Steinberg Nuendo 5 Manual
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551 ReWire How the ReWire channels are handled in Nuendo When you activate ReWire channels in the ReWire De- vice panels, they will become available as channel strips in the Mixer. The ReWire channel strips have the following properties: •ReWire channels appear to the right of the other audio and MIDI channel strips in the Mixer. •ReWire channels may be any combination of mono and stereo, depending on the synthesizer application. •ReWire channels have the same functionality as regular audio channels. This means you can set volume and pan, add EQ, insert effects and sends and route the channel outputs to groups or busses (done in the Inspector). However, ReWire channels have no monitor buttons. •All ReWire channel settings can be automated using the Read/Write buttons. When you write automation, channel automation tracks will automatically appear in the Project window. This allows you to view and edit the auto - mation graphically, just as with VST instrument channels, etc. •You can mix down the audio from ReWire channels to a file on your hard disk with the Export Audio Mixdown func - tion (see “Mixing down to audio files” on page 474). You can export the output bus to which you have routed the ReWire channels. You can also export individual ReWire channels directly – “rendering” each ReWire channel to a separate audio file. Routing MIDI via ReWire2 When using Nuendo with a ReWire2-compatible appli- cation, additional MIDI outputs will automatically appear on the MIDI Output pop-up menus for MIDI tracks. This allows you to play the synthesizer application via MIDI from Nuendo, using it as one or several separate MIDI sound sources. The MIDI outputs for a Reason song. Here, each output goes directly to a device in the Reason rack. •The number and configuration of MIDI outputs depends on the synthesizer application. Considerations and limitations Sample rates Synthesizer applications may be limited to audio playback in certain sample rates. If Nuendo is set to a sample rate other than those, the synthesizer application will play back at the wrong pitch. Consult the documentation of the syn - thesizer application for details. ASIO drivers ReWire works well with ASIO drivers. By using the Nuendo bus system you can route sounds from the synthesizer application to various outputs on an ASIO compatible audio card. !This feature is only available with ReWire2-compati- ble applications.
553 File handling Importing audio In Nuendo audio can be imported in a variety of different formats. For example, you can import tracks from audio CDs, or import audio files saved in different formats (com - pressed and uncompressed). For information on audio file import preferences, see “Audio file import options” on page 64. For information on how to import audio files into the Pool and import options, see “About the Import Medium dialog” on page 329. Importing audio CD tracks You can import audio from audio CDs into Nuendo projects in two ways: •To import the CD tracks directly into project tracks, choose the “Audio CD…” option from the Import sub - menu of the File menu. The imported audio CD track(s) are inserted on the selected audio track(s) at the project cursor position. •To import the CD tracks into the Pool, select “Import Audio CD…” from the Media menu. This might be the preferred method if you want to import several CD tracks in one go. Selecting one of the Import Audio CD menu items brings up the following dialog: To import one or more tracks, proceed as follows: 1.If you have more than one CD drive, select the correct one from the Drives pop-up menu at the top left. On opening the CD, the program tries to retrieve the track names from CDDB (a CD database). If no connection to CDDB can be established or the CD track names are not found, you can manually change the ge - neric track name in the Default Name field. 2.Windows only: Activate the “Secure Mode” option if you want to use a Secure Read mode. Use this if you encounter problems when trying to import an audio CD. Error checking and correction will be done during the process. Note that this mode will take more time. 3.In the Windows version, select the data transfer speed from the Speed pop-up menu. While you normally want to use the fastest possible speed, you may have to select a slower speed for flawless audio extraction. 4.Activate the Copy checkbox for every audio file you want to import. You can also select a copy section for every file, see below. 5.Click on the Copy button to create a local copy of the audio file(s) or section(s). The copied files are listed at the bottom of the dialog. By default, im- ported audio CD tracks will be stored as Wave files (Windows) or AIFF files (Mac) in the Audio folder of the current project. To change the folder, click Destination Folder and select a different folder from the dia - log. During copying, the Copy button is labeled “Stop”; click it to stop the process. 6.Click OK to import the copied audio files into the project, or click Cancel to stop the import and discard the copied files. •If you import more than one audio file into project tracks, a dialog opens in which you have to choose whether to in - sert the tracks on one track or on different ones. The new track(s) are displayed in the Project window. New audio clips are created and added to the Pool. The columns in the “Import from Audio CD” dialog have the following functionality: ColumnDescription CopyActivate the checkbox in this column for the track you want to copy/import. To activate more than one check-box, click and drag over the checkboxes (or press [Ctrl]/ [Command] or [Shift] and click). #This is the track number.
