The Settings section

The options in the Settings section of the Automation panel

In the Settings section of the Automation panel you will find a number of global options and commands.

The Functions pop-up menu

At the top of the Settings section you will find the Functions pop-up menu. Here you will find a number of global commands affecting automation.

Ö You can always undo these actions!

Delete All Automation in Project

This global command will remove all automation data from your project. Use this option with great caution, otherwise you may loose your work.

Delete Automation of Selected Tracks

When you select this command, all automation data for the selected track(s) will be removed. Make sure you have selected the right track(s) before using this option.

Delete Automation in Range

This command will delete, on all tracks, all automation data between the left and right locator. Be sure that this is what you want to do before proceeding!

Fill Gaps on Selected Tracks

When working with virgin territory (see “Virgin territory vs. the initial value” on page 217), selecting this option will, on the selected track(s), fill the gaps between those sections of the project that show automation curves with a continuous value.

The value used is the value of the last break-point (the end point) of a section. This value is written across the gap up to one millisecond before the first break-point of the next automated section. A new break-point is inserted here; the value will be ramped to the next automated section.

Fill Gaps with current Value (Selected Tracks)

When working with virgin territory (see “Virgin territory vs. the initial value” on page 217), selecting this option will, on the selected track(s), fill the gaps between those sections of the project that show automation curves with the value set by the current position of the corresponding control.

Global options

Return Time

The Return Time setting determines how fast the automated parameter returns to any previously automated value when you release the mouse button.

The default setting is 33ms. Make sure that the return time is set to a value larger than 0, to prevent sudden jumps in your parameter settings (which may lead to crackles).

Reduction Level

The automation reduction function automatically reduces the number of automation events. During an automation pass (or when drawing automation with the Pencil tool), these are added as a continuous stream of densely packed break-points. This is necessary because the program cannot “guess” what you will be doing next.

However, when punching out, the reduction function will remove all break-points that are not needed. The automation curve will contain only the break-points necessary to reproduce your actions.

For example, all break-points that lie between two other points, but do not deviate from the curve, will be automatically removed by reduction.

If you try to add a break-point that doesn’t deviate from the existing curve between two existing points…

…it will be removed when the mouse is released. If you move the selected break-point by any amount so that the resulting curve isn’t a straight line, a new event will be added.

• If you are unhappy with the default setting (a reduction of roughly 75%), you can change it, but normally the default setting works well.

The higher the number of automation events, the higher the CPU load. If performance is an issue in your workflow, you should consider moving the reduction level slider further to the right, to remove more events.

Max. Log Entries

This setting refers to the Punch Log and is described in “The Punch Log section” on page 227.

Show Data on Tracks

When this option is enabled, audio waveforms or MIDI events will be displayed not only on the audio or MIDI tracks, but also on the corresponding automation tracks.

Ö Note that this depends on two options in the Preferences dialog: The events will be displayed only when the option “Show waveforms” (Event Display–Audio) is enabled and when “Part Data Mode” (Event Display–MIDI) is set to an option other than “No data”.

Use Virgin Territory

This option is described in detail in the section “Virgin territory vs. the initial value” on page 217.

Hints and further options

Automation key commands

In the Key Commands dialog (opened from the File menu in Nuendo), in the Commands section on the left, you will find an Automation category which lists all automation commands to which you can assign key commands.

How to assign key commands is described in detail in the chapter “Key commands” on page 517.

About automation undo

Every automation write operation you perform creates its own event in the undo history, so you can undo or redo any of your automation moves at any time.

About linking and automation

Nuendo allows you to link, in the mixer window, various parameters between different channels (see “Link/Unlink channels” on page 145).

Also, in the channel settings window, you can link a send’s panorama settings to the panorama settings displayed in the channel strip (by enabling the option “Link Send Routing Panners to Channel Panner as Default” in the Prefer- ences–VST page).

•When automating the settings of a channel that is linked to another channel in the mixer, the parameters of the linked channel will NOT be automated.

•For linked panners of sends and channels, automating one panner will automate the linked panner as well.

Automation track operations

About automation tracks

Audio tracks, group channel tracks and FX channel tracks all have automation tracks. These allow you to view and edit the automation of all mixer settings for the track, including settings for the track’s insert effects. There is one automation track for each parameter, and automation tracks can be shown or hidden in any combination.

