Steinberg Cubase 6 Manual

							641
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 can find a set of pre-
defined chord symbols, see “Using presets” on page 642. 
If the symbol that you want to add is among these, simply 
select 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 
insert the chord symbol.
The Edit Chord Symbol dialog opens.
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 
using the up/down arrows to the right.
4.In the “Chord Type” field, specify a chord type.
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”). 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 “remembers” the relation between key and bass note, so 
that if you change the key note, the bass note follows.
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.
CharacterDescriptionExampleResult
( )The tensions are 
enclosed in brack-ets.
/The tensions are 
separated by a 
slash sign.
|The tensions are 
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. 
						

							642
Working with chords
•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.
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 can 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 appears, 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 display settings for the chords. These 
settings are available in the Score Settings dialog, on the 
Project page (Chord Symbols and Notation Fonts sub
-
pages).
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 you want chord symbols to 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.On the Scores menu, select “Make Chord Symbols”.
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 the “Make Chord Symbols” button on the ex
-
tended toolbar.
•If the “Use for Make Chords” option is activated on the 
Project–Guitar Library subpage of the Score Settings dia
-
log (see “Adding guitar chord symbols” on page 625), 
guitar chord symbols are 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 ex
-
ample, 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 interpretation 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 consider-
ation. Whenever there is any change on any staff, the 
notes are reinterpreted 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 Sym
-
bols, or you get a lot more chords than you expect, possi-
bly with strange tensions.
In addition to the above, the Quantize value is used. At the 
most, there is 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 combina
-
tions of notes simply do not make any sense to the pro-
gram and do not produce any chords. 
						

							643
Working with 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.
The Current Chord Display
Cubase features a handy chord recognition function that 
helps you identify chords in the Score Editor note display. 
To find out which chord is formed by simultaneously 
played notes, place the project cursor over the notes. All 
notes currently “touched” by the project cursor are ana
-
lyzed and the Current Chord Display in the status line 
shows you which chord the notes form.
Global chord settings
In the Score Settings dialog on the Project page (Chord 
Symbols and Notation Fonts subpages), there are several 
global settings 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 are displayed:
•If you want the root (key) note to be aligned with the bass 
note, so that they are both displayed at the same vertical 
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 of the Staff page in the Score 
Settings dialog), and want the chords to be scaled ac
-
cordingly.
•Activate “Use Display Transpose” if you want the chord 
symbols to be affected by the Display Transpose setting 
on the Staff page of the Score Settings dialog.
•To apply the settings to your score, click “Apply to 
Chords”.
Notation Fonts
•Use the Score Font pop-up menu to select a font for the 
display of note heads, clefs, etc.
Available are Legacy, Classical, and Jazz.
•Use the Chord Symbols Font pop-up menu 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. 
						

							644
Working with chords
•Use the radio buttons at the bottom to select a chord 
display mode.
This affects how the key and bass notes are displayed:
OptionDescription
EnglishRegular notation.
DoReMi“Do-Re-Mi-…” are used instead of “C-D-E-…”
GermanAs English notation, but “B” is displayed as “H”, and “Bb” 
or “A#” are displayed as “B”. 
						

