PAUSE command in transport

I am looking for a way to get the good old START, STOP, PAUSE logic into my Nuendo setup. What I want is this:

  • My spacebar is set to return to start position when stopping. Thats fine, I need that most often.
  • Additonally, I want the possibility to stop playback and continue where I stopped. In old days this was called PAUSE. So PAUSE always continues where transport was stopped, STOP always returns to the initial START position.

I can’t find a way to get this set up. There have been several proposals how to do this in this forum but they all come with one issue: After multiple STOP/START sequences the initial START position is gone.
Strangely almost every media playback device or software offers this logic (CD/BlueRay Players, Media Player Software, other DAWs) but not Steinberg.

Here is another one of these requests from 2020 with details: https://forums.steinberg.net/t/basic-pause-command-in-transport/153388

Does anyone know of a solution that allows multiple PAUSE actions while keeping the initial START position? I dont want to use markers for this because it could be 10-100 of such actions in one track. and they are arbitrary.

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press “0” to pause (numeric keypad)
press “0” 2x to return to the starting position
press "enter " to play from position

Greetings Michael

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Thx for reply. Sorry, I cannot reproduce your solution, jut tried it. When pressing num ‘0’ it just behaves as a Stop command. It’s behavior is like the space bar.
When I set Start to ‘return to start position when stopping’ then ‘num 0’ behaves the same. Probably because it addresses the same command which is STOP.
This is fu… confusing.

What is the difference between stop and pause?
Without the ‘return to start position when stopping’ enabled, doesn’t these 2 means the same?

A STOP command sets the START position new. A PAUSE command is just temporarily stopping playback without setting anything. You could press PAUSE 10 times at whatever position. Then pressing STOP would bring you back where you started.

When ‘return to start position when stopping’ is disabled, the START postiion is reset everytime you press STOP. By whatever key you have set to STOP.

Just place/recall a marker at the place you want to snap back after stoppping a gazillion times along the way.

Fredo

That seems to be the only solution that does the job. It means I have to fiddle with markers for such a simple operation. I just don’t understand why this isn’t implented in a more intuitive way. It sometimes seems these kinds of softwars are blown up with millions of features < 5% of people need while most basic usability is not on the priority horizon of developers.

Don’t want to argue, but placing a marker (or your left locator) is one Key Command, so is recalling it. Which is as easy and intuitive as pushing a “pauze” Key Command".

Fredo

The switch works as opposite, when enabled the sequencer “return to start position when stopping” and if disabled the transport stays where you pressed stop.

Thus I think you want to disable the option then it will work as @Echolux described in the 2nd post.

Besides this is one of the options which differs between cubase and nuendo. In Cubase, disabled = pause is default whereas in Nuendo, return to start is the default.

Hmmm … I think you misunderstand me. When ‘return to start position when stopping’ is DISABLED it means:

  • everytime I hit STOP (by whatever key) transport stops and after hitting START it starts at the position where I stopped. So it basically works like a ‘traditional’ PAUSE function.
  • BUT: It does not remember where I started in the beginning (The first START Position)
  • When ‘return to start position when stopping’ is ENABLED every STOP command will return to the position where I started (The START POSITION). But: There is no way to interrupt (PAUSE) transport while keeping that original START position. And this is what I would like to have. As simple as that.

As another user has suggested the only way currently to achieve this is by markers:

  • set the option 'return to start position when stopping’ to DISABLED
  • set a marker when starting to playback
  • STOP/START (spacebar) will behave like PAUSE
  • In order to return to the initial position go back to the marker.

I find this complicated because I actually prefer the spacebar to return to the start position. (Then I dont get the PAUSE function). This is mainly because I record while playing by myselve. So I need operation with one hand.

If you stop with 0 !!! 0 in the number pad stops Nuendo remembers the position of the stop
Then start with Enter and stop with 0 again
then press 0 again and the last stop position is selected
If you want to record replace the enter key with the star key in the number field
Michael

Doesn’t work in my setup. Num 0 just stops and returns to start position, Same as pressing space bar. (which is set to return to start position).
What is your setting for Num 0 shortcut?

0 is assigned to “Stop” and space is “Start/Stop” but both are the same.

btw, I thought about a macro for your desired behaviour, it’s only possible if you make 2 key command sets and switch them. But maybe that’s overkill.

disable in the program settings - transport - return to start position on stop
You then have the same function with 2x 0
Greetings Michael

Sorry, no. In that case Num 0 will return to the last stop, not to the initial one. At least in my setup.

then set the selection range (left locator) to the initial start and press 1(number pad) if you want initial and 0+0 for the last stop position (1 = position to the left locator)

Well, then I loose my left locator setting. And the workflow I am talking about most often means that I initially dont plan to ‘Pause’ somewhere, it just happens while listening to something. But whatever setting I choose currently, I can only either go back to the START position or continue at current Stop Position.
The only ways to avoid this require to store the Start position manually everytime I start Playback, either as a marker or - as you suggest- as left locator. But very often I just start somewhere, its not a special position (yet). Then I want to Pause (make notes …) go on listening, Pause again (make notes…) and then my colleague says 'can we hear exactly that part again?. No, have to find the start position first. Its gone.
All this only because a standard transport command is missing.

if this is a feature that another DAW has, then you need to switch…otherwise I can’t help you…
all the best
Michael

What a senseless discussion again…

You need to define the start position in any way, if you are not willing to do this, then how should the software know?

Its quite easy:

  • When moving to a marker or setting the cursor somwhere this always becomes a new start position (like now)
  • Then you can hit START and playback runs
  • If you press PAUSE (the new function I am asking for) playback stops but the Startposition remains the same. Then hiiting START (from PAUSE status) resumes playback but without changing the Startposition. You can hit Pause-Start-Pause… as often as you want, the original Startposition stays the same.
  • When you hit STOP, the cursor returns to the original START Position.
  • You could always at any time trigger the command ‘set new start postiion’ which already exists.
  • If the option ‘return to start position on stop’ is set to DISABLED a stop will also set the start position to the new stop position (like now) but a PAUSE command and Start from Pause status will never change the Start position.
    That’s it.

An extra idea on this, just for making it super nice:
In a superclever version Nuendo would remember all PAUSE positions that occur and one could go backwards through them. This would require that when hitting PAUSE always a marker is set on a special marker track. Normally these markers would be deleted when a new start position is set but it could be a useful option to keep them.
However, that extra feature is just on top. The simple PAUSE function would be very, very useful.