Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

							421
Expression maps (Cubase only)
•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.
ÖYou can also use the Note Expression functions to 
add articulations directly on your MIDI notes in the Key 
Editor. This is described in detail in the chapter 
“Note Ex-
pression (Cubase only)” on page 428.
Using expression maps in Cubase
Expression maps and their related functions can be found 
in different locations in Cubase. To be able to use these 
functions, an expression map or a track preset containing 
such a map has to be loaded.
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 331. 
The following applies:
•Included with Cubase are several track presets which 
are pre-configured for use with expression maps. 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”.
•Track presets for HALion Symphonic Orchestra can also 
be used with expression maps. The presets are installed 
automatically 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”.
Expression maps that were saved separately
You can also define your own expression maps, see “Cre-
ating and editing expression maps” on page 424. To load 
these, proceed as follows:
1.In the Inspector for the selected track, select the Ex-
pression Map section, open the pop-up menu and select 
“Expression Map Setup…”.
The Expression Map Setup window opens. 
ÖIf the Expression Map section is not shown in the In-
spector, right-click on another Inspector section and se-
lect “Expression Map” from the context menu.
2.In the Expression Maps section on the left, click the 
Load button.
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 that you want to 
make available, and close the dialog.
All loaded maps are available on the Expression Map pop-
up menu in the Inspector. 
						

							422
Expression maps (Cubase only)
Expression maps in the Project window
In the Inspector for MIDI and instrument tracks, the Expres-
sion Map 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.
Expression maps in the Score Editor
In the Score Editor, the articulations that are part of an ex-
pression map can be inserted like other symbols. There is 
a special tab in the Symbols Inspector, containing all artic
-
ulation symbols of the current expression map.
•To insert a symbol, click on it in the Expression Map 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 Expres-
sion Map symbols. This way, you can easily distinguish 
them from other Score symbols.
Articulation editing in the Score Editor is the same as reg-
ular symbol editing, see the chapter “Working with sym-
bols” on page 618. 
Expression maps in the Key, Drum, and In-Place 
Editors
If an expression map is used for a MIDI or instrument track, 
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 at
-
tribute description (the text in the Description column, see 
“Editing Articulations” on page 425) is also shown.
You can insert and edit articulations in the Key, Drum, and 
In-Place Editors using the controller lane. This is much like 
regular controller lane editing (see 
“Using the controller 
display” on page 388). 
•To display the articulations set up in the selected ex-
pression map, open the pop-up menu to the left of the 
lane and select “Articulations/Dynamics”. 
Dynamics are described in detail in the section “Editing dynamics (Cu-
base only)” on page 394.
•When “Articulations/Dynamics” is selected for a con-
troller lane, the note beginnings are displayed as thin ver-
tical lines in the controller display.
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.
!In the Score Editor, it is possible to insert symbols for 
a single note that in fact cannot be combined in a 
musically meaningful way. So when entering articula
-
tions, make sure that they do not conflict with other 
articulations. 
						

							423
Expression maps (Cubase only)
•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 426. 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 re
-
spective row, i. e. where you want the direction to start. 
Note that you have to click at the exact position of the first 
note that 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 “Articulations” option. 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 426).
•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 is deleted.
•If you select another attribute from the same group for a 
note, the attribute replaces the previous attribute.
Expression maps 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. 
						

							424
Expression maps (Cubase only)
Creating and editing expression 
maps
Creating expression maps based on the key 
switches used in an instrument
You can automatically extract mapping information from 
your connected VST instruments and convert it into a new 
expression map. This makes it very easy to set up expres
-
sion maps for the instruments you often work with.
Proceed as follows:
1.Load the VST instrument you want to use and assign it 
to a MIDI or instrument track.
2.Select the track, open the Expression Map section in 
the Inspector, and select “Import Key Switches” on the 
pop-up menu. Note that this menu option will only be 
available when the loaded program contains key switches.
The Expression Map Setup window opens.
3.Make the desired settings for the created map (see 
“Creating an expression map from scratch” on page 424) 
and click the Save button.
The expression map is saved and can now be loaded via the pop-up 
menu on the Expression Map section of the Inspector.
Creating an expression map from scratch
Proceed as follows:
1.In the Inspector for a MIDI or instrument track, open 
the Expression Map section, open the pop-up menu and 
select “Expression Map Setup…”.
The Expression Map Setup window opens, allowing you to load and cre-
ate expression maps.
ÖYou can also open the Expression Map Setup window 
by selecting the “Expression Map Setup…” option on the 
MIDI menu.
2.To create a new map from scratch, click the “+” but-
ton at the top of the Maps list in the Expression Maps 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 one sound slot for each articulation that 
you want to add. Proceed as follows:
1.In the Sound Slots 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 is used. You can specify an articulation for it 
or leave it empty, depending on your 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 
“Expression maps in the Project window” on page 422. 
						

