Steinberg Cubase Ai 5 Manual
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172 MIDI processing and quantizing Introduction This chapter describes the various MIDI processing func- tions available on the MIDI menu. They offer various ways to edit MIDI notes and other events, either in the Project window or from within a MIDI editor. MIDI functions vs. MIDI modifiers In some cases, the result of a MIDI function can also be obtained by using MIDI modifiers (see “MIDI realtime pa- rameters” on page 166). For example, the operations “Transpose” and “Quantize” are available both as MIDI modifiers and as MIDI functions. The main difference is that MIDI modifiers do not affect the actual MIDI events on the track in any way, while MIDI func- tions change the events “permanently” (although recent changes can be undone). Use the following guidelines to decide which path to choose for operations that are available both as modifiers and as functions: If you want to adjust a few parts or events only, use MIDI functions. The MIDI modifiers affect the output of the whole track. If you want to experiment with different settings, use MIDI modifiers. MIDI modifiers settings are not reflected in the MIDI edi- tors, since the actual MIDI events are not affected. This can be potentially confusing; if you have transposed notes using modifiers for example, the MIDI editors will still show the notes with their original pitch (but they will play back at their transposed pitch). Therefore, MIDI functions are a better solution if you want to see the effects of your editing in the MIDI editors. What is affected by the MIDI functions? Which events are affected when you use a MIDI function depends on the function, the active window and the cur- rent selection: Some MIDI functions only apply to MIDI events of a cer- tain type. For example, quantization only affects notes, while the Delete Controllers function only applies to MIDI controller events. In the Project window, the MIDI functions apply to all selected parts, affecting all events (of the relevant types) in them. In the MIDI editors, the MIDI functions apply to all se- lected events. If no events are selected, all events in the edited part(s) will be affected. The Quantizing functions What is quantizing? Quantizing in its fundamental form is a function that auto- matically moves recorded notes, positioning them on ex- act note values: However, quantizing is not only a method of correcting er- rors, it can also be used creatively in various ways. For ex- ample, the “quantize grid” does not have to consist of perfectly straight notes, some notes can automatically be excluded from quantizing, etc. ÖWhen quantizing MIDI, only MIDI notes are affected (no other event types). However, you can choose to move the controllers together with their re- spective notes by activating the “Move Controller” option in the Quantize Setup dialog, see “The Move Controller setting” on page 174. For example, if you record a series of eighth notes, some of them may end up slightly beside the exact eighth note positions. Quantizing the notes with the quantize grid set to eighth notes will move the “misplaced” notes to exact positions.
173 MIDI processing and quantizing Setting up quantize on the toolbar At its most basic, setting up quantizing consists of select- ing a note value from the Quantize pop-up menu on the toolbar (in the Project window or a MIDI editor). This allows you to quantize to exact note values (straight, triplet or dotted notes) only. Setting up quantize in the Quantize Setup dialog If you want more options than those available on the pop- up menu, select “Quantize Setup…” from the MIDI menu (or “Setup…” from the Quantize pop-up menu) to open the Quantize Setup dialog. ÖAny settings you make in the dialog are immediately reflected in the Quantize pop-up menus. However, if you want your settings permanently available on the Quantize pop-up menus, you have to use the presets functions (see “Presets” on page 174). The grid display in the middle of the dialog shows one bar (four beats), with blue lines indicating the quantize grid (the positions that notes will be moved to). Value changes in the grid, presets and quantize options will be graphically reflected here, see below. The Quantize Setup dialog contains the following settings: The Grid and Type pop-ups These are used to determine the basic note value for the quantizing grid. In other words, these have the same func- tionality as the Quantize pop-up menu on the toolbar. Swing The Swing slider is only available when a straight note value is selected for the grid and Tuplet is off (see below). It lets you offset every second position in the grid, creating a swing or shuffle feel. When you adjust the Swing slider, the result is shown in the grid display. A straight eighth note grid compared with a grid with 60 % swing. Tuplet Allows you to create more rhythmically complex grids by dividing the grid into smaller steps. Magnetic Area This allows you to specify that only notes within a certain distance from the grid lines should be affected by quantiz- ing. When the slider is set to 0 %, the Magnetic Area func- tion is deactivated, i.e. all notes are affected by quantizing. If you move the slider gradually to the right, you will note how the mag- netic areas are shown around the blue lines in the grid display. Only notes within the indicated zones will be affected by quantizing.
