Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

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How the Score Editor works 
						

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How the Score Editor works
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
• How the Score Editor and MIDI data relate.
• What Display Quantize is and how it works.
Welcome!
Welcome to scoring in Cubase! The Score Editor has 
been created to allow you to get any possible piece of 
music displayed as a score, complete with all the neces
-
sary symbols and formatting. It allows you to extract parts 
out of a full orchestra score, to add lyrics and comments, 
create lead sheets, score for drums, create tablature, etc. 
In other words: just about any type of notation you could 
ever desire!
There are a few basic principles to how the Score Editor 
works, which you have to understand to make full use of it.
How the Score Editor operates
The Score Editor does the following:
• Reads the MIDI notes in the MIDI parts.
• Looks at the settings you have made.
• Decides how the MIDI notes are displayed according to the 
settings.
The Score Editor takes MIDI data and settings as input and produces a 
score as output.
The Score Editor does all this in realtime. If you change 
some of the MIDI data (for example by moving or shorten
-
ing a note) this is immediately reflected in the score. If you 
change some of the settings (for example the time signa
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ture or key signature) this is also immediately apparent.
Do not think of the Score Editor as a drawing program, but 
rather as an “interpreter” of MIDI data.
MIDI notes vs. score notes
MIDI tracks in Cubase hold MIDI notes and other MIDI data. 
As you may know, a MIDI note in Cubase is only defined by 
its position, length, pitch and velocity. This is not nearly 
enough information to decide how the note is to be dis
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played in a score. The program needs to know more: What 
type of instrument are we talking about, Drums? Piano? 
What key is the piece in? What is the basic rhythm? How 
should the notes be grouped under beams? You provide 
this information by making settings and working with the 
tools available in the Score Editor.
An example of the MIDI/score relationship
When Cubase stores a MIDI note’s position, it makes the 
measurement in an absolute value, called ticks. There are 
480 ticks to a quarter note. Have a look at the example 
below:
A quarter note at the end of a 4/4 measure
The note is on the fourth beat of the measure. Now, let’s say 
you change the time signature to 3/4. This shortens the 
length of a “measure” to only three quarter notes – 1440 
ticks. Suddenly our quarter note is in the next measure:
The same note in 3/4
Why? Since you are not changing the MIDI data in the 
track/part (that would ruin your recording!) by changing 
the time signature, the note is still at the same absolute 
position. It is just that now each “measure” is shorter, 
which effectively moves the note in the score.
What we are trying to get across here is that the Score 
Editor is an “interpreter” of the MIDI data. It follows rules 
that you set up by making settings in dialogs, on menus, 
etc. And this interpretation is “dynamic”, or in other words, 
it is constantly updated whenever the data (the MIDI 
notes) or the rules (the score settings) change.
MIDI data
Score Editor Score display
Score settings 
						

