Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

							521
Entering and editing notes
2.Locate the “Length” setting.
By default, this is set to “Auto”, which means that the note is displayed 
according to its actual length (and the Display Quantize settings).
3.Double-click in the value field and enter a new length 
value (displayed in bars, beats, sixteenth notes and ticks).
To set the display length to “Auto” again, scroll the value down to zero.
4.Click Apply and close the dialog.
The note is now displayed according to its display length setting. How-
ever, the Display Quantize settings still apply!
Splitting a note in two
If you have two notes strung together by a tie, and click on 
the “tied” note head with the Split tool, the note is divided 
into two, with the length of the “main” and the tied note, 
respectively.
Before and after splitting a tied note
Working with the Display Quantize 
tool
There are instances when you will want different staff set-
tings for different sections of the track. The settings on the 
Score Settings–Staff page are valid for the entire track, 
but by using the Display Quantize tool you are able to in-
sert changes and exceptions wherever you like. This is de-
scribed in detail in the section “Inserting Display Quantize 
changes” on page 508.
Split (piano) staves
Setting up the split staff
Proceed as follows:
1.Make a staff active.
2.Open the Score Settings–Staff page for the staff and 
select the Polyphonic tab.
3.From the Staff Mode pop-up menu, select Split.4.Set the Splitpoint value to a suitable note.
All notes below this note value will be put on the lower clef, all above will 
be put on the upper clef.
Split mode selected.
If the default piano clef settings for the upper and lower 
staff are not what you want, you can adjust these settings 
now (or you can make key and clef adjustments directly in 
the score, see “Setting key, clef and time signature” on 
page 499).
5.Make whatever additional staff settings you need.
These will apply to both the upper and lower staves of the split system.
6.Click Apply.
Changing the splitpoint
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the Score Settings–Staff page for the system 
you are working on.
2.Select the Polyphonic tab.
3.Change the Splitpoint value.
4.Click Apply.
Now, some notes that were previously on the lower staff 
will be on the upper, or vice versa.
Before and after setting a split at C3 
						

							522
Entering and editing notes
Strategies: Multiple staves
As described above, when you have parts on several tracks 
selected in the Project window, these will be put on one 
staff each, when you open the Score Editor. This allows 
you to work on several staves in parallel.
Working with several staves is not much different from 
working with one. Below follow some guidelines that apply 
specifically to working with multiple staves.
Score settings–Staff page
 The settings on the Score Settings–Staff page are local to 
each staff. You can have the Score Settings dialog open and 
select each staff in turn to make settings – just remember to 
click Apply before selecting another staff, otherwise your 
changes will be lost.
 If several staves share settings, you will save some time by us-
ing staff presets. Set up the staff settings for the first staff, and 
save them as a preset. This preset can then be applied to any 
of the other staves, one at a time. See “Working with staff pre-
sets” on page 525 for details.
Selecting notes
 You can select notes from one or several staves at the same 
time, using any of the selection methods, see “Selecting notes” 
on page 516.
Adding notes
This is done just as on a single system, see “Adding and 
editing notes” on page 514. Please note the following:
 When you enter a note, use the mouse position box (on the 
toolbar) to determine the pitch. Whether it ends up on the up-
per or lower staff has nothing to do with where you aim with 
the mouse. The Splitpoint setting always decides if a note 
goes on the upper or lower staff. If you change the splitpoint, 
this will affect existing notes, see below.
 Sometimes a fixed splitpoint is not good enough. You might 
want to put two notes with the same pitch on different staves 
in different parts of the score. To achieve this you need to use 
polyphonic voicing, see “Polyphonic voicing” on page 531.
 You can add notes to any staff by clicking on it with the Insert 
Note tool. The active staff rectangle will move to the staff 
where you input the note. If you need to enter a note with a very high or low pitch, which 
makes it wind up on the wrong staff when you click, first enter 
a note with the wrong pitch, and then edit its pitch as de-
scribed in the section “Editing pitches of individual notes” on 
page 519.
Inserting and editing clefs, keys or 
time signatures
It is possible to insert a change of key, clef, or time signa-
ture anywhere in the score.
Inserting a symbol on one staff
Proceed as follows:
1.Open the “Clefs etc.” tab in the Inspector.
This contains clef, key and time signature symbols.
The “Clefs etc.” tab in the Inspector
2.Select the symbol you wish to insert.
When you move the mouse over the score display, the pointer takes on 
the form of a pencil (see also “About the Pencil tool” on page 559).
3.Move the mouse over the staff where you want to in-
sert a new symbol.
Use the mouse position box to find the exact location. The vertical posi-
tion is of no relevance as long as you click somewhere in the staff. Time 
signature changes can only be inserted at the beginning of a bar.
4.Click the mouse button to insert the symbol.
!Inserting a symbol at position 1.1.1.0 is the same as 
changing the staff settings which are stored in the 
track. Inserting anywhere else adds the change to 
the part. 
						

