Nuendo 8 is a complete, self-contained music, effects, dialog, sound design, ADR/Foley DAW system. Nuendo 8 now goes deeper into game audio production and has many new features aimed at faster and better workflows.
A big update is Game Audio Connect 2 that transfers entire music compositions (including audio and MIDI tracks along with cycle and cue markers) from Nuendo to AudioKinectics’ Wwise—a middleware cross-platform sound engine for authoring interactive media and video games.
Steinberg is moving towards more collaborative features where multiple users can contribute via the Internet or local network to the same project. Steinberg has Automated Dialog Replacement (ADR) system for fully integrated voice and Foley recording and has promised Remote Dialog Replacement with video soon—dialog replacement directly from any remote location in the world.
A big change is that NEK or the Nuendo Expansion Kit has been incorporated into Nuendo 8. At an additional cost, NEK gives Nuendo users all the MIDI functionality of Cubase. We liked the Screen Zones—all controls in a single unified window with access to all of the DAW’s functions.
The Sampler Track is now integrated directly into Nuendo and allows for quick editing of audio streamed from a hard drive—with the option to load a portion of the file into RAM. You can take snippets from audio clips in the Arrange page and simply drag them into the Sampler Track window for further manipulation and editing—great for re-triggering drum or percussion samples.
Another feature, first introduced in Cubase 9 and now in Nuendo 8, is side-chaining for VST3 instruments. Use the side-chain for sending audio to the filter section of the virtual-analog Retrologue 2 synthesizer, the second version of a VST instrument that was previously available within the NEK.
Besides Retrologue 2, there’s a new 8-band fully parametric EQ called Frequency EQ and Sound Randomizer creates variations of a sound using four controls: pitch, timbre, impact, and timing. VST MultiPanner now includes support for Dolby ATMOS and Nuendo’s mixing console supports up to 22.2 channels, with channel strip EQ, VCA faders and fully integrated loudness measurement.
Nuendo 8 is available through the Steinberg Online Shop and sells for $2,100 MSRP. steinberg.net/en/products/nuendo/start.html
Barry Rudolph is a recording engineer/mixer who has worked on over 30 gold and platinum records. He has recorded and/or mixed Lynyrd Skynyrd, Hall & Oates, Pat Benatar, Rod Stewart, the Corrs and more. Barry has his own futuristic music mixing facility and loves teaching audio engineering at Musician’s Institute, Hollywood, CA. He is a lifetime Grammy-voting member of NARAS and a contributing editor for Mix Magazine. barryrudolph.com
