Navigation Exercise

Now let’s put all these tools together into an example. You will perform an edit to the imported CD track while audio is playing:

1. Choose the Object Selection tool in the project toolbar. (See Figure 5.7.)

Figure 5.7 Object Selection Tool.

2. Start playback (spacebar).

3. Enable Auto-Scroll (F). The audio waveform will start moving behind the cursor.

4. Click the Suspend Auto-Scroll button.

5. Hold the Alt key. The mouse pointer will change to a pair of scissors, the Cutting tool. You will only see this Cutting tool when you are over an audio or MIDI event in the project window.

6. Click anywhere on the audio event. The event will be cut at that point, and Auto-Scrolling will stop since you have initiated an edit by cutting the event. Notice that playback does not have to stop.

7. Press F again to enable Auto-Scroll and the waveform will start to move again.

8. Holding Alt, click again to create another cut and Auto-Scroll will stop.

9. Now without stopping playback, click on the event created by the two cuts. (See Figure 5.8.)

Figure 5.8 New event created by two cuts.

10. Press the Delete key to remove this event.

11. Now click in the empty space left by the event and the playback cursor will appear at that point and continue playing.

12. Press F to start Auto-Scroll and you are back to moving along through the project.

The interesting thing about this example is that the editing you just performed happened without stopping playback once. I find this to be one of Nuendo’s strongest benefits. You can endlessly edit and move around the project without ever stopping playback, using Auto-Scroll to reposition the event display to what you are currently hearing and then hold that position while you perform various editing tasks. Of course, you must stop playback once in a while, or we’d all go nuts!

This is especially nice for performing little editing bits while others are listening to playback. You do not have to disturb the listening flow while tidying up edits along the way. Also, all of this navigation is not using the mouse, so the strain of repeated mousing does not stress the hand you use to operate the mouse.