Steinberg Cubase 4 Operation Manual

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Working with symbols The “Line/Trill” palette. Note that the arpeggios, hand indication and 
strum symbols are all “note-dependent”!
The “Other” palette.
The “Layout” palette. All these symbols are drawn in their own “layer”.The “Project” palette. These symbols will be present in all layouts.
The “Words” palette. This is described in the section “The Words tab” 
on page 596.
The “User Symbols” palette. This is described in the section “User 
Symbols” on page 583.
Further details about many of the symbols can be found in 
the section “Symbol details” on page 579.
Setting up the Favourites tab
In the symbol Inspector, you will find a tab called Favou-
rites. Cubase allows you to fill this tab with a selection of 
symbols from other tabs. This way, you have instant ac-
cess to the symbols you use often:
1.Open the Favourites tab.
If it’s the first time you are using this tab, it will be empty.
2.Open the tab from which you want to copy a symbol.
ÖNot all symbols can be placed on the Favourites tab.
3.Right-click on the symbol you want to add to the 
Favourites tab and select “Add to Favourites” on the con-
text menu that appears.
You can also add a symbol to the Favourites tab by [Alt]/[Option]-click-
ing on it.
4.Repeat this procedures for other symbols you want to 
add to the Favourites tab.
Arpeggio Arpeggio
Hand indication Arpeggio
Strum Hand indication
Segno (sizable) Strum
Turn
Trill Trill
Trill
Octave OctaveTrill
Trill
Main voice Acc. voice
Ending Ending
Line Line
Beam BeamBeam Beam
Bracket beam Bracket beam
Tuplet bracket Tuplet bracket
Lyrics
Regular text
Guitar chord symbol Block Text (import)
Pedal down Chord
Repeat Pedal up
Segno Repeat
Segno (sizable)
Coda
Keyboard symbol Box symbol Select Symbol, see “The 
“Other” tab” on page 581.
Text (layout layer) BlockText (layout layer)
Rehearsal mark Page Text
Tempo as number Rehearsal mark
D.C. al Fine (text) Tempo as note value
Da Capo al Coda (text) Dal Segno al Fine (text)
Fine (text) Dal Segno al Coda (text)
Coda Segno
Ending Ending
Keyboard symbol Box symbol 
						

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Working with symbols
To remove a symbol from the Favourites tab, select “Re-
move from Favourites” from the context menu or hold 
down [Alt]/[Option] and click on it.
Important! – Symbols, staves and 
voices
Most symbols belong to a staff when inserted. Only note 
symbols, slurs and ties are an exception. They belong to 
notes and therefore to voices. 
It is extremely important that the correct staff is active 
when you insert a symbol (if you are editing multiple 
staves, of course).
If you for example insert a symbol with the wrong staff ac-
tive, the symbol might later “disappear”, simply because you 
edit another configuration of tracks (the track you actually 
inserted the symbol on might not be opened for editing).
The same is true for note symbols and their relation to 
voices. Make sure the correct voice is active when insert-
ing symbols or they might wind up at the wrong position, 
fermatas may be turned upside down etc.
Layout symbols work slightly differently. Instead of belong-
ing to a certain staff or voice, they belong to a layout. 
Since different track combinations use different layouts, 
this means that if you insert a layout symbol in the score 
when you are editing two tracks (for example a trumpet 
and a saxophone part), it will not be there when you view 
each track by itself in the Score Editor. If you want the 
same symbols to appear in other layouts as well, you can 
copy the form of one layout to another. If you want a sym-
bol to appear in all layouts, use the Project tab.
Adding symbols to the score
Making space and handling margins
 If you find there isn’t enough space between staves to add sym-
bols (like for example text), see “Dragging staves” on page 615 
for info on how to separate the staves.
 If you find the score looks crammed after adding symbols, 
check out the section “Auto Layout” on page 617.
About the Pencil tool
Unlike in the other MIDI editors, there is no Pencil tool 
among the tools on the Score Editor toolbar. Instead, the 
Pencil tool is “automatically” selected when you insert 
symbols. The following applies:
Normally, the Pencil tool is automatically selected when 
you click on a symbol in the Inspector.
However, if the option “Double-click Symbol to get 
Pencil tool” is activated in the Preferences–Scores, you 
need to double-click the symbol to get the Pencil tool.
