Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

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The MIDI editors
Editing a value
The selected value can be edited directly in the main dis-
play or in the decimal and binary displays. Just click on it 
and type in the desired value as usual.
Adding and deleting bytes
Using the Insert and Delete buttons or their corresponding 
computer keyboard keys, you can add and delete bytes 
from the message. Inserted data will appear before the se-
lection.
To delete the complete SysEx message, select it in the 
List Editor and press [Delete] or [Backspace].
Importing and exporting data
The Import and Export buttons allow you to get SysEx data 
from disk and to export the edited data to a file. The file 
has to be in “MIDI SysEx” (.SYX) binary format. Only the 
first dump in a .SYX file will be loaded.
This format should not be confused with MIDI files, which 
have the extension .MID. 
						

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VST Expression 
						

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VST Expression
Introduction
About articulations
Musical articulations, or expressions, define how certain 
notes “sound”, i. e. how they should be sung or performed 
on a given instrument. They allow you to specify that a string 
instrument is bowed (not plucked), a trumpet muted (not 
played open), and so on. Articulations also define the rela-
tive volume of notes (to play some notes louder or softer 
than the others) or changes in pitch (create a tremolo).
Articulations can be divided into “Directions” and 
“Attributes”. 
Directions are valid for all notes from the insert position 
on, until another direction is scored. This means, they are 
applied not to single notes, but to a continuous range of 
notes, or even an entire piece of music.
An example for a direction is pizzicato, which means that the string in-
strument should be plucked.
Attributes belong to single notes. They are only applied 
to the notes for which they are scored. 
Examples for this are accents, where a note should be played with an 
emphasis, and staccato, where notes are played shorter.
Musical expressions in the Score Editor
Articulations and MIDI
When working with MIDI, i. e. when you are entering notes 
via a MIDI keyboard, editing notes in the MIDI editors or 
using VST Instruments, these articulations need to be re-
alized as different sounds. This can be achieved using the 
following command and data types, which are used to 
trigger the necessary sound changes:
Expression Maps
When working on a project, you might want to audition a 
composition including articulations and other notation ex-
pressions. In Cubase, this can be achieved using the VST 
Expression functionality. This feature makes use of so-
called “Expression Maps”, which can be selected via a 
separate pop-up menu in the Inspector for MIDI or instru-
ment tracks. Within these maps, the sound mapping and 
characteristics for all your musical expressions can be 
specified, using the methods described in the above table. 
In detail, this works as follows:
When you select an Expression Map for a MIDI or instru-
ment track, the articulations (sounds) defined in the map 
are automatically applied during playback. Cubase recog-
nizes the expressions scored for the MIDI part and then 
searches the sound slots in the Expression Map for a 
sound that matches the defined criteria. 
When a matching sound slot is found, the current note is 
either modified (e. g. reduced in length or played louder), or 
the MIDI channel, program change or key switch informa-
tion is sent to the connected instrument (the instrument 
selected on the Output Routing pop-up menu for the 
track), so that a different sound will be played. When no 
sound slot is found that matches the articulations used in 
the part, the “closest match” will be used, see “Groups” on 
page 378.
When you enter articulations in a MIDI part, you need to set 
up an Expression Map in a way that the right sounds in the 
connected VST or MIDI instrument are triggered (see 
“Creating and editing Expression Maps” on page 377).
Expression Maps also allow you to link your articulations 
with remote keys on a MIDI input device and map these to 
sounds that can be played by a MIDI device or VST instru-
ment. This way, you can enter notes and articulations us-
ing a remote MIDI device and have these automatically be 
recorded and played back correctly by Cubase. 
Option Description
Program 
ChangeVia Program Change messages, you can instruct a connected 
VST instrument to switch from one program to another. De-
pending on the instrument, this can be used to play a different 
articulation.
MIDI 
channelMulti-timbral instruments, such as Steinberg’s HALion, feature 
so-called programs, usually representing different articulations. 
These can be accessed via MIDI channel messages.
Pizzicato Tenuto Accent Staccato
Attributes Direction
Key 
switchesSome software samplers, like Steinberg’s HALion Symphonic 
Orchestra, make use of “key switches”, meaning that certain 
keys are not used to trigger sounds, but to switch between ar-
ticulations, for example.
MIDI 
editingArticulations like staccatos or accents can be created by mod-
ifying the actual MIDI data, e. g. by changing length or velocity. Option Description 
						

