Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual

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Audio processing and functions
Pitch Shift Mode
These are the same parameters as on the Transpose tab, 
see 
“Pitch Shift Mode” on page 269.
Example
Let’s say that you wish to create a pitchbend effect, so 
that the pitch is raised linearly by exactly 2 semitones in a 
specific part of the selected audio.
1.Remove all curve points by clicking the Reset button.
2.Select a linear curve by clicking the Curve Kind button 
to the right.
3.Make sure that the Range parameter is set to 2 semi-
tones or higher.
4.Create a point where you want the pitchbend to start 
by clicking on the envelope line.
Since this is the starting point for the pitchbend, you want its pitch to be 
zero (the envelope line should still be straight). If necessary, use the Fine 
Tune parameter to set the curve point to 0 cents, because this point gov
-
erns the start point, where you want the pitch transition to begin.
5.Create a new curve point at the horizontal position 
where you want the pitchbend to reach the full value.
This curve point determines the rise time of the pitchbend effect, i. e. the 
further away from the starting point the new point is positioned, the 
longer it will take for the pitchbend to reach the full value, and vice versa.
6.With the second point still selected, use the Trans-
pose and Fine Tune parameters to set the pitch to exactly 
2 semitones.
7.Create a new curve point to set the duration of the 
pitchbend, i.
 e. the time the pitch will remain transposed by 
2 semitones.
8.Finally, create a point where you want the pitchbend to 
end.
You do not have to create a new point if you are at the end of the audio 
file, since there is always an end point at the right side of the waveform 
display.
9.If necessary, make additional settings in the Pitch Shift 
Mode section, see 
“Pitch Shift Mode” on page 269.
10.Click Process.
The pitchbend is applied according to the specified settings.
Remove DC Offset
This function will remove any DC offset in the audio selec-
tion. A DC offset is when there is too large a DC (direct 
current) component in the signal, sometimes visible as the 
signal not being visually centered around the “zero level 
axis”. DC offsets do not affect what you actually hear, but 
they affect zero crossing detection and certain process
-
ing, and it is recommended that you remove them.
There are no parameters for this function. Note that you 
can check for DC Offset in an audio clip using the Statis
-
tics function (see “Statistics” on page 281).
Resample
The Resample function can be used for changing the 
length, tempo and pitch of an event.
The original sample rate of the event is listed in the dialog. 
Resample the event to a higher or lower sample rate by ei
-
ther specifying a sample rate or by specifying the differ-
ence (as a percentage value) between the original sample 
rate and the desired new one.
•Resampling to a higher sample rate will make the event 
longer and cause the audio to play back at a slower speed 
with a lower pitch.
•Resampling to a lower sample rate will make the event 
shorter and cause the audio to play back at a faster speed 
with a higher pitch.
•You can audition the result of the resampling by enter-
ing the desired value and clicking “Preview”.
The event will then be played back as it will sound after the resampling.
•When you are satisfied with the preview result, click 
“Process” to close the dialog and apply the processing.
!It is recommended that this function is applied to 
complete audio clips, since the DC offset (if any) is 
normally present throughout the entire recording. 
						

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Audio processing and functions
Reverse
Reverses the audio selection, as when playing a tape 
backwards. There are no parameters for this function.
Silence
Replaces the selection with silence. There are no parame-
ters for this function.
Stereo Flip
This function works with stereo audio selections only. It al-
lows you to manipulate the left and right channel in various 
ways. 
The dialog contains the following parameters:
Mode
 
