Steinberg Cubase LE Operation Manual

							CUBASE LEThe MIDI Editors 19 – 391
❐These are only display values used for the graphics in the Score Editor. 
They do not affect the actual playback in any way.
Here is a description of the functions:
Parameter Description
Notes Determines the smallest note value to be displayed and the “small-
est 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, you 
should set this value to 16.
The “T” values are for triplet note values.
This setting is partly overridden by Auto Quantize (see below).
Rests This value is used as a “recommendation” - the program will not dis-
play rests smaller than this value, except where necessary. In effect, 
this setting also determines how the length of notes should be dis-
played. Set this value according to the smallest note value (length) 
you want to be displayed for a single note, positioned on a beat.
Auto  Quantize Generally, if your music contains mixed triplets and straight notes, try 
activating this checkbox. Otherwise, make sure it is deactivated.
Auto Quantize uses involved methods 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 (dis-
play) Quantize value. If it cant 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 (Devi-
ation) 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.
Adapt This 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. 
						

							CUBASE LE19 – 392 The MIDI Editors
Key and Clef
The correct Key and Clef are set using the two scroll bars in the Key & 
Clef 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 Key/Clef 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 instru-
ment 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. 
						

							CUBASE LEThe MIDI Editors 19 – 393
Flags
These provide additional options for how the score should be dis-
played:
Parameter Description
Clean Lengths When 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 Overlap When this is activated one note will never be shown as overlap-
ping 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.
Syncopation When 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.
Shuffle Activate this function when you have played a shuffle beat and 
want it displayed as straight notes (not triplets). This is very com-
mon in jazz notation. 
						

							CUBASE LE19 – 394 The MIDI Editors
Applying your settings
After you’ve 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 remem-
ber to click Apply before you change staff, otherwise your changes will 
be lost.
•As in many other dialogs and property windows in Cubase LE, you 
can store your settings as presets.
This is done according to the usual procedures: click Store to store the current set-
tings as a preset, select a preset from the pop-up menu to load it into the dialog or use 
the Remove button to remove the currently selected preset. 
						

							CUBASE LEThe MIDI Editors 19 – 395
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 dis-
played in the Length value field on the toolbar and in the Note tool cursor shape.
• By selecting an option from the Length pop-up menu on the toolbar.
Selecting a Quantize Value
When you move the mouse pointer over the score, you will see that 
the position box on the toolbar 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 for example set this to “1/8 Note” 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 small-
est note value in the piece. This doesn’t 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 on the File menu, under the heading “MIDI 
Quantize”.
•Just like in the other MIDI editors, you can use the Quantize Setup di-
alog to create other quantize values, irregular grids, etc.
However, this is not often used when entering score notes.
With the Quantize value set to “1/8 Note”, you 
can only input notes at eighth note positions. 
						

							CUBASE LE19 – 396 The MIDI Editors
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.If you selected the note value by clicking on a symbol on the extended 
toolbar, the Note tool was automatically selected – otherwise select 
the Note tool from the toolbar or Quick menu.
4.Select a Quantize value.
As described above, the Quantize value will determine the spacing between notes. If 
you have Quantize set to “1/1 Note” you will only be able to add notes at downbeats. 
If you set Quantize to “1/8 Note” you will be able to add notes at all eighth note posi-
tions etc.
5.Click in the staff and keep the mouse button pressed.
A note appears under the mouse pointer.
6.Move the mouse horizontally to find the correct position.
Check the lower mouse position box on the toolbar - the position is “magnetically” at-
tracted to the grid defined by the current Quantize value. This allows you to easily find 
the correct position.
7.Move the mouse vertically to find the correct pitch.
The upper mouse position box shows the pitch at the pointer position, making it easy 
to find the right pitch.
8.Release the mouse button.
The note appears in the score. 
						

							CUBASE LEThe MIDI Editors 19 – 397
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 Arrow tool. The note 
head gets inverted 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 Arrow tool in some free (white) 
space in the score.
2.Drag the mouse pointer.
A rectangle appears. You can drag to select voices 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 on the File menu (in the Nav-
igate category).
Deselecting everything
To deselect everything, simply click with the Arrow tool in some “free” 
(white) space in the score. 
						

							CUBASE LE19 – 398 The MIDI Editors
Deleting notes
Notes can be deleted in two ways:
Using the Eraser tool
1.Select the Eraser tool from the toolbar or Quick menu.
2.Click on the Note(s) you want to erase, one at a time or drag over 
them with the mouse button pressed.
Using the keyboard or delete menu item
1.Select the notes 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.
The Quantize value will restrict your movement in time. You can not place the notes on 
positions smaller than the Quantize value. If Quantize for example is set to “1/8 Note”, 
you will not be able to move the notes to a sixteenth note position. However, you will 
be able to put them on any eighth note, quarter note, half note or whole note position.
2.If you want to hear the pitch of the note while moving, activate the 
speaker icon on the toolbar. 
When it is on, you will hear the current pitch of the “dragged” note.
3.Select the note(s) you plan 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 press [Ctrl]/[Command] and drag, movement is restricted to 
vertical or horizontal only (depending on in which direction you drag). 
						

							CUBASE LEThe MIDI Editors 19 – 399
•You can also move selected notes by using key commands, as as-
signed 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 nudg-
ing will transpose notes in semitones steps.
Duplicating notes
1.Set the Quantize value and select the notes, as for moving.
2.Press [Alt]/[Option] and drag the notes to their new position.
•If you want to restrict movements to one direction only, 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 Mod-
ifiers page).
The entry for this is found in the Drag & Drop category (“Copy”).
Changing the length of notes
As described earlier in this section (see page 389), the displayed 
length of a note isn’t necessarily the actual note length, but also de-
pends on the Note and Rest Display Quantize settings in the Staff 
Settings dialog. This is important to remember when you change the 
length of a note, since it can give rise to confusing results.
There are several ways to change the length of a note in the Score 
Editor:
By using the Note tool
1.Select a Note value that you wish to apply to the Note.
This can be done by clicking a note value icon in the extended toolbar or by selecting 
a new Length value.
2.Select the Note tool if it isn’t already selected.
3.Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and click on the notes you wish to set to this 
length. 
						

							CUBASE LE19 – 400 The MIDI Editors
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 Editor (see page 366).
Splitting and Gluing notes
•If you have two notes strung together by a tie, and click on the “tied” 
note head with the Scissors 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 Tube tool it will be 
joined to the next note with the same pitch.
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 in-
stead 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, sharps and double sharps.