Steinberg Cubase 5 Operation Manual

							571
Working with symbols
When you double-click on an existing clef, the same dia-
log appears allowing you to change the type.
When you right-click on a clef, you can change the type 
from the context menu. 
Time signatures
You can insert a time signature symbol at the beginning of 
any bar. Inserting a new time signature will insert a change 
into the signature track, see “Inserting and editing clefs, 
keys or time signatures” on page 522.
When you click with the Pencil tool, a dialog appears al-
lowing you to specify the time signature. When you dou-
ble-click on an existing time signature symbol, the same 
dialog appears allowing you to change the type. This dia-
log is described in detail in the section “Editing the time 
signature” on page 499. When you right-click on a time 
signature, you can change the type on the context menu.
You can select a font and size for time signatures in the 
“Text Settings” subpage of the Score Settings dialog 
(Project page).
The default font for this is the included “Steinberg Notation” font.
Keys
Inserting a key change is similar to inserting a new clef 
(see above). For further information, see “Editing the key” 
on page 501.
In the dialog that appears when you insert a key change, 
you can also insert Display Transpose changes.
The “Dynamics” tab
There are dynamic symbols ranging from ffff to pppp, plus 
“special” dynamic symbols such as sforzando, fortepiano, 
etc. 
By selecting a dynamic symbol and clicking the “+” and 
“–” buttons on the extended toolbar, you can quickly edit 
dynamics in the score.
Use this feature to step between pppp, pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff, fff and ffff. 
You can also right-click on a symbol and select “One 
up” or “One down” on the context menu.
As above, these commands can be used to step between pppp, pp, p, 
mp, mf, f, ff, fff and ffff. 
To change the size of a dynamic symbol, right-click on it 
and in the context menu, select an option from the Size 
submenu.In the Line/Trill tab you will find a line symbol which allows 
you to create the following type of change in dynamics:
Crescendo and diminuendo (decrescendo)
In the Dynamics tab, there are three kinds of crescendo 
symbols: regular crescendo, regular diminuendo and a 
“double” crescendo (diminuendo–crescendo).
To insert a crescendo (), select the 
corresponding symbol from the tab and drag from left to 
right.
If you draw a crescendo symbol from right to left, the re-
sult will be a diminuendo symbol, and vice versa.
To insert a crescendo-diminuendo () symbol, select 
the double crescendo symbol from the tab and drag from 
left to right.
To insert a diminuendo-crescendo (>
						

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Working with symbols
If the option “Keep Crescendo Symbols ‘Horizontal’” is 
activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–Editing 
page), crescendo/diminuendo symbols will never be 
slanted when you draw them, but stay horizontal.
Also, this option prevents you from accidentally dragging an endpoint up 
or down when moving the symbol.
It is also possible to “flip” crescendo symbols, by se-
lecting the option in the context menu or by clicking the 
Flip button on the extended toolbar.
Aligning dynamics
There is a special command for aligning dynamic symbols 
(including crescendos) horizontally. Unlike the regular align 
function (see “Alignment” on page 570), aligning dynamics 
takes the “baseline” of the dynamic letters into account, 
aligning them as text rather than as graphic symbols.
1.Select the dynamic symbols you want to align, e. g. pp 
and a crescendo.
2.Right-click on a selected symbol and select the 
“Align” function on the context menu.
This aligns all selected dynamics (except slurs and beziers) horizontally.
You can also align the dynamic objects by pulling down 
the Scores menu and selecting “Dynamics” from the Align 
Elements submenu. 
The “Line/Trill” tab
Octave symbols
The octave symbols (8va and 15va) act as a “local display 
transpose” (see “Transposing instruments” on page 503) 
– they shift the display of the score one/two octaves down.
By dragging the end of the dotted line, you can specify 
exactly which notes should be affected by the octave sym-
bol.
Only notes beneath the dotted line are display transposed.
You can also right-click on the octave symbol and se-
lect the “Extend (+)” or “Reduce (-)” command to extend it 
to the next chord or to reduce it.
Tuplet group symbols
These are “graphical” tuplet group symbols, as opposed 
to the “real” tuplets.
After inserting a tuplet group symbol, you can double-
click on its number and enter any number from 2 to 32.
You can specify globally how tuplets should be dis-
played in the “Notation Style” subpage of the Score Set-
tings–Project page.
You can also select a font and size for the tuplet numbers in the Text Set-
tings subpage. 
You can also right-click on the tuplet group symbol and 
select the “Extend (+)” or “Reduce (-)” command to ex-
tend it to the next chord or to reduce it.
Vertical symbols
The vertical symbols in the Line/Trill tab are “note-depen-
dent”. This means that they must be inserted in front of a 
note. For more information see “Note layer symbols” on 
page 556 and the text about grace notes (which behave 
similarly) in the section “Grace notes” on page 552.
The “Other” tab
Lyrics and text symbols are described in the chapter “Wor-
king with text” on page 580. Chord symbols are described 
in the section “Inserting Chord symbols” on page 577.
Pedal down and up symbols
When you insert a Pedal down or up symbol, you will also 
insert an actual MIDI event (damper pedal, control change 
64) at that position. Similarly, inserting or recording a 
damper pedal event in another editor will display a pedal 
down/up symbol in the score. 
						