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How the Score Editor works
Display Quantize
Let’s say you used the Project window to record a figure 
with some staccato eighth notes. When you open the 
Score Editor, these notes are displayed like this:
This does not look anything like what you intended. Let’s 
start with the timing – obviously, you were off at a couple 
of places (the third, fourth and last note all seem to be a 
32nd note late). You can solve this by quantizing the fig
-
ure, but this would make the passage sound too “stiff”, 
and not fit in the musical context. To resolve this problem 
the Score Editor employs something called “Display 
Quantize”.
Display Quantize is a setting which is used to tell the pro-
gram two things:
•How precise the Score Editor is to be when displaying 
the note positions.
•The smallest note values (lengths) you want displayed in 
the score.
In the example above, the Display Quantize value seems 
to be set to 32nd notes (or a smaller note value).
Let’s say we change the Display Quantize value to six-
teenth notes in the example:
With Display Quantize set to sixteenth notes
OK, now the timing looks right, but the notes still do not 
look like what you intended. Maybe you can understand 
that from a computer’s point of view, you did play sixteenth 
notes, which is why there are a lot of pauses. But that’s 
not how you meant it. You still want the track to play back 
short notes, because it is a staccato part, but you want 
something else “displayed”. Try setting the Display Quan
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tize value to eighth notes instead:
With Display Quantize set to eighth notes
Now we have eighth notes, as we wanted. All we have to 
do now is to add staccato articulation which can be done 
with one simple mouse click using the Pencil tool (see the 
chapter 
“Working with symbols” on page 618) or using 
musical articulations (see the chapter “Expression maps 
(Cubase only)” on page 419).
How did this work? By setting the Display Quantize value to 
eighth notes, you give the program two instructions that 
would sound something like this in English: “Display all 
notes as if they were on exact eighth note positions, regard
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less of their actual positions” and “Don’t display any notes 
smaller than eighth notes, regardless of how short they are”. 
Please note that we used the word “display”, which leads 
us to one of the most important messages of this chapter:
Choose your Display Quantize values with care
As explained above, the Display Quantize value for notes 
puts a restriction on the smallest note value that can be dis
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played. Let’s see what happens if we set it to quarter notes:
With Display Quantize set to quarter notes
Oops, this doesn’t look too good. Well of course it doesn’t! 
We have now instructed the program that the “smallest” 
note that occurs in the piece is a quarter note. We have ex
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plicitly told it that there are no eighth notes, no sixteenths, 
etc. So when the program draws the score on screen (and 
on paper) it quantizes the display of all our eighth notes to 
quarter note positions, which makes it look like above. But 
again, please note that when you hit Play, the passage still 
plays as it originally did. The Display Quantize setting only 
affects the score image of the recording.
!Setting a Display Quantize value does not alter the 
MIDI notes of your recording in any way, as regular 
quantizing does. It only affects how the notes are 
displayed in the Score Editor (and nowhere else)!
!Even if you manually enter notes in the score using 
perfect note values, it is very important that you have 
your Display Quantize settings right! These values 
are not just used for MIDI recordings! If you for ex
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ample set the Display Quantize value for notes to 
quarter notes and start clicking in eighth notes, you 
get eighth notes in the track (as MIDI data), but still 
only quarter notes in the display! 
						

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How the Score Editor works
Using Rests as Display Quantize setting
Above we used Display Quantize for notes. There is a sim-
ilar Display Quantize setting called “Rests” which is used 
to set the smallest rest to be displayed. Often, this setting 
is very effective.
Let’s start with the following note example:
As you see, the first note appears one sixteenth note late. 
If we change the Display Quantize value for notes to 
eighth notes, the score is displayed like this:
With Display Quantize: Notes set to eighth notes
Unfortunately, this moves the first note to the same posi-
tion as the second, since sixteenth note positions are not 
allowed. We can solve this by inserting extra Display 
Quantize values within the bar with the Display Quantize 
tool (see 
“Inserting Display Quantize changes” on page 
571), but there is a much easier way: Change the Display 
Quantize value for notes back to sixteenths, but set the 
value for rests to eighth notes! This tells the program not 
to display any rests smaller than eighth notes, except 
when necessary. The result looks like this:
With Display Quantize: Notes set to sixteenth notes, but Rests set to 
eighth notes.
How did this work? Well, you instructed the program not 
to display any rests smaller than eighth notes, except 
when “necessary”. Since the first note appeared on the 
second sixteenth note position, it was necessary to put a 
sixteenth rest at the beginning of the figure. All other rests 
can be hidden by displaying the notes as eighth notes, 
and were therefore not “necessary”.
This leads us to the following general guidelines:
ÖSet the Notes value according to the “smallest note 
position” you want to be shown in the score (e.
 g. if you 
have notes on odd sixteenth note positions, set the Notes 
to sixteenth notes).
ÖSet the Rests value according to the smallest note 
value (length) you want to be displayed for a single note, 
positioned on a beat.
Common Display Quantize settings would be to have 
Notes set to 16 (sixteenth notes) and Rests set to 4 
(quarter notes).
Handling exceptions
Unfortunately, the guidelines above do not work perfectly 
in every situation. You may for example have a mix of 
straight notes and tuplets of different types, or you may 
wish to display equally long notes with different note val
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ues depending on the context. There are several methods 
you can try:
Automatic Display Quantize
If your score contains both straight notes and triplets, you 
can use Auto Quantize. When this is activated, Cubase 
tries to “understand” whether the notes should be display 
quantized to straight notes or triplets, see 
“If your music 
contains mixed straight notes and triplets” on page 589.
Using the Display Quantize tool
With the “Q” tool, you can insert new Display Quantize 
values anywhere in the score. Inserted Display Quantize 
values affect the staff from the insertion point onwards, 
see 
“Inserting Display Quantize changes” on page 571.
Permanent alteration of MIDI data
As a last resort, you can resize, quantize or move the ac-
tual note events. However, this would result in the music 
not playing back like it originally did. Often it is possible to 
get the score to look the way you want without altering any 
MIDI data.
Summary
This closes our discussion on the basic concept of display 
quantizing. There are a number of other special situations 
which require more advanced techniques described in the 
next chapters. The interpretation options which work along 
the same lines as Display Quantize are also explained. 
						

