Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Operation Manual

CUBASE SE
The MIDI editors 21 – 411
Resizing notes
To resize a note, use one of the following methods:
•Position the arrow tool at the start or end of the note, so that the pointer 
takes on the shape of a small double arrow. Click and drag to the left or 
right to resize the note.
This method allows you to resize the note from either direction.
•Click with the Pencil tool within the note box and drag to the left or the 
right (to make the note shorter or longer, respectively).
With both these methods,...

CUBASE SE
21 – 412 The MIDI editors
Muting notes
Individual notes can be muted in the Key Editor, as opposed to muting 
an entire MIDI part in the Project window. This allows you to exclude 
notes from playback, but keep the option to bring them back again at 
any time. To mute a note, use one of the following methods:
• Click on it with the Mute tool.
• Drag a rectangle with the Mute tool, enclosing all notes you want to mute.
• Select the note(s) and choose Mute from the Edit menu. 
The default key...

CUBASE SE
The MIDI editors 21 – 413
You can edit the values on the info line using regular value editing. This 
allows you to move, resize, transpose or change velocity of events in a 
very precise manner. It’s also possible to click the Pitch or Velocity field 
in the info line and play a note on your MIDI keyboard - the pitch or ve-
locity will be adjusted according to the note you played.
• If you have several events selected and change a value, all selected 
events will be changed relatively.
In...

CUBASE SE
21 – 414 The MIDI editors
The next note in the edited part is automatically selected, making it 
easy to quickly edit a series of notes.
•If you want another try, select the note again (easiest by pressing the 
[←] key on the computer keyboard) and again play a note on your MIDI 
instrument.
Step input
Step input, or step recording, is when you enter notes one at a time 
(or one chord at a time) without worrying about the exact timing. This 
is useful e.g. when you know the part you want to...

CUBASE SE
The MIDI editors 21 – 415
4.Specify the desired note spacing and length with the Quantize and 
Length Quantize pop-up menus.
The notes you input will be positioned according to the Quantize value and have the 
length set with the Length Quantize value. For instance, if you set Quantize to 1/8 
notes and Length Quantize to 1/16 note, the notes will be sixteenth notes, appearing 
on each eighth note position.
5.Play the first note or chord on your MIDI instrument.
The note or chord appears in the...

CUBASE SE
21 – 416 The MIDI editors
Editing in the controller display
About controller lanes
By default, the controller display has a single lane, showing one event 
type at a time. However, you can easily add lanes by right-clicking 
(Windows) or [Ctrl]-clicking (Mac) in the display and selecting “Create 
new controller lane” from the Quick menu. This allows you to view and 
edit different controllers at the same time.
The controller display with three lanes set up.
• To remove a lane, right-click in it...

CUBASE SE
The MIDI editors 21 – 417
Selecting event type
Each controller lane shows one event type at a time. To select which 
type should be displayed, use the pop-up menu to the left of the lane.
•Selecting “Setup…” opens a dialog in which you can specify which 
continuous controller event types you want available on the pop-up 
menu.
•Each MIDI track has its own controller lane setup (number of lanes 
and selected event types). 
When you create new tracks, they get the controller lane setup last...

CUBASE SE
21 – 418 The MIDI editors
Controller Lane presets
Once you have added the required number of controller lanes and se-
lected the event types you need, you can store this combination as a 
controller lane preset. You could for example have a preset with one 
velocity lane only, another with a combination of velocity, pitch bend 
and modulation, and so on. This can make working with controllers 
much quicker.
•To add the current controller lane setup as a preset, pull down the pop-
up menu in the...

CUBASE SE
The MIDI editors 21 – 419
• If the Speaker icon (Acoustic Feedback) is activated on the toolbar, the 
notes will be played back when you adjust the velocity, allowing you to 
audition your changes.
• You can use the Pencil tool to change the velocity of a single note: click on its 
velocity bar and drag the bar up or down.
While you drag, the current velocity value is shown in the display to the left.
• You can use the Pencil tool or the Line tool’s Paint mode to change the veloc-
ity values of...

CUBASE SE
21 – 420 The MIDI editors
• Parabola mode works in the same way, but aligns the velocity values with a 
Parabola curve instead.
Use this for smooth, “natural” velocity fades, etc.
• The remaining three Line tool modes (Sine, Triangle and Square) align the ve-
locity values with continuous curve shapes (see below).
Note:
•If there is more than one note on the same position (e.g. a chord), their 
velocity bars will overlap in the controller lane. 
If none of the notes are selected, all notes at...