Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

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Editing tempo and signatureTempo and signature display
Tempo and signature display
You can view the current tempo and signature settings of your project in a number of 
ways:
•On the Transport panel.
See above, and the section “The Transport panel” on page 101.
•By displaying the tempo track and the signature track in the Project window.
Open the Project menu, select Add Track and the Signature and/or Tempo 
options.
•In the Tempo Track Editor.
Open the Project menu and select Tempo Track, or...

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Editing tempo and signatureTempo and signature display
About the Tempo Track Editor
If you do not want to display two extra tracks in the Project window, you can also open 
the Tempo Track Editor to view and edit tempo and signature information.
The Tempo Track Editor has a toolbar, info line, and ruler just like other editors in 
Cubase, plus an area for the display of time signature events and a tempo curve display.
The toolbar
The toolbar contains various tools and settings:
•The tools for Object...

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Editing tempo and signatureEditing tempo and signature
Editing tempo and signature
You can use the options of the Tempo Track Editor or the tempo and signature tracks 
to edit tempo and signature settings. The descriptions given below are valid in both 
cases. The only exception is the tempo recording slider, which is available only in the 
Tempo Track Editor (see 
“Recording tempo changes (Cubase only)” on page 615).
Editing the tempo curve
Adding tempo curve points
1.Use the “Insert curve” pop-up...

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Editing tempo and signatureEditing tempo and signature
•You can also use the left and right arrow keys on the computer keyboard to go 
from one curve point to the next.
If you press [Shift] and use the arrow keys, you can select several points at the 
same time.
Editing tempo curve points
Curve points can be edited in the following ways:
•By clicking and dragging horizontally and/or vertically with the Object Selection 
tool.
If several points are selected, all of them are moved. If Snap is activated...

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Editing tempo and signatureEditing tempo and signature
Removing tempo curve points
To remove a curve point, either click on it with the Erase tool or select it and press 
[Backspace]. The first tempo curve point cannot be removed.
Recording tempo changes (Cubase only)
The Tempo Recording slider on the toolbar of the Tempo Track Editor allows you to 
record tempo changes “on the fly”: simply start playback and use the slider to raise or 
lower the tempo at the desired positions. This is useful for...

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Editing tempo and signatureProcess Tempo (Cubase only)
Exporting and importing tempo tracks (Cubase only)
You can export the current tempo track for use in other projects by selecting “Tempo 
Track” from the “Export” submenu of the File menu. This allows you to save the tempo 
track information (including time signature events) as a special XML file (file extension 
“.smt”).
To import a tempo track, select “Tempo Track” from the Import submenu of the File 
menu. Note that this replaces all tempo...

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Editing tempo and signatureThe Process Bars dialog (Cubase only)
The Process Bars dialog (Cubase only)
The Process Bars dialog (opened from the Tempo Track Editor or the signature track) 
uses the global “Insert Silence” and “Delete Time” functions from the Range submenu 
of the Edit menu. However, the necessary ranges (or parameters) are calculated using 
a musical “bars+beats-based” environment. The function also ensures that the time 
signatures stay “in sync” after these operations. This allows...

618
Editing tempo and signatureThe Beat Calculator
The Beat Calculator
The Beat Calculator is a tool for calculating the tempo of freely recorded audio or MIDI 
material. It also allows you to set the tempo by tapping.
Calculating the tempo of a recording
1.In the Project window, make a selection that covers an exact number of beats of 
the recording.
2.Select “Beat Calculator…” from the Project menu.
The Beat Calculator window appears.
3.In the Beats field, enter the number of beats that the selection...

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Editing tempo and signatureMerge Tempo From Tapping (Cubase only)
4.Tap the tempo on the Spacebar of the computer keyboard or with the mouse 
button.
The tempo display will update the calculated tempo between each tap.
5.Click OK to close the Tap Tempo dialog.
The tapped tempo is now shown in the Beat Calculator’s BPM display. You can 
insert it into the tempo track as described above.
Merge Tempo From Tapping (Cubase only)
This function allows you to create a complete tempo track based on your...

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Editing tempo and signatureThe Time Warp tool (Cubase only)
Basic procedure
You use the Time Warp tool to drag a musical position (a position in bars+beats 
format) to a certain position in time. This can be done in the Project window or in an 
editor, as described below. Here is the general procedure:
1.Make sure tempo track mode is active.
You cannot use the Time Warp tool in fixed tempo mode.
2.Select the Time Warp tool.
Bars+Beats format is automatically selected for the ruler in the active...