Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual

							131
The transpose functions
The entire project will be played back with this root key. To 
do so, the separate loops are transposed to match the 
project root key. For example, if you have imported a bass 
loop in C and the project root key is set to E, the bass loop 
will be transposed up by 4 semitones.
3.With the root key set, record some audio or MIDI.
The recorded events will get the project root key.
4.When you are done, you can change the project root 
key and your events will follow.
If the events do not contain root key information
Let’s say you have created a project by recording audio 
and importing some MIDI loops, and you want to match 
the root key of the whole project to the register of a certain 
singer.
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Project menu and select “Transpose” from 
the Add Track submenu (or right-click the track list select 
the corresponding option from the context menu). 
A transpose track is created. You can only have one transpose track in a 
project.
2.Set the project to the desired root key by selecting the 
corresponding option from the Root Key pop-up menu in 
the Project window toolbar.
3.Right-click the transpose track in the track list and se-
lect “Set root key for unassigned events” from the context 
menu.
This sets the project root key for all parts or events not containing any 
root key information. This option is only available, if a project root key has 
been set.
Recording with a project root key
Let’s say that you want to record a guitar line for a project 
that is in D# minor, but your guitar player prefers to play in 
A minor. In this case, change the project root key to A, so 
that you can record your guitar. Proceed as follows:
1.Open your project and set the project root key to A.
All parts and events will be transposed in order to match the root key.
2.Listen to your project and verify that no drums and 
percussions have been transposed. 
If drums have been transposed, select them and set their Global Trans-
pose setting to “Independent”.
3.Record your guitar line as desired.
4.When you are done and satisfied with the result, you 
can change the project root key back to D# minor and 
your events will follow.
!If you work with drums or percussion, exclude these 
from being transposed by setting the “Global Trans
-
pose” setting on the info line to “Independent” (see 
“The Global Transpose setting” on page 133).
!If you work with drums or percussion, exclude these 
from being transposed by setting the “Global Trans-
pose” setting on the info line to “Independent” (see 
“The Global Transpose setting” on page 133).
!For recorded audio events and MIDI parts, the “Glo-
bal Transpose” setting on the info line is automati-
cally set to “Follow”, i. e. the events or parts will get 
the project root key. 
						

							132
The transpose functions
Changing the root key of single events or parts
If you want to check if an audio event or part has root key 
information or if you want to change it, proceed as follows:
1.Open the Pool and display the Key column by activat-
ing the Root Key option on the View/Attributes pop-up 
menu.
2.Click in the Key column for the desired audio event 
and set the root key according to your needs.
You can also check and assign root keys in the MediaBay.
ÖIf you change the root key of an audio part or event, 
the corresponding audio file will not change. To save the 
root key in the audio file, you have to use the “Bounce Se
-
lection” function on the Audio menu. 
To check or change the root key setting of a MIDI part, 
proceed as follows:
1.Select your MIDI part in the Project window and check 
the Project window info line.
A MIDI part with the root key set to “D”
2.Click on the root key value in the info line to open the 
corresponding pop-up menu and select the desired root 
key.
Transposing separate sections of a project 
using transpose events
Sometimes you may want to transpose only certain sec-
tions of your project, e. g. to create harmonic variations. 
This can be done by creating transpose events. Trans
-
pose events allow you to add a relative transpose offset by 
specifying transpose values in semitones. For example, you can brighten up your loops in C major by transposing 
them by 5 semitones, so that the subdominant on F major 
is played back, or you can turn your hit more interesting by 
transposing the last chorus one semitone upwards.
1.Open the Project menu and select “Transpose” from 
the Add Track submenu (or right-click the track list select 
the corresponding option from the context menu). 
A transpose track is created. You can only have one transpose track in a 
project.
2.Select the Pencil tool and click in the transpose track 
to create a transpose event. 
A transpose event will be created from the point where you clicked until 
the end of the project.
3.To create another transpose event, click with the Pen-
cil tool on the first transpose event.
By default, the transpose value of new transpose events is set to 0.
You can add more transpose events by clicking with the pencil tool. 
4.Click in the transpose value field and enter the trans-
pose value for the transpose event.
You can enter the desired value with the computer keyboard, use the 
mouse wheel or [Alt]/[Option]-click on the transpose value to open a 
value fader. You can specify values between -24 and 24 semitones. 
5.Play back your project.
The parts of your project on the same position as the transpose events 
will be transposed according to the specified transpose values.
ÖYou can also transpose the whole project using the 
transpose track. This is useful if your singer does not 
reach a certain pitch, for example. You could then trans
-
pose the whole project by approx. -2 semitones. Always 
remember to verify that the “Global Transpose” setting for 
drums and percussion is set to “Independent” on the info 
line (see 
“The Global Transpose setting” on page 133).
You can erase and move transpose events, but you can-
not mute, cut or glue them. The “Locators to Selection” 
option does not apply on transpose events. 
!If you change the project root key after setting the 
event root key, the events will keep their own root key 
settings, and will be transposed to match the project 
root key. If you record an audio or a MIDI part and the 
project root key is specified, this root key is automat
-
ically set. 
						

