Fill Modes

In the preceding example, we used one of the Fill modes available in Nuendo. The Fill modes allow you to quickly execute automation encoding across large areas or specific sections of a project with fixed values. In other words, your fader position can be filled in for an entire section without having to actually play the entire section while holding a fader.

There are five Fill modes in Nuendo:

To Punch. This Fill mode will take the last value of an automation pass and write it back from the start of that pass to the end.

To Start. The last value of the pass will be written from that point all the way to the start of the project.

To End. The last value will be written till the end of the project.

Loop. Used in the example above, the last value will be written in the space between the left and right locators. Note that the last-written value itself does not need to be within the left and right locators for this mode to function. You could be writing data at the end of a project with the locators set somewhere toward the beginning, and the Fill to Loop mode will affect the cycle area in addition to where you are actually recording the data.

Gaps. The last value will be set for all the gaps on that track if you have been using virgin territories.

Caution Both To Start and To End ignore the positions of the locators and use values for the start and duration found in the Project Setup dialog box.

Each Fill mode has three states (see Figure 15.24):

Figure 15.24 Three fill states.

Off. No fill.

On 1-Shot. The fill operation will only occur on the next pass.

On Locked. Filling will occur until the user changes the state to off.

Fill modes are very useful as you move through a project, whether in the initial stages or tweaking a mix to perfection. Fill to End can be used to erase any existing automation past the punch-out point of any pass while setting a new level for that track. Fill to Punch is useful for finding a new level in a section by listening and then having that level written for the entire section at once.

The Fill modes can be changed on the fly, while in play. For example, you may find yourself automating a fader in Touch mode and decide that this is a good level to remain at until the end of the song or scene. If you are using a control surface to actually move the fader, you can still use the mouse or key command to turn on Fill to End, and when you let go of the fader, that last level will be filled to the end of the project.

Fill modes may also be used in conjunction with one another. If Fill to Start and Fill to End are both enabled, the last fader position will be written for the entire project. This can be handy if you need to reset the initial values for your mix. Simply run with both Fill modes active and adjust all write-enabled tracks until a basic mix is set. This will create initial values for all those tracks from the start to the end.