On the same page of the Preferences dialog, you will 
find an option called “Display Arrow tool after Inserting 
Symbol”. When this is activated, the Object Selection 
(“Arrow”) tool is automatically selected after you have in-
serted a symbol.
If you want to insert a lot of symbols with the Pencil tool, you may want to 
deactivate this option.
Adding note symbols
Adding a symbol to one note
1.Open the Note Symbols tab in the Inspector.
2.Click (or double-click) on the desired symbol in the 
tab.
As mentioned above, the “Double-click Symbol to get Pencil tool” prefer-
ence determines whether you need to double-click. In either case, the 
Pencil tool is selected.
!Symbols you add outside the margins will not be 
printed! 
						

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Working with symbols
3.Either click on the note or above or below it.
If you click on the note, the symbol is put in at a predefined distance from 
the note. If you instead click “above or below” the note, you decide for a 
vertical position yourself. In either case, the symbol is aligned horizontally 
with the note. It can later be moved up/down.
Clicking on a note inserts the note symbol (in this case a tenuto) at a 
predefined distance from the note head.
There are three options in the Accents category of the 
Score Settings dialog (Project page–Notation Style sub-
page) that affect the vertical positioning of note symbols:
Accents above Stems.
When this is activated, accent note symbols are displayed at the stem 
side of notes instead of the note head.
Accents above Staves.
When this is activated, accent note symbols are displayed above the 
staff, regardless of the stem direction of the notes. This setting overrides 
the “Accents above Stems” option.
Center Note-Linked Symbols on Stems.
When this is activated (default setting), accents are centered on stems 
an not on note heads.
Adding a symbol to several notes using the Pencil tool
You might for example want to add a staccato symbol to 
all notes within a few measures. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Note Symbols tab in the Inspector.
2.Select the notes to which you want to apply the symbol.
3.Click (or double-click) on the desired symbol in the 
Inspector.
4.Click on one of the notes.
The symbol is added to each selected note, at a predefined distance. 
The symbols can be moved later.
Adding a symbol without tying it to a note
Note-dependent symbols can be entered freely, too. This 
allows you to add a fermata to a rest symbol for example.
1.Make sure the correct staff is active.
2.Click (or double-click) the symbol so that the Pencil 
tool is selected, as described above.
3.Hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and click where you 
want to add the symbol.
Adding other symbols
1.Open the desired symbol tab in the Inspector.
2.Click (or double-click) on the symbol you want to add.
As mentioned above, the “Double-click Symbol to get Pencil tool” prefer-
ence determines whether you need to double-click. In either case, the 
Pencil tool is selected.
3.Click once or click and drag somewhere in the score.
The symbol appears. For many symbols with a length, you can drag to set 
the length of the symbol directly. The symbol appears with its handles 
selected (if it uses handles) so that you can change its size directly if you 
wish. This is all described in detail in the section “Changing length, size 
and shape” on page 577.
Press the mouse button – drag – and release!
You can change the size of most of the note symbols 
and dynamics in a score by right-click on the correspond-
ing object and selecting the desired option from the Size 
submenu on the context menu.
About note-dependent symbols
Note-dependent symbols like arpeggios and strum direc-
tions must be put in front of a note or they will belong to 
the following note instead (if there is no following note, the 
symbols will not be inserted at all).
Adding text
There are special methods for working with text, described 
in their own chapter, “Working with text” on page 589. 
						

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Working with symbols
Adding slurs and ties
Slurs can be drawn in manually or inserted automatically 
for a group of notes. Ties are usually added by the pro-
gram but can also be drawn in as “graphic” symbols.
ÖThere are two types of slurs – “regular” slurs and Bez-
ier slurs (with which you have full control over thickness, 
curve shape, etc.).
Slurs, ties and the display quantize value
Since a slur or tie “musically” always spans from one note 
(or chord) to another, the beginning and end of a slur/tie in 
Cubase is always related to two notes in the score.
When you draw in a tie or slur, the program uses the 
quantize value to find the closest two notes to “attach” the 
symbol to. In other words, if you want to add the slur/tie to 
a note at a sixteenth note position, make sure Quantize is 
set to 1/16th notes or smaller (this is only true for manual 
drawing in of slurs and ties).
