Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

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The MIDI editors
The basic Score Editor – Overview
This section describes the basic Score Editor, which is 
available in Cubase Artist. The full-featured version of the 
Score Editor that is available in Cubase is described in 
detail in 
“Part II: Score layout and printing (Cubase only)” 
on page 550.
The Score Editor shows MIDI notes as a musical score.
The toolbar
The Score Editor toolbar is similar to the toolbar in the Key 
Editor, but tailored to working with scores:
•There are an Insert Note tool and an Insert Text tool in-
stead of the Pencil, Trim, Mute, Zoom, and Line tools.
•Parts on different tracks are shown on different staves.
Therefore there are no part controls.
•There are only two Snap types: Grid and Grid Relative.
•The Independent Track Loop, Auto-Select Controllers, 
and Indicate Transpositions buttons, as well as the Nudge 
palette and Event Colors pop-up menu are not available.
The status line
The status line features the Mouse Time Position, the 
Mouse Note Position, and the Current Chord displays. 
Unlike in the Key Editor, you need to select the notes mak
-
ing up the chord to make it appear in the Current Chord 
Display.
•To show or hide the status line, click the “Set up Win-
dow Layout” button and activate or deactivate the “Status 
Line” option.
The info line
The info line shows information about selected MIDI 
notes, just like in the Key and Drum Editors. You can edit 
all values on the info line using regular value editing (see 
“Editing on the info line” on page 386 for details).
•To configure which items are available on the info line, 
right-click the info line and select “Setup…” from the con
-
text menu.
In the dialog that appears you can configure where the separate items 
will be placed and save/recall different setup configurations.
•To show or hide the info line, click the “Set up Window 
Layout” button and activate or deactivate the “Info Line” 
option.
Toolbar
Status line
Extended 
toolbar
Info line 
						

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The extended toolbar
•To show or hide the extended toolbar, click the “Set up 
Window Layout” button and activate or deactivate the 
Tools option.
Note value buttons
Click one of these to select a note value for input. The “T” 
and “.” options are for triplet and dotted note values. You 
can also press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click one of the note 
value buttons – this will resize all selected notes to the 
note value you choose.
Enharmonic Shift
Allows you to manually select whether a note is shown 
with flat or sharp accidentals, see 
“Enharmonic Shift” on 
page 417.
The score display
The main area of the Score Editor window shows the 
notes in the edited parts on one or several staves. 
•If you are editing one or several parts on the same track, 
as much of them as possible is shown on several staves – 
one above the other – just as with a score on paper.
•If you are editing parts on several tracks, they are put on 
a grand staff (multiple staves, tied together by bar lines).
•The number of bars across the screen depends on the 
size of the window and the number of notes in each bar.
The maximum number of bars across the page is four.
•The end of the last part is indicated by a double bar line.
•Unlike the other MIDI editors, the Score Editor does not 
have a ruler.
A conventional ruler would not make sense, since there is no exact rela-
tionship between a note’s horizontal position in the score and its musical 
position in the project.
Score Editor operations 
Opening the Score Editor
To open one or several parts in the Score Editor, select 
one or several tracks or any number of parts (on the same 
or different tracks), and select “Open Score Editor” from 
the Scores submenu of the MIDI menu. The default key 
command for this is [Ctrl]/[Command]-[R].
•You can also select the Score Editor as your default ed-
itor, allowing you to open it by double-clicking parts.
This is done with the Default Edit Action pop-up menu in the Preferences 
dialog (Event Display–MIDI page).
About editing parts on different tracks
If you have selected parts on two or more tracks and open 
the Score Editor, you will get one staff for each track (al
-
though you can split a staff in two, e. g. when scoring for 
piano). The staves are tied together by bar lines and 
placed in the order of the tracks in the Project window.
•If you need to rearrange the staves: close the editor, go 
back into the Project window, drag the tracks to the order 
you want them, and open the Score Editor again.
The active staff
Just as in the other editors, all MIDI input (as when record-
ing from your instrument) is directed to one of the tracks, 
here called the active staff. The active staff is indicated by 
a blue rectangle to the left of the clef symbol.
•To change the active staff, click on the staff you want to 
activate.
The active staff 
						