554 File handling By default, complete tracks are selected. •If you want to copy and import a section of an audio CD track only, select the track in the list and specify the start and end of the selection to be copied by dragging the handles in the copy selection ruler. ÖNote that you can import sections of several audio CD tracks by selecting them in turn and adjusting the selec - tion. The start and end settings for each track are dis- played in the list. •You can audition the selected audio CD track by click- ing the Play button. The track will be played back from selection start to selection end (or un- til you click the Stop button). •The Play from left Marker (down arrow) and Play to Right Marker (up arrow) buttons allow you to audition the start and end of the selection only. The down arrow button will play a short snippet beginning at the start of the selection, while the up arrow button will play a snippet starting just before the end of the selection. •To open the CD drive, click on the Eject button at the top of the dialog. Importing Audio from video files While you can automatically extract the audio when im- porting a video file (see “About thumbnail cache files” on page 524), it is also possible to import the audio from a video file without importing the video itself: 1.Pull down the File menu, open the Import submenu and select “Audio from Video File…”. 2.In the file dialog that opens, locate and select the video file and click Open. The audio in the selected video file is extracted and converted to a Wave file in the project’s Audio folder. •A new audio clip is created and added to the Pool. In the Project window, an event referencing the audio file is inserted on the selected track at the project cursor posi - tion. If no track was selected, a new track is created. This works just like importing regular audio files. ÖFor importing video files, see “Importing video files” on page 523. Importing ReCycle files ReCycle by Propellerhead Software is a program designed especially for working with sampled loops. By “slicing” a loop and making separate samples of each beat, ReCycle makes it possible to match the tempo of a loop and edit the loop as if it was built of individual sounds. Nuendo can im - port two file types created by ReCycle: • REX files (export file format of the first versions of ReCycle, extension “.rex”). • REX 2 files (file format of ReCycle 2.0 and later, extension “.rx2”). Proceed as follows: 1.Select an audio track and move the project cursor to where you want the imported file to start. You probably want to import REX files to tempo based audio tracks, since this will allow you to change the tempo later on (having the imported REX file automatically adjust). 2.Select “Audio File…” from the Import submenu of the File menu. CD Track as shownWhen you import an audio CD track, the file is named ac-cording to this column. The names are pulled automati-cally from CDDB, if possible. You can rename a track by clicking in the CD Track column and typing a new name. You can also apply a generic name to all audio CD tracks, if no name was available in CDDB. LengthThe length of the audio CD track in minutes and seconds. SizeThe file size of the audio CD track in MB. Copy StartYou can copy a section of a track if you like. This indi-cates the start of the section to be copied in the track. By default, this is set to the start of the track (0.000) but you can adjust this on the copy selection ruler (see below). Copy EndIndicates the end of the section to be copied in the track. By default, this is set to the end of the track but you can adjust this on the copy selection ruler (see below). Column Description Play StopPlay from Left Marker Play to Right Marker Start of selection handle End of selection handle !For this to work, the REX Shared Library needs to be installed on your system. If this is not the case, you will find the corresponding installer on the installation DVD (in the “Additional Content\Installer Data” folder).