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How the Score Editor works
Entering notes by hand vs. recording 
notes
Sometimes you enter and edit notes by hand (or rather us-
ing the mouse and/or the computer keyboard) and at other 
times you record them from a MIDI keyboard. Most of the 
time, you do a combination of both. In the chapter 
“Tran-
scribing MIDI recordings” on page 568 you can find out 
how to make a recorded score as legible as possible with-
out making any permanent changes to the MIDI data. The 
chapter 
“Entering and editing notes” on page 573 shows 
you how to enter and edit notes using the mouse. In real life, 
even if you have recorded the piece perfectly, you often 
have to do some permanent editing to your recording be
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fore printing.
!In order to understand how to produce legible 
scores we recommend to read both chapters. 
						

							2
The basics 
						

							557
The basics
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
• How to open the Score Editor.
• How to switch between Page Mode and Edit Mode.
• How to set up the page size and margins.
• How to hide and show the Symbols Inspector, the toolbar, 
and the extended toolbar.
• How to set up the ruler.
• How to set a zoom factor.
• How to make initial settings for clef, key, and time signature.
• How to transpose instruments.
• How to print and export your score.
Preparations
1.In the Project window, create a MIDI track for each in-
strument.
You can prepare a piano (split) staff from a single track, i. e. there is no 
need to create one track for the bass clef and one for the treble clef.
2.Name each track after the instrument.
This name can later be used in the score if you like.
3.Record on the tracks or create empty parts on all tracks.
You can make very long parts that cover the entire project, or you can 
start out with shorter parts to begin with. If you choose the latter option, 
you can always go back later and add new parts or copy existing parts.
Opening the Score Editor
Editing one or several parts
To open one or several parts in the Score Editor, select 
the parts (on the same or on different tracks) and select 
“Open Score Editor” from the MIDI menu or “Open Selec
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tion” from the Scores 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).
Editing whole tracks
When preparing a score for printing, you probably want to 
open whole MIDI tracks in the Score Editor. To do this, se
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lect the track(s) in the track list and make sure no parts are 
selected – then open the Score Editor as described above.
Editing parts on different tracks
If you have selected parts on two or more tracks (or sev-
eral entire tracks – no parts) and open the Score Editor, 
you get one staff for each track (although you can split a 
staff in two, e.g. when scoring for piano). Think of the Proj
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ect window as an overview of your entire score and the 
tracks as representing one instrument each.
Editing predefined combinations of tracks
How to open the Score Editor for a certain combination of 
tracks that you edited before is described in the section 
“Layout operations” on page 656.
Displaying single voices or the complete score
When the “Double-click on staff flips between full score/
part” option is activated in the Preferences dialog (Scores–
Editing page), double-clicking on the blue rectangle to the 
left of a staff switches between display of either the whole 
score or the current voice.
The project cursor
The project cursor appears as a vertical line across the 
staff. When you open the Score Editor, the view is auto
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matically scrolled so that the project cursor is visible in the 
window. This means you do not always see the beginning 
of the edited part when you first open the Score Editor.
•Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and [Shift] and click anywhere 
in the score to move the project cursor there.
This is handy when the project cursor is not visible. This is not possible if 
Computer Keyboard Input mode is activated, see 
“Entering notes using the computer keyboard” on page 576.
Playing back and recording
You can play back and record MIDI in the Score Editor us-
ing the standard transport commands, just like in the other 
MIDI editors. See the chapter 
“The MIDI editors” on page 
374 for details. 
						