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Getting the score displayed correctly
When you open the Score Editor for a part recorded in 
real time, the score may not look as legible as you expect. 
The Score Editor can ignore the minor time variances in 
performance and make a neater score almost instantly. To 
achieve this, there are a number of Staff Settings that de
-
termine how the program displays the music.
ÖNote that the time signature follows the time signa-
ture(s) set in the Tempo Track Editor, and that these set-
tings are common to all tracks/staves in the score.
There are two ways to open the Staff Settings dialog:
•Double-click in the area to the left of the staff.
•Activate a staff by clicking in it, and select “Staff Set-
tings…” from the Scores submenu of the MIDI menu.
The Staff Settings dialog appears.
Staff Mode
This pop-up menu determines how the staff is shown: 
•When set to “Single”, all notes in the part are shown in 
the same staff.
•When set to “Split”, the part is split on the screen into a 
bass and treble clef, as in a piano score. 
You use the Split-Point value field to set the note where you want the 
split to occur. Notes above and including the split note will appear on the 
upper staff, and notes below the split note will appear on the lower staff.
Before and after setting a split at C3.
Display Quantize
Notes are not an absolute language, and you must give 
the program a few hints on how you want the score to be 
displayed. This is done using the Display Quantize section 
of the Staff Settings dialog.
The following options are available:
!The settings you make in this dialog are independent 
for each staff (track), but common for a piano staff 
which you have created by choosing the “Split” Staff 
Mode option (see below).
!These are only display values used for the graphics 
in the Score Editor. They do not affect the actual 
playback in any way.
OptionDescription
NotesDetermines the smallest note value to be displayed and 
the “smallest position” to be recognized and properly dis-played. Set this to the smallest significant note position 
used in your music.  For example, if you have notes on odd sixteenth note po-sitions, set this value to 16. The “T” values are for triplet note values. This setting is partly overridden by Auto Quantize (see 
below).
RestsThis value is used as a “recommendation” – the program 
will not display rests smaller than this value, except where 
necessary. In effect, this setting also determines how the 
length of notes is displayed. Set this value according to 
the smallest note value (length) you want to be displayed 
for a single note, positioned on a beat. 
						

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The MIDI editors
Clef and Key
The correct Clef and Key are set using the two scroll bars 
in the Clef/Key section.
If you activate the “Auto Clef” checkbox, the program attempts to guess 
the correct clef, judging from the pitch of the music.
•To set the clef and key for the lower staff, activate the 
“Lower Staff” checkbox in the Clef/Key section.
Display Transpose
Some instruments, for example a lot of brass instruments, 
are scored transposed. For this purpose, the Staff Set
-
tings dialog allows you to specify a separate Display 
Transpose setting for each staff (track). This transposes 
the notes in the score (i.
 e. how they are displayed) without 
affecting how the notes play back. This allows you to re
-
cord and play back a multi staff arrangement, and still 
score each instrument according to its own transposition.
•Use the pop-up menu to select the instrument for which 
you are scoring.
You can also manually set a display transpose value with the Semitones 
box above.
Interpretation Options
These provide additional options for how the score is dis-
played:
Auto QuantizeGenerally, if your music contains mixed triplets and 
straight notes, try activating this checkbox. Otherwise, 
make sure it is deactivated.
Auto Quantize is used to make your score look as legible 
as possible. Auto Quantize allows you to mix straight 
notes with tuplets (triplets) in a part. But Auto Quantize 
also uses the (display) Quantize value. If it cannot find an 
appropriate note value for a certain note or group of 
notes, it will use the set Quantize value to display it.
If the part is imprecisely played and/or complex, Auto 
Quantize may have a problem “figuring out” exactly what 
you “mean”.
Dev.This option is only available if Auto Quantize is on. When 
Dev. (Deviation) is activated, triplets/straight notes will be 
detected even if they are not exactly “on the beat”. How
-ever, if you know your triplets/straight notes are perfectly 
recorded (quantized or entered by hand), turn this off.
AdaptThis option is only available if Auto Quantize is on. When 
Adapt is activated, the program “guesses” that when one 
triplet is found, there are probably more triplets surround
-ing it. Turn this on if not all of your triplets are detected.
Option Description
ParameterDescription
Clean LengthsWhen this is activated, notes that are considered to be 
chords will be shown with identical lengths. This is done 
by showing the longer notes as shorter than they are. 
When Clean Lengths is turned on, notes with very short 
overlaps are also cut off; a bit as with No Overlap (see 
below), but with a more subtle effect. 
No OverlapWhen this is activated one note will never be shown as 
overlapping another, lengthwise. This allows long and 
short notes starting at the same point to be displayed 
without ties; the long notes are cut off in the display. This 
will make the music more legible.
An example measure with No Overlap deactivated…
…and with No Overlap activated.
SyncopationWhen this function is activated, syncopated notes are 
shown in a more legible way.
This is a dotted quarter at the end of a bar when Synco-pation is Off…
…and when it is On.
ShuffleActivate this function when you have played a shuffle beat 
and want it displayed as straight notes (not triplets). This 
is very common in jazz notation. 
						

