Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual

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The MIDI editors
Using cut, copy and paste
You can use the standard Cut, Copy and Paste options 
on
 the Edit menu to move or copy events in the controller 
display:
1.Select the events you want to cut or copy.
2.Select Cut or Copy from the Edit menu.
3.If you want to paste the events into another MIDI part, 
open that part in another Key Editor window.
4.Position the project cursor where you want to paste 
the events.
5.Select Paste from the Edit menu.
The events on the clipboard are added, starting at the project cursor po-sition, maintaining their relative distances. If a pasted event ends up at 
the same position as an existing event of the same type, the old event is 
replaced. 
Deleting events in the controller display
You delete events by clicking on them with the Erase tool 
or by selecting them and pressing [Backspace]. Please 
note:
•Deleting a controller event makes the last event before 
this valid up until the next event. It does not “zero” any 
controller changes.
•You can delete notes by deleting their velocity bars in 
the controller display.
Please be aware that if there is more than one note on the same position, 
there may still only be one velocity bar visible – make sure that you delete 
only the desired notes!
Editing continuous controllers on the controller lane
When a continuous controller is selected for a controller 
lane, additional data is displayed on the controller lane. 
This is due to the fact that MIDI controller data can be re
-
corded (or entered) either for an automation track or for a 
MIDI part (see 
“MIDI controller automation” on page 261).
The following applies:
•In the event type pop-up menu, an asterisk is displayed 
next to the controller name if automation data already ex
-
ists for this controller.
This can be either controller data you entered in a MIDI editor (the data 
will then be displayed on the controller lane), or controller data recorded 
on an automation track in the Project window (in which case no events 
are displayed on the controller lane). 
•If conflicting controller data exists in two different 
places, you can specify what will happen on playback by 
making settings for the Automation Merge Mode (see 
“Merging automation data” on page 261). The resulting 
curve is displayed in addition to the curve you entered on 
the controller lane.
•On the controller lane, you can also see the controller 
curve that is applied before the part starts. That way, you 
know which controller value (if any) is currently being used 
at the starting point of the part so that you can choose the 
start value accordingly. 
Note that this value also depends on the Automation Merge Mode.
!When the Auto Select Controllers button is activated 
in the Key Editor toolbar, selecting notes will also se
-
lect the corresponding controller events. Moving 
events (either using cut/copy/paste or drag & drop) 
in the note display will also move the corresponding 
controller events (see also 
“Selecting controllers 
within the note range” on page 412).
Controller curve entered on 
the controller laneResulting controller curve (if controller 
automation was also recorded on a 
track). These values depend on the 
selected Automation Merge Mode.
The controller curve before the part starts. This curve depends on the 
existing controller data (if any) and on the selected Merge Mode. 
						

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The MIDI editors
Adding and editing Poly Pressure events
Poly Pressure events are special, in that they “belong to” a 
specific note number (key). That is, each Poly Pressure 
event has two editable values: the note number and the 
amount of pressure. Therefore, when Poly Pressure is se
-
lected on the event type pop-up menu, there are two value 
fields to the left of the controller display, one for the note 
number and one for the amount.
To add a new Poly Pressure event, proceed as follows:
1.Select Poly Pressure on the event type pop-up menu.
2.Set the note number by clicking on the keyboard dis-
play.
The selected note number is displayed in the upper value field to the left 
of the controller display. Note that this only works for the topmost lane. If 
you have selected “Poly Pressure” for several controller lanes, you have 
to type in the desired note number directly in the lower value field to the 
left of each lane. 
3.Use the Pencil tool to add a new event, just as when 
adding regular controller events.
To view and edit existing Poly Pressure events, proceed 
as follows:
1.Select Poly Pressure on the event type pop-up menu.
2.Click on the arrow button next to the note number field 
to the left of the controller lane.
A pop-up menu appears, listing all note numbers for which there already 
are Poly Pressure events.
3.Select a note number from the pop-up menu.