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Working with symbols
If the option “Hide Pedal Markers” is activated in the 
Miscellaneous category of “Notation Style” subpage of 
the Score Settings–Project page, all pedal markers are 
hidden.
Use this if you have recorded a lot of damper pedal messages, but do not 
want these to show in the score (for example if you are writing for an in-
strument other than piano).
A pedal down/up symbol combination can be displayed as 
“Two Symbols”, ““Ped.” + Bracket” or as “Bracket only”. 
Just right-click on the pedal symbol and choose an option 
from the context menu. You can also set this on the Score 
Settings–Project page, on the Notation Style subpage 
(Miscellaneous).
Repeats
Repeat signs (one and two bars) have a special feature: if 
you hold down [Shift]-[Ctrl]/[Command] when entering 
them, notes in the bars they relate to are automatically hid-
den (for more info on hiding symbols, see “Hiding/sho-
wing objects” on page 599).
Box (rectangle) symbol
This is a “generic” box symbol, which may be useful for 
different purposes. If you double-click on a box, a dialog 
opens in which you can specify whether the box should be 
transparent or not, and whether the border should be visi-
ble. This dialog can also be opened by selecting “Proper-
ties” from the context menu.
The box symbol is available in the “Other” and “Layout” 
tabs.
The keyboard symbol
This is described in the section “Adding a keyboard sym-
bol” on page 562.
Additional symbols
If you click on the “Select Symbol” button and then into the 
score, the “Select Symbol” dialog opens. Here you can 
choose note heads, accidentals and rests that work only as 
drawing elements, i.e. they do not insert any note data into 
the track. They do not affect MIDI playback! You can set the 
desired symbol font size directly in the Font Size field.
The “Layout” tab
Rehearsal marks
These come in two flavors, as numbers and as letters.
When you place the first of these in the score, it will be la-
belled 1 or A (depending which you choose in the tab), 
the second will then automatically be labelled 2 or B, the 
next 3 or C etc. If you delete one, the labelling of the oth-
ers will be shifted so that they always make up a complete 
series of numbers/letters.
You can select a font and size for rehearsal marks in the 
“Text Settings” subpage of the Score Settings–Project 
page.
This dialog also allows you to add a box or an oval around the rehearsal 
mark.
Rehearsal marks can be added automatically, at the 
start position of each Marker in the project.
This is done using the “Marker track to Form” function. 
						

