 
• If you select a range that reaches the end of an event, a fade 
out is created in the range. 
• If you select a range encompassing a middle section of the 
event, but not reaching neither the start nor the end, a fade in 
is created from the beginning of the event to the beginning of 
the selected range, and a fade out is created from the end of 
the selected range to the end of the event.
Applying default fades
You can also create fades by using the “Apply Standard 
Fade In” and “Apply Standard Fade Out” commands from 
the Audio menu.
1.Select one or more audio events in the Project window.
2.On the Audio menu, select “Apply Standard Fade In” 
or “Apply Standard Fade Out”.
A fade of the same length and shape as the default fade is created (see 
“As Default button” on page 115).
About the volume handle
A selected audio event also has a square handle in the top 
middle: the volume handle. It provides a quick way of 
changing the volume of an event in the Project window. 
Note that dragging the volume handle also changes the 
value on the info line.
Removing fades
To remove the fades for an event, select the event and se-
lect “Remove Fades” from the Audio menu.
If you want to remove the fades in a specific range only, 
select the fade area with the Range Selection tool and se
-
lect “Remove Fades” from the Audio menu.
Clip-based fades
If you have selected an audio event or a section of an au-
dio event (using the Range Selection tool), you can apply 
a fade in or fade out to the selection by using the “Fade In” 
or “Fade Out” function on the Process submenu of the 
Audio menu. These functions open the corresponding 
Fade dialog, allowing you to specify a fade curve. Fades 
created this way are applied to the audio clip rather than 
to the event. 
Please note the following:
• If you later create new events that refer to the same clip, these 
will have the same fades.
• You can remove or modify the fades at any time using the Of-
fline Process History (see “The Offline Process History dialog” 
on page 275).
If other events refer to the same audio clip, you will be 
asked whether you want the processing to be applied to 
these events or not.
• Continue will apply the processing to all events that refer to 
the audio clip.
• New Version will create a separate, new version of the audio 
clip for the selected event.
•You can also activate the “Please, don’t ask again” op-
tion. Regardless of whether you then choose “Continue” 
or “New Version”, any further processing will conform to 
the option you select.
You can change this setting at any time in the Preferences dialog (Edit-ing–Audio page), under “On Processing Shared Clips”.
!You can select multiple audio events on separate 
tracks with the Range Selection tool, and apply the 
fade to all of them simultaneously.
Drag the Volume handle up 
or down to change the 
volume of the event. The volume change is displayed 
numerically in the info line.
The event waveform reflects the volume change.
!The length of the fade area is determined by your se-
lection. In other words, you specify the length of the 
fade before you open the Fade dialog. You can select 
multiple events and apply the same processing to all 
of them simultaneously. 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
The Fade dialogs
The Fade dialogs appear when you edit an existing fade or 
use the Fade In/Fade Out functions on the Process sub
-
menu of the Audio menu. The picture below shows the 
Fade In dialog; the Fade Out dialog has identical settings 
and features.
If you open the Fade dialog(s) with several events se-
lected, you can adjust the fade curves for all these events 
at the same time. This is useful if you want to apply the 
same type of fade in to more than one event, etc.
The available options are:
Applying a fade
Depending on whether you are editing a fade made with the 
fade handles or applying a fade using processing, different 
buttons are shown in the bottom row of the Fade dialog.
The Edit Fade dialogs have the following buttons:
The Process Fade dialogs have the following buttons:
OptionDescription
Curve KindThese buttons determine whether the fade curve con-sists of spline curve segments (left button), damped 
spline segments (middle button), or linear segments 
(right button).
Fade displayThis shows the shape of the fade curve. The resulting 
waveform shape is shown in dark gray, with the cur-rent waveform shape in light gray. Click on the curve to add points, and click and drag 
existing points to change the shape. To remove a 
point from the curve, drag it outside the display.
Curve shape 
buttonsThese buttons give you quick access to some com-mon curve shapes.
Restore buttonThis button is only available when editing fades made 
by dragging the fade handles. Click this to cancel any 
changes you have made since opening the dialog.
Fade Length ValueThis parameter is only available when editing fades 
made by dragging the fade handles. It can be used to 
enter fade lengths numerically. The format of values 
displayed here is determined by the Primary Time Dis
-play in the Transport panel. When you activate the Apply Length option, the value 
entered in the Fade Length value field is used when 
clicking Apply or OK. 