174 MIDI processing and quantizing Presets The controls in the lower left corner of the dialog allow you to store the current settings as a preset, which will then be available on the Quantize menus on the toolbars. The usual preset procedures apply: To store the settings as a preset, click the Store button. To load a stored preset into the dialog, simply select it from the pop-up menu. This is useful if you want to modify an existing preset. To rename the selected preset, double-click on the name and type in a new one. To remove a stored preset, select it from the pop-up menu and click Remove. Apply and Auto These functions allow you to apply quantizing directly from the dialog, see below. The Non Quantize setting This setting affects the result of the quantizing. It allows you to set a “distance” in ticks (120ths of sixteenth notes). Events that already are within the specified distance from the quantize grid will not be quantized. This allows you to keep slight variations when you quantize, but still correct notes that are too far from the grid. The Random Quantize setting This setting affects the result of the quantizing. It allows you to set a “distance” in ticks (120ths of sixteenth notes). Events will be quantized to random positions within the specified “distance” from the quantize grid, thus creating a more “loose” quantizing. Much like the Non Quantize setting, this allows for slight variations, while at the same time keeping notes from ending up too far from the grid. The Iterative Strength setting Here you specify how much the notes should be moved towards the grid when using the Iterative Quantize func- tion, see below. The Move Controller setting When this is activated, controllers related to notes (pitch- bend, etc.) are automatically moved with the notes when these are quantized. Applying quantize There are several ways to apply the quantize: The standard method is to select “Over Quantize” from the MIDI menu (or using a key command, by default [Q]). This quantizes the selected MIDI parts or notes according to the current Quantize pop-up menu setting. You can also apply quantizing directly from the Quantize Setup dialog, by clicking the “Apply Quantize” button. If you activate the “Auto” checkbox in the Quantize Setup dialog, any change you make in the dialog is immediately applied to the selected MIDI parts or notes. A great way of using this feature is to set up a playback loop, and adjust the settings in the dialog until you get the desired result. The Auto Quantize function If you activate the Auto Q button on the Transport panel, all MIDI recordings you make are automatically quantized according to the settings you have made in the Quantize Setup dialog. !If you do not want to apply the quantizing you have set up in the dialog, close the window by clicking its close button. !When you apply quantize, the result is based on the original position of the notes. Therefore, you can freely try out different quantize settings with no risk of “destroying” anything (see also “Undo Quantize” on page 175).
175 MIDI processing and quantizing Iterative Quantize Another way to apply “loose” quantization is to use the Iter- ative Quantize function on the MIDI menu. It works like this: Instead of moving a note to the closest quantize grid posi- tion, Iterative Quantize moves it only part of the way. You specify how much the notes should be moved towards the grid with the “Iterative Strength” setting in the Quantize Setup dialog. Iterative Quantize also differs from “regular” quantization in that the operation is not based on the notes’ original po- sitions but on their current, quantized position. This makes it possible to repeatedly use Iterative Quantize, gradually moving the notes closer to the quantize grid until you have found the desired timing. Advanced Quantize functions Quantize Lengths This function (on the Advanced Quantize submenu on the MIDI menu) will quantize the length of the notes, without changing their start positions. At its most basic level, this function will set the length of the notes to the Length Quantize value on the MIDI editor toolbar. However, if you have selected the “Quantize Link” option on the Length Quantize pop-up menu, the function will resize the note according to the quantize grid, taking the Swing, Tuplet and Magnetic Area settings into account. An example: 1. Length Quantize set to “Quantize Link”. 2. Some 16th notes.3. Here, the quantize value has been set to straight 16th notes with Swing at 100 %. 4. Selecting Quantize Lengths will adjust the note lengths according to the grid. If you compare the result to the first figure above, you will find that notes that started within the odd sixteenth note “zones” show the longer grid length, and notes in the even zones have the shorter length. Quantize Ends The Quantize Ends function on the Advanced Quantize submenu will only affect the end positions of notes. Apart from that, it works just like regular quantizing, taking the Quantize pop-up menu setting into account. Undo Quantize As mentioned above, the original position of each quan- tized note is stored. Therefore, you can make the selected MIDI notes revert to their original, unquantized state at any time by selecting Undo Quantize from the Advanced Quantize submenu. This is independent from the regular Undo History. Freeze Quantize There may be situations when you want to make the quan- tized positions “permanent”. For example, you may want to quantize notes a second time, having the results based on the current quantized positions rather than the original po- sitions. To make this possible, select the notes in question and select “Freeze Quantize” from the Advanced Quantize submenu. This makes the quantized positions permanent. !This function is only available from within the MIDI editors. !After you have performed a Freeze Quantize for a note, you cannot undo its quantization.
