Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

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The MIDI editorsThe basic Score Editor – Overview
The basic Score Editor – Overview
This section describes the basic Score Editor, which is available in Cubase Artist. The 
full-featured version of the Score Editor that is available in Cubase is described in 
detail in 
“Part II: Score layout and printing (Cubase only)” on page 724.
The Score Editor shows MIDI notes as a musical score.
The toolbar
The Score Editor toolbar is similar to the toolbar in the Key Editor, but tailored to 
working with scores:
•There are an Insert Note tool and an Insert Text tool instead of the Pencil, Trim, 
Mute, Zoom, and Line tools.
•Parts on different tracks are shown on different staves.
Therefore there are no part controls.
•There are only two Snap types: Grid and Grid Relative.
•The Independent Track Loop, Auto-Select Controllers, and Indicate 
Transpositions buttons, as well as the Nudge palette and Event Colors pop-up 
menu are not available.
The status line
The status line features the Mouse Time Position, the Mouse Note Position, and the 
Current Chord displays. Unlike in the Key Editor, you need to select the notes making 
up the chord to make it appear in the Current Chord Display.
•To show or hide the status line, click the “Set up Window Layout” button and 
activate or deactivate the “Status Line” option.
The info line
The info line shows information about selected MIDI notes, just like in the Key and 
Drum Editors. You can edit all values on the info line using regular value editing (see 
“Editing on the info line” on page 499 for details).
•To configure which items are available on the info line, right-click 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.
•To show or hide the info line, click the “Set up Window Layout” button and activate 
or deactivate the “Info Line” option.
Toolbar
Status line
Extended 
toolbar
Info line 
						

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The extended toolbar
•To show or hide the extended toolbar, click the “Set up Window Layout” button 
and activate or deactivate the Tools option.
Note value buttons
Click one of these to select a note value for input. The “T” and “.” options are for triplet 
and dotted note values. You can also press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click one of the 
note value buttons – this will resize all selected notes to the note value you choose.
Enharmonic Shift
Allows you to manually select whether a note is shown with flat or sharp accidentals, 
see 
“Enharmonic Shift” on page 540.
The score display
The main area of the Score Editor window shows the notes in the edited parts on one 
or several staves. 
•If you are editing one or several parts on the same track, as much of them as 
possible is shown on several staves – one above the other – just as with a score 
on paper.
•If you are editing parts on several tracks, they are put on a grand staff (multiple 
staves, tied together by bar lines).
•The number of bars across the screen depends on the size of the window and the 
number of notes in each bar.
The maximum number of bars across the page is four.
•The end of the last part is indicated by a double bar line.
•Unlike the other MIDI editors, the Score Editor does not have a ruler.
A conventional ruler would not make sense, since there is no exact relationship 
between a note’s horizontal position in the score and its musical position in the 
project.
Score Editor operations 
Opening the Score Editor
To open one or several parts in the Score Editor, select one or several tracks or any 
number of parts (on the same or different tracks), and select “Open Score Editor” 
from the Scores submenu of the MIDI menu. The default key command for this is 
[Ctrl]/[Command]-[R].
•You can also select the Score Editor as your default editor, 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). 
						

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About editing parts on different tracks
If you have selected parts on two or more tracks and open the Score Editor, you will 
get one staff for each track (although you can split a staff in two, e.
 g. when scoring for 
piano). The staves are tied together by bar lines and placed in the order of the tracks 
in the Project window.
•If you need to rearrange the staves: close the editor, go back into the Project 
window, drag the tracks to the order you want them, and open the Score Editor 
again.
The active staff
Just as in the other editors, all MIDI input (as when recording from your instrument) is 
directed to one of the tracks, here called the active staff. The active staff is indicated 
by a blue rectangle to the left of the clef symbol.
•To change the active staff, click on the staff you want to activate.
Getting the score displayed correctly
When you open the Score Editor for a part recorded in real time, the score may not 
look as legible as you expect. The Score Editor can ignore the minor time variances in 
performance and make a neater score almost instantly. To achieve this, there are a 
number of Staff Settings that determine how the program displays the music.
ÖNote that the time signature follows the time signature(s) set in the Tempo Track 
Editor, and that these settings are common to all tracks/staves in the score.
There are two ways to open the Staff Settings dialog:
•Double-click in the area to the left of the staff.
•Activate a staff by clicking in it, and select “Staff Settings…” from the Scores 
submenu of the MIDI menu.
The Staff Settings dialog appears.
!The settings you make in this dialog are independent for each staff (track), but 
common for a piano staff which you have created by choosing the “Split” Staff Mode 
option (see below). 
						