Please note that this does not necessarily mean that the 
symbol has to start or end exactly above/below two notes. 
Instead, what it means is that when you use the Layout 
tool to move the note graphically to adjust the look of the 
bar, the slur/tie moves with it (see “Graphic moving of no-
tes” on page 557). The same is true if you adjust the width 
of the measure – the slur/tie is adjusted accordingly.
ÖIf you want the end points of the slurs to snap to exact 
note positions, activate the option “Snap Slurs when 
dragging” on the context menu. This option is also avail-
able in the Preferences dialog (Scores-Editing page).
Drawing the slur/tie
1.Set the Quantize value depending on the positions of 
the two notes that the slur/tie should span. 
For example, if one of them is at a quarter note position and the other at 
an eighth note position, set Quantize to 1/8 note or a smaller note value.
2.Click (or double-click) on the correct slur/tie in the 
symbol Inspector, so that the Pencil tool is selected.
3.Position the mouse close to the first note and drag to a 
position close to the second note.
The end points of the slur/tie will snap to their default positions – holding 
down [Ctrl]/[Command] allows you to move the end points freely.
There are two special functions for inserting a slur or tie 
that automatically spans from one note to another.
Adding a slur/tie between two notes
1.Select two notes.
2.Click (or double-click) the correct slur/tie symbol in 
the Inspector, so that the Pencil tool is selected.
3.Hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and [Shift] and click on 
one of the two notes.
The slur/tie is added between the two selected notes.
Inserting a slur over a selection of notes
1.Select a span of notes.
2.Pull down the Scores menu and select “Insert Slur”.
A slur is created, starting at the first selected note and ending at the last.
The Bezier slur
The Bezier slur is a special slur symbol, found in the Dy-
namics symbol tab. Unlike the regular slur, this symbol is 
made up of a bezier curve, allowing you to create more ad-
vanced curve shapes.
To add a Bezier slur, click (or double-click) on the symbol 
in the Inspector so that the Pencil tool is selected, and 
click or drag in the score. Clicking creates a Bezier slur of 
the default length and shape, while dragging creates a 
straight line.
You will find that the default Bezier slur has four curve 
points – one at each end and two along the curve.
To move the slur, click on it (but not on a curve point) 
and drag.
To resize the slur, click and drag the end points. 
						

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Working with symbols
To change the shape of the slur, click on one of the mid-
dle curve points and drag in any direction.
Right-clicking on a curve point brings up a context menu 
with the following options:
Creating trills
If you have recorded or entered a trill, Cubase can help 
you display this properly:
1.Select the notes that make up the trill.
2.Right-click on one of the notes and select “Build 
Trill…” from the context menu.
3.Select an option from the dialog that appears.
The radio buttons determine how the trill should look. Activate the “Help 
Note” option if you want an extra note to indicate between which notes 
the trill should be played.
4.Click OK.
Now the following happens:
 All notes except the first one (and possibly the second) are 
hidden.
 The first note automatically gets a display length matching the 
length of the whole trill.
 If you chose to include a help note, the second note is con-
verted to a “Graphic” note, with brackets but without stem. 
Otherwise, the second note is hidden, too.
 The trill symbols you selected in the dialog are inserted.
Inserting symbols across staves
If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] while adding a symbol to 
one staff in a grand staff, this symbol will be put in at cor-
responding positions on all staves. This allows you for ex-
ample to insert rehearsal marks, repeats, etc. for all instru-
ments at the same time.
Adding a keyboard symbol
The “Other” tab contains a piano keyboard symbol, useful 
for example in educational scores. The symbol has the fol-
lowing properties:
To insert the keyboard symbol, select it from the Inspec-
tor, click with the Pencil tool at the desired position and 
drag a box to specify the approximate size of the keyboard.
After you have inserted the keyboard symbol, you can 
drag its edges to resize it vertically or horizontally.
Option Description
Add Points/
Reduce PointsAdds another pair of curve points to the Bezier slur. This 
allows you to create very complex slur shapes. After add-
ing points, there will be an additional menu item “Reduce 
Points” – selecting it removes the additional curve points.
Add Thickness Makes the Bezier slur thicker.
Reduce 
ThicknessMakes the Bezier slur thinner.
Hide This hides the slur symbol, see “Hiding/showing objects” 
on page 609. 
