Saving partial preferences settings

It is also possible to save partial preferences settings. This is useful when you have made settings that only relate to a certain project or situation, for example. When you apply a saved partial preference preset, you only change the saved settings. All other preferences will be left unchanged.

When you have made your specific preferences settings, proceed as follows to save the partial settings as a preset:

1.Open the Preferences dialog.

2.Activate “Store marked preferences only”.

A new “Store” column is added in the Preferences page list.

3.Click in the Store column of the Preferences items you wish to save.

Note that if you activate a Preferences page that contains subpages, these will also be activated automatically. If this is not what you want, simply deactivated the subpages.

4.Click the Store button in the lower left section of the Preferences dialog.

A dialog opens, allowing you to type in a name for the preset. It is a good idea to choose a descriptive name for a partial preference preset, preferably relating to the saved settings (for example “Configuration” or “Edit- ing-Controls”).

5.Click OK to save.

Your saved settings will now be available from the Preference Presets pop-up for your future projects.

Appearance

In the Preferences dialog, you will find a page called Appearance. It contains three sub-pages on which you will find the following settings:

General

The three controls on the General page affect the appearance of the windows that surround the controls and workspaces in Nuendo.

•Saturation determines how rich the background colors are, from gray to blue.

•Contrast determines how bright or dark the background is in relation to controls and displays.

•Brightness lightens or darkens the background.

Meters

The coloring of meters in Nuendo can be controlled in sophisticated ways. Multiple colors can help to visually indicate what levels are being reached, e.g. in a channel of the VST Mixer. To do this, the meter on the Appearances– Meters page has color handles that allow you to define what color the meter will have at a given signal level.

The Appearances–Meters page in the Preferences dialog.

• The default setting has four color handles. Each color handle has a unique color that gradually shifts as the meter moves toward the next color handle.

You can click on any color handle and move its position in the meter scale. If you hold down [Shift] while moving the handle with the mouse, it will move ten times slower for more precise positioning. You may also nudge the color handle’s position with the Arrow Up/Down keys. Holding Shift while nudging will move the color handle ten times faster.

•You can add color handles by [Alt]/[Option]-clicking anywhere along the side of the meter scale. To remove a color handle, [Ctrl]/[Command]-click the handle.

By adding more color handles to the meter scale, you can define colors for more specific signal levels. Try adding two color handles very close to one another. You can make the meter color change more rapidly at a specific signal level this way.

•To change the color of a handle, select the handle by either clicking on it or by jumping to it with the Tab key (hold down [Shift] and press the Tab key to jump backwards).

Then use the hue and brightness controls on the right side to alter the handle’s color.

The currently selected color handle is indicated by a black triangle on its left side.

Work Area

The work areas in Nuendo are those places where the actual data are displayed such as the project window event display. In these areas, there are items such as vertical and horizontal grid lines that can be altered in intensity by the controls found on this page.

Track colors

Applying track colors manually

To activate track colors, proceed as follows:

1. Click the Show/Hide Track Colors button at the top of the Track list.

This brings up the track color selector in the Inspector, the Track list and in the Mixer.

2. To bring up the color palette, click the track color selector.

Click the arrow in the track name title bar or…

Applying track and event colors

You can use color scheming for easier overview of tracks and events in the Project window. Applying colors is divided into two areas; track and event colors.

•A track color is shown and can be edited in the Inspector, the Track list, and the corresponding channel in the Mixer. It is furthermore displayed in all parts and events for the track in the event display.

Track colors can be switched on and off globally.

•Event colors are shown for parts and events in the event display and are independent from the track colors.

Ö An applied event color “overrides” the track color, if both are used.

The color palette can be customized, see “The Event Colors dialog” on page 514.

…click the color strip in the Track list.

In the Mixer, click the track color selector below the channel name.

3. Select a color from the color bar.

The track color is now reflected in the Inspector title palette and the Track list as well as in the Mixer and any parts and events on the selected track.