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Staff Mode
This pop-up menu determines how the staff is shown: 
•When set to “Single”, all notes in the part are shown in the same staff.
•When set to “Split”, the part is split on the screen into a bass and treble clef, as in 
a piano score. 
You use the Split Point value field to set the note where you want the split to occur. 
Notes above and including the split note will appear on the upper staff, and notes 
below the split note will appear on the lower staff.
Before and 
after setting a 
split at C3.
Display Quantize
Notes are not an absolute language, and you must give the program a few hints on 
how you want the score to be displayed. This is done using the Display Quantize 
section of the Staff Settings dialog.
The following options are available:
!These are only display values used for the graphics in the Score Editor. They do not 
affect the actual playback in any way.
OptionDescription
NotesDetermines the smallest note value to be displayed and the “smallest 
position” to be recognized and properly displayed. Set this to the 
smallest significant note position used in your music. 
For example, if you have notes on odd sixteenth note positions, set 
this value to 16.
 
The “T” values are for triplet note values.
This setting is partly overridden by Auto Quantize (see below).
RestsThis value is used as a “recommendation” – the program will not 
display rests smaller than this value, except where necessary. In 
effect, this setting also determines how the length of notes is 
displayed. Set this value according to the smallest note value (length) 
you want to be displayed for a single note, positioned on a beat. 
						

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Clef and Key
The correct Clef and Key are set using the two scrollbars in the Clef/Key section.
If you activate the “Auto Clef” checkbox, the program attempts to guess the correct clef, 
judging from the pitch of the music.
•To set the clef and key for the lower staff, activate the “Lower Staff” checkbox in 
the Clef/Key section.
Display Transpose
Some instruments, for example a lot of brass instruments, are scored transposed. For 
this purpose, the Staff Settings dialog allows you to specify a separate Display 
Transpose setting for each staff (track). This transposes the notes in the score (i.
 e. 
how they are displayed) without affecting how the notes play back. This allows you to 
record and play back a multi staff arrangement, and still score each instrument 
according to its own transposition.
•Use the pop-up menu to select the instrument for which you are scoring.
You can also manually set a display transpose value with the Semitones box 
above.
Auto QuantizeGenerally, if your music contains mixed triplets and straight notes, try 
activating this checkbox. Otherwise, make sure it is deactivated.
Auto Quantize is used to make your score look as legible as possible. 
Auto Quantize allows you to mix straight notes with tuplets (triplets) in 
a part. But Auto Quantize also uses the (display) Quantize value. If it 
cannot find an appropriate note value for a certain note or group of 
notes, it will use the set Quantize value to display it.
If the part is imprecisely played and/or complex, Auto Quantize may 
have a problem “figuring out” exactly what you “mean”.
Dev.This option is only available if Auto Quantize is on. When Dev. 
(Deviation) is activated, triplets/straight notes will be detected even if 
they are not exactly “on the beat”. However, if you know your 
triplets/straight notes are perfectly recorded (quantized or entered by 
hand), turn this off.
AdaptThis option is only available if Auto Quantize is on. When Adapt is 
activated, the program “guesses” that when one triplet is found, there 
are probably more triplets surrounding it. Turn this on if not all of your 
triplets are detected.
Option Description 
						

