Steinberg Cubase 7 User Manual

							801
Additional note and rest formattingHandling beaming
Cross-staff beaming
To create a beam that extends from one staff to another, proceed as follows:
1.Set up a split or polyphonic voicing system or open the Score Editor with more 
than one track.
2.Set up a beam of notes (using the group command) and adjust their pitches so 
that they are correct even though some of the notes are on the wrong staff.
Use the info line to edit the pitches if they are very low or high.
3.Select the notes that should appear on the other staff.
4.Select “Display in Staff” from the context menu for a selected note and select a 
staff from the submenu.
The notes are “graphically” moved to the selected system, but keep their actual pitch.
Before and after moving a note to the lower staff
5.If needed, adjust the beam appearance (see “Manual adjustment of beams” on 
page 802).
Cross-staff beaming with the beam in the middle
This does not move the affected notes to another track, but merely displays them as if 
they belonged to the other staff.
Handling beam groups
There are two settings for groups under a beam, Beam Subgroups and 16th 
Subgroups, both found on the Options tab on the Staff page of the Score Settings 
dialog. If “Beam Subgroups” is activated, the program displays subgroups after four 
sixteenth notes under a beam. If you also activate “16th Subgroups”, subgroups 
appear after only two sixteenths.
Beam Subgroups off
Beam Subgroups on
On with 16th Subgroups activated 
						

							802
Additional note and rest formattingHandling beaming
Beam appearance and slant settings
Global settings
In the Score Settings dialog, on the Project page (Notation Style subpage), you can 
find the following three options for beam appearance in the Beams category:
•Thick Beams.
Activate this if you want beams to be displayed as thick lines.
•Show Small Slants as Flat Beams.
When this is activated, beams that would be only slightly slanted are displayed flat.
Without and with “Show Small Slants as Flat Beams”
•Slanted Beams only Slightly Slanted.
Activate this if you only want a slightly slanted beam even though there might be a 
significant pitch difference between the notes under the beam.
Without and with “Slanted Beams only Slightly Slanted”
Staff settings
In the Score Settings dialog, on the Options tab of the Staff page, you can find a 
couple of settings for beams as well:
Manual adjustment of beams
For very detailed control you can manually adjust the beam slant:
1.Group and flip notes and adjust the settings described above until the beams are 
as close as possible to how you want them.
2.Click on the corner made up by the beam and the stem.
A handle appears on the corner of beam and stem.
A beam handle
!These settings are global for all staves.
OptionDescription
Flat BeamsActivate this when you do not want any slant at all, no matter the pitch 
difference of the notes under the beams.
No BeamsActivate this when you do not want any beams at all. 
						

							803
Additional note and rest formattingAbout tied notes
3.Drag the handle up or down.
The slant of the beam changes.
Dragging a handle and the effect it has.
ÖYou can adjust the distance between notes and their beam without changing the 
beam slant. Select both handles of a beam (by pressing the [Shift] key while selecting 
the second handle) and drag one of the handles up or down.
Mixed stem direction
By dragging the beam handles you can put the beam between the note heads:
Putting the beam between the notes.
About tied notes
Sometimes, notes are displayed as two or more notes tied together. Generally, there 
are three different occasions when this happens:
•When a note is of an “uneven” length that cannot be displayed without tying 
together two or more notes of different note values.
•When a note crosses a bar line.
•When a note crosses a “group line” within a bar.
The last case requires some explanation: Cubase uses a “cutting mechanism” that 
automatically creates tied notes depending on the length and position of the notes. 
For example, a quarter note is cut in two and tied if it crosses a half note beat, and an 
eighth note is cut in two and tied if it crosses a quarter note beat:
However, this is not always what you want. There are three ways to affect the cutting 
mechanism:
Syncopation
When the Syncopation option is activated on the Main tab of the Staff page in the 
Score Settings dialog, Cubase is less prone to cut and tie notes. For example, the 
second quarter note in the figure above would not have been cut if syncopation had 
been activated.
The Syncopation setting affects the whole track, but you can also make syncopation 
settings for separate sections in the score, by inserting display quantize events (see 
“Inserting Display Quantize changes” on page 750).
This quarter note is cut.This eighth note is cut. 
						

