The programs of VST2 plug-ins also can be converted to VST3 presets. For more information about plug-ins, please refer to the separate manual “Nuendo Expansion Kit – Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo 4”.

Browsing for presets

Using the Sound Browser

When browsing track presets, the quickest way is to use the Sound Browser, as it is set up specifically to display track and VST presets.

To open this browser, select “Open Sound Browser” on the Media menu.

The Sound Browser.

In the Sound Browser, you can preview track and VST presets as well as select them to drag and drop them into the project to create new tracks (see “Creating tracks from track presets or VST presets” on page 333) or to apply them to existing tracks (see “Applying audio, MIDI and instrument track presets” on page 334).

The general handling of the Sound Browser is the same as for the MediaBay, see “The MediaBay” on page 314.

Dialogs related to VST Sound

When you work with track presets, you will find the same user interface in all “Add Track” and “Browse Sounds” dialogs and the Presets browser.

Ö Note that some of the dialogs will save their last state. They may therefore not look exactly like the dialogs described below.

Browse Presets section

When you create a new track, the Add Track dialog opens:

The “Add MIDI Track” dialog.

(For a more detailed description of the Add Track dialog, see “Handling tracks” on page 38.)

Click “Browse Presets...” to open the Browse Presets section with the Category search and a list of all available presets. For details, see “Performing a Category search” on page 320.

The Add Track dialog with the Browse Presets section opened.

Browser section

In addition to the Browse Presets section, you can click “Show Location” to open the Browser section. It is similar to the one in the MediaBay (see “Browsing for media files” on page 316), but only necessary if you want to take an explicit look at the contents of Presets subfolders, as you can’t move up to other folders.

The Presets browser

When you apply a track or VST preset to an existing track or when you extract a sound, the Presets browser opens, allowing you e.g. to preview the presets.

The Add Track dialog for a MIDI track with all sections open.

When you select a MIDI or instrument track preset (or a VST preset), you can see a preview section below the list. The preview works like the one in the Scope section in the MediaBay (see “Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST presets independently of tracks” on page 336).

The Presets browser for an audio track preset.

The Browse Sounds dialog

Normally, the view of the Browse Presets section is filtered to show only track presets of a certain kind. Therefore, if you want to see all available presets, e.g. also multi track and VST presets, you can open the Browse Sounds dialog.

Browse Sounds dialog showing all available track and VST presets.

Creating a track preset

A track preset is created from an existing audio, MIDI or instrument track – or several of these tracks. Proceed as follows:

1. Select one or more tracks in the Project window.

If several are selected, all of them are stored in one combined multi track preset, see “Multi track presets” on page 330.

2. Right-click one of the selected tracks in the track list to open the context menu and select “Create Track Preset”.

The Save Track Preset dialog opens. The buttons on top work like the corresponding ones in the MediaBay, see “Folder operations” on page 318.

3. Enter a file name in the “File Name” field.

The track preset file name extension .trackpreset is assigned automatically.

In the case of MIDI files, you have the additional option of including the MIDI channel or the MIDI patch, see “Include MIDI Channel or MIDI Patch” on page 329.

4. If you want to apply tags, click on “Tag Editor”.

The available tags are displayed (on how to edit the list of available tags, see “Managing the tag lists” on page 323). To enter a value, click in the value field. For many tags, e.g. “Character” and “Style”, pop-up menus open in which you can select an entry. In case of a free text entry, enter the text in the text field. For more information about the Tag Editor, see “Editing tags in the Tag Editor” on page 324.

Ö As the category search is based on the tags, we highly recommend that you use them.

5. Click OK to create the track preset.

Track presets are saved in the “Track Presets” folder in default subfolders named according to their track type (audio, MIDI, instrument and multi). For further information, see “Where are the settings stored?” on page 514.

You cannot change the default folders, but you can add further subfolders, e.g. “drums” and “choir”.

All presets are available under the (virtual) VST Sound node, see “The VST Sound node” on page 318.

Creating tracks from track presets or VST presets

Creating tracks via drag and drop

1. Open the Sound Browser.

You can also drag and drop from the Windows Explorer or the Mac OS Finder, but in this case, no preview for MIDI and instrument track presets is possible.

2.Select a track or VST preset from the list of all presets.

At this point you can preview selected MIDI and instrument track presets as well as VST presets, see “Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST presets independently of tracks” on page 336.