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Applying your settings
After you have made your settings, click Apply to apply 
them to the active staff. You can select another staff in the 
score and make settings for that, without having to close 
the Staff Settings dialog first – just remember to click Ap
-
ply before you change staff, otherwise your changes will 
be lost.
Entering notes with the mouse
To enter notes into a part in the Score Editor, you use the 
Note tool. However, first you need to set the note value 
(length) and spacing:
Selecting a note value for input
This can be done in two ways:
•By clicking the note symbols on the extended toolbar.
You can select any note value from 1/1 to 1/64th and turn on and off the 
dotted and triplet options by clicking the two buttons to the right. The se-
lected note value is displayed in the Length value field on the toolbar and 
in the Note tool cursor shape.
•By selecting an option from the Length Quantize pop-
up menu on the toolbar.
Selecting a Quantize value
When you move the mouse pointer over the score, you will 
see that the Mouse Time Position field on the status line 
tracks your movement and shows the current position in 
bars, beats, sixteenth notes, and ticks.
Positioning on screen is controlled by the current Quan-
tize value. If you set this to 1/8, you can only insert and 
move notes to eighth note positions, at quarter notes, at 
half bars or at bar positions. It is a good strategy to set the 
Quantize value to the smallest note value in the piece. This 
does not stop you from inputting notes at “coarser” posi
-
tions. However, if you set the Quantize value to too small a 
note value, it is easier to make mistakes.
The Quantize value is set with the Quantize pop-up menu 
on the toolbar.
•You can also assign key commands to the different 
Quantize values.
This is done in the Key Commands dialog, in the “MIDI Quantize” cate-
gory.
•Just like in the other MIDI editors, you can use the 
Quantize Panel to create other quantize values, irregular 
grids, etc.
However, this is not often used when entering score notes.
Entering a note
To add a note to the score, proceed as follows:
1.Make the staff active.
Notes are always put in on the active staff.
2.Select the type of note by selecting a note value.
This is described in detail above.
3.On the toolbar, select the Note tool.
If you selected the note value by clicking on a symbol on the extended 
toolbar, the Note tool gets automatically selected.
4.Select a Quantize value.
5.Move the mouse over the staff to find the correct posi-
tion.
Check the Mouse Time Position display on the status line – the position 
is “magnetically” attracted to the grid defined by the current Quantize 
value. This allows you to easily find the correct position.
6.Move the mouse vertically to find the correct pitch.
The Mouse Note Position display on the status line shows the pitch at 
the pointer position, making it easy to find the right pitch.
7.Click in the staff.
The note appears in the score.
The notes you enter will get the insert velocity value set in 
the Insert Velocity field on the toolbar, see 
“Setting veloc-
ity values” on page 383.
ÖIf the notes you enter, appear to have the wrong note 
value (e.
 g. you enter a 1/32 note that is displayed as a 1/
16 note), you may have to adjust the Display Quantize set
-
tings, see “Display Quantize” on page 413.
Selecting notes
There are several ways to select notes in the Score Editor:
By clicking
To select a note, click on its note head with the Arrow tool. 
The note head gets red to indicate that it is selected.
With the Quantize value set to 1/8, you can only input 
notes at eighth note positions. 
						

