The MediaBay

Introduction

Modern media production involves having to deal with a multitude of media files, e.g. audio, MIDI, video, etc.

Nuendo features a powerful media file management database that allows you to control all your media files from within your sequencer program. This may involve several different tasks:

•You can browse the folders of your file system to view folders and files.

•You can define searches to find specific files and filter the search results.

•You can organize your files in a folder structure.

•You can use the tagging features to assign your files to specific categories, and use these categories as the basis for your searches.

Which file formats are supported?

The following media file formats are supported by the Nuendo Media Management System:

•Audio: .wav, .w64, .aiff, .aifc, .rex, .rx2, .mp3, .mp2, .ogg,

.sd2, .wma (Windows only)

•MIDI: .mid and .midiloop

•Track Presets: .trackpreset

These are templates for audio tracks, MIDI tracks and instrument tracks. Track Presets are described in detail in the chapter “Track Presets” on page 327.

• VST Presets: .vstpreset

VST presets are files containing all parameter settings for a particular VST plug-in. VST preset files are described in detail in the section “Inserts and EQ settings from track presets” on page 337.

•Video: .avi, .mov, .qt, .mpg, .wmv (Windows only)

•Project files (from Cubase, Nuendo, Sequel): .cpr, .npr,

.steinberg-project

Accessing the Media Management System

Nuendo provides the following options to access the Media Management System:

• Pull down the Media menu and select “Open MediaBay”, “Open Loop Browser” or “Open Sound Browser” (or use the respective key commands).

When one of these windows is open, selecting the menu option or using the key command will close it instead.

The preconfigured windows of the Media Management System

The Media Management System in Nuendo can be accessed via the MediaBay, the Loop Browser or the Sound Browser.

Which of these to use depends entirely on your working environment, and you may find that you want to change the default setup to better meet your requirements.

•By default, the MediaBay is configured to show all window sections and display all file types. The default search mode is Details search.

If you want to work on media files of various types, if you have to move files to different locations using the Browser section, or if you want to perform other general file management tasks, the MediaBay is probably the best view configuration.

•The Loop Browser is configured to show audio files, with Category search mode selected by default.

Use this if your focus is on audio files of any kind.

•The Sound Browser is focussed on the VST Sound node (see “The VST Sound node” on page 318). Its filter buttons are set to showing track preset and VST preset files. Its default search mode is the Category search.

Use this if you want to work with the available presets.

Whenever you read about the “MediaBay” in this manual, please remember the following:

Ö The MediaBay is only one of these three preconfigured views of the Nuendo Media Management System. In the MediaBay window, all controls of the Media Management System are visible by default, so we will refer to the MediaBay throughout this manual when describing functions. However, what you can do in the MediaBay can also be done in the Loop Browser and the Sound Browser.

Window overview

The Filter section, see “Finding files in the Viewer section” on page 319.

The Browser section, see “Browsing for media files” on page 316.

The Viewer section, see “Finding files in the Viewer section” on page 319.

The Tag Editor, see “The Tag Editor” on page 323.

The Scope section, see “Previewing files in the Scope section” on page 322.

The info line

The info line is located at the bottom of the window.

The info line shows the number of files displayed in the Viewer section and the path to the folder selected in the Browser section in which these files were found.

MediaBay sections

You can use the three buttons below the Browser section to show/hide the respective sections in the MediaBay window. The Viewer section cannot be hidden.

Click this button to hide the Browser section.

• You can change the size of the individual sections by dragging the divider line between two sections.

Browsing for media files

To the left in the default MediaBay window you will find the Browser section.

• When saving a Nuendo project, the current status of the MediaBay is also saved.

This means that if the MediaBay was open when you saved a project, it will be opened again the next time you open this particular project. The last MediaBay window configuration will also be restored.

The Browser section of the MediaBay window

Ö Note that the Browser section can only show folders; any media files contained in a selected folder are displayed in the Viewer section to the right.

This also depends on the “Deep Results” setting, see “Filtering the Viewer display” on page 319.

Scanning operations

When you open the MediaBay, the Loop Browser or the Sound Browser for the first time, a scan for the media files needs to be performed. Specify which folders or directories should be included in the scan by activating the check boxes to the left of their name. Depending on the amount of media files on your computer, the scan may take a while. The scan result is saved in the MediaBay database.

• To include a folder, activate its check box.