							425
Expression maps (Cubase only)
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 is added in the Articulations 
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 defines the “closest match”, i.
 e. the sound which matches 
most criteria when searching from left to right is used. For example, if two 
sounds are found which have the same articulation in group 1, the sound 
that also matches group 2 is preferred and so on. For more information on 
groups, see below.
•If you cannot find the articulation that you want to add 
on the pop-up menu, you can define your own articula
-
tions by selecting “Add Custom Articulation”.
This adds a default articulation which you can define in the Articulations 
section, see below.
•Click in the “Col” column to assign a color to the current 
sound slot.
When working in the MIDI editors, you can color your events according 
to the color of the sound slots.
5.When you have made the desired settings, click the 
“+” 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 426.
Output Mapping
When you have added sound slots, you can map them to 
certain sound characters or expressions of an instrument, 
e.
 g. a bowed violin or a pizzicato violin. The available 
sounds depend on the instrument that is selected for the 
MIDI or instrument track. Some of the more complex vir
-
tual instruments require multiple key switches or combina-
tions of key switches and controllers to select a particular 
articulation. This can be accomplished by stacking multi
-
ple output events to a single sound slot. You can add a 
new slot by clicking the “+” button above the list.
You can make the following settings for the slots: In the 
Status column, you can specify a note-on, program 
change, or controller message. Additionally, you can make 
settings in the Data 1 and 2 columns (if applicable). If you 
have an instrument that uses key switches (for example 
Steinberg’s HALion Symphonic Orchestra), you can 
specify these key switches here. This allows you to switch 
between a bowed and a pizzicato violin, or to switch to an
-
other program containing a different articulation.
You can also create expressions by editing the incoming 
MIDI data, for example by changing the note length or ve
-
locity. For this, you can make the following settings in the 
lower part of the Output Mapping section:
Editing Articulations
In the Articulations section, the articulations you added for 
the sound slots are displayed. The following settings can 
be made here:
ParameterDescription
ChannelHere you can specify the MIDI channel. When using 
HALion Symphonic Orchestra for example, this allows 
you to switch to a different program.
LengthHere you can specify the note length. This way, you can 
create staccato or tenuto sounds.
VelocityHere you can specify the desired velocity. This allows you 
to create accents, for example.
Min. VelocityIf 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.
TransposeThis 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.
Controller 1/2These allow you to set MIDI Control Change messages 
and their values for each sound slot.
OptionDescription
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.
TypeIn 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). 
						

							426
Expression maps (Cubase only)
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 – for example, a violin 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 impor-
tance, with group 1 having the highest priority (expres-
sions 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 instrument, however, does not have a sample 
that corresponds to these settings. In this case, the pro
-
gram looks for a staccato sound, disregarding the accent.
Remote Key Settings
The remote keys specify which key on an external device 
is used to play a certain sound slot, i.
 e. these keys are 
then used to insert articulations instead of notes. 
The active remote keys (if any) are indicated in the Inspec-
tor for the track, see “Expression maps in the Project win-
dow” on page 422.
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 plays 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 that you want to trigger a sound slot.
DescriptionHere, you can enter a descriptive text. For example, this 
can be the name of the symbol (e. g. Accent) or the long 
name of a direction (e. g. pizz and pizzicato).
GroupThis column allows you to specify the group, or impor-tance of the symbol, see below.
Option Description
!Note that Latch Mode can only be generally activated/
deactivated in Cubase, not for single expression 
maps. 
						

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Expression maps (Cubase only)
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. 
						