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Working with symbols
Da Capo and Dal Segno symbols
The “D.C.”, “D.S.” and “Fine” symbols provide a quick way 
to insert some common play directions into the score. The 
symbols are text symbols – you can adjust which font 
should be used in the “Text Settings” subpage of the 
Score Settings–Project page, see “Settings for other fixed 
text elements” on page 589.
To have these symbols actually affect playback, insert 
them from the Project tab and use the Arranger mode.
See “Scores and the Arranger mode” on page 618.
Endings
There are two types of endings, closed (“1”) and open 
(“2”). Both can be stretched to any length or height by 
dragging the handles. You can also double-click or right-
click on the existing number and enter any text you like. 
Endings are available both in the Layout tab (for the layout 
layer), the Project tab (for the project layer) and the Line/
Trill tab (for the note layer). Which one to choose depends 
on the score; while it is handy to insert endings once and 
for all as Project symbols, this will not allow you to make 
individual adjustments for the different parts.
You can right-click on an ending symbol and select the 
“Extend (+)” or “Reduce (-)” command to extend it to the 
next chord or to reduce it.
Tempo
This always shows the current tempo according to the 
tempo track. In other words, to make this symbol display a 
certain tempo, insert the value into the tempo track.
Normally this symbol shows the number of beats (quarter 
notes) per minute, but if you double-click or right-click on 
it, a menu appears that allows you to select any note value. 
The number then changes accordingly.
Tempo change as note symbol
This symbol allows you to specify a tempo change as a 
change from one note value to another. The example 
above would mean “lower the tempo by a third”.
To change the note value for either symbol, double-click 
or right-click on it and select the desired note value from 
the context menu.
User Symbols
The User Symbols tab lets you create your own graphic 
symbols and use these in the score. 
Creating a user symbol
Initially, the User Symbols tab is empty. To create symbols 
you use the User Symbols editor:
1.Double-click on the empty symbol field in the tab.
The User Symbols editor opens. You can also right-click on an empty 
symbol field and select “Edit…” to open the same dialog.
2.Pull down the Functions pop-up menu and select the 
desired zoom factor from the View submenu.
Often you want to work at a reasonably high zoom factor when drawing 
and editing symbols.
3.Use the tools and functions to draw a symbol.
The available tools are listed in the table below.
When you are finished, you can close the editor and insert 
the symbol into the score, or you can create more symbols:
4.Select “New Symbol” from the Functions pop-up menu.
An empty symbol field appears in the section to the left of the drawing 
area – this section corresponds to the actual User Symbols tab, showing 
all symbols you have created.
5.Click the new empty symbol field to the left to make 
sure it is selected.
The drawing area is cleared. 
						

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Working with symbols
6.Continue creating new symbols this way.
You can edit existing symbols at any time by selecting 
them to the left and using the tools and functions.
Any changes you make are automatically stored in the User Symbols tab 
for the project. You can also export symbols, for use in other projects, 
see below.
To insert a user symbol into the score, click it in the tab 
to select the Pencil tool and then click at the desired posi-
tion in the score.
The User Symbols editor – tools and functions
The toolbar contains the following tools and settings, from 
left to right:The Note Linked pop-up lets you create symbols linked to 
note positions. This affects the whole symbol, not a se-
lected graphic object.
The Functions pop-up menu contains the following items 
(some of these can also be accessed on the context menu 
for the User Symbols tab):
Tool Description
Arrow Use this to select objects – press [Shift] to select more 
than one. Click and drag to move objects – press [Ctrl]/
[Command] to drag vertically or horizontally only or press 
[Alt]/[Option] to copy. 
To delete an object, select it and press [Backspace] or 
[Delete].
Line Draws a straight line.
Rectangle Creates a rectangle. You can fill this with the Fill button if 
needed.
Polygon Creates a polygon – click where each corner of the poly-
gon should be and close the figure by clicking outside 
the drawing area.
Circle Creates a circle. You can fill this with the Fill button if 
needed. 
Ellipse Creates an ellipse. You can fill this with the Fill button if 
needed.
Arc Creates an arc.
Text Allows you to insert text objects. Clicking with this tool in 
the drawing area opens a dialog where you enter the text, 
specify font, style, etc. You can double-click on a text ob-
ject you have inserted to change its text or settings.
Symbol Clicking with this tool brings up a dialog where you can 
select any of the existing score symbols and incorporate 
this (at the desired font size) into your own symbol.
Frame Color When this is selected, the Color pop-up menu selects 
the color for the object frame.
Fill Color When this is selected, the Color pop-up menu selects 
the fill color for objects (if Fill is selected)
Fill Click this if you want the object to be filled – you can then 
select a Fill Color for it from the Color pop-up menu.
No Fill Click this if you do not want the object to be filled.
Color pop-up Selects Frame or Fill Color for objects. The “Select Col-
ors…” menu item brings up a standard color dialog.
Line Width Allows you to change the line width used for the selected 
object.
Menu item Description
Not Linked The symbol will not be linked to notes.
Linked/Left The symbol will be linked to a note, appearing to the left 
of the note.
Linked/Center The symbol will be linked and centered to a note.
Linked/Behind The symbol will be linked to a note, appearing to the right 
of the note.
Menu item Description
New Symbol Adds a new empty symbol to the tab (and to the symbol 
list to the left in the editor).
Delete Symbol Deletes the current symbol from the tab.
Export User 
Symbols…Allows you to save the current tab as a separate file on 
disk.
Import User 
Symbols…Loads settings for a complete tab from disk. Note that this 
replaces the current settings.
Export/Import 
Symbol…Lets you save or load individual symbols to/from disk. Im-
porting a symbol replaces the current symbol in the tab.
Delete Deletes the selected object(s).
Select All Selects all objects in the current symbol.
Transform – 
Scale SymbolLets you scale (resize) the selected object by specifying a 
percentage.
Transform – 
Mirror horizon-
tal/verticalMirrors the selected object along the horizontal or vertical 
axis.
Transform – 
Flip ± 90Rotates the selected object by + or – 90 degrees.
Draw – Group Groups the selected objects so that they are treated as 
one.
Draw – 
UngroupUngroups the selected group.
Draw – Bring 
To Front/Send 
To BackThese items let you arrange the objects by moving them 
to the front or the back.
Align Aligns the selected objects to each other.
View Sets the zoom factor for the drawing area. 
						