The Poly Pressure events for the selected note number are shown in the 
controller lane.
4.Use the Pencil tool to edit the events as usual.
Press [Alt]/[Option] to edit existing events without adding any new ones.
•Poly Pressure events can also be added and edited in 
the List Editor.
The In-Place Editor
The In-Place Editor makes it possible to edit MIDI parts di-
rectly in the Project window, for quick and efficient editing 
in context with other tracks. 
To open the In-Place Editor for one or more selected 
tracks, you have the following possibilities:
•Select “Open In-Place Editor” on the MIDI menu.
•Use the Edit In-Place key command, by default [Ctrl]/
[Command]-[Shift]-[I].
•To open the In-Place Editor for a single MIDI track, click 
the corresponding Edit In-Place button in the track list (if 
necessary, expand the track list to display the button).
This expands the MIDI track to show something like a min-
iature Key Editor, allowing you to edit MIDI notes and con-
trollers.
•To zoom or scroll the In-Place Editor, point at the left 
part of the piano keyboard display so that the pointer 
changes to a hand. Now you can click and drag to the 
right or left to zoom in or out vertically, and drag up or 
down to scroll the editor.
•Clicking on the gray triangle in the upper right corner of 
the track list for the edited track brings up a local toolbar 
with some settings specific to the In-Place Editor.
For descriptions of these settings, see “The toolbar” on page 406. 
						

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The MIDI editors
•Just like in the Key Editor, you can edit velocity or con-
tinuous controllers at the bottom of the In-Place Editor.
To change which controller type is shown, click in the controller name 
field directly below the piano keyboard and select a controller type from 
the pop-up menu. To add or remove controller lanes, right-click below 
the controller name field and select an option from the context menu.
•When you select a MIDI note, the Project window info 
line shows information about that note, just like the info 
line in the Key Editor.
You can perform the same editing here as on the Key Editor info line, see “Editing on the info line” on page 415.
•The Snap button and Snap Type pop-up menu on the 
Project window toolbar govern snapping in the In-Place 
Editor, but the snap grid is set using the Quantize pop-up 
menu.
•To close the In-Place Editor for one or several selected 
tracks, you can use the Edit In-Place key command, by de
-
fault [Ctrl]/[Command]-[Shift]-[I].
•To close the In-Place Editor for one track, you can click 
the Edit In-Place button in the track list or double-click be
-
low the controller display in the In-Place Editor.
Working with parts 
If you work with parts in the In-Place Editor, the following 
editing functions are available:
• You can change the length of the parts by clicking on the 
lower part edges (so that the mouse pointer changes to a 
double arrow) and dragging it to the left or right.
• You can drag and drop notes between parts.
• You can change the length of notes by clicking on them and 
dragging the double arrow to the left or right. 
						

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The MIDI editors
The List Editor – Overview
The toolbar
The toolbar contains several items that are the same as in 
the Key Editor (edit solo, snap, quantize settings, etc.). 
These are described earlier in this chapter. The following 
toolbar items are unique to the List Editor:
•The Insert pop-up menu is used when creating new 
events.
This is where you determine what type of event to add (see “Inserting 
events” on page 425).
•The List Editor contains an additional Value display (see 
below).
The List Editor has no info line (numerical editing is avail-
able in the list instead).
ÖIf you see an empty or incomplete list of items although 
the items are visible in the Key Editor, check if you have ac
-
tivated any filters (see “Filtering” on page 426).
The Filters bar
Similar to the sections in the Project window, the Filters 
bar can be shown/hidden via the “Set up Window Layout” 
button (see 
“The status line” on page 407). The Filters bar 
allows you to hide events from view, based on their type 
and other properties (see 
“Filtering” on page 426).
The status line
This is the same as in the Key Editor (see “The status line” 
on page 407), except for the Current Note Position op-
tion, which is not available in the List Editor.
The event list
This lists all events in the selected MIDI part(s), in the or-
der (from top to bottom) in which they are played back. 
