Nuendo Expansion Kit - Cubase Music Tools for Nuendo

The Nuendo Expansion Kit (NEK) is an optional add-on package for Nuendo 4. NEK contains special features for music composition that are not part of Nuendo 4, a dedicated production environment for post production. studio production and live recording. NEK extends Nuendo 4 functionality by adding full notation features, a Drum Editor for MIDI drums and four VST instruments.

• Professional Notation and printing
• MusicXML import and export
• Drum Editor for MIDI drum parts
• Four additional VST instruments: HALion One, Prologue, Spector and Mystic
• VST Sound Collection Vol. I
• Advanced compatibility with Cubase 4 projects

The Nuendo Expansion Kit integrates music tools from Cubase 4 seamlessly into the Nuendo 4 application. This makes Nuendo 4 completely compatible with Cubase 4 projetcs, ideal for mixed Cubase and Nuendo workflows. The separate NEK license on the Steinberg Key adds additional flexibility, allowing NEK functionality to be added to any other Nuendo system.

New in NEK 4.2 update

Steinberg’s VST Sound Collection Vol. I offers over 1.6 GB of additional content and sounds the Cubase/Nuendo MediaBay which takes full advantage of VST Sound^TM.

Cubase Music Notation

The Nuendo Expansion Kit (NEK) integrates an extensive set of functions and tools for music notation and score printing directly into Nuendo. The Score Editor has been conceived to allow any possible piece of music to be displayed as a score, complete with all the necessary symbols and formatting. It allows you to extract parts out of a full orchestra score, to add lyrics and comments, create lead sheets, score for drums, create tablature, etc. In other words: just about any type of notation you could ever desire!

Your MIDI input converts directly into notation so that you can easily create scores of your compositions. The Score editor immediately shows every MIDI data change (for example, a shifted or abbreviated note) and settings such as the time signature and key. Each sheet of a score can accommodate up 32 note systems with up to eight voices per instrument. The Score editor lets you view your music in the form of scores, including all the symbols and diagramming options that this entails.

The Score Editor in the NEK has received several major enhancements when compared to earlier versions. These include new inspector-style Symbol Tabs that can be individually collapsed and expanded, a special user-definable Favorites tab, and editing of multiple events using the info line. In addition, two master-quality Score Fonts have been added: “Jazz” and “Classic”.

Hundreds of professional notation symbols are available; simply select the tools you need to create the scores you want. The amazing MIDI Meaning feature translates notation symbols into MIDI parameters and offers a quick-audition function. The Staff Presets have been linked to the Nuendo 4 MediaBay and its new Track Presets. This means that whenever a track preset is used that contains sound category information, a suitable staff preset is automatically assigned to that track. User defined MIDI or Instrument Track Presets can also save custom staff settings together with the instrument and sound. All settings in the Score Editor have been consolidated into a new intuitive settings window incorporating project, layout, staff and text settings. The new Score Editor Settings window is a major workflow improvement and speeds up the process of setting-up the score editor drastically.

MusicXML Import & Export

MusicXML is a data format for interchange of musical scores. It’s supported by a growing number of companies to facilitate the exchange of musical scores between applications. Nuendo 4 plus NEK now supports both MusicXML import and export, allowing it to become the center of a multi-platform and multi-application music score workflow. In comparison to MIDI files, MusicXML includes not just note information, but layout information as well.

With MusicXML Import, an NEK-equipped Nuendo could, for example, read scanned scores from applications such as SmartScore, Capella-Scan, PhotoScore Professional and others. MusicXML Export allows for transfer of scores to specialized score layout/publishing software such as Finale, Sibelius, or Capella Media Producer.

More than 60 software applications currently support MusicXML. A current overview and more information about MusicXML can be found here.

Cubase Drum Editor

The Drum editor was developed especially for drum sequencing. A few clicks are all it takes to create complete drum tracks. And you can create an individual drum map for every employed instrument. The purpose of the Drum Editor is to edit MIDI tracks where each note (pitch) plays a separate sound, as is typically the case with a MIDI drum kit. The drum sound list to the left lists all drum sounds by name (according to the selected drum map or name list – see below), and lets you adjust and manipulate the drum sound setup in various ways

Virtual Instrument: HALion One

With HALion One, the Nuendo Expansion Kit adds powerful sample playback synthesis to Nuendo 4. Based on Steinberg’s award-winning HALion architecture, HALion One is optimized for use with MediaBay, and comes with more than 650 brand-new ready-to-play sounds covering dozens of acoustic and electronic instruments, as well as hundreds of colorful synth timbres. This extremely versatile sound set is optimized for lightning-fast preset switching and low memory consumption.
HALion One plays one single VST3 Preset at a time and provides one pair of stereo audio outputs. Sound and effect parameters can be tweaked using eight convenient Quick Controls. Edits can be saved as user presets. MediaBay manages all of HALion One’s presets, user presets and track presets. Finding the right sound is convenient and fast.