							523
Entering and editing notes
Inserting a symbol on all staves
If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] when you insert a symbol 
with the Pencil tool, it will be inserted at this position on all 
staves currently being edited in the Score Editor.
Time signature changes are always inserted on all 
tracks in the score.
Or rather, they are inserted on the signature track, which affects all 
tracks.
For key changes, Display Transpose is taken into 
account.
This allows you to set all staves to a new key and the staves set to Dis-
play Transpose will still show the correct key after the key change.
ÖIf some of the staves are bracketed (straight brackets 
only, as set up on the Score Settings–Layout page, see 
“Adding brackets and braces” on page 605), inserting a 
symbol for one of these staves will insert it for all other 
staves within the bracket.
Staves outside the bracket will not be affected.
Editing keys, clefs and time signatures
If you double-click on a symbol, a dialog appears allowing 
you to change the settings for it.
If you hold down [Alt]/[Option] when double-clicking, all 
symbols at the same position are changed accordingly. 
With key signatures, the Display Transpose value is taken 
into account as described above.
On the Score Settings–Project page (Notation sub-
page), you will find several options for how key, clef and 
time signature changes should be displayed.
You can also adjust the automatic spacing between these symbols in the 
Spacings subpage. See the dialog help for details.
Moving clefs
Clefs inserted into the score have an effect on how notes 
are displayed. If you for example insert a bass clef in the 
middle of a treble staff, the staff switches to show bass 
pitches. Therefore it is very important where you insert the 
clef.
If you want to move the clef graphically, without disturbing 
the relation between the clef and the notes, proceed as 
follows:
1.Select the Layout tool.
Note that this tool is available in Page Mode only.
The Layout tool on the context menu
2.Click on the clef and drag it to the desired position.
Now the clef is moved, but the score is still interpreted as if it remained in 
its original position.
ÖWhen you insert a clef change in the score, you can de-
cide whether this should have the same size as the first (de-
fault) clef symbol or whether it should be displayed with a 
smaller symbol. Simply right-click the symbol and activate 
or deactivate “Display Clef Changes as small Symbols”.
ÖWhen “Warnings for new Clefs at Line Breaks” is ac-
tivated on the Clef context menu and you inserted a clef 
change at a line break in the score, the Clef change sym-
bol will be inserted in the last bar before the staff break. 
When this is deactivated, the symbol will be inserted in 
the first bar of the next staff line.
Deleting notes
Notes can be deleted as follows:
Using the Erase tool
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the Erase tool from the toolbar or context menu.
The Erase tool on the context menu
2.One at a time, click on the note(s) you want to erase, or 
enclose them in a selection rectangle, and click on any of 
the notes.
Using the Delete menu option or the keyboard
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the notes you want to delete.
2.Select Delete from the Edit menu, or press [Delete] or 
[Backspace] on the computer keyboard. 
						