 When you set the current fade as the default fade, the 
length value is included as part of the default settings.
PresetsIn this section you can set up presets for fade in or 
fade out curves that you want to apply to other 
events or clips.
 To apply a stored preset, select it from the pop-up 
menu.  To rename the selected preset, double-click on the 
name and type in a new one.  To remove a stored preset, select it from the pop-up 
menu and click Remove.
As Default buttonThis button is only available when editing fades made 
by dragging the fade handles. Click this to store the 
current settings as the default fade, to be used 
whenever you create new fades by dragging event 
handles. Both the shape and length will be used 
when you create fades using the “Apply Standard 
Fade…” command from the Audio menu.
ButtonFunction
OKApplies the set fade curve to the event, and closes the 
dialog.
CancelCloses the dialog without applying any fade.
ApplyApplies the set fade curve to the event, without closing 
the dialog.
ButtonFunction
PreviewPlays back the fade area. Playback will repeat until you 
click the button again (the button is labeled “Stop” during 
playback).
ProcessApplies the set fade curve to the clip, and closes the 
dialog.
CancelCloses the dialog without applying any fade.
Option Description 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
Creating crossfades
Overlapping audio material on the same track can be cross-
faded, for smooth transitions or special effects. You create 
a crossfade by selecting two consecutive audio events and 
selecting the Crossfade command on the Audio menu (or 
by using the corresponding key command, by default [X]). 
The result depends on whether the two events overlap or 
not:
•If the events overlap, a crossfade is created in the over-
lapping area.
The crossfade will be of the default shape (linear, symmetric), but you 
can change this as described below.
ÖThe default crossfade length and shape are set in the 
Crossfade dialog (see 
“As Default button” on page 115).
•If the events do not overlap but are directly consecutive 
(lined up end-to-start, with no gap) it is still possible to 
crossfade them – provided that their respective audio 
clips overlap! In this case, the two events are resized so 
that they overlap, and a crossfade of the default length 
and shape is applied.
An example:
The events themselves do not overlap, but their clips do. Therefore, the 
events can be resized so that they overlap, which is required for a 
crossfade.When you apply the Crossfade function, the two events are resized so 
that they overlap, and a default crossfade is created in the crossfade 
area.
•If the events do not overlap and cannot be resized 
enough to overlap, a crossfade cannot be created.
•You can specify the length of the crossfade using the 
Range Selection tool: make a selection range covering the 
desired crossfade area and use the Crossfade command 
on the Audio menu.
The crossfade is applied to the selected range (provided that the events 
or their clips overlap, as described above). 
ÖYou can also make a selection range after creating the 
crossfade and use the function “Adjust fades to Range” 
on the Audio menu.
•Once you have created a crossfade, you can edit it by 
selecting one or both crossfaded events, and selecting 
“Crossfade” from the Audio menu again (or by double-
clicking in the crossfade zone). 
This opens the Crossfade dialog, see below.
Removing crossfades
To remove a crossfade, proceed as follows:
•Select the corresponding events and select “Remove 
Fades” from the Audio menu.
•Use the Range Selection tool to select all fades and 
crossfades you wish to remove, and select “Remove 
Fades” from the Audio menu.
•Select a crossfade by clicking and drag it outside the 
track.
Crossfade area
Audio clips
Audio events 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
The Crossfade dialog
ÖThis section describes the default Crossfade dialog. 
However, if you activate the “Simple Crossfade Editor” op
-
tion in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Audio page), a sim-
plified dialog is used instead (similar to the regular Fade 
dialogs).
Options and settings
The Crossfade dialog consists of two sections: The wave-
forms of the audio to be crossfaded and the fade curves are 
displayed at the top. The lower half of the Crossfade dialog 
contains a number of common settings and controls, as 
well as separate (but identical) settings for the fade out 
(top) and the fade in curve (bottom) of the crossfade. The 
following options are available (from left to right):
OptionDescription
Nudge RangeThis pop-up menu lets you specify the range that 
is moved when using the Nudge buttons, see “Us-ing the Nudge buttons” on page 119.
Nudge ModeHere, you can specify whether you want the fade 
or the audio to move when you use the Nudge but-tons, see “Using the Nudge buttons” on page 119.
Chaining ModeThis setting determines how the audio to the right 
of the crossfade on the track behaves when you 
move the crossfade for an event. Note that the be
-havior is different depending on whether the next 
audio event on the track follows seamlessly or with 
a gap:
Until End – all following events on the track are 
moved.
