[Axo1ot1]

I've had a chance to tool around with this app a bit over the past couple of days. I am reasonably certain that I will be getting myself a copy. It's really quite incredible. I have a feeling that if Steinberg plays it's cards right, Nuendo could displace Pro Tools as the industry standard for audio recording, production and mixing the way FCP has largely displaced Avid for video editing. It has some really incredible features. It can do fully 3D sound. The way you deal with your timeline is much more fluid and flexible than Pro Tools. The one timeline can contain many different types of media including, but not limited to multi-channel audio, MIDI and video (even uncompressed!).

The interface is not an easy transition from Pro Tools. You can use your basic skills, but many things are just handled differently (generally better) than Pro Tools. The way the interface works shows a lot of refinement and thought. There are a lot of ways to navigate around, and in-general a lot of different ways to get the program to do what you want it to do.

It fully supports VST and ASIO. You can hook a computer running it up to other computers running it with nothing but an audio cables and get them to work as a distributed processing system, which is insanely cool. It's main disadvantage with respect to Pro Tools is that it doesn't have dedicated hardware associated with it, so it does all its processing on the computer. This is a disadvantage if you only have one computer, however, as computers get faster (think G5) this will become an advantage. It will be much more scalable. It can also actually use Pro Tools hardware for I/O etc. as it is proficient in a wide variety of standards.

I'm quite excited about it. There's really no reason not to mix the sound for a feature film with it. It's already been used for lots of major main-stream music releases (the Dixie Chicks, Stevie Wonder...yes he uses it). Look into it if you do any audio stuff. It's schweet.

[tr]

have you ever used MOTU Digital Performer 4.0? if so, how does it compare to nuendo? i ask because i just started fooling around with DP, and it's pretty darn sweet itself. i was a PT user in 9, and this is the first DAW-type app i've tried in X. from the little i've worked with it (i still have to thoroughly read the manual), it seems like it can do a lot.

tr

[Axo1ot1]

I'm personally not familiar with it, but from the promo literature on their website it looks to be mainly limited to midi sequencing etc. Does it have any support for video?

[tr]

i believe nuendo and DP4 have about the same features. i don't know from experience, but i'm sure video is supported (i vaguely remember seeing something like 'import movie' or something like that in one of the menus when i was fooling around with it last night, not sure). from what i read, DP is one of the standard apps to score/use in post production in hollywood.

also, i see here that the 4.1 update will support ProTools hardware.

for some "propaganda", check out this MOTU and the mac page.

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[booboo]

Coming at it from the opposite side, Cubase SX and Nuendo have a workflow that seems completely natural to me, and ProTools has remained a mystery. Cubase is very similar to Nuendo, slightly cut-down in the surround-sound/video department, and more advanced on the MIDI side.

The new Audio Engine in Nuendo 2.0 finally delivers (apparently) decent performance for Dual Processors. Can't wait until it reaches Cubase.

On the downside, Steinberg's support is pretty notorious, and there's no AU support yet.

Here in Europe Digital Performer has never really taken off, but (now Apple owned) Emagic Logic (Platinum) is big news, and may also be worthy of your consideration. Logic also fully integrates with Digidesign hardware.

But I've been with the Steinberg mindset since 1984 and the Pro 16 on the Commodore 64... and Just don't seem to be able to break away despite buying Logic on 2 separate occasions... it's Cubase all the way.

[tr]

yeah, we audio people are a fickle bunch

when apple bought emagic, i remember seeing someone ask one in these forums if this will mean the end of pro tools, DP, etc. because everyone will move to logic. i answered "people who use pro tools will continue to use pro tools. people who use DP will continue to use DP." which is really true. if you've worked with something, and it works well for you, you stick with it.

it's taking me some time to get used to DP, but i'm getting the hang of it. i can get my head around ProTools, but Cubase never caught my fancy. i could never get the hang of it. haven't tried logic, though.

i'm just glad there are actual apps like this for X. i remember when there was nothing.

tr