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Interpretation Options
These provide additional options for how the score is displayed:
Applying your settings
After you have made your settings, click Apply to apply them to the active staff. You 
can select another staff in the score and make settings for that, without having to 
close the Staff Settings dialog first – just remember to click Apply before you change 
staff, otherwise your changes will be lost.
Entering notes with the mouse
To enter notes into a part in the Score Editor, you use the Note tool. However, first you 
need to set the note value (length) and spacing.
Selecting a note value for input
This can be done in two ways:
•By clicking the note symbols on the extended toolbar.
You can select any note value from 1/1 to 1/64th and turn on and off the dotted and 
triplet options by clicking the two buttons to the right. The selected note value is 
displayed in the Length value field on the toolbar and in the Note tool cursor shape.
•By selecting an option from the Length Quantize pop-up menu on the toolbar.
ParameterDescription
Clean LengthsWhen this is activated, notes that are considered to be chords will be 
shown with identical lengths. This is done by showing the longer 
notes as shorter than they are. When Clean Lengths is turned on, 
notes with very short overlaps are also cut off; a bit as with No 
Overlap (see below), but with a more subtle effect. 
No OverlapWhen this is activated one note will never be shown as overlapping 
another, lengthwise. This allows long and short notes starting at the 
same point to be displayed without ties; the long notes are cut off in 
the display. This will make the music more legible.
An example measure with No Overlap deactivated…
…and with No Overlap activated.
SyncopationWhen this function is activated, syncopated notes are shown in a 
more legible way.
This is a dotted quarter at the end of a bar when Syncopation is Off…
…and when it is On.
ShuffleActivate this function when you have played a shuffle beat and want it 
displayed as straight notes (not triplets). This is very common in jazz 
notation. 
						

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Selecting a Quantize value
When you move the mouse pointer over the score, you will see that the Mouse Time 
Position field on the status line tracks your movement and shows the current position 
in bars, beats, sixteenth notes, and ticks.
Positioning on screen is controlled by the current Quantize value. If you set this to 1/8, 
you can only insert and move notes to eighth note positions, at quarter notes, at half 
bars or at bar positions. It is a good strategy to set the Quantize value to the smallest 
note value in the piece. This does not stop you from inputting notes at “coarser” 
positions. However, if you set the Quantize value to too small a note value, it is easier 
to make mistakes.
The Quantize value is set with the Quantize pop-up menu on the toolbar.
•You can also assign key commands to the different Quantize values.
This is done in the Key Commands dialog, in the “MIDI Quantize” category.
•Just like in the other MIDI editors, you can use the Quantize Panel to create other 
quantize values, irregular grids, etc.
However, this is not often used when entering score notes.
Entering a note
To add a note to the score, proceed as follows:
1.Make the staff active.
Notes are always put in on the active staff.
2.Select the type of note by selecting a note value.
This is described in detail above.
3.On the toolbar, select the Note tool.
If you selected the note value by clicking on a symbol on the extended toolbar, the 
Note tool gets automatically selected.
4.Select a Quantize value.
5.Move the mouse over the staff to find the correct position.
Check the Mouse Time Position display on the status line – the position is 
“magnetically” attracted to the grid defined by the current Quantize value. This 
allows you to easily find the correct position.
6.Move the mouse vertically to find the correct pitch.
The Mouse Note Position display on the status line shows the pitch at the pointer 
position, making it easy to find the right pitch.
7.Click in the staff.
The note appears in the score.
The notes you enter will get the insert velocity value set in the Insert Velocity field on 
the toolbar, see 
“Setting velocity values” on page 494.
ÖIf the notes you enter appear to have the wrong note value (e. g. you enter a 1/32 note 
that is displayed as a 1/16 note), you may have to adjust the Display Quantize 
settings, see 
“Display Quantize” on page 534.
With the Quantize value set to 1/8, you can only input notes 
at eighth note positions. 
						

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Selecting notes
There are several ways to select notes in the Score Editor:
By clicking
To select a note, click on its note head with the Object Selection tool. The note head 
gets red to indicate that it is selected.
•To select more notes, hold down [Shift] and click on them.
•To deselect notes, hold [Shift] down and click on them again.
•If you hold down [Shift] and double-click on a note, this note and all the following 
notes in the same staff are selected.
Using a selection rectangle
1.Press the mouse button with the Object Selection tool in some free (white) space 
in the score.
2.Drag the mouse pointer to create a selection rectangle.
You can drag to select notes on several voices or staves if you wish.
3.Release the mouse button.
All notes with their note heads inside the rectangle get selected.
•If you want to deselect one or more of the notes, hold down [Shift] and click as 
described above.
Using the keyboard
By default, you can step through the notes in the staff using the left and right arrow 
keys. If you press [Shift], you will select the notes as you step through them.
•If you want to use other keys for selecting notes, you can customize the settings in 
the Key Commands dialog (in the Navigate category).
Deselecting everything
•To deselect everything, simply click with the Object Selection tool in some “free” 
(white) space in the score.
Deleting notes
Notes can be deleted in two ways:
Using the Erase tool
1.Select the Erase tool from the toolbar or context menu.
2.One at a time, click on the note(s) you want to erase, or drag over them with the 
mouse button pressed.
Using the keyboard or delete menu item
1.Select the note(s) you want to delete.
2.Select Delete from the Edit menu, or press [Delete] or [Backspace] on the 
computer keyboard.
Moving notes
To move or transpose notes, proceed as follows:
1.Set the Quantize value.
2.If you want to hear the pitch of the note while moving, activate the Acoustic 
Feedback button (speaker icon) on the toolbar. 
When it is on, you will hear the current pitch of the “dragged” note. 
						