You can edit the event properties by using regular value 
editing, see 
“Editing in the list” on page 425.
The event display
This shows the events graphically. The vertical position of 
an event in the display corresponds to its entry in the list 
(i.
 e. to the playback order), while the horizontal position cor-
responds to its actual position in the project. This is where 
you add new parts or events, drag to move them, etc.
The value display
This display shows the “value” of each event, allowing for 
easy viewing and graphical editing. Typically, the value 
shown is the “Data 2” or “Value 2” property (amounts to 
MIDI controller events, velocity for notes, etc.). You can 
show or hide this display by clicking the “Show List Value 
View” button on the toolbar.
Event display Event listValue 
display Ruler Toolbar
Filters barStatus line 
						

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The MIDI editors
List Editor operations
Customizing the view
You can click and drag the divider between the list and 
the event display to make one area wider and the other 
narrower. Furthermore, the list can be customized in the 
following ways:
•You can change the order of the columns by dragging 
the column headings.
•You can resize columns by dragging the dividers be-
tween the column headings.
Setting the display format
Just like in the Project window, you set the display format 
(bars+beats, seconds, etc.) by right-clicking in the ruler 
and selecting an option from the pop-up menu. This set
-
ting affects both the ruler and all start, end and length val-
ues shown in the list.
Zooming
You can change the horizontal magnification in the event 
display by using the zoom slider below the display or the 
Zoom tool (the magnification glass).
Inserting events
To add a new event to the edited part, proceed as follows:
1.Use the Insert Type pop-up menu on the toolbar to se-
lect the event type.
2.Select the Pencil tool and click in the event display at 
the desired position (relative to the ruler).
If you are creating note events, you can click and drag to set the length of 
the note.
The new event appears in the list and in the display. Its 
properties will be set to default values, but can be ad
-
justed in the list.
•Notes will get the insert velocity value set in the insert 
velocity field on the toolbar, see 
“Setting velocity values” 
on page 411.
Editing in the list
The list allows you to perform detailed numerical editing of 
the events properties. The columns have the following 
functionality:
ColumnDescription
LAn arrow in this column indicates the event that starts 
closest before the project cursor position. If you click in 
this column for an event, the project cursor is moved to 
the start of that event. Double-clicking moves the cursor 
position and starts/stops playback – useful for audition
-ing when editing in the list.
TypeThe event type. This cannot be changed.
StartThe start position of the event, shown in the format se-lected for the ruler. Changing this is the same as moving 
the event. Note that moving the event past any other 
event in the list will re-sort the list (the list always shows 
the events in the order they are played back).
EndThis is only used for note events, allowing you to view and 
edit the end position of a note (thereby resizing it).
LengthThis is only used for note events. It shows the length of 
the note – changing this resizes the note and automati-cally changes the End value as well.
Data 1This is the “data 1” or “value 1” property of the event. The 
content of this depends on the event type – for notes, this 
is the pitch, for example. Where applicable, the values are 
shown in the most relevant form. For instance, the Data 1 
value for notes is shown as a note number in the format 
selected in the Preferences dialog (Event Display–MIDI 
page). For further information, see also the table in the 
section 
“Editing in the value display” on page 427.
Data 2This is the “data 2” or “value 2” property of the event. The 
content of this depends on the event type – for notes, this 
is the note-on velocity value, for example. For further in
-formation, see also the table in the section “Editing in the value display” on page 427.
Data 3T h i s  i s  t h e  “ d a t a  3 ”  o r  “ v a l u e  3” property of the event. This 
value is only used for note events, where it corresponds 
with the note-off velocity.
ChannelThe MIDI channel of the event. Note that this setting is 
normally overridden by the channel setting for the track. 
To make a MIDI event play back on “its own” channel, set 
its track to channel “Any” in the Project window.
CommentThis column is used for some event types only, providing 
an additional comment about the event. 
						

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The MIDI editors
•You can edit several events at once. If several events 
are selected and you edit a value for one event, the other 
selected events’ values will be changed as well.
