Steinberg Cubase 4 Operation Manual

							7
Additional note and rest formatting 
						

							547
Additional note and rest formatting
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
 How to control stem direction.
 How to control beaming, and create cross staff beaming.
 How to make detailed adjustments to note appearance.
 How to perform “graphic moving” of notes.
 How to create grace notes.
 How to create tuplets.
Background: Note stems
The direction of stems is governed by five things:
 How notes are grouped under beams.
 Any manual manipulation of beams.
 The Flip Stems function.
 How the note information is set for each note.
 How the Polyphonic tab on the Score Settings–Staff page is 
set up (if you use polyphonic voices).
Also, there is a priority system with these steps, as they 
are listed above. In other words, if you have adjusted the 
beam slant “by hand” (see below), it doesn’t matter if you 
previously flipped the stems, or how the note was set up. If 
you have flipped the stems it doesnt matter how the notes 
or voices were set up, etc.
Setting stem direction
In polyphonic voices
On the Score Settings–Staff page (Polyphonic tab), stem 
direction can be set separately for each voice.
This is the stem setting with the lowest priority. It is only 
valid if no other settings were made specifically.
Using Flip Stems
Flipping the stem of one or several notes
1.Select the note(s).
2.Click the Flip icon on the extended toolbar.
All the stems in the selection are now flipped. Those that pointed up now 
point down and vice versa.
You can also assign a key command for this.
In the Key Commands dialog on the File menu, the command is called 
“Flip” and is found in the Score Functions category.
You can also right-click a note or a selection of notes 
and select the Flip option from the context menu.
Flipping the stems of notes grouped under a beam
1.Select any note in the group.
2.Invoke Flip as described above.
The entire group is now flipped. 
Before and after the flip. No matter which note you select, the entire 
group is flipped.
!If you have edited the stem length of a note and then 
flip it, the stem will be reset to default length.
!If you have activated the “Fixed Stems” option on the 
Score Settings–Staff page (Options tab, see “Fixed 
Stems” on page 535), a lot of the automatic stem 
length settings are ignored. However, you can still 
edit the stem length and direction of individual notes.
The voice stem settings
!This will not work if you have adjusted the slanting of 
the beam by dragging. If you have, you must first re-
set the beam as described in the section “Stem 
length” on page 548.
The Flip icon 
						

							548
Additional note and rest formatting
Independent stem direction under a beam
If you need stems attached to the same beam to go in dif-
ferent directions, this is achieved by dragging the beam’s 
start and end points, as described in the section “Manual 
adjustment of beams” on page 555. This feature is avail-
able in Page Mode only.
Independent stem direction under a beam.
Stem direction in the Set Note Info dialog
The Set Note Info dialog can be opened by double-click-
ing on a note head, as described below. In its lower left 
corner you will find a pop-up for setting stem direction.
The Set Note Info dialog with the Stem pop-up.
 Setting this pop-up to Up or Down is the same as using Flip 
Stems, see “Using Flip Stems” on page 547. 
 Setting this pop-up to Auto makes the program set the stem 
direction automatically. 
Stem length
Adjusting stem length (Page Mode)
1.Click on the end of the stem so that a handle appears.
The stem handle selected.
2.If you want to change the lengths of several stems at 
the same time, hold down [Shift] and select these stems 
as well.
3.Drag the stem handle (on one of the selected stems) 
up or down.
All selected stems will be lengthened or shortened by the same amount.
Resetting stem length and beam slants
1.Make sure the display filter bar is visible (if not, click the 
Show Filter View button in the toolbar).
For more about the filter bar, see “Showing and hiding “invisible” ele-
ments” on page 500.
2.Make sure the “Stems/Beams” checkbox is activated 
on the filter bar.
Now, below the notes where stems have been changed or beam slant 
adjusted manually, the word “Stem” will appear.
3.Click on the “Stem” text to select it.
4.Press [Backspace] or [Delete] to remove it.
Before and after deleting the “Stem” item. 
						