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VST Expression
Expression Maps are, for example, useful in the following 
situations:
When you want to enter musical articulations directly in 
one of the MIDI editors, especially the Score Editor, with-
out having to record MIDI data first.
When you want to play/record music in realtime and 
control articulation changes while playing.
When you open and edit projects from other users. By 
using Expression Maps, you can map the articulation infor-
mation to a different instrument set or content library 
quickly and easily.
VST Expression in Cubase
The VST Expression functionalities can be found in differ-
ent locations in Cubase. To be able to use these func-
tions, an Expression Map or a track preset containing such 
a map has to be loaded.
An example
To get a quick impression of the VST Expression function 
in Cubase, take a look at an example project:
1.Open the project “VST Expression Demo”, which you 
find on the program DVD in the Additional Content folder 
(Demo Projects subfolder).
This project contains 5 instrument tracks, each of which is assigned to a 
HALionOne instance that uses an Expression Map suited for the respec-
tive sound. The track presets used in this project are installed with the 
program and make use of the HALionOne Expression Set.
2.Now look at the track list. The track “Nylon Guitar” is 
selected.
The events on this track are shown in the Score Editor. In the Inspector, 
the VST Expression tab is displayed, showing the Expression Map for the 
guitar.
3.Start playback.
In the Score Editor, you can see several articulation symbols. Whenever 
such a symbol is reached during playback, the Expression Map switches 
to another sound slot.
4.Double-click on one of the Nylon Guitar parts.
The Key Editor opens. Here, the articulations that are shown as articula-
tion events on the Articulation lane (not as symbols as in the Score Edi-
tor). For further information, see “Articulations in the Key, Drum, and In-
Place Editors” on page 375.
5.On the MIDI menu, select “VST Expression Setup…”.
The VST Expression Setup window opens. This shows the details of the 
Expression Map and can be used to create or edit Expression Maps, see 
“Creating and editing Expression Maps” on page 377. 
6.In the Expression Maps section to the left, select the 
Map “Nylon Guitar”. In the Sound Slots list in the middle 
section of the window, the different articulations are 
shown, together with the symbols that are used. If you se-
lect the slots in the list, you can see that they all have differ-
ent key switches that are sent to the connected instrument 
(HALionOne in this example). Using this key switches the 
instrument is instructed it to switch to another set of sam-
ples, to play back a different articulation.
The four other tracks in the project also use a HALionOne 
program and a separate Expression Map. For these too, 
the articulations are triggered by key switches sent to the 
VST instrument.
Loading Expression Maps
Expression Maps can either be part of track or VST pre-
sets, or be saved separately. Depending on this, the way 
to make them available in Cubase is slightly different.
Loading Expression Maps that are part of presets
Cubase comes with a set of predefined Expression Maps 
which are part of the default presets. They are loaded au-
tomatically with the presets. Track presets are described 
in detail in the chapter “Working with Track Presets” on 
page 288.
The following applies:
Included with Cubase are several track presets which 
are pre-configured for use with VST Expression. They 
contain sounds that make use of key switches and have 
different articulations. To indicate that these presets can 
be used in this context, they have the suffix “VX”.
The same sounds that are used in these track presets are also available 
as part of VST3 presets for HALionOne (with the same name). This al-
lows you to use them more flexibly with your Expression Maps in your 
projects.
Track presets for HALion Symphonic Orchestra can also 
be used with VST Expression. The presets are installed au-
tomatically with Cubase. However, for them to be avail-
able, you have to separately install the VST instrument. 
These Track Presets begin with “HSO” and end with “VX”. 
						

