Hey everyone,
Was wondering on how to go about copying and pasting all written automation to include plug-ins.
Example:
EQ some dialogue on a scene, would like to copy that automation and then punch it back in later down the session where we revisit the same scene.
My PT brain wants to capture and punch to loop later down the road where I have selected that scene… but that’s not a thing?
Do I have to show “all used” automation and manually Ctrl+C copy and Ctrl+V paste it via range selection?
I think I have an idea on how to go about this in Nuendo.
It would be nice if maybe someone with a lot of hours under their belt can verify this method?
Essentially, it’s the punch log. Make your adjustments to your EQ (via Insert), but keep all other automation write suspended. Punch to loop and it lands in your log. Then you can go down to another scene load that from the log, and punch+loop in that automation.
The only problem is revisiting something…
Say you’re writing your insert automation and then you are on to the next thing. You go down say 20 minutes and realize that you didn’t add the same EQ settings to this section, but you’ve gone past 10 in the log. The only way to go about it is to go back to an earlier section that has the EQ, and then while in preview click A/B twice in the plug in and punch loop again so it saves to the log. Then go down and punch loop it into the section you forgot.
Yeah, you could save a Preset… But having 40,000 presets or managing them is just extra work.
Is there a way to capture current used automation into the log? Ctl+C and Ctrl+V is too risky if you have a lot of automation.
Or do I need to submit a feature request?
Indeed, it would be nice to be able to “collect” stuff from a section and paste it anywhere (also on other tracks).
This however is an extremely complicated feature, because you need to be able to select which automation you want to paste, and which not.
And the target track might be constructed in a different way (plugins, routing, etc …)
Anyway …
A trick that might work is (in preview) selecting a range, fiddling with the parameters without changing them (for example bypass on/off) and then commiting this into your now target range.
Fredo
Yeah, I did A/B, but Bypass is less risky.
I don’t know if it would be that tricky… You would just select the open insert and "capture settings to log ".
You could add it to the actual plug in window or channel strip for that matter. Not the automation window.
Then punch them down later.
Toggling Bypass, or fiddling with something makes it feel like it’s a missing feature.
OK, just for plugin settings, this would work.
I am confused with an old feature request to capture all channel settings (Inserts, EQ, Dynamics) or parts of it into a new tracks/section.
On an individual basis, that should indeed work.
Fredo
Yeah, it would just be what those settings are set to for that specific insert (plug in), and of course, at that given time.
Again, I wouldn’t even put it in the automation window, just leave it in the plug in window next to the R&W.
“Snapshot to Log” “Capture to log” something like that…
++ If it shows the name of the plug in, in the log… Or category at least… Dynamics, EQ, Restoration, etc.
I do really like how you can check mark (save from deletion) the punch logs and rename them. That’s the other solution I found works.
If I’m doing reverb for instance, I can preview and punch to loop on a scene that takes place in Location A, save it and apply it if a scene revisits location A again… But with 100’s of tracks… The Plug In window would be the cherry on top.
The punch log effectively makes working with automation in Nuendo 30X better than Pro Tools.
Where do I go to submit a feature request?
I’ll port this over for you.
Fredo
What a pal!! hahaha. thanks.
Where do we go for feature requests? Is there a form?
I imagine, the lovely devs don’t want it to be overwhelmed with stuff people don’t research in the manual.
Hi guys! I’m just working on a kind of something you are talking about here. I couldn’t think out better than Lemur platform for static automation. I have 20 snapshots that pretty much do the job of copy-paste Volume, Pan(LR), EQ and Sends. Dynamic and Inserts are not working yet. 14bit NRPN midi are used to give best resolution for copying exact values of parameters, though EQ Freq parameter seems to suffer from a lack of resolution even 14 bits midi messages.But very a little. The snapshots copies all possible parameters, but you can choose what ones you would paste, what band of EQ for instance. It is possible to make pasting even more detailed cause Lemur grabs all parameters individually. If anyone would like it I can share it but it’s not even beta version so all on your own risk and don’t cast a stone at me then)
Adding to an old thread here, since I was just looking for solutions…
Now on Nuendo 11 (may not always have been that way), you can rename a punch log entry and click the checkmark to prevent it from being deleted. That works actually quite well. You just have to remember to rename them so you know which is which. There’s a max of 100, which is about as many as you might be able to manage.
One improvement may be to change the default name of a punch log or add a column to indicate the TC of where the punch started that the log entry originated from. So if you need to go back through the log you could find something again.