							549
Additional note and rest formatting
Accidentals and enharmonic shift
Making global settings
On the Score Settings–Project page (Accidentals sub-
page), you will find a number of options for how acciden-
tals are displayed in the score. Once set, these are valid 
for all tracks in the project. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Score Settings–Project page and select the 
Accidentals subpage from the list displayed on the left.
The Accidentals subpage on the Score Settings–Project page.
Now, you can use one of the following possibilities:
Activate the option “Courtesy Acc Distance” and enter 
a value in the bars field.
This determines after how many measures courtesy accidentals should 
be shown. If you set this to “0”, notes outside the scale get accidentals 
and no courtesy accidentals are shown.
Activate one of the following options by clicking on the 
graphics:2.With the radio buttons to the right, you can decide 
how five of the most common intervals outside the scale 
should be displayed, as sharps or as flats.
Enharmonic shift
If one or several notes are not displayed with the acciden-
tals you wish, you can perform an Enharmonic Shift on 
them.
1.Select the notes to be shifted.
2.Click the desired option on the extended toolbar.
3.If the enharmonic shift should be repeated in the whole 
bar, activate the option “Enharmonic shift for entire bar” in 
the Score Settings–Project page, Accidentals subpage.
Option Description
Force Notes outside the scale get accidentals and accidentals 
are repeated even within the same measure.
Force all Every single note in the score gets an accidental.
!When you activate the option “Accidentals for Each 
Note” in the Notation Style subpage of the Score 
Settings–Project page (in the “H.W. Henze Style” 
category), all notes will be displayed with accidentals 
(even tied notes).
Option Description
Use these buttons when you want regular Enharmonic 
Shifting (select one option).
Use this button when you want to deactivate Enharmonic 
Shifting for the note(s).
Use this button when you want to hide the accidental 
completely.
Use this button when you want to create a “help acciden-
tal” for the selected note(s) only. For more info see the 
global Help option (on the Score Settings–Projects–
Accidentals subpage) described above.
Use this button when you want to enclose the accidental 
in parentheses. To remove these, select “off”. 
						

							550
Additional note and rest formatting
Changing the note head shape
1.Select the notes for which you wish to change the note 
head shape.
Make sure not to select the stems, only the note heads.
2.Open the Set Note Info dialog.
To do so, double-click one of the notes, click the “i” button on the ex-
tended toolbar, or right-click on a note head and select “Properties” from 
the context menu.
3.Pull down the “Note Head” pop-up menu in the top 
left corner of the dialog.
The pop-up menu contains all the available head shapes and an “Auto” 
option, which selects the normal default shape for the note.
The Note Head menu.
4.Select one of the note heads.
5.Click Apply.
The settings are applied to the selected note(s).
6.If you like, select other notes and make settings for 
them.
When you are done, close the dialog by clicking its Close button.
Other note details
Each note has a number of settings in the Set Note Info 
dialog.
To open the Set Note Info dialog, double-click on a 
note, select a note head and click the “i” button on the ex-
tended toolbar, or right-click on a note head and select 
“Properties” from the context menu.If the Set Note Info dialog is already open, you simply 
select the desired notes, adjust the settings in the dialog 
and click Apply.
The settings are applied to all currently selected notes.
The Set Note Info dialog contains the following settings:
Get Info
Option Description
Note Head Used for selecting custom note head shapes (see 
“Changing the note head shape” on page 550).
Tablature on/off 
and numberUsed for creating or editing tablature (see “Creating tabla-
ture” on page 624). This feature can be used for individual 
notes or together with the automatic tablature function.
Bows pop-up 
menuUsed for adding bow up/bow down articulation. When 
selecting “Off”, bow symbols will not be displayed for the 
selected notes.
Bow up and down
Display Length This allows you to change the displayed length of notes, 
without affecting playback. Note that the display quantize 
settings still apply (see “Notes and Rests display quan-
tize values” on page 534). To reset this value to “Auto” 
(so that notes are displayed according to their actual 
length), scroll the value down to zero.
Accidental 
DistanceUse this to specify how far from the note, horizontally, you 
want the accidental. The higher the number the greater 
the distance.
No Ledger 
LinesTurns off ledger lines for notes with high or low pitches.
With and without ledger lines 
						

