Steinberg Cubase SE 3 Operation Manual

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The MIDI editors 21 – 401
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 chord recognition function
Cubase SE features a handy chord recognition function that helps you 
identify chords in the key editor note display. To find out which chord 
some simultaneously played notes make up, place the project cursor 
over the notes. All MIDI notes currently “touched” by the project cursor 
are analyzed and the chord recognition display in the toolbar shows 
you which chord the notes form.
In the picture above, the project cursor touches the notes C, Eb and G. As shown 
in the chord recognition display, this results in a C minor chord. 
						

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The controller display
The area at the bottom of the Key Editor window is the controller dis-
play. This consists of one or several controller lanes, each showing 
one of the following properties or event types:
• Velocity values of the notes.
• Pitch Bend events.
• Aftertouch events.
• Poly Pressure events.
• Program Change events.
• Any type of continuous controller event.
To change the size of the controller display, drag the divider between 
the controller display and the note display. This will make the control-
ler display larger and the note display smaller, or vice versa.
Velocity values are shown as vertical bars in the controller display, 
with higher bars corresponding to higher velocity values:
Each velocity bar corresponds to a note in the note display. 
						

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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:
If you zoom in on the upper “curve”, you will find that it consists of separate events.
• Unlike notes, events in the controller display have no length. The value 
of an event in the display is “valid” until the start of the next event:
For a description of editing in the controller display, see page 416.
If you delete the second event……the first event will be “valid” until 
the start of the third event. 
						

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21 – 404 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 Zoom tool or the Zoom sub-
menu on the Edit menu.
•When you drag a rectangle with the Zoom tool, the result depends on 
the option “Zoom Tool Standard Mode: Horizontal Zooming Only” in 
the Preferences dialog (Editing page).
If this is on, the window will only be zoomed horizontally; if not, the window will be 
zoomed both horizontally and vertically.
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.
Autoscroll
As described on page 117, the Autoscroll function makes the window 
“follow” the project cursor during playback, so that the current play 
position is visible at all times. However, when you are working in a 
MIDI editor, you may want to deactivate Autoscroll – this way, the 
events you are working with will stay visible.
The Autoscroll button on the toolbar of each MIDI editor is indepen-
dent for the editor. For example, this means you can have Autoscroll 
deactivated in the Key Editor and activated in the Project window. 
						

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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
To draw new notes in the Key Editor, you use the Pencil tool or the 
Line tool.
Drawing notes with the Pencil tool
With the Pencil tool, you insert single notes by clicking at the desired 
time position (horizontal) and pitch position (vertical).
•When you move the pointer in the note display, its bar position is indi-
cated in the toolbar, and its pitch is indicated both in the toolbar and 
on the piano keyboard to the left.
This makes it easy to find the right note and insert position.  
						

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21 – 406 The MIDI editors
•If Snap is activated, this determines the start position of the created 
note (see page 468).
•If you just click once, the created note will have 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 button 
pressed. The length of the created note will be a multiple of the Length Quantize value.
Drawing notes with the Line tool
The Line tool can be used for creating series of contiguous notes. To 
use the Line tool, click and drag to draw a line and then release the 
mouse button.
• The Line tool has several different modes.
To select one of the modes, click on the Line tool icon on the toolbar when the tool is 
already selected. This opens a pop-up menu from which you can select one of the Line 
modes.
The tool icon will change appearance according to the selected mode.
Mode Description
Line This is the default mode for the Line tool. When this mode is selected, 
you click and drag to create a straight line, in any angle. When you re-
lease the mouse button a series of notes will be created, aligned with 
the line. If Snap is activated, the notes will be spaced and sized ac-
cording to the Quantize value.
Parabola, Sine, 
Triangle, SquareThese modes insert events along different curve shapes. While they 
can be used for creating notes, they’re probably best suited for con-
troller editing (see page 421).
Paint Allows you to insert multiple notes by dragging with the mouse button 
pressed. If Snap is activated, the notes will be positioned and sized 
according to the Quantize and Length Quantize values. If you press 
[Ctrl]/[Command] while painting, movement will be restricted to hori-
zontal only (i.e. the painted notes will have the same pitch).  
						

