Steinberg Cubase 4 Operation Manual

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Working with MusicXML
Exporting MusicXML files
1.Set up the score the way you want it in the Score editor 
of Cubase.
2.Open the File menu and open the Export submenu.
3.On the submenu, select “Music XML…”.
Note that this option is only available when the Score editor is opened.
4.A file dialog opens in which you can choose an exist-
ing empty folder or create a new folder for saving the Mu-
sicXML file (as *.xml file). 
						

							13
Designing your score: additional
techniques 
						

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Designing your score: additional techniques
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
 How to change the staff size.
 How to create multi-rests.
 How to add and edit bar lines.
 How to create upbeats.
 How to set measure spacing and the number of bars across 
the page.
 How to control staff and grand staff spacing.
 How to use the Auto Layout dialog.
 How to use the Reset Layout function.
 How to break bar lines.
Layout settings
The Score Settings–Layout page contains a number of 
settings that affect the display of the current layout.
The track list
The track list lists the tracks included in the layout and al-
lows you to make the following settings:
Equal Spacing
Activate this option when you want a note to take up 
space according to its note value. When Equal Spacing is 
activated, two sixteenth notes will take up as much space 
as one eighth note, for example.
When this is deactivated, the note spacing will be spaced automatically.
Size
Changes the size of all staves. See “Staff size” on page 
609.
Multi-Rests
Whenever more than one-bar rests occur, the program can 
replace these with a multi-rest symbol. This parameter al-
lows you to set how many empty bars should be “allowed” 
before Cubase should collect them into a multi-rest. “Off” 
means “never”. See “Multiple rests” on page 611 for more 
information on multi-rests.
Real Book
When this option is activated, clef symbols are not set out 
at the beginning of each staff, only on the first staff on 
each page.
!Before you start designing the score page layout, 
you should open the Page Setup dialog on the File 
menu, and make settings for paper size, print scale 
and margins!
Option Description
Brackets These two columns allow you to add braces or brackets, 
encompassing any number of staves in the layout. See 
“Adding brackets and braces” on page 616.
T This is relevant if the Modern Time Signature option is ac-
tivated to the right. In that case, you use this column to 
specify for which tracks the time signature should be 
shown – see below.
N Determines whether the staff name should be shown for 
each staff in the layout.
L If this is activated, any layout symbols will be shown; oth-
erwise they will be hidden. This allows you to e.g. have re-
hearsal markers shown for the top staff only in a multi-staff 
layout.
D This option lets you specify for each staff in a layout 
whether it should use display transpose. 
						

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Designing your score: additional techniques
Staff Separators
When this option is activated, separator symbols are in-
serted at the beginning of each grand staff.
A staff separator between two systems.
Modern Time Signature
When this is activated, time signatures are shown above 
the staves rather than in them. You can set the size of the 
modern time signature in the Time Sign section on the 
Score Settings–Project page (Notation Style subpage). 
Also note that when modern time signature is selected, 
you use the “T” column in the track list in the Layout page 
to specify for which tracks time signatures should be dis-
played.
If you prefer to display the score in a more modern way, 
check out the other options on the Notation Style subpage!
For descriptions of the options use the Help button in the dialog.
Staff size
For one staff
You can set the staff size as a percentage value of the 
normal size.
1.Open the Score Settings–Staff page for the staff you 
are interested in.
2.Select the Options tab.
3.Adjust the Size parameter in the System Sizes section.
The values range from 25 % up to 250 % of the normal size.
4.Click Apply.
For all tracks in a layout
1.Open the Score Settings–Layout page.
2.Change the Size parameter.
The values range from 25 % up to 250 % of the normal size.
3.Click Apply.
All staves will now get the desired size. Staves that have 
individual size settings (see above) will still be proportion-
ally smaller/larger. 
This setting is part of the layout and can for example be 
used when printing a full score slightly smaller than the 
parts for each instrument.
Hiding/showing objects
“Any” object on a page can be hidden, including notes, 
rests, symbols, clefs, bar lines, even entire staves. You can 
make a page totally blank this way (well, actually, one staff 
has to remain shown). Applications can be found below.
Hiding
To hide items proceed as follows:
1.Select all the items you want to hide.
2.Select “Hide/Show” from the Score menu or click on 
the “H” (Hide) button on the extended toolbar.
Notes can also be hidden by selecting them, clicking 
the “i” button on the extended toolbar and ticking the Hide 
Note check box in the Set Note Info dialog (see “Other 
note details” on page 550).
!If the Hide option in the display filter bar is activated, 
hidden objects are shown in grey so that they are still 
visible and you can select them. 
						