176 MIDI processing and quantizing Transpose The Transpose item on the MIDI menu opens a dialog with settings for transposing the selected notes. Semitones This is where you set the amount of transposition. Scale Correction Scale Correction transposes the selected notes by for- cing them to the closest note of the selected scale type. This can be used for creating interesting key and tonal changes, either by itself or in conjunction with the other settings in the Transpose dialog. To activate Scale Correction, click the checkbox. Select a root note and scale type for the current scale from the upper pop-up menus. Select a root note and scale type for the new scale from the lower pop-up menus. Make sure to select the correct root note if you want to keep the result in the same key as the original notes, or select an entirely different key if you want to experiment. Keep Notes in Range When this is activated, transposed notes will remain within the Upper and Lower Limit values. If a note ends up outside the limits after transposition, it will be shifted to another octave, keeping the correct transposed pitch if possible. If this is not possible (if you have set a very narrow range between the Upper and Lower Limit), the note will be transposed “as far as possible”, i.e. to the Upper or Lower Limit note. If you set the Upper and Lower Lim- its to the same value, all notes will be transposed to this pitch! OK and Cancel Clicking OK performs the transposition. Clicking Cancel closes the dialog without transposing. Permanent settings with Freeze MIDI Modifiers The MIDI Modifier settings in the Inspector do not change the MIDI events themselves, but work like a “filter”, affecting the music on playback. Therefore, you may want to make them permanent, i.e. convert them to “real” MIDI events, for example to transpose a track and then edit the transposed notes in a MIDI editor. For this, you can use the “Freeze MIDI Modifiers” command from the MIDI menu. This applies all filter settings permanently to the respective track. The “Freeze MIDI Modifiers” function affects the following settings for MIDI tracks: Several settings on the main tab of the Inspector (program and bank selection and the Delay parameter). The settings on the MIDI Modifiers tab (i.e. Transpose, Veloc- ity Shift, Velocity Compression and Length Compression). The following settings for MIDI parts are taken into ac- count as well: The Transpose and Velocity settings for parts displayed on the info line – please note that the Volume setting is not taken into account. To use the “Freeze MIDI Modifiers” function, proceed as follows: 1.Select the desired MIDI track. 2.Pull down the MIDI menu and select “Freeze MIDI Modifiers”. The Inspector settings will be converted to MIDI events and inserted at the beginning of the part(s). All notes of the part(s) will be modified ac- cordingly and the Inspector settings will be reset.