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3.Select the notes that you want to move.
4.Click one of the selected notes and drag it to a new position and/or pitch.
The horizontal movement of the note is “magnetically attracted” to the current 
Quantize value. The position boxes on the toolbar show what the new position and 
pitch for the dragged note will be.
5.Release the mouse.
The notes appear at their new position.
•If you hold [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag, movement is restricted to vertical or 
horizontal (depending on the direction in which you drag).
•You can also move selected notes by using key commands, as assigned in the 
Nudge category in the Key Commands dialog.
When moving notes to the left or right using key commands, the notes will be 
moved in steps according to the current Quantize value. The keys assigned for 
up/down nudging will transpose notes in semitone steps.
Duplicating notes
1.Set the Quantize value and select the notes, as for moving.
2.Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the notes to their new position.
•If you want to restrict movements to one direction, press [Ctrl]/[Command].
This works just as for moving, as described above.
•[Alt]/[Option] is the default modifier key for copying/duplicating. If you like, you can 
change this in the Preferences dialog (Editing–Tool Modifiers page).
The entry for this is found in the Drag & Drop category (“Copy”).
Changing the length of notes
As described earlier (see “Getting the score displayed correctly” on page 533), the 
displayed length of a note is not necessarily the actual note length, but also depends 
on the Notes and Rests values for Display Quantize in the Staff Settings dialog. This is 
important to remember when you change the length of a note, since it can lead to 
confusing results.
There are several ways to change the length of a note in the Score Editor:
By using the note value icons on the extended toolbar
Using the extended toolbar is another quick way to set a number of notes to the same 
length:
1.Select the notes you want to change.
2.Hold down [Ctrl]/[Command] and click on one of the note icons on the extended 
toolbar.
All the selected notes are now given the length of the clicked note.
By using the info line
You can also edit length values numerically on the info line, just like in the Key and 
Drum Editors (see 
“Editing on the info line” on page 499).
Splitting and gluing notes
•If you have two notes strung together by a tie and click on the “tied” note head with 
the Cut tool, the note will be divided into two, with the respective length of the 
“main” and the tied note.
•Conversely, if you click on a note with the Glue tool it will be joined to the next note 
with the same pitch. 
						

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Enharmonic Shift
The buttons to the right on the extended toolbar allow you to shift the display of 
selected notes so that for example an F# (F sharp) is instead shown as a Gb (G flat) 
and vice versa:
1.Select the note(s) you want to affect.
2.Click on one of the buttons to display the selected note(s) a certain way.
The “off” button resets the notes to original display. The other five options are double flats, 
flats, No (no accidentals shown, regardless of pitch), sharps and double sharps.
Flip Stems
Normally the direction of the note stems is automatically selected according to the 
note pitches, but you can change this manually if you like:
1.Select the notes for which you want to change (flip) the stem direction.
2.Open the MIDI menu and select Flip Stems from the Scores submenu.
Working with text
You can use the Text tool to add comments, articulation or instrumentation advice and 
other text strings anywhere in the score:
Adding a text string
1.On the toolbar, select the Text tool.
2.Click anywhere in the score.
A blinking cursor appears, indicating that you can enter text.
3.Enter the text and press [Return].
Editing text
To edit an already added text string, double-click it with the Object Selection tool. 
This opens the text for editing, and you can use the arrow keys to move the cursor, 
delete characters with the [Delete] or [Backspace] keys and type new text as usual. 
Finish by pressing [Return].
•To delete a text block, select it with the Object Selection tool and press 
[Backspace] or [Delete].
•You can move or duplicate text blocks by dragging (or [Alt]/[Option]-dragging) 
them, just as with notes.