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Designing your score: additional techniques
Hiding in this layout only
If you want the hiding to be “local” to the current layout, 
hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] when selecting “Hide/Show” 
as described above.
ÖYou can also move hidden objects to the layout by 
right-clicking the “Hide” marker and selecting “Move to 
Layout”.
Viewing hidden objects
The display filter bar (shown by clicking the “Show Filter 
View” button on the toolbar) contains two options related 
to hidden objects:
If you activate the “Hidden Notes” option, all hidden 
notes in the score are shown.
Deactivating “Hidden Notes” will hide the notes again.
If you activate the “Hide” option, all hidden objects 
(except notes) will be indicated by a “Hide” text marker.
Showing one object
1.Make sure “Hide” is activated on the display filter bar.
2.Click on the “Hide” text marker below the object you 
want to display.
The text is selected.
3.Press [Backspace] or [Delete].
The object appears. Undo is available if you change your mind.
Showing all objects
If you select “Hide/Show” from the Scores menu again, all 
hidden objects are displayed.
You can also use the Reset Layout function to perma-
nently display hidden notes and objects, as described in 
the section “Reset Layout” on page 618.
Showing a hidden note
While all hidden notes can be made visible by ticking the 
Hidden Notes checkbox on the display filter bar, you may 
want to make some of them “permanently” visible again:
1.Activate the Hidden Notes checkbox on the display fil-
ter bar.
2.Select the notes that you want to “un-hide”.
In the Preferences dialog (Scores–Use Colors for Additional Meanings) 
you can set the color for hidden notes.
3.Double-click one of the notes.
4.Deactivate the Hide Note option in the Set Note Info 
dialog and click Apply.
Applications of hiding
Printing scales
If you want to create scale examples, enter the notes and 
hide time signatures, bar lines and other unnecessary ob-
jects.
A scale created with hidden bar lines, time signatures etc.
Graphic notation
By hiding bar lines, you can produce graphic notation.
Hiding notes meant for playback only
If you have recorded your music, you may have added glis-
sandos, falls, etc. that sound fine but result in a lot of un-
necessary notes. You probably want to hide those notes 
and insert the suitable symbols instead.
Coloring notes
You can use the color pop-up menu on the toolbar to col-
orize selected notes, e.g. for educational purposes. This is 
described in detail in the section “Coloring notes” on 
page 551.
!This is not possible when hiding notes, only other 
symbols. 
						

