It’s customary to start a review of a new upgrade by looking at the features that have been added, but in this case we need to take a moment to discuss features that have been removed. For more information about the features that have been inherited from Cubase 4, be sure to read Sam Inglis’s review in last December’s SOS ( Pain In The NEK Nuendo 4 incorporates nearly all of the features from Cubase 4, and perhaps the most significant of these new features for Nuendo users will be the Media Bay, which provides a comprehensive way of databasing and cataloguing audio assets. Nuendo 3.1 added features for audio pull-up and pull-down, and Nuendo 3.2 introduced the Control Room, which provided comprehensive monitoring and talkback facilities without the need for an external mixer. With Nuendo 3, Steinberg really made an effort to add features to the application that would appeal to the post-production market, such as AAF support for interoperability with other audio workstations, support for playing back video via dedicated hardware, and compatibility with tools such as Gallery’s ADR Studio. Few really understood where the line was drawn between Cubase for music and Nuendo for post-production, and most people couldn’t even see a line in the first place. Hindered by subsequent changes in Steinberg’s ownership and management, Nuendo’s original focus towards pro audio and post-production became somewhat diluted with the release of Cubase SX (which was built on the foundations of Nuendo) and Nuendo 2, which then included all of Cubase SX’s functionality. The Nuendo revolution never quite happened, though. And so I found myself pondering whether Steinberg would be able to make a significant dent in an industry that was, at the time, being taken over by Digidesign’s Pro Tools.

Here was a modern audio application with features that competitors could only dream about at the time, such as sophisticated multiple undo and surround support, running without the aid of any additional hardware.

With impressive new automation features and free mixer routing, have Steinberg taken their flagship audio application to the top of the class?Ībout seven and a half years ago I found myself standing at a Steinberg exhibition booth watching a demonstration of Nuendo 1.0.

Note the new Transpose track at the top of the track List that lets you globally transpose both MIDI and audio events during a period of time in the Project. Nuendo 4 in all its glory, playing back one of the many tutorial projects supplied with the application.

Steinberg Nuendo 4.3 Portable