							5
Staff settings 
						

							525
Staff settings
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
 How to make staff settings.
 How to work with staff presets.
Staff settings
Below follows a run-through of all staff settings, more de-
tailed information about the ones already described and 
references to other places in the manual for some options.
The Staff page has four tabs – here, the Main tab is selected.
Making settings
1.Open the Score Settings–Staff page.
2.With the dialog open, make the desired staff active.
Click anywhere in a staff to make it active, or use the up and down arrow 
keys to step from staff to staff.
3.Select the desired tab and make all necessary settings.
The settings for regular staves are found on the Main and Options tab, 
the Polyphonic tab contains settings for split systems and polyphonic 
voices while the Tablature tab lets you set up tablature scores.
4.When you have made the desired settings, click Apply.ÖIf the option “Apply closes Property Windows” is acti-
vated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), 
clicking Apply will also close the dialog.
To make settings for another staff, simply make it active 
in the score (by clicking anywhere in the staff or by using 
the up/down arrow keys on the computer keyboard).
However, please note that you need to click Apply before making an-
other staff active – otherwise your settings will be lost!.
Working with staff presets
You will spend some time making staff settings for your 
scores. Staff presets allow you to reuse those settings 
whenever you work with a staff similar to one you have 
worked on before. A staff preset contains all the settings 
on the Score Settings–Staff page, except for the key.
To store the current settings (including the settings on 
the Options tab, see below) click the Store button in the 
Presets section of the Staff page.
Enter a name for the preset in the name dialog that appears, and click 
OK. The preset will now be available on the Presets pop-up menu (in all 
projects).
There are a number of staff presets available, set up to 
suit various instruments, etc. The presets are accessed 
from the Presets pop-up menu on the Score Settings–
Staff page, or from the staff context menu, opened by 
right-clicking on the blue rectangle to the left of a staff. 
Use them as they are, or as starting points for your own settings. Note 
that this loads the settings in the preset into the dialog – to apply these 
to a staff you must click the Apply button as usual. You can also apply 
staff presets directly in the score – see below.
To remove a preset, select it from the pop-up menu and 
click the Remove button.
Display Quantize section and 
Interpretation OptionsKey/Clef 
section
Presets section Staff Names 
section
Display Transpose section
!Staff settings can be saved in the track presets. For 
more information, see the chapter “Working with 
Track Presets” on page 288. 
						

							526
Staff settings
Applying a preset directly in the score
If you right-click on the blue rectangle to the left of a staff, 
a context menu will appear, listing all available presets. 
Select one to apply it to the staff.
How staff presets are stored
The staff presets are stored as individual files in the Pre-
sets–Staff Presets folder within the Cubase program 
folder. The presets are available for selection in any project 
you create or edit.
Staff names
These fields allow you to specify a “long” and a “short” 
name for the staff. The long name is shown for the very first 
system for this staff in the score (at the start of the project), 
while the short name is shown for the remaining systems.
Whether the names should be shown at all is set on the 
Score Settings–Layout page (see “Staff names” on page 
588).
If you only want the “long name” to be shown (i.e. if you 
do not want a name shown for each system in the score), 
simply delete the short name.
If the option “Show Long Staff Names on new Pages” is 
activated in the “Staff Names” section of the Score Set-
tings–Project page, the long name will be shown at the 
beginning of each new page.
You can also specify two separate subnames by dou-
ble-clicking the staff name and entering them in the upper 
and lower text entry fields in the dialog that appears. 
Note that this will only be displayed correctly, if you are in Page Mode and 
if “Show Track Names to Left of staff” is activated on the Notation Style 
subpage (Staff Names category) of the Score Settings–Project page.
The Edit Staff Name dialog
Key and clef
The basic key and clef settings are described in detail in 
the section “Setting key, clef and time signature” on page 
499. There is also a Lower Staff checkbox which is only 
used in conjunction with split (piano) staves and poly-
phonic voicing (see “In a split system” on page 501).
If you want to set a different key symbol, e.g. when scor-
ing for french horn, activate the “Local Keys” option.
Display Quantize and interpretation 
Options
These two sections of the dialog contain a number of set-
tings used to determine how the notes should be inter-
preted. While these settings are more critical to making 
MIDI recorded music appear as legible as possible it is 
still important to have them set correctly when entering 
notes using the mouse. Below you will find descriptions of 
the settings – for further details, see “Strategies: Adding 
Display Quantize changes” on page 509.
There are “fixed” Display Quantize values plus an “Auto” 
option which should only be used when your music con-
tains mixed straight notes and triplets. For background in-
formation about Display Quantize, see “Display Quantize” 
on page 490. 
						