Applying track colors automatically

In the Preferences (Editing–Project & Mixer page), you can find the option “Auto Track Color Mode”.

This offers you several options for automatically assigning colors to tracks that are added to the project.

Coloring parts and events

There are two ways to color parts and events in the Project window:

Using the color selector

1.Select the desired parts or events.

2.Choose a color from the color selector in the toolbar.

Using the color tool

1.On the toolbar, select the color tool (the paint bucket icon).

2.Click the small strip below it to bring up the color palette.

3.Select the desired color.

4.Click on a part/event to assign the color.

The color is applied to all selected parts/events and overrides the track color (if used).

•If you press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on a part/event with the color tool, the color palette is displayed and you can choose the desired color for an event.

•If you press [Alt]/[Option], the color tool cursor becomes a pipette, which can be used to select a color by clicking on a part/event.

Customizing the event background

On the Event Display page in the Preferences, you can find the option “Colorize Event Background”.

This option affects the display of events in the project window.

•When this is activated, the background of the events and parts in the event display will be shown in the selected color.

•When this is deactivated, the event “content”, i.e. MIDI events, audio waveforms, etc. will be displayed in the selected color and the event background will be displayed in gray.

The Event Colors dialog

You can open the Event Colors dialog in two ways:

• Double-click the small strip below the color tool.

• Open the Color pop-up menu on the toolbar and select “Select Colors…”.

In the Event Colors dialog, you can fully customize the color palette, apart from the default color (gray).

To add new colors to the color palette, proceed as follows:

1.Click the Insert New Color button in the Event Colors section to add a new color.

A new color icon and color name are added to the Event Colors section.

2.Click the color field next to the name field to activate the new color for editing.

3.In the Standard Colors section, select the standard color. You can modify the selected color in the following way:

• Drag the cursor to another point in the color circle.

• Movethe handle in the color meter.

• Enter the values for red, green and blue and hue, saturation and luminosity manually.

4.Click the Apply button in the Standard Colors section.

The color setting is applied to the selected color item.

You can edit every existing event color in the same way.

•To delete an event color item, select it and click the “Remove Selected Color” button in the Event Colors section.

•To increase or decrease the intensity and the brightness of all colors, use the corresponding buttons in the Event Colors section.

•To save the current set as default, click the button “This set as default set” in the Event Colors section. You can then click the button “Use default set” to the right to apply the saved default set.

•To return to the standard setting of the palette in Nuendo, click Reset.

Where are the settings stored?

As you have seen, there are a large number of ways in which you can customize Nuendo. While some of the settings you make are stored in each project, others are stored in separate preference files.

If you need to transfer your projects to another computer (e.g. in another studio), you can bring all your settings along by copying the desired preference files and installing them on the other computer.

Ö It’s a good idea to make a backup copy of your preference files once you have set things up the way you want!

This way, if another Nuendo user wants to use his or her personal settings when working on your computer, you can restore your own preferences afterwards.

•Under Windows, preference files are stored in the folder “\Documents and Settings\<user name>\Application Data\Steinberg\Nuendo 4\”.

If you run the 64 bit version of Nuendo, this folder is called “Nuendo 64bit”. On the Start menu, you will find a shortcut to this folder for easy access.

•Under Mac OS X, preference files are stored in the folder “Library/Preferences/Nuendo 4/” under your home directory.

The full path would be: “/Users/<user name>/Library/Preferences/ Nuendo 4/”.

ÖThe RAMpresets.xml file, which contains various presets settings (see below), is saved when exiting the program.

ÖProgram functions (e.g. crossfade) or configurations (e.g. panels) not used in the project will not be stored.

Below, the available preferences files are listed. When files are not saved in the default preferences folder (see above), the complete path will be shown. When files are saved in a further subfolder of the default folder, the path will begin with the name of this folder:

MediaBay Content ContentManager.xml

MIDI FX presets \Presets\<Plugin Name>\<Plugin Name>.xml