Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

4
Entering and editing notes 

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Entering and editing notes
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
 How to make various settings for how notes are displayed.
 How to enter notes.
 How to use tools and settings to make the score as legible as 
possible.
 How to set up a split (piano) staff.
 How to work with multiple staves.
Score settings
Before you start entering notes, you need to make some 
initial staff settings in addition to those described in the 
chapter “The basics” on page 493. To understand why 
and how these...

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Entering and editing notes
Note values and positions
Two of the most important settings for entering notes (and 
the ones you will change most often) are the length of the 
note (the note value) and the minimum spacing between 
notes (the Quantize value).
Selecting a note value for input
You can choose the length for entering notes as follows:
By clicking the note symbols on the extended toolbar.
You can select any note value from 1/1 to 1/64 and activate/deactivate 
the dotted and triplet options by...

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Entering and editing notes
The upper field shows the pitch according to the vertical 
position of the pointer in a staff. The lower field shows the 
“musical position” in bars, beats, sixteenth notes and ticks:
The relation between beats and bars depends on the 
time signature: In 4/4 there are 4 beats to a bar. In 8/8 
there are eight, in 6/8 there are six, etc.
The third number is the sixteenth note within the beat. 
Again, the time signature determines the number of six-
teenth notes to each beat....

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Entering and editing notes
Entering notes with the mouse
To add a note to the score, proceed as follows:
1.Make the staff active.
Notes are always inserted on the active staff. See “The active staff” on 
page 496 for details.
2.Select the desired note value.
See “Selecting a note value for input” on page 513.
3.If you select the note value by clicking on a symbol on 
the extended toolbar, the Insert Note tool is automatically 
selected – otherwise select the Insert Note tool from the 
toolbar or...

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Entering and editing notes
 If two notes on the same position are too close to each other 
or if you want their “graphical order” in the score reversed, you 
can do this without affecting playback. See “Graphic moving 
of notes” on page 550.
 Stem direction and length is normally automatic, but you can 
set it yourself. See “Background: Note stems” on page 541.
 If you are scoring for piano and therefore (or for other reasons) 
need a split staff, there are special techniques for this, see 
“Split...

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Entering and editing notes
Moving notes
In the following, you will find descriptions of the various 
methods to move notes, as well as related features.
Moving by dragging
Proceed as follows:
1.Set the Quantize value.
The Quantize value will restrict your movement in time. You cannot place 
notes on positions smaller than the Quantize value (see “Selecting a 
Quantize value” on page 513).
2.Select the note(s) you want to move.
You can select notes across several staves if you wish.
3.Click one of the...

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Entering and editing notes
Acoustic Feedback
Acoustic Feedback is activated.
To hear the pitch of the note while moving, activate the 
speaker icon (Acoustic Feedback) on the toolbar.
About the lock layers
When you are moving and editing notes in the score, you 
might accidentally move other objects nearby. To avoid 
this, assign different types of objects to different “lock lay-
ers” (up to three) and instruct Cubase to “lock” one or two 
of these layers, making them unmovable.
There are two ways to...

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Entering and editing notes
Notes that you have put on the clipboard by cutting or 
copying can be inserted into the score again as follows:
1.Activate the desired staff.
2.Move the project cursor to the position where you 
want the first note to appear.
This is done by holding down [Alt]/[Option] and [Shift] and clicking at the 
desired position in the score.
3.Select Paste from the Edit menu (or use a key com-
mand, by default [Ctrl]/[Command]-[V]).
The notes are pasted in, beginning at the project...

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Entering and editing notes
Changing the length of notes
When it comes to note lengths, the Score Editor is special 
in that it does not necessarily display the notes with their 
actual length. Depending on the situation, you may want to 
change the “physical length” of the notes or the “display 
length”.
Changing the “physical” length
This will change the actual length of the notes. The 
change will be audible when you play back the music.
By using the Insert Note tool
Proceed as follows:
1.Select...