Tag: "reviews/Steinberg"

Steinberg HALion 4

When Steinberg unleashed HALion back in 2001, it represented a breakthrough of sorts by offering a fully kitted-out plug-in sampler for DAW users.

The company has trundled out a few significant updates since, but other products have sprinted ahead in terms of features, especially Native Instruments' Kontakt, which has become the de facto standard for third-party sample libraries.

"Superb synths, orchestral sounds, electric guitar/bass, ethnic instruments, drums, and lots more."

We got a taste of what Steinberg were cooking up for HALion 4 late last year when we looked at HALion Sonic, the sort of 'read-only' version of HALion. HALion Sonic is a powerful workstation instrument with an expansive sound library, much of which comes from Steinberg's parent company Yamaha.

However, there will be users who prefer to be more involved in sound creation, and they will be thrilled with the deep sample manipulation and editing features of HALion 4 (well, assuming they're not already neck-deep in Kontakt).

HALion 4 is a VST2/3 plug-in for Windows and a VST3/AU plug-in for OS X, with a standalone mode included.

Super Sonic

If you've already used HALion Sonic, much of what's on offer in HALion 4 will be familiar. It has all of HALion Sonic's sounds and more - there are superb synths, orchestral sounds, electric guitar/bass, ethnic instruments, drums, and lots more.

It shares the same basic sample-playback engine, effects and an awesome synthesis engine. The latter offers three-oscillators, a suboscillator, ring modulation, noise generator, and multimode filtering with six different routing schemes, including morphing filters.

The key difference is that HALion is designed to work with your own samples, so in our review we'll focus on those things that make HALion 4 a full-blown sampler.

Naturally, there's a full complement of sample mapping, looping and editing tools. This is nothing new per se - previous HALions had loads of user-friendly sample mapping and editing tools, and they've been carried over into v4.

HALion can still automap samples based on embedded root note or file name (though we have always found this a bit clunky and prefer to drag our samples directly into the mapper). It's what HALion 4 can do with the samples that makes the difference.

New features enable more realistic performances and creative expression - for example, this version is VST 3.5-compatible, meaning it can take advantage of Note Expression and Quick Control integration.

Using VST Expression maps, you can easily control articulations and performance styles. More interestingly, the Note Expression feature allows you to assign unique sets of controller data to each note when the patch is played polyphonically. It's a great selling point (well, for Cubase users, since that's the only DAW that currently supports VST3.5).

Signal routing has been given a significant makeover. There's now a full mixer section and an unlimited number of busses for each Program and Layer. Each bus has level, mute, solo and pan controls and eight insert slots for the on-board effects. There's support for six channels of surround sound and up to 32 stereo outputs.

Fortunately, all of this routing is pretty easy to manage, particularly if you're used to the mixer and routing options in Cubase or Nuendo.

Totally unscripted

Comparisons to Kontakt are inevitable, but HALion is really a different sort of instrument. Kontakt is deeply customisable if you're savvy enough to take advantage of its scripting and interface options, but these aren't of much use to the casual user. HALion offers an alternative.

Rather than providing a fully-customisable GUI, HALion 4 has a configurable workspace. You can't control the contents or visual appearance of each bit, but you can decide which ones you'd like to see and where they ought to go.

You can dock, undock, hide and add various elements. We've seen this kind of flexible GUI in DAWs (eg, Sonar X1) and it works well here, too. Perhaps it's a sign of what's to come in Cubase 7…

Much has been made of Kontakt's scripting functions. Said functions enable the user to write their own code into the thing. For example, a script might take chord input and trigger samples in sequence to imitate the strumming of a guitar. It's powerful but rather heavy going.

Scripting is deliberately omitted in HALion in favour of the simpler MegaTrig, a means by which many samples can be made to respond to the user's playing or programming, with no code required.

Trigger happy

HALion 4 offers plenty of tools for more creative and expressive performances. The FlexPhraser module is a fine example. Plucked from Yamaha's Motif series of keyboards, it generates musical phrases.

These phrases can be as familiar as arpeggiator patterns or as inspiring as strummed guitar parts. As you'd expect, drum patterns and basslines are included among the preset phrases.

We had great fun doubling up FlexPhraser modules on acoustic guitar patches. The results were realistic and inspiring - we'd never have come up with them on our own.