							10
Working with text 
						

							646
Working with text
About this chapter
In this chapter you will learn:
• Which different types of text are available.
• How to enter and edit text.
• How to set font, size, and style.
• How to enter lyrics.
Adding and editing text symbols
This section describes the general procedure for adding 
and editing text symbols. As described in the section 
“Dif-
ferent types of text” on page 648, there are several differ-
ent types of text symbols, but the basic procedures are 
the same (except for block text symbols, see 
“Block Text” 
on page 650, and page text symbols, see “Page text” on 
page 650).
Inserting a text symbol
1.Make sure that the correct staff is active.
2.If you wish, select a font, size, and style for the text (or 
select a text attribute), as described in the section 
“Se-
lecting font, size, and style for the text” on page 647.
You can also change these settings after you inserted the text.
3.In the Symbols Inspector, open the desired symbol 
tab.
The different text symbols are found on the Other, Layout, and Project 
symbol tabs.
4.Click on the text symbol on the tab and click in the 
score at the position where you want the text to appear.
If you are adding lyrics, you should click above or below a note (lyrics are 
centered around each note and positioned vertically to where you 
clicked). See 
“Lyrics” on page 648 for details.
5.Enter the text in the text box that appears.
You can use [Backspace] to delete letters, and move the cursor with the 
arrow keys. 
6.When you are done, press [Return].
The text appears. You can move, duplicate or delete it as with any symbol.
About the melisma lines
When you add a text symbol, you can find a handle at the 
right edge of the text. By dragging this handle to the right, 
you can extend a “melisma line” from the text. This has 
several uses:
•If you are adding lyrics and want to indicate that a sylla-
ble should be sung over several notes:
•If the text is an advice about articulation or playing style, 
and you want it to apply to a certain musical phrase only:
•If the text is an advice about articulation or playing style, 
and you want it to apply from that point on in the score:
In the Score Settings dialog (Text tab), you can find two 
settings that determine the appearance of the melisma 
lines for text symbols:
• The Melisma Style pop-up menu is where you specify whether 
the line is solid or dotted.
• The Melisma End pop-up menu allows you to choose whether 
the end of the line is plain, has an arrow, or forms a “bracket” 
up or down.
Making space
•If you find that there is not enough space between 
staves, e.g. to add lyrics, please see 
“Dragging staves” on 
page 670 for info on how to separate the staves.
•If you find the score looks crammed after adding text, 
see 
“Auto Layout” on page 672. 
						

							647
Working with text
Editing the text
If you made a mistake when typing or for some other rea-
son want to change text, double-click on a text block with 
the Object Selection tool, edit the text and press [Return] 
to close it.
•It is also possible to replace all occurrences of a certain 
word in the score, without having to edit the texts manu
-
ally, see “Find and replace” on page 652.
Selecting font, size, and style for the text
1.Select the text that you want to make settings for.
If nothing is selected, the settings you make are the “default settings”. 
The next time you insert text, these settings are used.
2.Open the Score Settings dialog and select the Text 
page.
3.Select a font from the Font pop-up menu.
How many and which fonts appear depends on what typefaces you have 
installed on your computer. 
4.Select a text size from the Size pop-up menu (or enter 
one manually in the text field). 
5.You can also add one or several font options using the 
checkboxes and pop-up menus.
Most of the options are common text style variations such as bold, italic, 
underline, etc. But there are also a few special style options:
6.Click Apply to apply the settings to the selected text.
Note that you can select other text blocks while the dialog remains open – 
the dialog is updated to reflect the settings of the currently selected text.
7.When you are done, close the Score Settings dialog.
Text attribute sets
A text attribute set can be seen as a “preset” containing all 
font, size, and style settings. By creating text attribute sets 
for the settings you use most often, you can save a lot of 
time.
Creating a text attribute set
1.Open the Score Settings dialog on the Project page 
and select the Text Settings subpage.
2.Open the Attribute Sets tab.
3.On the Font Set pop-up menu, select the “Empty” set.
4.Select a font, specify a size, and add style options us-
ing the checkboxes.
The options are the same as when you make text settings on the Text 
page in the Score Settings dialog (see above).
5.Click in the text field of the Font Set pop-up menu and 
enter a name for the new text attribute set.
6.Click Store to store the new text attribute set.
Using text attribute sets
To apply the settings in the text attribute set to one or 
several text blocks, select them, select the set from the 
Font Set pop-up menu on the Text page in the Score Set
-
tings dialog and click Apply. You can also apply a text at-
tribute set to a text block directly in the score by right-
clicking it and selecting the set from the context menu.
•If you select a text attribute set on the Text page when 
no text is selected in the score, the settings are used the 
next time you insert some text.
ÖAfter you have selected a set for a text block, there is a 
“link” between the text and the attribute set. Any changes to 
the attribute set affects all texts that use it (see below). You 
can still edit any text settings manually (on the Project–Text 
Settings subpage) but then the “link” to the attribute set is 
removed.
!For regular text you should avoid the “Steinberg” 
fonts. These are the fonts Cubase uses for all scor
-
ing symbols, etc.
OptionDescription
FrameAllows you to put the text in a rectangular (“Box”) or oval 
frame.
Melisma  optionsThese determine the appearance of the “melisma line”, 
see “About the melisma lines” on page 646.
PositioningAllows you to select which side of the text block (left or 
right) is used for calculating its position. This has an effect 
in situations where that text block is moved automatically 
(as a result of an Auto Layout function, when you move bar 
lines manually, etc.). If, for example, the text block appears 
just in front of a note (to the left of it), it appears in a more 
sensible position after the adjustment, if the “Right” option 
is selected.
Alignment: Left/Center/
RightAllows you to specify the alignment of the text. These op-tions are only valid for texts with more than one line. 
						

