Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

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The MIDI editors
Introduction
There are several ways to edit MIDI in Cubase. You can use the tools and functions in 
the Project window for large-scale editing, or the functions on the MIDI menu to 
process MIDI parts in various ways (see 
“What is affected by the MIDI functions?” on 
page 471). For hands-on graphical editing of the contents of MIDI parts, you use the 
MIDI editors:
•The Key Editor is the default MIDI editor, presenting notes graphically in an intuitive 
piano roll-style grid.
The...

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The MIDI editorsOpening a MIDI editor
Opening a MIDI editor
There are two ways to open a MIDI editor:
•Select one or several parts (or a MIDI track, with no parts selected), open the MIDI 
menu and select Open Key Editor, Open Score Editor, Open Drum Editor, Open 
List Editor, or Open In-Place Editor (or use the corresponding key command).
In Cubase Artist, the Score Editor is opened via the Scores submenu of the MIDI 
menu.
The selected parts (or all parts on the track, if no part was selected) will...

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The MIDI editorsThe Key Editor – Overview
•The “Edit Active Part Only” button on the toolbar lets you restrict editing 
operations to the active part.
•The “Zoom to Event” function on the Zoom submenu of the Edit menu lets you 
zoom in on the active part so that it fills the screen.
•The “Show Part Borders” button on the toolbar lets you see clearly defined 
borders for the active part.
When this is activated, all parts except the active one are grayed out, making the 
borders easily discernible. In...

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The MIDI editorsThe Key Editor – Overview
The toolbar
The toolbar contains tools and various settings for the Key Editor. The following 
toolbar elements are available:
ÖYou can show/hide most of the toolbar elements by activating/deactivating the 
corresponding options on the context menu. Furthermore, you can save/recall 
different toolbar configurations, see 
“Using the Setup options” on page 700.
OptionDescription
Set up Window 
LayoutClicking this button allows you to show/hide the status line...

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The MIDI editorsThe Key Editor – Overview
The status line
The status line is displayed below the toolbar in the Key Editor.
It displays the following information:
•To show or hide the status line, click the “Set up Window Layout” button on the 
toolbar and activate or deactivate the “Status Line” option.
The info line
The info line shows information about the selected MIDI note. If several notes are 
selected, the values for the first note are displayed (in color). You can edit all values on 
the...

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The MIDI editorsThe Key Editor – Overview
The Key Editor Inspector
On the left in the Key Editor, you will find the Inspector. It contains tools and functions 
for working with MIDI data.
The Expression Map section (Cubase only)
In the Expression Map section you can load an expression map. This is useful if you 
are working with articulations, see 
“Expression maps (Cubase only)” on page 555.
The Note Expression section (Cubase only)
The Note Expression section contains functions and settings related...

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The MIDI editorsThe Key Editor – Overview
The note display
The note display is the main area in the Key Editor. It contains a grid in which MIDI 
notes are shown as boxes. The width of a box corresponds to the note length, and the 
vertical position of a box corresponds to the note number (pitch), with higher notes 
higher up in the grid. The piano keyboard helps you to find the right note number. 
For a description of how to display colors in the note display, see “Coloring notes and 
events” on...

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The MIDI editorsKey Editor operations
Events other than velocity values are shown as blocks, the heights of which 
correspond to the values of the events. The beginning of an event is marked by a 
curve point. To select an event, click on the curve point, so that it turns red.
ÖUnlike notes, events in the controller display have no length. The value of an event in 
the display is “valid” until the start of the next event.
For a description of editing in the controller display, see “Using the...

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The MIDI editorsKey Editor operations
Playing back
You can play back your music as usual when working in a MIDI editor. There are 
several features designed to make editing easier during playback.
The Solo Editor button
If you activate the Solo Editor button, only the edited MIDI parts will be heard during 
regular playback.
Auto-Scroll
As described in the section “Auto-Scroll” on page 54, the Auto-Scroll function makes 
the window “follow” the project cursor during playback, so that the current play...

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The MIDI editorsKey Editor operations
Acoustic Feedback
If the Acoustic Feedback icon (speaker symbol) on the toolbar is activated, individual 
notes will automatically be played back (auditioned) when you move or transpose 
them, or when you create new notes by drawing. This makes it easier to hear what you 
are doing.
In the Preferences dialog (MIDI page), you can specify whether the Acoustic 
Feedback function takes into account any MIDI sends or inserts used for the track. 
Activate the “Audition...