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The MIDI editors
•To select more notes, hold down [Shift] and click on 
them.
•To deselect notes, hold [Shift] down and click on them 
again.
•If you hold down [Shift] and double-click on a note, this 
note and all the following notes in the same staff are se
-
lected.
Using a selection rectangle
1.Press the mouse button with the Arrow tool in some 
free (white) space in the score.
2.Drag the mouse pointer to create a selection rectan-
gle.
You can drag to select notes on several voices or staves if you wish.
3.Release the mouse button.
All notes with their note heads inside the rectangle get selected.
•If you want to deselect one or more of the notes, hold 
down [Shift] and click as described above.
Using the keyboard
By default, you can step through the notes in the staff us-
ing the left and right arrow keys. If you press [Shift], you 
will select the notes as you step through them.
•If you want to use other keys for selecting notes, you 
can customize the settings in the Key Commands dialog 
(in the Navigate category).
Deselecting everything
•To deselect everything, simply click with the Arrow tool 
in some “free” (white) space in the score.
Deleting notes
Notes can be deleted in two ways:
Using the Erase tool
1.Select the Erase tool from the toolbar or context menu.
2.One at a time, click on the note(s) you want to erase, 
or drag over them with the mouse button pressed.
Using the keyboard or delete menu item
1.Select the note(s) you want to delete.
2.Select Delete from the Edit menu, or press [Delete] or 
[Backspace] on the computer keyboard.
Moving notes
To move or transpose notes, proceed as follows:
1.Set the Quantize value.
2.If you want to hear the pitch of the note while moving, 
activate the Acoustic Feedback button (speaker icon) on 
the toolbar. 
When it is on, you will hear the current pitch of the “dragged” note.
3.Select the notes that you want to move.
4.Click one of the selected notes and drag it to a new 
position and/or pitch.
The horizontal movement of the note is “magnetically attracted” to the 
current Quantize value. The position boxes on the toolbar show what the 
new position and pitch for the dragged note will be.
5.Release the mouse.
The notes appear at their new position.
•If you hold [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag, movement is re-
stricted to vertical or horizontal (depending on the direc-
tion in which you drag).
•You can also move selected notes by using key com-
mands, as assigned in the Nudge category in the Key 
Commands dialog.
When moving notes to the left or right using key commands, the notes 
will be moved in steps according to the current Quantize value. The keys 
assigned for up/down nudging will transpose notes in semitone steps.
Duplicating notes
1.Set the Quantize value and select the notes, as for 
moving.
2.Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the notes to their 
new position.
•If you want to restrict movements to one direction, press 
[Ctrl]/[Command].
This works just as for moving, as described above.
•[Alt]/[Option] is the default modifier key for copying/du-
plicating. If you like, you can change this in the Prefer-
ences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).
The entry for this is found in the Drag & Drop category (“Copy”). 
						

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Changing the length of notes
As described earlier (see “Getting the score displayed 
correctly” on page 413), the displayed length of a note is 
not necessarily the actual note length, but also depends 
on the Notes and Rests values for Display Quantize in the 
Staff Settings dialog. This is important to remember when 
you change the length of a note, since it can lead to con
-
fusing results.
There are several ways to change the length of a note in 
the Score Editor:
By using the note value icons on the extended toolbar
Using the extended toolbar is another quick way to set a 
number of notes to the same length:
1.Select the notes you want to change.
2.Hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on one of the 
note icons on the extended toolbar.
All the selected notes are now given the length of the clicked note.
By using the info line
You can also edit length values numerically on the info 
line, just like in the Key and Drum Editors (see 
“Editing on 
the info line” on page 386).
Splitting and gluing notes
•If you have two notes strung together by a tie and click 
on the “tied” note head with the Scissors tool, the note will 
be divided into two, with the respective length of the 
“main” and the tied note.
•Conversely, if you click on a note with the Glue Tube 
tool it will be joined to the next note with the same pitch.
Enharmonic Shift
The buttons to the right on the extended toolbar allow you 
to shift the display of selected notes so that for example 
an F# (F sharp) is instead shown as a Gb (G flat) and vice 
versa:
1.Select the note(s) you want to affect.
2.Click on one of the buttons to display the selected 
note(s) a certain way.
The “off” button resets the notes to original display. The other five op-
tions are double flats, flats, No (no accidentals shown, regardless of 
pitch), sharps and double sharps.
Flip Stems
Normally the direction of the note stems is automatically 
selected according to the note pitches, but you can 
change this manually if you like:
1.Select the notes for which you want to change (flip) 
the stem direction.
2.Pull down the MIDI menu and select Flip Stems from 
the Scores submenu.
Working with text
You can use the Text tool to add comments, articulation or 
instrumentation advice and other text strings anywhere in 
the score:
Adding a text string
1.On the toolbar, select the Text tool.
2.Click anywhere in the score.
A blinking cursor appears, indicating that you can enter text.
3.Enter the text and press [Return].
Editing text
To edit an already added text string, double-click it with 
the Arrow tool. This opens the text for editing, and you can 
use the arrow keys to move the cursor, delete characters 
with the [Delete] or [Backspace] keys and type new text as 
usual. Finish by pressing [Return]. 
						