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Designing your score: additional techniques
Multiple rests
Multiple consecutive rests can be automatically displayed 
as multi-rests. Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Score Settings–Layout page.
2.Set the Multi-Rests option to the number of empty 
bars that should be “allowed” before Cubase will display 
them as a multi-rest.
For example, a value of 2 means that three or more consecutive empty 
bars will be displayed as a multi-rest. If you set this to “Off”, multi-rests 
will not be used.
3.Click Apply and close the dialog.
The multi-rests now appear in the score.
A multi-rest over three bars.
Splitting multi-rests
To divide one long multiple rest into several shorter ones, 
proceed as follows:
1.Double-click on the multi-rest symbol.
The Split Multi-Rest dialog appears:
2.In the dialog, enter the bar number where you want the 
first split.
3.Click OK.
If you need more splits, double-click on any multi-rest symbol and pro-
ceed as above.
Multi-rest appearance
The Score Settings–Project page contains several sub-
pages, on which you can make settings for multi-rests:
The subpage “Notation Style” contains the following 
settings concerning multi-rests:
On the Spacings subpage of the dialog, you can adjust 
the height and width of multi-rest symbols.
On the Text Settings subpage, you can select a font for 
the multi-rest numbers (select “Multi-Rests” in the “Font 
For” pop-up menu and make the desired settings).
Editing bar lines
Editing existing bar lines
For each bar line, you can choose whether you want a reg-
ular, single bar line, a double bar line, a repeat sign, etc.
1.Double-click on the bar line for which you want to edit 
the settings.
A dialog appears with a number of bar line types.
!The program automatically splits multi-rests at time 
signature changes, double bar lines, repeat signs 
and rehearsal marks.
Option Description
Multi-Rests – 
Church StyleWhen this is activated, multi-rests are shown in “church 
style” (vertical bars), rather than with the regular, horizon-
tal symbols.
Multi-Rests – 
Numbers above 
SymbolWhen this is activated, the numbers are shown above the 
multi-rest symbol, instead of below it.
Multi-Rests – 
Snap Rests 
moved with the 
Layout toolWhen this is activated, rests will automatically snap to 
“intelligent” positions in the score (i.e. positions used in 
regular notation) when moved with the layout tool. If this 
is deactivated, rests can be positioned freely.
Barnumbers – 
Show Range 
with Multi-RestsWhen this is activated, and barnumbers are displayed, 
the bar numbers of a multi-rest will be shown as a range. 
						

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Designing your score: additional techniques
2.If you wish the bar line to be shown with “brackets”, 
activate the Brackets checkbox.
This is only relevant for repeat signs.
3.Click on the desired bar line type.
The dialog closes and the bar line type is changed.
4.If you do not want to display bar lines at the beginning 
of the parts, open the Score Settings–Project page, on 
the Notation Style subpage (Bar Lines category) and acti-
vate the option “Hide First Bar line in Parts”.
ÖThe bar line types are part of the Project layer – any 
changes you make will be reflected in all layouts.
Creating upbeats
By using the Pickup Bar feature
With this method, the upbeat actually contains exactly the 
number of beats displayed. That is, if you have an upbeat 
of one beat, your project starts with one bar in 1/4 time.
1.Change the time signature of the first bar to the length 
of the upbeat.
2.Insert a time signature of the correct kind (the time sig-
nature used throughout the project) in the second bar.
To insert a time signature, select it in the “Time Sign” section in the sym-
bol inspector and click in the Score with the Pencil tool.
3.Enter the notes in the upbeat into the first bar.
The first bar before any adjustments.
4.Double-click the time signature for the upbeat bar.
The Edit Time Signature dialog appears.
5.Activate the option “Pickup Bar” and click OK.
Now, the time signature of the first bar takes on the look of 
the second bar’s signature, while the time signature in the 
second bar is hidden:
6.If you use bar numbers, double-click on the first bar 
number and enter an offset of -1. 
7.Adjust the display of bar numbers and hide the “0” in 
the first measure.
By hiding rests
With this method, the first bar will actually have the same 
time signature as the following bars – it will only look like 
an upbeat bar:
1.Enter the notes in the upbeat into the first bar.
The first bar before any adjustments.
2.Hide the rests that precede the notes.
3.Drag the bar line between measure one and two to ad-
just the width of the bar.
After hiding the rest and dragging the bar line.
4.If you like, move the notes in the upbeat measure, us-
ing the Layout tool. 
						