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The basics
Page Mode
When you are preparing a score for printout, you should set 
the Score Editor to Page Mode. This is done by selecting 
Page Mode from the Scores menu. When Page Mode is 
activated, a checkmark appears next to this menu option.
In Page mode, the window switches to display one page 
at a time, as it appears on printout.
Page Mode vs. Edit Mode
When Page Mode is not activated, the Score Editor is in 
Edit Mode. All you can do in Edit Mode, you can also do in 
Page Mode. But Page Mode offers lots of additional fea
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tures which are directly related to how the score is dis-
played and printed.
Using the scroll bars in Page Mode
In Page Mode, the scroll bars are used to scroll the image 
of the page inside the window.
Moving between pages in Page Mode
If your score takes up more than one page, you use the 
page number indicator in the lower right corner to move to 
another page in your score. The number can be adjusted 
using the standard editing techniques.
The page number indicator – adjust it to move to another page.
Also, if Auto-Scroll is activated on the toolbar, the score 
display follows the project cursor position. This way you 
can scroll the score by using fast forward or rewind.
Editing individual parts in Page Mode
When you view a single part in Page Mode, the bars be-
fore and after the part is normally shown as empty mea-
sures in the Score Editor. This is to preserve the layout of 
the track, i.e. the spacing between staves and bar lines, 
number of bars per staff, etc.
If you want to view and print a single part, without any 
surrounding empty bars, activate the “Unlock Layout when 
editing single parts” option in the Preferences dialog 
(Scores–Editing page). Note, however, that if you adjust 
the layout when editing the part in this mode, this erases 
the layout for the whole track!
Changing the zoom factor
There are two ways to change the zoom in Page Mode: by 
setting a zoom factor on the zoom pop-up menu or by us
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ing the Zoom tool (magnifying glass).
Using the Zoom pop-up menu
Above the vertical scrollbar to the right you can find a pop-
up menu allowing you to set the zoom factor. 
By zooming in you can make detailed adjustments to sym-
bols, etc. By zooming out you get a better overview.
•If you select “Fit Page”, the zoom factor is adjusted ac-
cording to the window size so that the whole page be-
comes visible.
•If you select “Fit Width”, the zoom factor is adjusted ac-
cording to the window width so that the full width of the 
page becomes visible.
!This section of the manual assumes you are in Page 
Mode. It is mentioned explicitly if something in this 
text specifically relates to Edit Mode. 
						

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The basics
ÖThis pop-up menu can also be opened by right-click-
ing in the ruler.
Using the Zoom tool
The Zoom tool in the Score Editor works much like in the 
Project window:
•Click once with the Zoom tool to zoom in one step.
•Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and click once with the Zoom 
tool to zoom out one step.
•Drag a rectangle with the Zoom tool to set a custom 
zoom factor.
The section encompassed by the rectangle is zoomed to fill the window.
•Hold down a modifier key and right-click with the Zoom 
tool to open the Zoom context menu, and select the de
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sired Zoom setting.
Using the Mouse wheel
You can also zoom by holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] 
and moving the mouse wheel. The mouse position is kept 
(if possible) when zooming in or out.
The active staff
One thing to note when you are working with multiple 
staves is the “active” staff. Only one staff at a time can be 
active, and it is indicated by a blue rectangle to the left of 
the clef symbol.
ÖTo make a staff active, click anywhere on it. By default, 
you can also use the up and down arrow keys on the com
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puter keyboard to step between staves.
Making page setup settings
Before preparing the score for printout, you have to make 
some page settings for your project. This does not have to 
be the first thing you do, but it is a good working habit, be
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cause it also affects the on-screen display of the score.
1.On the File menu, select Page Setup.
The Page Setup dialog appears. This is the regular operation system 
Page Setup dialog, described in detail in your system’s documentation. 
The only things that Cubase adds to this are the margin settings.
2.Select the preferred printer, paper size, orientation, etc.
3.If you need to, change the margins by setting the left, 
right, top and bottom settings.
•To make the settings permanent, save the project.
If you want new projects to always start with certain page setup settings, 
you can create project templates with these, see 
“Setting up a default template” on page 51.
Designing your work space
You can design your work space according to your needs 
by showing/hiding different areas using the Window Layout 
function and by showing/hiding different options of these 
areas using the Setup options dialogs. Which areas and 
options to show or hide depends on what kind of project 
you are working on, how large your monitor is, and so on.
To configure the window layout, proceed as follows:
1.On the toolbar, click the “Set up Window Layout” but-
ton.
A transparent pane appears. 
2.Activate the desired options.
This staff is active.
Extended toolbarSymbols 
Inspector Info line Status line
Filter bar 
						

