Steinberg Cubase LE Operation Manual

19
The MIDI Editors 

CUBASE LE19 – 352 The MIDI Editors
About editing MIDI
There are several ways to edit MIDI in Cubase LE. You can use the 
tools and functions in the Project window for large-scale editing, or 
use the functions on the MIDI menu to process MIDI parts in various 
ways (see page 332). 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 Key Editor also...

CUBASE LEThe MIDI Editors 19 – 353
Opening a MIDI editor
There are two ways to open a MIDI editor:
• Select one or several parts and select Open Key Editor or Open List Editor 
from the MIDI menu (or use the corresponding key command).
Note that the List Editor only opens a single part at a time. For details about opening 
the Score Editor, see page 388.
• Double click a part.
Which editor opens depends on the settings in the Preferences (Event Display–MIDI 
page):
Double clicking will open the editor...

CUBASE LE19 – 354 The MIDI Editors
The Key Editor – Overview 
The toolbar
As in other windows, the toolbar contains tools and various settings.
Info line on/off
Edit Solo buttonKey Editor tools
AutoScroll on/offMouse pointer display: Current 
pitch and Current meter position
Snap on/off
Quantize value (also used for Snap)Length Quantize value
Velocity value for created notesColor pop-up menu
Audition on/off
Edit via MIDI input on/offEdit via MIDI options 

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The info line
The info line shows information about selected MIDI notes. You can 
edit all values on the info line using regular value editing (see page 366 
for details). Length and position values are displayed in the format cur-
rently selected for the ruler (see below).
•To hide or show the info line, click the “i” icon in the toolbar.
The ruler
The ruler shows the time line, by default in the display format selected 
on the Transport panel. You can select a...

CUBASE LE19 – 356 The MIDI Editors
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 to the left serves as a guide for finding the right note number.
The controller display
The area at the bottom of the Key Editor window is the controller...

CUBASE LEThe MIDI Editors 19 – 357
Events in the controller display (that is, anything other than velocity 
values) are shown as “blocks”, the heights of which correspond to the 
“values” of the events. However, events that have been recorded (or 
drawn with a low quantize value) may appear more like “filled curves”, 
simply because they are positioned very closely:
❐Unlike notes, events in the controller display have no length. The value of 
an event in the display will be “valid” until the start of the...

CUBASE LE19 – 358 The MIDI Editors
Key Editor operations
Zooming
Zooming in the Key Editor is done according to the standard zoom 
procedures, using the zoom sliders, the Magnifying Glass tool or the 
Zoom submenu on the Edit menu.
Playing back
You can play back your music as usual when working in a MIDI editor. 
There are a couple of features making it easier to edit during playback:
Solo button
If you activate the Solo button, only the edited MIDI parts will be heard 
during regular playback....

CUBASE LEThe MIDI Editors 19 – 359
Auditioning
If the speaker icon on the toolbar is activated, individual notes will au-
tomatically 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’re doing.
Creating and editing notes
Drawing notes
To draw new notes in the Key Editor, you use the Pencil tool. In the 
default “Draw” mode (see below), you insert single notes by clicking 
with the Pencil tool at the desired time...

CUBASE LE19 – 360 The MIDI Editors
•If you just click once, the created note will get the length set on the 
Length Quantize pop-up menu on the toolbar.
You can create a longer note by clicking and dragging the pointer with the mouse but-
ton pressed. The length of the created note will be a multiple of the Length Quantize 
value.
•The notes will get the Insert Velocity value set on the toolbar.
• Just like the Arrow tool in the Project window, the Pencil tool has several 
different modes. 
To select one...