Normally, any initial value differences between the events will be main-tained – i. e. the values will change by the same amount. If you press [Ctrl]/
[Command] when you edit, however, all events will get the same value.
ÖFor SysEx (system exclusive) events, you can only edit 
the position (Start) in the list. However, when you click the 
Comment column, the MIDI SysEx Editor opens, in which 
you can perform detailed editing of system exclusive 
events (see 
“Working with SysEx messages” on page 
427).
Editing in the event display
The event display allows you to edit the events graphically 
using the tools on the toolbar. You can edit single events 
as well as several selected events simultaneously.
•To move an event, click and drag it to a new position.
Note that moving the event past any other event in the display will re-sort 
the list (the list always shows the events in the order they are played 
back). As a result, the vertical position of the event in the display will 
change as well.
•To make a copy of an event, press [Alt]/[Option] and 
drag it to a new position.
•To resize a note, select it and drag its end point with the 
Arrow tool as in the Project window.
This only works with notes.
•To mute or unmute an event, click on it with the Mute 
tool.
You can mute or unmute several events in one go by enclosing them in a 
selection rectangle with the Mute tool.
•You can select a color scheme for the events with the 
Event Colors pop-up menu on the toolbar.
This affects how all MIDI events are shown in the List and Key editors – 
see “Coloring notes and events” on page 410.
•To delete an event, select it and press [Backspace] or 
[Delete], or click on it with the Erase tool in the event dis
-
play.
Filtering
The Filters bar is displayed below the toolbar in the List 
Editor. It contains two sections. On the left, you can find 
controls for setting up complex filters, and on the right, 
you can exclude certain event types from being displayed.
To show or hide the Filters bar, click the “Set up Window 
Layout” button on the toolbar and activate or deactivate the 
Filters option.
The Show section (complex filtering)
On the left of the Filters bar, you find the Show pop-up 
menu. This can be used to filter the event display based 
on complex criteria. Proceed as follows:
1.Select one or more events that have the desired prop-
erties.
2.Pull down the Show pop-up menu and select one of 
the options.
•In the top section, the following options are available:
•In addition to these options, the menu also gives you ac-
cess to the presets available in the Logical Editor. Using 
the “Setup…” item, you can directly open the Logical Edi
-
tor. In this editor, you can create very complex filter set-
tings (see the chapter “The Logical Editor, Transformer, 
and Input Transformer” on page 431).
When you apply any of the Logical presets or use the Log-
ical Editor to create filter settings yourself, only the events 
that meet the specified criteria will be visible.
OptionDescription
No FocusSelect this to deactivate this filtering function.
Event TypesOnly events with the type of the selected event will be 
shown. This is the same as activating event types in the 
Hide section.
Event Types 
and Data 1Only events of the same type and with the same “Data 1” 
value will be shown. For example, if a note event is se-lected, only notes with the same pitch are shown. If a 
controller event is selected, only controllers of the same 
type are shown.
Event 
ChannelsOnly events with the same MIDI channel value as the se-lected event will be shown. 
						

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The MIDI editors
The Hide section (filtering out event types)
The Hide section on the Filters bar allows you to hide spe-
cific event types from view. For example, it may be hard to 
find note events if the part contains a lot of controller data. 
By hiding the controllers, the list becomes more manage
-
able.
•To hide an event type, activate the corresponding 
checkbox on the Filters bar.
•To hide all event types except one, press [Ctrl]/[Com-
mand] and click the checkbox of the event type you want 
to view.
If you [Ctrl]/[Command]-click again, all checkboxes are cleared.
ÖThe event types remain hidden even if you hide the Fil-
ters bar. To make sure that you see all events, show the 
Filters bar and verify that all checkboxes are deactivated 
and that the Show pop-up menu is set to “No Focus”.
ÖFiltering events out does not remove, mute, or change 
the events in any way.