These folders will be scanned for files.

• You can also only scan individual subfolders.

This will be reflected in the icon for the folder the subfolder resides in.

Only the VST3 Presets subfolder of the Factory Content folder will be scanned for files. The Track presets folder will not be searched.

When you select a folder in the Browser display, the MediaBay will scan this folder and all its subfolders for media files, even if they have been scanned before (unless “Rescan on select” is deactivated, see below).

• When “Stop scanning folders when closing MediaBay” is activated in the Preferences dialog (MediaBay page), Nuendo will scan for media files only when the MediaBay window is open. When this is deactivated, the folders will be scanned in the background, even when the MediaBay window is not open.

Even if scanning in the background is activated, Nuendo will not scan folders while playing back or recording.

Scanning indicator and status

At the top right in the in the Viewer section, you will find the scanning indicator, which shows whether the MediaBay is scanning for files or whether the scan is complete.

When this indicator appears, a scan is performed.

• When the folders specified in the Browser section are being scanned, the scanning indicator appears.

• When the scan is complete, the scanning indicator will not be shown.

The scanning status for the individual folders in the Browser section is indicated by the color of the icons:

•A red icon means that this folder is currently being scanned.

•A light blue icon means this folder has been scanned.

•Orange folder icons are displayed when a scanning process was interrupted.

•Yellow icons are displayed for folders that have not been scanned.

Deep Results

Clicking the “Deep Results” button switches the Viewer display between showing only the folders and files contained in the selected folder, and showing the files contained in the selected folder and in any subfolders (without showing the subfolders).

The Deep Results button

About “Rescan on Select”

The “Rescan on Select” button

• When this button is activated, selecting a folder in the Browser section will always cause this folder to be rescanned. This ensures that the MediaBay will always display the current content of a folder.

When a folder contains a large number of media files, the scanning process may take some time – you may want to deactivate “Rescan on Select”, if you know that you haven’t made any changes to the content of your media folders since they were last scanned.

• When “Rescan on Select” is deactivated, you can always right-click in the Browser section and select “Refresh” from the context menu to force a rescan of the currently selected folder.

Folder operations

The Browser section shows the folder structure of your computer’s file system in a way very similar to the Windows Explorer or the Mac OS Finder:

•Click on the folder icons in the Browser display to select the corresponding folder.

•Double-click on the folder icons in the Browser display to open the corresponding folder.

•When a folder contains subfolders, this is indicated by a plus icon in front of the folder icon. The plus icon changes to a minus icon when the folder is open. To open or close a folder, you can also click the plus/minus icons.

•You can switch the Browser display between the Full view and the Focus view.

Focussing a selected folder means showing only this folder and any subfolders it contains. Any folder levels above the focussed folder are not displayed. When you switch back to the Full view, the entire file system node can be accessed.

The Focus view for the Audio folder.

•You can hide all folders not being scanned for files by clicking the “Show Mediabay Managed Items Only” button.

This will keep the list less cluttered.

•Use the buttons “Previous Browse Location”, “Next Browse Location” and “Browse Containing Folder” to navigate to folders.

Click “Previous Browse Location” or “Next Browse Location” to select the previous or next folder in a sequence of previously selected folders. Clicking the “Browse Containing Folder” button will select the parent folder of the previously selected folder.

• You can create a new folder inside the folder selected in the Browser section by clicking the “Create New Folder” button (the folder icon).

A dialog is opened in which you can enter a name for the new folder.

The VST Sound node

The VST Sound node in the Browser section.

The Browser section provides a shortcut to user content and factory content files, including the preset folders. You find this node at the top of the Browser folder hierarchy, at the same level as the File System node.

• The folders below the VST Sound node represent the folders in which content files and newly created track presets, VST presets, etc. are stored by default.

To find out the “true” location of such a file, right-click on it in the Viewer section and select “Open in Explorer” (Win)/“Reveal in Finder” (Mac). This will open an Explorer/Finder window in which the corresponding file is highlighted.

Creating Favorites

If you constantly find yourself returning to specific folders during your work, you can save these browse locations as presets so that selecting such a preset will take you to the folder instantly. Proceed as follows:

1.Select the desired folder in the folder display.

2.Click the Add Browse Location Preset button (the “+” icon).

A naming dialog for the new preset is displayed.

3.Accept the default name (the complete folder path) or enter a new name for the preset.