							133
The transpose functions
Transposing individual parts or events using 
the info line
You can also transpose individual audio and MIDI parts 
and events via the info line (or the Inspector). This trans
-
position will be added to the global transposition (i. e. the 
root key or the transpose events). Proceed as follows:
1.Select the event that you want to transpose.
2.In the Project window info line, adjust the Transpose 
value as desired.
ÖA global transpose change will not overwrite individual 
part or event transpose, but will be added to the trans
-
pose value for the part or event. In this case, it might be 
useful to keep the transposition within the octave range 
(see 
“Keep Transpose in Octave Range” on page 134).
Other functions
Indicate Transpositions
When you transpose your music, you may sometimes 
want to visually compare the original sounds and the 
transposed music. For MIDI parts, you can check this by 
opening the Key Editor and clicking the “Indicate Transpo
-
sitions” button. This will help you see how your MIDI notes 
will be transposed. If the button is activated, the Key Edi
-
tor will show the note pitch you will hear, if it is deacti-
vated, the Key Editor shows the original pitch of the notes 
in your MIDI part. By default, the “Indicate Transpositions” 
button is deactivated.
A MIDI part as originally recordedWhen you activate “Indicate Transpositions” you will see how your MIDI 
part will be transposed. 
The Global Transpose setting
If you are working with drum and percussion loops or spe-
cial effects (FX) loops, you will want to exclude these from 
being transposed. This can be achieved by locking them 
using the Global Transpose setting. Proceed as follows:
1.Open your project.
2.Select the desired event or part and set the “Global 
Transpose” setting on the info line to “Independent”.
A symbol will be displayed in the lower right corner of the selected part 
or event, indicating that it will not be transposed neither by changing the 
root key nor by specifying transpose events. 
If Global Transpose is set to Independent, the selected part will not be 
transposed.
3.You can now change the project root key.
The “Independent” parts or events will not be affected by the root key 
changes.
ÖIf you import ready-made parts or events that are 
tagged drums or FX, Global Transpose will be automati
-
cally set to Independent. 
						

							134
The transpose functions
If you record audio or MIDI, Global Transpose will be set to 
“Independent”, provided that the transpose track exists and 
you have specified at least one transpose event (even when 
the transpose value is not defined). In this case, your re
-
cording will sound exactly the way you played it. The trans-
pose events will not be taken into account during recording 
and the recorded event will not get the project root key. 
Have a look at the following example:
1.Set up a project with the root key in C.
2.Add a transpose track and enter transpose events 
with the values 0, 5, 7 and 0.
3.Record some chords with your MIDI keyboard. For our 
example, record C, F, G and C.
The transpose events are not taken into account and the 
result of your recording will be C, F, G and C. No root key 
will be set.
ÖRecorded events are independent from Global Trans-
pose.
If no transpose track exists or if no transpose event has 
been added, Global Transpose will be set to Follow.
If Global Transpose is set to Follow, the selected part will 
follow all global transpositions.
Locking the transpose track
If you want to prevent your transpose events from being 
changed by mistake, activate the Lock button on the 
transpose track. This way, you will not be able to move 
your transpose events or change their transpose values.
Muting transpose events
Sometimes it might be useful to disable the transpose 
track, e.
 g. to hear the original sound of individual tracks. If 
you activate the mute button on the transpose track, your 
transpose events will not be taken into account during 
playback.
Keep Transpose in Octave Range
The “Keep Transpose in Octave Range” button on the 
transpose track (the button with an up and down arrow in 
brackets) keeps the transposition in the octave range. This 
option is activated by default. This way, nothing will be 
transposed by more than seven semitones. This ensures 
that your music never sounds unnatural because the pitch 
was raised too high or too low. 
To understand the principle behind this, follow the exam-
ple below:
1.Create a MIDI part, enter a C major chord, open the 
Key Editor and activate “Indicate Transpositions”.
This way you can observe and understand what happens when you 
change the transposition.
2.Add a transpose track and create a transpose event.
By default, the transpose value is set to 0. 
						