Similarly, MIDI tracks have automation tracks for mixer settings, track parameters and (if used) for send and insert effect settings.

VST Instruments have special automation tracks that appear in the Project window when you load a VST Instrument via the VST Instruments window. There is one automation track for the plug-in parameters, and one track for each mixer channel used by the instrument. These tracks all have automation tracks, giving you access to all parameters and mixer settings.

Instrument tracks, as a combination of a MIDI track and a VST Instrument, have automation tracks that provide automation parameters for the VST Instrument itself, for the VST Instrument channel and the respective MIDI automation parameters.

Finally, for ReWire channels and input/output channels, automation tracks are automatically added as soon as you activate automation (with the Write button) in the corresponding mixer channel strip or in the Channel Settings window. These tracks have automation tracks for all parameters as well.

Opening automation tracks

Every track/channel has a number of automation tracks, each showing one automation parameter.

For audio, Instrument, group channel, MIDI and FX channel tracks, there are two ways you can open an automation track for the channel:

• By right-clicking the track in the Track list and selecting “Show Automation” from the context menu.

• By clicking along the left edge of the track in the Track list. (Also, when you position the mouse pointer over the lower left corner of the track, a corresponding arrow icon (“Show/Hide Automation”) appears.)

An automation track opens in the Track list. Depending on your Preference settings (see above), the event display shows a straight black horizontal line as well as a grayed out mirror image of the audio events’ waveform (or MIDI events for MIDI tracks). By default, the volume parameter is assigned to the first automation track.

Click here to open an automation track

For VST Instruments (not for Instrument tracks, see below), automation tracks appear automatically when you add them in the VST Instruments window.

For ReWire channels and input/output busses, automation tracks are automatically created when the Write automation button (see “Enabling and disabling the writing of automation data” on page 214) is activated in either:

•The corresponding channel strip in the mixer.

•The corresponding Channel Settings window.

•The mixer common panel (“All Automation to Write Status”).

•The area above the Track list (“All Automation to Write Status”).

Opening additional automation tracks

• If you position the mouse pointer over the lower left corner of an automation track, a “+” sign (“Append Automation Track”) will appear. If you click this, another automation track opens, by default showing the next parameter in the Add Parameter list (see below).

Assigning a parameter to an automation track

Default parameters are already assigned to automation tracks when you open them, according to their order in the Add Parameter list (see below).

To select which parameter an open automation track should display, proceed as follows:

1.If none exists, open an automation track using one of the methods described above.

2.Click in the parameter display for the automation track.

A pop-up list is shown, containing some of the automation parameters plus the item “More...” at the bottom of the list. The contents of the list depend on the track type (audio, MIDI, VST instrument, etc.).

•If the parameter you wish to automate is on the pop-up menu, you can select it directly.

The parameter will then replace the current parameter in the automation track.

•If you wish to add a parameter not available on the popup menu or want to view all parameters that can be automated, go on to the next step.

3. Select “More...”.

The Add Parameter dialog appears. This dialog shows a list with all parameters that can be automated for the selected channel (sorted into different categories), including the parameters for any assigned insert effects. To view the parameters in each category, click the “+” sign for the category folder.

The Add Parameter dialog for an audio track.

4. Select a parameter from the list and click OK.

The parameter will then replace the current parameter in the automation track.

Ö Note that the “replacing” of the parameter displayed in the automation track is completely non-destructive.

For example, if the automation track contained any automation data for the parameter you just replaced, this data will still be there, although it will not be visible after you replaced the parameter. If you click in the parameter display you can switch back to the replaced parameter. On the pop-up menu, all automated parameters are indicated by an asterisk (*) after the parameter name.

The Volume parameter is automated.

You can click the “Append Automation Track” button (the “+” sign) for the automation track several times to open additional automation tracks. Repeat the above procedure to assign a parameter to each automation track.

Showing/hiding automation tracks

•To hide a single automation track, position the pointer over the top left border of the automation track in the Track list and click the “Hide Automation Track” button (the minus sign).

•To hide all automation tracks for a track, right-click the track for which you wish to hide the automation tracks, and select “Hide Automation” from the context menu.