						

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Working with symbols
If you right-click on an inserted keyboard symbol and 
select “Properties” from the context menu, a dialog opens 
allowing you to specify further properties for the symbol.
You can also double-click on an inserted keyboard symbol to open this 
dialog.
Adding guitar chord symbols
A fretboard symbol of a guitar chord can be inserted any-
where in the score. 
Guitar symbols are found on the “Guitar Symbols” tab and 
the “Other” tab in the symbol Inspector.
The Guitar Symbols tab contains all Guitar symbols of 
the current guitar library, see “Using the guitar library” on 
page 572. If the symbol you want to insert is among these, 
select it and insert it as you would any other symbol, see 
above.
To insert a guitar symbol not present in the guitar library, 
proceed as follows:
1.Open the “Other” tab.
2.Click (or double-click) on the guitar chord symbol, so 
that the Pencil tool is selected.3.Click in the score, at the position where you want the 
symbol to appear.
The Guitar Symbol dialog appears.
To put a black dot on any fret and string, click on it. 
To remove it, click again.
To input a symbol just above the string, outside the fret-
board, click there.
Consecutive clicks allow you to select between a ring (open string), a 
cross (don’t play this string) and no symbol.
To add a capodaster number, click to the left of the 
symbol.
Consecutive clicks allow you to step through the possibilities.
You can also add a capodaster symbol (a line over the 
strings), by setting the “Capo String” parameter to a value 
higher than 0.
By adjusting the Capo End and Start values, you can create capodaster 
symbols that span fewer strings.
Use the “Size” value field to adjust the size of the chord 
symbol.
If you want the symbol to be horizontal, activate the 
“Horizontal” checkbox.
If you want to display more or fewer frets than the de-
fault six, change the “Frets” value.
4.Click Apply.
The guitar symbol appears in the score. 
Clicking the Insert Notes button will insert the actual 
notes in the chord into the score.
You can also right-click and select “Insert Notes” from the context menu 
that appears.
Option Description
Size Governs the width of the keys.
Start Note This is the leftmost note in the keyboard symbol.
Show Note 
NamesWhen this is activated, each C key is displayed with note 
name and octave (C1, C2, etc.).
White/Black 
Keys transparentActivate these if you want the white and/or black keys to 
be transparent. 
						

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Working with symbols
You can edit the symbol at any time by double-clicking it, 
changing the settings in the dialog and clicking Apply. 
Note that you can also access the symbols you have de-
fined in the guitar library by right-clicking a guitar symbol – 
see below.
ÖIf you select “Make Chord Symbol” from the context 
menu, the corresponding chord symbol will be displayed 
above the guitar symbol. This function is very useful when 
writing lead sheets, for example.
Using the guitar library
The above method is fine if you only want to add a few 
chord symbols to your score. If you need a lot of chord 
symbols, or if you are using chord symbols in a lot of dif-
ferent scores, you can gather all your chord symbols in a 
“guitar library” instead. This way you don’t need to recre-
ate the same chord symbol over and over again.
Defining chord symbols
1.Double-click on one of the symbols in the Guitar Sym-
bols tab in the Inspector to open the guitar library.
Alternatively, you can open the Score Settings–Project page and select 
the “Guitar Library” subpage.
2.To add a guitar chord symbol to the library, click the 
New button.
A chord symbol appears in the list to the left.
3.To edit the chord symbol, double-click it in the list.
This opens the Guitar Symbol dialog, as when editing a chord symbol in 
the score. 
The symbol you create will also be “interpreted” and its 
name will be displayed to the right of the fretboard symbol.
This can also be edited by double-clicking if you like.
To sort the available symbols in the library according to 
their root notes, click the Sort button.
To remove a symbol from the library, select it in the list 
and click Remove.
To save the current library as a separate file, select 
“Save…” from the Functions pop-up menu.
A file dialog appears, allowing you to specify a name and location for the 
file.
To load a guitar library file, select “Load current Pane…” 
from the Functions pop-up menu.
In the file dialog that appears, locate and open the desired guitar library 
file. 
There are also two additional checkboxes in the Guitar 
Library dialog:
Inserting symbols from the library
Apart from the “Use for ’Make Chords’” option above, 
there are two ways to insert symbols from the guitar library 
into the score:
Use the Functions pop-up menu in the Guitar Library 
subpage of the Score settings–Project page when creat-
ing or editing guitar symbols.
