Steinberg Nuendo 4

Nuendo 4 was my first DAW, and even though I've tried other options (some of them excellent, such as Reaper) I've always returned to it. While initial installation and setup are fairly simple, getting the most out of Nuendo requires a lot of time. Not because it's complicated, but because of the sheer amount of options the software offers to best suit your working style and workflow. Once you get the hang of the basic controls and hotkeys, which should not take long, you are ready to explore complex edition possibilities.

I never had any issues with any sound board (and I tried Nuendo on at least seven or eight different hardware configs) and while I've encountered my share of bugs and crashes, I've always found quick solutions all over the internet.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I currently run Nuendo on an old PC: 4GB ram, single core, Win7 32b. I've also used it on higher end system, but the fact remains that playback does not consume resources, and the only thing that really weighs on the program is the amount of sound FX, VST instruments and plugins you can use on each track. Video support works fantastic (and that's a must for most producers), though, once again, performance may suffer if you overload the mix with heavy plugins. An often overlooked flaw of Nuendo 4 is that it doesn't offer tools to edit video.

Crashes are common (but then again this true for most DAWs), though you can always find a work around every bug by googling a bit. On some occasions I've stumbled on some nasty bugs that actually corrupted my projects, and that's definitely a minus, but to be fair, that has happened to me in other DAWs also.



OVERALL OPINION

I find Nuendo very intuitive when it comes to basic edition. Just learning the ropes of the built in band eq and getting to know some of the basic bundle plugins gives you the capacity to face an easy mix. The automation panel lets you control a number of parameters, and it is a crucial tool for setting a good workflow. The edition tools are fairly simple to understand, though they can be modified in many ways to achieve total control over the sound. Despite all this benefits, the lack of standard music notation support is an unexplainable flaw, solved only by installing the Nuendo Expansion Kit.

As I said in the first paragraph, even though I've tried other DAWs, I find myself always recurring to Nuendo because of overall well balanced profile (works better than Reaper in terms of MIDI, easier than Sonar with video, it has a friendlier interface than ProTools, etc.)All of this, plus a high end audio engine make Nuendo an excellent choice.

Steinberg Nuendo 4 was the first digital sequencer I got about nine years ago. I got it because it was real cheap and I was just looking to see what recording was all about. I used it on PC and didn't have any compatibility problems with my machine. It was easy to install and is pretty straightforward overall. I don't have a manual so I'm not sure how well it is constructed.


SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I used this before I got my current recording rig, and was running it on an old Dell desktop PC. Since I was doing the bare bones with this software and using it just to get my feet wet with recording, it worked fine and I never really had any problems running this well. I was able to run a few tracks at once with effects on each.


OVERALL OPINION

I got Nuendo 4 about nine years ago and have since stopped using it because I have upgraded. For the time, this worked fine for me to record a few tracks and use some effects for my guitar, but looking back there are a lot of sequencers out there that are better, including Pro Tools, Cubase & Logic. The price of this was what drove me to buy it as it is dirt cheap. The guitar effects are okay, but definitely not all that professional sounding and not all that realistic. It is fine for demoting, but I would never use this on a real project as it simply doesn't have enough tracks or power to produce a real professional mix. Even being as cheap as it is, these days you can get a much more powerful sequencer than this for an incredibly cheap price. All in all, I probably wouldn't recommend this software because even though it does what is claims, there are other sequencers more powerful for a cheap price.

Nuendo installed without any problems on my computer. It took a while for sure, but overall no hang-ups. There weren't any compatibility issues with my computer, which is a high end PC. Configuration and setup is not exactly simple, so you should definitely spend an afternoon curled up with the manual to figure out how you can make the most of Nuendo. It's not really complicated, it's just that there are a lot of options. It's definitely worth customizing the program to suit your workflow.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I am running this on a Windows XP computer, with a dual core processor and 4GB of ram. It runs fine on my computer, and there is plenty of spare processing for lots of plug-ins. Playing back audio tracks dry with no effects uses just about 1% processing power, so obviously this program is really efficient and is going to give you a lot of flexibility. Like many other audio programs, stability isn't exactly it's strong point. It definitely does crash sometimes, and sometimes for what seems like no reason at all other than to annoy you. I wouldn't say this happens more often than on any other audio program I've used though, including Pro Tools.

OVERALL OPINION

I have been using Nuendo for years, and it's still my favorite host even though I've tried almost all the other competitors. I don't get to use it at work, but I use it at my home studio where I can make the choice. I love the flexibility you get with this program. You can change it around to suit you and the way you work, so really I can't see how anyone who gave it a chance wouldn't be a convert. They give you a lot of great plug-ins and other software bundled, which adds to the value. This is also really well suited to video work, not just music. You can't do video editing, but the sound design portion of video work is great here. Steinberg is also always on the leading edge of digital audio, so you get the benefits of that companies in your software before the rest of the industry catches on, like right now with their VST3 technology that Nuendo users get to enjoy. This is definitely an expensive program, but if you want to make a serious investment, you will be seriously satisfied with Nuendo. No, I don't work for them, but I would! Definitely highly recommend this program.