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VST Expression
Expression Maps that were saved separately
It is also possible to define your own Expression Maps, 
see “Creating and editing Expression Maps” on page 377. 
To load these, proceed as follows:
1.In the Inspector for the selected track, select the VST 
Expression section, open the Expression Map pop-up and 
choose “VST Expression Setup…”.
If the VST Expression tab is not shown in the Inspector, right-click on an-
other Inspector tab and select “VST Expression” from the context menu.
2.In the VST Expression Setup dialog, click the Load 
button in the Expression Maps section on the left.
A file dialog appears.
3.Locate and select an Expression Map and click Open.
The Expression Map is added to the Maps list.
4.Repeat the steps for all the maps you want to make 
available, and close the dialog.
All maps loaded are available on the Expression Map pop-up menu in 
the Inspector.
Articulations in the Project window
In the Inspector for MIDI and instrument tracks, a VST Ex-
pression section is available. This indicates whether an Ex-
pression Map is used for a track. It also shows the sound 
slots that are active for playback and for realtime input.
The possibility to monitor the active slots is especially use-
ful when recording articulations with an external device, 
such as a MIDI keyboard. This way, you can see whether 
the correct sound slot, i. e. the right articulation, is used.
Articulations in the Score Editor
In the Score Editor, articulations can be inserted like other 
symbols. There is a special tab in the Symbols Inspector, 
containing all articulation symbols of the current Expres-
sion Map.
To insert a symbol, click on it in the Articulations tab, 
and click at the desired position in the note display.
To delete an articulation symbol from the score, select it 
and press [Delete] or [Backspace].
You can also click on it with the Eraser tool.
ÖIn the Preferences dialog (Score–Colors for Addi-
tional Meanings page), you can specify a color for VST 
Expression symbols. This way, you can easily distinguish 
them from other Score symbols.
Articulation editing in the Score is the same as regular 
symbol editing, see the chapter “Working with symbols” 
on page 555.
Articulations in the Key, Drum, and In-Place 
Editors
If an Expres sion Ma p is used for a MIDI or instr ument tra ck, 
its articulations are shown in the note events in the Key 
Editor display, provided that the vertical zoom factor is high 
enough. If the horizontal zoom factor is high enough, the 
attribute description (the text in the Description column, 
see “Editing Articulations” on page 378) is also shown.
You can insert and edit musical expressions in the Key, 
Drum, and In-Place Editors using the controller lane. This 
is much like regular controller lane editing (see “Editing in 
the controller display” on page 351).
This indicates that an 
Expression Map is 
used for the track.
This marks the slot 
that is currently 
played back. This shows which 
Remote Key is 
being pressed.
!Note that in the Score Editor, it is possible to insert 
symbols for a single note that in fact cannot be com-
bined in a musically meaningful way. So when enter-
ing articulations, make sure that they do not collide 
with other articulations. 
						

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VST Expression
To display the available articulations (i. e. all articulations 
set up in the selected Expression Map), open the pop-up 
menu to the left of the lane and select “Articulations”.
“Articulations” selected for the Controller lane in the Key Editor.
When “Articulations” is selected for a controller lane, 
the note beginnings are displayed as thin vertical lines in 
the controller display.
All articulations that are specified for the selected Ex-
pression Map are available on the controller lane. They ap-
pear on different rows one above the other. The order in 
which they are listed is the same as in the Expression Map. 
The different groups (1 to 4) are also reflected here, see “Groups” on 
page 378. They are separated by black lines. Articulations belonging to 
the same group are shown in the same color.
Directions are displayed as bars in the controller lane. 
They begin at the insertion point of a direction and end at 
the insertion point of the next articulation from the same 
group (or at the end of the part if no more directions fol-
low). Attributes are inserted at the note beginning.
You can assign a maximum of one attribute per group to each note.
Editing on the controller lane
To insert new directions on the controller lane, select the 
Pencil tool and click at the desired position in the respec-
tive row, i. e. where you want the direction to start. Note 
that you will have to click at the exact position of the first 
note you want to apply this articulation to or to the left of it.
Instead of selecting the Pencil tool, you can also hold down [Alt]/[Option] 
and click at the desired position.
To insert new attributes on the controller lane, select the 
Pencil tool and click at the respective note line in the cor-
responding row of the controller lane.
Instead of selecting the Pencil tool, you can also hold down a modifier 
key (by default [Alt]/[Option]) and click at the desired position.
To remove a direction, click on it with the Eraser tool or 
select it and press [Delete] or [Backspace].
To remove an attribute, click on it with the Pencil tool.
Note that you cannot select attributes in the controller lane without auto-
matically selecting the corresponding note, too. Therefore, you cannot 
delete an attribute by selecting it and pressing [Delete] or [Backspace] 
without deleting the note as well.
ÖIf several notes are selected, you can use the Pencil 
tool to insert or delete attributes for all of them in one go.
Editing on the info line
When a MIDI note is selected in the note display, the info 
line contains the option “Articulations”. This displays the 
note attributes (symbols) specified for the selected note. 
Click in this section to open the Articulations pop-up 
menu. The following applies:
All note attributes available in the Expression Map are 
shown on the pop-up menu, sorted by group (see 
“Groups” on page 378).
To add an attribute to a note, simply select it on the 
pop-up menu. Attributes that are active for a note are indi-
cated on the menu.
If you click on an active attribute again on the menu, it will be deleted.
If you select another attribute from the same group for a 
note, the attribute will replace the previous attribute. 
						