							527
Staff settings
Display Quantize values
Notes and Rests
Generally, the Notes value should be set to a value 
equal to, or smaller than, the “smallest note position” you 
want to be shown in the score.
The Rests value should be set to a value equal to, or 
smaller than, the smallest note value (length) you want to 
be displayed for a single note, positioned on a beat.
If the score contains only triplets, or mostly triplets, se-
lect one of the Triplet options.
Auto Quantize
If the project contains no triplets or only triplets, deacti-
vate this option.
If the project contains mixed triplets and straight notes, 
activate this option (see below).
Deviation and Adapt
When Deviation is activated, triplets/straight notes will 
be detected even if they are not exactly “on the beat”. 
However, if you know your triplets/straight notes are per-
fectly recorded (quantized or entered by hand), deactivate 
this option.
When Adapt is activated, the program “guesses” that 
when one triplet is found, there are probably more triplets 
surrounding it. Activate this option if not all of your triplets 
are detected.
If your music only contains “straight” notes or triplets
1.Specify a Notes value.
For example, if you have notes on odd sixteenth note positions, the Notes 
value should be set to 16 (sixteenth notes). The “T” values on the pop-up 
are for triplets.
2.Specify a Rests value.
For example, if you want a single short note on a beat (quarter note posi-
tion) to be displayed as a quarter note, set the Rests value to 4 (quarter 
notes).
3.Deactivate the Auto Quantize option.
4.Set all the Interpretation Options.
These are described in detail below.
5.Examine the score.
6.If necessary, use the Display Quantize tool to insert 
“exceptions” to the staff settings.
See “Inserting Display Quantize changes” on page 508.
If your music contains mixed straight notes and triplets
1.Examine the score and decide if it mainly contains trip-
lets or mainly “straight” notes.
2.Set the Notes value accordingly.
If the score is mainly triplets, select the smallest triplet note position used 
in the score. If it is mainly straight notes, select the smallest “ordinary” 
note position.
3.Set the Rests value as described above.
4.Activate the Auto Quantize option.
5.Activate the Deviation (”Dev.”) and Adapt flags if you 
need them.
Interpretation Options
Syncopation
Activate Syncopation when the program adds more ties to 
notes crossing beats and bar lines than you prefer. The 
following options are available:
Option Description
Relax When Syncopation is “relaxed”, the program will apply 
syncopation in a number of common cases.
Full Syncopation is on.
Off Syncopation is off, with no exceptions. 
						

							528
Staff settings
For a “modern” notation of syncopated notes, activate 
Syncopation.
Without and with Syncopation
Again, without and with Syncopation
Note that you can insert “exceptions” to the Syncopation 
setting on the Score Settings–Staff page, by using the 
Display Quantize tool. You can also create tied notes in 
various combinations by using the Cut Notes tool.
Consolidate Rests
Activate this when you want small consecutive rests 
joined into one (an eight note rest and a sixteenth note 
rest joined to a dotted eighth note rest for example). 
Consolidate Rests deactivated and activated
Clean Lengths
When this option is activated, the program interprets the 
length of your notes differently. A note’s length (in the dis-
play only) might be extended to the beginning of the next 
note or to the next Rests “position” for Display Quantize. 
An example:
 If a note is too short, you may get a rest just after it.
 When Clean Lengths is activated, the rest will disappear.
A slightly short eighth note without and with “Clean Lengths”.
If using Clean Lengths does not help in a particular situa-
tion, you will have to manually resize the offending note(s) 
or use the Display Quantize tool (see “Inserting Display 
Quantize changes” on page 508).
No Overlap
When notes starting at the same position have different 
lengths, the program tends to add more ties than you may 
want. This can be avoided by using No Overlap.
This recording in the Key Editor…
…will be displayed like this when No Overlap is deactivated…
…and like this when No Overlap is activated.
You can insert “exceptions” to the No Overlap setting on 
the Score Settings–Staff page, by using the Display 
Quantize tool.
Shuffle
In jazz it is very common to score a shuffled beat as 
straight notes, simply to make it more legible. 
When the Shuffle flag is activated, the program searches 
for eighth note or sixteenth note pairs where the second 
note is played late (with a “swing feel” or as the third note 
in a triplet). Such pairs are displayed as regular eighth or 
sixteenth notes instead of triplet-based figures.
Without and with Shuffle
!Please note that there may be situations when neither 
of these alternatives is ideal. If you run into such a sit-
uation, it can probably be resolved by using poly-
phonic voices, see “Polyphonic voicing” on page 531. 
						