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•To delete a text block, select it with the Arrow tool and 
press [Backspace] or [Delete].
•You can move or duplicate text blocks by dragging (or 
[Alt]/[Option]-dragging) them, just as with notes.
Changing the text font, size and style
To change the font settings for the text you have added, 
proceed as follows:
1.Select the text by clicking it with the Arrow tool.
2.Pull down the MIDI menu and select “Set Font…” from 
the Scores submenu.
The Font Settings dialog appears, containing the following settings:
3.When you have made your settings, click Apply.
If you like, you can leave the Font Settings dialog open, select another 
text block and adjust the settings for that – just remember to click Apply 
before you select a new text block.
•If you make settings in the Font Settings dialog with no 
text selected, the settings will be used as default for all 
new text.
In other words, all text you enter from then on will get the settings you 
have specified (although you can of course change this manually for 
each text as usual).
Printing
To print your score, proceed as follows:
1.Open the parts you want to print in the Score Editor.
Printing is only available from within the Score Editor.
2.Select “Page Setup…” from the File menu and make 
sure all your printer settings are correct. Close the dialog.
3.Select “Print…” from the File menu.
4.A standard print dialog appears. Fill out the options as 
desired.
5.Click Print.
ItemDescription
Font This is where you specify the font for the text. Which fonts 
are available on the pop-up menu depends on the fonts 
you have installed on you computer. You probably do not 
want to use the “Steinberg” fonts – these are special 
fonts used by the program (e.
 g. for score symbols) and 
not suited for common text.
SizeSets the size of the text.
FrameAllows you to encase the text in a rectangular (box) or 
oval frame.
Font optionsThese checkboxes determine whether the text is format-ted bold, italic, and/or underlined.
!If you change your setting for paper size, scale and 
margins now, the score may change its look.  
						

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Expression maps (Cubase only) 
						

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Expression maps (Cubase only)
Introduction
About articulations
Musical articulations, or expressions, define how certain 
notes “sound”, i.
 e. how they are sung or performed on a 
given instrument. They allow you to specify that a string in
-
strument 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 is 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 is played with an emphasis, 
and staccato, where a note is played shorter.
Musical articulations 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, articulations need to be realized 
as different sounds. To trigger the necessary sound 
changes, use the following command and data types:
Expression maps
When working on a project, you might want to audition a 
composition including articulations. In Cubase, this can be 
achieved using expression maps, which can be selected 
via the Expression Map section in the Inspector for MIDI or 
instrument tracks. Within these maps, you can specify the 
sound mapping and characteristics for all your musical ex
-
pressions, using the methods described in the table above.
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 
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 ei-
ther 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 se-
lected on the Output Routing pop-up menu for the track), 
so that a different sound is played. When no sound slot is 
found that matches the articulations used in the part, the 
“closest match” is used, see 
“Groups” on page 426.
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 424).
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. 
Expression maps are 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.
OptionDescription
Program 
Change Program Change messages can be used to instruct a con-nected VST instrument to switch from one program to another. 
Depending on the instrument, this can be used to play a differ-ent articulation.
Pizzicato Tenuto Accent Staccato
Attributes Direction
MIDI 
channelMulti-timbral instruments, such as Steinberg’s HALion, feature 
programs, usually representing different articulations. These 
can be accessed via MIDI channel messages.
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.
Option Description