555 File handling 3.On the file type pop-up menu in the file dialog, select REX File or REX 2 File. 4.Locate and select the file you want to import, and click Open. The file is imported and automatically adjusted to the current Nuendo tempo. Unlike a regular audio file, the imported REX file will con- sist of several events, one for each “slice” in the loop. The events will automatically be placed in an audio part on the selected track and positioned so that the original internal timing of the loop is preserved. 5.If you now open the part in the Audio Part Editor, you can edit each slice separately by muting, moving and re - sizing events, adding effects and processing, etc. You can also adjust the tempo and have the REX file automatically follow (provided that its track is tempo based). ÖYou can achieve similar results by using Nuendo’s own loop slicing features, see “Working with hitpoints and slices” on page 299. Importing compressed audio files Nuendo can import (and export, see “Mixing down to audio files” on page 474) several common audio compression formats. The procedure is the same as when importing any non-compressed audio file, with one important thing to note: •When you import a compressed audio file, Nuendo cre- ates a copy of the file and converts this to Wave format (Windows) or AIFF format (Mac OS X) before importing it. The original compressed file will not be used in the project. The imported file is placed in the designated project Audio folder. The following file types are supported: MPEG audio files MPEG, which stands for Moving Picture Experts Group, is the name of a family of standards used for encoding au - dio-visual information (e. g. movies, video, music) in a digi- tal compressed format. Nuendo can read two types of audio MPEG files: MPEG Layer 2 (*.mp2) and MPEG Layer 3 (*.mp3). Currently, mp3 is the most common of these formats, while the mp2 format is mostly used in broadcast applications. Ogg Vorbis files Ogg Vorbis is an open and patent-free format that offers very small audio files maintaining comparatively high audio quality. Ogg Vorbis files have the extension “.ogg”. Windows Media Audio files (Windows only) Windows Media Audio is an audio format developed by Microsoft, Inc. Due to advanced audio compression algo - rithms, Windows Media Audio files can be made very small, maintaining good audio quality. The files have the extension “.wma”. ÖFor exporting Audio, see the chapter “Export Audio Mixdown” on page 473. !The resulting Wave/AIFF file will be several times larger than the original compressed file.
556 File handling Exporting and importing OMF files Open Media Framework Interchange (OMFI) is a platform independent file format intended for the transfer of digital media between different applications. Nuendo can import and export OMF files (file extension “.omf”), allowing you to use Nuendo in conjunction with other audio and video applications. Exporting OMF files When exporting tracks and files as OMF, you should con- sider setting up your project to use mono tracks and mono files, to allow compatibility with audio applications that provide limited support for interleaved audio files. See “Converting audio tracks (multi-channel to mono and vice versa)” on page 563 for more information. 1.Pull down the File menu, open the Export submenu and select “OMF…”. The Export Options dialog opens. The Export Options dialog for OMF files 2.Use the track list to the left to select the tracks that you want to include in the exported file. To select all tracks, click the “Select All” button. Normally, the whole project is included – to export the range between the locators only, activate “From Left to Right Locator”. •When referencing media files (see below), you can set the referenced output path by entering it in the “Media Destination Path” field or by clicking on “Browser…” and choosing it in the file dialog that opens. All file references will be set to this path. You can create references to media destinations that do not exist on the system you are currently working with, making it easy to prepare files for use in projects on an - other system or in a network environment. 3.If you want to create copies of all the media files, choose the “Copy Media” option. By default, the copied audio files are placed in a subdirectory in the ex- port destination folder. To specify a different location for the copied files, use the “Media Destination Path” field. 4.If you want to copy only the portions of audio files that are used in the project, activate “Consolidate Events”. You can also define handle lengths in milliseconds to include audio out- side each event boundary for later fine tuning. If you do not have any han-dles when consolidating audio files, you will not be able to adjust fades or edit points when the project is imported in another application. 5.Select “1.0 File” or “2.0 File”, depending on which OMF version is supported by the application in which you plan to import the file. •Select whether you want to include all audio data in the OMF file (“Export All to One File”) or use references only (“Export Media File References”). If you choose “Export All to One File”, the OMF file will be totally “self- contained”, but possibly very large. If you choose “Export Media File Ref - erences”, the file will be small, but the referenced audio files must be available for the receiving application. 6.If you selected the “2.0 File” option above, you can choose whether to include the volume settings and fades for the events (as set up with the event volume and fade handles) as well as the clip names – to include these in the OMF file, activate “Export Clip Based Volume”, “Use Fade Curves” and/or “Export Clip Names”. 7.Specify a sample size (resolution) for the exported files (or use the current project settings). 8.If you activate “Quantize Events to Frames”, the event positions in the exported file will be moved to exact frames. 9.Click OK, and specify a name and location in the file dialog that opens. The exported OMF file will contain (or reference) all audio files that are played in the project (including fade and edit files). It will not include unused audio files referenced in the Pool, or any MIDI data. Video files are not included.