Editing in the value display
The value display to the right of the event display is a tool 
for quick viewing and editing of multiple values, e.
 g. veloc-
ities or controller amounts. The values are shown as hori-
zontal bars, with the bar length corresponding to the value.
A velocity ramp in the value display
You edit the values by clicking and dragging. Note that the 
pointer automatically takes on the shape of the Pencil tool 
when you move it over the value display – you do not have 
to select the Pencil tool for this.
•To show or hide the value display, click the “Set up Win-
dow Layout” button on the toolbar and activate or deacti-
vate the Value Display option.
Exactly which value is shown for an event depends on the 
event type. The following table shows what is displayed 
and edited in the Data columns and the value display:
•For note events there will also be a value in the Data 3 
column, which is used for note-off velocity.
•Note that for SMF and text events no values are dis-
played.
Working with SysEx messages
SysEx (System Exclusive) messages are model-specific 
messages for setting various parameters of a MIDI device. 
This makes it possible to address device parameters that 
would not be available via normal MIDI syntax.
Every major MIDI manufacturer has its own SysEx identity 
code. SysEx messages are typically used for transmitting 
patch data, i.
 e. the numbers that make up the settings of 
one or more sounds in a MIDI instrument.
Nuendo allows you to record and manipulate SysEx data 
in various ways. The following sections point to various 
features that help you manage and create SysEx data.
To learn about the possibilities of the MIDI Device Man-
ager for controlling your device, see the chapter “Using 
MIDI devices” on page 380.
Event typeData 1Data 2Value display
NotePitch (note number)Note-on  velocityVelocity
ControllerController typeController  amountController  amount
Program  ChangeProgram  numberNot usedProgram  number
AftertouchAftertouch 
amountNot usedAftertouch amount
PitchbendBend amountNot usedBend amount
SysExNot usedNot usedNot used 
						

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The MIDI editors
Bulk dumps
Recording a bulk dump in Nuendo
In any programmable device, the settings are stored as 
numbers in computer memory. Change those numbers, 
and you will change the settings.
Normally, MIDI devices allow you to dump (transmit) all or 
some settings in the device’s memory in the form of MIDI 
SysEx messages. A dump is therefore (among other 
things) a way of making backup copies of the settings of 
your instrument: sending such a dump back to the MIDI 
device will restore the settings. 
If your instrument allows the dumping of a few or all of its 
settings via MIDI by activating some function on the front 
panel, this dump will probably be recordable in Nuendo.
1.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu (on 
the Mac, this is located on the Nuendo menu) and select 
the MIDI–MIDI Filter page.
This allows you to govern which MIDI event types are recorded and/or 
thru-put.
2.Make sure that recording of SysEx data is not filtered, 
by deactivating the SysEx checkbox in the Record section. 
The SysEx checkbox in the Thru section can be left as it is 
(by default activated).
This way, SysEx messages will be recorded but not echoed back out to 
the instrument (which might lead to unpredictable results).
3.Activate recording on a MIDI track and initiate the 
dump from the front panel of the instrument.
4.When done recording, select the new part and open 
the List Editor from the MIDI menu.
This allows you to check that the SysEx dump was recorded – there 
should be one or several SysEx events in the part/event list.
Transmitting a bulk dump back to a device
1.Make sure that the MIDI track with the System Exclusive 
data is routed to the device.
You may want to check your device’s documentation to find details about 
which MIDI channel should be used, etc.
2.Solo the track.
This might not be necessary, but it is a good safety measure.
3.Make sure that the device is set up to receive SysEx 
messages (often, receiving SysEx is turned off by default).
4.If necessary, put the device in “Standby to Receive 
System Exclusive” mode.
5.Play back the data.
Some advice
• Do not transmit more data than you need. If all you want is a 
single program, do not send them all, it will only make it harder 
to find the one you want. Usually, you can specify exactly what 
you want to send.
• If you want the sequencer to dump the pertinent sounds to 
your instrument each time you load a project, put the SysEx 
data in a silent “count-in” before the project itself starts.
