Managing Arranger chains
You can create several Arranger chains. This way, you can create alternative versions for playback. In the Arranger Editor, the toolbar buttons on the right are used for this:
Button Description
Click this to rename the current Arranger chain.
Creates a new, empty Arranger chain.
Creates a duplicate of the current Arranger chain, containing the same events.
Removes the currently selected Arranger chain. Only available if you have created more than one Arranger chain.
The Arranger chains you create will be listed on the Name pop-up menu, found in the Arranger Editor to the left of the buttons, at the top of the Arranger track Inspector, and in the Track list. Please note that to be able to select another Arranger chain from the pop-up menu, Arranger mode must be activated.
• In the Inspector, these functions are accessed from the Arranger pop-up menu (opened by clicking on the Arranger name field).
Flattening the Arranger chain
When you have found an Arranger chain that suits your purposes, you can “flatten” it, i.e. convert the list into a linear project. Proceed as follows:
1. Click the Flatten button (or select Flatten Chain from the pop-up menu in the Inspector for the Arranger track).
The events and parts in the project are reordered, repeated, resized, moved and/or deleted (if these are not within the boundaries of any used Arranger event), so that they correspond exactly to the Arranger chain.
The Flatten button
2. Activate Playback.
The project will now play back exactly as in Arranger mode, but you can view it and work with it as usual.
Flattening the Arranger chain may remove events and parts from the project. Only use the Flatten function when you know you don’t want to edit the Arranger track/chain any more. If in doubt, save a copy of the project before flattening the Arranger chain.
Flattening options
Sometimes it might be useful to keep the original Arranger events even after flattening the Arranger track. By using flattening options you can define which chain should be flattened (Source section), where it should be stored and how it should be named (Destination section) together with other options (Options section).
1.Click the Flattening options button.
2.In the window that appears, select the desired options.
In the Source section you can specify, which Arranger chain should be flattened. The available options are:
Option |
Description |
Current Chain |
If you activate this option, only the current chain will be |
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flattened. |
Checked Chain If you activate this option, you can select the arranger chains you want to flatten in the list to the left.
All Chains |
If you activate this option, all arranger chains of the cur- |
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rent project will be flattened. |
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The Arranger track
The Destination section allows you to choose where the result of the flattening should be saved. The available options are:
Option |
Description |
Current Project |
This option is only available, if you have selected “Current |
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Chain” as Source. If you activate this option, the result of |
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the flattening of the current chain will be saved in the cur- |
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rent project. |
New Project |
If you activate this option, you can flatten one or several |
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chains in a new project. In this case it might be useful to |
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use naming options. If you activate “Append Chain |
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Name”, the Chain Name(s) will be appended in brackets |
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to the project name. If you activate “Use Chain Name”, |
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the new project(s) will have the name of the current Ar- |
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ranger chain(s). If you activate “Add Number”, the new |
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project(s) will be named like the old ones and a number |
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will be appended in brackets. |
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In the Options section you can make further settings. The available options are:
Option |
Description |
Keep Arranger |
If you activate this option, the Arranger Track will be kept |
Track |
when flattening the Arranger chain. If you activate the op- |
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tion “Rename Arranger Events” a number will be ap- |
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pended to the events according to their use. If e.g. you |
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use Arranger event “A” two times, the first occurrence |
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will be renamed “A 1” and the second “A 2”. |
Make Real Event Normally, you will get shared copies when flattening the
Copies |
Arranger track. If you activate this option, real copies will |
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be created instead. |
Don’t Split |
If the option is activated, MIDI notes that start before or |
Events |
are longer than the Arranger event will not be included. |
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Only MIDI notes that begin and end inside the Arranger |
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event boundaries will be taken into account. |
Open New |
If you activate this option, a new project will be created |
Projects |
for every flattened Arranger chain. If you activate the op- |
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tion “Cascade New Projects” the opened projects will be |
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cascaded. |
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3.You can now flatten the Arranger track by clicking the Flatten button.
If you realize that you want to do further arrangements, you can also click the “Go Back” button and make your adjustments. Your Flattening settings will be kept.
4.Click the “Go Back” button to go back to the Arranger Editor or close the window by clicking its Close button.