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Setting velocity values
When you draw notes in the key editor, the notes will get the velocity 
value set in the insert velocity field on the toolbar.
You can use one of three different methods for determining the velocity:
•Selecting a predefined velocity value from the insert velocity pop-up 
menu.
The menu contains five different predefined velocity values. The “Setup...” item opens 
a dialog that allows you to specify which five velocity values should be available on the 
pop-up menu (you can also open this dialog by selecting “Insert Velocities...” from the 
MIDI menu).
•Manually entering the desired velocity value by clicking in the insert 
velocity field and typing the desired value.
•Using a key command.
You can assign a key command to each of the five available velocity values in the Key 
Commands dialog (MIDI category – the items Insert Velocity 1-5). This allows for quick 
switching between different velocity values when entering notes. See page 571 for in-
structions on how to set up key commands. 
						

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Selecting notes
Selecting notes is done using any of the following methods:
•Use the Arrow tool.
The standard selection techniques apply.
•Use the Select submenu on the Edit menu or Quick menu.
The Select menu options are:
•You can also use the left and right arrow keys on the computer key-
board to step from one note to the next or previous.
If you press [Shift] and use the arrow keys, the current selection will be kept, allowing 
you to select several notes.
•To select all notes of a certain pitch, press [Ctrl]/[Command] and click 
on the desired key in the keyboard display to the left.
You can also press [Shift] and double click on a note to select all the following notes of 
the same pitch.
•If the option “Auto Select Events under Cursor” is activated in the 
Preferences dialog (Editing page), all notes currently “touched” by the 
project cursor are automatically selected.
Option Description
All Selects all notes in the edited part.
None Deselects all events.
In Loop Selects all notes that are partially or completely inside the 
boundaries of the left and right locators.
From Start to Cursor Selects all notes that begin to the left of the project cursor.
From Cursor to End Selects all notes that end to the right of the project cursor.
All notes of the corresponding 
pitch are selected. 
						

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Moving and transposing notes
To move notes in the editor, use any of the following methods:
•Click and drag to a new position.
All selected notes will be moved, maintaining their relative positions. If Snap is acti-
vated, this determines to which positions you can move the notes, see page 468.
Note also that you can restrict movement to horizontal or vertical only by 
holding down [Ctrl]/[Command] while dragging.
•Use the up and down arrow keys on the computer keyboard.
This method allows you to transpose the selected notes, without risking to move them 
horizontally. You can also use the Transpose function (see page 383) or the info line 
(see page 399) for this. Note that pressing [Shift] and using the up and down arrow 
keys will transpose notes in steps of one octave.
•Use the Move to Cursor function on the Edit menu.
This moves the selected notes to the project cursor position.
•Select a note and adjust its position or pitch on the info line.
See page 412.
•Use the Move buttons in the Nudge palette on the toolbar.
This moves the selected note(s) by the amount set on the Quantize pop-up menu. By 
default, the Nudge palette isn’t shown on the toolbar – see page 561 for more info.
You can also adjust the position of notes by quantizing (see page 373).
Duplicating and repeating notes
Notes are duplicated much in the same way as events in the Project 
window:
•Hold down [Alt]/[Option] and drag the note(s) to a new position.
If Snap is on, this determines to which positions you can copy notes (see page 468).
•Selecting Duplicate from the Edit menu creates a copy of the selected 
note and places it directly after the original.
If several notes are selected, all of these are copied “as one unit”, maintaining the rel-
ative distance between the notes.
•Selecting Repeat from the Edit menu opens a dialog, allowing you to 
create a number of copies of the selected note(s).
This works like the Duplicate function, but you can specify the number of copies. 
						

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•You can also perform the Repeat function by dragging: Select the 
note(s) to repeat, press [Alt]/[Option], click the right edge of the last 
selected note and drag to the right.
The longer to the right you drag, the more copies (as indicated by the tooltip).
Using cut and paste
You can use the Cut, Copy and Paste options on the Edit menu to 
move or copy material within a part or between different parts. When 
you paste copied notes, you can either use the regular Paste function 
or the Paste Time function on the Edit menu’s Range submenu.
• “Paste” inserts the copied notes at the project cursor position, without affect-
ing existing notes.
• “Paste Time” inserts at the project cursor position, but moves (and if neces-
sary, splits) existing notes to make room for the pasted notes.
Selecting “Paste Time” with this data on the clipboard 
and the project cursor here…
…will give you this.