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Designing your score: additional techniques
5.If you use bar numbers, adjust them as described in 
the previous example.
The final upbeat.
Setting the number of bars across 
the page
Automatically
 When you open a new combination of tracks for editing, the 
number of bars across the page is determined by the setting 
“Default Number of Bars per Staff” in the Preferences dialog 
(Scores-Editing page).
 In the Auto Layout dialog (see “Auto Layout” on page 617), 
you can set the maximum number of bars across the staff.
Manually
In Page Mode you have full control of how many bars ap-
pear across the page, by using the Number of Bars dialog 
or the tools. 
ÖIf you want to use the “Max. number of Bars” option in 
the Auto Layout dialog (see “Auto Layout” on page 617), 
you should do this before you adjust the number of bars 
manually.
Using the Number of Bars dialog
1.Make a staff active in the system where you want to 
make changes.
This means that if everything looks fine until for example the fifth system, 
activate one of the staves in this system.
2.Pull down the Scores menu and select “Number Of 
Bars” from the Advanced Layout submenu.
The Number of Bars dialog is displayed.
3.Set the desired number of bars across the page.
To change the number of bars for the active staff only, 
click “This Staff”.To change the number of bars for the active staff and all 
following staves, click “All Staves”.
In other words, to set all systems on all pages to the same number of 
bars, make the very first staff active and use the All Staves option.
Using the tools
To make a bar “fall down” on a new staff, use the Split 
tool to click on its bar line.
Before and after moving the third bar one staff down.
To bring the bar back up to the previous staff, use the 
Glue tool to click on the last bar line on the upper of the 
two staves.
This will in fact move all measures in the lower staff up to the upper. 
						

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Designing your score: additional techniques
Moving bar lines
The following operations can be made using the regular 
Object Selection tool or the Layout tool, it doesn’t matter.
Moving a bar line
If you drag a bar line to the left or right, the surrounding 
bars are adjusted proportionally.
Moving bar lines on all staves
If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] when dragging a bar line, 
all bar lines below the one you drag will be moved accord-
ingly.
Moving a single bar line separately
If you hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] while dragging a bar 
line, the widths of the surrounding bars are not affected.
Making an indent on one line
To create an indent, simply drag the first or last bar line 
on a staff.
The sizes of all measures are adjusted proportionally.
Before and after dragging the first bar line on the first staff.
Making indents on several lines
If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the first or last bar 
line in a system, all following systems will get the same in-
dent. If you want all lines on all pages to be indented in the 
same way, hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the appro-
priate bar line on the first system of the score.
The last bar line in the score
Cubase attempts to move the last bar line and space the 
bars on the last line in a sensible way. But you can change 
this manually by dragging the last bar line, if you like. To 
change the type of the last bar line, double-click it and se-
lect the desired type.
Resetting bar spacing
To reset the bar spacing to standard values for several 
lines, proceed as follows:
1.Locate the first line for which you want to reset the bar 
spacing, and make one staff in that system active.
2.Select “Number of Bars” from the Advanced Layout 
submenu on the Scores menu.
3.Specify the number of bars that you already have on 
the line.
4.Click on “This Staff”.
Clicking “All Staves” will reset the lines of all staves in the score, see 
“Using the Number of Bars dialog” on page 613.
5.Close the dialog.
The bar spacing is reset for the currently selected staff and all following 
staves. 
						

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Designing your score: additional techniques
Dragging staves
For the following operations, you can use the Object Se-
lection tool or the Layout tool.
ÖNote that dragging staves can only be done in Page 
Mode.
Adding space between two grand staves
1.Locate the first staff in the lower of the two systems 
you wish to spread apart.
2.Click just to the left of the first bar line and keep the 
mouse button pressed. 
The entire staff is selected.
3.Drag downwards until you have reached the desired 
distance between the staves and release the mouse but-
ton.
Before…
…and after dragging the upper system.
Setting the same distance between all grand 
staves
1.Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the first staff of the 
second system, until you have reached the desired dis-
tance between this and the first system.
2.Release the mouse button and the [Alt]/[Option] key.
The distances between all the systems will be adjusted accordingly.
Setting the distance between staves within a 
grand staff
1.Locate the lower staff in the grand staff you wish to 
spread apart.
2.Click just to the left of its first bar line and keep the 
mouse button pressed. 
The entire staff gets selected.
3.Drag downwards or upwards and release the mouse 
button.
The new distance is set for the two staves.
Setting the same distance between staves in 
several systems
1.Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the desired staff as 
described above.
2.Release the mouse button and the [Alt]/[Option] key.
The corresponding staves in all following systems are moved accordingly.
!This operation affects the system you drag and all 
following systems.
Dragging the staves in a piano system apart.