One minor gripe is that the names of some of the phrases give little indication of what they are. For example, the drum phrases offer selections such as "X Over Rock A", which contains a hi-hat pattern, while "X Over Rock B" has a full, funky rhythm with multiple drums.

Steinberg bigs up its MegaTrig system as an easier alternative to the scripting found in some other samplers. This is fair, though you still need to be reasonably technically minded to use it.

You can program conditional operations based on input variables such as velocity, note number, count, playing speed and the like. You can choose functions from predefined conditions, and experienced coders will recognise the resulting expressions. If you know what you're doing, you can even roll your own expressions, too.

Sample end

Building massive multisampled patches is never going to be trivial, but Steinberg have done a good job of lightening the load, and more than that, they've given users the tools they need to get truly expressive performances from their patches.

Frankly, we don't expect to see many Kontakt users ditching NI's sampler for HALion - that'd take one hell of a crossgrade offer. Nevertheless, HALion 4 is a terrific instrument that stands on its own merits.

Sound designers and sample providers could find in HALion 4 a powerful ally for creativity. It's easily worth the asking price, especially for those who have yet to commit to a sampling platform.

Now listen to a few of HALion 4's patches in action in our audio demos:

Bass - Dark Precision

Bass - Easy Rock Pick Bass

Brass - Big Section

Brass And Strings

Keys - Super Phase Clavi

Synth 1

Steinberg Cubase 6

Cubase 6 is here, and like any other avid production software geek we got a tingle of excitement while scanning the 'new features' list. The question as always is - will it be a great late Christmas or a hangover of forgotten New Year resolutions?

Cubase 5 brought with it the introduction of the very neat VariAudio feature, as well as things like Multi Channel Batch Export, VST Expression and the interesting LoopMash VSTi plug-in.

"Our first impression of Cubase 6 was of a graphically more sophisticated interface."

The C5.5 interim update saw the arrival of a raft of visual changes - some of which left us pontificating between 'underwhelmed' and 'frustrated' - as well as updates to the Automation functionality, plus the odd efficiency and functional tweak.

Since then, Steinberg has issued a statement saying that ongoing support (and testing) for the XP operating system had been dropped. Which is where Cubase 6 comes in.

C6 now supports 64-bit versions running on Mac or Windows systems, although 32-bit versions (that run quite happily within a 64-bit OS) are still provided in order to host the large swathe of 32-bit-only plug-ins out there.

For the purposes of this review we installed and ran Cubase 6 under OS X, Windows 7 x64 (both C6 x86 and x64) and Windows XP (yes, it works). The eLicenser USB dongle requirement applies, as before, and installation was quick and simple, with Cubase 6 picking-up all our preferences from the previous version (which still runs fine).

Inside the cube

On loading an older project, our first impression of Cubase 6 (once we got our bearings) was of a graphically more sophisticated interface. Many of the tweaks that were carried out in the previous updates have now been consolidated, and having carried them through to all areas of Cubase, give a consistent feel to all the windows.

The Mixer windows appear darker than before - our original reaction to C5 as well in fact - but there is plenty of tweakability if the defaults don't satisfy. However, it does seem that differential colouring of the various track types (MIDI, Audio, FX, Group etc) has been removed, which does make navigation on big projects a little harder than before.

MIDI and Audio parts in the Project window have also seen an overhaul, but newly added appearance Preference parameters allow a considerable degree of control over these.

We should point out at this stage that there appeared little difference in the way of CPU hit between the different versions, and stability appeared generally good.

Elastique fantastique

Let's not beat about the bush (no pun intended), one of the biggest omissions in Cubase has been its ability to compete with ProTools - and more recently Logic 9 - with regard to tempo/hit detection and beat quantising or replacement, especially when multitrack recordings were involved - as is often the case with acoustic drums or multi-mic guitar cab recordings.

Cubase 6 brings all of these to centre stage, and Steinberg are clearly proud of the results. Our excitement got the better of us, so we decided to give Cubase 6 a quick test. Using the new HALion Sonic SE plug-in (more on this later), we loaded up a suitable drum kit and played a short segment of 'live' drums from our MIDI master keyboard.