							9
Working with chords 
						

							577
Working with chords
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
 How to enter chord symbols manually and automatically using 
the “Make Chord Symbols” feature.
 Which settings can be made for chord symbols.
Inserting Chord symbols
Manually
On the Chord Symbols tab, you will find a set of pre-
defined chord symbols, see “Using presets” on page 578. 
If the symbol you want to add is among these, simply se-
lect it and click in the score to insert the chord symbol.
To specify and enter any other chord symbol, proceed as 
follows:
1.Open the “Other” tab and select the chord symbol but-
ton. 
2.Click in the score at the position where you want to in-
sert the chord symbol.
The Edit Chord Symbol dialog opens.
The Edit Chord Symbol dialog
3.Enter the key (root) note in the Key Note field.
You can either type in a chord letter or step through the chord letters us-
ing the up/down arrows to the right.
4.Specify a chord type in the “Chord Type” field.
You can either enter it directly (for example, by typing a “7”) or select an 
option from the pop-up menu (click the arrow button to open it).
5.If you wish, specify a tension in the “Tension” field.
Again, this can be done by typing or by using the pop-up menu. How-
ever, there are some special display options which you can only get by 
typing (see the table below). You might also want to add some text here 
(such as “no third”, etc.). You can also select the basic tensions from the 
pop-up menu, and then add special options by typing.
6.If you want to have a special bass note (e.g. a C major 
with a D bass note), set the Bass Note pop-up menu to 
this note (this cannot be the same as the key note).
The program will “remember” the relation between key and bass note, so 
that if you change the key note, the bass note will follow.
7.If you want the key note to be displayed in lower case, 
activate the “Key Note in Lower Case” checkbox.
8.If needed, activate the “Enharmonic Shift” option.
9.Click Apply.
The chord symbol appears in the score.
To open the Edit Chord Symbol dialog for an existing 
chord, double-click on the symbol.
You can also right-click on the symbol and select “Properties” on the 
context menu to open the dialog.
Character Description Example Result
( ) The tensions will 
be enclosed in 
brackets.
/ The tensions will 
be separated by 
a slash sign.
| The tensions will 
be placed above 
one another.
You can also combine several 
options. This is a combination of 
two options, along with a space 
to put the “9” above the “5”. Note 
that only one “(“ sign is needed 
when the “|” option is used. 
						