Live Mode
If you have set up an Arranger track and play it back, you have also the possibility to influence the playback order “live”. Note that the Arranger mode has to be activated to be able to use the Live mode.
1.Add an Arranger track by selecting “Arranger” from the Add Track submenu of the Project menu.
2.Create the desired Arranger events by drawing with the Pencil tool on Arranger track.
3.Set up an Arranger chain in the Inspector for the Arranger track or in the Arranger Editor, activate the Arranger mode and play back your project.
Now you can use your Arranger events listed in the lower section of the Arranger track Inspector to play back your project in Live Mode:
4. Switch into Live mode by clicking on the little arrow in the lower list of the Arranger track Inspector to the left of the Arranger event you want to trigger.
The Arranger event will be looped endlessly, until you click on another Arranger event. This might be useful, if you want to loop e.g. a guitar solo with a flexible length.
• You can stop Live mode by clicking the Stop button or go back to “normal” playback in Arranger mode by clicking on any arranger event in the upper list.
In the latter case, playback will be continued from the arranger event where you clicked. The “Select grid” pop-up menu will always be taken into account. When the grid is set to “1 Bar” and you click the STOP button e.g., playback will be stopped after the next bar.
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The Arranger track
The active Arranger event will be played back as long as defined before jumping to the next.
Option |
Description |
Now |
Jumps to the next section immediately. |
4 bars, |
When one of these modes is selected, a grid of 4 or 2 bars (de- |
2 bars |
pending on the setting) will be placed on the active Arranger |
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event. Whenever the respective grid line is reached, playback |
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will jump to the next Arranger event. An example: |
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Let’s say you have an Arranger event which is 8 bars long and |
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the grid is set to 4 bars. When the cursor is anywhere within the |
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first 4 bars of the Arranger event when you hit the next Arranger |
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event, playback will jump to the next event when the end of the |
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fourth bar of the Arranger event is reached. When the cursor is |
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anywhere within the last 4 bars of the Arranger event, playback |
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will jump to the next event at the end of the event. |
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When an event is shorter than 4 (or 2) bars when this mode is |
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selected, playback will jump to the next section at the event end. |
1 bar |
Jumps to the next section at the next bar line. |
1 beat |
Jumps to the next section at the next beat. |
End |
Plays the current section to the end, then jumps to the next sec- |
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tion. |
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Arranging your music to video
The relative time of your Arranger track can be taken as a reference instead of the project time. This is useful, if you want to use the Arranger track to compose music for video and fill e.g. a specific video section with music, by repeating the corresponding number of Arranger events.
If you position your external sync master device to a position that does not match the Project Start time, Nuendo will jump automatically to the right position in the Arranger track and will start playback from there, i.e. the correct relative position and not the absolute project time will be found. The reference for the external timecode can be MIDI or any other Timecode that can be interpreted/read by Nuendo.
Ö If the Arranger mode is not activated or no Arranger track exists, Nuendo will work as usual.
Below follows an example, that will help you understand this functionality:
1.Set up a project with a MIDI track and three MIDI parts. The first should start at position 00:00:00:00 and end at position 00:01:00:00, the second should start at position 00:01:00:00 and end at position 00:02:00:00 and the third should start at position 00:02:00:00 and end at position 00:03:00:00.
2.Activate the Sync button on the transport panel.
3.Add an Arranger track and create Arranger events that match the MIDI parts.
4.Set up the Arranger chain “A-A-B-B-C-C”, activate the Arranger mode and play back your project.
5.Start external Timecode at position 00:00:10:00 (within the range of "A").
In your project, the position 00:00:10:00 will be located and you will hear "A" playing. Nothing special!
Now, let’s see what happens if your external sync master device starts at a position that does not match the Project Start time:
6.Start at 00:01:10:00 (within the range of what originally was "B").
In your project, the position 00:01:10:00 will be located and you will hear "A" playing, because it plays twice in the Arranger track.
7.Start external Timecode at position 00:02:10:00 (within the range of what originally was "C").
In your project, the position 00:02:10:00 will be located and you will hear "B" playing, because it plays "later" in the Arranger track.
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The Arranger track