557 File handling Importing OMF files 1.Pull down the File menu, open the Import submenu and select “OMF…”. 2.In the file dialog that opens, locate the OMF file and click Open. •If there is already an open project, a dialog opens in which you can select whether a new project is created for the file. If you select “No”, the OMF file will be imported into the current project. 3.If you choose to create a new project, a file dialog opens in which you can select the project folder. Select an existing project folder or create a new one. 4.The Import Options dialog opens, allowing you to choose a track for the import. •Activating the “Import all media files” option allows you to import media that is not referenced by events. •Activating the “Import Clip Gain as Automation” option imports volume automation and envelopes of the Volume Automation Track of each track. •“Import at Timecode Position” will insert the elements contained in the OMF file at their original timecode posi - tions. This is useful when you want to position every imported element at its ex-act timecode position, i. e. as it was saved in the OMF file. This way, the elements will end up at their correct time positions even when Nuendo uses a different frame rate than the OMF file. This is usually required in a picture-related context. •“Import at Absolute Time” will insert the elements con- tained in the OMF file starting at the timecode position saved in the file and keeping the relative distances be - tween the elements. This is required when the relative positioning of the elements inside the OMF file needs to be maintained after importing it into the Nuendo time- line (even if Nuendo is set to a different frame rate than the OMF file). This is usually required in music contexts, where the timing between ob -jects has highest priority. •If the OMF file contains video event information, you are asked whether you want to create Markers at the start po - sition of the video events. This allows you to manually import the video files, using the Markers as position references. A new, untitled project is created (or tracks are added to the existing project), containing the audio events of the im - ported OMF file. Exporting and importing AAF files The Advanced Authoring Format (AAF) is a multimedia file format used to exchange digital media and meta data be - tween different systems and applications across multiple platforms. Designed by the top media software compa - nies, this format will help media creators by allowing them to exchange projects between applications without losing valuable meta data such as fades, automation and pro - cessing information. Exporting AAF files 1.Select “AAF…” from the Export submenu of the File menu. 2.You can choose which tracks will be exported from your project by clicking in the export column for each track name in the list. A checkmark will appear next to each track that will be exported. You may also click the “Select All” button to select every track in the project for export. 3.If you wish to only export the portion of project that is between the left and right locators, activate the “From Left to Right Locator” checkbox. If an event crosses over the left or right locator, it will be trimmed in the AAF file to the point of the locator. Only the portions of events that lie within the boundaries of the locators will be included in the exported file. 4.If you want to create copies of all the media files, choose the “Copy Media” option. By default, the copied audio files are placed in a subdirectory in the ex-port destination folder. To specify a different location for the copied files, use the Media Destination Path field. 5.If you want to copy only the portions of audio files that are used in the project, activate “Consolidate Events”. You can also define handle lengths in milliseconds to include audio out-side each event boundary for later fine tuning. If you do not have any han- dles when consolidating audio files, you will not be able to adjust fades or edit points when the project is imported in another application. ÖEven when selecting neither of the above two options, you can still enter a media destination path. All file refer - ences will be set to this path. You can create references to media destinations that do not exist on the system you are currently working with, making it easy to prepare files for use in projects on another system or in a network envi - ronment.