• Integrated sample-based instrument with more than 600 instruments/sounds
• Includes 58 drum kits
• Eight QuickControls
• FX Bypass button
• Variable efficiency to control CPU load
• One MIDI In, stereo audio out - perfect for Instrument Tracks

Virtual Instrument: Prologue

Prologue is a wonderfully rich-sounding virtual analog synthesizer that will become an indispensable part of your VSTi arsenal. Prologue’s textural range includes lush, detailed pads and bright, acerbic leads and everything in between.

Prologue’s intuitive user interface provides full editing capabilities with access to its three oscillators, powerful multi-mode filter, four envelopes, two LFOs, a powerful modulation matrix, and onboard effects. And because Prologue is polyphonic with up to 128 voices, you’ll (probably) never run out of creative space

• Virtual analog synthesizer with hybrid analog and digital waveforms
• 3 oscillators
• Multi-mode variable resonance filter
• 4 ADSR envelope generators
• 2 LFOs
• Powerful modulation matrix
• On-board effects (Distortion, Delay, Phaser, Flanger, Chorus)

Virtual Instrument: Spector

Spector provides exceedingly original yet detailed sounds with its two extremely colorful and versatile spectrum filters, yet also adds the power of up to six oscillators per voice with two different waveforms each. Separate independent spectrum filters process each of the two waveforms, and creating new, unique sounds by simply drawing new filter curves and then shifting or morphing the two filter’s spectrums is pure fun. Spector offers four envelope generators, two LFOs, a powerful modulation matrix and on-board effects.

• Up to 6 oscillators per voice
• 2 variable spectrum filters with morph control
• 4 ADSR envelope generators
• 2 LFOs
• Powerful modulation matrix
• On-board effects (Distortion, Delay, Phaser, Flanger, Chorus)

Mystic’s awesomely versatile yet startlingly original and unique audio characteristics are based on three parallel comb filters with feedback. The sound source is an “impulse sound” based on physical modeling technology. The harmonic spectrum of this sound is based on one of six selectable waveforms and a set of two spectrum filters. The sound can be shaped with a filter (Damping), by adding an offset to the comb filters (Detune), or by adding a noise component (Crackle). The result is an exceedingly inspiring VST synth that rewards the adventurous.

• Impulse oscillator with spectrum filter
• 3 parallel comb filters with feedback
• 4 ADSR envelope generators
• 2 LFOs
• Powerful modulation matrix
• On-board effects (Distortion, Delay, Phaser, Flanger, Chorus)

VST Sound Collection Vol. I

The VST Sound Collection Vol. I offers over 1.5 GB of new content, sounds and loops produced by top producers, including Yamaha, Sonic Reality and Big Fish Audio. It can be used royalty free by all Cubase/Nuendo customers.

45 brand new instruments for HALion One by Sonic Reality

Provided by the content experts at Sonic Reality, this new HALion One sound library adds premium instruments for your inspiration: beautiful guitars, smooth basses and a whole load of great-sounding electronic and acoustic drum kits. The sumptuous quality of these versatile new instruments will add exciting new flavors to any project or song.

Original Yamaha S90ES Grand for HALion One
The famous Yamaha S90ES Grand is one of the most sought-after sampled stage piano sounds around. This outstanding piano sound is now integrated directly into HALion One! Using the original samples, captured with care and outstanding precision by the Yamaha Content experts, the S90ES Grand for HALion One delivers a truly beautiful expressive timbre, suitable for all styles of piano playing.

250 new and fresh Drum Loops by Big Fish Audio
Red-hot drum beats and scorching loops – all of them ready to use and optimized for variety and creative usage with the excellent beat mangling and manipulation tools in Cubase/Nuendo. And because they’re all ready for the MediaBay, finding the right loop for a song takes only a few seconds.
VST Sound Collection Vol. I is free for Nuendo 4 + NEK customers.