							529
Staff settings
Display Transpose
This is used when preparing parts for instruments that are 
not scored at the actual concert key. For example, if you 
want the note C3 to be played by an alto sax, you have to 
score it as an A3 – nine semitones up. Luckily, the Display 
Transpose setting takes care of this for you:
Use the pop-up menu to select the instrument for which 
you’re scoring.
If the pop-up menu does not list your instrument, you can 
set the desired transposition with the Semitones value field.
ÖThe Display Transpose setting does not affect play-
back or the actual pitch of the notes – it only changes how 
they are displayed and printed.
You can also insert Display Transpose changes anywhere 
in the score, by inserting a key change symbol and using 
the Transpose setting in the Edit Key/Clef dialog (see 
“Display Transpose in the Edit Key dialog” on page 503).
On the Score Settings–Project page (“Chord Symbols” 
subpage), deactivate the option “Use Display Transpose” 
if you do not want the chord symbols to be affected by the 
Display Transpose setting (see “Chord Symbols” on page 
579).
You can disable Display Transpose by clicking on the 
button “Disable Display Transpose” in the toolbar of the 
Score Editor. 
For more information, see “Transposing instruments” on 
page 503.
The Options tab
Clicking the Options tab in the dialog brings up another 
page with additional settings. Below follows a brief de-
scription of these, with references to more detailed expla-
nations.
Switches
Option Description
Flat Beams Activate this when you want the beams over notes to be 
flat (as opposed to slanted). See “Beam appearance and 
slant settings” on page 548.
No Beams Activate this when you do not want any beaming at all on 
the staff (for example for vocal scoring). See “Turning be-
aming on/off” on page 545.
Beam 
SubgroupsUse this when you want sixteenth notes displayed under 
a beam to be divided into groups of four notes. See 
“Handling beam groups” on page 548.
Without and with Beam Subgroups.
16th 
SubgroupsUse this when you want even smaller subgroups of six-
teenth notes. This setting has no effect if Beam Sub-
groups is deactivated.
As above, but with 16th Subgroups activated. 
						

							530
Staff settings
System Sizes
This section allows you to set the number of system lines 
and to control spacing between the lines:
Score Drum Map
These settings are described in the chapter “Scoring for 
drums” on page 609.
Fixed Stems
Activate this if you want all note stems to end at the same 
vertical position. This feature is perhaps most often used 
when scoring for drums (see “Setting up a staff for drum 
scoring” on page 612).
A drum pattern with Fixed Stem length activated
The Up and Down parameters determine which position 
(relative to the top of the staff) should be used for up and 
down stems, respectively. The graphical display helps you 
get your settings right. 
Note Limits
Use the Low and High fields to specify a note range. In the 
active staff, any notes outside this range will be displayed 
in a different color. When writing a score for a specific in-
strument, this makes it easy to find notes that are outside 
of this instrument’s note range.
ÖIf the option “Hide Notes beyond Limits” is activated in 
the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing page), any notes 
outside the Note Limits range will be hidden.
The Polyphonic tab
This is where you activate and set up split (piano) systems 
or polyphonic voices (several independent score lines in 
the same staves). These settings are described in the 
chapter “Polyphonic voicing” on page 531.
The Tablature tab
This tab contains settings for creating tablature scores. 
The settings are described in the chapter “Creating tabla-
ture” on page 613.
Option Description
System Lines The number of lines in a system. For regular scoring, this 
should be set to 5.
Add Space Allows you to increase or decrease the space between 
the lines in a system.
Size Allows you to set a size for the systems, as a percentage 
(with 100 % being the default value). In effect, this setting 
scales the score vertically.