558 File handling 6.In the Options section, you have the choice of export- ing all data to one file or to create media references to files from within the AAF file. Exporting only one file makes transfers simpler, but, at the time of writing of this manual, certain applications cannot handle single AAF files. Check with each software manufacturer for up-to-date information regarding AAF support in other applications. 7.You can specify the Sample Size by using the pop-up menu. This defaults to keeping the same setting as the project. 8.You can quantize events to frame boundaries by acti- vating the “Quantize Events for Frames” option. Quantizing events to frame boundaries is sometimes necessary when ex- porting projects to video workstations that limit the accuracy of edits to the frame. Any events that begin or end not on a frame boundary can ex -hibit odd behavior or be moved when imported into a workstation of this type. Importing AAF files 1.Select “AAF…” from the Import submenu of the File menu. 2.Once you have selected a valid AAF file, Nuendo will ask you if you wish to create a new project. Choosing Yes will import tracks into a new project. 3.Select a directory or create one for the new project. If you choose not to create a new project, the imported tracks will be added to the currently active project. 4.In the dialog that opens, select the tracks you wish to import by clicking in the Import column next to each track. You can also click the Select All button to import all tracks in the AAF file. 5.Click OK. The import process will begin. Depending on the size of the imported project and if the files are embedded or referenced, the import process may take a while. Exporting and importing AES31 files The AES31 standard is an open file interchange format, de- veloped by the Audio Engineering Society as a means of overcoming format incompatibility issues between different audio hardware and software. It can be used for transferring projects via disk or network from one workstation to an - other, retaining time positions of events, fades, etc. AES31 uses the widely used Microsoft FAT32 file system with Broadcast Wave as the default audio file format. This means that an AES31 file can be transferred to and used with any digital audio workstation that supports AES31, regardless of the type of hardware and software used, as long as the workstation can read the FAT32 file system and Broadcast Wave files (or regular Wave files). Exporting AES31 files 1.Select “AES31…” from the Export submenu of the File menu. 2.Specify a name and location for the file and click Save. The exported file will contain all Audio Track data, including audio file ref-erences. If any of the audio events in your project has realtime fades (as set up with the fade handles for the events), these will automatically be converted to fade audio files and stored in a fades folder next to the AES31 file. The following will not be included in the resulting AES file: • Any Mixer settings or automation made in Nuendo. • MIDI Tracks. The saved file will be an XML file (but with the extension “.adl”, for audio decision list) – this means you can open it in any text editor to check file references, etc. Importing AES31 files 1.Select “AES31…” from the Import submenu of the File menu. 2.Navigate to the location of the AES31 file (extension “.adl”), select it and click Open. You are prompted to select or create a project folder for the new project. 3.After specifying the name and location of the project folder, the new project opens containing all the audio tracks and events stored in the AES31 file.
559 File handling Exporting and importing OpenTL files OpenTL is a file exchange format originally developed for Tascam hard disk recording systems. OpenTL facilities also exist in a variety of DAWs, making Nuendo project transfer reliable and solid. For example, a common use of OpenTL is to convert hassle free between Nuendo and Pro Tools. If you import or export an OpenTL file to/from Nuendo, the re - sulting project will contain all audio files, edits, and track names made in the Tascam device or DAW, with all events positioned sample accurately on the time line. OpenTL implementation in Tascam® MMR-8, MMP-16 and MX-2424 All three Tascam devices work with either two types of disk volume formats: FAT32 (Windows standard) or HFS+ (Mac OS standard). For proper Nuendo compati - bility it is necessary that each and every MMR-8/MMP-16 be running OS v5.03 and MX-2424 v3.12. A number of crucial OpenTL updates only appear in these machine op - erating systems, and only this setup can assure reliable Nuendo exchange. Audio file formats are volume type dependent: for FAT32 this is BWF (*.wav) and for HFS+ this is SDII. OpenTL files can only be transferred within file systems of the same format which means that it is not possible to import an OpenTL project exported from Mac (HFS+) into a Windows system (FAT32) or vice versa, unless you use a conversion utility (e. g. MM-EDL). Nuendo for Windows supports OpenTL FAT32/BWF. Nuendo for Mac OS X supports OpenTL HFS+/SDII as well as FAT32/BWF. MMR-8, MMP-16, and MX-2424 support OpenTL projects sourcing or targeting Nuendo PC with up to 999 mono tracks. Exporting OpenTL files First, make sure all audio files (in the Pool) and tracks (in the Project window) in the project are in mono (split ste - reo tracks and stereo interleaved audio files to dual mono) and all 16-bit or all 24-bit. The OpenTL specification does not include support for 32-bit audio files. If the Pool con - tains 32-bit audio files, these will not be exported. Make sure all referenced audio files are located on the drive to which you want to export the OpenTL file. 1.Select “OpenTL…” from the Export submenu of the File menu. In the dialog that opens, activate the “Copy Media” or the “Consolidate Events” option to guarantee that all audio is exported. Locate the target hotswap FAT32 disk, select the appropriate project folder and click Open. 2.Select a name and location for the new file and click Save. The exported file will contain all audio track data, including file references, clip based volume automation, fade-in, fade-out, and crossfades. 3.Now you can mount the carrier in the Tascam device and load the project. The following will not be included in the resulting OpenTL EDL file: • Any realtime mixing, EQ, effects settings, breakpoint automa- tion tracks • MIDI tracks made in Nuendo The following is a basic OpenTL specification description: • Maximum number of mono tracks: 999 • Supported sample rates (Hz): 44056, 44100, 44144, 47952, 48000, 48048, 42294, 42336, 45938, 45983, 46034, 46080, 50000, 50050, 88200, 96000 • Bit depth: 16, 24 • Audio file types: BWF (Broadcast Wave format), WAVE (Standard Wave), SDII (Sound Designer II) • Volume formats: FAT32, NTFS, HFS+ • Automation support: clip based volume, breakpoint volume and mute • Fade support: fade in, fade out, and cross fade • Frame rates (Fps): 24/24, 23.976/24, 24.975/25, 25/25, 29.97/DF, 29.97/NDF, 30/DF, 30/NDF !When exporting OpenTL files on PC, do not change the DF or NDF frame notation after you have set the project start time. Make sure that all audio files in the Pool have the same sample rate, bit depth, and that all are set to Broadcast Wave file type.