We recorded the (pretty bad) result to an audio track, and selected Tempo Detection from the Project Menu, hit Analyse and waited for the results. Very quickly, a Tempo track became visible with tempo changes automatically inserted on each down beat.

It should be added that we did not play to a click in the first place, or even begin at the beginning of a bar - this might as well be a random recording dumped straight into program.

Playing back the original beat with the metronome enabled proved that the two were both now locked together. This is truly excellent, and makes tempo map creation a breeze, although there are additional functions available if you need to deal with more tricky material.

Things don't stop there. If you want to shoe-horn your 'free drumming' into a fixed tempo project, just select 'Set Definition From Tempo' from the Audio menu, and the tempo changes will be hard wired to that particular audio event. By enabling 'Musical Mode' in the Pool the event will automatically track any changes in the Project tempo by timestretching or pitch-shifting the audio.

The new élastique Pro time algorithms, really are infinitely superior to those in C5 - in fact they are quite amazing. It's worth pointing out that these tempo definitions can be stored within a project, or as part of an audio file's metadata - especially useful for reusability across multiple projects.

Hitpoint detection has also been improved. We always found that although quite good on some material, the earlier Cubase algorithms seemed to require quite a lot of tidying-up, and were especially prone to placing hitpoints before the main transient peak of certain drum hits.

We can confirm that there is a most definite improvement in C6, with much more accurate placement of the hitpoints using just one click.

The Sensitivity slider has been replaced with a 'Threshold' control to determine how many hitpoints to use, which works in a manner similar to a noise gate (familiar to users of the Detect Silence function), and gives clear visual feedback. Cubase 6 is now very well-equipped in the multi-track editing department.

Super sonic

Although there are no radically new and different synth-based instruments provided with Cubase 6, there are two noteworthy examples of progress on Steinberg's part.

HALionOne has been dropped in favour of HALion Sonic SE, their new sample playback VSTi. HALionOne, although sonically good, was most definitely limited in terms of functionality.

HALion Sonic SE however is the little sister to the full featured HALion Sonic workstation, and provides multi-channel access to a range of very high-quality sounds, featuring much more in the way of editing and flexibility than before.

In fact, mixing, effects and control are much more developed here, and even disk streaming is utilised to accommodate growing content size. HALion Sonic is a VST3.5 instrument which means it is also capable of working with the new 'Note Expression' feature - part of C6's VST Expression 2 technology.

VST Expression was Steinberg's way of addressing standard MIDI editing limitations when it comes to Key Switching and other performance controls. VST 3.5 instruments can now automatically transfer articulation setups for every sound to an Expression Map. But the real revolution here is the aforementioned Note Expression functionality - a completely new way of assigning, recording and editing performance controllers on a note-by-note basis.

What this means is that each note - even those playing simultaneously - can have their own controller data. Combined with the general principle of VST Expression, Steinberg really seems to be onto something here, and it points the way to an interesting future for software MIDI.

Up to 11

Steinberg has clearly had an eye on the competition when it comes to plug-in processing, and this has borne fruit in the form of the new VST Amp Rack - although, it should be added that most other changes to the FX plug-in armoury of Cubase 6 are nothing more than cosmetic.

VST Amp Rack is a guitar amp simulator that goes much further than the older and more spartan 'AmpSimulator' plug-in. Amp Rack is different beast altogether, incorporating as it does emulation of a full guitar recording chain from Pre-Effects (guitar stomp boxes), through Amplifiers, Cabinets and Post-Effects (more stomp boxes) to Microphone Position and Master output (with EQ and a Tuner thrown in).

We were pleasantly surprised by this plug-in, and it is great way of adding realism, vibe or grit.

It is often difficult to sum up major DAW updates (of any flavour) without listing what they left out - and in Steinberg's case often what they put in, and why! However, without sounding like a starlet's Oscar acceptance speech, we think Cubase 6 is an exceptionally good update to a solid workhorse of a production system.

They have, at last, addressed issues regarding multi-track editing, and have also vastly improved its tempo and beat detection capabilities. By incorporating the simply stunning 'élastique audio' algorithms its time and pitch manipulation tools are second to none.

Individual 'Note Expression' points in a very interesting direction, and offers something genuinely new for those requiring precision control in the MIDI realm.