•To hide all automation tracks for all tracks in the Track list, right-click any track and select “Hide All Automation” from the context menu.

This option is also available in the Track Folding submenu of the Project menu.

•On the Automation panel, you can hide or show automation tracks using the options in the Show section.

See “The Show options” on page 228.

Showing only used automation tracks

Removing automation tracks

To remove automation tracks from the Track list, proceed as follows:

•To remove a single automation track, click the parameter name and select “Remove Parameter” from the pop-up menu.

Note that this will also delete any automation events on the automation track, and the automation track will be closed.

•To remove all currently unused automation tracks from a track in the Track list, select “Remove Unused Parameters” from any of its automation track parameter name pop-ups.

All automation tracks that do not contain automation events will be closed for the selected track.

•On the Automation panel, you will find the Delete options in the Functions pop-up menu (see “The Functions pop-up menu” on page 229).

Using these commands will also lead to the removal of automation tracks.

If a lot of automation tracks are used, it may be impractical to have them all open in the Track list. If you want to view only the automation tracks that are used (i.e. those that actually contain automation events) and hide all empty automation tracks, do one of the following:

•Right-click any track in the Track list and select the option “Show All Used Automation” from the pop-up menu.

This will close all automation tracks not containing any automation events, while leaving used automation tracks open for all tracks. This option is also available in the Track Folding submenu of the Project menu.

•Right-click a specific track and select the option “Show Used Automation (Selected Track)” from the context menu.

This will close all automation tracks for the selected track not containing any automation events, while leaving used automation tracks open.

Muting automation tracks

You can mute individual automation tracks by clicking their Mute buttons in the Track list. Clicking the Read (R) button (see “Enabling and disabling the writing of automation data” on page 214) for an automation track will activate or deactivate Read mode for all automated parameters of the track. Using the Mute button allows you to turn off automation for a single parameter.

The “Automation follows Events” setting

If you activate “Automation follows Events” on the Edit menu (or in the Preferences–Editing page), automation events will automatically follow when you move an event or part on the track.

This makes it easy to set up automation related to a specific event or part, rather than to a specific position in the project. For example, you can automate the panning of a sound effect event (having the sound pan from left to right, etc.) – if you need to move the event, the automation will automatically follow! The rules are:

•All automation events for the track between the start and end of the event or part will be moved.

If there are automation events in the new position (to which you move the part or event), these will be overwritten.

•If you copy an event or part (using Copy/Paste, or [Alt]/ [Option]-dragging, or using the Duplicate or Repeat functions), the automation events will be duplicated as well.

Ö Please note that not all Inspector tabs are shown by default. You can show/hide Inspector sections by rightclicking on an Inspector tab and activating/deactivating the desired option(s).

Make sure to click on an Inspector tab and not on the empty area below the Inspector, as this will open the Quick context menu instead.

2.Open the control panel for the effect by clicking the Edit button (“e”) above the insert effect slot in the Inspector.

3.Click the Write button in the control panel to enable Write mode.

The Read button is enabled as well. All effects and VST Instruments have Write/Read buttons on their control panels. These work exactly like the corresponding buttons in the mixer or in the Track list.

4.Start playback and adjust some effect parameters in the control panel.

When you are finished, stop playback and return to the position where you started playback.

5.Disable Write.

The Read button remains enabled.

6. Start playback and watch the control panel.

All actions you performed during the previous playback will be reproduced exactly.

Assigning an automated parameter to an automation track

To select which parameter is currently shown in the automation track for a channel, proceed as follows:

1. Click on the parameter name for the channel’s automation track.

The parameter name pop-up list is shown containing the automation parameters for the plug-in. The parameter(s) you previously automated are indicated by an asterisk after the parameter name in the list.

Recording plug-in automation

Every parameter for every assigned effect or VST Instrument can be automated in much the same manner as described above.

The following example assumes that you have assigned an insert effect to an FX channel track (see the chapter “Audio effects” on page 168), and describes how to record automation for the effect:

1. Select the FX channel track in the Track list and open its Inserts section in the Inspector.

If the Inspector is hidden, click the “Show Inspector” button in the Project window toolbar.

Automated parameters for the PingPongDelay effect.

2. Select the parameter you wish to view from the parameter display pop-up.

The automation curve for the parameter you selected is displayed on the automation track.