Right-click on a guitar symbol in the score and select a 
chord symbol from the Presets submenu on the context 
menu.
!Loading a guitar library file replaces the current 
library!
Option Description
Use for ’Make 
Chords’When this is activated, and you use the “Make Chord 
Symbol” function (see “Using Make Chord Symbol” on 
page 587), the program will insert guitar symbols as well 
as regular chords (if any fitting guitar symbols can be 
found). If there are several guitar symbols for a certain 
chord in the Guitar Library, the first one will be used.
Small Display If this is activated, the chord symbols in the list will be 
displayed in the size they will have in the score. If it is de-
activated, the symbols will be displayed in a larger size, 
for easier editing. 
						

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Working with symbols
Using layout symbols
Symbols inserted from the “Layout” tab belong to the lay-
out layer. When you are editing a layout containing several 
tracks, you can have inserted layout symbols automatically 
copied to any combination of tracks in the layout. You de-
cide which staves should display layout symbols by ticking 
their “L” column in the Score Settings–Layout page 
(opened by selecting “Settings…” on the Scores menu).
Here, layout symbols will be displayed for the first two tracks.
 Any editing you perform to layout symbols is automatically du-
plicated in the other tracks.
 The display of layout symbols for different tracks can be deac-
tivated at any time.
 Layout symbols can be copied between layouts, by using the 
Get Form function on the Score Settings–Layout page.
One example of how to use layout symbols: 
Let’s say you are editing a full orchestra score, and want 
rehearsal marks inserted for more than one staff (typically, 
above each instrument group – brass, strings, percussion, 
etc.). Now all you need to do is insert the rehearsal marks 
from the Layout tab for one of the tracks. To do so, open 
the Score Settings–Layout page, tick the “L” column for 
the desired tracks/staves and click Apply.
Using Project symbols
Project symbols are part of the project layer and will there-
fore appear in all layouts. The project layer also contains 
changes to bar lines (e.g. repeats and double bar lines) 
and bar number offsets. Typically you use Project symbols 
when you know you want these shown for all combina-
tions of tracks.ÖYou can also use Project symbols in combination with 
the Arranger mode to have the program play back accord-
ing to the score – including repeats, Da Capos, endings 
etc.
See “Scores and the Arranger mode” on page 629.
Selecting symbols
Almost all symbols can be selected by clicking on them. 
For symbols that have a length or size, one or more han-
dles appear.
A selected crescendo.
An exception to this are the slurs and ties which can be 
selected by clicking on the end points or by drawing a se-
lection rectangle.
Using the lock layers
Sometimes it can be very hard to click on a symbol or 
other object in the score without accidentally selecting 
other symbols nearby. To remedy this, you can assign dif-
ferent types of objects to different “lock layers” (up to 
three) and instruct Cubase to “lock” one or two of these 
layers, making them “unmovable”. Furthermore, you can 
lock the layout and project layers separately if needed. 
Proceed as follows:
Setting up the lock layers
1.Open the Preferences dialog from the File menu, and 
select the Scores–Event Layers page. 
						

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Working with symbols
2.Assign each event type to a layer (1, 2 or 3).
It is a good idea to assign event types that might “conflict graphically” to 
different layers. For example, you might want to assign bar numbers and 
note symbols to different layers, if you find that you accidentally move bar 
numbers when editing note symbols and vice versa.
3.Click OK to close the dialog.
Alternatively, you can right-click on one of the Layer but-
tons (1-2-3) on the extended toolbar to bring up a pop-up 
menu, showing which object types are associated with 
that layer.
A checkmark for an object type means it belongs to that layer. If no 
checkmark is shown, you can select the object type from the pop-up 
menu and move it to that layer.
Locking a layer
To “lock” a layer, click on its lock layer button.
In this figure, layer 2 is locked. Event types assigned to layer 2 cannot 
be selected, moved or deleted.
Visual indication of the layers
Objects belonging to locked event layers will be “greyed 
out” in the score. This makes it very easy to find out which 
object belongs to which layer – perhaps especially useful 
for the layout and project layers. For example, to quickly 
spot all objects in the layout layer, lock all other layers by 
clicking their buttons. Now, only layout layer objects will 
be shown normally; all other objects will be greyed out.