This pop-up menu determines what the function does:
Time Stretch
This function allows you to change the length and “tempo” 
of the selected audio without affecting the pitch. The dia
-
log contains the following parameters:
Define Bars section
In this section, you set the length of the selected audio 
and the time signature:
Original Length section
This section contains information and settings regarding 
the audio selected for processing:
OptionDescription
Flip Left-RightSwaps the left and right channel.
Left to StereoCopies the left channel sound to the right channel.
Right to StereoCopies the right channel sound to the left channel.
MergeMerges both channels on each side for mono sound.
SubtractSubtracts the left channel information from the right. This 
is typically used as a “Karaoke effect”, for removing cen-tered mono material from a stereo signal.
OptionDescription
BarsIf you use the tempo setting (see below), specify the 
length of the selected audio here, in bars.
BeatsIf you use the tempo setting, specify the length of the se-lected audio here, in beats.
Sign.If you use the tempo setting, specify the time signature 
here.
OptionDescription
Length in 
SamplesThe length of the selected audio, in samples.
Length in 
SecondsThe length of the selected audio, in seconds.
Tempo in BPMIf you are processing music, and know the actual tempo 
of the audio, you can enter it here as beats per minute. 
This makes it possible to time-stretch the audio to an
-other tempo, without having to compute the actual time 
stretch amount. 
						

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Audio processing and functions
Resulting Length section
These settings are used if you want to stretch the audio to 
fit within a specific time span or tempo. The values will 
change automatically if you adjust the Time Stretch Ratio 
(see below).
Seconds Range section
These settings allow you to set the desired range for the 
time stretch.
Time Stretch Ratio section
The Time Stretch Ratio determines the amount of time 
stretch as a percentage of the original length. If you use 
the settings in the Resulting Length section to specify the 
amount of time stretch, this value will change automati
-
cally. The possible range depends on the “Effect” option:
•If the “Effect” checkbox is deactivated, the range is  
75–125 %.
This is the preferred mode if you want to preserve the character of the 
sound.
•If the “Effect” checkbox is activated, you can specify val-
ues between 10 and 1000 % (Realtime), or 50 and 200 % 
(MPEX 4). 
This mode is mainly useful for special effects, etc.
Algorithm section
In this section you can select a time stretch algorithm. The 
pop-up menu contains various presets based on the 
MPEX 4 and Realtime algorithms. 
•MPEX 4 mode
This mode is based on Prosoniq’s proprietary MPEX (Minimum Per-
ceived Loss Time Compression/Expansion) algorithm. This algorithm 
(which is also used in Prosoniq’s TimeFactory™ application) uses an arti-
ficial neural network for time series prediction in the scale space domain 
to achieve high end time and pitch scaling. This gives the best possible 
audio quality result. You can choose between 7 quality settings, see 
“Pitch Shift Mode” on page 269.
•Realtime mode
This is the algorithm used for the realtime time stretching features in Nu-endo. Although this algorithm is optimized for time stretching in realtime, 
you can use it for offline processing as well. The Presets pop-up con
-
tains the same presets as found in the Algorithm pop-up menu in the 
Sample Editor, see “Selecting an algorithm for realtime playback” on 
page 296.
Applying plug-ins
You can add plug-in effects in realtime during playback 
(see the chapter 
“Audio effects” on page 195). However, 
sometimes it is useful to “permanently” apply effects to 
one or several selected events. This is done in the follow
-
ing way:
1.Make a selection in the Project window, the Pool or an 
editor.
Effects are applied according to the same rules as Processing (see 
“Common settings and features” on page 264).
2.Select “Plug-ins” from the Audio menu.
3.Select the desired effect from the submenu.
The Process Plug-in dialog opens.
About stereo and mono
If you are applying an effect to mono audio material, only 
the left side of the effect’s stereo output will be applied.
OptionDescription
SamplesThe desired length in samples.
SecondsThe desired length in seconds.
BPMThe desired tempo (beats per minute). For this to work, 
you have to know the actual tempo of the audio, and 
specify this (along with time signature and length in bars) 
in the Original Length section to the left.
OptionDescription
RangeAllows you to specify the desired length as a range be-tween two time positions.
Use LocatorsClicking the diamond-shaped button below the Range 
fields sets the Range values to the left and right Locator 
positions, respectively. 
						