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Working with chords
Using presets
As with many other functions in Cubase, you can create 
chord symbol presets for instant use. Each preset con-
tains all settings in the dialog – i.e. the preset list is a 
“library” of chords. You will find the presets in the Chord 
Symbols tab in the Inspector and in the corresponding 
context menu. The preset handling is the usual:
Click Store to store the current settings as a preset.
A dialog will appear, allowing you to enter a name for the preset.
To load a stored preset, select it from the Presets pop-
up menu or select it from the Presets submenu of the con-
text menu.
Note that this only loads the settings into the dialog – you need to click 
Apply to apply the settings to a selected chord symbol.
To remove a preset, select it on the pop-up menu and 
click Remove.
Using Make Chord Symbols
If you already have recorded the chords for a project, 
Cubase can analyze them and create chord symbols:
1.Open the recording in the Score Editor.
If you want the chords to be inserted on another track, you can create an 
empty part on that track and open it along with the recording.
2.If you like, make settings for how the chords should be 
displayed on the Score Settings–Project page, on the 
Chord Symbols and the Notation Fonts subpages.
You can change all these settings after you inserted the chords as well.
3.Select the notes for which you want chord symbols to 
be created.
If chord symbols should be created for all chords on the track, use the 
Select All function on the Edit menu.
4.Use the arrow keys to make the desired staff active.
This should be the staff on which you want the chord symbols to end up.
5.Select “Make Chord Symbols” from the Scores menu.
The chords appear. They can be moved, duplicated and deleted as any 
other symbol. You can also double-click on a chord symbol to edit it in 
the Edit Chord Symbol dialog (in the same way as when creating chords 
manually – see above).
A staff after using Make Chord Symbols.
Instead of using the “Make Chord Symbols” menu item, 
you can click on the Make Chord Symbols button on the 
extended toolbar.
If the option “Use for Make Chords” is activated in the 
Guitar Library subpage of the Score Settings–Project page 
(see “Adding guitar chord symbols” on page 562), guitar 
chord symbols will be added as well (if the guitar library 
contains any guitar symbols that match the chords).
About the analysis
 The MIDI chords are expected to be played in their most basic 
inversion. If not, an extra bass note is added. For example, the 
notes CEG are interpreted as C major, but GCE is interpreted 
as C major with a G bass note. If you do not want any interpre-
tation of the inversion (i. e. no added bass notes) hold down 
[Ctrl]/[Command] while selecting Make Chord Symbols.
 All selected notes on all staves are taken into consideration. 
Whenever there is any change on any staff, the notes are rein-
terpreted and a new chord symbol is added. This means you 
should probably avoid having the melody track in the Score 
Editor when you use Make Chord Symbols, or you will get a lot 
more chords than you expect, possibly with strange tensions.
 In addition to the above, the Quantize value is used. At the 
most, there will be a new chord at each quantize position.
 There must be at least three notes at a certain position for the 
program to interpret it as a chord. Also some combinations of 
notes simply do not make any sense to the program and will 
not produce any chords.
 The analysis method is not perfect since the same set of notes 
can be interpreted differently depending on context. Some 
editing may be required. If you record the track solely to create 
chords automatically, play the chord as simple as possible, in 
the correct inversion, without added octaves, etc. 
						

							579
Working with chords
Global chord settings
On the Score Settings–Project page (Chord Symbols and 
Notation Fonts subpages), there are several global set-
tings that affect how chords are displayed. These settings 
affect all chords in the project.
Chord Symbols
Use the four sections of radio buttons to specify how the 
four most common chord types should be displayed:
If you want the root (key) note to be aligned with the 
bass note, so that they are both displayed at the same ver-
tical position, activate “Align Root Note”.
If you want the tensions to be displayed at the same ver-
tical position as the root note (rather than a bit above the 
root note), activate “Tension Bottom”.
Activate “Scale Chords” to scale a staff (using the Size 
setting on the Options tab on the Score Settings–Staff 
page), and want the chords to be scaled accordingly.
Activate “Use Display Transpose” if you want the chord 
symbols to be affected by the Display Transpose setting 
on the Score Settings–Staff page.
To apply the settings to your score, click “Apply to 
Chords”.
Notation Fonts
Use the Score Font pop-up to select a font for the dis-
play of note heads, clefs etc.
Available are Legacy, Classical and Jazz.
Use the Chord Symbols Font pop-up to select a font for 
the chords.
Cubase comes with its own font for this (Steinberg Chord Symbols), but 
you can also pick any other available font from the pop-up menu.
Use the four size value fields to select sizes for the four 
different chord “elements”.
You can type in values or use the pop-up menus. Normally, you would 
want the “Root” size to be the largest and the “Tension” size the smallest.
Use the radio buttons at the bottom to select a chord 
display mode.
This affects how the key and bass notes are displayed:
Option Description
English Regular notation.
DoReMi “Do-Re-Mi-…” are used instead of “C-D-E-…”
German As English notation, but “B” is displayed as “H”, and “Bb” 
or “A#” are displayed as “B”. 
						

							10
Working with text