VST Amp Rack fills a hole in the Cubase plug-in palette, making it far more rounded and self-contained than before, and the interface now feels more coherent, incorporating all the changes that began with Cubase 4.

This brings us to what might be missing. There are ongoing issues with using 32-bit plug-ins in the 64-bit version of Cubase utilising Steinberg's sometimes problematic VSTBridge (although there are better third-party solutions to this problem), but this issue will become less important as developers update their ranges to the new format.

Although, Cubase still does not offer true mixer grouping (apart from the existing fader linking feature), it is now possible to add plug-ins and assign send FX across tracks simultaneously, which a simple but important addition (so new, it's not even in the manual).

When Cubase 5 arrived two years ago, one major point of contention was that Logic came with much more 'content' (loops, samples etc), and had, on the face of it, a more comprehensive range of instrument and effect plug-ins.

We still feel Steinberg need to address this, but this shouldn't detract from Cubase's suitability as a well-rounded and self-contained production software. As far as we are concerned, Cubase 6 is a resounding success.

Steinberg Wavelab 7

When Steinberg announced WaveLab 7, the big news was that it would finally be available for Mac. Recently, they've also confirmed that their future products will only support Windows 7 and Snow Leopard.

So, the first thing to note is that WaveLab 7 is the first major release to follow this path, and although it may well work on an earlier OS, it's only officially supported for those two. The next major thing to note is that WaveLab 7 now includes four task-specific workspace options: Audio File, Audio Montage, Batch Processor and Podcast.

"WaveLab 7 includes new plug-ins and now features over 30 VST3 plugs from Steinberg's DAWs."

Over time, WaveLab has grown into a powerful application, featuring everything from audio file editing to multitrack processing, recording and arranging. Editing can be either destructive or non-destructive, and the Audio Montage window enables you to apply clip-specific and master effects in real time.

Other aspects, such as metering and analysis, have grown to include lots of real-time and offline options, ranging from Oscilloscope and K-System level meters (real-time) to Loudness Distribution and 3D Frequency Analysis (offline). You'll also find Loudness Envelope and Spectrum Display views, and the latter combines with the Spectrum Editor for frequency-specific editing.

Further features include SRC Crystal sample rate conversion, DIRAC timestretching, the External Gear plug-in for patching in external hardware, batch editing, DVD audio authoring and, of course, CD mastering.

Seventh heaven?

In the four years since WaveLab 6, Steinberg have been busy not only developing for OS X, but also pulling together existing WaveLab features into four dedicated workspaces.

You can load these up from a number of presets and customise them considerably by adding tabbed and floating windows, as well as rescaling and re-jigging the various elements. You can save the results as a custom layout, if you like. The Batch Processing and Podcast workspaces are quite task-specific, while Audio File and Audio Montage both deal with audio file editing, but from slightly different perspectives.

Audio File is for simple offline editing of individual files, while Montage features more complex layering of tracks (potentially over 1000) and incorporates more flexible real-time effects.

There is some functional crossover between the two (both have ten master plug-in insert slots), and you can drag files between them, but in practical terms, they suit different jobs.

Complementing the four main workspaces is the Control Window, designed for sub-hosting certain information (meters, for example), and most useful for those with two displays.

As you would expect, WaveLab 7 includes new plug-ins and now features over 30 VST3 effects from Steinberg's DAWs. Cubase users will recognise the RoomWorks reverb plug-in, while Nuendo's PostFilter is also here.

In addition there are 15 other plug-ins, including three restoration tools from Sonnox: DeNoiser, DeClicker and DeBuzzer. These deal with hiss, pops/clicks and hum respectively, and are available as inserts in all workspaces (including Batch). There are 13 offline processes that can be applied too.

WaveLab 7's disc-burning engine is all-new. This revamp improves stability and also supports DDP (Direct Description Protocol). So, you can now master and transfer electronically to the manufacturer without the need to burn discs.

Practice Master

In use, this all adds up to a better experience. For example, the floating switcher bar enables quick movement between workspaces, plus opening of files. You'll also find you can have multiple workspaces of the same type open. Combined with the option to drag files (or selections) between workspaces, WaveLab 7 is probably the most flexible environment we've used.

Of the new stuff, the Sonnox Restoration plug-ins demonstrate good pedigree, although they're simpler, both visually and in feature-set, than the full Sonnox Restore editions.