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Audio processing and functions
The process plug-in dialog
The process plug-in dialog for the StudioChorus effect
The upper section of the process plug-in dialog contains 
the effect parameters of the selected plug-in. For details 
on the parameters of the included plug-ins, see the sepa
-
rate PDF document “Plug-in Reference”.
The lower section of the dialog contains settings for the 
actual processing. These are common to all plug-ins.
•If the lower section is hidden, click the “More…” button 
to display it.
Clicking the button again (now labeled “Less…”) will hide the lower 
section.
The following settings and functions are available in the 
common, lower section of the dialog:
Wet mix/Dry mix
These two sliders allow you to specify the balance be-
tween wet (processed) and dry (original) signal in the re-
sulting clip. 
Normally the two sliders are “reverse-ganged”, so that 
raising the Wet mix slider lowers the Dry mix slider by the 
same amount. However, if you press [Alt]/[Option] and 
drag a slider, you can move it independently. This allows 
you to set 80
 % dry and 80 % wet signal, for example. Be 
careful to avoid distortion.
Tail
This parameter is useful if you are applying an effect that 
adds material after the end of original audio (such as re
-
verb and delay effects). When the checkbox is activated, 
you can specify a tail length using the slider. The tail time 
is included when playing back with the Preview function, 
allowing you to find the appropriate tail length.
Pre/Post-Crossfade
These settings allow you to gradually mix the effect in or 
out. For example, if you activate Pre-Crossfade and spec
-
ify a value of 1000 ms, the effect is applied gradually from 
the start of selection, reaching full effect 1000
 ms after the 
start. Similarly, if you activate Post-Crossfade, the pro
-
cessing is gradually removed, starting at the specified in-
terval before the end of the selection.
Preview button
Allows you to listen to the result of the processing with the 
current settings. Playback will continue repeatedly until 
you click the button again (the button is labeled “Stop” 
during Preview playback). You can change the effect set
-
tings during Preview playback if needed.
Process button
Applies the effect and closes the dialog.
Cancel button
Closes the dialog without applying the effect.
!The sum of the Pre-Crossfade and Post-Crossfade 
times cannot be larger than the length of the selection. 
						

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Audio processing and functions
The Offline Process History dialog
If you want to remove or modify some or all processing 
from a clip, this can be done in the Offline Process History 
dialog. Processing that can be modified in the Offline Pro
-
cess History dialog includes the functions on the Process 
menu, any applied plug-in effects, and Sample Editor op
-
erations such as Cut, Paste, Delete and drawing with the 
Pencil tool.
ÖDue to the clip-file relationship (see “Background” on 
page 264), it is even possible to modify or remove some 
processing “in the middle” of the Process History, while 
keeping later processing! This feature depends on the type 
of processing performed (see 
“Restrictions” on page 275).
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the clip in the Pool or one of its events in the 
Project window.
You can see which clips have been processed by checking the Status 
column in the Pool – the waveform symbol indicates that processing or 
effects have been applied to the clip (see 
“About the Status column sym-
bols” on page 322).
2.Select “Offline Process History…” from the Audio 
menu.
The Offline Process History dialog opens.
The left part of the dialog contains a list of all processing 
you have added to the clip, with the most recent opera
-
tions at the bottom of the list. The “Start” and “Length” 
columns indicate which section of the clip was affected by 
each operation. The “Status” column indicates if the oper
-
ation can be modified or undone.
3.Locate the operation you want to edit and select it by 
clicking on it in the list.
•To modify the settings of the selected processing, click 
the “Modify” button.
This opens the dialog for the processing function or applied effect, allow-
ing you to change the settings. This works just as when you applied the 
processing or effect the first time.
•To replace the selected operation with another pro-
cessing function or effect, select the desired function from 
the pop-up menu and click the “Replace By” button.
If the selected function has settings, a dialog will appear as usual. The 
original operation will then be removed and the new processing will be 
inserted in the Offline Process History.
•To remove the selected operation, click the “Remove” 
button.
The processing is removed from the clip.
•To undo the selected operation and remove the pro-
cessing from the clip click the “Deactivate” button.
The processing is removed from the clip, but the operation remains in the 
list. To redo the operation and apply the processing again, click the but-
ton, now renamed to “Activate”, again.
•To save the list of processing operations as a Batch 
Process, click the “Save As Batch” button.
See “Batch Processing” on page 276.
4.Click “Close” to close the dialog.
Restrictions
•If there are no settings for the processing function, you 
cannot modify it.
•If you have applied processing that changes the length 
of the clip (such as Cut, Insert or Time Stretch), you can 
only remove this if it is the most recent processing in the 
Offline Process History (at the bottom of the list in the di
-
alog). If an operation cannot be removed or modified, this 
is indicated by an icon in the “Status” column. Also, the 
corresponding buttons will be grayed out.
•The list must contain at least two processing operations 
in order to be saved as a Batch Process (see 
“Batch Pro-
cessing” on page 276. 
						