177 MIDI processing and quantizing Dissolve Part The Dissolve Part function on the MIDI menu allows you to separate MIDI events according to channels or pitches: When you work with MIDI parts (on MIDI channel “Any”) containing events on different MIDI channels, activate the option “Separate Channels”. To separate MIDI events according to pitch, activate the option “Separate Pitches”. A typical example would be drum and percussion tracks, where different pitches usually correspond to separate drum sounds. ÖWhen dissolving a part into either separate channels or separate pitches, you can automatically remove the si- lent (empty) areas of the resulting parts by activating the “Optimized Display” checkbox in the Dissolve Part dialog. Dissolving parts into separate channels Setting a track to MIDI channel “Any” will cause each MIDI event to play back on its original MIDI channel, rather than a channel set for the whole track. There are two main situ- ations when “Any” channel tracks are useful: When you record several MIDI channels at the same time. You may for example have a MIDI keyboard with several keyboard zones, where each zone sends MIDI on a separate channel. Recording on an “Any” channel track allows you to play back the recording with different sounds for each zone (since the different MIDI notes play back on sepa- rate MIDI channels). When you have imported a MIDI file of Type 0. MIDI files of Type 0 contain only one track, with notes on up to 16 different MIDI channels. If you were to set this track to a specific MIDI channel, all notes in the MIDI file would be played back with the same sound; setting the track to “Any” will cause the imported file to play back as intended. The Dissolve Part function scans MIDI parts for events on different MIDI channels and distributes the events into new parts on new tracks, one for each MIDI channel found. This allows you to work with each musical part individually. Pro- ceed as follows: 1.Select the parts containing MIDI data on different channels. 2.Select “Dissolve Part” from the MIDI menu. 3.In the dialog that appears, select the “Separate Chan- nels” option.Now, for each MIDI channel used in the selected parts, a new MIDI track is created and set to the corresponding MIDI channel. Each event is then copied into the part on the track with the corresponding MIDI channel. Finally, the original parts are muted. An example: Dissolving parts into separate pitches The Dissolve Part function can also scan MIDI parts for events of different pitches, and distribute the events into new parts on new tracks, one for each pitch. This is useful when the different pitches are not used in a melodic con- text, but rather for separating different sounds (e.g. MIDI drum tracks or sampler sound FX tracks). By dissolving such parts, you can work with each sound individually, on a separate track. Proceed as follows: 1.Select the parts containing MIDI data. 2.Select “Dissolve Part” from the MIDI menu. 3.In the dialog that appears, select the “Separate Pitches” option. A new MIDI track is created for each used pitch in the selected parts. The events are then copied into the parts on the track for the corres- ponding pitch. Finally, the original parts are muted. This part contains events on MIDI channels 1, 2 and 3. Selecting “Dissolve Part” creates new parts on new tracks, set to channels 1, 2 and 3. Each new part contains only the events on the respective MIDI channel. The original MIDI part is muted.
178 MIDI processing and quantizing Other MIDI functions The following items can be found on the Functions sub- menu of the MIDI menu: Legato Extends each selected note so that it reaches the next note. You can specify a gap or overlap for this function with the “Legato Overlap” setting in the Preferences (Editing–MIDI page). When using Legato with this setting, each note will be extended to end 5 ticks before the next note. When you activate “Legato Mode: Selected Only”, the length of the note will be adjusted so that it reaches the next selected note, allowing you e.g. to only apply Legato to your bass line (when playing on a keyboard). Fixed Lengths This function resizes all selected notes to the length set with the Length Quantize pop-up menu on the MIDI editor toolbar. Delete Doubles This function removes double notes, i.e. notes of the same pitch on the exact same position from the selected MIDI parts. Double notes can occur when recording in Cycle mode, after Quantizing, etc. Delete Controllers This function removes all MIDI controllers from the se- lected MIDI parts. Delete Continuous Controllers This function removes all “continuous” MIDI controller events from the selected MIDI parts. Therefore, “on/off” events such as sustain pedal events are not removed. Delete Notes Allows you to delete very short or weak notes. This is use- ful for automatically removing unwanted “ghost notes” af- ter recording. Selecting “Delete Notes…” opens a dialog in which you set up the criteria for the function. The parameters have the following functionality: Minimum Length When the Minimum Length checkbox is activated, the note length is taken into account, allowing you to remove short notes. You can either specify the minimum length (for notes to be kept) in the value field or by dragging the blue line in the graphical length display below. The graphical length display can correspond to 1/4 bar, one bar, two bars or four bars. You change this setting by clicking in the field to the right of the display. In this case, the whole length display corresponds to two bars, and the Minimum Length is set to 32nd notes (60 ticks). !This function is only available from within the MIDI editors.