Also surprisingly good is the Batch Processor, which now lets you limit the CPU resources (number of cores) that it uses - that's great for background processing. The DIRAC 2.2 timestretching is impressively quick and sounds excellent, plus the Master Effects section now includes a gain-compensated 'smart bypass', which is something of which we strongly approve.

If you're new to WaveLab, it's worth us pointing out that there are 15 years' worth of cool features stuffed away in there. From nifty visualisations like the 3D Frequency Analysis and Oscilloscope, through to creative options such as effects morphing between clips and more practical stuff like flagging 'errors', such as digital clipping and clicks, WaveLab could never be accused of lacking functionality.

So, any downsides? Inevitably, the focused OS support will annoy some, although we tried it using OS X 10.5.8 and had no problems. Also, Mac users used to the swish look of Logic will probably find WaveLab 7 a bit drab, and we feel that the fonts and colours should be smartened up in future updates.

Finally, although we feel that the workspaces considerably improve workflow, the depth of features and plethora of icons could still be impenetrable to some new users. Overall, though, WaveLab remains an excellent product, with that long awaited Mac support boding well for its future.

Now listen to our audio demo to hear what WaveLab 7 can do:

Full demo

Steinberg HALion Sonic

In its time, Steinberg's Hypersonic 2 was a good workhorse synth/ROMpler plug-in. However, things move on. Four years later, we have HALion Sonic, which combines Steinberg's sampling/synthesis engine with sound design from Yamaha's Motif team to deliver over 1200 workstation-style synth, hybrid and acoustic sounds.

So is it just a revamped Hypersonic? Not really: visual similarities aside, this is a much deeper instrument. HALion Sonic is built around a framework featuring 16 program slots. You can use this system to control, balance and play up to 16 separate programs on different MIDI channels or, alternatively, stack them up to create complex sounds.

"The filters are one of HALion Sonic's most powerful elements: there are a whopping 23 different types."

The main area in which HALion Sonic overshadows its predecessor is its underlying sampling/synthesis engine. This uses technology from the forthcoming HALion 4 to deliver four modes - Synth/Sample, Drum, Loop and Instrument - and combined with the four layers per program, there's plenty of scope for sonic manipulation.

Additional features include four insert effects per layer and four per program, four global aux effects, LFOs, 24 filter types, envelopes (pitch, amplitude, filter and freely assignable), a 32-slot modulation matrix, a step modulator, eight preassigned quick controls, eight trigger pads and an X/Y controller that's cryptically dubbed The Sphere.

Finally, there's the FlexPhraser. This handles everything from basic arpeggiation to performance assistance for guitar, bass and drum parts, using a library of over 1400 phrases.

Under the hood

So, HALion Sonic clearly packs some serious horsepower. In use this is most obvious with the virtual analogue system, which offers three oscillators plus sub, noise and ring modulation. In addition to the usual sines, squares, saws and whatnot, HALion Sonic's oscillator types include cross-modulated, synced and the ring modulator-esque 'exclusive or'.

Also worth mentioning are the four LFOs, two monophonic and two polyphonic. The latter allow independent modulation per note, and also have additional shape-editing features.

The filters are one of HALion Sonic's most powerful elements. There are a whopping 23 filter types, all available in Classic and Tube Drive flavours. You can use them in serial and parallel modes, and morph between up to four filter shapes. The results are superb and you could easily get waylaid by them for some time.

Understandably, not all features are available in all modes, with the step modulator and the powerful filter configurations only found in the Synth/Sample mode. In contrast, the Instrument mode is for keyswitching multi-articulation patches, and offers a much simpler single-tab interface.

Similarly, the Drum and Loop modes share an interface, which is also less full on. However, it does include a keymap graphic and parameter adjustment for sounds assigned to each key, including effect send levels.

Patch work

HALion Sonic uses a tried and tested sound module concept whereby multiple programs (aka patches and presets) can be combined into 'multis'. However, each program also consists of up to four sound layers, and these can be loaded individually from the browser.

The significance here is that each layer can be any one of the four modes: Synth/Sample, Loop, Drum and Instrument. The upshot is that you can combine totally different sound and synthesis types not just at multi-level but also at program-level.