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VST Expression
Articulations in the List Editor
In the List Editor, the Articulations can be viewed and ed-
ited in the Comment column. The options are the same as 
on the Key Editor info line, see above.
Directions can be shown either as Text or as Graphic 
Symbols (like in the Score Editor). Either way, they are fol-
lowed by the text “VST Expression” in brackets, so as to 
be easily recognizable and distinguishable from ordinary 
Score symbols.
Creating and editing Expression 
Maps
Creating an Expression Map
Proceed as follows:
1.In the Inspector for a MIDI or instrument track, open the 
VST Expression section, open the Expression Map pop-up 
menu and select “VST Expression Setup…” (or select 
“VST Expression Setup…” on the MIDI menu).
A window opens, allowing you to load and create Expression Maps.
The VST Expression Setup window
2.To create a new map from scratch, click the plus but-
ton at the top of the Maps list in the Expression Map sec-
tion of the dialog.
A new map named “Untitled” is shown in the Expression Maps section.
3.Click on the map name and enter a meaningful name 
(e. g. “Cello” to set up an Expression Map for a cello).
Adding sound slots
Now, you create the “sound slots”, one for each articula-
tion you want to add. Proceed as follows:
1.In the Sound Slot section to the right of the Maps list, 
a sound slot is added automatically when a new map is 
created.
This is the default slot that will be used. You can specify an articulation 
for it or leave it empty, depending on you preferred default setting.
2.Click in the first Articulation column (Art. 1) for the 
sound slot and select an articulation from the menu.
A new entry is added in the Articulations section in the lower right corner 
of the window.
3.When adding articulations, the name of the sound slot 
is automatically set to the articulation. To change the 
name, click in the name field and enter a new name.
The names of the sound slots are displayed in the Inspector for the track, 
see “Articulations in the Project window” on page 375.
4.To create a complex articulation, made of several dif-
ferent single articulations, click in the other Articulation 
columns (Art. 2-4) for the sound slot and add the corre-
sponding articulations.
For each new articulation, an additional entry will be added in the Articu-
lations section.
Apart from creating combined articulations, the Articula-
tion columns also allow you to prioritize articulations, by 
sorting them into different groups.
When the program is looking for sounds and no exact match is found, 
the group setting will define the “closest match”, i. e. the sound which 
matches most criteria when searching from left to right will be used. For 
example, if two sounds are found which have the same articulation in 
group 1, the sound that also matches group 2 will be preferred and so 
on. For more information on groups, see below.
If you cannot find the articulation you want to add on the 
pop-up menu, you can define your own articulations by 
selecting “Add Custom Articulation”.
This adds a default articulation which you can define in the Articulations 
section, see below.
5.When you have made the desired settings, click the 
plus button again to add another sound slot.
Add as many sound slots as you need.
In the Remote column, you can specify the key on your 
external device that triggers this sound slot.
For more information, see “Remote Key Settings” on page 379. 
						