Another improvement as discussed in this thread would be to allow a new punch log entry to be created from current settings under the play head. So if you didn’t have a usable punch log entry, you could create one. It could possibly be controlled by the ‘suspend write’ buttons and only collect used lanes of anything that is not write suspended. So if you only wanted inserts, then ‘suspend all’ and unclick inserts.
It would be nice if you could copy volume and sends that way, definitely also eq/dynamics, and of course inserts. The rest I’m not sure. Inserts is of course the most cumbersome.
My current work around is to setup preview/punch, go to the source location, open each plugin, then use the top right dropdown to ‘copy settings’ in the plugin dialog, go to the destination location, use the ‘paste settings’ and the repeat for each plugin. Then punch and save that log. That works reliably, but is a lot more steps than it should be.
An alternative would be if there is a mass copy/paste of settings, like the way you can change routing with Opt+Shift on selected tracks. If I could select all the plugins I want to copy, do a ‘copy settings’, change to the target selection and do a ‘paste settings’ - combined with preview/loop, then it would be three clicks. That’s manageable.
What are you guys doing if your scenes are on different banks. The saved punch log work great if you’re punching to the same tracks but it doesn’t work if say I’m working on BGs/atmospheres that are checkerboarded across two banks of tracks and I need to copy my settings from bank A to bank B. In Pro Tools it’s super easy to just copy all automation lanes for a track and paste them onto another track but there doesn’t seem to be an easy solution for that in Nuendo.
I agree we need better functionality regarding this.
However, I do have a rather strange, but quite workable work around as long as it’s on tracks with audio events.
Example, do you have an ambience you want to copy all the automation parameters from a event to similar or different event on a different track.
Make sure automation follows events function is active, make sure that delete overlaps is inactive, drop the automated event on top of the event you want to have the same automation on and then delete it again. Basically you covered the event you wanted the automation on with the old event and then deleted the old event again… now you have inherited the automation, but the old event itself is now gone leaving the new event but with the old automation in. It’s convoluted to write. It sounds convoluted to use, but when you start to use this method, it’s actually quite fast.
Again, this workaround is not a solution. It’s a temporary workaround that I have been using for far too long.
Two ways I do it… for individual plugins (as I described above) I rely on the copy/paste settings of the plugin. Find the plugin on the source location copy settings, go to destination select loop/preview, paste settings in plugin and punch. You can copy that to multiple destinations if you want. One thing you’re missing from the ProTools version is to exclude certain parameters from that.
The other option is copy pasting the automation lanes. That works better if you have multiple plugins. You can either through the track menu or the automation dialog select ‘show used only’ and also limit to ‘inserts’. There is also an show-on-write. This opens all the respective lanes up in the editor. You can select a range and copy paste it to the destination. It can get a bit unruly in the UI, and I which there would be the ability to select automation lanes without them having to be open. I don’t care to see them necessarily. I just want to be able to copy/paste them.
To @Fredo’s point about the complexity of all this, I think maybe working further on the ‘show used’ dialog could work. If there’s a different UI that could pop up to select/deslect lanes with some sort of checkbox grid instead of littering the editor UI that would allow for the selection of individual lanes of interest to be moved into the copy buffer ready for paste. Or maybe on ‘show used only’ and ‘inserts’ a popup that allows you to select all inserts or just a specific one(s).
The whole process of exposing automation lanes is cumbersome and could use some work. If I want to add a specific parameter of a plugin I have to :
(Rinse and repeat since there is no multi-select)
If there would be a way in the plugin UI to say ‘expose automation’ either by hovering over a knob, or at least a dropdown in the top right menu that would be a nice timesaver.
The other possible fix, somewhat related to the above ‘show automation lane’ of specific knobs, if there was a UI feature to ‘touch’ a parameter without actually having to change it, maybe along with a ‘touch all’. Then you could:
Though in some ways that’s not that different than using the copy/paste parameters I described above.
Big +1 here
IF all plugins on a track, sends etc are set up in a uniform way, there really should be a quicker and easier way to copy automation sections between tracks?
I just had to spend minutes figuring out how to copy across an EQ sweep and matching send automation between two groups with identical track settings. In the end I had to ‘show on write’ all parameters (in the right order!) on the track which I wanted to copy the settings to, in order to copy across the needed automation from the original track automation lanes. Very fiddly.
Copy paste automation settings in an insert works fine if it is static automation. ‘show used automation’ and copy between lanes only works if you have used exactly the same parameters, in the same order, between the tracks.
The thought of faffing around with this on an attended mix scares me 
Very happy to be told I’m missing something here!
+1! Oh yes, it does.