							135
The transpose functions
3.Make sure that the “Keep Transpose in Octave 
Range” button is activated on the transpose track and 
change the transpose value of the transpose event to 7.
Your chord will be transposed accordingly.
If you enter a transpose value of 7, your chord will be transposed by 
seven semitones upwards. In this example, this would be G3/B3/D4.
4.Set the transpose value to 8 semitones.
As “Keep Transpose in Octave Range” is activated, your chord will now 
be transposed to the nearest interval or pitch. 
Your chord has been transposed to the nearest pitch, this results in 
G#2/C3/D#3.
!If you mainly work with audio loops, we recommend 
activating “Keep Transpose in Octave Range”.  
						

							12
Using markers 
						

							137
Using markers
Introduction
Markers are used to locate certain positions quickly. If you 
often find yourself jumping to a specific position within a 
project, you should insert a marker at this position. You can 
also use markers to make range selections (see 
“Using 
markers to make range selections in the Project window” 
on page 143) or for zooming (see “Zooming to cycle mark-
ers” on page 137).
Markers are located on marker tracks. For postproduction 
purposes, you can set up multiple marker tracks. This is 
useful for viewing and working with Edit Decision Lists 
(see 
“Importing EDL CMX3600 files (Edit Decision Lists)” 
on page 146) and CSV files (see “Exporting markers as 
CSV files” on page 148). 
There are two types of markers: position markers and cy-
cle markers.
Position markers
As the name implies, position markers allow you to store a 
specific position. Position markers on the marker track are 
shown as marker events: vertical lines with the marker de
-
scription (if assigned) and number beside it. If you select a 
marker track, all its markers are shown in the Inspector. 
Cycle markers
By creating cycle markers you can store any number of left 
and right locator positions as start and end positions of a 
range and recall them by double-clicking on the corre
-
sponding marker. Cycle markers are shown on marker 
tracks as two markers bridged by a horizontal line. Cycle 
markers are ideal for storing sections of a project. By de
-
fining cycle markers for sections of a song, e. g. “Intro”, 
“Verse”, and “Chorus”, you can quickly navigate to the 
song sections and repeat the section by activating the Cy
-
cle button on the Transport panel. 
Using cycle markers
Cycle markers represent ranges in your project. Therefore 
you can use them for moving the left and right locators:
•If you double-click on a cycle marker or select it from 
the Cycle pop-up menu in the track list, the left and right 
locators are moved to encompass the cycle marker.
Now you can move the project cursor position to the start or the end of 
the cycle marker by moving it to the corresponding locator (e.g. by using 
the keys [1] and [2] on the numeric pad).
ÖYou can also use cycle markers to export specific 
ranges of your project with the Export Audio Mixdown 
dialog (see 
“Mixing down to audio files” on page 474). 
Editing cycle markers using tools
Cycle markers can be edited on marker tracks using the 
following tools (Snap is taken into account):
Zooming to cycle markers
•When you select a cycle marker on the Zoom pop-up 
menu, the event display is zoomed in to show the selected 
range only (see the section 
“Zoom presets and cycle 
markers” on page 60).
Note that only the cycle markers of the active marker track are shown on 
the Zoom pop-up menu.
•You can also zoom in by pressing [Alt]/[Option] and 
double-clicking on the cycle marker in the event display.
ToolUse
Arrow toolDrag the start or end handle of a cycle marker with the 
Arrow tool to change its start or end position, or drag the 
upper border to move the whole cycle marker.
 Double-click on a cycle marker to set the left and right lo-cators.
Selection  RangeDouble-click on a cycle marker – this creates a selection 
range spanning all tracks in the project. You can also se-lect a range inside the cycle marker and press [Ctrl]/
[Command]-[X] to trim or to divide a cycle marker.
PencilPress [Ctrl]/[Command] and use the Pencil tool to create 
new cycle markers.
EraserClick with the Eraser tool to delete a cycle marker. If you 
hold down [Alt]/[Option] when you click, all consecutive 
markers are also be deleted. 
						