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Audio processing and functions
Batch Processing
Nuendo features a Batch Processing function that lets you 
apply a chain of audio processing to one or several events 
in one go – in either the Project window or the Pool. Batch 
Processing is based on operations in the Offline Process 
History dialog, described above. That is, the list of applied 
processes in this dialog is what can be made to constitute 
a batch process.
Batch Processing is therefore a convenient way to apply 
the same effects with the same settings to several audio 
events in a project.
It can also be used to “store” effect settings for future use. 
You may for example have performed a series of elaborate 
audio processing with a good result, and want to retain 
the particular combination and settings of effects you ap
-
plied, so that you may quickly and easily apply them again 
to other events in the future.
To set up a batch process, proceed as follows:
1.Apply the desired processing to an audio event or se-
lection range in the project.
Note that you must apply at least two audio processes to be able to set 
up a batch process.
From here, there are two ways to go:
•Pull down the Audio menu, and from the Batch Pro-
cesses submenu, select “Create from Process History…”, 
type in a name for the batch process in the dialog that 
opens, and click OK.
or…
•Pull down the Audio menu and select “Offline Process 
History”.
The Offline Process History dialog opens. In this dialog you can modify 
settings or remove operations as desired (see 
“The Offline Process His-
tory dialog” on page 275).
2.In the Process History Dialog, click “Save As Batch”, 
and then type in a name for the batch process in the dia
-
log that opens and click OK.
Regardless of which of the above two methods you use, 
the batch process is now saved and available for use:
3.In the Project window, select all the audio events you 
want to process.
You can also make a selection range that spans multiple tracks and 
batch process the selection for all the audio events.
4.Pull down the Audio menu and open the Batch Pro-
cesses submenu.
At the top of the menu you can now find the name of the batch process 
you created. The menu will list the names of any batch processes you 
create, until you delete them (see below).
5.Select the batch process you want to apply from the 
menu.
All the selected events will now be processed accordingly.
ÖNote that even if you clear the Offline Process History 
dialog of all the operations that make up a batch process, 
this will not affect the saved batch process. It will still con
-
tain and perform the operations on which it was based 
when created. 
						

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Audio processing and functions
Managing Batch Processes
You can delete and rename created batch processes in 
the Manage Batch Processes dialog.
•Open the Audio menu and select “Manage…” from the 
Batch Processes submenu to open the Manage Batch 
Processes dialog.
The created batch processes are listed in the left column, and the oper-ations each batch process contains are listed in the right column.
•To remove a batch process, just select it in the list and 
click “Delete”.
•To change the name of a batch process, select it in the 
list and click “Rename” and enter the new name.
Freeze Edits
The Freeze Edits function on the Audio menu allows you 
to make all processing and applied effects permanent for 
a clip:
1.Select the clip in the Pool or one of its events in the 
Project window.
2.Select “Freeze Edits…” from the Audio menu.
•If there is only one edit version of the clip (no other clips 
refer to the same audio file), the following dialog will appear:
If you select “Replace”, all edits will be applied to the orig-
inal audio file (the one listed in the clip’s Path column in 
the Pool). If you select “New File”, the Freeze Edits opera
-
tion will create a new file in the Audio folder within the 
project folder (leaving the original audio file unaffected).
•If the selected clip (or the clip played by the selected 
event) has several edit versions (i.
 e. there are other clips 
referring to the same audio file), the following alert will 
appear:
As you can see, you do not have the option to Replace the 
original audio file in this case. This is because that audio 
file is used by other clips. Select “New File” to have a new 
file created in the Audio folder within the project folder.
!After a Freeze Edits, the clip refers to a new, single 
audio file. If you open the Offline Process History 
dialog for the clip, the list will be empty. 
						