							551
Additional note and rest formatting
Coloring notes
You can assign colors to notes using the color pop-up 
menu on the toolbar.
1.Simply select the notes for which you wish to use col-
ors, click the Color Scheme Selector field to the right in the 
toolbar and pick a color from the pop-up menu.
Only the note heads will be colored. Note that the color will only be visi-
ble once the notes have been deselected.
2.On the far right in the Score Editor toolbar you will find 
the Hide Colors button.
If you assigned colors to some or all of the notes in your score, this but-
ton allows you to switch between display of colored or uncolored notes. 
This may help you to find selected notes among other colored notes.
If the Preferences dialog (Scores–Colors for Additional 
meanings page) you can specify different colors for ele-
ments in the score in order to indicate that they are “spe-
cial” in any way. You can for example chose a color for a 
“Moved Graphic” or a “Moved Slur”. These objects will be 
colored accordingly when they are moved from their default 
positions (see “About moving note symbols” on page 577).
1.Open the Preferences dialog (Scores–Use Colors for 
Additional meanings).
2.Click in the Active column to activate this function for 
the respective element.
3.Click in the color field to the right to specify the de-
sired color.
ÖThe colors will be included when you print the score.
When color-printing a score, you will get the colors you selected for the 
notes. When you are using a black-and-white printer, the notes will appear 
in black (notes that have not been assigned a color) and different shades 
of grey (depending on how bright/dark a color was used for the note).
No Stem Hides the note stem completely
No Flag/Beam Activate this to hide the flags or beams of the selected 
note(s).
Bracket Head When this is activated, notes will be displayed with 
brackets:
Bracket Head off and on.
X Stem 
(Spoken)When this option is activated for a note, it is displayed 
with an x across its stem. This is normally used to indicate 
spoken words.
Hide Note Ticking this checkbox will hide the selected note(s).
Stem pop-up 
menuDetermines the stem direction, see “Using Flip Stems” on 
page 547.
Tie pop-up 
menuDetermines the direction of ties. When this is set to “Auto” 
(the default setting) the program will choose a tie direction 
depending on the stem direction of the tied notes.
Type pop-up 
menuDetermines the note type. There are four options:
– Normal. This is how notes usually are displayed.
– Grace. When this is selected, notes will be displayed as 
grace notes. This is described in detail on “Grace notes” 
on page 558.
– Cue. When this is selected, notes will be displayed as 
cue notes (smaller notes, often used as “guide notes” or 
optional lines). See “Cue notes” on page 558.
– Graphic. These are special notes, useful for example for 
guitar notation (pull-offs) and trills (as “help notes”, indi-
cating which notes to trill between). In both these cases 
the “No Stems” option could be useful. 
Graphic notes are not included in the “automated cutting” 
(see “The Cut Notes tool” on page 556). They are posi-
tioned after the note(s) they “belong to” (as opposed to 
grace notes).
Crossed Activate this option, when you want the stem to be 
crossed by a slanted line (to indicate that the note is a 
grace note).
Grace note 
optionsThese options are available when Grace is selected on 
the Type pop-up menu. See “Grace notes” on page 558. Option Description 
						

