With Nuendo being quoted as a premium audio system, how come there is no in-built system to facilitate analogue summing?
A system with dedicated summing outputs that do not render the Audio Export and the Solo buttons non-functional.
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Really? Analog summing in a DAW?
Do you have an example of another DAW that does what you are asking for? Iām having a hard time visualizing what it is you want.
So I assume that you mean youāre trying to send your tracks to a summing box and then back into the DAW? In this case just plug the outputs of your audio interface into the inputs of the summing box and the output of it back into the interface and set the tracks in Nuendo to the individual outs of the audio interface. Make a stereo input track in your daw for the output of the sum. Hopefully I assume this is what you mean but Iāve never ever heard of something like this before in any other dawā¦?
Like the others I too havenāt heard of anything like this.
I donāt use realtime export when I choose Export Audio Mixdown, so if youāre saying that doing that stops audio from going to outputs and then back into inputs then I understand what youāre looking for.
However, you could set it up to just record audio realtime rather than using the export audio mixdown feature, right? Thatād be the same thing except youād need to route for it.
And I guess on that note Iām not really sure what the solo buttons has to do with anything other than if youāre trying to solo things to export submixes or stems. If thatās the case then again I think best practice is to route for that as well which in turn means you can create tracks and also record that at the same time.
Analogue summing has to happen outside the DAW.
Becauseā¦ itās analogue.
You can set up a template to have output busses to whatever outboard hardware analogue equipment you want to use to do your summing with, like a good console, or a dedicated summing box.
That then comes back into Nuendo as a Stereo or other number of outputs, to be recorded as a post process.
I do it often, with my humble Allen & Heath GL2800-32. I create 8 Stereo output busses that feed the right side of my console, and those get mixed into a āgroup bussā on the console itself, which then gets fed back into the Nuendo via itās inputs. Any inserts for individual tracks,such as the lead vocal going to my La2a, get printed before this mix step.
Thank you all for your replies, i really appreciate it.
For clarity, in Nuendo i have a complete mix, instead of summing through the main stereo out, i am using a analogue summing box Dangerous 2 Bus+.
There is two ways i can arrange the grouping.
- I group all my mix audio to 8 stereo output groups using the Audio Connections Outputs facility and send audio to the summing box.
The summed stereo return is via a input channel to a new mixdown audio track. The audio track has ālistenā mode seleted.
This method doesnāt allow me to use the Export Audio feature, so i have to create all the different versions manually. Also using this method whilst mixing the solo button longer works as expected (no solo sound).
- Same as above, but instead of creating Outputs from the Audio Connections facility, i just create additional stereo groups as my Sends by inserting an Audio Connections External FX as sends. These are then returned using another group with a Summed Return External FX connection in the first slot.
This way allows the use of the External Mixdown feature (in real time) and the Export Queue feature, but again the Solo button does not work using this method which i find useful during mixing.
My question was could Steinberg be pioneers in this field, and create a more useful summing system?
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TBH, the solo button is not a mixing tool, itās just a monitoring tool.
In what way does it not work? Have you used solo-defeat to make sure everything that needs to play still plays?
IMHO analog summing is over rated unless you are recording the sum on an analog tape machine - there are so many plug-ins to make your mix sound analog
I actually prefer to listen to the final mixes in realtime, including the deliverables of submixes and stems.
I avoid embarrassments this way. 
Thank you for all your replies,
It was the Solo Defeat that I was missing, now I have defeated the Solo on the summed return group everything is working fine.
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Set up a monitor source in the audio connections under studio. Choose the input that is recording your mix. Go to the control room module and click on monitor sources, choose the input. No listen button etcā¦ needed. I mix thru a 32 ch Chandler and this is the best way to work. You will have to print your mixes since you are mixing thru analog. Basically old school. You will have to change the source back to the output of the track your recorded stereo trk to listen back to the mix. I have a dummy ref output (unassigned outputs) named mix as one of the monitoring source. Click on what you want to hear. Itās one of the things I love about Nuendo, very similar to my old SSL AWS 948. Full monitoring capabilities.
Kellyd,
Thank you for taking the time to reply to me, i really appreciate it.
I have found my way forward today, using Groups as Sends rather than Outputs, and a Group as summed return, this allows me to use the Export Audio feature (with real time checked).
Thank you.
5am
Glad to hear you found a good way to do what you wanted. 
As a side note for analog summing, unless you push the output hard enough to drive the transistors in to the non-linear range it probably doesnāt give you a measurably different sound than digital mixing, other than adding a bit of noise. Dan Worrall has a good talk about it and a test. I recommend watching the full video but at about 10 minutes you can see his null test after getting all the gains perfectly dialed in (harder than youād think) and it nulls other than noise.
Hi Sycraft-w,
I have reviewed Danās take on Analogue Summing a while ago and his conclusions are technically correct.
All i know is when i take one of my finished mixes that was mixed in the box, and convert it to a analogue summed mix, the seperation of the instruments is very different.
I find i can hear the instruments more clearly and i tend to have to back off the reverb as it appears louder.
When i A/B the original and analogue summed mix the later appears more seperated.
Thanks,
5am
Iām new to Nuendo but I have found that Routing my mix to a stereo track in Nuendo there is a sync delay of 1 second compared to Audio mixdown export!
On Soundscape DAW I mix down to a stereo channel and thereās no sync delay at all.
How do I get rid of this delay?
Did you āpingā your analog gear circuit?
Fredo
The Dan Worral test was a good watch. I had my doubts (as an ex-software guy), and the explanations of why some perceive analog summing to be beneficial make sense. Itās not the math, itās the road there and back.
Which goes back to - all roads lead to Rome as the saying goes. Some are digital, some analog, and some hybrid. If using the outboard gear gets you there with the least amount of trouble and good results, why not? Presumably the cost of all that outboard gear would pay for a few extra plugins and a week of self-paid time to figure out the setup that achieves comparable results in the box.
But then itās also about the joy of doing it one way and not the other.
For me, I already have way too much stuff. If I can keep something digital without compromise, Iām good with that.
I guess the only thing that remains bothersome are people insisting that it definitely and undoubtedly is the only way to do it. Science (and math) may be obscure, but itās not wrong.
Hey Allkiller,
This is a great summary!
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