Moving and duplicating symbols
There are four ways to move and duplicate symbols: 
 By dragging them with the mouse (see below).
 By using the computer keyboard (moving only – see “Moving 
by using the computer keyboard” on page 576).
 By using the bar handles (see “Moving and duplicating with 
the bar handles” on page 576).
 By using the Paste Note Attributes function (duplicating note 
symbols only – see “Copying settings between notes” on 
page 552).
Moving and duplicating by using the mouse
This is done much as with other objects in Cubase. The 
following rules apply:
 Note symbols and note-dependent symbols move with the 
notes/chords they belong to. In other words, if you move the 
note/chord, the symbols move with it/them.
 Note symbols (like accents and lyrics) can only be moved ver-
tically. Other symbols (like braces and brackets) can only be 
moved horizontally.
 All other symbols without handles can be moved freely. If you 
hold down [Ctrl]/[Command], movement is restricted to one 
direction only.
 If the symbol has one or more handles when it is selected, 
don’t drag it by the handles, or you will change its shape in-
stead of moving it.
 Slurs and ties are an exception, as they can only be moved by 
first dragging one handle and then the other. However, if you 
use the Layout tool (see “Graphic moving of notes” on page 
557) to move the notes they belong to, or if you change the 
measure width, they will be adjusted automatically.
 Duplicating is done by moving with [Alt]/[Option] pressed, as 
always in Cubase. Slurs, ties and bar lines cannot be dupli-
cated with this method.
There are two features to help you position symbols (and 
other score objects) correctly: the rulers and the Position 
Info window. 
						

							575
Working with symbols
The rulers 
Unlike other editors, the Score Editor does not have a 
meter/time position-based ruler. Instead, its rulers are 
“graphical”, i.e. they indicate the actual x-y position of ob-
jects (with “zero” at the upper left corner).
The current pointer position is indicated by thin lines in 
the rulers.
To hide the rulers, pull down the pop-up menu above 
the scroll bar to the right and select “Off”.
This pop-up menu can also be shown by right-clicking in the ruler.
To display the ruler again, pull down the same pop-up 
menu and select one of the units (inches, centimeters or 
points).
This setting will also affect the units used in the Position Info window 
(see below).
The Position Info window
If you need to fine-tune the graphical positions of symbols 
and other objects, you should use the Position Info win-
dow. This makes positioning easier in two ways:
 You get a numerical indication of the exact position of the 
mouse pointer (and any object you are dragging).
 You can move objects or staves by typing in position values.
You display the Position Info window by clicking in the 
ruler.The window contains the following settings and values:
Dragging symbols across staves
If you drag a symbol across the staves, you will note how 
the “active staff” indicator to the left follows the mouse 
pointer. Use this as an indication, to make sure that sym-
bols end up in the correct staff.
If you are editing several tracks at the same time, and 
want to make sure that a symbol isn’t accidentally moved 
to another track when you drag it vertically, click on the “L” 
button on the extended toolbar.
When this is activated, you cannot move symbols across staves by drag-
ging.
Option Description
Measure in 
Inch/cm/mm/ptClick this label to change units for the Position Info win-
dow. This choice will also affect the units used in the rulers.
Abs/Rel. Pos Click this label to select whether X-Y position values 
should be “absolute” (referring to the upper left corner of 
the current page) or “relative” (referring to the upper left 
corner of the active staff).
X, Y When a single object is selected, these values show the 
horizontal and vertical position of this object.
When no objects or several objects are selected, these 
values show the current horizontal and vertical position of 
the pointer.
When a single object is selected, you can click on these 
values and type in a new position for the object.
dX, dY When you are moving an object, these values indicate 
the horizontal and vertical distance you have moved it.
You can click and type in values to move the object(s) by 
the specified distances.
Sel. Staff If “Abs. Pos” is selected (see above), this value shows 
the distance from the top of the score page to the top of 
the active staff. 
You can click and type in a value to move the active staff.
If “Rel. Pos” is selected, this value will always be 0, since 
vertical positions are related to the top of the active staff!
To Prev Staff The distance between the active staff and the staff above 
it. Clicking and typing in a value will move the active staff.
To Next Staff The distance between the active staff and the staff below 
it. Clicking and typing in a value will move the staves be-
low the active staff.