Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

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Editing tempo and signature 

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Editing tempo and signature
Background
Whenever you create a new project, Cubase will automat-
ically set the tempo and time signature for this project. The 
tempo and signature settings can be displayed in two 
ways: either on dedicated tracks in the Project window, or 
in the Tempo Track Editor.
Tempo modes
Before we go into detail about tempo and signature set-
tings, you should understand the different tempo modes.
For each track in Cubase that can make use of this func-
tion, you can specify...

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Editing tempo and signature
About the tempo and signature tracks
The tempo track and the signature track allow you to view 
and edit tempo and signature data in the project context. 
The Inspectors for these tracks show the positions and 
values of individual tempo curve points or signature 
events.
The signature track’s background always shows bars.
This is independent of the ruler display format setting.
In the Track list for the tempo track, on the far right, you 
can specify the display range by...

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Editing tempo and signature
Editing tempo and signature
You can use the options of either the Tempo Track Editor 
or the tempo and signature tracks to edit tempo and sig-
nature settings. The descriptions given below are valid in 
both cases. The only exception is the tempo recording 
slider (see below) which is available only in the Tempo 
Track Editor.
Editing the tempo curve
Adding tempo curve points
1.Use the “Insert curve” pop-up menu (in the toolbar of 
the Tempo Track Editor) or the “Type of...

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Editing tempo and signature
Adjusting the curve type
You can change the curve type of a tempo curve segment 
at any time, using the following method:
1.With the Arrow tool, select all curve points within the 
segment you want to edit.
2.In the info line, click below the word “Type” to switch 
the curve type between “Jump” and “Ramp”.
The curve sections between the selected points are adjusted.
Removing tempo curve points
To remove a curve point, either click on it with the Erase 
tool or select it...

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Editing tempo and signature
Process Tempo (Cubase only)
Process Tempo allows you to define a specific length or 
end time for a set range, and the tempo track will automati-
cally set a tempo that will fit the range in the specified time. 
Proceed as follows:
1.Specify a region or range that you wish to process by 
setting the left and right locators, either in the Tempo Track 
Editor or in the Project window. 
2.Click on the Process Tempo button (either in the 
Tempo Track Editor or on the tempo...

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Editing tempo and signature
The Beat Calculator
The Beat Calculator is a tool for calculating the tempo of 
freely recorded audio or MIDI material. It also allows you to 
set the tempo by tapping.
Calculating the tempo of a recording
1.In the Project window, make a selection that covers an 
exact number of beats of the recording.
2.Select “Beat Calculator…” from the Project menu.
The Beat Calculator window appears.
3.In the Beats field, enter the number of beats that the 
selection encompasses.
The...

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Editing tempo and signature
Merge Tempo From Tapping
This function allows you to create a complete tempo track 
based on your tapping. Typically, you would use this if you 
have an audio file with no tempo mapping and want to be 
able to add other material afterwards, etc.
1.Create an empty time-based MIDI track and, while 
playing back your audio material, tap the new tempo on 
your MIDI keyboard and record the created notes onto the 
new MIDI track.
Note that you must create note events – pedal...

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Editing tempo and signature
While you are dragging, the track(s) you are editing are 
temporarily switched to linear time base. This means that 
the contents of the tracks remain at the same time posi-
tions regardless of the tempo (there is an exception to this 
in the Project window, see below).
4.When you release the mouse button, the musical posi-
tion you clicked on matches the time position you dragged 
it to.
This is because the Time Warp tool changed the last tempo event on the 
tempo track...

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Editing tempo and signature
Matching a musical score to video
Here’s an example of how to use the Time Warp tool in 
“musical events follow” mode. Let’s say you are creating 
the music for a film. You have a video track, an audio track 
with a commentary and some audio and/or MIDI tracks 
with your music. Now you want to match the position of a 
musical cue to a position in a video film. The musical cue 
is located in bar 33. There are no tempo changes in the 
project (yet).
1.Make sure tempo track...