Integrate Review — Steinberg Nuendo 2.0

Complete digital audio workstation offers surroundmixing.

In the mid 1990s, Steinberg, a German music software company, teamedup with Silicon Graphics and released Nuendo, a digital audioworkstation that took advantage of the power of the Unix platform thatSGI was based upon. At that time, SGI was the only platform able todeliver realtime streaming audio on multiple processors over a networkand floating-point technology. But throughout its developmental stage,developers wrote Nuendo as a portable Unix code, which meant that itcould migrate to both Mac and PC in the future. With the release of OSX — which scraps the Mac's earlier code in favor of one based onUnix — and the even earlier appearance of Windows NT, Nuendo 2.0is now fully functional on both platforms.

Nuendo 2.0, a 2003 Video Systems Vanguard Award winner,combines a highly developed MIDI sequencer with a digital recorder anda surround mixer.

A review of Nuendo 2.0 must start off with a caveat. This productcombines a highly developed MIDI sequencer, a digital recorder, and amixer capable of executing surround mixes in multiple formats. Unlikemany of the products that I have reviewed for Video Systems,Nuendo 2.0 is not intended for the videographer who dabbles inaudio.

The Project window is the program's main work space. Like all areasof Nuendo, it defaults to a pleasing battleship gray that can bealtered if desired. Running horizontally along the top area of thescreen is a series of icons that let the user customize the Projectwindow to taste. Below this, the Project window divides into three mainareas: the Inspector, the Track list, and the Event list.

The Inspector, which the user can hide, is one of several areaswhere a track's functions — mute, solo, record, and write —can be engaged. Users can also make I/O assignments in the Inspector,along with Inserts and Sends. Use the drop-down menu in the Inspectorto activate surround panning. The individual channel Mixer strip canalso open similarly. Open the Inspector on a MIDI track, and all ofNuendo's extensive MIDI functionality is accessible. One of the mostattractive aspects of Nuendo is the intelligence of its design. Itpresents a lot of information, and to free up screen space the softwarelets the user hide entire sections, like the Inspector, with a simplemouse click. Users may also leave Inspector subsections open or closethem with a click.

The Track list is straightforward. In addition to audio and MIDItracks, you may list Video and Marker tracks in this column. Nuendoallows synchronization to an external video deck, and AVIs are alsoimportable. You can view streaming video on an internal QuickTime videoplayer and as a thumbnail video track. Working with the thumbnail letsthe user edit this track in tandem with audio and MIDI tracks.Individual tracks in the Track list are resizeable.

Thanks to Steinberg's efforts to streamline Nuendo's visual aspect,users may combine a number of associated tracks in a Folder track. Youmay, for example, want to tuck all MIDI tracks into one Folder track,sound effects into another, and voiceovers into a third, leaving eachof the Folder tracks closed when you're not working on them, therebyfreeing screen space for other functions.

Nuendo also supports the creation of multiple ruler tracks. This canbe very helpful to the composer who, for example, needs to think oftime in both musical terms — bars and beats — and asexisting along a SMPTE grid.

FX Channels are also available. These tracks give access to theaudio plug-ins that ship with Nuendo — primarily used to handlecompression and limiting — as well as to third-party plug-ins.Steinberg is the author of the VST plug-in protocol, and Nuendo allowsyou to create VST tracks for any VST instrument. Users can also makegroup channels to control multiple tracks at one time. Anyone who hasused other digital audio sequencers will be immediately comfortablewith the Tracks window and the Event display window to its right.

Why has Nuendo 2.0 gathered such high praise from engineers andmusicians? The sound quality of this application has clearly jumped upseveral notches over earlier releases, due in large part to thedecrease in phase cancellation. The Freeze function allows the user tofree the computer to handle other tasks by committing CPU-intensive VSTtracks to audio tracks, which are less demanding. This function uses32-bit floating-point processing, which results in no loss of audioquality, according to Steinberg. I created a bunch of VST tracks usingSpectrasonics Atmosphere and Trilogy and Steinberg's own Groove Agentplug-in (which is very cool), and I was extremely impressed with thequality of the Freeze function.

Speaking of 32-bit floating point, all of Nuendo 2.0's automationand MIDI functions are resolved to this standard. The result is ahigher degree of accuracy than was possible in Nuendo 1.0 when you, forexample, execute a velocity fade using the Mixer's master fader.Networking capability has also escalated in the new release. You cannetwork projects over a standard LAN or WAN, which means that theInternet now can connect several post facilities with one another.

Nuendo 2.0 also deals with latency very quickly and intelligently.Playing a VST instrument in realtime strains a computer. Simply put,it's impossible for a computer to synchronize a note struck on akeyboard with pre-recorded material because it takes time for theinstrument receiving the sound to report back to the host, which thenhas to output the data through its mix buss. Even in playback, somedelay is introduced.

All digital audio sequencers deal with latency to some degree, butNuendo 2.0 and Cubase SX integrate delay compensation at the corelevel. (Cubase SX is a very near cousin of Nuendo 2.0, which is lessexpensive and lacks some surround, networking, and cross-fadingcapabilities.) Upon playback, every VST plug-in reports a samplelatency to Nuendo's core engine, which then pre-delays — pushesthe track ahead in time — to compensate for this delay. Theresult is a very tightly timed program.

Nuendo 2.0's Mixer is designed extremely well. More important, theequalization is very good, and the summing buss, which is responsiblefor much of any mixer's overall sound level, is outstanding.

It's hard not to think of an SSL board when looking at the Nuendo2.0 mixer — the default color and the look of the icons arereminiscent of this classic line of boards. Once again, Steinberg letsthe user customize the views with a column of buttons on the left sidethat show and hide Meters, Panners, and processors as well as variousgroups of channels, including Audio, MIDI, and VST channels.

If you're serious about surround-sound mixing for audio post, Nuendo2.0 is a must-consider product. You can, for example, change theboard's routing design on the fly. If you're creating a a 5.1 mix andsuddenly realize that you need to execute a backup copy onto a TascamDA98, you can easily create a buss for it. The mixer has, in essence, avery large and flexible patchbay built into it.

If you like to work with real faders, Nuendo 2.0 supports a numberof different control surfaces, including all of the Tascam and Mackiecontrollers, the Yamaha DM2000, and Steinberg's own Houston.

I ran Nuendo 2.0 on a 733MHz Mac G4 running Panther. Although thespeed of the program was acceptable when I tasked it with about 16tracks and some realtime processing, I'd be tempted to move over to aG5 as quickly as possible if I were running a professional studio.Steinberg tells me that, roughly speaking, a 2GHz P4 machine wouldyield the same results on the PC side.

All DAW manufacturers have a large mountain to climb due to thewidespread industry acceptance of Pro Tools. It is also true that manytop music engineers and, increasingly, some in audio post have embracedNuendo because of its audio sheen and functionality. Although Nuendo2.0 is on the high end of the price scale for products I review, I haveincluded it because of its outstanding value.

Gary Eskow, a contributing editor for Mix magazine,is a freelance composer and journalist who lives in central New Jersey.He can be reached through his website at www.garyeskow.com.

Company: Steinberg Burbank, Calif. www.steinberg.net

Product: Nuendo 2.0

Assets: Excellent audio quality; well-designed interface;supports LAN or WAN project networking; high degree of faderaccuracy.

Caveats: Not for the videographer who dabbles casually inaudio.

Demographics: Users looking for a complete DAW, especiallyone with surround-sound mixing.

Price: $1,499; $299 for upgrade.

To comment on this article, email the Video Systems editorialstaff at vsfeedback@primediabusiness.com.