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Audio processing and functions
Detect Silence
The Detect Silence function searches for silent sections in 
an event and either splits the event, removing the silent 
parts from the project, or creates regions corresponding 
to the non-silent sections. 
•To open the Detect Silence dialog, select one or several 
audio events in the Project window or the Audio Part Edi
-
tor. On the Audio menu, open the Advanced submenu and 
select “Detect Silence”. 
If you select more than one event, the Detect Silence dialog allows you to 
process the selected events successively with individual settings or to 
apply the same settings to all selected events at once.
Adjustments in the waveform display
The upper part of the dialog displays a waveform image of 
the selected audio event. In case you have selected sev
-
eral audio events, the waveform of the event that you have 
selected first is shown. You can make the following ad
-
justments:
•With the zoom slider below the waveform to the right, 
zoom in and out on the waveform.
You can also click in the waveform, keep the mouse button pressed, and 
move the mouse for zooming. Move the mouse down to zoom in and 
move it up to zoom out.
•If you have zoomed in on the waveform, it may not be 
completely visible anymore. In this case, the scroll bar to 
the left of the zoom slider allows you to scroll through the 
waveform.
You can also use the mouse wheel for scrolling through the waveform.
•If the Linked option in the Detection section is deacti-
vated, you can use the green square at the beginning and 
the red square at the end of the audio file to graphically ad
-
just the Open and Close Threshold values (respectively). 
When “Linked” is activated, you can use either square to 
adjust both values.
The Open and Close Threshold values in the Detection section reflect 
these changes.
Making settings and processing
The lower part of the Detect Silence dialog provides set-
tings for the detection and processing of “silent” sections. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Adjust the settings in the Detection section to the left.
The settings have the following functionality:
SettingDescription
Open  ThresholdWhen the audio level exceeds this value, the function 
“opens”, i. e. lets the sound pass. Audio material below 
the set level is detected as “silence”. Set this value low 
enough to open when a sound starts, but high enough to 
remove unwanted noise during “silent” sections.
Close  ThresholdWhen the audio level drops below this value, the function 
“closes”, i. e. sounds below this level are detected as “si-lence”. This value cannot be higher than the Open 
Threshold value. Set this value high enough to remove 
unwanted noise during “silent” sections.
LinkedIf this checkbox is activated, the Open and Close Thresh-old values are always set to the same value. 
						

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Audio processing and functions
2.Click the Compute button.
The audio event is analyzed, and the waveform display is redrawn to indi-cate which sections are considered “silent” according to your settings. 
Above the Compute button, the number of detected regions is displayed.
ÖIf you activate the Auto checkbox next to the Compute 
button, the audio event is analyzed (and the display is up
-
dated) automatically every time you change the settings in 
the Detection section of the dialog. Deactivate this option 
when you are working with very long files, as this process 
might take some time.
3.Click “Preview” to listen to the result.
The event is played back repeatedly in its entire length, but with the 
“closed” sections silenced.
4.Adjust the settings in the Detection section until you 
are satisfied with the result.
5.In the Output section, activate the “Add as Regions” 
or the “Strip Silence” option, or both.
“Add as Regions” will create regions according to the non-silent sec-
tions. “Strip Silence” will split the event at the beginning and end of each 
non-silent section, and remove the silent sections in between.
ÖIf you activate the “Add as Regions” option, you can 
specify a name for the regions in the Region Name field. In 
addition to the name, the regions will be numbered, start
-
ing with the number specified in the “Auto Number Start” 
field.
ÖIf you have selected more than one event, you can ac-
tivate the “Process all selected Events” checkbox to apply 
the same settings to all selected events. 
6.Click the Process button.
The event is split and/or regions are added.
ÖIf you have selected more than one event and did not 
activate the “Process all selected Events” option in the 
Output section, the dialog opens again after processing, 
allowing you to make separate settings for the next event.
The Spectrum Analyzer
This function analyzes the selected audio, computes the 
average “spectrum” (level distribution over the frequency 
range) and displays this as a two-dimensional graph, with 
frequency on the x-axis and level on the y-axis.
1.Make an audio selection (a clip, an event or a range 
selection).
2.Select “Spectrum Analyzer” from the Audio menu.
A dialog with settings for the analysis appears.
Min. time  openDetermines the minimum time that the function will remain 
“open” after the audio level has exceeded the Open 
Threshold value.
If the audio contains repeated short sounds, and you find 
that this results in too many short “open” sections, try 
raising this value.
Min. time  closedDetermines the minimum time that the function will remain 
“closed” after the audio level has dropped below the 
Close Threshold value.
Set this to a low value to avoid removing sounds.
Pre-rollAllows you to cause the function to “open” slightly before 
the audio level exceeds the Open Threshold value. In 
other words, the start of each “open” section is moved to 
the left according to the time you set here.
This is useful to avoid removing the attack of sounds.
Post-rollAllows you to cause the function to “close” slightly after 
the audio level drops below the Close Threshold value.
This is useful to avoid removing the natural decay of 
sounds.
Setting Description 
						