3.Drag and drop the track preset onto the track list in the Project window.

One or more (in case of multi track presets) tracks will be created. If you drag and drop a VST instrument preset, this will result in an instrument track.

Creating tracks in the Browse Sounds dialog

1.Right-click the track list to open the context menu and, on the Add Track submenu, select “Browse Sounds…”.

The Browse Sounds dialog opens.

2.Select a track or VST preset from the list of all presets.

At this point you can preview selected MIDI and instrument track presets as well as VST presets, see “Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST presets independently of tracks” on page 336. If you want to list a certain track preset type only, open the respective folder in the Browser section.

3.Click OK to create one or more (in case of multi track presets) tracks.

Creating one or more audio, MIDI or instrument tracks with the Add Track function

1. To create one or more new tracks from a track preset, proceed as if adding a new track by selecting the corresponding option on the context menu (or by using the key command).

A dialog opens, in this example the “Add Audio track” dialog:

• If you want to create more than one track of this type, enter the number in the Count field.

2.Click “Browse Presets” to open the Browse Presets section of the “Add Track” dialog.

The view is filtered to show only the corresponding track presets, e.g. if you choose “Add Audio Track”, only audio track presets will be displayed.

3.Select a track or VST preset.

At this point, you can preview selected MIDI and instrument track presets as well as VST presets, see “Previewing MIDI, instrument and VST presets independently of tracks” on page 336.

4. Click OK to create the track(s).

The new track(s) will be named after the original track (not the track preset).

Ö As adding multiple tracks is not available as menu option, multi track presets can only be used for track creation via drag and drop or the “Browse Sounds” dialog.

Applying track presets

Track presets can be applied to tracks of their own type only, i.e. audio track presets to audio tracks, etc.

When you apply a track preset, all saved settings are applied, see “Types of track presets” on page 328.

• For instrument tracks, VST presets are also available. Since VST presets have no modifiers, MIDI inserts, inserts or EQs, applying them leads to removal of your current settings for these, see “Inserts and EQ settings from track presets” on page 337.

Applying audio, MIDI and instrument track presets

Applying track or VST presets via drag and drop

1. Open the Sound Browser from the Media menu.

You can also drag and drop from the Windows Explorer or the Mac OS Finder, but in this case, no preview for track presets is possible.

2. Select a track or VST preset.

At this point, you can preview selected presets, see “Previewing track or VST presets before applying” on page 336.

3. Drag and drop it onto a track of the same type.

Applying track or VST presets in the Inspector or the context menu of the track

Proceed as follows:

1.Select a track in the Project window.

2.Click the VST Sound button in the Inspector or rightclick the track to open the context menu and select “Apply Track Preset”.

Click here to open the Presets browser.

In both cases, the Presets browser opens. Here, the files are sorted by categories.

At this point you can preview selected presets, see “Previewing track or VST presets before applying” on page 336.

4. Click outside the browser to apply the selected preset or click the Reset button below the list to return to the unchanged track.

Ö Once the track preset is applied, you cannot undo the changes!

In the Inspector, you can see which preset was applied last, in this example “Jazz Bazz”.

Applying a multi track preset

To be able to apply a multi track preset, certain requirements have to be met. Proceed as follows:

1. Select several tracks in your project.

The selected tracks have to be of the same type, number and sequence as the tracks in the track preset.

2.Right-click the track to open the context menu and select “Apply Track Preset”.

The Presets browser opens. Only multi track presets corresponding to the selection of tracks in the project will be shown.

3.Select a multi track preset from the list.

4.Click outside the browser to apply the selected preset or click the Reset button below the list to return to the unchanged track.

Reloading track or VST presets

To revert to the default settings of the applied preset, click the “Reload Track Preset” button.

Applying another track or VST preset

To apply another track or VST preset, open the Presets browser as described above and select another preset.

Removing a track or VST preset from a track

It is not possible to remove an applied preset from a track and return to the previous state. If you are unsatisfied with the track settings, you can either edit the settings manually or apply another preset.

Extracting sound from an instrument track or VST preset

For instrument tracks, you can extract the “sound” of an instrument track preset or VST preset, that means the VST Instrument and its settings.

Proceed as follows:

1.Select the instrument track to which you want to apply a sound.

2.Click the VST Sound button below the Output Routing field in the Inspector.

The Presets browser opens, showing a list of all available presets.