							804
Additional note and rest formattingAbout tied notes
Time signature changes
By inserting time signature changes, you can change the way notes are cut. This is 
done in the same way as when you specify how beamed notes are grouped – see 
“Grouping” on page 797.
The Cut Notes tool
By using the Cut Notes tool, you can disable the automatic cutting mechanism in a 
bar, and insert manual cuts at any given position in the score.
Proceed as follows:
1.Select the Cut Notes tool.
2.Select a suitable quantize value from the “Quantize Presets” pop-up menu.
As usual, this determines where you can click.
3.When you are using polyphonic voices, select the voice you want to make settings 
for.
4.Click in the bar containing the notes that you want to cut manually, at the position 
you want them cut.
This inserts a cutflag event in the bar at the position you clicked. If you hold down 
[Alt]/[Option], a cutflag event is inserted for all voices in a polyphonic staff.
The following rules apply to cutflag events:
- If a bar contains a cutflag event, the automatic cutting mechanism is disabled 
within that bar.
- All notes or rests that start before and end after a cutflag event are cut at the 
position of the event.
- To display cutflag events, make sure that “Cutflag” is activated on the filter bar.
- To remove a cutflag event, either click again with the Cut Notes tool at the same 
position, or select it and press [Backspace] or [Delete].
With a regular 4/4 
time signature
With a composite time signature 
(3+2+3 eighth notes)
A half note, placed at 2.1.3. This is by default cut at 2.3.1 (the middle of the bar). When you 
click at the position 2.2.1, a cutflag event is inserted.
As a result, the regular cutting mechanism is disabled and the note is cut at the position 
you clicked instead. 
						

							805
Additional note and rest formattingGraphic moving of notes
Other options for tied notes
Tie direction
As described in the section “Tie” on page 796, you can set the direction of the tie 
manually in the Set Note Info dialog.
Flat ties
If you prefer ties to be displayed as flat lines, rather than regular “curved” ties, activate 
the “Flat Ties” option in the Score Settings dialog, on the Project–Notation Style 
subpage (H.W. Henze Style category).
Graphic moving of notes
There might be instances where the “graphical” order of the notes is not the one you 
want. In this case, you can move notes without affecting the score or playback in any 
way. This can be done with the Layout tool or using your computer keyboard.
By using the Layout tool
1.Select the Layout tool in the Score Editor toolbar.
2.Click again on the tool button to open the Mode pop-up menu and select the 
desired option.
The following modes are available:
3.Click on the note and drag it to the desired position.
Note that movement is restricted to horizontally only.
ÖYou can also automatically select all notes making up a chord, by holding down 
[Alt]/[Option] and clicking on one of the notes with the Layout tool.
By using the computer keyboard
You can assign key commands for moving objects graphically. In the Key Commands 
dialog on the File menu, the commands are found under the Nudge category and 
called Graphical Left, Graphical Right, Graphical Bottom, and Graphical Top (only the 
Graphical Left and Graphical Right commands apply to notes). 
After assigning key commands, you select the notes that you want to move and press 
the assigned keys to adjust their graphical position.
ModeDescription
Move Single 
ObjectIn this mode, only the object you move with the Layout tool is affected 
(moved). Use this if you want to “correct” the position of one single 
note in the score, for example.
Move Notes and 
ContextIn this mode, other score objects are moved accordingly when you 
move a note with the Layout tool. Use this mode if you want to correct 
the display of all score objects within a bar rather than modifying single 
note positions. 
						

							806
Additional note and rest formattingCue notes
Cue notes
You can create cue notes by using voices or by converting individual notes into cue 
notes.
Setting a voice to display cue notes
1.Open the Score Settings dialog on the Staff page and select the Polyphonic tab.
This is described in the section “Setting up the voices” on page 781.
2.Click in the “Cue” column for the voice, so that a checkmark appears.
3.Decide how to handle rests for the voice.
You might for example leave “Rests–Show” activated and activate “Reduce”. If you 
do, you get rests in this voice, but not as many as otherwise. Empty bars, for 
example, do not have any rests at all.
4.Close the dialog.
5.Move the notes into the cue voice.
Polyphonic voicing is described in detail on “Polyphonic voicing” on page 779.
An example of a cue note voice
A quick example
Let’s say you have a flute part and want some cue notes for it:
1.Switch on polyphonic voices and activate voice 1 and voice 2.
2.Set voice 2 to “Auto” stem direction and centered rests.
3.Set up voice 1 to be a cue voice, with hidden rests and stems pointing up.
4.Insert the cue notes into voice 1.
Turning individual notes into cue notes
1.Select one or several notes.
2.Double-click one of the notes.
The Set Note Info dialog appears. You can also click the “i” button on the extended 
toolbar, or right-click on a note head and select “Properties” from the context 
menu to open this dialog.
3.Select Cue from the Type pop-up menu.
4.Click Apply.
The settings are applied to the selected notes.
5.Close the dialog.
“Cue” activated 
for voice 3 
						

							807
Additional note and rest formattingGrace notes
Grace notes
You can turn any note into a grace note. Grace notes are considered to be notes 
without lengths. This means that once a note is turned into a grace note it does not 
affect the rest of the score display in any way.
Before and after converting to grace notes. Note that after the conversion, the grace notes no 
longer “interfere” with the interpretation of the other notes.
Creating grace notes manually
1.Locate the note for which you want a grace note.
2.Insert one or more new notes just before it.
The note value and exact position of the note is not important. However, the pitch 
of course is.
From here on there are two ways to go:
•Select the notes and open the Set Note Info dialog, either by double-clicking on 
one of the note heads or by clicking the “i” icon on the extended toolbar.
In the dialog, select the Grace note type.
•Right-click on one of the notes and select “Convert to Grace Note” from the 
context menu.
This turns the note into a grace note without opening any dialog.
Grace notes and beaming
If two grace notes are at exactly the same position (the same tick), they are put onto 
the same stem, as a chord. If multiple grace notes in front of the same note are put on 
different positions (even if they are only one tick apart), they are grouped under a 
beam.
It is possible to have beamed grace notes overlapping a beam of regular notes, as in 
the example below:
Grace notes in the middle of a group of regular notes
Editing a grace note
1.Select one or several grace notes and open the Set Note Info dialog.
2.Select a note value for the stem.
!Grace notes are always positioned just before the next note on the staff. If there is no 
note after a grace note on the staff, the grace notes are hidden! 
						

