Are the Workspace sections in Nuendo basically the same as the Multiple Time Lines in DaVinci Resolve? Should you be able to do different functions with the mix in each one you load and have the playbacks reflect whatever was done in each?
For example, In this DaVinci tutorial I watched, they had a separate timeline for dialogue, sfx, music etc. The mix engineer constructed an effect on one timeline, rendered it and then imported the print into the main mix timeline. Can we do this same type of function in Nuendo workspaces?
As far as I know workspaces are just different “sets” of “views” of windows etc in Nuendo. In other words if it looks different it’s still the same thing you’re looking at just laid out differently. So there’s really no source/destination relationship as far as the timeline goes; it’s the same timeline viewed differently.
I think NLEs that have different timelines are really using different timelines, unrelated to each other (apart from being a part of the saved project); in other words you play one timeline or the other.
Well, that’s a shame. Those multiple timelines were seriously slick! They had this timeline to build a SFX, then render it and place it right in the mix timeline. If they needed to correct something, all they had to do was go back to the SFX construction timeline. I would do the same thing in Nuendo. Then I’d delete all the stuff I didn’t need and then do a “Save As” iteration. If I was wrong, I had to go back to an entirely different iteration just to make that correction. As I’d never fully understood the different workspaces feature, I was HOPING that this would be the explanation for it. Alas, no joy there.
Well I think part of the problem may be that in a DAW we might run far more tracks in parallel with far more effect on inserts and throughout the signal chain. In an NLE like Resolve traditionally editors have stuck to either editing with some effects or grading. In either case I actually think the burden on the computer is simply different, and that it may be easier to get away with something like this in an NLE. That’s just me guessing though.
Either way, the only alternatives I can think of here are using a) multiple projects loaded, but only activating one at a time (since that’s the maximum). This would I think get you pretty close to what you’re talking about because you can have your sfx-build project open and active and do what you need and copy finished events over to the other project’s window before it’s activated… b) work with multiple folders and deactivate the sfx-build folder/tracks when you’re not using it, or c) use playlists (forget what it’s called in Nuendo… “track versions”???). This is probably the least elegant solution.
Intuitively, to me it seems like using different projects would be the better option. For me when I do TV work I never have so much sfx work to do that I need a different “timeline”, and the few times I’ve done a lot of sfx work I’ve simply created a separate project/session for it, regardless of whether it was PT or Nuendo I was working in.
I’d love it if other people chimed in on this since workflows are always interesting to read about. Always something to learn and make work more efficient…
Another Option is to work in different sections on the timeline. I learned this technique from working with Roland VS recorders. This keeps everything together in the same project and gives essentially the same work function as the multiple time lines approach.
Your main project is say, 5 minutes long, starting at 00.00.00.01. You want to do some involved work in the middle of the song. So you copy the entire song (or perhaps just the section you need) out to 01.00.00.01 (one hour away from your main project). You do all of your heavy editing there and copy the results back to the main project location. This works great and it’s easy to remember where you are because you can just build range sections with the markers. If you see “A,” you’re in the main mix section. If you see “B,” you’re in the workshop section. All the markers inside each range are identical. All of the colors for the tracks are lighter versions of the main tracks. So, you shouldn’t get lost in either section or confuse one section for the other.
I’ve started using this method again recently in Nuendo and it’s just as viable here as it was in the Roland Environment.
Oh sure, for shorter projects that’s probably what I prefer as well. For longer and bigger ones it becomes a bit annoying because it takes longer to load (maybe) and the jumps on the timeline becomes longer, etc.
As I’d never fully understood the different workspaces feature, I was HOPING that this would be the explanation for it. 
Alas, no joy there. 