							648
Working with text
Editing text attribute sets
If you edit the settings in a text attribute set, all texts using 
this particular set are affected. This is very practical, since 
it allows you to use the same number of “generic” sets for 
all your projects (for titles, comments, lyrics, etc.), and 
simply change the fonts, sizes, etc. for a different project if 
necessary. This also makes it easier to move projects be
-
tween computers (which may not have the same fonts in-
stalled).
1.In the Score Settings dialog on the Project–Text Set-
tings subpage, select the Attribute Sets tab.
2.From the Font Set pop-up menu, select the attribute 
set that you want to edit.
3.Change the settings as desired.
This includes the name of the set.
4.Click Apply.
Different types of text
Regular text
This type of text is inserted by selecting Text in the Other 
or the Layout symbol tab.
The text is tied to the bar and staff position. If you move 
the bar or the entire staff, it moves with it.
Pasting text
You can paste text (e.g. from another program) into a text 
symbol in the score. To do this, select the text symbol and 
right-click it. Then, select “Text from Clipboard” from the 
context menu. This option is also available on the Func
-
tions submenu of the Scores menu.
Similarly, you can copy selected text by using the “Text to 
Clipboard” option from the context menu.
Lyrics
This type of text is inserted by selecting Lyrics on the 
Other symbol tab.
When you insert lyrics, you should click below or above 
the note the syllable belongs to. The text then appears 
horizontally centered around the note and vertically posi
-
tioned to where you clicked. You can later move it up or 
down, as with any symbol.
Lyrics are tied to the note position. If you move the note, 
the text moves with it. The spacing between notes is also 
adjusted to make the lyrics fit.
Inserting lyrics for a number of notes
1.With lyrics selected, click below or above the first note 
with the Pencil tool.
2.A text input field opens. Enter the text (the word or syl-
lable) for that note. 
						

							649
Working with text
3.Press the [Tab] key.
The program moves on to the next note.
4.Input text for this note and press [Tab] again.
5.Proceed until the last note and then press [Return] or 
click outside the text box.
When you insert lyrics this way, the positions of the notes 
are automatically adjusted so that no lyric “block” overlaps 
another. If this is not what you want, you can activate the 
“Don’t Sync Lyrics” option in the Score Settings dialog on 
the Project–Notation Style subpage (Lyrics category). If 
this is activated, the note positions are not affected, which 
may be preferable.
•When entering words with several syllables you normally 
separate the syllables with a dash (-). By default, the dash 
signs are automatically centered between the syllables – if 
this is not what you want, activate the “Don’t Center Hy
-
phens” option in the Score Settings dialog, on the Proj-
ect–Notation Style subpage (Lyrics category).
Lyrics and measure widths
When you first enter lyrics, the result may look crammed, 
since the words take up more space than the notes (the lyr
-
ics are also selected just after entering the last word, which 
makes them look a bit odd when overlapping). To remedy 
this, use the auto layout function to automatically adjust the 
measure widths (see 
“Auto Layout” on page 672).
Adding a second verse
To insert a second line of lyrics, proceed as follows:
1.Enter the new lyrics above or below the existing verse.
2.Select all the words that should be in the new verse.
3.Right-click the selected words to open the context 
menu.
4.Select the appropriate verse from the Move To Verse 
submenu (Verse 1–6).
This assigns the selected lyrics to the selected verse.
To indicate that the words belong to another verse, they 
are automatically displayed in another color. However, all 
verses are printed in black as usual.
•To select all words in one verse only, press [Shift] and 
double-click on the first word in that verse.
This selects all following words in the verse.
Inserting lyrics into voices
Each voice can have its own lyrics. If you have a vocal ar-
rangement with several voices, you can add lyrics to them, 
one by one. Proceed as follows:
1.Make sure that the correct voice is selected (on the 
extended toolbar), see 
“Entering notes into voices” on 
page 597.
2.In the Symbols Inspector, open the Other tab and click 
on the Lyrics symbol.
3.Click on the first note in the selected voice.
4.Enter the lyrics for this voice, using the [Tab] key to 
move from note to note, as described above.
5.Start over, by activating the next voice, clicking on the 
first note in that voice and proceeding as with the first voice.
6.If needed, adjust the position of the lyrics for each 
voice (see below).
Moving lyrics
If you want to move the lyrics up or down, for example to 
make room for a second verse, proceed as follows:
1.Hold down [Shift] and double-click on the first word in 
the lyrics.
All lyric “blocks” are selected.
2.Drag one of the lyric blocks up or down.
All selected lyric blocks are moved accordingly.
Adding lyrics from the clipboard
If you want to prepare your lyrics in another program, you 
can import them into Cubase the following way:
1.Create the lyrics in another program.
Separate words with space as usual, syllables within words with dash 
signs (-).
2.Copy the text.
3.In Cubase, select the first note to which the lyrics will 
be added. 
						