							138
Using markers
The Marker window
In the Marker window you can view and edit markers. The 
markers on the active marker track are displayed in the 
marker list in the order in which they occur in the project. 
To open the Marker window, you have the following possi-
bilities:
• Open the Project menu and select “Markers”.
• Click the Show button in the marker section on the Transport 
panel.
• Use the key command (by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[M]).
The Track and Type pop-up menus
•By selecting an entry from the Track pop-up menu, you 
select which of the marker tracks is activated. (For further 
information about the active marker track, see 
“The active 
marker track” on page 143.) 
You can also activate a marker track by clicking on the corresponding 
button in the track list. The marker list in the Marker window will be up-
dated automatically.
•By selecting an entry from the Type pop-up menu, you 
select which markers (position markers, cycle markers, or 
all) are shown in the marker list.
Adding, moving, and removing markers 
•To select a marker, click on it in the Marker window. 
•To edit a selected marker, click on it. 
Select multiple markers by [Shift]-clicking or [Ctrl]/[Command]-clicking 
them.
•To add a position marker, open the Functions pop-up 
menu and select the “Insert Marker” option. 
A position marker is added at the current project cursor position on the ac-
tive marker track. You can also use key commands for this, see “Marker key commands” on page 145. 
•To add a cycle marker, open the Functions pop-up 
menu and select the “Insert Cycle Marker” option.
This adds a cycle marker between the left and right locators on the active 
marker track. 
•To move one or more markers to a specific position, set 
the project cursor to the desired position, select the mark
-
ers, and select the “Move Markers to Cursor” option from 
the Functions pop-up menu.
You can also move markers by entering the new position numerically in 
the Position column. If a cycle marker is selected, the Move operation af
-fects the cycle marker start position. 
•To move one or several markers to another marker track, 
select them in the current Marker window, open the Func
-
tions pop-up menu and from the “Move Markers to Track” 
submenu select the desired track.
The markers are no longer listed in the Marker window of the first marker 
track. 
•To remove a marker, select it and select the “Remove 
Marker” option from the Functions pop-up menu.
Auto-Scroll with Project Cursor
This option helps you to keep track of the locate arrow, 
even if your project contains a large number of markers. 
When this option is activated, the window is automatically 
scrolled to keep the Locate arrow visible.
Set up Attribute Columns Locate 
arrow
Reset Filters
Auto-Scroll with 
Project CursorSet up Attribute Columns for Details 
						