When you consider that you also have fully independent FlexPhraser options for each of those layers and the program as a whole (so five in total), as well as individual insert effects for each layer and the program and quick controls for each layer and the program, it's obvious that HALion Sonic is a very powerful instrument.

In use, the interface makes this all very easy to navigate, although we did wonder what we should be doing with all these options.

Our only real gripes are the fact that individual layers can't be grouped by mode type in the browser. This and the fact that you can't audition layers before you load them means a bit too much guesswork is involved when hunting new layers.

Sonic state

In use, we found the differences between modes the most confusing aspect of HALion Sonic, mostly because you have no way of knowing before you load a program which modes have been used.

It's not unusual to find a program combining synth and sample-based layers, which isn't a problem in itself, of course. But if you're yearning for a keyswitching sampled bass sound, you can't search on that basis. Overall, the sounds themselves are pretty good, featuring plenty of pads, basses and keyboards.

A sizeable chunk of the drums category is taken up by loops. Most of these are very good, and the individual control over slices and pattern randomisation allows for some cool variations (although for full pattern editing, you'll have to drag them into your DAW).

The drum kits are more limited, however, and the one that's supposed to bring you the thunderous sound of classic Led Zeppelin is particularly underwhelming. On the 'real' instrument front, there's a good array of electric guitars, and we were pretty impressed by the combination of acoustic guitar and FlexPhrases both for picking and strumming. For some programs, you'll also find the trigger pads assigned to play chords using the 'snapshot chord' feature. In contrast, the orchestral strings failed to convince us.

As mentioned, effects are available both as inserts and auxiliaries, and of the 17, the REVerence convolution reverb is the highlight. The remainder do the job perfectly well, although the amp sim is lacklustre.

New for old

As ever with workstations, the broad sound palette means that HALion Sonic has both good points and bad points. If you're after a dance or acoustic-specific instrument, there are better places to look. However, its underlying sound engine is very good, and although the workstation doesn't cover all synthesis bases and there's no raw sample importing, what's included is enormously flexible.

Beyond this, HALion Sonic's most unique aspect has to be the FlexPhraser, which does an excellent job of blurring the boundaries between arpeggiator and auto-accompaniment. If you're sure a workstation is what you're after, this ticks a lot of the right boxes.

Listen to our audio demo to hear:

Acoustic Guitar - using the auto strum and picked acoustic programs. The chords are assigned to the trigger pads using the snapshot chords option and the pattern is from the FlexPhraser library. The picked guitar uses 3 expression articulations – muted, open and harmonics.

Chill out - using a multi combining string machine, warm grand piano, kalimba, flute, kick drum and tenor sax we've programmed a typical chill out performance. Both flute and tenor sax are not articulation patches but do have reasonable velocity sensitivity and this is obvious in the sax solo.

Steinberg Nuendo 5

Whereas Cubase has long been a staple product for computer musicians, those working in post-production for film, TV and radio are more likely to turn to its sibling, Nuendo. The two apps are superficially similar, but each has its own exclusive features.

Post-production is where music, sound effects, actors' dialogue, etc, are compiled into a finished stream of audio in a specific format - it might be in surround sound, too.

"Surround Panner v5 makes the previous effort look chunky."

This is where Nuendo steps in, with features such as extensive surround support (up to 12 speakers), pro video and sync functionality, import/export of a wider range of formats, and network collaboration.

Traditionally, certain features in Nuendo have filtered through to Cubase (and vice versa), and in fact, there are a few things in Nuendo 5 that are also in the recent free Cubase 5.5 update.

Of course, here we'll focus on the musical side of Nuendo 5.

Dialogue box

The Cubase/Nuendo MediaBay is something that, until now, hasn't really clicked with us. The idea is that you use it to index all the relevant data (audio, MIDI, projects, plug-in presets, etc) on your drives, so that you can browse, filter and preview it all at your leisure.

It's been overhauled for Nuendo 5 (and Cubase 5.5) and we're pleased to say, it's really making more sense now. The layout has been refined and it just seems more logical and friendly, not to mention swifter overall, making it something we actually want to use.

You need to tag all your data for it to be of much use, but that chore could well be worth the effort for post-production houses. Also new are Clip Packages, whereby you select a bunch of related audio clips and export them - you can later pull them from the MediaBay to recreate the original structure of clips.