							650
Working with text
4.Pull down the Scores menu and select “Lyrics from 
Clipboard” from the Functions submenu.
The lyrics are added, starting at the selected note.
Layout text
The text symbols in the Layout symbol tab are part of the 
layout layer, and can thus be hidden or shown for different 
tracks in the layout, by activating the “L” column on the Lay
-
out page of the Score Settings dialog. The text appears in 
all staves for which you have activated the “L” column. This 
means it is tied to the bar and staff position. If you move the 
bar or the entire staff, it moves with it.
Block Text
Block Text allows you to import text from a file on disk or 
from the clipboard. Proceed as follows:
1.Click on the Block Text symbol on the desired tab to 
bring up the Pencil tool.
You can choose between project layer block text (from the Project tab –
useful for text that should appear on all pages, e.
 g. the score title), layout 
layer block text (from the Layout tab – if you want to print a title only for a 
particular track layout, e.
 g. for a particular instrument), or block text used 
for individual parts (from the Other tab – this text only appears in the 
score for a particular part).
2.Click in the score where you want to insert the text.
A regular file dialog appears.
3.Select a file (TXT or RTF) to import.
4.Click Open.
The text in the file is inserted into the score.
•Right-clicking on inserted Block Text brings up a pop-
up menu with the following options:
The RTF Settings dialog
Selecting “Settings…” from the context menu (or double-
clicking the Block Text) brings up a dialog with settings for 
the Block Text. These are:
Page text
The page text symbols are found on the Layout and Project 
tabs. They work the same way, but project page text is part 
of the project layout, and therefore appears in all layouts. 
The position of page text is not tied to a note, bar or staff 
position. In other words, it does not matter if you move 
other objects on the page, the page text stays where you 
inserted it. Typically, it is used for score titles, page num
-
bers, copyright information and other text elements that 
you want displayed with all parts (on all pages if you like).
To enter page text, proceed as follows:
1.Open the Layout or the Project tab of the Symbols 
Inspector.
2.Click on the Page Text symbol and click in the score.
It does not matter where you click – the positioning is specified in the 
Page Text dialog that appears.
3.Enter the text that you want displayed in the field at the 
top of the dialog.
You can use special characters to add “variables” such as page numbers 
– see below.
Menu itemDescription
Settings…Brings up the RTF Settings dialog. You can also open 
this by double-clicking the Block Text.
Import Text…Imports text from a text file or RTF file. The imported text 
replaces any text currently inserted at the position of the 
Block Text.
Update TextReloads the text from the file.
Text From 
ClipboardPastes the text from the clipboard into the Block Text.
Text To 
ClipboardCopies the Block Text to the clipboard.
HideHides the inserted block text. To make the text visible 
again, activate the Hide checkbox in the filter bar, right-
click on the text “Hidden” which is displayed for the hid
-den text and select “Show” on the context menu.
SettingDescription
FontLets you select the font to use for the Block Text. If “No 
Change” is selected, the font in the original file (if applica-ble) is used.
SizeThe text size, as a percentage.
Draw FrameWhen this is activated, a frame is shown around the 
Block Text.
Word wrapWhen this is activated, line breaks are used to fit the text 
in the Block Text symbol.
Replace modeIn this mode, the Block Text box is opaque, covering 
what’s under it.
Trans modeIn this mode, the Block Text box is transparent.
Menu item Description