As of Nuendo 14, it’s still not possible to connect to the external Dolby Atmos Renderer natively on Apple Silicon Macs — the functionality only works when launching Nuendo in Rosetta mode. This limitation is quite frustrating, especially considering the performance benefits of running natively on Apple Silicon. The external renderer provides several important advantages in professional workflows, and having to sacrifice system efficiency just to use it is far from ideal. Are there any plans to address this issue and provide full native support for the external Dolby Atmos Renderer in an upcoming update/s?
Best regards,
Arturas Pugaciauskas
Sound Designer
Oh wow! I just barely posted a question wondering if this issue has yet been addressed. I am highly disappointed to learn that Nuendo 14 still has not addressed this long-standing deficiency.
This is a Dolby issue and not SB.
I have the Dolby renderer running on a dedicated Mac, but for reference, what features do you find lacking in the internal renderer?.
In Nuendo version 12, there was a minor output mismatch, but this was resolved in latter updates, and version 14 now supports full Dolby specifications.
How do you know this? I have not seen any official information on this at all.
but for reference, what features do you find lacking in the internal renderer?
Custom room monitoring configurations and the ability to adjust buffer settings have been pretty important features for my workflow. Updates and bug fixes for internal renderers can also trail as far as a year behind Dolby fixes to the Dolby Atmos rendering engine.
I would also point out that support for the external Dolby Atmos Renderer is an advertised feature on the Steinberg website. Yet this caveat on lack of support for Apple silicon is not mentioned anywhere on the Steinberg website. Not even in the Nuendo manual, which cost me time trying to troubleshoot why I couldn’t get the external Renderer connected.
HI,
Just received a response from Dolby (attached) confirming that the reason the external Dolby Atmos Renderer is still not working with Nuendo 14 in native Apple Silicon mode is due to a deliberate decision by Steinberg — apparently to prioritise their own internal renderer.
This is extremely disappointing, especially since there is no mention of this limitation in any official Steinberg documentation or product information. By omitting such a crucial detail, Steinberg is misleading its users and customers.
Transparency is essential when it comes to professional tools. Users deserve to know what works and what doesn’t before making critical platform decisions.
Hi
As far as I remember the debate was settled. Dolby issued an apology, correcting their earlier statement.
But this was some time back.
Regarding your question about Nuendo, I’m unsure if those features can be integrated. There were rumors about a mastering toolset, but I don’t know what came of it.
That acknowledges there is an ongoing problem but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is Dolby who needs to fix this. They may be waiting on Steinberg for all we know. I’m sure both sides get feedback from customers on this so at least Dolby is giving folks a heads up.
UPDATE: Just saw Arturas’ response from Dolby on this. Yes, it IS Steinberg who appears to be dragging their feet!
Thanks for sharing, Arturas. And agreed! It is very disheartening to see Steinberg continuing to advertise external Renderer support and yet they allow this issue to go on for over two years(!) AND they don’t even update the manual to warn users. Again - this lack of transparency cost me valuable production time as I tried to set up a new computer.
Annnnd…Start the clock! (Countdown to Dolby External Renderer not working with Nuendo due to Nuendo using an out-of-date Dolby Atmos communication library)