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Additional note and rest formattingTu p l e t s
3.Activate Crossed, if needed.
When this is activated, the stem is crossed by a slanted line, to further indicate that 
the note is a grace note.
4.Click Apply.
The settings are applied to the selected notes.
5.Close the dialog.
Converting grace notes to normal notes
1.Select the notes that you want to convert.
If you want to make sure that all notes in the score are normal notes, you can select 
all notes (using the Select All command on the Edit menu).
2.Double-click on one of the selected grace notes.
The Set Note Info dialog appears.
3.Select “Normal” from the “Type” pop-up menu.
4.Click Apply.
Tuplets
The regular Display Quantize values do not apply to any other divisions than triplets. 
To create quintuplets, septuplets, etc., follow the instructions below. 
There are two methods for creating tuplets:
- With permanent alteration to the MIDI data. This is the “drawing” mode to use 
when you want to build the tuplet from scratch. It does not put any demand on the 
notes’ positions before the tuplet is created.
- As display quantize. This is the method you use when the tuplet is recorded and 
plays back as you want it, but is not displayed correctly.
Actually, in the first case, you make permanent alterations and set display quantize 
settings, all in one go. In the second case you only make display quantize settings.
With permanent change to MIDI data
1.Insert as many notes as the tuplet consists of.
This would typically be 5, 7 or 9. If the tuplet contains rests, simply leave space for 
those, but make sure that the current Display Quantize value allows them to be 
shown.
Five sixteenth notes, about to be converted to a quintuplet.
2.Select all the notes that make up the tuplet.
3.Select “Build N-Tuplet…” from the Scores menu.
The Tuplets dialog appears.
4.Set the type of tuplet in the Type field.
“5” means a quintuplet, “7” means a septuplet, etc. 
						

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Additional note and rest formattingTu p l e t s
5.Set the length of the entire tuplet using the “Over” field.
6.Activate Change Length, if needed.
If you do, the program alters the length of all notes so that they are exactly the note 
value the tuplet indicates. If you do not, the lengths of the existing notes is not 
affected in any way.
7.If you want any other text than the standard above the tuplet, enter it into the “Text” 
field.
The standard text is simply the number in the type field. If the tuplet is put under a 
beam (see 
“Tuplet display options” on page 810) the text is put just above it. If 
there is no beam, the text is found in the middle of a bracket.
8.Click Build.
The tuplet appears. The notes have now been moved to the tuplet positions and 
their length might have changed. 
9.If needed, edit the lengths and pitches of the notes in the tuplet.
You can also make various settings for the appearance of the tuplet – see below.
Without permanent change to MIDI data
1.Select the notes in the tuplet group.
In this case, the notes play back correctly but are not displayed as a tuplet (yet).
2.Select “Build N-Tuplet…” from the Scores menu to bring up the Tuplets dialog.
3.Make settings in the dialog, as described above.
4.Click Quantize.
Now the tuplet is displayed correctly. You can make additional settings for how the 
tuplet should appear, as described below.
5.If necessary, adjust the notes.
Editing tuplet settings
1.Double-click on the text above the Tuplet group to bring up the Tuplets dialog.
2.Adjust the Text setting.
3.Click Apply.
The changes are applied to the tuplet, without affecting the tuplet type or length.
Grouping
If the Tuplet is a quarter note long or shorter, the notes are automatically grouped 
under a beam. If it is longer you have to perform the grouping manually, see 
“Grouping” on page 797 for details.
!Lengths and positions in a tuplet group are probably best edited using the info line.
Double-click here. 
						

							810
Additional note and rest formattingTu p l e t s
Tuplet display options
In the Score Settings dialog, on the Project–Notation Style subpage (Tuplets 
category), you can find the following settings for tuplets:
OptionDescription
Tuplet BracketsThere are three possible settings for this option:
– None: Tuplets never have brackets.
– Always: Tuplets always have brackets.
– …by the head: Brackets are shown only when the tuplets are 
displayed on the “head side”.
Display Tuplet 
values by the 
BeamsWhen this is activated, tuplets are displayed on the “beam side” of 
the notes instead of on the note head side.
Suppress 
Recurring TupletsWhen this is activated, and you have several tuplets of the same type 
in the same bar, only the first of these is displayed as a tuplet.
Show Tuplet 
Brackets as “Slurs”When this is activated, the tuplet brackets are “slur-like” (rounded).