A quiet evolution that leaves you wanting more
The developers present Nuendo 15 as the next major evolution in post-production, with more precise analysis and increased control capabilities. For music creators in the sister program Cubase, much will feel extremely familiar. In fact, everything that is in Cubase 15 can also be found in Nuendo 15, but Nuendo also has a number of special features, which make the program extremely useful for audio processing for games, multimedia, broadcast and film.
Earlier versions
The first time I took a look at Nuendo was in version 3. The year was 2006, and of course a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then – something our eminent colleague Peter Marchione has noted in previous reviews of Nuendo in the Monitor Magazine.
Version 14 introduced many new features and upgrades. Adaptive Background Attenuation, or ABA, was a godsend for those working to make dialogue more easily attain the desirable state of good “audibility”. With the help of ABA, developed by the German company Fraunhofer IIS, an automatic mixing aid was provided where both dialogue and other vocal elements could be highlighted from a background of environmental sound, music score or unwanted sound. In my opinoion, audibility is something that modern sound engineers should actually work much harder to achieve.
When it comes to Immersive Sound – enveloping or “spatial” sound – Fraunhofer, together with the Moving Picture Experts Group, has also helped with MPEG-H rendering.
The handling of this type of sound was improved in Nuendo 14, both in terms of Ambisonics and Dolby Atmos, and version 15 has also built on this with further improvements to both export and import functions for these formats.
The Evolutionen is here – long live the evolution!
Nuendo is an application that is constantly evolving, both in sync with Cubase and its typical users, but also in step with the needs of other users. As you may have guessed from the text above, version 15 contains another series of very useful improvements and news, and there they have really offered goodies for post-production. Everything that has been developed to make it easier for those who work with dialogue can of course also benefit the pure music producer. Improved automation functions, easier handling of multi-channel files, new tools for sound design, a scalable user interface of the plug-ins, are just a few examples of improvements for everyone. However, the big star of version 15 is undoubtedly what the developers call the Analyzer Track.
Analyzer Track
This is a completely new feature in the audio/broadcast industry. It allows you to measure how good the audibility is in a soundtrack. Here too, technology from Fraunhofer has been used and the audibility is reported with three different colors, where green is okay, yellow is a bit questionable, and red signals that the audibility is really problematic. You have the option to determine the threshold values for the different signal qualities yourself, and you can of course use this feature for voices in a musical context as well. We thank you for that!
Other new items
Among other improvements, we find a new Hub with scalable panels, where you can choose from previous projects and create new ones from different templates.
When it comes to scalability, all built-in plugins in the program can now also be freely resized, making them easier to adapt to different screen sizes.
You can now create Folder Tracks that can contain any type of track, and the folder can even contain other Folder Tracks. In addition, this folder can be addressed as its own group, with shared automation or mixing functions. Convenient? Indeed!
Both volume and pan controls can now be created directly under Track Controls Settings. This means you can easily adjust both volume and pan directly in each channel without having to select the track and go to the Inspector or Mixer window. Excellent, me thinks.
Another popular feature is Convert Channels, which can automatically split or merge channels to match your chosen track layout. This could be two mono tracks that are combined into a stereo track, or multi-channel Surround clips that need to be converted to separate mono tracks.
When it comes to film or video audio mixing, there are countless improvements beyond those mentioned above. The redesigned ADR panel is another one, and something that will make the job easier for an entire profession.
Extended import and export functions
Something that has become increasingly important – partly because the number of video formats has increased and partly because the number of audio formats and codecs, especially when it comes to multi-channel and surround systems, has also increased exponentially – is compatibility and the ability to both export, and above all import, both audio and video files in all conceivable formats. Importing is of course vital if you are in a post-production studio and have to handle material from different clients.
It is now much easier to directly import MXF video and audio tracks from OP1a containers. Nuendo offers out-of-the-box compatibility with AVC Intra 50/100/200 and MPEG-2 codecs, with more formats to be supported in future updates. With support for MPF and MXF/S ADM import, you can now get all the metadata of scenes straight into a session. Nuendo supports both import and export of a range of other file formats. Video can be exported in a variety of resolutions and codecs, and you can burn timecode, dialogue and more from your ADR settings into the exported video.
DAWproject
A new format that appeared in Nuendo 14 in early 2025 is DAWproject. It is a format that makes it possible to move entire recording or mixing projects between different DAW apps. Currently, DAWproject is supported by Nuendo, Cubase, Cubasis, n-Track Studio, Fender Studio and Studio Pro, Presonus Studio One and Bitwig Studio and we hope that several of the big ones will join. Unfortunately, Pro Tools, Luna and Logic Pro are missing here.
You can move an entire project with channels strips, MIDI, plugin data, automation, from one DAW to another, and unlike formats such as AAF and OMF, you should not have to adjust any details after importing a project.
As an experiement I saved a project that I was working on in Nuendo in the DAWproject format. When I then imported it into the other programs that support the format almost everything fell into place. However, there was a short audio track that several of the other programs could not insert in the right place. The only DAW that fixed this without any problems was actually Bitwig Studio. There everything worked perfectly after the import. One should perhaps mention that Bitwig is the company that developed this DAWproject format. German exactitude there as well.