!If your MIDI instrument does not offer a way to initiate 
a dump “by itself”, you have to send a Dump Request 
message from Nuendo to start the dump. In that case, 
use the MIDI SysEx Editor (see “Editing SysEx mes-
sages” on page 429) to insert the specific Dump Re-
quest message (see the instrument’s documentation) 
at the beginning of a MIDI track. When you activate 
recording, the Dump Request message will be played 
back (sent to the instrument), the dump will start and 
be recorded as above. 
						

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The MIDI editors
• If the dump is very short (for instance, a single sound) you can 
put it in the middle of the project to re-program a device on the 
fly. However, you can achieve the same effect by using Program 
Change. This is definitely preferable, since less MIDI data is 
sent and recorded. Some devices may be set up to dump the 
settings for a sound as soon as you select it on the front panel.
• If you create parts with useful SysEx dumps, you can put these 
on a special muted track. When you want to use one of them, 
drag it to an empty unmuted track and play it back from there.
• Do not transmit several SysEx dumps to several instruments at 
the same time.
• Make a note of the current device ID setting of the instrument. 
If you change this, the instrument may refuse to load the dump 
later.
Recording SysEx parameter changes
Often you can use SysEx to remotely change individual set-
tings in a device, e. g. open a filter, select a waveform, 
change the decay of the reverb, etc. Many devices are also 
capable of transmitting changes made on the front panel as 
SysEx messages. These can be recorded in Nuendo, and 
thus incorporated into a regular MIDI recording.
Here’s how it works: let’s say you open up a filter while 
playing some notes. In that case, you will record both the 
notes and the SysEx messages generated when you 
opened of the filter. When you play it back, the sound 
changes exactly like it did when you recorded it.
1.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu, se-
lect the MIDI–MIDI Filter page and make sure that SysEx 
is recorded, i.
 e. the SysEx checkbox in the Record section 
is deactivated.
2.Make sure that the instrument is actually set to trans-
mit changes of front panel controls as SysEx messages.
3.Record normally.
When you’re done, you can check that the events were recorded pro-
perly in the List Editor.
Editing SysEx messages
While SysEx events are shown in the List Editor/Project 
Browser, their entire content is not (only the beginning of 
the message is displayed in the Comment column for the 
event). Also, you cannot edit the event (other than moving 
it) as you can with other event types in the List Editor.
Instead, you have to use the MIDI SysEx Editor for this.
•To open the MIDI SysEx Editor for an event, click in the 
Comments column for the event in the List Editor/Project 
Browser.
The display shows the entire message on one or several 
lines. SysEx messages always begin with F0 and end with 
F7 with a number of arbitrary bytes in between. If the mes
-
sage contains more bytes than fit on one line, it continues 
on the next. The Address indication to the left helps you 
find out on which position in the message a certain value 
resides.
You can edit all values except for the first (F0) and last one 
(F7).
Selecting and viewing values
To select a value, either click on it or use the cursor keys. 
The selected byte is displayed in various formats:
• In the main display, values are shown in hexadecimal format.
• To the right of this, values are shown in ASCII format.
• At the bottom of the dialog, the selected value is shown in 
ASCII, binary, and decimal formats. 
						

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The MIDI editors
Editing a value
The selected value can be edited directly in the main dis-
play or in the ASCII, decimal, and binary displays. Just 
click on it and type in the desired value as usual.
Adding and deleting bytes
Using the Insert and Delete buttons or their corresponding 
computer keyboard keys, you can add and delete bytes 
from the message. Inserted data will appear before the se
-
lection.
To delete the complete SysEx message, select it in the 
List Editor and press [Delete] or [Backspace].
Importing and exporting data
The Import and Export buttons allow you to get SysEx data 
from disk and to export the edited data to a file. The file 
has to be in “MIDI SysEx” (.SYX) binary format. Only the 
first dump in a SYX file will be loaded.
This format should not be confused with MIDI files, which 
have the extension .mid.