560 File handling Importing OpenTL files 1.Select “OpenTL…” from the Import submenu of the File menu. 2.Navigate to the location of the OpenTL file, select it and click Open. 3.You are prompted to select or create a project folder for the new project. After specifying the name and location of the project folder, the new project opens containing all the audio files stored in the OpenTL file and their associated edits. Save the imported file as a Nuendo project. 4.Open the Pool, and select “Prepare Archive…” from the Pool context menu. This will copy any necessary external audio files into the local Nuendo project directory. For more information, see “Prepare Archive” on page 54. 5.Select the Save option from the File menu. Importing XSend projects from Liquid For Liquid users, XSend provides a means to export a Liq- uid sequence directly to a Nuendo workstation either on the same machine, over a network or via portable media such as DVD-R. The XSend options and features are available only if XSend is installed on your computer. You can either install XSend during the Nuendo installation process, or at a later point in time using the XSend installer supplied on the Nuendo pro - gram DVD. Also, make sure that the XSend plug-in is acti- vated in the Plug-in Information window. Proceed as follows to import XSend files: 1.You must designate the XSend Incoming folder by se- lecting the XSend preferences from the Nuendo File menu. A dialog opens, allowing you to browse your system to select a folder where exported Liquid projects will be stored. 2.Export the Liquid project to the Nuendo system. This can be done directly over a network if the two systems are con- nected by one. No file sharing is needed. All file transfers are handled by XSend. Refer to the Liquid system’s documentation for more information on how to do this. You may also export the sequence to portable media such as DVD-R or CD-R discs for transfer when no network is available. 3.On the File menu–Import submenu, select “XSend…”. Navigate to the exported Liquid sequence which will be an XSD file type. 4.You will be asked if you wish to create a new project. Choose Yes if you want to import the XSend sequence into a blank project. If you choose No, the imported sequence will be appended to the currently active project. The new audio tracks are displayed below the lowest track or channel in the project. In either case, both audio and video files can be included in the XSend sequence, providing a conve -nient means to receive entire projects from Liquid users. Exporting and importing standard MIDI files Nuendo can import and export standard MIDI files, which makes it possible to transfer MIDI material to and from virtu - ally any MIDI application on any platform. When you import and export MIDI files, you can also specify whether certain settings associated with the tracks are included in the files (automation tracks, volume and pan settings, etc.). Exporting MIDI files To export your MIDI tracks as a standard MIDI file, pull down the File menu and select “MIDI File…” from the Ex - port submenu. A regular file dialog opens, allowing you to specify a location and name for the file. When you have specified a location and a name for the file, click “Save”. The Export Options dialog opens, allowing you to specify a number of options for the file, e. g. what is in- cluded in the file, its type and its resolution (see below for a description of the options). The Export Options dialog You will also find most of these settings in the Preferences dialog (MIDI–MIDI File page). If you set these up in the Preferences dialog, you only need to click OK in the Ex - port Options dialog to proceed.