							33
Note Expression (Cubase only) 
						

							429
Note Expression (Cubase only)
Introduction
Note Expression offers a very intuitive way of controller ed-
iting in Cubase. As an alternative to working with controller 
lanes in the Key Editor, controller data can be viewed and 
edited directly on the associated MIDI note events in the 
event display.
With Note Expression, a note and its associated controller 
data are treated as a unit. When you quantize, move, copy, 
duplicate, or delete notes, all their associated controller 
information will follow. This allows for a very intuitive and 
accurate editing of note-related data. The Note Expres
-
sion values can be edited in various ways, see “Editing 
Note Expression data” on page 434. Furthermore, by su-
perimposing the corresponding data curves in the event 
display, you can view all the Note Expression data for a 
note simultaneously, which gives you a good overview. 
Note Expression curves in the Key Editor
When working with Note Expression, it is important to dis-
tinguish between VST 3 controllers and MIDI controllers: 
VST 3 controllers
VST 3 controllers are provided by the VST instrument. 
Therefore, different controllers can be available, depend
-
ing on the instrument. 
VST 3 controllers provide articulation information for each 
individual note. Unlike MIDI controllers (which are chan
-
nel-specific), VST 3 controllers are note-specific and are 
suitable for polyphonic contexts. Articulating each note in a chord individually creates a much more natural feel. Fur
-
thermore, VST 3 controllers allow for a value range that 
exceeds the MIDI range of 0 to 127, which offers a more 
comfortable value editing and fine-tuning.
To be able to work with VST controllers, you need a VST 
instrument that offers this kind of controller parameters 
and is capable of playing back these controller messages. 
Included with Cubase is HALion Sonic SE, which is com
-
patible with Note Expression, see “HALion Sonic SE” on 
page 439.
MIDI controllers
A major limitation of MIDI is the nature of controller infor-
mation. With the exception of poly pressure, controller 
messages are channel-specific messages, i.
 e., they affect 
the entire instrument, regardless of whether they are in
-
serted for a part or a note. Therefore, when using Note Ex-
pression with MIDI instruments (hardware or VSTi), it is 
important to understand that articulation data on one note 
usually also affects all other notes of the same voice, i.
 e. 
any other note playing on the same channel at the same 
time. This limits the potential of Note Expression for MIDI 
controller events to monophonic (solo) performances. 
When using MIDI controllers in polyphonic performances, 
we recommend using controller lanes in the Key Editor, 
see 
“Using the controller display” on page 388. 
However, Note Expression can be useful in the context of 
standard VST instruments and MIDI hardware instru
-
ments, see “Recording MIDI controllers as Note Expres-
sion data” on page 438 and “Converting MIDI Controllers 
into Note Expression data” on page 438.
Working with Note Expression
When working with Note Expression, start by activating 
the “Show Note Expression Data” button on the Key Editor 
toolbar. This will give you a visual feedback of your actions. 
Use the slider to the right of the button to modify the dis
-
play size of the Note Expression data in the event display. 
						

							430
Note Expression (Cubase only)
•If you want to listen to your editing, activate the Acoustic 
Feedback button on the Key Editor toolbar. 
Playback is triggered when you enter or change Note Expression data. 
All controllers that are present at the mouse position will be used during 
playback.
Note Expression can be used in the following ways:
•You can record notes live into Cubase while attaching 
some or all of the used controllers as Note Expression 
events to the notes, see 
“Recording” on page 432.
•You can replace the existing Note Expression data of a 
MIDI part by recording Note Expression events for the MIDI 
notes during playback, see 
“Overdubbing” on page 432.
•You can add Note Expression data to one MIDI note af-
ter another using the “Note Expression MIDI Input” button, 
see 
“Recording Note Expression data via MIDI input” on 
page 433.
•You can draw in Note Expression events for MIDI notes 
in the Note Expression editor, see 
“Editing Note Expres-
sion data” on page 434.
Setting up the Note Expression 
Inspector tab
To be able to work with Note Expression, you have to set 
up the parameters first. This is done on the Note Expres
-
sion tab in the Inspector of the Project window or the Key 
Editor.
The top area of the Note Expression tab shows a list of 
parameters. The VST
 3 controllers are shown first, fol-
lowed by the MIDI controllers. Which VST 3 controllers 
are available depends on the instrument that is used. The 
MIDI controllers can be set up in the MIDI Controller 
Setup dialog, see 
“Selecting the event type” on page 389.
ÖIf many controllers are available, you may have to navi-
gate through the list using the scrollbar.
If an asterisk (*) is displayed in front of a parameter name, 
data for this controller exists. The number to the right of a 
parameter determines the MIDI controller mapped to the 
parameter for recording, see 
“Mapping controllers” on 
page 431.
In the middle section of the tab, you can make settings for 
the parameter that is selected in the list. The following op
-
tions are available:
OptionDescription
Parameter name  and color selectorBy clicking on the colored square to the right of the 
parameter name, you can specify which color is used 
for the parameter in the Inspector and in the note dis
-play. You can also define a Note Expression color set. 
For further information on setting up colors, see “The Project Colors dialog” on page 539.
MIDI assignment 
field and pop-up 
menuHere, you can specify the MIDI controller assignment 
for recording for the selected parameter by either se-lecting it from the pop-up menu or using the MIDI 
Learn button, see “Mapping controllers” on page 431.
MIDI Learn  buttonYou can assign any control of your external MIDI con-troller to the selected parameter. Click the MIDI Learn 
button and move the fader or knob on the external de-vice, see “Mapping controllers” on page 431.
Parameter range  controls  (Min/Max)
If you want to use only a certain value range of the pa-rameter, you can specify it here. Set the range by 
changing the minimum and maximum values or use the 
slider below the fields. 
 Using a parameter range allows you to make finer set-tings for certain parameters. This is especially useful 
for the VST 3 parameter “Tuning”. Specify the range 
you want to use and enter or record the corresponding 
data.
Settings for the 
selected con-
troller
VST 3 
controllers
MIDI 
controllers
Global 
settings
In the CC col-
umn, the control-
ler assignment is 
shown, if any.