							280
Audio processing and functions
The default values give good results in most situations, but 
you can adjust the settings if you like:
3.Click the Process button.
The spectrum is computed and displayed as a graph.
4.You can adjust the display with the settings in the dis-
play window:
5.If you move the mouse pointer over the graph, a cross-
hair cursor follows the graph curve and the display in the 
upper right corner shows the frequency/note and level at 
the current position.
To compare the level between two frequencies, move the pointer to one 
of the frequencies, right-click once and move the pointer to the second 
frequency. The delta value (the difference in level between the current 
position and the right-click position) is displayed in the upper right corner 
(labeled “D”).
•If you analyze stereo audio and selected the “Stereo” op-
tion in the first dialog, the graphs for the left and right chan-
nel are superimposed in the display, with the left channel 
graph in white and the right channel graph in yellow.
The display in the upper right corner shows the values for the left channel 
– to see the right channel values, hold down [Shift]. An “L” or “R” is dis
-
played to indicate which channel values are shown.
6.You can leave the window open or close it by clicking 
the “Close” button.
If you leave it open and the “Active” checkbox is ticked, the result of the 
next Spectrum Analysis will be displayed in the same window.
OptionDescription
Size in SamplesThe function divides the audio into “analysis blocks”, the 
size of which is set here. The larger this value, the higher 
the frequency resolution of the resulting spectrum.
Size of OverlapThe overlap between each analysis block.
Window usedAllows you to select which window type is used for the 
FFT (Fast Fourier Transform, the mathematical method 
used for computing the spectrum). 
Normalized 
ValuesWhen this is activated, the resulting level values are 
scaled, so that the highest level is displayed as “1” (0 dB).
From StereoWhen analyzing stereo material, there is a pop-up menu 
with the following options:
Mono mix – the stereo signal is mixed to mono before 
analyzing.
Mono left/right – the left or right channel signal is used 
for analysis.
Stereo – both channels are analyzed (two separate 
spectrums will be displayed).
SettingDescription
dBWhen this is activated, the vertical axis shows dB values. 
When it is deactivated, values between 0 and 1 are shown.
Freq. logWhen this is activated, frequencies (on the horizontal axis) 
are displayed on a logarithmic scale. When it is deactivated, 
the frequency axis is linear.
PrecisionIndicates the frequency resolution of the graph. This value 
cannot be changed here, but is governed by the Size in 
Samples setting in the previous dialog.
Frequency/
NoteAllows you to select whether you want the frequencies to be 
displayed in Hertz or with note names.
Min.Sets the lowest frequency shown in the graph.
Max.Sets the highest frequency shown in the graph. By adjusting 
the Min and Max values, you can take a closer look at a 
smaller frequency range.
ActiveWhen this is activated, the next Spectrum Analysis will appear 
in the same window. When deactivated, new Spectrum Anal-ysis results will appear in separate windows.
Setting Description