179 MIDI processing and quantizing Minimum Velocity When the Minimum Velocity checkbox is activated, the ve- locity of notes is taken into account, allowing you to re- move weak notes. You specify the minimum velocity (for notes to be kept) in the value display. Remove when under This setting is only available when both Minimum Length and Minimum Velocity is activated. By clicking in this field, you select whether both the length and the velocity criteria must be met for notes to be deleted, or whether one of the criteria will suffice. OK and Cancel Clicking OK performs the automatic delete according to the rules set up. Clicking Cancel closes the dialog without deleting notes. Restrict Polyphony Selecting this item opens a dialog in which you can spec- ify how many “voices” should be used (for the selected notes or parts). Restricting the polyphony this way is use- ful when you have an instrument with limited polyphony and want to make sure all notes will be played. The effect is achieved by shortening notes as required, so that they end before the next note starts. Pedals to Note Length This function scans for Sustain pedal on/off events, length- ens the affected notes to match the Sustain pedal off posi- tion, and then removes the Sustain Controller on/off events. Delete Overlaps (mono) This function allows you to make sure that no notes of the same pitch overlap (i.e. that one starts before the other ends). Overlapping notes of the same pitch can confuse some MIDI instruments (a new Note On is transmitted be- fore the Note Off is transmitted). This command can then be used to automatically solve the problem. Delete Overlaps (poly) This function shortens notes when required, so that no note begins before another ends. This happens regard- less of which pitch the notes have. Velocity This function opens a dialog that allows you to manipulate the velocity of notes in various ways. The following types of velocity processing are available: Add/Subtract This simply adds a fixed number to the existing velocity values. You set the value (positive or negative) with the Amount parameter. Compress/Expand Compresses or expands the “dynamic range” of MIDI notes by scaling the velocity values according to the Ratio setting (0–300 %). The principle behind this is that multi- plying different velocity values with a factor higher than 1 (over 100 %) will also make the differences between ve- locity values greater, while using a factor lower than 1 (un- der 100 %) will make the differences smaller. In short: To compress (“even out” velocity differences), use ratio values below 100 %. After compression, you would probably want to add a velocity amount (with the Add/Subtract function) to maintain the average velocity level. To expand (create greater difference in velocity), use ra- tio values above 100 %. Before you expand, you may want to adjust the velocity with the Add/ Subtract function, so that the average velocity is somewhere in the mid- dle of the range. If the average velocity is high (near 127) or low (near 0), expansion will not work properly, simply because velocity values can only be between 0 and 127! Limit This function allows you to make sure that no velocity val- ues fall outside a given range (the Lower and Upper val- ues). Any velocity values outside this range are raised/ lowered to exactly the Lower/Upper values.
180 MIDI processing and quantizing Fixed Velocity This function sets the velocity of all selected notes to the Insert Velocity value on the toolbar in the MIDI editors. Thin Out Data Thins out MIDI data. Use this to ease the load on your ex- ternal MIDI devices if you have recorded very dense con- troller curves etc. You can also manually thin out the controller data by using the quantize function in the Key Editor. Extract MIDI Automation This is an extremely useful function as it allows you to quickly and easily convert the continuous controllers of your recorded MIDI parts into MIDI track automation data, making them available for editing in the Project window. Proceed as follows: 1.Select the desired MIDI part containing the continuous controller data. 2.Select “Extract MIDI Automation”. (This command is also available on the Key Editor context menu.) The controller data will automatically be removed from the controller lane in the editor. 3.In the Project window, open the automation track for the respective MIDI track. When you select one the con- tinuous controllers from the parameter pop-up menu, the respective automation data will be displayed on the auto- mation track. This function can only be used for continuous controllers. Data such as Aftertouch, Pitchbend or SysEx cannot be converted to MIDI track automation data. ÖRemember that to be able to hear the automation data, you have to activate the Read button for the respective au- tomation track(s). Reverse This function inverts the order of the selected events (or of all events in the selected parts), causing the MIDI music to play backwards. Note that the effect is different from re- versing an audio recording. With MIDI, the individual notes will still play as usual in the MIDI instrument – it is only the order of playback that is changed.