Until Gap – all following events on the track up to 
the next gap are moved.
None – none of the following events on the track 
are moved.
Splice Point OffsetIn the fade in and fade out curves you can see a 
dotted vertical line that marks the splice point. If 
you work with asymmetric crossfades, you can set 
different splice points for the fade in and the fade 
out events, i.
 e. a splice point offset. For further in-formation about the splice point, see “Changing the overlap” on page 118.
Symmetric FadesIf this is activated, the editing controls of the fade 
out and fade in curves become “linked”, so that 
both fade curves are affected by the same amount, 
regardless of whether you use the fade out or fade 
in controls. 
LengthThis specifies the length of the crossfade area, see “Resizing the crossfade area” on page 119.
OverlapThis defines the position of the splice point in the 
crossfade area, see “Changing the overlap” on page 118.
Option Description 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
Moving the crossfade area
You can move the crossfade area in the crossfade display 
by changing the overlap or the nudge parameters. This is 
described in the following sections.
Changing the overlap
The overlap value is the relation between the splice point 
(i.
 e. the intersection point of the two events, see the pic-
ture below) and the crossfade area. If you use the Overlap 
controls, the crossfade will be moved around the splice 
point. By default, the splice point is situated in the center 
of the crossfade area. 
A centered symmetric crossfade
VolumeThis changes the volume of the crossfaded events. 
This is the same as using the volume handles in 
the event display, see 
“About the volume handle” on page 114.
Nudge buttonsUse the Nudge buttons to nudge the fade area or 
the audio in the desired direction, see “Using the Nudge buttons” on page 119.
Fade curve  displaysThese displays show the shape of the fade out and 
fade in curve, respectively. Click on a curve to add 
points, click and drag existing points to change 
their shape, or drag a point outside the display to 
remove it.
Curve buttonsThe curve kind buttons determine whether the cor-responding fade curve consists of spline curve 
segments (left button), damped spline segments 
(middle button) or linear segments (right button).
The curve shape buttons give you quick access to 
some common curve shapes.
Equal Gain Activate this parameter to adjust the fade curves 
so that the summed fade in and fade out ampli-tudes will be the same all along the crossfade 
region. This is often suitable for short crossfades.
Equal PowerActivate this parameter to adjust the fade curves 
so that the energy (power) of the crossfade will be 
constant all along the crossfade region.
Play buttonsThese buttons allow you to audition the whole 
crossfade, or the fade out part, or the fade in part. 
You can set up key commands for this in the fol
-lowing categories of the Key Commands dialog:Crossfade Editor category – Play Fade Out, Play 
Crossfade, Play Fade In.
Media category – Preview Start (triggers cross-fade playback), Preview Stop (stops crossfade 
playback).
Transport category – StartStop (triggers global 
playback), Stop (stops global playback) and Start-Stop Preview (triggers crossfade playback).For further information, see “Key commands” on page 580.
Pre-roll and Post-rollActivate pre-roll to start playback before the fade 
area. Activate post-roll to stop playback after the 
fade area. 
 In the time fields you can enter the desired time (in 
seconds and milliseconds) for the pre-roll and 
post-roll length.
Auto-Scroll buttonActivate this to scroll the crossfade display during 
playback, so that the position cursor is always visi-ble. This only applies when using the Transport 
play controls and works like the corresponding 
function in the Project window (see 
“Auto-Scroll” on page 50).
Zoom to Fade buttonClick on this button to zoom and center the display 
on the currently selected crossfade area.
Option Description
Auto ZoomActivate this to zoom and center the display auto-matically on the current crossfade when you resize 
it. This also works when you select the next cross-fade with the “Select Crossfade” buttons (see be-low).
Presets sectionClick the Store button to the right of the Presets 
pop-up menu to store the settings of your cross-fade so that you can apply them to other events 
later. To rename a preset, double-click on the name and 
type in a new one.  To remove a preset, select it on the pop-up menu 
and click the Delete button.
Default buttonsClick the As Default button to store the current set-tings as default. These settings will then be used 
whenever you create new crossfades. Click the Recall Default button to apply the curves 
and settings of the default crossfade to the Cross-fade dialog.
Select Crossfade 
buttonsThese buttons allow you to select the previous/
next crossfade area, provided that the current 
track contains more than one crossfade.
 If “Project selection follows” is activated, selecting 
another crossfade will automatically change the 
event selection in the Project window.