Stem Separation
Stem separation is also a function that is increasingly in demand, both for music creation and when you want to isolate a dialogue or speaker from a noisy background sound. Steinberg has provided Nuendo 15 with the variant that is already available in Cubase 15. The function detects different instruments and vocal elements and divides them into separate tracks regardless of whether they are found in an already mixed down stereo or mono audio file. At Steinberg, vocals, drums, bass and various other instruments are separated into up to 4 stereo tracks. This of course makes it easier if you want to change an already existing mix, or as mentioned, highlight a dialogue.
This is as much as competitors like Digital Performer, Ableton Live and a few others can do, but Steinberg is quite late to the game with this feature and doesn’t actually do it any better than its competitors. In fact, a program like Apple Logic Pro in its latest version manages to isolate six different sound sources and also does it with fewer side effects than other DAW programs. There are also independent developers who do this more convincingly, but among the recording programs that have this feature built in, Steinberg is still somewhere in the middle. You can of course use Nuendo’s sister program Spectral Layers Pro, recently released in version 13, but the developer actually ships a simpler version, Spectral Layer Go, in Nuendo 15. It should be mentioned, however, that the Pro version can extract 7 different “stems” while in Go you have to be content with only highlighting voices from a mix. But it’s still a good start.
“Once you’ve mastered all of Nuendo’s features and capabilities, I think it might be hard to choose anything else.”
Other musical highlights
Nuendo now includes an ARA-compatible version of WaveLab Go and the program also offers Drum Machine which contains 40 modern drum kits and a number of other percussion instruments that can help an insecure musician keep the beat. Groove Agent SE 6 also fits in there with its new mixer section, improved effects and more. We now also find a number of new loop packages and samples, 30 new Chord Pad presets, new Pattern presets, improved note handling in the updated Score Editor, Folder Tracks which can also have their own group of channels/buses, an improved Sampler Track where you can now more easily handle samples via MediaBay Hot Swap, six new Modulators to liven up static audio tracks/instruments, Ultra Shaper – a new compressor that combines transient control, clip-limiting and EQ – and Pitchshifter which can handle ±24 semitone changes in real time and which offers a number of interesting features.
The included HALion library has now been expanded with a huge collection of useful sounds from vintage synths. Headphone Match, the feature that compensates for your listening through headphones, has been updated with a range of new curves for various models from manufacturers such as Audeze, Audio Technica, Beyerdynamic, Fiio, Sennheiser, Shure, and more.
Additional new feature
During the testing, another new feature emerged. Steinberg has now started a collaboration with Celemony – known for its sound and pitch management program, Melodyne – and the latest update to Nuendo also includes a simpler version of Celemony’s Tonalic. Tonalic essential basically offers a group of guitarists who can help create accompaniment in a number of different genres. This version has of course certain limitations when it comes to the number of musicians involved. If you would like to use additional instruments in addition to guitar/bass, you are offered a subscription to Tonalic Arranger, where you will find both more guitar styles, and drums and other percussion. The top version, Tonalic Studio, also offers a variety of functions such as fine-tuning of sound, pitch, timing, etc. But this of course comes at a price. Check out Tonalic’s website for more info.
Lasting impressions
Every time I tackle Nuendo, I find new features and solutions that impress me and take me on a journey that I absolutely could not have predicted. Version number 15 is definitely no exception!
The program is constantly being developed and improved in a way that benefits all types of users.
Nuendo 15 has a lot of improvements that make handling easier and more intuitive on all levels. We have touched on some of the improvements, but the program is so packed with well-thought-out features – both new to Nuendo 15, and things that have sprung from the ongoing evolution – that it is only possible to skim the surface. For those who want to explore the program further, there is a generous trial version available for download from Steinberg. There you have 30 days to see if Nuendo is right for you.
Conclusion
Nuendo 15 is probably the most powerful audio and music tool on the market today – in all categories. The latest version has packed a large number of improvements, both for pure music creators and for those who have post or media audio production as a profession. The latter can certainly get a lot of use from the Analyzer Track, but they can also benefit from the improved automation system, the automatic splitting or merging of audio files, the improved video export, the redesigned ADR panel, the new Hub, and much more. Those who are dedicated to pure music production have of course just as much to look forward to.
Choosing a DAW is no easy task these days, but with Nuendo 15 Steinberg shows great openness to new formats and codecs. They don’t lock users into one format, but instead give them the option to choose something that can both complement and replace other DAW programs. Once you’ve mastered all of Nuendo’s features and capabilities, I think it might be hard to choose anything else.
Links
Product pages: www.steinberg.net/nuendo
YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/nuendo
Tonalic: www.tonalic.com
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows 64-bit Windows 10 Version 22H2 (or later), 64-bit Windows 11 Version 24H2 (or later)
Mac macOS Sonoma, macOS Sequoia, macOS Tahoe
CPU Windows Intel Core i5 (8th Generation) or AMD Ryzen Series-3000 or Windows using Arm-processor
CPU Mac Intel Core i5 (late 2018 or late) or Apple Silicon
RAM minimum 8GB
FREE HARD DISK 100 GB
ÖVRIGT Internetuppkoppling krävs för licensaktivering, anslutning till konto och produktregistrering + nedladdning av installation
PRICE Nuendo 15 full version: 10 914 kronor; uppdatering från Nuendo 14: 2 174 kronor; Competitive Crossgrade 8 729kronor
DEVELOPER AND DISTRIBUTOR Steinberg, www.steinberg.net
PROS
Probably the most powerful audio and music tool in all categories
Analyzer Track
Tonalic essential
ARA compatible WaveLab Go
Headphone Match
Lots of other news
60 day trial version
CONS
Three separate apps that handle installation and the likes
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