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VST Expression
Output Mapping
When you have added the desired sound slots, you can 
map these to certain “sound characters” or “expressions” 
of an instrument, e. g. a bowed violin or a pizzicato violin, a 
plain trumpet, a muted trumpet or a trumpet playing stac-
cato. The available sounds depend on the instrument that 
is selected for the MIDI or instrument track. You can also 
create expressions by editing the incoming MIDI data, for 
example by changing the note length or velocity. This is 
done in the Output Mapping section. 
The following parameters are available:
Editing Articulations
In the Articulations section, the Articulations you added for 
the sound slots are displayed. The following settings can 
be made here:
Groups
You can sort the different articulations you define for an 
Expression Map into one to four groups. Groups can be 
used to combine directions and attributes in more com-
plex musical expressions by choosing articulations from 
the different groups, for example to play a note arco AND 
staccato AND with an accent.
The groups themselves are exclusive. This means articula-
tions residing within the same group cannot be used to-
gether. Since some of the articulations cannot be 
combined, a violin for example cannot be played Arco 
(bowed) and pizzicato (plucked) at the same time, these 
articulations should be placed in the same group.
Furthermore, the groups represent the musical importance, 
with group 1 having the highest priority (expressions in 
group 1 are more important than those in group 2, 3 and 
4). This setting is required when the Expression Map does 
not find an exact match for your data and tries to identify 
the closest possible sound. Let’s say you have added a 
staccato symbol and an accent to a note in an editor. In the 
Expression Map, you have specified that staccato is in 
group 2 and the accent is in group 3. The connected in-
strument, however, does not have a sample that corres-
ponds to these settings. In this case, the program will look 
for a staccato sound, disregarding the accent.
Parameter Description
1st/2nd Key 
SwitchIf you have an instrument that uses key switches (e. g. 
Steinberg’s HALion Symphonic Orchestra), you can enter 
up to two key switches in these fields. This allows you, for 
example, to switch between a bowed and a pizzicato violin.
Program Here you can specify a Program Change number, to 
switch to another program containing a different articula-
tion on a connected instrument.
Channel Here you can specify the MIDI channel that should be 
used. When using with HALion Symphonic Orchestra for 
example, this allows you to switch to a different program.
Length Here you can specify the note length. This way, you can 
create staccato or tenuto sounds.
Velocity Here you can specify the desired velocity. This allows you 
to create accents, for example.
Min. Velocity If you are using an instrument that has different velocity 
ranges on the same key, you can specify a minimum ve-
locity here, to make sure that the sample mapped to a 
particular range is used.
Transpose This allows you to specify a transpose value. This can be 
used to select different articulations in some sample li-
braries, in which different articulations are located on dif-
ferent octaves, for example.
Option Description
Art. Clicking in this column opens a context menu, where you 
can choose whether you want to insert a symbol or a text 
string. If you select Symbol, the dialog with the available 
symbols opens. If you select Text, you can directly enter 
the desired text.
Type In this column you specify whether you want to add an 
“Attribute” (which only influences a single note, e. g. an 
accent) or a “Direction” (which is valid from the insertion 
position until it is replaced by another articulation, e. g. 
arco and pizzicato).
Description Here, you can enter a descriptive text. For example, this 
could be the name of the symbol (e. g. Accent) or the long 
name of a direction (e. g. pizz and pizzicato).
Group This column allows you to specify the Group, or impor-
tance of the symbol, see below. 
						

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VST Expression
Remote Key Settings
The Remote Keys specify which key on an external device 
will be used to play a certain sound slot, i. e. these keys will 
then be used to insert articulations instead of notes. 
The active Remote Keys (if any) are reflected in the In-
spector for the track, see “Articulations in the Project win-
dow” on page 375.
ÖIf you do not plan to record or trigger articulations via a 
MIDI input device, you do not need to specify remote keys.
Latch Mode
This setting determines whether the Remote Key function 
reacts to note-off messages.
When Latch Mode is deactivated, the key you press on 
your MIDI input device is valid for as long as the key is 
held, i. e. the sound slot will play until the key is released.
On release, the default (first) sound slot is played again.
When Latch Mode is activated, the key you press is 
valid until the next key is pressed.
Root Note
Here, you can specify the first key on your external device 
that you want to use as a remote key. This is useful, since 
it allows you to automatically adjust existing remote key 
assignments to suit your needs, for example when you are 
using a MIDI keyboard with a very wide or very narrow key 
range.
Set Remote Keys
Remote keys can be specified manually for each slot in the 
Sound Slots section of the window. However, you can 
also automatically assign a range of keys on your external 
device to the sound slots in the Expression Map. Proceed 
as follows:
1.Click the Set Remote Keys button.
A dialog opens.
2.Use the Start Key field to specify the first key on the 
MIDI input device you want to trigger a sound slot.
3.On the Key Mapping pop-up menu, you can specify 
with which keys on your device you want to trigger the 
sound slots.
You can choose whether you want to use all keys on the keyboard as re-
mote keys, or whether only the white or black keys are used.
4.Click OK to close the dialog.
Saving your settings
When you have made the desired settings, you need to 
save the Expression Map. To do so, click the Save button 
in the Expression Maps section of the window, specify a 
file name and a location for the Expression Map and click 
Save.
!Note that Latch Mode can only be generally acti-
vated/deactivated in Cubase, not for single Expres-
sion Maps. 
						

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The Logical Editor, Transformer and
Input Transformer