							552
Additional note and rest formatting
Copying settings between notes
If you have made various settings in the Set Note Info dia-
log for a note, and want to use these settings for other 
notes as well, there is an easy way to do this:
1.Set up the first note as desired.
This includes the settings in the Set Note Info dialog, but also any note-
related symbols (such as accents, staccato, articulation, etc. – see “Ad-
ding note symbols” on page 567).
2.In the score, select the note and select “Copy” from 
the Edit menu.
3.Select the notes to which you want to copy the at-
tributes.
4.Right-click the notes to which you want to copy the at-
tributes, and select “Paste Note Attributes” from the con-
text menu.
The selected notes will now get the attributes of the first, copied note, 
but their pitches and note values will remain unchanged.
Handling beaming
Turning beaming on/off
Beaming is enabled/disabled independently for each staff.
1.Click the Options tab.
2.To turn off beaming, activate No Beams and click Apply.
Even if beaming is deactivated for the staff, you can put 
some notes under beams, as described below.
Grouping
When beaming is on, the program automatically groups 
notes under beams. However, there are a number of ways 
to determine how notes are grouped.
Using the Edit Time Signature dialog
The time signature for the score naturally affects grouping. 
But you can control this yourself by creating a composite 
time signature used only for grouping:
1.Open the Edit Time Signature dialog by double-click-
ing the time signature symbol for the staff.
2.Set up the numerator with the grouping you desire.
If you for example want eighth notes in two groups of three and one 
group of two, enter 3+3+2.
3.Set the denominator, if necessary.
4.Activate “For Grouping Only”.
The time signature dialog with “For Grouping Only” activated.
5.Click OK.
Regular grouping of a number of eighth notes or smaller 
(“Beam”)
If the grouping the program assigns isn’t the one you 
want, you can put any selection of eighth notes or smaller 
under a beam:
1.Select at least two notes, where you want the beam to 
begin and end.
You can also select notes in between these two if you wish, it doesn’t 
matter.
2.Click the Group Notes icon on the extended toolbar or 
right-click on one of the notes to be grouped and select 
“Beam” from the “Group/Ungroup” submenu of the con-
text menu.
The Group Notes icon
Before and after grouping.
Double-clicking on the “Grouping” text opens the 
Grouping dialog, allowing you to adjust the “note value” 
for the symbols.
!Please note that the “For Grouping Only” setting only 
affects the way the numerator is divided. Any changes 
you make to the “sum” of the numerator number or the 
denominator will result in a change of actual time sig-
nature in the project. If you need a grouping which 
can’t be entered in the current time signature, you will 
have to group notes manually, see below. 
						

							553
Additional note and rest formatting
Grouping quarter notes or larger under a beam 
(“Brillenbass”)
It is also possible to use the grouping feature for notes 
that are not displayed with beams (quarter notes, half 
notes, etc.). The result are so called “Brillenbass” sym-
bols, commonly used for indicating repeated accompani-
ment patterns, etc.
Double-clicking on the “Grouping” text opens the 
Grouping dialog, allowing you to adjust the “note value” 
for the symbols.
Grouping notes using Repeats
To show Repeats for the grouped notes, proceed as 
follows:
1.Display the display filter bar in the Scores window (by 
clicking the “Show Filter View” button on the toolbar) and 
make sure the “Grouping” checkbox is activated.
Now, you will see the text “Grouping” below all groups you have created.
2.Select the desired notes.
3.Right-click on one of the notes and from the Group/
Ungroup submenu, select “Repeat…”.
A dialog appears.
4.Use the radio buttons to select the desired note value 
for the repeats.
In this example, the “Repeat” feature is used to display two pairs of six-
teenth notes as two eighth notes with “repeat bars”. Note that the second 
and fourth sixteenth note have only been hidden – playback is not affected!
5.Click OK to close the dialog.
Double-clicking on the “Grouping” text opens the 
Grouping dialog, allowing you to adjust the “note value” 
for the symbols.
Creating an accelerando/ritardando
To create an accelerando/ritardando, proceed as follows:
1.Select the notes as described above and select 
“Accelerando” from the Group/Ungroup submenu.
A dialog appears.
2.Use the radio buttons to select the desired combina-
tion (i.e. define whether you want an accelerando or a ri-
tardando and specify the desired note values) and click 
OK to close the dialog.
Example for accelerando (on the right) and ritardando (on the left).
Double-clicking on the “Grouping” text opens the Group-
ing dialog, allowing you to select another combination.
The Grouping dialog
As described above, the Grouping dialog can also be 
opened by double-clicking an existing grouping text in the 
score.
Which Grouping dialog appears depends on the group-
ing option you used for the notes (Beam, Repeats or Ac-
celerando, see above). 
						