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The basics
The status line
The status line features the Mouse Time and the Mouse 
Note Position displays as well as the Current Chord Dis
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play, which helps you identify chords in the Score Editor 
note display. It can be hidden/displayed using the “Status 
Line” option in the “Set up Window Layout” pane.
The status line has its own Setup dialog where you can 
specify exactly which properties you want to see. 
•Right-click on the status line and select “Setup…” from 
the context menu. 
In the dialog that appears you can configure where the separate items 
will be placed and save/recall different setup configurations.
The info line
The info line displays information about the selected note. 
It can be shown and hidden using the “Info Line” option in 
the “Set up Window Layout” pane.
The info line has its own setup dialog where you can 
specify exactly which properties are shown. 
•Right-click on the info line and select “Setup…” from 
the context menu. 
In the dialog that appears you can configure where the separate items 
will be placed and save/recall different setup configurations.
The extended toolbar
The extended toolbar contains additional tools four your 
score. It can be hidden/displayed using the Tools option in 
the “Set up Window Layout” pane.
The filter bar
This area contains checkboxes determining which indica-
tors, handles, and other non-printed elements are shown 
in the score. It can be hidden/displayed using the Filters 
option in the “Set up Window Layout” pane.
Showing and hiding elements
Some of the elements in the score are not printed, but 
rather serve as indicators for layout changes, handles, etc. 
These elements can be hidden or shown in any combina
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tion by using the Filters options.
The following options are available:
The Symbols Inspector
This area contains symbol tabs, which are used to add 
symbols to the score. It can be hidden/displayed using the 
Symbols option in the “Set up Window Layout” pane.
The symbol tabs can also be opened as free-floating pal-
ettes by opening them, right-clicking any of the buttons 
and selecting “Open as Palette” from the context menu. 
This way you can move symbol palettes around on the 
screen by clicking and dragging their title bars. Right-
clicking on a symbol palette brings up a pop-up menu:
•Select “Toggle” to switch between a vertical or horizon-
tal view of the palette.
•Select one of the options on the pop-up menu to bring 
up the corresponding palette instead of the current palette.
•Hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and select a palette from 
the pop-up menu to open the selected palette in a new 
window (without closing the existing one).
•Click the close button to close a symbol palette. 
OptionDescription
Bar HandlesDisplays the bar handles, used for copying bars (see “Mov-ing and duplicating with the bar handles” on page 631).
Hidden NotesDisplays any notes you might have hidden (see “Hiding/showing objects” on page 665).
HideDisplays markers in the score for each hidden element (ex-cept notes, see “Hiding/showing objects” on page 665).
QuantizeDisplays markers in the score where you have made Dis-play Quantize “exceptions” (see “Inserting Display Quan-tize changes” on page 571).
Layout toolDisplays markers in the score where you have made ad-justments with the Layout tool (see “Graphic moving of notes” on page 614).
GroupingDisplays markers in the score where you have made 
beam groupings (see “Grouping” on page 608).
CutflagDisplays markers in the score where you have inserted 
cutflag events (see “The Cut Notes tool” on page 613).
Split RestsDisplays markers in the score wherever you have split 
multiple rests (see “Splitting multi-rests” on page 667).
Stems/BeamsDisplays markers in the score where you have made any 
stem or beam adjustments (see “Setting stem direction” on page 604 and “Manual adjustment of beams” on page 612).