Option Description
Splice 
point 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
For symmetric crossfades, the splice point for the fade out 
and the fade in is initially situated in the center of the 
crossfade. By moving the overlap sliders, you can move 
the crossfade around the splice point to determine how 
much of the fade out and how much of the fade in event 
are included. 
For asymmetric crossfades you can move the overlap slid-
ers separately to set up different overlap values for the fade 
in and fade out curves. This results in a Splice Point Offset.
Using the Nudge buttons
When you use the Nudge buttons, you can decide 
whether they move the fade area or the audio clip. To do 
this, activate either “Move Audio” or “Move Fade” in the 
Nudge Mode section. Each time you click a Nudge button 
or change the value in the nudge field, the fade area or au
-
dio clip is moved in the corresponding direction by the 
amount specified on the Nudge Range pop-up menu.
•If “Symmetric Fades” is activated and the Nudge Mode is 
set to “Move Fade”, both the fade out area and the fade in 
area will be moved by the same amount. You can also move 
the fade by using the middle handle of the fade out or the 
fade in curve. 
Moving the Fade
•If “Symmetric Fades” is activated and the Nudge Mode 
is set to “Move Audio”, the Nudge buttons in the fade in 
display will move the audio event. 
You can also move the audio by clicking on the fade in event and dragging 
with the hand symbol that appears.
Moving the audio
ÖIt is not possible to move the audio of the fade out 
event.
Resizing the crossfade area
Changing the crossfade length without moving the splice 
points
You can adjust the length of the crossfade area by using 
the Length sliders, by clicking in the “Length” fields, by 
changing the value numerically and pressing [Return], or 
by moving the corresponding handles in the crossfade 
display:
Click and drag these points to change the length of the fade out or the 
fade in curve. 
•If “Symmetric Fades” is activated when you change the 
length, both the fade out and the fade in length are 
changed by the same amount.
The length change will be applied equally to both sides, without moving 
the splice points. 
!Do not mistake the Overlap parameter for the length 
of the crossfade area of the events.
!To be able to resize a crossfade, it must be possible to 
resize the corresponding event. For example, if the 
fade out event already plays its audio clip to the end, 
its end point cannot be moved any further to the right. 
						

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Fades, crossfades and envelopes
•If “Symmetric Fades” is deactivated, the upper Length 
controls change the length of the fade out curve, and the 
lower controls change the length of the fade in curve.
Changing the crossfade length and moving the splice 
points
You can also adjust the length of the crossfade area by 
using the right handle of the fade out or the left handle of 
the fade in curve. This will change the length together with 
the splice points:
Click and drag these handles to change the length of the fade out or the 
fade in curve together with the splice points.
•If “Symmetric Fades” is activated, the length and splice 
points of both the fade out curve and the fade in curve are 
changed.
•If “Symmetric Fades” is deactivated, the right handle of 
the fade out curve changes the length and splice point of 
the fade out curve, and the left handle of the fade in curve 
changes the length and splice point of the fade in curve.
Auto fades and crossfades
Nuendo features an Auto Fade function that can be set 
both globally, and separately for each audio track. The 
idea behind the Auto Fade function is to create smoother 
transitions between events by applying short (1–500
 ms) 
fade ins and fade outs.
ÖAuto fades are not indicated by fade lines!
Making global Auto Fade settings
1.To make Auto Fades settings globally for a project, se-
lect “Auto Fades Settings…” from the Project menu.
This opens the Auto Fades dialog for the project.
2.Use the Length value field to specify the length of the 
Auto Fades or Crossfades (1–500
 ms).
3.Use the checkboxes in the upper right corner to acti-
vate or deactivate Auto Fade In, Auto Fade Out, and Auto 
Crossfades.
4.To adjust the shapes of Auto Fade In and Auto Fade 
Out, select the Fades tab and make settings as in the reg
-
ular Fade dialogs (see “The Fade dialogs” on page 115).
5.To adjust the shape of the Auto Crossfade, select the 
“Crossfades” tab and make settings as in the regular 
Crossfade dialog (see 
“The Crossfade dialog” on page 
117).
6.If you want to use your settings in future projects, click 
the “As Default” button.
7.Click OK to close the dialog.
!As mentioned earlier, event-based fades are calcu-
lated in realtime during playback. Therefore, the more 
audio events there are in a project, the higher the de
-
mand on the processor when Auto Fades is activated.