Many music producers create beats with samples on audio tracks, and we found Clip Packages to be a great way of stashing away such 'composite beats' for later use.

New in the mixer is the Wave Meters view, which shows a visual recreation of the clips on the audio tracks scrolling upwards. It doesn't show the channel's output data, though, and while that does mean you can see what's coming up in advance, it still feels like an underdeveloped idea - you can't adjust the speed or scrub by dragging, for instance.

Next up is Direct Routing, enabling you to designate eight possible output destinations for each channel, and then flick between them with a single click. You can switch multiple channels at once, and even select multiple destinations, and it's all automatable.

It works nicely (aside from a momentary level increase during the change), though you can't set a level offset for each output. Note that you can now arm multiple channels for recording too.

Just drive!

There's a new pitchshifter plug-in, Pitch Driver, with a claimed range of "up to 24 semitones", but while you can go two octaves down, it seems you can only pitch up by one.

And the Detune parameter isn't in semitones - it's an arbitrary scale ranging from -98 to 98. Since it stops shy of -100/100, it's always a bit out of tune at its extremities. All of which is a shame because it sounds bloody good!

On vocals, you can get a natural-sounding shift with sensible values, or push it right down for creepy, 'slowed down tape' effects. We tried it on synths, too, and there are some impressive thickening choruses to be had, as well as deep sub-bass reinforcements. It even sounds cool on drums.

Elsewhere, you've got in-depth data tagging of markers, which is intended to facilitate spotting (ie, marking) of actors' dialogue that needs to be dubbed (eg, due to being recorded in a noisy location).

The slick Surround Panner v5 makes the previous effort look clunky, with crafty features like rotation and width/depth adjustment. The new QuickTime-based video engine offers improved performance and more functionality, and there's multi-mono file support (for Pro Tools compatibility).

There's also a new De-Esser plug-in that gives natural results with no fuss - it's simple but effective.

There are a bunch of new features from Cubase 5, the biggest being the PitchCorrect (Auto-Tune-alike) and REVerence (convolution reverb) plug-ins, and Melodyne-esque VariAudio graphical pitch/timing editor.

Automation station

Nuendo's automation system has always been more sophisticated than Cubase's, and the new Passes system is a case in point. Let's say you record a complex automation curve using multiple passes, but you're not happy with the last few passes and want to hear how it sounded earlier. The Passes panel shows each pass as a separate entry, and you can 'back up' through them, for immediate comparison.

The clever thing is that you can return to an earlier point, then record more passes, creating a new 'branch', shown in the right-hand area. You can do this as many times as you like, creating a tree representing your different efforts, then click on the nodes to flick through the various permutations until you find 'the one'. For anyone who records automation manually, this is pure gold.

Note that Nuendo's main undo system also offers branches functionality.

The enhanced Trim feature (which, unlike Passes, is in Cubase 5.5 too) is similarly superb. Click the Trim button and a secondary automation curve is layered over the primary one - you can shape it as normal, by recording or with the mouse, and it will influence the final shape, which is also depicted. You can now non-destructively create, say, a general level dip in the middle of a complex curve.

Like Cubase 5.5, Nuendo 5's performance has been sharpened - it's snappier overall, with fewer dropouts when running complex projects at low latencies - and the interface has been touched up a bit.

However, there's still no proper undo for mixer operations, and the 'window hell' of the Nuendo/Cubase interface doesn't seem to be going away any time soon. The timestretching algorithms are still only average, and while you can perform 'elastic audio'-style tricks, it's not handled as elegantly as in some other apps.

Bugs-wise, the improved 32-bit-to-64-bit plug-in bridge didn't play nice with all of our plug-ins (although it seems better than before), and oddly, Nuendo seems to cause a tiny fade-in whenever you hit play - very odd!

Steinberg has already issued one maintenance update during our review period, so here's hoping it keeps up the pace with the bug-crushing.

Overall, Nuendo remains a post-production powerhouse with an epic price tag to match.

Hear what the Nuendo's new tools can do with our audio demos:

Pitch Driver - drums - automated tuning

Pitch Driver - synth - deep detune

Pitch Driver - vocals - stereo detune

REVerence - vocals - LA Studio

REVerence - vocals - Martial Arts Stadium

REVerence - vocals - Voices From Twilight