							554
Additional note and rest formatting
Removing groups
If you have made a grouping as described above, and 
wish to remove it, proceed as follows:
1.Display the display filter bar in the Scores window (by 
clicking the “Show Filter View” button on the toolbar) and 
make sure the “Grouping” checkbox is activated.
Now, you will see the text “Grouping” below all the groups you have 
created.
2.Select a group by clicking on its “Grouping” text.
3.Press [Backspace] or [Delete].
The grouping is removed.
If you need to remove all groups from the score, hold 
down [Shift] and double-click on the first “Grouping” text. 
This selects all “Grouping” symbols, so you can delete them all at once 
by pressing [Backspace] or [Delete].
Removing a note from a group
There is no dedicated “ungroup” command, simply be-
cause it isn’t needed. A group can consist of one note if 
you wish. In other words… 
 To remove one note at the end of a group, select it and pro-
ceed with grouping as above.
 If you select notes in the middle of a beam and then group, 
three groups are created.
Before and after grouping.
Automatic grouping
The program can also go through the selected notes and 
automatically create grouping for you, where it’s deemed 
suitable. Proceed as follows:
1.Select the notes you want checked for auto-grouping.
Typically, you would select all notes on the track by using the Select All 
command on the Edit menu.
2.Right-click on one of the notes and select “Auto 
Group Notes” from the context menu.
In 4/4 you will for example get two groups of eighth notes per bar, in 3/4 
you will get one group per bar, etc.
Before and after using auto grouping in 4/4.
Cross staff beaming
To create a beam that extends from one staff to another, 
proceed as follows:
1.Set up a split or polyphonic voicing system or open the 
Score Editor with more than one track.
2.Set up a beam of notes (using the group command) 
and adjust their pitches so that they are correct even 
though some of the notes are on the wrong staff.
Use the info line to edit the pitches if they are very low or high.
3.Select the note(s) that should appear on the other 
staff.
4.Select “Display in Staff” from the context menu for a 
selected note. Select a staff from the submenu that ap-
pears.
The notes are “graphically” moved to the selected system, 
but keep their actual pitch.
Before and after moving a note to the lower staff. 
						

							555
Additional note and rest formatting
5.If needed, adjust the beam appearance (see “Manual 
adjustment of beams” on page 555).
Cross staff beaming with the beam in the middle.
As the name of the option already implies, Display In Staff 
does not move the affected notes to another track, but 
merely displays them as if they belonged to the other staff.
Handling beam groups
There are two settings for groups under a beam, Beam 
Subgroups and 16th Subgroups, both found on the Op-
tions tab on the Score Settings–Staff page. If “Beam Sub-
groups” is activated, the program displays subgroups after 
four sixteenth notes under a beam. If you also activate “16th 
Subgroups”, subgroups appear after only two sixteenths.
“Beam Subgroups” off, on and on with “16th Subgroups” activated.
Beam appearance and slant settings
Global settings
On the Score Settings–Project page (Notation Style sub-
page), you will find the following three options for beam 
appearance in the Beams category:
Thick Beams.
Activate this if you want beams to be displayed as thick lines.
Show Small Slants as Flat Beams.
When this is activated, beams that would be only slightly slanted will be 
displayed flat.
Without and with “Show Small Slants as Flat Beams”.
Slanted Beams only Slightly Slanted.
Activate this if you only want a slightly slanted beam even though there 
might be a significant pitch difference between the notes under the beam.
Without and with “Slanted Beams only Slightly Slanted”.
Staff settings
On the Options tab of the Score Settings–Staff page, you 
will find a couple of settings for beams as well.
Manual adjustment of beams
For very detailed control you can manually adjust the 
beam slant:
1.Group and flip notes and adjust the settings described 
above until the beams are as close as possible to how you 
want them.
2.Click on the corner made up by the beam and the 
stem.
A handle appears on the corner of beam and stem.
A beam handle.
!Please note that these settings apply equally to all 
staves.
Option Description
Flat  Beams Activate this when you don’t want any slant at all, no matter 
the pitch difference of the notes under the beams.
No Beams Activate this when you don’t want any beams at all.