
By the time I finished my first session with Nuendo, I had created my own workspace with my own tools, and I don’t know if I could easily go back to a DAW that doesn’t have a sweet integrated channel strip like Nuendo does. It took me a little while to get my hardware routed properly, but once I did the workflow efficiencies began to unfold like layers of an onion (or ogre, if you’re a Shrek fan).

To be honest, I was a little overwhelmed at first by Nuendo’s scope and scale. It reminds me a bit of Sonar’s (R.I.P.) interface, and it’s definitely a most welcome addition to any engineer’s workflow. This is all without loading a single VST plugin. Each mix channel has lightning quick access to a noise gate, standard compressor, DeEsser, tape saturator, sonic maximizer, and EQ. The channel strip clearly draws a lot of inspiration both visually and sonically from an SSL console, and this allows for quick and familiar sonic control of a track. I found the integrated channel strip to be particularly satisfying. On the music and film composition side, Nuendo includes a number of new effects and workflow enhancements.