							139
Using markers
Navigating in the marker list
You can navigate in the marker list using your computer 
keyboard and select entries by pressing [Enter]. This is a 
quick and easy way to jump to markers during playback or 
recording:
•To move to the previous/next marker in the list, press 
[Up Arrow]/[Down Arrow]. 
•To jump to the first/last marker, press [PageUp]/[Page-
Down]. 
•To step through the attributes of a marker, select a 
marker, then click again and press [Tab].
You can step back by pressing [Shift]-[Tab]. 
ÖWhen working with video, you can use the Marker win-
dow as a spotting list (a list of timecode values) to position 
your audio events according to the video events, see 
“Us-
ing the Marker window as a spotting list” on page 543.
Marker attributes
The following sections describe how to set up and edit 
standard attributes and user attributes for markers in the 
Marker window and how to display them in the Details 
section.
Displaying attributes 
By default, the following standard marker attributes are 
shown in the marker list of the Marker window: 
You can show other attributes by clicking the “Set up At-
tribute Columns” button and selecting the desired at-
tributes from the pop-up menu. In this menu the most 
common attributes for postproduction are listed in cate
-
gories according to their usage: General, ADR, Dialog 
Spotting, Foley, SFX, Background, and User Defined (if 
available). The standard attributes are found in the Stan
-
dard Attributes category. 
ÖThe number in brackets following the category name 
helps to get a quick overview of how many attributes of a 
certain category are displayed as columns in the Marker 
window.
To configure which attributes and columns are shown, you 
can also use the following functions of the “Set up At
-
tribute Columns” pop-up menu: 
•To show all attributes in the Marker window, activate the 
“Show all” option. 
Selecting “Hide all” will hide all attributes except for the Locate and Po-sition columns.
•To show only the columns that are used for at least one 
marker, activate the “Show only used Attributes” option.
•If you activate the Row Count option on the “Set up At-
tribute Columns” pop-up menu, the rows of the marker list 
are numbered consecutively. 
This can be useful when using filters for certain attributes, see “Filtering 
attributes” on page 140.
Editing attributes
There are three different types of attributes: Text, Number, 
and Yes/No switch. Depending on the type, you can enter 
text or numerical values, or activate/deactivate the corre
-
sponding checkbox.
•To edit a marker attribute, select the corresponding 
marker, click in the desired attribute column, and make 
your settings.
•To change the attributes of several markers, select the 
markers and click the checkbox for the desired attribute. 
All selected markers will change their attributes accordingly. Note that 
this does not work when clicking on a timecode value or a text field.
ÖTo navigate in the list of marker attributes, you can also 
use the [Tab] key and the arrow keys.
ColumnDescription
Locate (left-most column)An arrow indicates which marker is at the project cursor 
position (or closest to the project cursor). If you click in 
this column, the project cursor is moved to the corre
-sponding marker position. This column cannot be hidden.
IDThis column shows the marker ID numbers, see “About marker IDs” on page 141.
PositionIn this column you can view and edit the markers’ time 
positions (or start positions for cycle markers). This col-umn cannot be hidden.
EndIn this column you can view and edit the end positions of 
cycle markers, see “Cycle markers” on page 137.
Length In this column you can view and edit the length of cycle 
markers, see “Cycle markers” on page 137.
DescriptionHere you can enter names or descriptions for markers. 
						

							140
Using markers
Setting up user attributes
To set up your own attributes, proceed as follows: 
1.Click the “Set up Attribute Columns” button and se-
lect “Define User Attributes…”.
2.In the User Attributes dialog, click the Add User At-
tribute (+) button.
A new attribute is added to the attributes list.
3.Enter a name for the new attribute and define its type.
Attributes can be of the types “Text”, “Number”, or “Yes/No” switch.
•Click the “Store as Defaults” button in the dialog to 
save your user attributes as default. 
New projects will contain these attributes in the User Defined category 
of the “Set up Attribute Columns” pop-up menu. 
4.Click OK.
The new attribute is added to the list of available attributes and can be 
displayed in the Marker window.
•To remove a user attribute, select it in the list and click 
the Remove User Attribute (-) button.
The attribute is removed from the list and the pop-up menu.
•To restore your previously saved user attributes, click 
the “Restore Defaults” button.
Note that this will remove any attributes not saved as defaults. 
Sorting and reordering columns
You can customize the display of the marker attributes in 
the marker list by sorting or reordering the columns. Pro
-
ceed as follows:
•To sort the marker list by a specific attribute (except 
Row Count), click on the corresponding column header.
•To reorder the marker attributes, drag and drop the cor-
responding column headers.
•To adjust the width of a column, place the mouse pointer 
between two column headers and drag left or right.
The pointer changes to a divider when you place it between two column 
headers.
ÖNo matter by which attribute you sort, the second sort 
criterion will always be the position attribute.
Filtering attributes
When you are working with many markers so that the list 
is very long, you may want to filter the list to show only 
markers with a certain attribute value, such as the name of 
a character. Proceed as follows:
1.Right-click on the column header of the attribute that 
you want to use for the filter.
A context menu appears.
2.From the “Filter ” submenu, select the 
desired attribute value.
The marker list is filtered according to your settings, and the column 
header changes color to indicate that a filter is applied.
•To remove the filter, right-click the column header and 
select the “Reset  Filter” option from the 
context menu.
•To remove all filters for all columns, click the “Reset Fil-
ters” button.
The filters are also reset if you change the displayed marker track or hide 
a filtered attribute. Filter settings are not saved in the project or defaults.